We all scream for ice-cream

"No, I'll be fine mom, don't worry about it", I laughed to ease her worries.

"Are you sure? It's record hot honey, are you sure you don't need anything?" She asked, tripping over her words in a hurry, stressed as always. That's when a gleeful symphony flew in the open window an idea came to me.

"Well, you could send me some money, you know, so I could buy an ice-cream?" I asked, the melody of the ice-cream truck made me realize it had been months since the last time I'd consumed any of this sweet, frozen poison.

"I'll do that, again, I'm so terribly sorry that the AC is out, please forgive me", mom said on the other end, I chuckled lightly.

"Would you stop worrying? It's not your fault our AC had some faulty wiring", I reassured her. Doing my best to sound happy and content, not tired and drained like I actually felt. The heat was really taking a toll on me, not that I wanted to admit this to mommy-dearest, she had more than enough to stress about today.

"Yeah, okay, goodbye for now. Love you", she finished with some weird kissy noises at the end which made my entire body cringe.

"Love you too, and good luck today", then we hung up. I lazily peeled myself of off the couch and stumbled over to my bedroom to get my credit card. I found it on my bedroom table under the mirror.

"Let's get some ice-cream then", I smiled to myself and swept some sweaty hair strands away from my face. My reflection in the mirror was a horror sight; red face, sweat beads dripping from my everywhere and greasy hair lousily pushed away from my face.

"Well, at least I can say I'm a hot mess now", I laughed at the mirror. I slipped into a pair of big, old sandals before opening the backdoor. Letting the killing heat flow in.

As I approached the truck, I realized there was a new guy. Not the usual old lady who smelled of lavender. He didn't look too old either, probably my age, but for all I knew he could be way older, or younger for that matter. My track record with guessing people's ages isn't the best to be honest. I rubbed my neck and dried of the sweat on the bottom of my over-sized t-shirt. It left a small stain, which made me feel slightly embarrassed. Not to mention uncomfortable, seeing as the guy serving up ice-cream to all the kiddos in the neighborhood looked as clean-cut as possible. Not even a wrinkle on his shirt.

I decided to wait for all the kids to get their frozen treat before I ordered. The less people that saw me the better, and kids are brutally honest. They say literally anything and everything that crosses their minds. My point is; I don't need some kid to describe how disturbingly filthy I look right now. I'm quite aware of that as is.

"HEY! It's me Mad Mike", he greeted me and reached out his hand to shake mine. I reluctantly shook it, feeling a bit awkward because of my clammy hands. He didn't seem to mind though, or at least he didn't let it show. He kept his mask, smiling madly at me.

"Fitting", I thought out loud. He crinkled his nose letting a confused gaze cloud his eyes.

"What? What kind of name is that, Fitting?" Mike laughed, I let out a friendly giggle myself. He was most certainly trying to brush of the painfully awkward situation I'd just caused.

"No, no, your nam-... It doesn't matter, I'm sorry, and that's not my name no", I then proceeded to properly introduce myself. Like a normal person would.

"Huh, pretty name", and just like that Mike had put on his mask again, flashing me the most insane smile ever. But there was something rather charming with it, how it felt so genuine and well-meant. Like I was an old friend whom he had ran into while out and about.

"Anyway, guessing you're here for some of that good stuff, ey? Tell me, what's your poison?" He said while winking at me, first with his left eye, then his right. Making a sound effect as he closed each eyelid. Wink, Wonk, what a strange man I mused to myself.