Mina was stuck working at the ice cream shack just down the street from the beach, her vizor doing nothing to block out the harsh rays of the sun. She’d much rather be at the beach, feeling the soft sand beneath her feet… But no. She was a worker at ‘Sixteen Scoops’, the ice cream shop that every teenager in the radius of fifty miles knew about. She blames it on her friend, Sana, for submitting a job application on her behalf without her permission. Only when she got an acceptance letter sent to her house did she find out about her surprise summer job.

    “It’ll be fun!” Her friend smiles, laying on her stomach. She completely brushes off Mina’s obvious aggravation. “Besides, it’s not like you do anything in the summer. This’ll be some good bonding time.”

    “Bonding time.” Mina repeats in a monotone, paying no attention to Sana’s slightly insulting comment about her not having anything to do in the summer.

    “Yes!” Sana nods excitedly, eyes twinkling as she kicked her legs back and forth. “We can bond with ice cream! We can look at cute girls! This’ll be great!”

    Mina tries to stay mad because, well, Sana practically just took away all of her free time, but she couldn’t - not when Sana was quite literally the brightest person Mina knew. An excited little bunny overflowing with positivity, that’s what Sana was.

    “Fine.” Mina sighs.

    So, here she was, standing at the front counter in a hundred degree weather. 

The sun was positioned directly in front of the shack, its rays blinding Mina to the point where she had to squint to look at the customers in front of her. Luckily the sun was setting, so the temperature would drop a few degrees and Mina wouldn’t be entirely drenched in sweat as she had been earlier.

    Mina sees a large group of teenagers down the street. They were a mixed group of boys and girls. They were very rowdy, all laughing and yelling at each other… And they were all very attractive. 

    She hears her friend’s voice come from the right side. “Mina, I’m gonna be at the back. You’ll be alright alone here, right?”

    Mina could see the group coming closer and closer. She widens her eyes, turning her head to look at Sana. “Can’t you wait until after this group - “

    “You’ll be fine.” Sana reaches out to pat her head. Mina ducks away.

    The shorter girl is all alone at the front when the group comes up. 

They were even more attractive up close. 

She clears and fixes her cap, trying hard not to focus on one person for more than a second, her eyes shifting between each person. “What can I get you all?”

    They all start ordering at once and Mina blinks once in confusion. Once they all quiet down again, Mina blinks again.

    “Can you say that again? One at a time?” She asks.

    A boy with a black snapback speaks, his voice quite masculine. “I’ll get three scoops of ice cream in a cone, please.” Mina nods and writes it down. She looks over to the boy standing next to him, taking his order as well. All the boys get scoops varying from three to six and Mina tries her best not to make any judging expression at their orders. The girls all get about two or three scoops except for the girl with shoulder-length brunette hair. In Mina’s opinion, she was the most attractive one out of the whole group.

    “I’ll just take a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a cup.” Her voice was very cute. 

    A chorus of ‘Boo!’s and ‘You’re no fun!’ rang out and the girl rolls her eyes despite the smile on her face. Mina writes down the last order before turning and calling for Sana.

    Sana comes out from the back room with some ice cream smeared on her face. Mina heard some chuckles and giggles from behind her. Sana, not even embarrassed, greets the group of people with a large smile. Mina breathes and uses a napkin to wipe the ice cream off of Sana’s cheek. “What the heck were you even doing?”

    “Cleaning.” Sana answers.

    “Right… Here.” Mina hands the order slip to Sana. “Go do it. Don’t let them wait.”

    “Six scoops of chocolate!” Sana’s eyes bulge as she reads the order. She looks over to the group. “Hey! Which one of you wants to use up all our supplies!?” She playfully yells. Mina shakes her head as the smallest boy there raises his hand. 

Sana narrows her eyes. “You better eat all of it.”

    “I will!” He replies confidently. 

    Truthfully, this was one thing Mina envied of Sana. She could be as social as she wanted to and it wouldn’t seem awkward or creepy because she is Sana, and Sana is cute.

    “Tssk.” Sana in her teeth, reading the rest of the orders. “Who ordered the one scoop? I love you.”

    Mina’s eyes lock onto the girl before looking back at Sana once she realizes that the girl was very much staring at her. She uses one hand to shove Sana away. “Go make the ice cream.”

    The group stands in front of the counter in their own chatter as Mina reorganizes the cash register. Once done with that, she turns and takes off her cap with a sigh, undoing her bun, running her fingers through her hair. She hears Sana talking to herself again at the back room and shakes her head at her odd friend.

    “Do you need help?” Mina calls out. There’s silence before Sana lets out a small ‘Yes’. Mina inhales and exhales deeply before joining her friend at the back room. 

    She sees Sana working hard to get the six scoops done. “You can give the finished ones to them.”

    “The only finished one here is the one scoop of vanilla.”

    “Yeah. Go give it to whoever ordered it. They deserve theirs first. Bless their soul for not making me struggle.” Sana gruffs. 

Mina laughs a little and takes the cup. Before she can walk out to the front, Sana grabs her arm. “Wait!”

“What?” Mina asks.

“That girl is so cute.” She whispers.

“Which one?” Mina furrows her eyebrows.

Sana smiled in a creepy way but of course it was more cute than creepy. “You know which one I’m talking about.” 

“Actually… No, I don’t.” She did.

Her friend wiggles her eyebrows. “In denial, aren’t we?”

Mina slaps her hand off and walks out to the group. 

“She’s totally your type!”

Mina pauses mid-step because clearly the whole group heard what Sana said. They all stopped talking and a few of them raised their eyebrows. Mina breathes and tries to remember that Sana is her friend and you don’t murder friends.

She hands the girl her cup of ice cream. “Here you go.” She tries not to grit her teeth when she smiles.

    “Thank you.” The brunette takes her cup and Mina nods in response, retreating her hand in order to put her messy hair back into a bun. It was getting hot again.

    (Or maybe that’s only because Mina was blushing.)

    //

    The next time Mina saw the girl was one week later. It was a busy day and Mina was sweating, yelling at Sana to hurry up with the orders as she filled the napkin dispensers. She only saw the girl walk up to the counter at the corner of her eye before rushing to the back where Sana was.

    “She’s here.” Mina gulps, taking the ice cream scooper from Sana and bumping her over to the side with her hip.

    Sana looks around confusedly. “Who’s here?”

    “Her.”

    "You're gonna have to be a bit more specific, Mina. I still have no clue who you're–" Sana turns her head to peek around the corner and lets out a loud gasp upon seeing the familiar face. "It's her!"

    Mina focuses hard on scooping the ice cream onto the cone. "I know. You go and take her order."

    "No. You go do it." Sana reaches for the scooper in Mina's hand but the girl pulls it away.

    "No!" She raises her voice as Sana struggles to get the tool from her. Eventually, with Mina being herself and Sana being Sana, Mina was forced out to the front counter once again.

    "Sorry about that. Can I take your order?"

    The girl smiles and Mina keeps in a squeak. The brunette stares down at the phone in her hand, scrolling through notes. "They sent me to come get ice cream so..." She slides the phone in front of Mina. "That's what I'm gonna need."

    Mina widens her eyes at the list. "That's a lot!"

    Sana comes out at that moment, giving the ice cream to the people who had ordered it. She walks next to Mina and sticks her ice cream covered finger in front of the girl's lips. "Here."

    Mina gives her a look but places her lips on the girl's finger, the extra ice cream off of the girl’s finger. Sana looks at the phone on the counter. Mina pulls away from Sana's finger. Sana speaks in disbelief. "Is this the next order?"
 
    "Yeah." Mina answers, looking up to the cute girl in front of her only to see the girl staring at her very intensely. 

    Mina feels the heat rush to her cheek as she looks away.

    "Did those boys send you to get all of this yourself?" Sana asks, eyes still glued onto the phone. 

    "I lost a bet." She removes her eyes from Mina, chuckling a little. Mina wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or disappointed. "They want to see me struggle with all of this... one of you could help me, though?" Her eyes trail between the two of them but lingered more on Mina.

    Mina speaks first. "Oh, we don't do delivery type of thin–" Sana cuts in. "Mina can go!"

    The smaller girl shoots Sana a ludicrous look. "What?!"

    Sana secretly winks at her. "I'll go do these orders real quick and then you can help her bring it down to her friends. I can hold it down here myself." She disappears before Mina could even decline.

    Mina stands awkwardly in front of the girl, who takes her phone back.

    "Your name is Mina?" The girl starts conversation. Mina nods.

    "Uh, yeah."

    "I'm sure the boys would be happy to know that." She says.

    Mina furrows her eyebrows. "Why?"

    "Well, they finally have a name to the cute girl at the ice cream shack."

    Was that a compiment? Mina blushes anyways.

    She reaches up to adjust her cap. "Are you sure they weren't talking about Sana?"

    The girl nods and leans on the counter with her elbow. "She's cute, but I'm positive they were talking about you."

    Mina clears . "Tell them that I'm flattered, but I'm not interested in any of them."

    "None of them?"

    "None."

    "Oh," the girl stops leaning on the counter, "is it because you're already dating someone?"

    Mina doesn't know why, but her cheeks turn pink again. "No, I'm single. It's just..." She trails off. 

    The girl gets it, though. She grins a tiny grin that makes Mina's stomach churn.

    Sana comes out with one ice cream cone. "Here… I might need some help making the rest."

    //

    "Where are your friends?" Mina asks, trying to ignore the sweat building up all over her body at the very very hot sun shining down on her. Her uniform did not do a good job keeping her cool.

    "At the very end of the beach."  She answers.

    "W - What?!" Mina exclaims as the two of them start down the beach. She feels sand get into her sneakers. "Why all the way down there?"

    "It's more peaceful." The girl replies with a shrug, some of the dripping ice cream.

    Mina sighs. "Do you intend to pay extra for this delivery?"

    "I'll give you a hug, if that's good enough." The brunette offers.

    It was more than good enough, but Mina doesn't say that outloud. 

    The two of them continue to walk down the beach silently until they come to the girl's group of friends. They all crowd around the two girls in order to get their ice cream (which had almost all melted).

    "Hey, I didn't know the ice cream shack did deliveries." One boy with spiky black hair and no shirt on says, his chocolate ice cream. Mina looks down at her hands that were dirtied with ice cream.

    "We don't." Mina answers, giving away the last cone she had in her hand. She starts to walk back and is surprised to see the girl jogging up to walk next to her. Mina widens her eyes. "What are you doing?"

    "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm walking you back." 

    "You don't have to." Mina mumbles, blushing at the girl's kindness. 

    "Right... Well, I can't really let a pretty girl walk down the whole length of the beach by herself when there are a bunch of nasty hormonal boys on it."

    Mina looks at her feet and quirks an eyebrow. She talks quietly. "You walking with me won't help them calm down." 

    "Was that a compliment?" 

    She changes the topic quickly. "I don't even know your name yet." Mina's whole face was red now.

    "It's Momo."

    Mina looks at the taller girl before averting her eyes.

Momo.

    //

    An unexpected thunderstorms starts brewing as Mina cleans the front counter. She peeks her head over the counter and looks up, the sky a dark grey color. She sighs. Maybe that’s why the day was so slow. 

    Mina at least wished that Sana was there. The other girl stayed home because she was sick, which Mina didn’t believe until she called her and heard the girl struggling to talk through slurred words. She let her friend rest and came to the shack alone.

    The rain starts to pour down soon after and Mina looks along the street when she sees a rather familiar head of brunette hair. She squints her eyes through the rain.

    “Momo!” She calls out, testing to see if it was really her. The girl turns her head and Mina waves her hand over. Momo runs over and Mina unlatches the side door, allowing the girl inside.

    “Why were you just walking?” Mina asks, watching the water droplets drop down from Momo’s chin and hair. “You’re all wet.” Mina feels the rain start to hit her from inside the shop as the wind pushes it. She climbs the counter top in order to reach the handle of the cover, pulling it down fully, blocking the outside world.

    When Mina looks over again, Momo’s teeth were chattering. Feeling sorry for the other girl, Mina takes off her uniform’s jacket, leaving her in a white tanktop. She hands the jacket to Momo.

    “I’ll go get you a towel in the back. Stay here, it’s warmer out here.”

    Mina returns and sees Momo in the same position as last time, the jacket Mina gave her wrapped around her shoulders. Mina holds out the towel to Momo. “Here.”

    “Thank you.” Momo bows her head and wipes her face dry.

    Mina jumps as a loud crackle of thunder shakes the small ice cream shack. She bites her lip and leans against the counter. Momo gives her a comforting smile.

    “Scared of thunder?” She asks. Mina nods, embarrassed. Momo walks to stand next to Mina, close enough to let their shoulders touch.

    Mina clears quietly. “Why were you even walking? The parking lot isn’t over here.”

    “I walked here.” Momo answers, drying the ends of her hair with the towel Mina gave her. “I don’t live far from here.”

    “Did your friends all ditch you?” Mina questions with a confused face, seeing as she never saw the other girl without her group of friends.

    “I came alone.” Momo mumbles.

    “Ah, I see.” Mina trails off. “Do you need a ride home? My friend’s dad should be coming by any minute now.”

    “I don’t have keys.” Momo gives a small smile. Mina looks at her. 

    “Then… how are you gonna get home?”

    Momo scrunches up the towel in her hand, sighing. “The landlord kicked me out of my apartment.” 

    Mina widens her eyes. “Oh.”

    “Yeah… I didn’t have enough money for the rent.”

    “Do you have any relatives to go to?” 

Thunder crackles but Mina doesn’t flinch, her brain more focused on Momo’s situation than the storm.

    “No. I got kicked out of that, too.” Momo shakes her head.
    
    Mina thought she heard wrong. “What?” 

    Momo sighs again. “One word, three letters.”

    “... Gay?” Mina guesses. Momo nods. “Yep.”

    Mina tries not to let the newfound information excite her too much. She chews on her lower lip before thinking of an idea. “You could stay at my house for one night, if you want?”

    “I’m a stranger.” Momo laughs quietly, eyes staring into Mina’s. “You’re inviting a stranger to live in your house.”

    “So what? You’re gonna sleep on the streets?”

    Momo pulls the jacket tighter around her body. 

    There’s a honk at the back of the shack and Mina nods. “That’s Sana’s dad. We’re going to go to her house first, okay? I left some stuff over there.”

    “Okay… Where is she, anyways?”

    //

    “HEY! Hey! I know you!” Sana’s slurred words came out loudly as the two entered her room. “You’re the hot girl who Mina wouldn’t stop ogling at!”

    Mina blushes profusely and rushes over to Sana’s bed, getting her to lay down in bed. “Shut up, you idiot.” She hisses.

    “Is she drunk?” Momo quirks an eyebrow, smiling amusedly as she walks next to Mina.

    Mina shakes her head, placing a hand on Sana’s forehead. “No. She’s sick… which is a thousand times worse than her being drunk.” Sana tries to bite Mina’s hand away. “Stop it, Sana.” Mina flicks her on the forehead in which Sana whines.

    “Did you drink medicine?” Mina asks her, sitting on the edge of the bed.

    Sana nods enthusiastically, the blankets pulled up to her chin which left only her face to stick out. “Yes, I did.” Her eyes move to the standing brunette. “Why is she here? Did you finally gain the courage to ask -” Mina plops a hand over Sana’s mouth. 

    “I only came here to check on you and to get my bag.”

    Mina moves her hand away and Sana smiles brightly.

    “I should be the one checking on you, missy.” Sana says. “You’re the one with the deathly fear of thunderstorms.” She giggles. Mina sighs.

    “Are you feeling any better compared to this morning?”

    “Yeah.” Sana hums. She catches Momo staring at Mina and grins. “Are you two dating?” She says the word in a sing-song voice. Momo laughs it off and Mina turns red once again. “Shut up, Sana... I’m not the one who dated a middle-schooler.”

    “Hey! She looked -” Sana pauses to hiccup. “- She looked old, okay?!”

    “A middle-schooler?” Momo raises an eyebrow.

    “Shut up, you.” Sana groans. “She’s in high school now... Besides, how old are you, hmm?”

    “I’m 18.”

    Sana gasps, sitting up to stare wide-eyed at Mina. “It’s illegal! Mina! Mina, dump her now before she goes to jail!” 

    Mina slaps Sana’s head. “We’re not dating.”

    Momo sits on the bed, eyes connecting with Sana’s. Mina could see the playfulness in her eyes.

    “And, even if we were to date,” Momo starts off, “I’d wait.” Mina’s blush only increases in shade when Momo shoots her a quick wink. Sana squeals.

    “I ship it! I ship it!”

    //

    “Did you really have to fuel her up like that? She’ll never stop bothering me about it.” Mina groans as the two of them walk up to the front door of her house. Momo laughs.

    “It was too funny to pass up.”

    Mina unlocks the front door and rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah.” She kicks off her shoes and walks into the kitchen where her parents were. “Mom, dad, this is Momo.”

    Momo stands next to Mina and bows, greeting them politely. 

    Her dad smiles at Mina. “Ah, so this is your type? Nice to meet you, Momo. I’m -”

    “She’s not my girlfriend.” Mina cuts him off. She can see her mom smiling at the corner of her eye. “Why do the both of you think every girl besides Sana is my girlfriend?”

    “No need to get so defensive.” Her father laughs. “Hello, Mina’s friend.” He greets Momo again, who just smiles and bows.

    “She’s sleeping over, okay?”

    “Sure.” A look of surprise came from her mother. “I’m glad to see you making friends, Mina. Sana is the only person you’ve ever brought home.”

    Mina blushes and takes hold of Momo’s wrist, pulling her to her bedroom. Momo lets out a quiet laugh as they escape from Mina’s parents. “Not very social now, are we?” She asks as Mina closes her bedroom door. 

    “Shush.” Mina orders, letting go of Momo to search her closet. Momo takes a look around the room. She walks towards the clean white desk and stares at all the pictures Mina had of her and Sana. The two had obviously been friends for a long time, considering all the pictures taken at different ages. Momo's attention snaps back to Mina as the girl calls her. When she turns to look, she sees Mina holding a stack of clothes in one hand and a towel in the other.

    “You should change out of the wet clothes so you won’t get sick.” Mina says as Momo takes the clothes from her. “The bathroom is right across the hall. Go ahead and shower.”

    When Momo comes back into the room, she sees Mina tossing a few pillows onto the ground along with a spare blanket. She raises an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”

    Mina looks over. “I’m gonna sleep on the ground.”

    Momo ruffles up her wet hair with the towel. “Why would you do that?” 

    “Because… I only have one bed…?”

    With the eyebrow still raised, Momo gently grasps Mina’s wrist and leads her to the bed, getting her to lay down. “What are you - ?” Mina tries to speak. 

Momo plops down on the other side of the bed.

    “This bed is big enough for both of us.”

    Mina sits up. “You don’t mind?” She asks, turning her head to the older girl.

    “I’d feel bad if you slept on the floor.” Momo says.

    “But…” Mina blushes as she trails off. Momo her head to the side. “What? What is it?” 

    The smaller girl looks at her feet. “I cuddle when I sleep.”

    Momo smiles widely. "Ah, I see. Well, we could put a pillow between us."

    Mina contemplates it but it looks like Momo already made up her mind for her because she takes a pillow and sets it in between the both of them. "There." She says in a satisfied tone.

    Mina scoffs and reaches over to turn off her light. The two lay in silence, both wide awake. Mina speaks.

    "What are you gonna do now?"

    Momo shuffles, sighing. "I'll probably go back to a shelter for a little until I can earn enough money to fend for my own."

    "You've been there before?" Mina asks, her eyes focusing on nothing. 

    There's a hum. "When I first got kicked out." Mina tugs the blanket up to her chin.

    "If I asked my parents..." She pauses as she sees Momo turn to look at her from the corner of her eye. She makes the mistake of also turning her head. "... to let you stay until you got some money... would you?"

    Momo avoids the question completely, giving a small smile. "You have work tomorrow, don't you? It's late. Let's sleep."

    That's when Mina learned that Momo hated having to depend on other people.