"Alright, Claire." Leon began, plopping down on the park bench next to her. "Which flavor would you like?"
Looking between the brilliant pink atop the cone in his left hand and the pure white in his right, Claire brought her hand up to point towards her choice. "St-Strawberry... Please..."
"Sure." Leon nodded, extending the strawberry ice cream over to her. "Here you go."
As Claire reached out to accept the frozen delight, her fingers gently brushed against Leon's. The feeling of his skin against hers sent her senses spiraling, a warmth emanating from her chest before pulling her hand back in surprise.
Her sudden motion caused both of them to lose their grip on the cone and it fell right onto Leon's lap, the pink of the ice cream completely obscuring the dark blue of his uniform.
"I-I'm so... so s-sorry!" Claire stammered out. Feelings of shame washing over her as she stared down at the ground.
Her shoulders tense, Claire tried her best to not cry in front of someone that has been so kind to her. But right before the first tear fell down her cheek, a light chuckle broke the silence between them.
"It's okay, Claire." Leon reassured, brushing the fallen ice cream off of his pant leg and onto the grass at their feet. "A lot worse has gotten on my uniform, I'm sorry that I surprised you."
"Th-That's..." Her shoulders relaxed a bit. "That's okay..."
Swallowing her nerves, Claire peeked over at Leon while she interlaced her fingers together. "I-I'm sorry too."
Smiling back at her, Leon extended his right hand towards her. "Here, it's starting to melt."
Gazing at the vanilla ice cream running over his fingers, Claire looked back up towards him, just slightly below his eyes to avoid making contact with them. "B-But... Th-That's not fair!"
"I-It's my faul-" The word felt like glass in her throat. "My f-fault that the ice cream fell, y-you should have it."
"I'll tell you what." Leon began. "If you want to make it up to me, you can come cheer me on at the police baseball game."
"Baseball...?" Claire asked, seemingly interested.
"Yeah!" Leon replied. "Chief Irons has been really persistent about getting me to sign up for it. It's between the R.P.D. and the sheriff's department up in Stoneville."
Gazing between the lower half of Leon's face and the ice cream in his hand, Claire began reaching for the cold confection. "I-I like baseball."
Her hand grasping the top half of the cone, Leon shifted his grip towards the bottom, making sure that she had a firm grasp around it before letting go completely.
"Thank you, Claire." Leon said with a pleasant smile. "I feel like I'll be able to play a lot better knowing you'll be cheering me on."
Claire returned his smile. "M-My big brother says the s-same thing."
"Really?" Leon asked.
"Y-Yeah." Claire confirmed, taking a lick of her ice cream. "I-I don't have a s-single memory he isn't a part of."
"H-He's always been there for m-me..." Her smile wavering slightly, she continued eating her treat. "Ever since Mama and Pop..."
The vanilla of the ice cream began to taste salty. "When... Whenever I get upset... or... or make a mess... a-and embarrass him... and make l-life hard for him..."
"Am I..." Hot droplets of water fell upon the pure white ice cream, causing it to melt at a hastened pace. "Am I a burden?"
"What? Of course not." Leon answered, reaching out to touch her shoulder, but pulling back at the last second. "You're not a burden, Claire."
"B-But..." Dropping her ice cream cone to the ground, Claire brought her hands up to her face to begin crying into them.
"A-And you too!" Her voice was muffled by her tears and her palms. "Y-You've had to... to take c-care of me all week..."
Her cries ceased for a moment before beginning again with even more strength. "I-I'm a burden to you too!"
Deciding against his better judgement, Leon placed a tender hand on Claire's shoulder. "You're not a burden, Claire. Please, don't ever think that."
"Bu-But..." Claire choked out between her sobs.
"I've had a lot of fun spending time with you this past week." Leon reassured, gently patting her shoulder. "You've made this week a special one, by just you being you. There's no person in the whole world like you; and I like you just the way you are."
Pulling her hands down away from her eyes, Claire made eye contact with Leon for the first time. Despite the tears, Leon could see how beautiful her blue eyes were.
Still covering the lower part of her face, Leon could just barely hear her between her ragged breaths. "I-I... I l-l-like you... ju-just the way you a-are t-too..."
As Leon smiled at her, Claire slowly brought her hands all the way off of her face, returning his happy expression.
Offering her one final pat on the shoulder, Leon hopped to his feat and offered Claire a hand up. "Now what do you say we go get some ice cream?"
Her smile going all squiggly, Claire giggled as she accepted his hand. "O-Okay."