We both nodded. We ordered the exact same thing every time we came here.
“Have a seat,” she said. “I’ll be right with you.”
We took a seat in a booth by the bay windows—in perfect view of the tourists who were starting their annual takeover of the beach.
“I’m going to miss this so much…” I said. “If I don’t get into anywhere else soon, I’ll have to accept the offer from that culinary school in Cleveland. I don’t think they have a beach, though…Or a restaurant that’s similar to this one.”
“They don’t have much of anything. It’s Cleveland.”
I laughed. “Just try not to rub it in since you’re lucky enough to be staying here for law school.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to send you ocean-view pictures every day.”
“Here you two are.” The waitress set down our orders and I swiped a spoonful of yogurt from Carter’s plate.
“Ugh!” I swallowed it. “How can you eat that? The words ‘chocolate’ and ‘yogurt’ should never be allowed anywhere near each other.”
He swiped a spoonful of my vanilla yogurt in return. “It’s not like vanilla is that much better. There’s no flavor in that whatsoever.”
I shrugged and picked a few Oreos from his toppings cup while he picked a few strawberry chips from mine.
As I was stealing one of his peanut butter swirls, a few members of his college basketball team walked inside—super loud and obnoxious. Spotting Carter, they immediately walked over and shook his hand—asking a few brief questions, leaving Carter plenty of room to congratulate them on a hard fought season. Plenty of time for them to reminisce on his short-lived, yet high-profile freshman season.
The team had actually been quite terrible this year, posting the worst record in all of college basketball. And although his former teammates would never say it to his face, I’m sure they wondered if he’d lied about his diagnosis years ago, if he used his sudden ACL injury as an excuse to walk away from everything.
“Do you miss it?” I asked, after they’d said their goodbyes.
“I miss the groupies.”
“You still have groupies. Just a different type.”
“Well, in that case…” His eyes followed the team out of the store. “I never did appreciate other people unloading their expectations onto me when I had my own. So, no. I don’t miss being a part of that at all.”
“Totally understand. Speaking of which, when it comes to things we miss and don’t miss…” I took out my phone and pulled up my secret “Long-term Relationship Compatibility” spreadsheet. I never told Carter it actually existed because I was sure he’d find a way to get me to delete it.
“What is one thing you wish you could’ve done differently in regards to your relationship with Emily?” I asked.
“I wish I’d never met her.”
“Come on…” I started to type. “This always helps me know what not to do in my next relationship, so I’ll go first. In me and Scott’s case, I could’ve tried to talk to him about my reservations about intimacy a lot sooner.”
“No, you could’ve tried fucking.”
“And you could’ve tried barking.” I snapped. “Maybe then Emily’s meowing wouldn’t have seemed so weird if you’d given it a chance.”
“Oh?” He laughed. “Did I just touch a nerve? Are you that sexually frustrated?”
“No.” I tossed a gummy bear at his face. “Although, it would be nice to have some amazing sex before I leave for culinary school.”
“Then have some. I can help you with that.”
“What?” I gave him a death stare. “Not with you. Are you out of your mind?”
“I’m definitely not talking about sex with me.” He stole my last bite of waffle and stood up. “You wouldn’t be able to handle me…”
I rolled my eyes. “Please!”
“Seriously though, I don’t have much to do outside of work for the next few months,” he said, “so I’ll help you find a guy—or two or three, just for sex. As a matter of fact, we’ll start the search tonight right after your graduation party.”
“Are you sure you won’t try to convince me to leave that early, too?”
“Not unless you somehow manage to make me fall asleep.” He laughed and pulled me up, leading me out of the store.
As we sped back across the pier with the sun setting behind us in the distance, I realized I was already starting to miss this part of my life.
Later that night…
I stuffed one last piece of a cupcake into my mouth and gave my mom a hug. “Thank you for throwing me this party tonight.”
“Anything for you.” She hugged me back. “Wait a minute. Where is Scott? Is he coming by later?”
“Yeah, um…We didn’t work out.”
“Aw, sorry, hon.” She gave me a look of sympathy. “You’ll find someone better.”