The Bad Boy's Snowflake

Chapter 15: An Ice Cream Date

I finally reach the end of the stairs and go over to open the door for Mark. He is standing there with a half sad, half excited expression. It breaks my heart to see him so defeated.

"Hey," I say.

"Hey," he replies. "You ready?"

"Yeah," I tell him. "I thought it was with Ava though?"

We start down the driveway as he explains the situation. "She has a special car seat that she has to ride in, and it's a pain to get her in and out. I figured that you might not have a lot of time since this is so lat minute, so I decided to just leave her in the car."

I nod and he opens the door for me. I get in the seat, buckle, and then turn around to find Ava in her special car seat that doesn't look too unusual for a seven year old. Mark begins to drive, so I turn back around. "Hey, Ava!"

"Hey, Catherine!" she replies, so excited. "How are you?"

"I'm good. How are you doing?" I answer.

"I'm good, too. I'm super excited for this!" Ava says.

Her answer warms my heart, and I smile. "I'm pretty excited as well."

We get to the ice cream store and it takes Mark about ten minutes to get Ava ready. I offer to help, but he says no because it would be too hard with me on crutches. Mark wheels Ava in, and I crutch in. I mentally laugh at how funny we must look. One of us on crutches and the other in a wheelchair. We make quite the pair.

I let Ava and Mark go in front of me so she can get her ice cream first. After they order Mark turns to back to me. "What do you want?"

"I can pay for myself," I object.

"It's all right. I can get it," he assures me.

I sigh and order a two scoop mint chocolate chip ice cream in a sprinkle cone. Mark pays the girl at the counter and she goes to the back to make our ice cream. Mark, Ava, and I sit at a table.

"I'm ready to hear the embarrassing stories you promised me," I smile evilly at Ava.

Her grin is just as evil as she begins to talk about a time when Mark was at a concert in fourth grade and he pulled down his pants and showed everybody in the audience his butt. I laugh really hard after that, and Mark's ears, along with his cheeks turn bright red. That makes me laugh harder. Ava begins another story and the girl with our ice cream comes out.

After an hour and a half Ava has run out of stories, and we have all finished our ice cream. Mark suggests that we head out and nobody argues. Twenty minutes later Mark pulls into my driveway. I turn back to talk to Ava, but she is already asleep. I smile and Mark opens the car door for me to get out of the car. He walks me to the door and before I go in he stops me.

"Thank you so much for that," he tells me. "I don't think I've seen her laugh that hard since she was diagnosed."

"No need to thank me," I reply. "I had so much fun. Plus, now I can blackmail you."

We both laugh for a second. Then Mark replies, "If it means that Ava got to be that happy for an hour and a half, then I'll take it."

I smile sadly. "You would do anything for her, wouldn't you?" He doesn't even have to say anything. I can tell by the smile on his face that he would. I kiss him on the cheek. "Thank Ava for the great time I had tonight." Mark nods, so I open the front door and go in the house.

I begin up the stairs and crutch into Sam's room. He is playing the same video game he was playing when I left. "I'm home."

He jumps three feet into the air and turns around panting. "Don't scare me like that."

I laugh, and Sam turns back to his video game. "Did you eat?"

He nods. "I ate some macaroni and cheese."

"Good. I'm probably going to go to bed. Don't stay up too late. Night," I reply.

"Night."

I turn and crutch into my room. My phone dings as I flip on the light. I check the text and it's from Tommy. It says to open the window, so I pull my curtains back and open my window as fast as I can in case it's because of his step dad. Tommy flies in as soon as the window is open enough. I drop to the ground under my windowsill.

"What are you doing?" Tommy asks.

"I thought that maybe it was because of your step dad, so I crouched down to hide," I reply.

"No, Steve is out of town," he answers.

"Oh," I say feeling foolish. I get up carefully. "Then, what's up?"

"I don't know. What's up with you?" he replies in a tone that makes him sound like he knows I did something wrong.

I frown in confusion at him. "I don't know. What's up with me?"

"I guess if you don't know then I should just ask Mark," Tommy replies.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Yeah, I heard you," I say, "I'm just trying to figure out what you mean by that. Why would you ask Mark what's up with me."

"Well, clearly you guys are a thing so I figure he would know," he says.

"What?" I exclaim.

"Don't what me," Tommy replies. "I saw him come up to the door to get you, I saw him open your car door, I saw you smile and kiss him on the cheek. Don't play dumb with me, Catherine."

"Ok, first of all don't act like you're my mother," I start. "And, second of all, we are not a thing! He picked me up so that I could go hang out with his sister because her and I are friends, but neither of us can drive. He opened my door so that I could get in easier with my crutches. I kissed him on the cheek because he did something really sweet for his sister. Don't assume about things you know nothing about!"

"So, you're not a thing?" is all he says.

"Oh my god!" I flop onto my bed. "No, we are not a thing!"

He purses his lips. "I'm just gonna go then." Tommy jumps out the window and closes his window and then the curtains as soon as he is in his room. All I can do is stare dumbly after him as he leaves me wondering what the hell just happened.

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Hey, guys!

I know I promised an exciting announcement in this author's note, but to be honest I don't remember what it was so...yeah. Sorry about that, but if I remember then I will let you know ASAP. Please vote, comment, and share my story if you like it!

(And if you have time please get my story Firedrake the Firelord to 1K reads. I know the story sucks but it would mean the world to me!)

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