Deliquesce

del·i·quesce

/ˌdeləˈkwes/

A fancy word for melting.

Or at least that's what word-enthusiast April Morow found in her favorite online dictionary. She had been looking for elegant-sounding terms to impress her teachers with, and deliquesce was just perfect for her new paper. 

Eyes still trained on her phone, April didn't notice that she had bumped into a tall, lanky blonde holding a popsicle.

"Oi, watch where you're going!" He growled at her, lapping up the melted part of his icy blue treat threatening to fall off the stick.

Even though it's pretty cool outside, it's hot enough for the popsicle to deliquesce.

April smiled to herself. Look at her, already using her latest word in a sentence. Has the world ever seen such talent? 

"Hey hey hey, are you even listening to me? Pretty dang rude of you to not apologize after walking into me. What if you made me drop my popsicle, huh? I'll have you know I have a date later and my crush will ditch me on the spot if I got my shirt dir---," April interrupted the rambling teen with a wave of her hand.

"Sorry, my bad. I should have payed attention to where I was going. Have fun on your date!"

Without another word, April left, her dyed red hair swishing behind her. She headed towards her favorite cafe-and-library, a little hole in the wall located behind the park.

The bell rang as she walked inside, signaling her presence to the staff.

“Hey there April, can I get you your usual?” The friendly cashier asked, flashing her a grin.

“Yep, thanks Soka. Ooh, and add a blueberry muffin please.”

About two hours and three muffins later, April finally set down the book she was reading. It was getting pretty late in the afternoon, and she had promised her friend group she would meet her at the movies at 6pm. 

Waving goodbye to the cafe staff, April grabbed her purse and prepared to leave. Just as she was about to push the door open, a blonde guy stomped in.

“Soka! An iced Americano, no cream or sugar!” He ordered.

“You got it, Jay.” Soka answered, seemingly unaffected by the man’s rudeness.

April took a second look at the blonde and realized it was the same guy she bumped into earlier.

Then she noticed the blue stain on his dress shirt.

The blonde huffed and sat down at a stool to wait for his order, pulling his phone and earbuds out. Too intrigued to leave, April sat down beside him.

“Guess your date didn’t go well, hm?” She asked, trying to contain her giggles.

‘Jay’ rolled his eyes and and sighed. “You’re that girl from this morning. And yeah. She totally ghosted me.”

“Sucks.”

“Yeah.”

The two sat there in silence. April felt pretty bad for the guy, she couldn’t even imagine what it’d be like to get ditched for having a stain on your shirt.

“So what’s your name?” He asked, glancing over at her.

“I’m April. You’re Jay, I guess?”

“Nah, I prefer Jason. Soka just calls me Jay because he’s lazy.”

A yell of “I heard that!” sounded from the back, eliciting snickers from the two teens.

“Well… my friends and I are going to the movies later. Why don’t you come? It’s Saturday anyways.” April suggested. “Don’t worry, we’re not serial killers.”

Jason pondered this, then nodded. “Sure, why not? As long as your friends won’t hate my guts for dropping my popsicle.”

“I’ll let them know not to.”

April waited for Jason to finish his coffee, then led the way to the movie theater which was only a 20 minute walk from the cafe.

Upon entering, April was immediately surrounded by her friends.

“Oooh April! You didn’t tell us you’d be bringing a date!” One of the girls squealed, only to get punched in the arm.

“Yeah no. I found this poor guy left all alone and decided to let him tag along. Right, Jason?” April said, completely ignoring the wince on the boy’s face.

“Well,” Jason muttered, running a hand through his hair, “when you put it that way it makes me sound pathetic.”

The group eventually went into the theater, after purchasing their tickets and bowls of popcorn.

Just Jason’s luck that April and her friends chose a romance movie.

Despite groaning and cringing at the cheesiness, the group really enjoyed the night, laughing and making noise. They were shushed so many times by the couple in front of them that they almost risked getting kicked out.

About two hours later, the group prepared to part ways. Jay was officially accepted into the group, and everyone planned to meet again the next week.

Coincidentally, April and Jay happened to live in the same direction, so the two waved goodbye to their friends and headed home.

A comfortable silence filled the air, both teens being absorbed in their own thoughts.

Jay was the first to break the silence.

“So… hey um, thanks for— well, y’know. Thanks for inviting me to your little get together.” 

“Yeah, no problem. It was fun.”

The two fell back into quietness, until April spoke up again.

“I don’t think your crush is right for you if she ditched you just for getting a stain on your shirt.”

Jay sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Mm, yeah I guess. She was just really pretty… it’s whatever.”

April hummed. “Didn’t you ever learn to not to judge books by their covers?”

“Oh shut up. You sound like my grandmother.”

“Hey!”

Laughter consumed the two friends, and Jay couldn’t help but notice how April’s eyes sparkled under the moonlight, as cliche as that sounded.

Eventually April reached her neighborhood, bidding goodbye to the blonde whose own neighborhood was further ahead.

April took off her shoes at the door to her house and went upstairs, flopping onto her bed.

She whipped out her phone and saw a new text from Jay. She forgot they had exchanged numbers earlier.

Jay: Hey. Did you make it home safe? No one kidnapped you?

April grinned, appreciating Jay’s sense of humor.

April: Yep. No kidnappings here. Wbu?

Jay: Same. Mom yelled at me for ruining my shirt.

April: Man, what’s with the women in your life getting mad so often?

Jay: IKR! I’m exhausted at this point.

The texts went on and on, until April’s mother finally asked her to go to sleep. 

Who knew a melting popsicle would spark such a nice friendship? Maybe she should bump into more people holding melting stuff.

‘Ah no, not melting,’ April thought, smiling to herself, ‘deliquescing.’