Chapter 11

My heart nearly leaped out of my chest the moment I shut my locker door, suddenly coming face to face with the notorious, albeit more friendly notorious figure, known as Felix Nekos. The background noise filtering through the hallways drowned out the sounds of him approaching me, leaving me completely clueless and oblivious to his sudden appearance. Placing my hand over my chest, I turned towards the culprit with a poker face. I noticed the way his green eyes lit up in mischief as soon as I did so. He looked at me with an innocent smile while leaning against the lockers. He instantly reminded me of a cute boy trying to flirt with a girl like in many teen dramas, though I didn't think he had the intention of doing so. Felix was my trusted friend, nothing more and nothing less. 

Pushing himself off of the lockers and standing up straight, Felix brushed his brown locks away from his eyes, apologizing for scaring me just moments before. With that radiant smile on his face, I couldn't stay mad at someone so docile and not ill-intentioned. The soft and playful expression on his adorable face just wouldn't allow it. Even if it wasn't his attention, he could catch anyone off guard with that charming personality. Felix was like an innocent puppy who could make you feel weak and vulnerable with just one wholesome glance. 

Felix offered to walk me to my car, seeing as Clarice- who usually left school with me- was nowhere in sight, she was probably with some of her other friends from volleyball or from one of the many clubs she's a part of. We began walking through the school's courtyard and towards the parking lot.

"Where are you heading to now?" Felix asked. "I heard practice was postponed." 

"Home I guess," I shrugged. "We're having practice with the boys tomorrow instead." 

Felix's entire face suddenly lit up as if a bright idea formulated inside his head. He suddenly stopped walking, unexpectedly grabbing both of my hands, wrapping his far larger ones around mine. Before I knew it, I became flustered and embarrassed by Felix's straightforwardness. 

"Let's go get ice cream, my treat! I feel bad for scaring you," he suggested excitedly. "I know a great parlor!" 

I looked up at him, suddenly feeling a little mischievous. 

"I don't know Felix," I teased, giving him a growing smile. "I can eat a lot of ice cream."

"Oh? A fellow dairy dessert enthusiast I see," he laughed. "Well my dear Florence, let's go." 

Climbing into our respective cars, we drove over to the address Felix sent me through text. Not too long after, we met up outside of OddFellows Ice Cream and proceeded inside together. Looking around, I took in the old school, yet modern style of the shop, instantly falling in love with the red and white stripes running up and down the walls. Despite the fact that the shop had a medium-sized sitting area for customers, it felt cozy and well put together. Big windows provided plenty of natural light, creating a far more pleasurable dining experience. Maybe I should come here with Laurence sometime in the future. 

Felix and I walked directly up to the counter, ordering red velvet cream cheese him and cookies and cream for myself. I watched with anticipation as the worker behind the counter scoop up generous spoonfuls of ice cream, and stuffing the cold dessert into large paper cups. After Felix paid for our order, the cashier handed the cups with mountains of frozen decadence to us. Felix thanked the man behind the counter with a chuckle, humored by the amount of ice cream we had. The two of us took a table by the window, sitting across from each other as we dug into our desserts. 

The moment I took the first bite, I couldn't help but smile goofily. Bursts of flavor exploded inside my mouth like fireworks and I immediately went in for another bite. My delight was written all over my face and Felix quickly noticed. He grabbed a napkin and reached across the table, suddenly wiping the corner of my lip free of some melted ice cream. He then gave me that infamously sweet and gummy smile of his, instantly melting my heart. I somehow managed to nod when he asked if it was good, despite my inability to control the level of embarrassment that was slowly building up inside of me.

"Before we leave, remind me to get something for my brother," I coughed uncomfortably, rubbing the back of my neck.

Felix perked up once he heard me mention Laurence- "How is he by the way? I can't imagine having a sling is pleasant." 

A sigh passed through my lips as I rested my chin on my hand, stirring melting ice cream in my cup. By no means was my brother a bad kid. He had no problem with dealing with the consequences of his actions, this one, however, was severely dampening his mood. When I left him this morning, there was a deep frown on his face and he spoke very few words when I tried to talk to him. 

"He doesn't seem like a violent kid," he acknowledged. 

"He isn't. Laurence just can't tolerate anything negative being said about me."

A deeper frown appeared on my face as I thought about Laurence's extensive history, just thinking about it made me feel ashamed almost. With each new school Laurence was enrolled in came a suspension or two, or even an expulsion at the worst. Laurence always reacted badly with any rumors spread about us, mainly the ones about me. He wasn't bothered by any false word spread about him but I was a different story apparently. I cared a great deal about him and the feeling was mutual, I would be quick to defend him in any situation and he would do the same. Though sometimes, I wished he didn't. Not once did I want him to get in trouble on my behalf but that's happened too many times to count. 

"A repeat offender, huh… quite a devoted sibling you have there," Felix chuckled softly, trying to lighten the mood. "Florence, what they say-"

"Won't change the truth about our lives, I'm familiar," I continued. "Laurence finally made a friend, but I can't help but worry that his pride will get in the way if she happened to say anything."

From across the table, Felix grabbed my hand and squeezed it in a comforting manner. He knew I was troubled, it was written all over my face and I couldn't hide it in front of him and he acknowledged it.

"You have no idea," I muttered, scooping the last drop of ice cream into my mouth. 

Truly, he had no idea. No one did, that's how it always goes. 

After another hour and a half inside of the OddFellows Ice Cream parlor and sampling a few other flavours that were available in the display case, I quickly purchased a cup of plain vanilla ice cream for my brother. Thanking the cashier, I followed Felix outside. We were greeted by the setting sun, the sky slowly making its shift from a soft blue to the well-adorned colors of a sunset. It was picture-worthy, perfectly demonstrated by Felix as he took the opportunity to snap a quick photo and save it on his phone. He caught me staring at him and he chuckled embarrassedly. I shot him a smile, taking note that he likes photography. 

"Thanks for today Felix," I gushed, rubbing the back of my neck. "It really helped to take my mind off of things." 

"It's not a problem, Florence," he replied. "I'm glad I could help. I'll see you tomorrow."

Climbing into my car while trying not to drop the ice cream, I waved goodbye to Felix before driving off. The entire way home, I couldn't wipe the small smile off of my face.