Secrets and Stolen Kisses

20

m a d e l y n

It was about nine on a Monday night, and I was with Archer and Nate at a 24/7 ice cream place a few minutes away from my house. The two were arguing, for the nth time, about the same thing—the best ice cream flavor. Since we were five, they'd debated on the topic over and over again, yet still never came to a shared conclusion.

At least they weren't all down about the game anymore.

"Sorry about them," I smiled sheepishly at the woman behind the counter. "Can I get a scoop of salted caramel in a cup, please?"

"Sure thing," she balled up a giant scoop of ice cream, stuck it in a cup and put it on the counter. "Anything else?"

I nodded, holding up a finger before turning to the boys. "What do you guys want?"

"Peanut Butter," Nate replied, still on the quest to find his holy grail.

"Brownie," Archer followed.

"A scoop of Peanut Butter in a cup and one Brownie, but in a sugar cone," I requested. My boyfriend never really liked ice cream cones, but my brother loved them. I would've gotten them each another scoop, but they were still in basketball season, after all, and I didn't want my brother blaming me for ruining his diet.

She threw me a thumbs up before quickly preparing the ice creams and handing them to me. "That would be $11.78."

I paid for all three ice creams before giving the two their orders. "You better start winning because treating you to ice cream isn't gonna do any good, to my wallet especially. Inflation's crazy."

"Thanks, Mimi," Nate threw an arm over my shoulder and kissed my temple as we walked out of the store and to my car.

"You're welcome," I grinned at him.

"God, this was what I was worried about with you two dating," Archer grumbled.

A laugh escaped my lips. "Shut up, you were the one telling me Nate was the only one you could trust."

"Whatever," he waved me off, getting into the back seat while Nate and I got in the front.

"Hold it for me?" I asked, sticking my hand out to give my ice cream cup to Nate so I could drive. He took it and continued to eat his ice cream.

"Okay, let's go home," I clicked on my seatbelt and started driving.

We pulled up in the driveway about five minutes later. The smile on my face turned into a scowl when I noticed that my dad's car was in my usual parking spot, which meant I had to take my mom's, which was the tiniest spot. "Seriously?"

After successfully parking, I took my sort of melted ice cream from Nate and walked with the boys into the house. I could tell my dad was in the living room because of the sound of golf on the TV. My mom said she wasn't feeling too well at dinner so she went to sleep early.

"Hey, Dad," I called out on the way up to my room. "We'll be upstairs."

"Okay," he hollered back. "If you kids need anything, I'll be here."

My brother went to his room to study the game earlier, and Nate went with me to my room. He was quiet most of the car ride home, and I was almost a hundred percent sure it was because he was in really deep thought.

I sat on my bed, enjoying my ice cream as I watched Nate stare off into space, mindlessly eating his ice cream.

"Ice cream for your thoughts?" I spoke.

He finally sat beside me on the bed. Not a word escaped his mouth, but the way he sighed told me all I needed to know.

"You wanna talk about it?" I offered.