We arrive at Two Scoops to find the place absolutely heaving. Behind the counter I see Jake: I’m guessing he was called in by Louise to work overtime. When we reach the front of the queue fifteen minutes later he looks shattered, and extremely harried.
“Hey, what can I get you?” He asks, shooting us a grin.
“Can we have four vanilla milkshakes please?” I ask, not needing to ask what the others want. As he goes to make them I gesture for the guys to go get us a table. We’ll be lucky if they do: it’s packed. “Bit busy, isn’t it?” I remark to Jake, who laughs in reply.
“Just a bit,” What he says next is partially drowned out by the clanking whir of the blender, but the general gist is that the person who usually works today’s shift disappeared on him.
“Want me to help?” I offer, as he slides the milkshakes over the counter and I hand him the money.
“Would you mind? You’d probably only have to stay for an hour until it all calms down.” He says as he hands me the change.
“No problem, I’ll just let the others know.” I take the plastic cups and grab four neon straws to take over to where Charlie Lucas and Matty are standing.
“We were thinking about taking these to the park, it’s way too crowded in here.” Charlie says as he takes one of the shakes from me.
“Sounds good, but I’m gonna stay and help Jake.” I say, passing out the other two cups and taking a sip of my own.
“I thought today was your day off?” Matty asks absentmindedly, focusing on trying to pierce his straw through the cap.
“It is, but I might as well help.” I offer, trying to sound casual. But I’m pretty sure Charlie’s guessed the real reason why I’m staying, from the fact that he is wiggling his eyebrows up and down like a cartoon villain.
After a chorus of “see you later’s” I head behind the counter to join Jake, setting my drink atop the Mr Whippy machine. He smiles at me, and hands me an apron.
“What’s this for?” I ask, giving it a look of disdain. It's pastel pink, with the swirling logo embroidered on in red.
“So people know you actually work here, and didn’t just decide to hop behind the counter and help out,” He says as I tie it around my waist. It’s way too long, so I have to fold it up into a sort of pouch and then tie it. Even then it falls to halfway down my calves, and the string dangles to tickle the backs of my knees. And I’m not exactly short. I wonder if the person this apron was designed to fit was Hagrid. It would certainly match his pink umbrella.
As I take the next persons order, I see Jake’s lips twitching as if he’s trying hard not to laugh.
“Shut up,” I hiss as I pass him on my way to Mr Whippy machine.
“I’m not saying anything,” He snorts, avoiding looking at the ridiculous apron. I can’t help but giggle in response. I never giggle.
The afternoon rush keeps up longer than the hour I’d promised, but I make no move to leave. I’m actually kind of enjoying myself, but by the time the last few customers have left I’m completely knackered. It appears Jake feels the same, as he slumps onto the ground with a groan, eyes closed. I chuck a pack of plastic cups at his head, and he smiles but doesn’t open his eyes.
Glancing at the clock I can see it’s getting nearer to closing time, so I start the process of closing down by turning off the machines and wiping down tables. After flipping the ‘we’re open’ sign round to ‘sorry, we’re closed’, I head back over to Jake who is still sat leaning against the back of the counter.
I prod him with my foot, but he doesn’t react. Grinning, I dip my fingers into the water we use to wash the scoops, and flick some at his face. When this doesn’t earn me a response, I wonder if he’s actually fallen asleep. For some reason this makes me feel bad, and thinking nothing of it, reach over and brush a few drops of water off his cheek.
His eyes flutter open, meeting mine suddenly. I freeze, my hand still brushing the side of his face. I’m kneeling directly in front of him, so close I could lean over and kiss him if I wanted to. Which I so, so desperately want to do.
And I’m not sure who’s more surprised when it’s not me who closes the distance between us but him.
YOU ARE READING
The Almost Summer
Humor[ completed - 17/3/14 ] [ undergoing slight editing ] [ Wattyawards2014 ] [ featured on the Wattpad Official account's Summer Beach Reads list ] Autumn always knew she was named after the wrong season. She lives for the summer months, desperate f...
