A Flutter in Time

Chapter 9 - Misunderstanding

Everything was perfectly fine! There was no reason for it not to be! Sure, his fox ears were twitching, but that's just because Etho was excited! Not because he was nervous about his ice cream date with Bdubs. No sir, he was definitely not nervous!

Etho stood next to the little ice cream shop on the corner, waiting. Bdubs was supposed to arrive any second.  He readjusted his mask and fidgeted with his hair.

Soon enough, Bdubs walked up to the parlor, smiling when he saw Etho waiting for him at the door. His signature cheesy, toothy grin made Etho blush.

"Hey Etho!" Ok, maybe he was a bit nervous about this...

"H-Hey Bdubs! How are ya?"

"Good! You ready for some ice cream?"

"Y-yeah!" Etho opened the door, smiling at the little bells that chimed. He stood back and let Bdubs enter the shop first. Etho followed soon after, adjusting his mask over his nose again.

The parlor was nothing special, a few tables, the checkout counter, and a glass case holding different ice cream flavors. The lady behind the counter looked up as she heard the entrance bells.

As her eyes fell on the two, her welcoming smile dropped. She seemed to stare daggers through Etho. Bdubs noticed the sudden tension in the room and grabbed Etho's hand. The lady seemed to get even more angry at this. Etho decided to speak.

"H-Hello?"

"Hi." Her tone was sharp and unpleasant. She looked very mad at him. Etho looked at her nametag, trying to figure out if he knew this lady somehow. Katherine. He didn't know anyone named Katherine. So why did this lady look like she wanted to kill him?

Bdubs pulled Etho up to the glass case and looked over the flavors. Etho took a quick check too and decided on chocolate. Bdubs looked up at Etho.

"Can I get mint chocolate chip?" Etho smiled.

"Get whatever you'd like! I'm paying." Bdubs smiled and turned to Katherine.

"Hello! Can I get a single scoop of mint chocolate chip?"

"Cone or cup?" She spat. She sounded pissed.

"Cone please." Katherine nodded and started scooping the ice cream. She turned to Etho, glaring at him.

"And for you?"

"Uh... single scoop of chocolate. In a cup please."

"How did I know." Katherine said sarcastically. Etho watched as she scooped his ice cream. She seemed to put as little ice cream in his cup as she could, glaring at him the whole time. She rang him up, and charged him two dollars extra.

"Ten dollars twenty four cents is your total Etho." Etho just swiped his card and said nothing. Bdubs looked worried.

"Excuse me miss, but you charged him extra?" She scoffed at Bdubs's remark.

"It's extra for a cup instead of a cone."

"O-oh. Thank you." Bdubs took his ice cream and didn't say anything else, too scared to argue. Etho finished paying and took his own ice cream before leading them out of the shop. Once outside, Bdubs went back to being his loud self.

"What was her deal?" Etho chuckled. 

"I don't know, but she seemed angry." 

"Do you know her?"

"No actually... I don't know what that was."

"Then how did she know your name?" 

"No idea..."