Italian at Seven

On February 15th of 1981 at Enoylno, Vertucky, Joey lies on his bed wondering if he’ll ever have a girlfriend, considering how Valentine’s Day had just passed. However, he certainly has this new desire that he won’t be the odd one out and decides that this year he’ll have a girlfriend like all his friends. On the same day, he sets on his journey to find a girlfriend.

Joey had the desire of wanting a girlfriend, so he decided to approach the prettiest girl at school during recess. The prettiest girl's name was Jennifer, who was both very pretty and smart, and she was definitely at the top of his list of the prettiest girls at school. He got the courage to go up and ask if she’d like to be his girlfriend but was obviously rejected. He had really just asked a girl and got so nervous that he didn’t even ask for her name or how she was, he just plainly said, “Do you want to be my girlfriend?”

Even after that horrific attempt to ask out Jennifer, Joey was still determined to ask once again, so he followed her to the mall where she always went after school to ask her once again. Sadly enough, there had been another boy that she was holding hands with. He felt hopeless and went to the ice cream parlor to mope while eating his favorite ice cream, mint chocolate chip. However, he wasn’t the only 6th grader there at the parlor, there was another girl named Charlotte who had just entered. He looked towards her and their eyes locked for a split second then broke. Charlotte was a band kid, so he instantly knew he wouldn’t want her to be his girlfriend. 

Noticing how sad Joey was, Charlotte approached Joey with her own mint chocolate chip ice cream. 

“I heard you got rejected by Jennifer”, Charlotte said.

“Yeah, but why are you even talking to me right now?” Joey questioned.

Charlotte had actually had a crush on Joey because of the fact that they like the same things: mint chocolate chip ice cream, music, and animals. She had finally built up the courage to let Joey know how she felt.

“I’m talking to you because I wanted to say that I like you and get to know you.”

Wow, did she really just tell me that she likes me? A girl liking me, that was surprising, but out of anyone to like me, did it really have to be the band kid.

“Wow”, said Joey.

“I see you like mint chocolate chip, I also like mint chocolate chip. It’s actually my favorite”, said Charlotte.

“Really, are you just saying that so that I can like you back, because I don’t really have feelings for you”, that had come out a lot harsher than he meant, but there was no way he would date her?

Ouch, that hurt, but I’m not giving up yet. This might be my only chance

”No, it’s actually my favorite. I’m not lying. We could go on a date so that we could get to know each other better because I believe we have a lot in common.” said Charlotte. 

I can’t believe she asked me out on a date!. I’ll just say I might be able to go.

“Sure, I can go, but something else might come up, so I’m not 100% sure.”

Charlotte wrote down the time and location of their date on a napkin and then gleefully left.

Joey had just said that he wasn’t interested in her and she still decided to ask him out and that was a big deal for him. Once he came back home he was feeling ambivalent since all he wanted was a date, but not with a band girl. Not being able to decide, he just went to bed and slept on it. His alarm rang and it was the day of the date, feeling energetic he finally decided that he would indeed attend the date since going on one date wouldn’t mean she would be his girlfriend and if he really liked her he could have a date for valentines. Since this was his first-ever date he wasn’t sure what to wear, so he decided on a tuxedo knowing that the place of their date was at an Italian restaurant.

Charlotte wasn’t the type of person to be so straightforward and ask someone out on a date, but it had worked, and know she would be going on a date. Because Joey had said something unexpected might come up, she didn’t get her hopes up. She decided on a casual dress with flowers on it that would match the Italian ice cream vibes.

As the two get ready and wait till 7:00 P.M. They grow more and more nervous. Charlotte thinks they’ll be eating Italian ice cream while Joey thinks they’ll be eating Italian food since there was only one of each store and restaurant at Enoylno, Joey thought he knew what she meant when she wrote down “Italian at 7:00 PM tomorrow”. Joey arrived at the restaurant that was on the second floor right above the Italian ice store. A couple minutes later Charlotte arrives at the Italian ice store which is right under Joey. As they anxiously wait for each other, Joey becomes confused since Charlotte was the one that suggested the date and Charlotte felt sad since it was a Saturday afternoon and was sure Joey had nothing planned. 

They both decided after a whole hour of waiting that they’d had enough and they would leave since no one in their right mind would show up an hour late on their next scheduled date. As Joey left the store and came down the stairs, Charlotte also left the Italian ice store weeping, and then bumped into each other. As they looked each other in the eye they burst into laughter realizing that Joey had gone to the Italian restaurant instead of the Italian ice store. As Joey explained why he thought they would go to a restaurant instead of an Italian ice store for a first date, Charlotte argued that it was obvious that they would go to an ice cream store on their first date since an ice cream store was where they first met. Joey then said, “Even though I don’t know you that well, I think the fact that you like mint chocolate chip ice cream is enough for me to like you.” As the two children realize that they like each other they happily walk together as Charlotte wipes the tears from her eyes. Only if they had met each other two days earlier, it would have been perfect for Valentine’s Day.