Chapter Text
Amy made the best ice cream sundaes at 99 Scoops, and she was damn proud of that fact. Granted, the only other employees at their shop were her teenage cousins (who were only working there as punishment for their last massive prank-gone-wrong), and really their sundaes tasted the same as hers… But hers looked prettier.
Her parents had opened the store ages ago, with Mrs. Santiago making fresh batches of ice cream in the small kitchen and Mr. Santiago dealing with management, finances, and other aspects of the business. Over the years, they had been able to expand their store, pay for renovations and equipment, and even hire extra help. Despite the changes, it was still a Santiago family business in every sense; each Santiago child had gotten the chance (or privilege or burden, depending on which kid you asked) to scoop ice cream into cones, refill empty topping bins, and wipe up sticky messes at some point in their life. Amy had both loved and hated spending her summer vacations and school holidays at the shop with at least two brothers at a time.
But this year, this was her year.
With Luis at a summer research program out of state, Miguel busy with his new internship, and the rest of her brothers all working "real" jobs, it was finally Amy's turn to step up as store manager. This meant she finally got to man the cashier, pick out the daily specials, and receive the 10% pay raise she'd been waiting for since the deluxe multi-volume Sudoku book set was announced. She initially thought she would hate being there – considering that the rest of her friends were spending the summer after their freshman year studying abroad, taking extra classes, or going on road trips. But then she got entrusted with all this responsibility, and she just knew she wasn’t missing out on anything.
She had just finished expertly drizzling caramel syrup on top of a perfectly round scoop of chocolate ice cream when the chime at the door announced the entrance of another customer.
“Welcome to 99 Scoops! I’ll be with you in a sec,” she called out, handing over the cup of ice cream to the excited little boy waiting in front of the counter.
Jake was exhausted. Per his mother’s strongly worded suggestion, he dragged himself out of bed and left home to “enjoy the summer sunshine”. Everything had been great – he had even managed to hold his own playing hacky sack with some kids earlier. But then his PSP died, and he realized it was way too hot to be sitting in the park.
He knew he couldn’t go back home just yet, and he couldn’t go to Nana’s because she would just call his mom. He knew Gina was at her intensive dance class, Charles was at a Boyle family reunion, and Rosa was – well, he had no clue where Rosa was, or what she was up to, or if she had summer plans that didn’t involve sharp weapons.
Turning the street corner, he noticed a woman holding a waffle cone with an impossibly high yet impressively stable stack of ice cream. Glancing at the store she walked out of, Jake thought he vaguely remembered Charles gushing about 99 Scoops a few weeks back. Deciding that he could absolutely go for a sundae and that he would probably melt into the earth’s core otherwise, he did a mental count of the money in his wallet and walked toward the shop.
99 Scoops was a reasonably sized, old school-type ice cream parlor with both bar and table seating. It was set up and decorated to look a lot like a diner, complete with a fully functional (but unused) jukebox in the corner. The main menu board featured 8 “constant” flavors and 4 “seasonal” ones, along with a laundry list of toppings. A smaller separate board noted the day’s “Special Sundae.”
On any other day, in any other ice cream shop, Jake would’ve been drawn to the display case of ice cream. He would’ve spent a good 5 minutes having a mostly inner, partially out loud monologue weighing the simplicity of vanilla versus the unpredictability of the store’s weirdest ice cream flavor. He would’ve spent another 5 minutes trying to come up with the best combination of toppings to go with his chosen ice cream flavor. (He wouldn’t outright admit it, but he completely understood when Charles once rated sundaes by mouth feel.)
But on this day, in this particular ice cream shop, Jake’s attention was drawn to the girl behind the counter. Making his way to the front, he noticed that she was wearing a slightly stained maroon apron with the store logo printed on it. She had a bit of pink-colored cream on her forearm. She had dark brown hair pulled into a neat ponytail, brown eyes that seemed to twinkle, and a smile that made him forget he was about to pass out from the heat. And, oh – she was looking right at him.
“Welcome to the Nine-Nine! Are you ready to order?”
He gulped.
“I can tell you about today’s special if you’re having trouble figuring out what to get!”
Why didn’t his mouth work?
“I can also help you design a sundae if you’d rather have something more personalized!”
Maybe he really was about to pass out.
“I know our menu can be a bit overwhelming sometimes…” she trailed off, grabbing one of the taster spoons and reaching into the freezer. “Here, try this. It’s our new birthday cake flavor that my mom’s been experimenting with lately. If you like it, we can build a sundae from there. If you don’t, I’ve got a few more flavors I think you might like.”
He took the spoon, placed it in his mouth, and had to consciously stop himself from straight up moaning in front of this cute girl over her mom’s ice cream.
“Good?” she asked, breaking his daydream of an ice cream-filled heaven.
“More like freaking amazing! Are all your flavors as great as this one? Ooh, could I try that one next?” he pointed to the tub of ice cream with blueberry ribbons swirled in.
She chuckled, handing over another taster spoon. “Today isn’t too busy. You can try them all if you’d like.”
He could’ve married her right there and then.