prompted by yourkat.
kid!faberry in ice cream parlor. 1k words.
No matter what ff says, ms word says it's exactly 1k words.
Rachel sat in the ice cream parlor with her daddy, staring at the vanilla topped ice cream cone in her hand. She looked from it up to him. "It didn't hurt the cow did it?"
He ran his hand over his dark, thinning hair. "I don't think so."
"But you're not sure?" Rachel asked, looking back at the ice cream, staring at it with a conflicted gaze.
He just sighed helplessly.
Before Rachel could as another question, she looked across the parlor. She saw a chubby little girl with glasses and fraying braided pigtails looking at her flattened ice cream on the ground. She looked up at a blonde man who was on his phone. The man looked at the little girl and told her that if she wanted it, she shouldn't have dropped it.
Rachel felt a pang in her chest for the little girl with tears in her eyes. So when the man got up to ask the person working behind the counter for something to write with as he continued talking on his phone about things Rachel didn't understand, she slid out of her booth.
"What are you doing?" her daddy asked her.
"I'll be right back," Rachel stated, picking up her ice cream off of the table. She walked across the parlor, under her daddy's watchful gaze. She carefully tiptoed over the fallen ice cream that was starting to melt.
A single tear had trekked down the little brown-haired girl's face and her head hung as she stared at her knees. Rachel walked up to her and when the little girl looked at her, she smiled brightly at her, "I'm Rachel."
The girl looked at her and nodded looking at the hands in her lap, "I know. We go to the same school."
"Oh," Rachel scrunched her mouth to one side trying to remember ever seeing the little girl. She shook her head, realizing that she had no clue. "What class are you in?"
"Ms. Garbo," the other girl muttered.
"Oh. My friend Tina is in that class." Rachel smiled. She didn't know this little girl because they were in different classes. "I'm in Ms. Kelly's class. I haven't seen you at recess though."
The girl carefully looked up at Rachel through the panes of her glasses. "I like to read…in the library."
"Oh," Rachel took a step to the right because the ice cream was starting to run closer to her. She didn't want to get melted ice cream on her new ballet shoes. "Well, I saw that you dropped your ice cream." With that statement, she thrust her ice cream cone at the little girl. "You can have mine."
"Really?" the little girl asked, unsure of the other girl.
Rachel nodded, "I'm not sure I want it. It's got milk in it." She looked at the ice cream and then to the girl in hopes that the girl would take it before it melted in her hand.
"So?" the little girl still just looked at the ice cream, then back to the other girl's big brown eyes.
"My daddy's not sure if it hurts the cows or not and I don't want to eat it until I'm sure," Rachel stated with conviction.
The little girl carefully took the ice cream from Rachel, "Thanks." She took an experimental lick like she was making sure it wasn't gross. Then she smiled. "I like your clothes."
Rachel beamed and looked down at her pink unitard and tutu. "Thanks! I just got out of ballet class."
"Is it fun?" the little girl asked.
Rachel nodded vigorously, "It's so much fun. We get to dance and jump and twirl. Mike and Brittany are really good at it. I'm getting kinda good too…." She started to ramble about the class as Lucy hung on her every word, "There's this mean girl that makes mean faces at Mike when he dances with Brittany. I don't even know why she's there. She's not even in the class." Then she stopped like she forgot what she was talking about and then smiled at Lucy, "You should do it too!"
The little girl smiled, getting excited, "I want to do it too."
"You could get a tutu too!" Rachel said excitedly. "And ballet shoes! It's so much fun!"
The little girl was getting more excited at Rachel kept talking.
Rachel looked back at her daddy who was smiling at her with that goofy smile she didn't really understand. Then she looked back at the little girl, "What's your name?"
"Lucy," the little girl said quietly. She didn't like her name. The kids in her class made fun of her name and her in general.
"That's a pretty name," Rachel mentioned before rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. She glanced behind her and saw the mean man who was with Lucy start to make his way back over to the table, "Well, I hafta go. I'm going to see a play with my daddy tonight. Maybe if you wanna hang out at recess sometime, you could come outside. I like to play on the swings with Kurt."
"Is Kurt your boyfriend?" Lucy asked.
Rachel giggled, "Ew! No. Boys are gross."
Lucy nodded, "Boys are gross."
"Sometimes I play with Dave," she pushes her bangs out of her face. "But he likes to play with Noah now. But Mercedes likes to play with me and Kurt sometimes. Anyway, Kurt's nice."
Lucy smiled wider than Rachel thought possible and nodded, "Can I come play with you tomorrow?"
Rachel nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! See you tomorrow!" Then just as the mean man got into earshot, she pirouetted away and into her daddy's arms.
"I'm proud of you Rachel," her daddy said as he stood up with her, "Do you want another ice cream cone?"
"Nah," she said, pulling him toward the door, "We have to go get my dress for the play remember?"
He laughed and allowed his daughter to pull him out the door.