Steve would be the first to admit, itās a dumb habit.
Something he picked up over a decade ago, when his friendship with Tommy and Carol was still new. He didnāt believe the superstition ā¦ but it was hard not to.
āYou know apples know who youāre gonna marry,ā Carol said over lunch one day.
Steve looked up from his meatloaf. It seemed a little silly to believe, but he believed in love at first sight, so why wouldnāt he believe that apples could hold a truth like that?
Tommy, on the other hand, didnāt believe it. He wrinkled his nose, āNo they donāt!ā
āYes they do!ā Carol huffed. āMy sister told me so. You twist the stem and after each twist, you say a letter of the alphabet, and when it pops off, thatās the first letter of the personās name youāre gonna marry!ā
āThatās not true,ā Tommy said. āYouāre making that up.ā
Carol frowned. āFine! Donāt believe me.ā She picked up her lunch tray and moved tables, sitting next to Heather and Tina.
āThatās totally fake,ā Tommy said.
āRight,ā Steve agreed.
They both picked up their apples, twisting off the stems.
Tommyās stem came off after three twists.
Steveās came off after five.
All of fourth grade, Steve tried to figure it out. Could it be Emily or Elizabeth? Eleanor was a grade above him, and Emma was a grade below. He tried to figure it out, maybe even had a playground kiss or two, but nothing came out of his apple stem.
Any time he had an apple, he twisted the stem off, quietly reciting the alphabet until it came off.
Eventually, he forgot why he did it. Forgot to keep track of the letter he stopped on before taking a bite.
āWhy do you do that?ā Robin asked one day at Scoops Ahoy. āThe alphabet thing.ā
āOh,ā Steve looked at the stem pinched between his fingers. The reason was on the tip of his tongue, but he knew once he said it, Robin would find a reason to add another tally. He took a bite. āI donāt know actually.ā
Robin frowned. āDonāt talk with your mouth full, caveman.ā
Steve shrugged his shoulders, taking another bite of his apple. Robin dropped it, never asking Steve again.
But after Starcourt āburnedā down, Robin picked up the habit too.
Reciting the alphabet as she twisted off the stem. Sheād make it halfway through the alphabet before her stem would come off.
Steveās stems never held on that strong.
Steve twisted the stem of his Granny Smith apple, the alphabet barely a whisper as the stem fell off.
āIs there a rhyme or reason for that?ā Eddie asked. āRemoving the stem like that?ā
āNope,ā Robin said as she threw her stem towards Eddie. āItās like playing with your food before you eat it.ā
āWith letters?ā Eddie asked.
āYeah,ā Robin said. āI got to N. Steve hardly ever gets past E.ā
Itās such a habit, he didnāt realize what letter he stopped on.
He turned to face Eddie and ā
āItās a soulmate thing,ā Steve blurted out, not realizing he was interrupting whatever conversation Robin and Eddie were having. āA ā soulmate. Yeah. You ā uh ā twist the stem. And whatever letter you land on is the person youāre supposed to marry.ā
The three of them sat in silence, the stem pinched between Steveās fingers as the center point of attention.
He lifted it up for emphasis.
āE,ā he said. āIt landed on E. Always landed on E.ā
Eddieās expression was unreadable.
Maybe, Steve was wrong ā
Eddie leaped halfway onto the kitchen island, yanking an apple from the fruit center piece and started to twist the stem.
āWhat are you doing?ā Robin asked, exasperated by his antics. āDid you just miss what Steve said?ā
āYes Robin, I heard exactly what he said.ā
āShouldnāt you be jumping for joy? Or you know, kissing him?ā
Eddie raised the apple in his hands. āI gotta get to the letter S, give me a second.ā
Steve found himself grinning over Eddie. A silly habit of picking apple stems actually paid off.
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