𝔞𝔭𝔯𝔦𝔠𝔬𝔱

un

🍦

the cold, clean air sent shivers
down tyler's arms every time it
brushed over his tanned skin. he
brought a small, frail hand up to his
chocolate brown hair, running
his fingers through it; fixing the
mess it had become due to the harsh breeze.

he slid the key into the lock of a plain white, glass door and unlocked it
slowly, stepping inside as the wind chased after him. the brunette softly closed the door behind him, and diverted his attention to the white and pastel pink room that was his shop. the boy smiled, the smell of a cotton candy air freshener filled up his lungs as he inhaled, instantly settling his mood. he made his way behind the counter, slipping on a colorful apron, placing his backpack underneath the counter.

he began taking off the glass covers, revealing many delightful flavours of ice cream. lastly he took off the cover to his favorite flavour - apricot. he wasn't completely sure as to why it was his favorite, he used to hate the flavour as a child, resulting in his mother force feeding him to make him 'healthy', much to his father's frustration.

tyler lived alone, the only human interaction he had was when customers told him their orders - some being sweet and caring, whereas a few would shout homophobic slurs, amongst many other things - all sparking memories from his past. all the boy could do was ask them if they needed anything, he was fearful of his own life in those circumstances, anxiety overiding his thought process. those events were too frequent.

just as he finished setting up, a young girl ran into the store, startling the boy. tyler couldn't tell if she was a local, he didn't recognise her.

"good morning, sir" she beamed, her fresh smile was somewhat intimidating to tyler.

"hi... h-how may i help you?" the boy coughed, embarrased that he was afraid of an innocent girl, who was younger than him.

"can i have..." she pressed her nose against the glass, eyeing every flavour, switching her direction between the flavours and tyler. "two apricots, please" she smiled, as the boy was slightly confused.

"t-two? are you s-sure?" the brunette began scooping the ice cream out of its container, creating perfect spheres as he placed them in small, pastel tubs.

"yeah! one for me, and one for my brother; duh." she laughed. "i didn't let him come in because he can be moody" she let out another giggle, pointing towards a white car pulled up outside the parlour, with a silhouette of a man inside.

"oh... what's y-your name?" tyler blushed, tension building up inside him, as in no way was it professional of him to engage in conversation inside work.

"i'm abigail. you don't need to know about my brother, though i'm sure you'll find out soon." she sighed, taking the two tubs from the surface, placing down the exact amount of change needed.

"t-thank you" the brunette bit his plump lip, shaking fingertips took the money from the girl. "i'll see y-you again, abigail?" he smiled, somewhat pleased he had the courage to speak to a girl.

"of course, silly. nobody can go a day without ice cream am i right? or that might just be our family.." she giggled, walking towards the door.

"bye, tyler" she smiled, opening the door quickly, running towards the car outside.

"bye, abigail..." tyler mumbled, paying more attention to the silhouette inside the car, using every bit of intellegence and deduction skill he had to figure out who the pair was, but no matter how hard he tried - he just couldn't figure out who they were.

tyler knew everybody in the village. every name, every face. maybe they had never been in that certain area before.

or he had some catching up to do.

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