Rotten Apples - 14. 3 Musketeers

Chapter 14:

~3 Musketeers~

So, it was all set. As Donny, Sascha, Liam, & I were heading to Dairy Queen after our Trick Or Treating session for our ice creams, I couldn't say the awkward silence was THAT bad; it could have been worse. What was more interesting to me than anything else, were the empty glances that I was able to catch of Sascha looking at Liam as we walked during the night. The looks he gave him, when he thought no one was looking, seemed like he both had alot on his mind and also nothing on his mind all at the same time if that makes any sense at all; which to me, at the time, it didn't. But, as I thought about it more and more, I put myself in his shoes. Liam was once one of his best friends. He was Jesse Bradford's best friend before him, who then, was replaced by Sascha Konovski, himself, to fill in the position, afterwards. Sascha was quite literally Liam's 'replacement'. This whole ordeal of all of us being together might not just have been awkward or upsetting for Liam, but, it quite possibly was even worse for Sascha. And, as I saw him glance at him and look at the ground in between his looks, it confirmed that to me. Those were the vibes that I was getting. It was almost as if he didn't know what to do, say, think or even know how to remotely react to him or any of us for that matter in general. There was one look that he gave, as he stared at the ground, while we were stepping on a bunch of crisp, fall, dead leaves and branches, that resembled the feelings of either regret or guilt. And, to this day, I still dont know which one he was really feeling... Or both.

It was the most interesting experience that I ever had with Liam, other than our very first & official kiss that evening, with Liam & Donny as the four of us were standing in line for our ice creams. Sascha was in front, I was next to Liam, and Donny was behind us and the entire time we were on that line, I swore I saw a familiar look on Liam's face; it was the exact same body language, facial expressions, zoning out in thought, followed by pouts and scowls, unusual & unreadable glares that he was giving Sascha who was in front of us that Sascha, himself, gave that very first day when he learned he was forced to be partners with Antonio & I of our cooking class; it was identical. Why? I didn't know. I couldn't tell if what was going through his mind was somewhat, magically good, neutral, bad, or all of the above. All I knew was I was trying my HARDEST to hide all of this from Antonio. He couldn't know any of this as I've stated. I had to make that my ultimate goal for the rest of that entire evening and, any days to come. I cared more about that than even what ice cream I wanted until it was my turn.

"Well?" The young man who appeared to be in his twenties wearing an ice cream white pointed hat with matching red trimming on the edges to go with the Dairy Queen Marketing logo & uniform asked me.

"Huh?" I said, being snapped from my entire anxiety inducing contemplation process.

"What would you like?" He asked me, in the same tone that someone his age would use if he had already stated that question and really had no ambition, whatsoever, in restating it for a second time.

Hmmmmm. As always, ice cream was a rarity for me and my family back in Georgia.

Taking a brief look around and not wanting to hold up the long line behind us, I decided to try a flavor that caught my interest.

"Uhh. May 'Ah have the Rocky Road please on a waffle cone?" I said.

"Sure. Coming right up." He said, nonchalantly, barely making eye contact. I'm sure he was tired from all of the orders for that particular day. Halloween was probably one of the last busiest days for this ice cream shop after the cold season would truly begin, just a few days after. It must have been a relief for him and all of the employees there. In fact, I was surprised they were even still opened in the first place during October.