Mariana laid out on her couch, and Elena was laid halfway on top of her body, sucking on a coke can as they watched a TV series. It was their usual Friday girl time and Mariana stuffed a pizza slice into her mouth. There was an empty bottle of Fanta on the floor, and they had been through several packets of chips.

"So, what's your Zumba instructor's name?" Elena asked with curiosity. She shuffled closer and invaded Mariana's personal space like she was about to hear some juicy gossip.

"His name is Amell."

"Oh, nice name." Elena had her eyebrows raised as she sucked the coke dry. Her eyes glanced up at Mariana, "so what is he like?"

"He seems nice so far and I had a good time," she admitted with no hint of regret in her voice.

"Did you two go anywhere afterwards?" Elena sat up, still facing her.

"No, because this was early in the morning so I had to go to work."

"Are you gonna meet up again?" Elena asked, wiggling her eyebrows and was smirking at her.

"I don't know... maybe maybe not." Mariana shrugged and laid against the couch.

"Well, I'm glad you're not just sitting around, eating ice cream and being all gloomy, I've seen you like that too much these days." Elena chuckled. "You need to get out of your house and explore."

"I don't have the energy for that." Mariana let out a dramatic sigh.

"Sure you do, your just too lazy and glued to those low notes of your piano."

"Leave me and my piano alone," Mariana said, playfully shoving her a little. She loved that piano too much and it was like something to release all her negative energy.

"Don't be angry at me girl, you know it's true." Elena smiled and gave a little 'hmph' and continued sipping through her straw.

Mariana rolled her eyes and shortly after, her phone buzzed against her thigh. She picked it up and it was a new message from Amell. She picked up her cup filled with bubbly lemonade. She was about to read it when Elena spoke on the side.

"You know when you first told me about this. At first, I thought you had a one-night stand," Elena said, with a bit of a nervous giggle.

Mariana choked on her drink and spluttered it out. It dripped down her chin as she was in shock at what she had just heard.

"What? Why would you think that Elena?"

"I don't know!" Elena's cheeks turned red and she couldn't stop laughing with embarrassment.

Mariana tutted and rolled her eyes as she checked out the message, now feeling slightly awkward because of Elena's comment as her face started burning up.

Amell: Hey how are you?

Mariana: Good, just watching movies with my friend.

Amell: That's nice, I wanted to ask you if you were doing anything tomorrow?

Mariana: No... why?

Amell: I was wondering if you would like to meet up somewhere?

Mariana bit her lip in thinking of a reply. If she was being honest, she did not feel like going anywhere tomorrow and wanted to have a rest.

She began texting him back when Elena suddenly snatched the phone away from her.

"Hey! What are you—" She tried grabbing her phone back but Elena pushed her down and sat on her chest. She pushed Mariana's face down into the cushion while replying to her text for her.

"Don't worry, you'll thank me later," Elena said and chucked the phone to her. She let Mariana take a huge gasp for breath, and Mariana quickly grabbed her phone to see what Elena had done against her will. To her surprise, her plans were now changed and she was meeting Amell for ice cream at this parlor.

"Elena what did you do?" Mariana exclaimed, fixing her posture on the couch and staring at the screen.

"Calm down Mariana, stop being anti-social, you will be fine," Elena said without looking at her.

"But I don't wanna go out!" Mariana whined. She had nothing against being with Amell, but the issue was leaving her house.

"It's okay Mariana." Elena patted her back with sympathy. "If something goes wrong, just text me or I can stalk you for a little bit." She smirked like she was cooking up something sneaky in her head.

"No, no stalking..." Mariana sighed, placing her whole hand on her head and gently massaging the area.

"Do you not wanna go because you're still in that 'I hate all men' phrase?"

"No and I still do," Mariana said but couldn't help laughing a little at how funny that sentence sounded coming from someone else.

Elena laughed along with her and slung an arm around her back. "Don't worry, I'm sure that will soon pass. Come on, who's the man you don't currently hate?"

"My late papa, who else?" Mariana laughed even more.

"Good point!" Elena continued laughing like they were a bunch of crazy, old ladies. Mariana didn't even know why she was laughing anymore but she did so anyway until it died down to the unbreakable stab in her chest. She dissolved into the couch like an inflated balloon, exhausted and her belly started to hurt.

Mariana looked at her phone again and even though she didn't feel like going, she would anyway, and hopefully, the day would get better as the day passed.

****

When it was almost time for Mariana to leave, she got dressed in a denim skirt, a white blouse, and golden sandals. She was still dreading this meetup and thought that something was going to go wrong but she hoped that it would go smoothly.

She held onto her bag, just a few inches from the door as the sunlight welcomed itself in, gleaming over the plant pot that was placed on the window sill. Rio rubbed around her legs and then jumped up to sit down next to him. She looked between him and the door, wondering if it was too late to cancel, but who knows, maybe she would actually end up enjoying herself.

She sighed and clutched her bag as she walked out of the door, into the happy lights of the daytime. She narrowed her eyes a bit as she firmly closed her door behind her and locking it. She let her head hang low as she slowly away from her house. The place where she was meeting Amell was not that far, fortunately, only a few blocks away.

She started her journey down, having a slight frown plastered on her face but it was just her resting face.

With being dragged out of the house.

Her heart started racing out of panic, and she suddenly got a sickly feeling that rose out of her stomach. She didn't know what to expect. Even though they hung out before, so she didn't know why she felt so different today.

When she reached the ice cream parlor, she went inside and Amell was sitting down in a booth near the crystal blue window. He was tapping on his phone so she decided to walk to him silently and give him a surprise.

"Hey," she said quietly once she reached the table. He looked up and she grinned a little at how happy he looked to see her.

"Hey," he said and invited her to sit in the empty seat that faced him. She plopped down into the booth, releasing a mild, empty sigh and swinging her purse along as well as her legs, tucking them under the sparkling table.

"Hi," she said politely. Now that she was here, she was more relaxed, and all the feelings that she had before suddenly dissipated, especially since Amell had his usual, welcoming smile like he always did when she came to Zumba.

"How are you?" He asked, concern flowed through his crispy, soft voice and his eyes glimmered with empathy for her.

"Yeah I'm good!" she answered. She was being genuine this time even though she was having second thoughts about this, but now she was feeling fine about the whole idea.

"I'm glad to hear that you are finally doing well. I thought that you might want to get ice cream to put a smile on your face."

"Aw thank you." Hearing this interest shown to her made her feel happy. Since being cheated on made her practically worthless, and that she would never be enough for anyone, and that there would always be someone better than her, so this was a nice change of pace.

"So, what kind of ice cream would you like?" He held up the menu in front of her, showing all the different, tasty treats that were in colorful writing against the purple sheet. There were also some tempting pictures along the side, but her eyes leaned towards the ice cream sundaes section.

"I think I want one of the sundaes." She pointed to them and then crossed her arms, something for her chin to rest on.

"Okay, I will get you the biggest one." He closed the menu like he knew what he was going to get.

"Oh no, please don't, I will get it myself," She didn't want to be a burden. A nagging burden that Micah was probably fed up with, and wanted to get rid of the first chance he got. Oh well, c'est la vie. It didn't matter anymore.

"No I insist, please let me buy it for you Mariana, I just want you to enjoy yourself," he pleaded.

Mariana narrowed her eyes, suspicion passed by them like a shimmer of light like there was a hidden agenda behind his kindness.

"Is there a catch to it? Are you gonna ask for something in return if I accept?" She muttered, not taking her eyes off him.

"No, just trying to be helpful." He held his arms up in defense. "And I might just ask to hang out again but that is all."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I have no intention of hurting or tricking you Mariana. I know your hurt right now but let me just buy you a sundae."

Mariana went back into the chair, letting her body slide down a little as she tried to discern his somewhat innocent looks. His tone was calm and his face was relaxed. He did seem sincere and genuine so she wasn't going to push her questions further.

"Okay then, you can get me the sundae." She smiled in her decision as he eagerly called a waiter over and gave them their orders.

"So you done anything interesting lately?" Amell asked, propping up his elbows on the table, giving all his attention to her.

"Um not really... went on vacation like a month ago, but I think I need another one to be honest."

"Yeah, I don't blame you. I feel like I need to on vacation myself, maybe to a tropical island or something."

"Oh, I went to one last year. It was really good and had lots of beautiful places, even though I was going through something big in my life, I still managed to enjoy my time there." She smiles, showing off a few of her teeth as she remembered that dreamy destination. Being near that refreshing ocean breeze, trying new food, and where she got to know Micah for the first time.

When their dishes finally came, Mariana had large scoops of chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla ice cream, drizzled with sauces and chunks of Oreos, KitKat, and Ferraro Rocher. She licked her lips at the fountain of goodies that was in front of her to enjoy.

She grabbed her spoon and was about to tuck in when she noticed what Amell got. It was much smaller and more simple than hers and she found that a little bit weird.

"Don't you wanna share this one?" She spoke up.

"No you can have it, Mariana," Amell said, not looking up and devouring his plate.

"But I feel mean that you brought me this big one and you have that little one to yourself."

"No, you can have it to yourself. I don't mind."

Mariana smiled wearily and started eating. She could feel the chocolate dissolving into her tongue, making her moan as she also took some of the hazelnut balls. She also took scoops of the strawberry and now, all her mind could focus on was the sugary delight and nothing else.

"Amell, you should really try some of this," she mumbled with a mouthful and tapped the edge of the glass.

He then leaned over and took a bit at the bottom. Mariana watched him as his cheeks puffed out one after the other like he was critiquing it.

"That's actually so nice, can I take more?"

"Sure, go ahead."

They started eating together from Mariana's plate. It was quite big and they had a lot to finish, but Mariana didn't mind spending her whole day eating there. All feelings of regret felt like yesterday and she was glad that she got dragged out. She would have probably been sulking at home but instead, she was now enjoying a sundae.

"Amell, what's your favorite dessert?" Mariana asked casually. She was more relaxed as her lips sucked off the cream off the spoon as it slowly slipped out of her mouth.

"I like cakes and gingerbread cookies. One time when I was younger, my sister and I entered a contest to make this gingerbread house."

"Oh wow, that is so cool! Do you have a picture?"

"Yeah, I'm sure I do." He took out his phone and then started going years back into his gallery.

"Did you eat it afterwards?" Mariana asked.

"I didn't want to eat it because it looked too good to be eaten, but when we brought it home, our parents took it and had it all to themselves," he grumbled with spite.

"Aw that's so sad, so you didn't even get a little bite?"

"Nope, but now I wish I could."

"Aw never mind, I'm sure you will get another chance, hopefully."

Amell smiled at how encouraging she sounded, it was one of the things he liked about her, how she was able to light up the room with just her smile, and how positive she was when she came to Zumba.

"Found the photo," he said and turned the phone to face her. On the screen was a small open house. with a pattern of blue and orange icing along the roof, a candy cane fence, and lots of sweets that decorated the walls, with a little gingerbread man inside.

"Aw, that looks so cute! Now I wish you had a chance to eat it," Mariana squealed.

"Thank you, me too." Amell then put his phone back in his pocket and resumed eating. "So what's your favorite!"

"Chocolate cake! The best of the best!" Mariana exclaimed like a little girl and lifted her spoon. She started laughing and Amell laughed along with her.

"Yeah chocolate cake is the best cake."

They ate more of the sundae until there was only melted ice cream at the bottom. Mariana felt stuffed but satisfied, she was definitely going to come here again.

"Amell, can we go jogging tomorrow again?"

"Oh, you wanna do that again?"

"Yeah, I had fun doing it last time."

"Alright then, I'll text you a time when we can meet."

"Okay." Mariana was beaming as she ate her ice cream. This was going way better than she ever predicted. 

A/N: Hey I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Have you ever felt a bit nervous going out with someone but then you actually felt better after you did it? XD