temptations // mabel blitz!

MALLORY
DU PONT

She wore lemon colored dungaree shorts with her dad's large sweater beneath. She thought it must've been from one of their trips to the hospital, because the color was this drab gray-white, and the material was thick and just a bit scratchy. Anyway, she was feeling exceptionally cute, spinning around on her maryjanes and waving goodbye to her friends as they headed toward the direction of their homes while she went in a different direction toward hers.

Abel's voice caught her off guard. They'd spoken several times before, the two of them technically in the some of the same social circles, but everyone at this school had spoken at some point. Despite all of this, Abel had always remained one of life's mysteries to her. The only things she knew were things she was told of from others and that one time he asked her if she was going to finish her fries in the cafeteria while his fingers absently fidgeted with his shirt tail.

"Oh! My Dad would've been so mad, thank you!" She called, shoveling the wallet back into her bag and busying her fingers with trying to fix the broken zipper. She got so focused on it, she barely noticed that the boy was turning to walk away.

"Wait, hey!" she cantered forward, hopping more than walking or running, only stopping once she was in front of him and blocking his path.

"Let me make it up to you. Late lunch at Octoburger. My treat!" She gave him her best puppy dog eyes, and then for added good measure, "I'm not taking 'no' for an answer."

MALLORY
DU PONT

She locked her arm into his, smiling as she dragged him along.

Here's a secret: she'd heard the rumors. She guessed everyone always heard every rumor eventually. She liked to think she'd gotten the rough end of the deal, having two doctors in the family and still always having some kind of ailment that required her to lie about why she couldn't go out. But she knew there were people in far worse situations. Well, knew she'd been told that, at least. And he was one of them.

But tragedy doesn't define a person anymore than anything else in the past does. So she walked forward with him , her chin held high.

"The name's kinda confusing," she admitted, "Because it makes me think of octopus, but they don't serve seafood. Which, ironically, is why I go there!" A beat, a pause, a raised eyebrow and a comical whisper.

"I'm allergic. It's scandalous, I know. Don't repeat it."

MALLORY
DU PONT

She laughed at his words, though she couldn't tell if they were even meant to be funny or not. The hand that wasn't interlocked with his reached across her chest and playfully tapped him on the shoulder, "No!" She said it with a wisp of a giggle.

She hadn't really ever thought of him as funny. To be fair, when they sat at lunch, he was usually having different conversations than she was, her always talking about the spring play with her friends as long as they would listen, while he and the other boys talked about gross guy stuff. She realized, again, that this was sort of the first real conversation she'd had with him, despite their close proximity.

"I mean, they do serve burgers. But also, like, veggie burgers, and... Wait! No, that's still a burger. They make chicken! They make chicken, and they make, um, salads."

A moment's pause filled with more confused laughter.

"It's really good, I swear!"