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Abby Schmidt always loved the weekend. Obviously, every kid did. Weekends meant no school, staying up late, and sleeping in. To Abby, it meant more time for TV, drawing, and spending time with her brother. Today, it meant getting ice cream.
“‘Kay, almost ready to go, just gotta find my keys,” Mike told his little sister as he walked into the living room. His hands searched the pockets of his jeans as he eyed every tabletop in the room to no result. His keys were nowhere to be found. Abby stood by the front door, giggling as she watched him.
“You mean these?” She asked, pulling out a familiar set of car keys from her overalls pocket. She smiled and dangled them in front of him.
“Yeah, how’d you…?” Mike’s eyebrows furrowed in surprise. He reached out only for his sister to pull them away. “Abby, give it.”
“Nuh-uh!”
“Abs, c’mon,” he reached for his keys again only to be met with air as Abby yanked them away. “Haha, very funny, Abby. You got me. Now give it back.”
“No.”
Mike sighed and put his hands in his pockets. Time to try a new approach. “Fine then, that’s on you. If you don’t give me the keys I can’t drive you to go get ice cream,” he shrugged.
“I don’t care,” Abby crossed her arms and tried to look unbothered. Keyword was tried.
Her brother smirked, noticing the bold look in her eyes start to waver when she glanced up at him for that brief second. “Really? You sure? I thought you wanted to try that new flavor Rainbow Boom or whatever it’s called.”
“It’s Rainbow Explosion.”
“See? I know you want to try it so just give me the keys already so we can go,” Mike tried to persuade her, putting his hand out.
But Abby still refused to give them over just yet. “You’re gonna have to get them from me first!” She challenged, laughing at the annoyed look he gave her.
“Fine,” Mike groaned. Guess he had no other option, there was no talking her out of this. He would just have to play along. His hands suddenly sprang out at her as he tried to grab the keys out of her hand, but Abby was quicker than he expected. She snickered at his attempt, clutching the keys flat against her and turning away so her back was to him. Every time Mike grabbed for them she just laughed more and turned the opposite direction away from him.
He unsuccessfully tried a few more times then stopped, trying to think of what else to do because this was clearly getting him nowhere. He didn’t think it would be this hard trying to wrestle something away from a ten-year-old. But then an idea came to mind. Without saying another word Mike moved his hands down and and wiggled fingers into her sides. Abby immediately burst out into joyful, high-pitched shrieks and started trying to squirm away from him.
“Nohoho! Mihike!” The girl giggled and brought her arms flat against her sides, trying to shake off her brother’s tickling hands. He grabbed again for the keys but Abby launched her arm out away from her, effectively putting them out of reach.
Mike shook his head. She left herself wide open! “Bad move,” he teased as his hand plunged into Abby’s underarm, eliciting another loud squeal and more laughter out of her. He couldn’t help but smile at the sweet sound. Her arm shot back close to her side to protect herself, Mike using the opportunity of her being distracted to finally swipe the keys out of her hand. “Got ‘em.”
“What!? That’s not fair,” Abby tried to pout but she still had a smile on her face as leftover giggles escaped her mouth.
“Life’s not fair,” her brother replied smugly as he thumbed the keys in his hand. “Just try not being so ticklish next time. Maybe you’ll win.”
“You’re a jerk.”
“Sure I am. You ready to go now?”
-
“I thought we were getting ice cream,” Abby said in disappointment as she looked around the crowded mall. It was understandingly busy for a Sunday afternoon. Groups of families and teenagers went by her, their arms full of shopping bags. She held tighter onto her brother’s hand as he walked with her.
“We are, don’t worry.” Mike looked down at her, noticing she looked a little overwhelmed. He gave her hand a few squeezes for comfort. It was an inside code he had with her to let her know that he loves her and is there for her. It was something his mom used to do with him when they would go out. He felt Abby squeeze his hand three times back.
“We’re almost there. There’s an Ice Cream Parties in here, it’s the closest one I know of. Plus, there’s someone here I wanted you to meet,” Mike explained as he led her into the food court. Luckily the place they were going to was surprisingly way less crowded than the rest of the mall.
The short-haired ice cream worker behind the counter practically lit up as the two approached the counter. “Oh, hey, Mike! I didn’t think you were working today.”
“Hey, Cindy. Oh uh, I’m not actually,” Mike replied, still holding his sister’s hand. Abby stood behind him and shyly peeked out at the person her brother apparently seemed to know.
Cindy’s smile grew as she looked down and noticed the small girl. She had the same curly hair and tired brown eyes as her brother. “Aw, is this your sister? It’s about time you brought her along.”
“Yeah, this is Abby. Say hi, Abs.” Mike looked down and gently nudged her, Abby mumbling out a quiet hi in response, “and Abby, this is Cindy.”
Cindy gave her a warm wave. “Hi, Abby! It’s nice to meet you. Mike’s told me a lot about you.”
“He did?” Abby turned to her brother. Mike said nothing and looked away bashfully. He might have mentioned a few things about her whenever he was chatting to Cindy during his breaks.
“Yeah! He said that you’re a great artist. I would love to see some of your drawings some time.” The little girl glowed at her words and shuffled herself further into Mike’s side. Cindy chuckled and directed her attention back to the oldest of the siblings. “So, what can I do for you two today? You want your usual, Mike?”
“Um, yeah. Yes please. And she’d like the Rainbow Blast-”
“It’s Rainbow Explosion,” Abby corrected.
“Yeah, that.”
“Coming right up,” Cindy nodded and turned around to the soft serve machines. She grabbed an empty bowl and pulled the lever, the ice cream slowly swirling down until it filled the cup. Abby watched curiously as she grabbed another bowl and repeated the process, this time adding sprinkles at the end. A moment later Cindy returned with spoons and placed both bowls of ice cream on the countertop. One chocolate and vanilla swirl and the other a medley of colors topped with rainbow sprinkles.
“Thank you!” Abby gasped excitedly and grabbed hers, already starting to eat it.
“Great, thanks. How much do I owe you?” Mike asked as he pulled out his wallet.
But to his surprise Cindy just shook her head and waved him off. “Don’t worry about it, it’s on the house.”
“What? Seriously?”
“Yeah, just don’t tell my boss,” she said with a laugh.
Mike’s eyes softened. “Oh, wow. Thank you so much.”
That small, grateful smile on his face was payment enough for Cindy. “It’s no problem. It was nice to finally meet your sister, she’s such a sweetheart.” Abby giggled at her praise, hiding her grin behind her ice cream cup.
“Yeah, most of the time,” Mike joked, earning a “hey!” from his sister in protest. He grabbed his ice cream off the counter and put a hand around Abby’s back. “Thanks again, Cinds. I’ll see you tomorrow at work.” Cindy watched them walk away, her heart fluttering a little at the use of the nickname. She thought about that interaction for the rest of the week.
“So how’s your rainbow whatever?” Mike asked his sister. The two had just sat down at an empty table in the food court.
“Amazing! This is the best ice cream I’ve ever had!” Abby exclaimed, happily shoveling spoonfuls of rainbow soft serve into her mouth.
“That good, huh?” Mike chuckled and eyed her cup. She already had about a quarter of her ice cream gone. “Jesus, Abs, slow down. You’re going to give yourself a brain freeze.”
Abby ignored his warning and continued to eat. “Suit yourself,” he shrugged, beginning to eat some of his chocolate and vanilla swirl. He curiously glanced over at the ice cream booth to see a line of people forming. Looks like he and Abby made it out just in time.
It was strange. Mike got the same flavor he always got and it tasted the same it did three days ago when he had it on his lunch break, but this time it felt more special. He had this warm feeling inside him as he ate, like everything in his life was going okay for once. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a groan coming from in front of him, looking up to see Abby clutching her forehead.
“What? What’s wrong? Oh, brain freeze?”
Abby nodded in response, her eyes squeezed shut in pain.
Mike resisted the urge to laugh. “Told you,” he smirked. He was tempted to just leave it at that, but couldn’t. “Here. Abs, put your tongue to the roof of your mouth. Like this,” he opened his mouth and demonstrated. Abby copied him, her pain slowly subsiding. “Better?”
“Yeah, a little. Thank you.” She went right back to eating her ice cream, slower this time.
“Of course.” It was silent for a bit between them, the two enjoying their soft serve as the sounds of the mall filled in the silence. Groups of people chatted loudly at the tables around them, kids chasing each other and laughing.
Mike looked back up eventually to see that his sister had finished her ice cream. She was desperately trying to scoop up any remaining melted bits that she had left at the bottom. Mike looked down to his own cup, seeing he still had some left. “Hey, Abs, did you want to try some of mine? It’s not as cool as yours, but it’s still good,” he offered, tilting his cup towards her.
Abby took a closer look but ultimately refused. “Mm, no. It’s okay. Yours is boring.”
Mike furrowed his eyebrows, surprised that a kid would refuse free ice cream but honestly more surprised that the go-to flavor that he’s had since he was nine was just insulted. “What? Boring? It’s two flavors in one!”
“Yeah, the most plain ones,” Abby snickered.
Mike shook his head, pretending to be hurt. “Wow. I didn’t know you were such an ice cream critic. Fine, more for me then.” He finished his soon after and stood up to throw away their spoons and empty bowls. But before he could walk away Abby stopped him.
“Wait.” She reached into her overalls pocket and pulled out her sketchbook and a few different colored markers, placing them on the table. Mike watched as she flipped to one of the empty pages and started drawing, her eyes occasionally darting up to look at the ice cream booth.
She lifted up the sketchbook after a minute or two to show a drawing of a rainbow with a smiley face standing next to a short-haired stick figure. “Done.”
“Oh, wow! This is beautiful, Abs. Real nice job on this. I like the rainbow guy,” Mike complimented as he looked the drawing over. She was getting better at art every day. He focused in on the stick figure with the ice cream come in its hand, finding it familiar. “Wait, is that Cindy?”
“Yeah,” Abby nodded. “I drew this for her. Can I go give it to her?”
Mike gave her a proud smile. She was such a sweet girl. “Yeah. Yeah, of course you can. She’ll love it.” He took her hand and walked her back to the ice cream booth, this time having to wait a bit because of the line that had formed.
Cindy once again lit up as the line cleared and she spotted their familiar faces. “Oh, hey! How was your ice cream? Did you like Rainbow Explosion?”
“Yeah! It was the best ice cream ever!” Abby answered excitedly.
“Yeah, thanks again. Also, um, Abby here had something for you,” Mike added as Abby carefully ripped the page out of her sketchbook and handed it to the ice cream worker across the counter.
Cindy gasped as she took the paper from her. “Oh my gosh, for me? Thank you!” Her surprise only increased as she looked down at the page, her smile widening. “No way, did you draw this? This is amazing! Aww! It’s Sprinkles the Rainbow!” She exclaimed happily, pointing at the drawing of the mascot to the side. Mike was right, Abby was such a good artist. You could still obviously tell that the drawing was done by a child by the wobbly lines and scribbly coloring, but everything she drew was still super recognizable even at a first glance. Cindy knew that it was the Ice Cream Parties logo immediately. Abby got all of its iconic features down like its wide eyes and buck teeth. The stick figure on the other side also stuck out. Cindy couldn’t help but giggle excitedly as she eyed its short brown hair, striped apron, and white hat, finding it similar to her own uniform.
“Oh my gosh, is that me!?”
“Mmhm!” Abby nodded with a hum. “It’s you selling ice cream.”
Cindy felt her heart melt at the kind gesture. Abby was exactly like how her brother lovingly described her. Shy but a total sweetheart. “Aw, Abby thank you so much! This is so sweet of you, I love this. Actually…” she paused, getting an idea.
Cindy walked to the back to the booth where the employee bulletin board was. There were a few post-it notes on it of reminders and phone numbers, but nothing much. She took one of the pins and hung the drawing up near the top where it would be most visible. “There. Now everyone can see your pretty artwork.”
“Thank you!” Abby beamed. This was like her artwork being hung up on the fridge but better.
Mike grinned fondly as he watched the conversation between them. He knew how much Abby loved to draw, it was nice to have someone other than him and Max acknowledge her talent. From the corner of his eye he could see a group of teens beginning to line up behind him, taking that as his cue to leave. “Well, looks like you’re getting customers so we’ll leave you be. Thanks again, Cinds. It means a lot.”
Cindy flashed them one of her famous wide smiles. “Of course! Thank you for stopping by and for the drawing! I’ll see you tomorrow, Mike.” Abby waved and said goodbye, the two Schmidts walking away and venturing back into the hecticness that was the mall. This time though, it felt less overwhelming.
“That was really nice of you, Abby,” Mike said to his sister as they headed towards the exit. She was still holding his hand.
“Thanks.”
“Hey, you wanna do anything else tonight? I think there’s a new episode of The Immortal and the Restless on later, you wanna watch it?”
Abby groaned dramatically. “Ugh, that show is so boring.” She didn't get what her brother saw entertaining about that stupid vampire soap opera.
“You think everything is boring,” Mike quipped back. Abby looked up at him, unamused. “Fine. Maybe Spongebob or Ed Edd n Eddy is on. We can watch that instead,” he settled. He could always just record the new episode and watch it later after Abby went to bed.
“Okay!” She immediately perked up, liking that idea a lot more. Mike chuckled at her enthusiasm. He squeezed her hand three times as they walked out into the parking lot. Abby smiled and squeezed back.