Clary's face contorted into a grimace of effort as she dragged the shopping bags behind her. She has been struggling with them for two road intersections so far, and that was enough for her. "Mom, I'm tired." She announced and stopped to take her breath.
Jocelyn turned around to her, carrying triple the load of bags. She walked back the few steps she had on Clary before dropping the forest of paper bags around her. "Aw, I know dear." Jocelyn said. "But we're almost done. Your paint supplies are the only thing left on the list."
"I'm not going anywhere." She mumbled, looking up at her mother with wide green eyes and a small frown. Even if the shop was just at the next intersection, just the sum of fifteen steps, she couldn't take another step. And she wasn't planning on doing so. Clary sat down and let out a small exhausted sigh.
"I thought you wanted to choose the colors of the paint." Jocelyn said, trying to lure her into coming. Clary pauses for a second, blinks twice before shaking her head.
"I'm staying here." She said, adamantly keeping her decision and crossed her arms over her chest. Jocelyn smiled a little at the little red fluff visible between all the bags before something caught her eyes.
"Wait right here, I'll be right back." She said before disappearing into one of the small stores. Clary watched her mother in a little confused frown. Seconds later, she popped out of the store with a cone towered by a gigantic scoop of ice-cream. Clary's face brightened immediately. She loved ice-cream. "Here you go."
"Thank you!" Clary said, hopping to her legs to take the cone. She took it carefully from her mother and sat back down, already biting into it. Jocelyn laughed before nodding.
"You stay right here and guard the bags. I'll be back with your paint." Jocelyn leaned down and planted a small kiss on Clary's forehead. Clary just nodded and continued murdering her scoop of ice-cream like a little red-headed beast. Jocelyn headed for the stores.
After few minutes, and with a smeared mouth, Clary already ate half the scoop. She brought the scoop closer to her mouth and licked it. The poorly placed scoop rolled over the edge of the cone and hit the ground, barely missing Clary's jeans. Clary looked at the empty cone for a second, then at the melting ball smeared on the ground before she realized what happened. Her lower lip started to quiver and her wide green eyes shimmered with upcoming tears. She liked that ice-cream. Before she can start crying, a flash of blond caught her eyes.
She looked up, peering through the bag handles and found a pair of golden eyes looking back at her. She stretched her neck over the handles to get a clear view of the owner of these beautiful eyes and she was met with an equally stunning mass of blond hair and a wide grin.
"Hey." The boy extended his hands toward her in a friendly shake, still grinning. "I'm Jace." He said. Clary blinked at him, not sure what to do. Instead of shaking the boy's hand, she rubbed her teary eyes. Jace took his hand back, now smiling. "What's your name?" He asked. Again, Clary looked up at him silently for few seconds. But this time she answered.
"My name is Clary." She said in a slightly annoyed tone. She didn't want to talk now; she was in mourning for the ice-cream scoop.
"Clary." He repeated the name once, trying it. For some reason Clary blushed, making her freckles disappear in the red glow of her cheeks. "Cool name." He shrugged before poking one of her red curls.
"Stop it." Clary said, slapping his hand away. He grinned and poked her once more, almost making her stand up. Almost. "I said stop it!" She glared at him, making him laugh. She wanted to smack his blond off him. He glanced to his right before sighing.
"Okay, Clary." He said, emphasizing on her name. "I'll see you around then." He gave her curls one last poke before breaking into a run. Before Clary could call after him, he disappeared. Clary gave a small 'hmph' and returned to her forgotten empty cone. She almost forgot about that.
"How did you manage to finish it so quickly?" Jocelyn asked playfully, arriving just a second later. She smiled, taking out a tissue to clean the ice cream off Clary's face.
"I didn't." Clary said. "It fell on the ground." She got up, brushing her hands on her jeans. Jocelyn sighed softly.
"I'm sorry, sweetie. I'll get you another one." She said, but Clary just shook her head, and started collecting her bags.
"I don't want one. Let's go home." She said. What she wanted more than the ice-cream was to return home, so she could draw that mysterious, annoying blond boy.
"Fine by me." Jocelyn smiled, gave Clary another kiss before taking the rest of the bags. In few seconds, they returned to dragging the bags across the road, toward their house.