‘Fair point, you wouldn’t be there for all the pillow fights and dance routines.’
‘Is that what you all do?’
‘No!’ I laugh. ‘I’m messing with you. We just sat down and listened to the album.’
He stands up. ‘Kidding aside, shall we get going?’
***
Ollie and I have started a new tradition this summer. Annie Banannie Bananas Ice Creamon the high street is doing a different flavour every week. And if you try every flavour you get a stamp on your card, and with a full card you can enter into a prize draw to win a year’s supply of free ice cream.
And because Annie Banannie doesn’t have a huge weekly clientele, Ollie and I have a good shot of winning. We’ve promised to share the ice cream between us if one of us wins.
‘Welcome to Annie Bannanie.’ Kristy, the dirty-blonde cashier, smiles. She does this every time, greets us as if she’s never met us, even though we’re in here every week. I have the feeling she doesn’t want to engage with us, so it’s easier pretending shedoesn’t remember us. She’s only working here during her uni summer break, after all.
‘Flavour of the week,’ I say, slapping down my stamp card, like I’m a cowboy at a saloon paying for a drink.
‘Make it two,’ says Ollie, putting his card down next to mine.
‘Only one more week to go,’ says Kristy, scooping us two cones of a lilac-coloured ice cream. ‘Here you are, two scoops of Lavender Dream.’
We pay up, and then leave, walking down the street, eating our ice creams.
‘I can’t believe we’re halfway through now,’ I say wistfully. ‘It feels like a countdown to the end of summer . . .’
‘I really want a full stamp card,’ says Ollie. ‘I hate things being incomplete.’
‘It’s only a few weeks away,’ I tell him. ‘You’ll get the full collection soon enough. I told you before, obsessing over the stamps isn’t going to make it go much faster. What do you think of this flavour?’
‘Not convinced about flowers in ice cream,’ says Ollie. ‘I think there’s a reason it’s not been done before.’
‘That’s the point of the Annie Banannie invented flavours. Remember when they did Stilton Summer? Gross. This one I can get behind.’
Ollie laughs. ‘True, I don’t think I like any of these out-there flavours. Classics are classics for a reason.’
‘So you’re just doing this for stamps?’ I tease.
‘Well, also to hang out with you,’ he says, looking over at me with a smile that melts me way faster than my ice cream in the sun. ‘But mostly for stamps.’ He grabs my arm, tugs me towards him. ‘Here,’ he says, rubbing his thumb on the side of my mouth. ‘You’ve got some on your face.’
I freeze under his touch, under his spell. I have to tell him how I feel. Surely he feels the same way too?
Three
Sea-green eyes, drown me
Let me taste the salt, before it washes away
That’s the memory of when
I loved you like that
‘I Loved You Like That’ fromDreamers
Selena Says: We are halfway through our last school summer. Only three weeks to go until upper sixth begins! After school it’ll be uni, then it’ll be the real world. No more summer holidays! This is the best time of year, but are those days numbered?
The response to my Selena Says is immediate.
Bleak, messages back Kira.
