Chapter 1: Bikers on the Boardwalk
My mouth watered as my wide eyes moved up and down its long hard length, my delicate hand barely able to wrap around it as I made a fist. Damn did it look delicious. It was all I could do to keep myself from opening my mouth, leaning down, and taking the tip between my lips.
But I maintained my willpower. After all, this was something I did all day long at my job. Instead I passed it to the cute girl on the other side of the window and she leaned down instead, her lips engulfing the tip and a look of pure bliss crossing her face.
I smiled. “Do you need a napkin or anything?”
The girl came up from her enthusiastic bite of the ice cream cone and grinned sheepishly. She wiped a white trickle of ice cream from the corner of her mouth. I handed a napkin over to her and she smiled again.
“Thanks! You’re the best!”
And then she was gone. I sighed as she disappeared from the window. I had that same bikini she wore, though I thought I did it better, and seeing her like that on the boardwalk side of the Freeze Hut looking like she was about to have the best day ever just reminded me that I was about to have the most boring day ever.
I held back another sigh. Sure this gig slinging ice cream at the Freeze Hut on the beach was only part-time, I’d been working here since before I was technically legally able to work behind the counter, but there was still a part of me that wished I could have my summers completely free to hang out on the beach and be lazy. Decompress from my first year of college.
Oh well. College bills weren’t going to pay for themselves. Not that I had much of a chance of paying off college with what I made at the Freeze Hut. But still, every little bit helped.
The next customer came up to the window, a dad with a slight paunch and his wife who had several small kids and a toddler in tow. They had the harried look of parents who weren’t on a vacation. Their kids were on vacation. The parents were just trying to survive a trip to the beach.
I put on my best smile. “How can I help you?”
It’s not like working at the Freeze Hut was terrible. At least I could see the beach from my little window. Of course seeing everybody out there in their swimsuits while I was stuck in here wearing a sweater and long pants, the temperature in the Freeze Hut tended to get low enough that it was necessary to wear fall clothes even on the hottest day of summer, was almost more torture then benefit since it just served to remind me of what I was missing.
I turned away from the counter to ring up the customer and ran smack into Madison who was carrying a large sundae in her hands. Or at least she was carrying a large sundae in her hands. The instant I turned to the register the sundae went from being in her hands to being all over me. And my sweater. I bit back a curse.
Apparently Madison didn’t have any such filter though.
“Oh my God!” she said. “Watch where you’re going Kylie!”
My eyes widened and my nostrils flared. Who did she think she was talking to me like that? She was the one who was walking with ice cream in the forbidden zone between the register and the window.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” I said.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” she parroted back at me. “You need to watch where you’re going!”
“And you need to stay the hell out of the cash corridor,” I yelled right back at her.
I turned and realized that the family outside was staring at us. I went over and hastily slammed shut the window and wheeled on Madison, fuming. It wasn’t often that I lost it in front of customers like that, but she was definitely one who could push me over the edge. Madison was one of those people I always seemed to hang out with just because she was around and had some of the same friends, but there were times when I really couldn’t stand her.
Like now. I was going to have to lose the sweater. That meant a whole afternoon of