May 10th

Ice Cold Beginnings

I looked down at the cash register and took a deep breath, feeling my lungs grasp for the air as I inhaled. Ali came from the back with a handful of clean ice scream scoopers and plopped them in the containers. "What was THAT about?" she called out as she made her way down the fruit flavored row. "Oh," I paused nervously with an awkward laugh, "nothing, I just go to school with them." Ali raised her eyebrows and nodded, seemingly amused with my awkward interaction. The next four hours went by as nothing more than a mere blur. Noticing my discomfort with the situation, Ali handled register while I scooped the ice cream, with a majority of the flavors being chocolate and cherry raspberry. Around 7 o clock, when we were closing, I closed up the ice cream flavors one by one, counting them down.

Tilt a Whirl Cherry, Rescue Me Raspberry, Black Eye Blueberry, Pirate Chest Pistachio, and lastly Matcha Mayhem.

Ray had been the only one to order Matcha today and I stared at the missing ice cream and wondered if she had liked it or not. There was something about the interaction that made me feel jittery inside, like the fuzziness of a missing TV channel. It made me feel uneasy but also relieved that maybe I would see them come in again.

I clocked out at 8:39 and grabbed my car keys from the back. "I'll see you tomorrow!" Ali called out, both of us parting our ways in the parking lot. I walked over to my car, in all its hand me down glory. The rearview mirror was donned with a Little Tree scent hang tag and a pair of sunglasses that hung down on the elastic. I wrapped my fingers around the steering wheel, staring at the intricate tribal cover that wove its way around it. I sat in the parking lot for a few minutes, gathering my breaths and trying to calm down. I turned over the engine and plugged in my phone to play some music through the car speakers.

When I reached home, Mia was already waiting for me in my room, eager for the full report on my first day.

I walked through the door of my room, the dark purple walls cast a moody energy all over. Mia sat anxiously on my bed, her messy red hair piled up into a bun, her red UCONN sweatshirt was faded and had a bleach stain on the right elbow. She slammed her phone on the bed, "tell me about it!" she yelled at me, excitedly crossing her legs into the criss cross position. I plopped down on the gray beanbag chair and flicked off my worn Adidas shell top shoes. "Well Tony and Ray came in, literally the first customers that I served," I admitted, rolling my eyes with agony. Mia stopped short and stared into my eyes, "Ray Amusso? Oh my gosh I never expected her to go to a mom and pop ice cream shop," she said, tapped her index finger on her knee. "Yeah I know, Mia, I literally turned into a mute, I couldn't even speak," I continued, stretching out my legs from the beanbag.

After Mia left, I laid down in the bed and crawled under the covers, dreading tomorrow. I tried to convince myself they would never come in again, and it worked until I fell asleep.

My alarm went off at 10 am sharp, I rolled over and buried myself underneath the warmth of my duvet it seemingly protected me from the outside work and more importantly, it protected me from the social interaction I would have to face today at work. It was just my second day and I already had knots in my stomach about dragging myself in.

Nonetheless, when my alarm rang after the first snooze, I sat up in bed and looked outside the window. I had never noticed how clean cut and posh the neighborhood was. Across the street was the McShirley's, their perfectly cut grass illuminated green as the sun shone down directly on the yard, the three Land Rovers each belonging to their kids were parked in the garage. I peered on further down the street to the Bach's whose kids hadn't gotten home from college yet. Alister Bach was sitting in the doorway to the house with a blue French terry robe wrapped around him. In his hand was the French plated ceramic mug that his daughter, Emmaline, had gotten for him on her internship abroad in France last semester. It was almost mesmerizing how active we all were in each other's lives.

I inhaled deeply, the scent of freshly brewed coffee made its way upstairs to my room. I knew I had to pull through this rut of crippling social anxiety, but I couldn't shake it. I grabbed my moccasins from under my bed and slipped them on as I padded down the stairs towards the kitchen. Eating breakfast and making a cup of coffee always made me feel better. My dad had already left for work, but his remnants of breakfast lay beside the sink to be cleaned. He had eaten the same thing as he does every day for the past ten years; a lightly toasted bagel with one half cream cheese and the other side with jelly. I glanced over to the coffee pot, and thankfully there was still enough to be made.

When I walked into work, I took a deep breath and set my keys and sweatshirt down in the back. I looked around for Ali but couldn't find her. I grabbed the broom and made my way to the front of the store to clean up before we opened, that's when I heard a tiny sniffle come from behind the flavor rows. I turned my head to see a porcelain toned girl, bent over the vanilla barrel. I couldn't see her face but her curly blonde hair was pulled back in a loose pony tail as the hot pink baseball cap sat on top of her head. "Hi," I blurted out, drawing a tiny pile of dirt closer to me with the broom. The girl glanced up and I recognized her immediately, it was Julia Augustine, ironically another elusive character in the clan with Tony and Ray. "Hey," she said emotionlessly. "You missed a spot over by the window," she continued, barely looking up. "Oh, thanks," I replied, walking over to the corner. "Is this your first day?" I asked, sweeping the floor. "Yeah, my parents think that by working at some dingy ice cream shop, I'm going to learn responsibility," Julia said, scoffing. I nodded my head, "Yeah, I need to save up for college." Julia looked up and offered no response.

The rest of the young afternoon was spent staring at the clock, ever since school ended, most of the traffic had separated for the summer. I found ways to busy myself throughout the day, I wiped down the corners of the ice cream bins 3 times and washed the scoopers twice. Julia focused on her phone and organizing the mason jar filled with pens that sad next to the register. Around 3 o clock, a elderly couple came in with their little dog. The woman who looked to be about 70, had box dyed black hair and a light purple linen sundress on, she looked like someone who was named Ruth. Her husband was wearing a bamboo woven fedora and short khaki shorts that let showcased his faux tanned legs. Together they looked like the poster couple for retirees who vacationed in Mara Lago and Honolulu. They walked up to the counter, scanning the rows of flavors. "How are you two today?" the man asked, slightly tipping his hat in our direction. I offered a smile and met them at the register, "we're doing great, what can we get for you today?" I asked, cutting the conversation short. The husband put his left hand in his pocket as his eyes darted from flavor to flavor. "I'll have a scoop of the Tilt a Whirl Cherry and my wife here will have 2 scoops of your chocolate, both orders in a cup please," he replied, with a gentle smile. I glanced over at Julia and directed her to ring them in while I scooped up the ice cream.