Honey Daiquiri
When life gives you lemons, ask your sister to make a meringue! #Optimism
by Nicole Brown
Daiquiri’s Darling
There I was dangling on the edge of destruction, ready to throw away the day-dream of falling in love and one day getting married when suddenly — at the end of the dark tunnel two giant beaming eyes blinked back at me, reflecting the sun behind their giant binoculars. That’s right. It took seven years, but I — Daiquiri Katherine Sax — have a real life, un-animated, non-fictional, alive without Wi-Fi, semi-functional boyfriend! And I don’t have to share him with Bugsy!
Talking about games you guys. ’Cause Cullen Stanton Rutherford is all of the above to me. Aahh…Cullen…
But I digress.
‘Wanna get something to eat?’ Bic says as we walk out of Honey’s close turning towards the bus stop.
‘Err…sure, why not, food is good.’ We start walking towards the gates into the massive unending park more accurately known as the gates into Narnia as Bic turns to me and smiles and I awkwardly smile back.
‘So um…How’s Honey?’
‘She’s good…just dealing with marriage stuff and baby stuff, that kind of stuff.’
‘Honey’s pregnant?’
‘Oh no, not yet anyway but she will be soon if…actually never mind it’s complicated.’
‘Oh ok… but she’s ok?’
‘Oh yeah…actually no…maybe for the first time I’m not actually sure…but she will be — she always is.’
‘Oh…ok then that’s good.’ We walk past the park drifting into silence as a fleet of dogs rush past us and I jump to the side of the path into the bush, dodging out of their way. Something grabs onto my hand as I snap it away, jumping back from the bush, ready to fight. Bic blinks back at me behind his glasses confused as I look back at the bush prepared.
‘Did you see that?’
‘See what?’
‘The bush grabbed me - did you not see that?’
‘No, I did.’
‘You did what?’
‘I tried to hold your hand?’
‘Oh. Why?’ I ask genuinely confused as Bic looks away, smiling embarrassed. He’s cute when he’s embarrassed.
‘Erm…because you’re my girlfriend?’ I pause a moment allowing the words to slowly sink in as he blinks back at me unsure what to do or where to look and I can’t help but smile back insanely amused.
‘Oh yeah!’ I say before bursting into fits of laughter as he lets out a relieved breath smiling back at me.
‘You’re actually crazy.’
‘Yeah that’s my bad.’ We walk side-by-side and not hand-in-hand as we laugh and I smile back at him. So far so good Daiquiri, so far so good.
‘Where are we going?’ I ask Bic still laughing as he turns to me confused and we continue to walk around Narnia.
‘What do you mean? I’m following you?’
‘I’m following you!’
‘Why would you be following me I don’t know these ends?’
‘I’m following you because it was your idea to eat!’
‘That doesn’t mean I know where we’re going!’ We continue to laugh again struggling to catch our breaths as he wipes tears of laughter from under his glasses.
‘Oh my gosh, ok, follow me.’
‘Well yeah, that’s what I’ve been doing.’
‘Oh shush, this way.’ I tug him by the arm as he swings it forward catching my hand in the air and I turn to him amused. ‘Smooth Bic Tandy, real smooth.’ He smiles as we walk up the bridge — yes there’s an actual bridge in this park, with water and a bear underneath it and everything — Honey says it’s a dog I know it’s a bear— towards the small cafe at the top of the hill. I turn to Bic pointedly as he smiles.
‘See? You knew where you were going this whole time why are you trying to pretend I was the leader?’
‘All this proves is that I’m amazing and I can make lemons out of lemonade.’
‘Huh!?’
‘What?’ Bic laughs shaking his head, and covers his face with his hand in disbelief.
‘You are actually crazy.’ I smile as we walk into the cafe and after several minutes of laughing, deciding what we’re going to eat, laughing some more and settling on the same meal, we sit at the table in the middle of the room.
‘Ok I’m gonna tell you a secret.’
‘Ok sure.’
‘Ok. I had no idea this place existed.’
‘What!?’
‘No wait - hear me out! So I knew that I’d been to a cafe in a park before with Honey but I don’t think it was this one. This place is new. This place is nice! But this place wasn’t that place.’
‘So for all we know this place is terrible and we’re eating human meat?’
‘What is up with you and believing everyone around you is plotting to kill you or others!?’
‘Those referee’s were murderers! It’s the only explanation as to why they were so late to a basketball game.’
‘So not traffic? Or kids? Or anything else?’
‘Nope. Murder. And they hid the bodies in their bags ’cause they had nowhere else to put them.’
‘And you call me crazy.’ Bic smiles at me with massive wide glistening psycho eyes as I can’t help but laugh and the woman behind the till brings us our drinks. He looks up at me smiling cutely. ‘So what do you want to do next?’
‘What do you mean next?’
‘I mean after we leave here and eventually get out of this massive park?’
‘There is no escaping Narnia, you better believe we’re stuck here.’ We laugh again.
‘Oh alright, do you want to hang around the park then?’
‘Like a pedophile?’
‘Seriously Daiquiri!’
‘Ok seriously Bic, I should get home I’ve got college work I didn’t do over the Christmas holidays that I need to do before Bugsy comes over, if he isn’t already over and then we’ve got season two of our anime to finish so I’m gonna head home after this.’ His face deflates as I pause mid-sip of my drink. What did I say? He looks down into his drink, fiddling with the straw upset.
‘Alright so we’re going home after this basically?’
‘Well…yeah I mean I am…’ He nods still not looking up at me as I think a moment on what I said. No obvious reason for offence I don’t think…but then again would I even know?
‘Alright then.’ He takes a long sip of his drink and looks up at me smiling brightly. I smile back but there’s no ignoring it. He’s upset. And suddenly as we finish our meals, get on the bus and come all the way home before saying goodbye. I realize I know very little about my darling boyfriend.
I finish packing up my bag in the hallway as the rest of my peers evacuate the building as quickly as possible. First day back and I should be obsessing over all my overdue work. Instead Bic’s depressed face keeps appearing in my head. What the hell did I say? I zip up my bag annoyed and look up as Cameron and Jack stand at the end of the hall laughing. I smile up at a old acquaintances and remember a time when we were almost friends.
‘Daiquiri, come weigh in on this please!’ Cameron says noticing me from the distance as I smile up at him eagerly — I admit.
‘This isn’t another ‘who would win’ involving Batman right? Because it’s not Batman — it will never be Batman.’ They laugh as before I can form my smile Ricky steps out from beside them. Ricky who has finished his course so really shouldn’t even be here. He smiles at me and I swallow down my instant nerves, smiling flatly back.
‘Ricky thinks that even after the Avengers they’re not gonna make another Hulk movie, I beg you tell him they will.’ They all look at me timidly, maintaining their innocent smiles as if I can’t see the blatant invitation hanging in the air between us. Dear Daiquiri, you don’t have to be alone, be our friends again! Love, popular guys. P.S: don’t tell Katrina! I look down at my bag ignoring every urge to jump full speed into the conversation and instead dip my toe.
‘They won’t. As much as I would love to see Mark Ruffalo go green some more.’ I flash them a quick smile as Cameron and Jack turn to Ricky, their last line of defense as he smiles back at me sadly. That’s right kids, the Daiqui-Ricky show is over. I pick up my bag ready to leave as -
‘Skank!’ I freeze, turning to the side as Katrina walks past me as if in slow motion and everyone in the hall turns to her, then looks back to me in shock — because no, she didn’t really say ‘skank’. I stand there frozen in disbelief at the instant, unbridled rage that’s suddenly built inside my stomach. Oh no…she didn’t. I try to shrug it off. It’s ok Daiquiri, you’ve risen above all that. You don’t care about Katrina anymore. You don’t care that she turned every girl against you, ripped away your best friend and re-opened your old scars when all you ever did was try to help her against all your better judgment — you don’t care! But this time it was different.
It’s one thing to spread false rumors about me behind my back, when we both know they’re a lie. It’s another thing entirely to say it to my face, believing your own lie when we had an unspoken agreement that you could say whatever you want about me to others and make yourself the ‘poor popular victim’. So long as you always remember that I was there. That I know who you really are and I know the true story, so with that, leave me alone. But she’s gone and done it now. She’s called me out in front of everyone in our class. She’s called me out in front of Ricky. So no Katrina, you don’t get to play the victim.
‘Katrina!’ I shout back through the hall as she turns to face me, her cheeks flushed red with both anger and fear. ‘If you have something to say, say it to my face.’ The hall freezes as everyone in our class crowds the halls and Ricky stares between us in shock. Because it’s about to happen. The fight they’ve all been waiting for. But this time there’s no Miles to explain the rules.
#ItsGoinDown-Basement.
Stay tuned for more Daiquiri… It’s about to be a — What? — Girl Fight!
