The Soda Fountain was the trendy ice cream parlour most teenagers hung out in. It was designed like a typical American diner, had all kinds of music going on all the time. You could ask for pretty much any flavour you could think of, from quiet, safe chocolate to bubble gum, marshmallow or even peanuts.
"And what can I get you, me lovelies?" Siobhan, the Irish waitress asked as they sat down.
"Don't give us that, you know our order!" Jessica grinned.
"You're forgetting Isabelle," Andie pointed out teasingly. "And I say guests first. Isabelle?"
"Uh... I'll go for Vanilla and Raspberry, please."
"Okay, me darlin'. And what about you girls?"
"Chocolate, nougat and cookie dough," Jessica said. 'Please," she added after a nudge from Andie.
Andie hated rudeness.
"Passion and Pear for me, please." she said.
"And I'll have blueberry and mint, please." Emily put in.
"All righty, comin' right up."
She walked away. Jessica looked to Isabelle who was sitting diagonally from her next to Andie.
"You wait until you try it, this place has the best ice cream in the world!"
Andie giggled.
"Sure, when they don't give you indigestion," she said. "Remember the time we came here to celebrate our final exams last year? You wanted an ice cream to match the occasion, and you did the worst combination ever!"
"Oh, my God, yes!" Jessica said, laughing too. "I had ordered... coffee, marshmallow, peanut and... Oh, yes, kiwi!"
Isabelle laughed but couldn't help a slight grimace.
"Didn't that make you sick?"
"Oh, yes, so sick! I couldn't get out of bed the entire weekend after that!" Jessica laughed.
"We told you not to order all that," Emily reminded with a smile.
"We'd finished our finals, I wanted to celebrate!" Jessica said.
"Yeah, and you ended up sicker than the entire St Peters Hospital put together!" Emily teased.
They laughed. Siobhan came back at that moment with their order.
"Thanks, Siobhan," Andie smiled.
"Ah, you're welcome, darlin's." she said.
"Go on, try it!" Jessica urged Isabelle.
"Relax, Jess, she'll get there," Andie smiled.
They all watched her as she took her spoon, scooped up some vanilla ice cream and popped into her mouth curiously. She closed her eyes in contentment.
"Hm, it's fabulous."
"I told you, didn't I?" Jessica said.
"Okay, we get it, Jess. The oh-so-insightful Jessica Leighton saves the day again!" Emily said, rolling her eyes with a grin.
"I know, right?"
Andie laughed, not sure if Jessica was serious or not.
When they'd finished, they agreed it was getting late and they needed to get home to look after their siblings and do their homework. As they left, Jessica insisted they form a "friendship circle", as she liked to call them. She firmly believed they strengthened the bonds between people. She described it as "cosmic energy that needs occasional physical contact to keep its strength. Like blowing on fire so it doesn't go out. You don't need to do it all the time, just often enough to keep it going."
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Four Elements Book 1 - Hidden Powers
Fantasy#70 in Fantasy Fire. Water. Earth. Air. The four elements are not just elements. They are incarnated by four people. Four teenagers. who were chosen by the original masters of the elements. But of course, being the incarnation of the elements isn't...
