ldb: ice cream

I know it's really, really cliche to bring this up, but you know how in movies there is always that mean girl in high school who used to be your childhood best friend (because you guys are neighbors and your moms are best friends) before she discovered that you were a frizzy-haired loser with glasses and that she could do so much better? I lived through that. I spent every waking hour in panic from ninth to twelfth grade, preparing to race this brat to the bus stop and get the first empty seat in the back.

Not that those years were miserable or anything, because they were certainly memorable. But after Izzy--and yup, her name is Izzy. She should have been the one with frizzy hair, if you ask me, since it rhymes with her name and all--ditched me in fourth grade, I began an indulgence in ice cream. I was so sad then that all I did was go home and eat chocolate ice cream. I ate so much that finally, I puked during a fifth grade ice cream social and didn't go near it again.

But because of daycare, because Elise shoved some in my mouth one sugar-high afternoon, I got addicted again. It's more of a normal-dosed guilty pleasure but Laurie thinks it's an addiction. It's my daily dessert. And today when I opened the freezer, I realized that I had run out so naturally I dashed for my car to buy some more at the local store.

And of course, of all ex-classmates I had to stumble into, of all places, it had to be Izzy, finding me in the middle of my reaching for three small cartons of Haagen-Dazs.
"Hello, Lea," she addressed me coolly, the hand with a diamond ring flying to her mouth in mock surprise. Married or just plain swanky, I didn't bother guessing which. "What a surprise to find you here."
"Hi, Iz," I said, dumping the ice cream into my cart.
She raised her eyebrows. "Grew back into your ice cream habit, I see."
"Pretty obvious considering what I'm buying."
"No, I know just by looking at you." Izzy gave me the once-over and smirked.
I said, "Are you calling me fat?"
"I'm getting married in a few months," was her reply.
"It's a surprise you didn't die of happiness already."
Izzy smiled calmly, hand lowered from her mouth now that the bragging was over. "Isn't it?" she shrugged, pushing her cart past me. "Goodbye, Lea."

After she left, I looked down at my cart and my stomach started feeling very queasy. I had started this whole ice cream craze because of Izzy, and now she was also going to be the cause for its end. As I put the last carton back inside the store freezer, I felt extremely pleased, like a runner who had finally come up victorious after long, hard training and previously failed races.

Speaking of which, I should really start running again.