Cherry Pie

DROP TWO

DROP TWO

It was getting late. The doorbell rang, and Hector went to answer it.

“Is it Cherry? Tell her I’ve been waiting for ages,” Pickle said, shouting across the rooms.

Hector came back carrying a box. It was a cooler box from a local soft-drink brand, Lοux. “Nope, wasn’t her. A courier dropped this off, and…” he read the attached ARO object. “Oh, it’s for you, actually.” He slid it across the table towards her.

Pickle perked up. “Me? Ooh! What is it?” She opened the cooler and found treasure inside. “Oh, by Athena’s t**s, this is so awesome!” She popped one shaker open and held it up.

Hector leaned in over the cooler, making a face. “What is it?”

“It’s Pickle Juice Slushies! I had never even thought of that! It’s ingenious. Here, try it!” she pointed the straw towards him.

He raised his palm. “Eww, no thanks. You can have my share.”

Then she noticed the colour. “Ugh, I have a bad feeling about it.”

“What?”

“It’s yellow-green.”

“So? It’s artificial colouring, anyway.”

“No, no, see, it’s far too diluted a colour to match up with a proper pickle brine.”

Hector seemed amused and resigned. “What is the proper pickle brine?”

She shrugged, eyes to the side. “Hm, something like a rich forest green. You know, pickle-like.”

Hector didn’t seem impressed. He spoke with his tongue on the top of his mouth. “Uh-huh. Whatever. Are you gonna try it?”

The slushie was cold, condensation gathering all over the shaker. She put her lips on the straw and took a sip. “Yup, it’s sweet. It’s not that good.”

“What was it supposed to be?”

Pickle took an ‘are you kidding me,’ pose. “Sour, of course.”

“Of course.”

She licked her lips, tasting it around. “There’s a relish-like aftertaste that sticks around. This drink isn’t made for pickle-lovers.”

“Really? Damn. Throw it away then.” He reached for the cooler.

“f**k, no!” she complained, pulling it away.

He chuckled. “Okay. So, what do they want?” He spun the ARO and read it out loud. “Dear Patricia Georgiou, we would be honoured if you and your owner tasted our new slushie flavour and agreed to a sponsorship by us. We have attached the terms of the proposed contract, but we really want to work with you, so please get back to us with any concerns you may have and we’ll do our best to smooth them over.”

Pickle’s eyes went wide. “This means… This means that I…”

Hector smiled wide and nodded. “That you just got a sponsorship!”

Pickle let out a laugh of joy and then choked it down. She raised an augmented finger. “Don’t say it.”

Hector leaned on the wall and raised his shoulders, looking all smug. “I was just gonna say-”

“Don’t you say it!” Pickle grabbed the cooler box in a tight hug and darted towards her room.

“Seriously, all I was gonna say was-”

“Don’t, f*****g, say it!” she screamed across the rooms.

“I told you so!” Hector shouted, obviously feeling full of himself.

She kicked her door shut.

“A ‘thank you, Hector,’ would be nice, you know. Since I told you so!” he shouted.

Pickle bit down her reply.

She could hear his footsteps coming all the way to her door. He spoke through it, his voice coming in muffled. “Are we gonna reject the sponsorship then?”

“Are we suddenly made of money? Of course not!” she scoffed. “Just open the door.”

Hector peeked in. “I agree, obviously,” he said. “Then what do we do? You can’t endorse a product you don’t like.”

“Easy. I’m gonna go to their offices and tell them what they need to fix. It’s gonna be amazing!”

“Ouch, I’m feeling sorry for them already,” Hector winced, then shut the door and left.

Pickle crawled on her bed and held the bundle of piss-coloured ice in her arms. She took another sip. Mmm, no. Still too sweet. Yeap, she was definitely gonna fix this product.