My. Heart. Stopped.

A disaster

Morning rolled around and I woke up bright and early, I rolled over and glanced at the clock on the wall, 5:30 am, I slide out of bed and got ready to go to work. I'm so excited about work. I shrug on one of Tanner's button up shirts and pull on my overalls and then bound down the stairs. At 6 AM sharp I'm out the door with a piece of toast in hand, ready to take on the world. 

I rolled up to the ice cream shop at 6:29, according to the watch I'd also snatched from Tanner's room, and pushed my way through the door. Lucas pops his head out of the kitchen door and smiles,

"Perfect timing! You can help me put the chairs down and wipe off the tables when we open we usually have a morning rush, by the way in the morning we serve breakfast as well as ice cream, y'know gotta do what's best for business." He continues to ramble about every other thing under the sun while I get to work on the tables and chairs. I grabbed a rag and wiped off the tables too, I wasn't sure Lucas was serious about a big morning rush but just in case I wiped off the long counter and then re-wiped the tables, and swept the floor. By opening time the shop was in pristine condition and I watched as Lucas flipped the "closed" sign to "open." 

Not 5 minutes had passed until an old greying man came in, he sat himself at a booth and I walked up to his table, "Hey there, what can I get you?" I ask, a little confused. I'd assumed most people would just come up to the counter to get ice cream. 

"Scrambled eggs please!" he says with a smile, I open my mouth to tell him that this is an ICE CREAM shop and that we don't serve scrambled eggs but before I can say anything Lucas flies out of the back room, 

"Hey, Bill! Right on time, per usual. Scrambled eggs this morning?"  Lucas asks while already punching the order into the register. 

"You know it, son," the old man named Bill responded 

"Coming right up! Shelby come back here with me!" 

I follow behind him and go through the swinging kitchen door. 

"I'm so sorry I forgot to tell you! We serve breakfast in the morning and ice cream all day." Lucas says right away"You had no idea. I'm so sorry about the confusion!" he continues to ramble while he's scrambling the eggs. 

"No, no, no," I start, "I should have checked with you first before I tried to tell him we didn't serve breakfast." I finish somewhat guiltily.

"Ah no you're totally okay B, oh is it okay if I call you that? Anyway, it's all good, what time do you need to be at school?" 

I blink and try to process all that he's said and asked and I start at the end and work forward. "I don't need to be at school until 8:30 so I have some time yet, and yes B is okay. Short for Shelby I hope?" I ask with a little laugh, 

"You got it, sis!" I hear Tanner's voice in my head and jump, of course, its only Lucas standing in front of me. Lucas scapes the perfectly done eggs onto a plate and sends me out to give it to Bill, who is sitting in his booth with a napkin tucked in his shirt and his hands folded pleasantly in front of him. 

"Here are your eggs, sir..." I say nervously, was I supposed to say anything else...?

He glances at my face and must see my nervousness, he smiles and asks "What is a young woman like you working?" he laughs and I realize he's teasing, I hope, I just laugh a little in response and turn to go stand behind the register and suddenly my world is in slow motion, everything happened at once, 

"Hey, Shelby! Catch!" I hear Lucas yell faintly and he throws something, Bill taps my wrist lightly and asks for ketchup before I go, and the shop door swings open and the little bell tinkles delightedly and standing in the doorway is the most gorgeous girl I've ever seen. I lose my breath and stop completely. 

She's wearing a short white cotton blouse that's riding above he bellybutton and has a faded black shirt riding high on her hips, it's cut at an angle above her knees and is showing a lot of legs. her hair is long and black but where it's growing close to her head its a dirty blond. and most amazing of all her forearms are covered in words and pictures, all ink. She's made herself a human artwork with pen and I'm stunned. she's an amazing artist. 

*CRACK*

And I'm on the floor, the ketchup bottle that Lucas had thrown, and that bill had asked for smashed across my shoulder and shattered, I gape at the mess at my feet for a moment and realize that I too am covered in ketchup and a little glass. Everything is back to normal speed and I realize only a brief moment has passed at all, Lucas and Bill are asking me if I'm okay and I wave them off, trying to get another glimpse at the girl but with Bill and Lucas around me I realize it's hopeless until I assure them I'm okay.