Talented Misconceptions

By Gina

A/N: This is just a story of two best friends. One happens to be in love with the other. Just my shot of writing some random romantic story. Thanks for reading.

            “Robert! Let’s go!” I yelled, putting my hat on my head and tapping my foot impatiently. I heard a few bangs then the door slamming. I turned around and a familiar sight greeted me.

            Rob lay sprawled on the floor, laughing. He quickly jumped up, ready to get going. He picked his old corduroy jacket, with the holes in the elbows, and slipped it on over his clean red T-shirt. His dark brown hair hung in his eyes and he ran his hand threw to untangle the knots only he thought were there. Rob was a guy that you had to notice. For one, he was tall, really tall, almost four inches past six feet. Then there was how he moved, graceful but strong. He wasn’t traditionally handsome; he was dark and striking, almost exotic.        

          “Well, I found it,” he said, holding his guitar case. He had just come out of his room, The Black Hole, we jokingly called it.

          “Check to see if your guitar is in there,” I laughed, grabbing the thick, scratchy wool blanket off the couch. His fingers flew to the case zipper and pulled it down.

          “Lo and behold, it is!” He grabbed his coffee and his cowboy hat that matched mine, and we set out for the park. His guitar was slung over one shoulder and he walked easily down the street, his other arm draped over my shoulder. We came to our favorite part of the park and I shook the blanket out on the grass. He sat down cross-legged and took his guitar out of the case. It was mesmerizing to watch him play and it made me feel so amateur next to him. He plucked each string, tuning it to perfection. He unconsciously leaned his ear towards the sound reverberating through the guitar and nodded as he tuned. He put his pick in his mouth and leaned over towards me. He quickly tuned my own guitar, having grown impatient with my sitting there. He grinned up at me.

          “Now that you’ve snapped out of La-la land, we can start playing. What’s the goal today? Six dollars?” he asked, blinking the hair out of his eyes. They were quite brilliant. I don’t think there’s a color to put to his eyes. Blue and green… maybe teal? But they’re not quite teal. It’s amazing how quickly all this can pass through my mind. That probably equaled .3 seconds.

          “No, we’re only aiming for five, at the most,” I said, hitting his hand away from the strings. “Thanks.” I figured I should at least mention something for him tuning my guitar.

          He grinned again and pushed his hat down. He played a few chords before belting Todd Rundgren’s “I Saw the Light”. I sang harmony and played with him. A few people glanced at us and smiled and one little girl got a dollar from her mother and dropped it into my own hat. Next we sang a Goo Goo Dolls song, “Acoustic #3”, him singing melody and me joining in on the harmony. It turned out to be a bit more popular with some of the kids there, and we got three more dollars during that. I don’t really remember the other songs we played. Some Saturdays we play all oldies and others we play so many different songs. The sun was beating down on my forehead and I was really wishing for my hat back but we kept playing and laughing when I messed up. Rob took off his hat and set it on my head, smiling knowingly. I smirked gratefully.

          Finally we stopped playing and lay back on the blanket. It scratched my arms I wriggled around. Rob laughed; it rumbled out of his throat and I started to laugh too. He sighed and we stared up at the clouds.

          “That one looks like a cat,” he said, his voice just above a whisper. He was pointing at a cloud to my left and I tilted my head.

          “Eh, I don’t see it. I can see a face with swirling hair, but no cat.”

          He rolled over towards me and leaned up against me, taking my hand. He held it in his own and pointed at the cloud, then began tracing where the cat was. I could barely concentrate on the cloud, what with his breath on my neck.

          “Now do you see it?” he asked, and looked down at me.

          “Yup. Do you want to pack up now?” I almost choked on my own words. Did he have to be so close? He smiled again.

          “Sure. Let’s go.” He stood up, our close proximity disappearing and apparently leaving no affect on him as it had to me. He put his guitar in the case and dumped the money out of my hat. I stood up and folded the blanket, then put my own guitar away. We slung our guitars over our shoulders and he put my hat on his head. He draped his arm across my shoulders and we walked slowly down the path. He smelled really good. Whatever cologne he had on and something else, smelled like... him.

          We took a shortcut through an alley and came out to a tiny market place with a fountain in the center. Last year I took a photography course, and Rob said he would be my “subject” for an assignment. I took the pictures here and some of them are framed on the wall.

           “Good afternoon!” Mr. Luccetti yelled to us through his window of his shop. “What will you be having today? Chocolate and vanilla? You know I have the best gelato in the whole city!”

          “Buongiorno Mr. Luccetti!” I yelled back and Rob laughed with me. He took his arm away from me and walked into the store. I followed in quickly as Mr. Luccetti was coming out from behind the counter.

          “Bella! You look more beautiful every time I see you!” he said, hugging me. The other customers looked at me, and I felt a blush rising on my cheeks. I smiled self-consciously and glanced at Rob. He was smiling and I thought he looked at me differently. No, he was just laughing at my

embarrassment. Damn.

          “Mr. Luccetti,” I said, scolding him with my tone. “No, I think I’m going to try that raspberry lime Rickey ice cream.”

          “And I’m going to get pumpkin ice cream,” Rob said and Mr. Luccetti smiled and hugged him too. He pulled us both into a hug then turned to his customers, one of his arms around each of us and announced,

          “Is this not the most beautiful couple you’ve ever seen?”

          The people smiled and laughed and went back to eating their ice cream. Robert smiled and patted Mr. Luccetti on the back.

          “Now, now, now. What have we told, time and time again? We are not a couple. We’ve never been a couple. We won’t be a couple. We’re just friends. Are we going to have you repeat after us, again?”

          Mr. Luccetti laughed. “You are young and foolish. Now let me get your ice cream.” He went back behind the counter and busied himself with the new task at hand. Rob leaned close to me, his lips next to my ear.

          “Do you think he’ll ever remember?”

          I turned my head to look at him, our lips close. “No. But it’s a fun tradition.”

          He pulled away and grinned. “It’s even more fun watching you squirm every time he calls you beautiful, Bella,” he whispered, emphasizing my name. I love how he says my name. It’s no different than how anyone else says it, just that it comes from him. That makes it so much more enjoyable to hear.

          “Here you are!” Mr. Luccetti handed us our ice creams, and Rob gave him the four dollars and seventy two cents we’d earned.

          “I can’t take this-” Mr. Luccetti started to say but both Rob and I yelled, “Take it!”

            “All right! All right!” he laughed, and shook his head. “Someday, you will let me give you your ice cream for free!” He turned away, mumbling about his favorite customers. I looked up at Rob and tilted my head towards the door. We walked back outside and wandered around the market, slowing eating our ice creams. I found a booth that sold scarves and saw a red and gold scarf. It had purple jewels sewn randomly over the fabric and I ran my fingers along it. Rob was trying on sunglasses. I picked up the scarf and walked over to the woman who owned the booth.

          “Excuse me, how much is this?”

          She turned around and smiled, eager to help a customer with money. Her eyes flickered to the scarf in my hand and she smiled.

          “Ah, one of my favorite items. Also one of my more expensive ones. This happens to be hand-made with rare home-spun silk.”

          I nodded, waiting for the verdict. She sighed, knowing I couldn’t afford it. She gave me a weak smile with a shrug.

          “Seventy-five dollars.”

          I felt my jaw go slack. I expected it to be expensive, but thirty dollars is expensive for me. And this was a scarf. A scarf. And it cost seventy five dollars. I knew it was ridiculous, but at that moment, I wanted the scarf more than I could possibly imagine. I shrugged and smiled.

          “Ok then. I’ll just be putting it back.”

          The woman put up her hand, as if to stop me.

          “I can give it to you for sixty?”

          I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I don’t have it.”

          “That’s the lowest I can go,” the woman warned.

          “I can’t afford it. Thank you, though.”

          I folded the scarf and put it back on the cart, glancing at it longingly while I walked over to Rob, who was now absorbed with old photographs a man was selling. I took the ice cream out of his hand and licked the bottom. It had started to melt. He hadn’t noticed.

          “Hey now! Your welcome!” He laughed and shook his head.

          “It’s good. Try,” I said simply and stuck my ice cream in front of his face. He took it from me and I winced as his fingers grazed over mine. I hate how he affects me. He licked some of the pink ice cream from the top and I stared at his lips. He nodded, agreeing with nothing in particular.

          “Mmm. Very good.”

          I pointed at the corner of his mouth.

          “I hope you’re not saving that for later.”

          “I’d planned on it actually. How much is there?”      

          “Not much. Want a napkin?”

          “How about you just lick it off, hmm?” He cocked an eyebrow, and grinned, sure I wouldn’t. But instead of laughing like he expected, I stood on my tip-toes and traced my tongue along the corner of his mouth. He smirked when I stood back down and looked up at his face, smiling sweetly.

          “Touché,” he admitted, a spark flaring in his eye.

          “Well I-” I started to say, when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and was surprised to see my… well, boyfriend, standing behind me. His lips were pursed together and he was very pale.

          “Adam, what’s wrong?” I asked, sincerely concerned. He looked like the time he had that asthma attack when we were skiing. He pointed a finger in my face and spat out accusingly,

          “You said there was nothing between you two!” He said loudly, glaring at Rob, before settling back to me. “You promised. You swore that even though you two lived together, there was absolutely nothing going on. Of course, how could I have been so stupid? Here you are kissing and laughing like you’re… in love! You’ve probably been sleeping with him this whole time!”

          “Hey-” Rob started to say, angry and ready to come to my defense, but I cut him off.

          “Adam, are you breaking up with me? If you are, say so. Because I have no intention of standing here and listening to you bitch and whine over falsifications, ok? And if you aren’t breaking up with me, then I’m ending this now. I’m not going to waste my time with some suspicious, little twit who’s self-centered and paranoid and who’s convinced everyone’s out to get him. So what’ll it be?”

          He stared at me, sputtering off nonsense, before shutting up.

          “I guess we might as well break up then. I don’t want to be dating a lying, cheating slut.”

          “And I don’t want to date a self-righteous, bad lover,” I whispered venomously, before turning on my heel, grabbing Rob’s hand and walking away. I half ran, half walked to a side alley, before I leaned up against the wall. I don’t really know why, but tears started to spill from my eyes, and I clamped my hand over my mouth to prevent my self from crying. I don’t even know why I was upset. I hadn’t even really liked Adam all that much. And he had been an awful lover. But he’d been genuine throughout most of our relationship… or I thought he had been. Maybe I just didn’t like that he’d insulted me so harshly, and degraded me. That might have been it…

          I was suddenly aware that Rob’s arms were around me, and that he was caressing my hair. His shirt was wet, and I had slid my hands under the guitar case and was clutching his shirt, crying into his chest. I don’t remember this happening, but I must have been too preoccupied with my thoughts.

          “Come on, don’t cry. He was an ass anyway,” Rob cooed into my ear, and I turned my face into his neck and smiled.

          “I thought you didn’t mind Adam,” I whispered, lifting my lips to his jaw line.

          “Oh no, I never really liked him. But you did, so I wasn’t going to badmouth him or anything.”

          “Oh.”

          We stood there for a few more minutes, letting my shaking and shuddering quiet before he pulled back and awarded me a priceless smile.

          “Was he really a bad lover?”

          I laughed, and wiped my eyes, my hands shaking a little. “Yes, horrible. I was always sore afterwards. He has no idea what being gentle is.”

          Rob laughed with me, and slung his arm over my shoulder, like he had done just an hour before. I sighed and leaned into him, snaking my arm around his waist.

          “Tonight, we will be going out. We can do whatever you want. How ‘bout it? It’s not like you’re going out with Adam, right?” Rob lowered his gaze down to me, while keeping his head up and walking ahead.

          “All right. Some movies are being played in the park. And I want noodles, so we’ll swing my Lu Chong’s. You like their egg rolls.”

          He nodded, and hummed a song to himself, lost in thought. I smiled as we walked home.

A/N: So how do you like it? Just review and tell me. These are my original characters. I realize I sort of go into a lot of detail with their day, but hey.