9

Chapter 9: Glace au Café avec un Cône de Gaufres

"If you had three wishes, what would they be?" Avery asked as she laid on the grass. The breeze blew causing the blades underneath her to gently tickle her arm as she stretched it out to pet Milo. The small Golden Retriever yipped and started nip at the tips of her fingers.

"To never have to go to school again, to be able to fly and for America to lower its legal age for drinking," Alex responded. Time had flown and December was drawing near and most of the leaves on the trees had shed leaving a gorgeous sight on the ground for those who came to visit the park. "What would be yours?"

Avery sat up, her fingers playing with a single flower she found on a bush that seemed to take its time to shed its leaves. It was a week or two after Alex had accompanied Avery and the Toussaints to retrieve Milo and the girls found themselves spending a little more time with each other once Avery opened up. The two could comfortably say that they were friends rather than acquaintances. Today, Alex joined Avery while she walked Milo and they decided to take a break in the local park while they allowed the puppy to play.

"I'm not sure," Avery responded, "Maybe for world peace, the end of world hunger and for a bucket of chocolate chip cookies." Avery leaned over and placed the flower behind Alex's ear, causing the brunette to wrinkle her nose in distaste.

"Your answers make me sound like a shit person."

Avery let out a laugh, the sound causing Alex to look over at her. "Aren't you a bad person though?"

Alex smirked once she realised that Avery had censored her sentence, "Come on, say it, Avery."

"Say what?"

"Shit."

"No."

Alex raised herself up so that she was now resting back on her elbows. "Why don't you curse? Is it too dirty for you?" she teased.

"I do curse," Avery replied. Milo ran up to her with a stick in his mouth and jumped into her lap, earning a small smile from the freckled girl. She tossed it, expecting him to fetch the stick and bring it back only to observe that he stayed comfortably on her legs.

"I've never heard you curse before."

"I curse in French. Curse words in English don't sound nice. Plus we haven't really been talking for that long for you to judge whether or not I curse."

Alex scoffed, "Oh please. How long we've been talking has nothing to do with it. You hear me curse all the fucking time."

"Because your mouth is like a sailor's."

The corner of Alex's mouth turned upwards in a half smile, "Touché."

Milo jumped from Avery's lap, seemingly interested in Alex as he ran over to her and climbed on her chest to lick her face. Alex used a hand in an attempt to move the dog from her face but did not succeed. "This is like the worst kiss I've ever gotten," she groaned, moving her head from left to right trying to get the puppy to stop. "Way too much tongue, Milo."

"I have to drop him off for training tomorrow before school. Maman and Papa both can't do it this time," Avery said as she lifted Milo up from Alex's chest, holding him in the air and rubbing her nose against his. "I'm gonna miss you, little guy. Even if it's just for half a day," she spoke to him. Milo responded by licking Avery's nose.

"That's how people get worms," Alex commented as she got up from the grass. She brushed herself off before holding out a hand to Avery who graciously took it.

"I'd happily get worms from this little guy." Avery attached the leash to Milo's collar.

The girls continued along their walk with Milo teetering in front of them excitedly. Avery felt herself shiver as another gust of wind blew by. Winter was definitely approaching and Avery would need to wear warmer clothes. Alex's hand subconsciously went to the flower behind her ear, securing it as the day became windier.

"Tell me about your friends. What are they like? I know Carson's friends with Kaden, but that's about it," Avery winced when she mentioned Carson's name. She felt a pang of guilt when she thought about how she didn't inform Carson that she and Alex were friends now and when she lied to him about Alex texting her. But, they didn't have to tell each other everything right? Carson was her best friend and that would never change. It wasn't like Avery was blowing him off to spend time with Alex, she saw him just as often. That was when he wasn't training with Marigold.

"So there's Kaden who's a complete and utter goofball, kinda dumb, loves partying and is high like eighty per cent of the time. There's Sam. He's the 'sensible' one of all of us, I guess, and he's really smart. He's a dick but he's protective of the group, so maybe he's not all that dick-ish. And then there's Jason but we call him Long. He's the scary one that rarely talks and always plays with a switchblade."

"Why do you call him Long?" Avery asked, quite amused by her friend group. They sounded like interesting people.

"That's his last name, he's Asian."

Avery threw her hands up and let out a laugh, "Woah, you don't need to boast about your group's diversity to me just because I'm brown."

Alex punched Avery's shoulder lightly, "I'm not. If I was boasting I would have also stated that Sam is African American."

"You sound mighty proud. Nice to know you're not a racist," Avery joked. Her eyes spotted a familiar building and Alex watched as her eyes seemed to brighten. "Can we go for ice cream?"

"Sure, why not?" Alex shrugged. She looked on in amusement as Avery jogged across the street once she looked both ways. The freckled girl ran towards the ice cream store with Milo at her heels who must've thought that they were racing. Alex noticed that Avery could go from being awkward, nervous and anxious to excited and childlike in the blink of an eye. But there was something about Avery's laugh and smile that Alex found refreshing.

When Alex entered the store a few moments later, she found Avery standing in the middle of the store, Milo in one arm against her chest and a tester spoon of ice cream in the other hand. The sweet smell of ice cream invaded Alex's nose and the warm air from the heater inside relaxed her muscles.

"What are you getting?" Alex asked Avery when she finished tasting the ice cream she had sampled.

"I'm trying not to be predictable by getting cookies and cream so I think I'm going to go with strawberry cheesecake." Avery allowed Milo to lick the remnants from her small spoon as he had started to whine. "What are you getting?"

"Cookies and cream," Alex smirked at Avery who gasped.

"You can't do that!"

"Fine, I won't. I'll get..." Alex looked down at the flavours that were displayed, "Coffee."

Alex moved to talk to the girl at the counter who was waiting for them to make their order, "Hey, could I get coffee and strawberry cheesecake. Two waffle cones."

"Coming right up. You and your girlfriend make a cute couple, by the way."

Alex, not expecting the young girl's comment, cleared her throat and rubbed the back of her neck. Avery observed the brunette, noticing her actions while bouncing Milo against her chest like a baby. She had learned that Alex only did that when she felt awkward, just like when they were at the pet store.

"We're not together," Alex said. She didn't understand why the comment threw her off like that. She was normally cool and composed, but now it felt like her body and brain didn't know how to react. She cleared her throat once more and ran a hand through her hair.

"Oh?" the girl's eyes brightened, "Then you wouldn't mind giving me your number?"

"Oh, sorry, I have a girlfriend. It's just not...her," Alex's eyes flicked away from the girl's face. Why did she lie? Why didn't she want the cute employee's number? Frustration jabbed at her and Alex huffed, "Look, can I just get the ice creams? This is what this place is for, right? Selling ice cream and not imposing on people's private lives?"

Avery frowned in concern once she heard Alex's voice rise and she stopped rocking Milo in her arms, letting him down onto the floor. Alex's voice wasn't loud enough for her to hear the conversation, but it was loud enough for her to know that she was upset.

When Alex walked back to Avery, she had two cones of ice cream in either hand and an annoyed expression on her face. Avery followed behind the taller girl as she led them to a booth in the far corner of the store and they sat down across from each other. Alex handed Avery her cone once she had placed Milo on the seat next to her and her hands were free.

"Thank you. You didn't have to pay, you know?" Avery said graciously. Alex only shrugged, beginning to lick her ice cream, ignoring Milo's yips for her to share.

"It's so nice that they allow dogs here," Avery commented after a moment of silence. This time, Alex only hummed in agreement.

Avery sighed and looked down on the table before using her tester spoon from before to scoop a bit of her ice cream and give it to Milo. He wagged his tail in delight and his tongue licked up the dairy treat. She was so happy that she now had a puppy and that they seemed to get along splendidly. Milo had school four days a week for the next month or so in order to get him trained. It was nice to know that while she was off at school, so was he, and in the evenings they would be reunited again for him to sleep in his new doggy bed that was placed at the foot of hers.

"Are you okay? What happened up there?" Avery decided to ask. She knew that Alex was upset and so the silence felt tense; it made her anxious knowing that something wasn't right and she didn't know what it was.

"She asked for my number," Alex responded nonchalantly, deciding to omit the part where the girl called them a cute couple.

"Oh," Avery's voice was quiet as she twiddled her thumbs underneath the table, "But don't you like girls? I mean- I don't mean to assume, but it's just what I hear... at school. "

Alex looked up from her ice cream cone at Avery. The way her messy bun was perched on her head and how the small curls that were too short to reach it framed her face. The way her eyebrows seemed to come together as she looked down at the table and her lower lip jutted out only slightly as she frowned. Alex looked down at her ice cream cone again, trying not to look at the girl in front of her and she sighed, "Yes, I do. But, it's not that. I just-"

Alex didn't know how to explain it since she barely understood it herself.

"I get it. You have people throwing themselves at you at school all the time. Like, you're so popular. You just wanted to get away from it for a while, so maybe her coming on to you made you a bit upset," Avery tried to meet her halfway there once she noticed that Alex didn't know how to finish her sentence.

Alex thought that maybe Avery was right. Maybe that was the reason, she was just exhausted by all these people.

"Anyway, I never thought I'd see the day when there would be another expression on Alex Rivers' face that wasn't a smirk," Avery tried to poke fun at her friend, sending down more ice cream on a spoon for Milo once he started yipping again.

In response to her tease, Alex smirked, "Don't tell me you missed it, Freckles."

Avery didn't want to admit that she kind of did.