Sweet Salt Air by Emma Stanley

Author:Emma Stanley [Stanley, Emma]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-04-28T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

The trip out of the bookstore was silent. Elise walked half a pace in front of Sabine as she squeezed through the people still clamoring to get in. She flinched every time she dodged between people, then distanced herself on the sidewalk from all oncoming groups.

“You see that fountain in the square over there?” Sabine asked, putting a hand on the small of Elise’s back and turning her in the right direction. “Go wait for me there. Looks like there are fewer people. I’ll go get our backpacks, okay?”

Elise nodded, then made her way up the slight slope. Elise nodded, then made her way up the slight slope. She tried to corall her feelings before they slipped away from her. In the middle of the square, a marble fountain surrounded by four water spouting lions provided a cooling place to sit and wait.

What had just happened? How did she manage to let her thoughts slip so carelessly into the outside world? They washed over her like a long overdue wave. If it was a one time thing, maybe she wouldn’t think about it too much, but something told her this was just the beginning of the flood.

She turned around and noticed Sabine bouncing out of a café , balancing two backpacks on her shoulder and two ice creams in her hands. She looked cheerful as she rushed up to the lion fountain. She seemed to have it all figured out in a way that made Elise jealous. Whether it was just a façade or just her quickly changing demeanor, Elise welcomed the view.

“Here,” Sabine said. She held her hands out to Elise, showing her the ice cream she held. “I got the most standard flavors imaginable. You can pick.”

Elise reached out her hand to the vanilla ice cream. “That’s the second time today. I feel like I’m taking advantage of your kindness.” She cheered Sabine with her bowl. “Thanks.”

Sabine shook her head. “I’m just a nice person like that.” She giggled, then dug into her scoop. “How come you wanted vanilla?” she asked.

It was obviously a blatant attempt at trying to find neutral conversation territory.

“I guess I’m spoiled,” Elise mumbled, smudging ice cream on her cheek. She wiped it off with a finger, then licked the cream off it with a movement, so fluid anyone could tell that she had done it countless times before. “You might have heard of Belgian chocolate.” She registered Sabine nodding from the corner of her eye. “Well, I don’t trust chocolate from anywhere else to ever get to that level.”

“So you never even give it a try?” Sabine asked skeptically. “Here,” she said, scooping up some ice cream on the flimsy wooden spoon. “Mine is delicious, and I insist you try it.” She shoved her spoon in Elise’s direction, emphasizing its presence with a hand wiggle. The woman was still feeling reluctant. "“If it’s bad, I’ll eat my shoe. How about that?” Sabine asked, inching closer.

Elise rolled her eyes, wrapping her lips around the offering.

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