Two Scoops of Summer Love

2. Chocolate

The only thing I hated about our cottage was the feeling that a spider was lurking somewhere. In my mind it didn't matter that we keep it very clean, they are somewhere and they'd come out when I least expect it. The feeling usually goes away after a while, but the days before are always hell. I had just exited the bathroom, checking for lurking creepy crawlies first, when Mum came out of the kitchen.

"Ana, you should go downtown, get reacquainted with the town and see if any of your friends are around yet."

"'Kay Mum," I kissed her cheek before shoving my feet in a pair of sandals. "Love you!" She responded as I bounded out the door and down the stairs.

It didn't take long to get downtown. There wasn't really much to it anyways. The ice cream store, where I was working, a hardware store, surf shop, and various knick-knack souvenir shops. Further out were the motels and the stores geared more for locals, but on the beach side, it was a tourist town. After a while it became a little boring around here; ice cream was my go-to activity and I was always scared that it would show when I went back to school in September. Regardless, this sleepy little beach town was my safe haven. The sweet smell of cedar and the warmth of campfire smoke coloured my childhood memories. I was determined that this year I was finally going to learn how to windsurf; I had always loved watching the surfers when I was younger.

I strolled past the surf shop and caught a glace of one of my best summer friends, Camille. Camille lives in this little town all year long, and it was always the highlight of my visit when I got to spend time with her. We had met in summer camp when we were nine, and at seventeen we were metaphorically inseparable.

"Camille!" I shouted obnoxiously as I made my way inside. Her parents owned the store, so I wasn't too concerned about getting kicked out for being rowdy. It was also Thursday, which meant business was dead for the day.

"Ana! You finally made it up here!" Camille jumped the counter, and before I knew it, we were hugging next to a bin of blow up dolphins. "I've missed your face so much. You know video-chatting only goes so far."

"I know, I'm so sorry I couldn't make it up on the long weekend," I apologised while my face was smothered in her shoulder. "I had so much schoolwork dumped on me, and I'd have rather been anywhere else than stuck at my desk in my bedroom."

"Even the public washrooms on second street in August?" Camille grinned as I shuddered. We both knew that there was nothing worse than the stench that emitted from the closest public washrooms in the heat of the summer.

"Okay, maybe I wasn't that desperate." We both hopped back over the counter and made ourselves comfortable reading the trashy celebrity magazines Camille's mother insisted they keep in stock.

The magazines and school gossip kept us occupied for a couple hours, but as we moved out from behind the counter to close up shop, town gossip was our entertainment of choice.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm not shocked Dirty Hal's shut down," I said while sorting the change in the register. "That place was a collection of health code violations."

"I know, I was surprised that he was able to stay open all last summer," Camille chirped. "Town council has been pushing all the local businesses for a while to renovate so that we can maximise tourism."

"I get that." I sighed, "It takes more than a couple kitschy souvenir shops to keep the economy going."

"Yeah, but we don't need three ice cream shops." Camille rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her dark brown hair. The news startled me.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "I got a job at the Creamery this summer, and as long as I've known, that has been the only ice cream place other than the Dairy Queen."