Healing Takes Time

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

The rest of the day dragged on. Marco had texted me and said that they were going to see the headwaters of the Mississippi. He promised to take some pictures for me, but I told him that he didn't have to since Mom and Dad had told us that we would probably go one of these days.

I opened the freezer and stared at my shake. I was torn between wanting to try it again and wanting to save my mouth the trouble.

I heard voices coming from the window behind me above the sink. It sounded like Eren and Mikasa. An evil idea came to mind, and I grinned.

I snatched the shake in my hands and gathered some of the ice cream on it. I stuck it in my mouth just as they walked in the door.

"Eren, all I'm saying is, you didn't have to do that to her."

He glared at her. "Yes, I did!"

"What happened?" I asked, pretending that hell hadn't frozen over in my mouth.

"He started getting mad at that girl Sasha for trying to eat our sand castle. It was shaped like an ice cream cone."
I started laughing. Ice cream almost flew up my nose.

"Quit laughing!" Eren growled. When I laughed harder, he snatched my shake from my hands and started eating it as fast as he could. I was surprised that he didn't notice I wasn't pissed off.

"Eren!" Mikasa chastised. "Stop being--"

"No, no, Mikasa," I told her. "He's fine."

When the shake was halfway gone, he stopped and looked up at me. "Hey, Jean. What flav--"

His mouth caught fire.

His eyes grew super wide. "Oh my God."

"Take another bite and it'll cool off," I sang.

He immediately did. It wasn't long before the coolness of the ice cream itself wore off, and he had to take another bite.

Mikasa looked between the two of us. It actually looked like she was shaking her head. "What'd you do to it, Jean?" Her voice was amused, not accusing. It was a good thing that Eren had had it instead of her. It it'd been her, I would've received a death glare and kick to the balls. Also, hot stuff barely fazed her.

"Nothing. Just got a fire and ice at the lodge."

"Jean!" Eren breathed, still sucking in the ice cream. "Make it stop!"

"Hm..." I tapped my chin. "No, I'm good."

"Please. I'm begging you."

"I think I'll pass."

"I will do anything!"

"Anything?" I was sure my face was that of pure evil. What could I say? I liked tormenting the kid. Especially since he had such a bad temper. The only thing that could make this better was if Dad was here with his spray bottle.

"Eren, no," Mikasa said.

"Anything," he told me, ignoring her.
I shrugged. "Okay. Neither of you saw me leave."

"What?" His face was torn between almost crying and confusion. I almost felt bad for him. Almost.

"I wanna do something tonight, and if you two see me and tell, I'll be in trouble."

"I don't agree to this." Mikasa furrowed her eyebrows in my direction and crossed her arms over her chest.

I shrugged. "Then Eren doesn't get the cure. And let me tell you, it burns for quite a while."