Brain Freeze

Choking Hazard

I was standing on our step ladder trying to reach the chalkboard to write out today’s ice cream specials before the rest of the high schoolers got out of class.

“Yo, Aleena, I forgot what I needed to write,” I sighed trying to communicate with my best friend without having to get down, “can you read them off for me, please?” I heard her groan a little.

“Okay, so for today it’s Moose Tracks and Butter Pecan” I neatly wrote down the specials on the chalkboard before I forget them. I climbed down the ladder and I took off my apron and walked around the ice cream counter to go wipe down the tables. A few minutes had passed when the bell above the door rang indicating that customers just started arriving. Some couples have ordered and either sat at one of the tables I finished cleaning or walked out of the shop with ice cream in hand. There was a few hours left until our shift was done and we would have to close for the day. I went back to cleaning the tables not expecting anybody else to come. Soon enough I heard the door open and close as a gust of wind swirled around the shop, I looked up and saw the backs of a group of guys. I sighed knowing Aleena couldn’t serve them all so I walked back behind the counter and put my apron on and asked the next guy in the group what flavor he wanted as Aleena served the first guy. I stood behind all the ice creams and asked the last guy, “any flavor catch your eye yet?”

“I’d like that one please.” I look up to see which one he’s pointing at and see he’s pointing at me. I blush slightly and I look down.

“Uh, any ice cream flavor catch your eye?” I emphasized still blushing.

He chuckled before responding, “Yeah, I’d like a double scoop of Butter Pecan in a bowl.” I smiled and scooped six small scoops of butter pecan into a medium sized bowl and handed it to him as he payed and walked to sit with his friends at a table. I start wiping around the ice cream counter and waited for the last guys to finish their ice cream. I scrolled through my Tumblr dashboard to pass time when I hear one of the guys that we just served coughing rather loudly. I look up to see the last guy I gave the ice cream to coughing. I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion as he keeps coughing and his friends haven’t noticed or helped him. Not long after that he keeps coughing and I then realize, he’s choking. He ends up falling over and that’s when his friends notice he’s in trouble.

“Oh my God, Skylar what do we do!?” I heard Aleena whisper shout

“Call for help!” One of the guys yells out. Aleena quickly grabs the shop’s phone and calls someone. The guys keep freaking out not knowing what to do. On an impulse, I ran around the counter and kneeled right beside the fallen teenager and instantly started hitting my fists against his chest in a slightly panicked manner considering I did not know what to do either. He managed to cough up a big chunk of pecan from the Butter Pecan ice cream. I sighed and rested my forehead on the guy’s chest, “thank God.”

“What happened?” He gasped trying to catch as much oxygen as he could. His friends chuckled and one of them spoke up.

“Dude, you choked on your ice cream and the girl you were shamelessly flirting with twenty minutes ago, saved your life.”

“Yeah, you should’ve seen it, she was pounding her little fists on your chest. It would have been funny, if you weren’t passed out..” another one said. The guy, still on the floor, chuckled as I blushed furiously and sat back on my knees still on the ground with him. He sat up and looked at me, “Looks like I got saved by an angel. How can I repay you?” He smirked up at me.

“Wow, even when you have a near death experience you still have no shame in flirting,” I said with a small smile, “just next time make sure you chew everything before swallowing.” I stood up and went back to the counter with Aleena still freaking out. It took me about 5 minutes to fully calm her down and by then the group of guys already left and everything was cleaned up. We put the chairs up on the tables and locked up the cash register. Aleena and I exited the shop at the same time. Since I had a copy of the keys to the shop I started locking the two door locks. We heard someone clear their throat behind us. We both turned to see who it was and it was the guy from before, the one that was choking.

“Excuse me, I was just wondering if we could talk for a second..?” He said looking at me then to Aleena as a smirk played on her lips.

“I’ll see you tomorrow for our next shift.” I nodded at her as she walked to her car in the parking lot.

“So..”

“So, uh can I help you?” I said to him.

“Yeah.. I didn’t properly thank you for saving my life and all. So thank you and I’d really appreciate it if you’d let me take you out some time.. to show my gratitude.” He said slightly embarrassed.

“Sure, yeah that’d be great. Here give me your phone so I could put in my number so we could agree on a time and place.” he gave me his phone and I plugged in my number, and took a quick picture for my contact icon before handing it back to him.

“Text or call me when you want to hang out.” I said smiling at him before walking to my car.

“I’m Kyle, by the way.” I heard him shout and I turned around.

“I’m Skylar.”