Girlfriend

Scoops Ahoy

I was in the back; I was drawing up the timetable router. Steve sitting next to me, helping. Robin called from the front of the shop. "Hey, dingus, your children are here,"

(🎶A SINGLE MUM WHO WORKS TWO JOBS. WHO LOVES HIS KIDS AND NEVER STOPS🎶)

Steve rushed to the sliding window. He opened them and said, "Again? Seriously?".

The boy dinged the bell one more time. Steve let them go to the back and opened another door. I rolled my eyes as I heard him say, "I swear if anybody hears about this--" the kids chorused, "We're dead!".

He closed the door and went to the front. "If you keep letting tho-" the power cut out before I could finish my sentence. "That's weird," Steve said. He moved to the light switch and turned it on and off repeatedly.

"That isn't gonna work, dingus," Robin said. "Oh?" Steve said, raising his eyebrows. He flicked the switch on and off at a faster pace. "You are gonna break the switch," I called in a sing-song voice as I pulled a torch from my bag. I held it above the small whiteboard and continued writing up the roster.

"In what scenario do you carry a torch with you?" Steve asked. "In the scenario, I have to ride back home in the dark," I said, writing Steve's name down on the board. The lights came back on outside the shop, Steve flicked the switch and the lights can back on.

"Let there be light," Steve said, now holding an ice cream cone. I sighed and put my torch back in my bag as he left. "Total dud," I muttered, clipping the cap back into the whiteboard marker.

"Well that's the end of my shift, I best be off," I said, pulling my apron off and handing it on the hook, as I slung my bag on my back and left.

The next day

I rode my bike down to the Mall. I hopped off and ran with my bike, I parked it on the bike rack, pulled my bag out of the basket and ran inside. I rushed up the escalator and rushed into Scopes Ahoy, a minute to spare.

"Alrighty, one scoop of chocolate. That's a buck-twenty-five," Steve said passing a girl a chocolate ice cream. I rolled my eyes as he said "Ooh, Purdue. Fancy,". "Yeah, I'm excited," the girl said, followed by a giggle.

"Yeah, you know, I considered it, Purdue, but then I was like, you know what? I think I need some real-life experience -" the girls looked at each other "- you know, before I hit college, see what it feels like." I rolled my eyes again as I hung my bag up and pulled the cap on.

"Kinda like, uh, I don't know, see what it's like to earn a working man's wage, you know? Uh," he stopped as the register started beeping. "Oh, I'm sorry," "I think that's, like, really important," he continued to say. I fake gagged at what he was saying, the girls walked away smirking.

"And another one bites the dust," Robin said holding a whiteboard that was divided into two sides. One side was labelled You Suck, and You Rule. The 'You Suck' side had 5 lines on it, Robin added another line saying, "You are oh-for-six, Popeye,".

"Yeah, yeah, I can count," Steve said, his arms crossed, leaning on the counter. "You know that means you suck," she said, looking at the board. "Yep, I can read, too," Steve said, I had to stifle my laugh so I could say "Since when?".

"It's this stupid hat. I'm telling you, it is blowing my best feature," Steve said as Robin put the whiteboard away. "But I thought you said you wanted to earn a working man's wage. You gotta start somewhere," I said, pouting. "You know, it's a crazy idea, but have you considered... telling the truth?" Robin said.

"Oh, you mean, that I couldn't even get into Tech and my douchebag dad's trying to teach me a lesson, I make three bucks an hour, and I have no future? That truth? " Steve said, with a hit of sarcasm. Damn this was hitting close to home.

My thoughts were distracted by Robin saying, "Hey, Twelve O'clock," which made him turn around to see a light orange, supper curly haired girl with her group of friends wall in. "Oh, shit, oh shit, I'm going in. Okay?" He said. This was gonna be a disaster. "And you know what?-" He threw the hat at me "-screw company policy,"."Oh, my God, you're a whole new man." Robin said, tuning to look at me with a grimace  plastered over her face.

"Ahoy, ladies! Didn't see you there." He said loudly, making the girl gasp. "Would you guys like to set sail"? I stopped listing halfway through his sentence. The girl at the back of the group laughed. Robin rolled her eyes and drew another line on the board on the You Suck side. I giggled as Robin turned around, she was mouthing, "blah, blah, blah," as Steve talked.