Nice Cream Guy
I'm just the Nice Cream guy. I go about my business, selling my wares, just like everybody else in this lovely open air market. In all my years, though, have I ever had recurring customers that came at the same time every day. They come by at about 1:30 pm. Everyday. Without fail. And they would always order the same thing. Her vanilla and him strawberry. It started one afternoon on a particularly hot summer day. The first week after we were freed from the Underground, too! They both approached my booth at the same time. And they bumped into each other. After some awkward apologies, they both ordered their Nice Cream. They glance at each other, glancing the other way when the other notices. It was sort of cute actually.
Now, he's a little skeleton-at about 5' 4" by the name of Sans. He's sort of popular in the Underground. Well, not popular, so much as everyone knew his name (because he used to be a sentry with posts everywhere). He always wore this faded blue hoodie, black basketball shorts with a stripe up the side, and pink slippers. Nowadays, he seems to have ditched his normal attire for a new blue hoodie (one with fur lining the hood), a pair of jeans, and a pair of practical blue sneakers. Good on him.
The girl, I overheard from her friends that frequent my stand with her sometimes, is called Penny. She had short brown hair styled in a pixie cut with the tips dyed a dark purple. She had bright green eyes and always dressed smartly. Always in stylish business casual. But she always wore a red and orange striped scarf when it was chilly out. It had a little monogram on it. I wasn't really sure what it was, just that it was from a popular series or something. I tried flirting with her once. Sans gave me the scariest look... I still get nightmares over that.
Now they frequent my stand every day. At the same time. They steal glances at each other. Sometimes they make eye contact and they both blush. It's so cute it hurts. After a couple months of this, they actually started talking to each other. First it was stuff like the weather. Then it was little things like favorite colors and politics. They once had a heated discussion about North Korea in the movie 'Z Nation'. They were here for way longer than their lunch breaks actually allowed for. Their conversations ranged through all different things. The meaning of sandwiches, the mundane-ness of umbrellas, things like that. It was always interesting.
One day, Penny handed Sans a large manila envelope. The front of it said 'Open Later'. Penny had a coy smile and Sans looked confused but incredibly interested. He peeks into the envelope and freezes, his "blood" flowing into his face.
He asks "Are these-"
She puts her finger to his bony teeth. "Open it later." she insists. Her voice is like music.
He nods, his eye lights in the shape of hearts. He stumbles on his way as she goes back to work. They didn't even buy Nice Cream that day. Something must have happened since I didn't see either of them until about two weeks later when Sans came to my stand with his brother and Frisk the Human. They order Nice Cream and sit nearby. I really want to ask what happened, but its not really my place. He seems happy and relaxed, though, so maybe nothing bad has happened. I serve other customers as I watch the skeletons and the Ambassador.
Soon they only start showing up on really hot days. They're holding hands. They look really happy together. They're chatting away like I don't exist as they eat their Nice Cream.
The next time I see them a couple months later, they're having a little spat about something. It's not too heated but, you know how it is with couples. They fight.
A week after that, they look like they're ok again. Whatever the problem was it must have been resolved. Or at least for her. Sans isn't wearing his normal lazy smile. This isn't good. I put an extra scoop on for them so hopefully they'll sit a little longer and talk to each other. Sans just looks exhausted. Poor guy. Humans are way more complicated than monsters.
Eventually they stop coming altogether. Well, the stop coming together. And eventually they stop coming at all. I guess they weren't right for each other.
So a customer asked me one day how I get the little messages into the Nice Cream. I happily obliged.
So there are several things I buy in bulk. Waffle cones, cream, several varieties of fruit and nuts, sugar, chocolate, fortune cookie paper, and tiny plastic eggs.
I take the paper and write as many compliments I can think of, one on each paper. Then I stuff it in the plastic eggs that I had sanitized in boiling water and close them up. Then I melt down some chocolate and put some in the bottom of the cones. Just enough to cover the eggs. Then I let them freeze overnight. And in the morning, I put the cones and Nice Cream into my cart to serve to costumers.
It's as easy as that.
The day that Frisk the Human went to her first Sadie Hawkins dance, the school they went to bought my services. I was to bring 500 pounds of every flavored Nice Cream I had that didn't have nuts in it (I assumed that was because nut allergies are common in humans) and put on a dress shirt and slacks.
It was a pretty snazzy event. The students wore simple dress clothes and shoes and every teacher was there to chaperone. Though most of the kids didn't really know how to dance, they looked like they were all having fun. Then a disco number came on and Frisk took the center dance floor and started a clumsy dance off with a routine that looks like it was pulled straight from a movie. It's also obvious that they didn't have too much time to practice either. It was really goofy and everyone loved it.
And afterwards, the air conditioner suddenly stopped working. Looks like I saved the day. One of the best parties I've ever been to.
One sunny day in June, I pushed my cart through the city park. It was a normal kind of day, the humans playing on one side of the park and the monsters on the other. The more adventurous ones played together in the middle. Anyways, I was pushing my cart when suddenly, I bump into the former captain of the royal guard.
"I am so sorry, Undyne." I had said, noticing that I had caused her to spill her drink on herself. I handed her girlfriend Alphys a huge handful of napkins.
"It's cool. It was just water." Undyne said with a grin.
I chuckled nervously and apologized again. I offered her a Nice Cream for my clumsiness but she declined. She was nice and cool now. I push my cart away from them, hoping that I don't do anything that stupid again.
That day, I didn't get a break from my clumsiness. I bumped into several people by accident. Most of them accepted Nice Cream. Then I bumped into this mean looking human. I made sure that I avoided him, even nodded to him in greeting as I was approaching. He deliberately stepped in front of my cart.
"Hey man! That's not very nice of you." the human said, a grin on his face. His companions had mixed feelings about his behavior.
"I'm sorry I bumped into you, sir, but you stepped in front of me." I said to him as calmly as possible.
"I did not." the man argues, getting all riled up.
"Yes you did, sir." I said and tried to wheel around him. He stepped in front of me again, this time he put his foot in front of my cart's front wheel.
"Ow!" he shouts.
This is bad, he's drawing attention to us. "What do you want, man? Quit getting in my way." I say, voice as even as possible.
"I want you to show me the respect I deserve. And I want you to give me and my friends free ice cream for life." he says, grin getting wider. "You know what? I want all your money too. You scuffed my shoe."
This guy is a real bully. I frown and tell him so. "Quit being a bully, man. You want respect, you have to earn it. Underhanded stuff like this is no way to make friends."
"Like I would want to be friends with the likes of you!" he said laughing.
I looked at his companions. "You should really think about why you keep this guy around." I said to them. "People like him are only going to bring you down and hold you back."
The human in front of my cart goes red in the face. "That's it, freak! I'm done with your attitude!" he growls and pulls out a switchblade.
I actually feel my heart stop. I freeze. I've never been in an actual FIGHT before...
And luckily I won't ever have to. The next thing I know, Undyne is suddenly by my side, batting the knife out of the human's hand. "What do you think you're doing punk?!" she shouts in her usual manner.
"Teaching this freak a lesson! Stay out of this tuna bitch." the human said. And it was a huge mistake because suddenly the police were on us.
They arrested the human for threatening me and attempting to extort goods and money from me and luckily the human's companions told the truth. Seems like they took my advice to heart. The court date was set and the human spent a month in the county jail. Maybe he learned his lesson. One can only hope.
