Chapter 23: Double Date

“I thought it’s going to be just the two of us?” I glared mockingly at Eris who turned her face innocently to avoid my stare. Glancing at the distance, I saw Patty and Dulce awkwardly huddled on the bench. Patty was as confused as I was while my ex-slash-love of my life gazed at her chucks, wishing for sure that she was someplace else.

“You tricked me.” My voice came harsher than expected. But what could I do? It wasn’t what I expected. Eris gave me an apologetic look in which I just shook my head. “Technically, I didn’t lie to you,” she said. “I told you that I needed help with Patty. I just didn’t add that Dulce was going to be with us.”

“She’s avoiding me Eris. You know that right?” My heart ached at the thought, but it was true. Dulce was indeed finding every excuse not to talk to me in school. The engagement of our parents came as a shock to us and she just couldn’t handle the fact that we’d be sisters. I wasn’t giving up just yet but seeing Dulce uncomfortable in my presence wasn’t my thing either.

“This is the perfect opportunity Frio,” Eris whispered right next to my ear. “You can get back Dulce, while I will be able to impress Patty. It’s a win-win situation. What do you say? Please help me. I’m really awkward with her.”

I sighed. There was no use arguing with her. She was also right. I’d do everything to get Dulce back. “So what do you want to do today?” Eris leaned back and considered. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I haven’t tried this dating thing before. The models I’ve been with were more like a one night stand thing.”

I tried to think of an activity that didn’t require much talking. “What about paintball? You’re good at that so you’ll be able to impress Patty. Eris beamed at my suggestion. “Let’s go,” she said giddily while taking my hands to force me in the direction of the bench.

My eyes automatically went to Dulce’s brown ones when we reached them and she turned away with a blush in an instant. As usual, she looked really good today, wearing blue fitted jeans, a yellow tank top that exposed her smooth neck, and white chucks. My stomach did that fluttering thing as I noticed her wearing the necklace with the ring I gave.

In my right, Eris stared, or more like ogled Patty hungrily. Eris was wearing cut off jean-shorts together with her white button down, while her girlfriend looked comfortable in an outfit very similar to Dulce’s. Only her top was in pink and not yellow. As for me, I had shorts, a blue shirt, and sneakers, with my usual oversized sunglasses and cap. A girl like me had to be careful. The paparazzi could be lurking anywhere.

“We’re going to play paintball,” Eris said excitedly to the two. Dulce raised her head. “Seriously? You do know that Patty is not good at spor-“ Patty elbowed her friend softly on the ribs before she could finish the sentence. I winced for Dulce.

“Let’s go.” Brushing her black bangs away from her face, Patty got up from the park bench and hurriedly walked away.

The four of us agreed to use Patty’s SUV to go to the paintball place. To avoid an awkward arrangement, I volunteered to drive the car while Eris rode shotgun beside me. The two best friends kept mum at the back. No one spoke the whole ride. Eris was too nervous to even start a conversation. Dulce just stared out the window and I wanted to face-palm myself for the whole disaster.

When we arrived at our destination, I paid the rental fee and trudged behind the three as they began to get their paintball guns and suits. After everyone was ready, the four of us did rock-paper-scissors to choose our teammate. I ended up with Eris. Go figure.

Hiding behind the tree in the arena, Eris whispered, “We’re so going to beat them.” She was psyched at this. Eris always loved a good competition, no matter who she was up against or what the stakes were. From the looks of it, she seemed to have forgotten that we were doing this to impress Patty, not so she could have her kill for the day.

“There she goes,” Eris mumbled to herself and silently crept towards Patty’s direction. With a sigh, I followed behind her, ensuring that my steps were light so they wouldn’t hear us. When I turned the corner, Eris vanished from my eyesight. Where did she go? Glancing around, I didn’t see anyone. Ducking behind a wooden wall, I counted to ten before staring at the arena again.

A splat on my right scared the bejesus out of me. The shot missed me by a hairline. Looking at my left, I saw Dulce hiding behind the metal drum. Though her face was covered by the mask, I recognized her graceful movement. God she was sexy. She made another shot which I missed again as I rolled my body behind a tree. She was seriously hunting me and I couldn’t just surrender to her. Not without a fight.

I inched closer and made my first shot. It missed. Smiling to myself, I saw that she was apparently guarding their flag. I’d do everything to capture it. Just like her heart. The game went on for a couple of minutes. I’d inch forward and Dulce would fire shots at me, missing my body every time after I ducked and rolled to safety. She had a couple of shots left.

“I’m going to get the flag now,” I called out to her from behind a wooden post. “We’re going to win this. Eris will kill me if we don’t.”

“You choose Glace,” she called back. “Eris will kill you if you lose, or I’ll kill you if you win.” I grinned from ear-to-ear. My baby was so hot. How could I compete with what she said? Standing up from behind the post, I began to walk to Dulce’s direction, my hands up in the air in surrender. She removed her mask. “What are you doing Glace?”

I got down on my knee in front of her and removed my own mask. “Surrendering to you of course,” I said with a smirk. “Shoot me now Dulce.”

A smile began to spread on her face. “You’re unbelievable,” she said, shaking her head. “Get up, you’ll hurt your knee.” She offered a hand. I took it and stood beside her. All the while my heart thumped wildly inside my chest. Glace one, Dulce zero, I thought with satisfaction.

“Traitor!” Eris hissed while running behind me. Dulce and I turned to her and saw Patty following closely from the other side. They were still at it. Patty stood right in front of the flag, daring Eris to shoot her directly. Not one to be outdone, Eris raised her paintball gun. Fearing that she’d get hurt, Patty dodged to the right and stumbled on her feet, slipping on the ground as she did so.

“Shit!” Eris muttered under her breath before running to Patty. “Are you hurt?” She removed both of their masks and had a worried expression on her face. “No I’m not,” Patty replied. “But I don’t want to compete anymore, you’re a maniac.” She didn’t mean anything by it but Eris took it the wrong way, her face falling in disappointment.

“Let’s go somewhere else,” I interjected quickly before Eris cried or something. Without waiting for their reply, I hurried back to the main station and removed the paintball outfit. Everyone silently did the same. When we were all back in the car, Dulce asked, “Where are we going Glace?” At least she was now talking to me again. I didn’t answer her and just drove to the next location.

Thirty minutes later, the four of us glanced around the amusement park, debating where to go first. “So which one would you like to ride?” I asked Dulce.

“I’m. . . I’m not really into rides,” she confessed. “I hate heights remember?” I recalled the conversation we had when she was sick. She admitted at the time that she was scared of heights. “Well there are a lot of things we can do here besides riding the rollercoaster or Ferris wheel,” I shrugged. Turning to Eris I said, “How about you, what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know,” she replied dejectedly. She was still disappointed at what happened in the arena. “How about we have our face painted?” asked Patty. “It will look cool in pictures. Besides,” she said while turning to me. “With your face painted, no one will recognize you. You can enjoy more without that cap and sunglasses on.”

“She does have a point,” Dulce agreed. Walking side-by-side, our small group began to make its way to the face painting booth.

“You look really cool,” Dulce murmured while looking at my face. I stared at the mirror on the booth and smiled widely. A skeleton face smiled back. “You look great yourself,” I said while turning to Dulce’s face which was artistically painted with a blue butterfly around her eyes.

“Here,” Eris said while handing the payment to the artist. Her face now resembled a lion. It fits her personality. Patty in the meantime had flowers all over her cheeks and forehead. I handed a crisp hundred dollar bill to the artist. “Here’s the tip. For not telling everyone that Frio is here,” I winked at her and saw her mouth pop open. From beside me, I caught Dulce hiding her frown. I didn’t mean to make her jealous but I secretly felt thrilled because of it.

After our face painting adventure, we all decided to eat. Eris continued to look down while munching on her pizza while our two companions discussed something in a low voice between them. I ignored them and faced Eris. “I thought you only eat salad?”

“More like I’m forced to eat salad,” she mumbled. “You know as well as I do that we need to maintain our body. That includes you, so just shut up and let me enjoy this pizza. I can only eat this once every 6 months.”

I stifled a smile. “So you’re not disappointed anymore?” Eris chewed slowly and met my eyes. “I still am. Didn’t you see what happened in the arena? I made a fool of myself. She hates me now.” Her eyes darted to Patty and back to me. “I haven’t even kissed her yet. You see how f’d up that is? I can get whoever I want. I used to anyway.” Her shoulder slumped.

“At least she’s yours.” I patted her hand. “Unlike me, you can touch her. I don’t think I’m allowed to do that with Dulce. Not anymore.”

“Let’s drown our sorrows with soda,” she said before taking a long swig of her fizzy drink. When she was done, I took the can and threw it in the nearby trash bin. “Don’t drink that again. It’s bad for your abs.”

“I know,” she mumbled.

When we were all full, our group walked around the amusement park looking for something to do. “What about that one?” Patty asked while pointing to the haunted house. “Is that a good idea?” Eris interjected.

“Why not?” I said with a shrug. “Come on.” I trailed behind to talk to Eris. “This is the perfect opportunity to impress Patty,” I whispered near her ear. “When she gets scared inside, she’ll hold on to you. Grab that chance to comfort her. I promise you this will work.”

“B-but,” Eris babbled. I gave her a warning look. “No buts.”

A minute later, I stared expectantly at the three. We were standing right at the entrance of the haunted house attraction. “Who wants to go first?” No one replied to me and just stared at the ground. I nearly laughed at them. It was going to be so interesting.

“Okay, I’ll go in.” We formed a single line. Me being the first one, Dulce right behind me, Patty after her, and Eris bringing up the rear. Creepy music and darkness greeted us as we got inside. My eyes adjusted to the dim lighting and I saw coffins and graveyard all around us. I wasn’t scared at all. Having starred in a lot of Hollywood movies, I was able to work with some of the best people in horror films. This was child’s play compared to what people in the film industry could do.

Sadly, I couldn’t say the same for my companions. I heard Dulce gasp behind me as a coffin suddenly opened, revealing a vampire that looked like the nosferatu. But the vampire or rather the guy in the vampire get-up didn’t so much as glance at us. He just raised himself from the coffin and walked to and fro in his station.

Rounding a corner, I saw a sarcophagus placed next to the wall. This one looked realistic enough so I stopped to admire the design. “Why are we stopping?” Eris hissed at the back. “I’m just staring at the sarcophagus,” I replied. “Look at it. The design is amazing.”

“I don’t care about the freaking sarcophagus.” She said in a high-pitched voice. “If you want to see one, go to the museum. Now walk.” Eris was definitely nervous about the whole thing. I clicked my tongue as I followed her suggestion. What a sissy, I thought. How could she impress Patty when she was more scared than her girlfriend?

Patty was the next one to gasp as we walked along a dark hallway and a shrunken head came tumbling down from the ceiling. It was held by a string, causing it to dangle up and down right above us. I snickered low and felt Dulce poke my side. “Don’t be mean,” she said.

We continued along the path and saw a zombie dude pretend-eating his victim. I absolutely loved The Walking Dead series so I was delighted to see a zombie there. Admittedly, the prosthetics were realistic. “Hey dude,” I said to the zombie. “Want to eat my brains?” He ignored me and we passed him, going to another path.

This hallway was darker than the other areas. I could barely make out where we were going. A light suddenly flickered on and off, making me a little nauseous. Behind us, Eris gave off a high-pitched scream and ran forward, grabbing on to Patty. It caused the other girls to run to me, dragging me with them.

“Stop scratching me,” Patty bellowed in the darkness. “I wasn’t,” Eris complained and shot forward in panic. She ran past me and continued screaming all the way to God knows where. Patty trailed quickly after her, leaving Dulce huddled beside me.

“Are you scared,” I whispered as I snaked my arms around her. “Maybe,” she said. “Okay I totally am.” She hugged me sideways as we walked forward, giving me the chance to smell her scent. She was so soft. Glace two, Dulce nada, I thought again.

Once we got outside, I saw Patty trying to calm Eris while the girl sat on the ground, hugging her knees. I let go of Dulce and walked to Eris. “Get up,” I hissed. “This is not the way to impress her. You look like a fool.” Realizing that she was, Eris stood up and dusted herself.

“I wasn’t scared,” she announced in a loud clear voice, making the bystanders look. Honestly, it looked really comical. It seemed as if she forgot that her face had a lion paint on it. Oh God, I really loved her as a sister. A funny one at that. “Of course you weren’t,” Patty supported.

Hiding the smirk from my face I said, “Let’s go to the tunnel of love next.”

“Okay!” said Patty, hooking her arm on Eris own one and dragging her girlfriend to the direction of the ride. I turned to Dulce. “We’re not going to ride it with them. Once the two are on the boat, we’ll leave them. Sounds good?” Hearing my plan, a smile spread on her face. She nodded in agreement.

We did the plan and watched as the two stared at us in confusion while I waved at them as their canoe began to move away. “Patty,” I said while we were still within earshot. “Eris is dying to kiss you. But she’s feeling shy so she can’t. Do my friend a favor and take the first step.”

Their canoe glided softly on the man-made river but Dulce and I saw it clearly when Patty turned to Eris, cupped the girls chin in her hands, and leaned in for a kiss. Eris turned as still as statue when their lips touched but responded in a few seconds, kissing her girlfriend back passionately. Their heads move in unison, completely consumed in the kiss.

I turned to my own ex. Scratch that, in my heart she’d always be mine. “Well that’s a happy ending to their date. What do you want to do now?”

Sighing, Dulce grabbed my right hand and intertwined it in hers. A jolt of electricity travelled down my spine. “Want to eat cotton candy?” she asked, completely oblivious of the effect she had on me.

“Sure.” Both of us noticed the husky tone of my voice but we decided to ignore it. Exiting the love tunnel line, we went to the direction of the food stalls. After buying it, we sat on a bench, overlooking the Ferris wheel and the other rides. “Enjoying yourself Glace?” She ripped a portion of the cotton candy and happily munched on the sweet puffy thing.

“Yes I’m enjoying the day Dulce. As long as I’m with you, I’ll continue to be happy.” I took a sip from the water bottle and glanced at her beautiful features. She looked like a fairy with the butterfly paint on her face.

Dulce stared at the distance, eating her candy silently while I openly gaped at her. Finishing everything, she bent the stick that formerly held her sweet treat. “I decided,” she said, now toying with the stick.

“What?”

She met my eyes and gave a heartbreaking smile that would have brought me to my knees if I wasn’t sitting on the bench. “I’m going to tell my mom everything,” she finished. I took a big gulp. Glace two, Dulce perfect, I thought.