Page 32 of Room One Hundred and Twenty Nine

“Who wants ice cream?” I ask, and Haruko’s hand shoots up.

Nick nods and Elijah grumbles a “sure.”

“Great,” I say, and we walk into the ice cream shop.

“Let’s all get our favourite flavour,” I say, pointing at Elijah. “You go first. What’s your favourite flavour?”

Elijah narrows his eyes at me, not sure where I’m going with this but knowing I’m going somewhere.

“Chocolate,” he says.

“And Haruko. What’s yours?”

“Mint,” she says.

I already know Nick’s favourite. “Vanilla, right?” I say, giving him two finger guns.

He nods.

“Cones?” I ask everyone, and they all nod.

I turn towards the counter and ask the girl for chocolate in a cone, mint in a cone, vanilla in a cone, and cookie dough in a cone.

“Cookie dough is your favourite?” Haruko asks.

“Yep. It’s perfect. You get the best parts of the cookie with the delicious texture of the ice cream.”

Haruko giggles, and my chest feels lighter just hearing it.

Fuck, I’m falling for this girl fast. I want to wrap her up in a blanket and cuddle with her on the couch during a rainy fall day. I was never such a sap for women. I was the easy-going, fun one-night stand kind of guy. But for Haruko, I feel myself writing sonnets in my head about her and wanting to give her flowers every day. I enjoy being her friend, but I want so much more.

I just hope I can.

This is a good day to figure out if a relationship is possible. If we’re compatible in more ways than just work and the club, which we definitely are. I can still taste her, and I’ve obsessed for when I can bring her back and do more.

After we get our ice creams, we head back out onto the sidewalk where I turn to the group and waggle my eyebrows as I say, “I have an idea.”

Elijah’s eyes narrow as he grumbles, “What?”

“Let’s play Never Have I Ever. We can get to know each other better.”

Haruko says “yes” as she licks her mint ice cream and I nearly come in my pants, seeing her tongue slide over the green ice cream.

“We’ll find out if we have anything in common.”

“Righto!” she says and licks her ice cream again.

I point to the park across the street and we all head towards a bench sitting under a tree.

“Okay,” I say as we all take a seat on a bench. “So, just to make sure… everyone knows how to play, right?”

Everyone nods.

Haruko gives her ice cream cone a big lick and I’m reconsidering using a lick of an ice cream as a sign that you did the thing.

“Alright. I’ll start. Lick your ice cream if you did it. And hopefully, after this, we’ll know each other better,” I say.

Elijah grumbles again and Nicholas looks like he’s getting ready for a championship chess game. He sets his shoulders and holds his ice cream close to his face.

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