Just Eat The Ice Cream – Chapter Nine: Rocky Road
Jack was glad it was finally Monday. He had the day off from both the shop and the club tonight! He took this rare opportunity to sleep until one o'clock. It was heavenly. Nick let him snooze away until he felt like getting up. That cloud bed was the best place to sleep.
Getting up, Jack wandered out into the hall of the house. He found a note left from Nick on the fridge. He had gone to work already. The front door was locked, so if he left the house, he'd have to take the spare key from inside the ice box. Why Nick left his spare key in there, Jack would never know.
He went out after having a small something to eat. "Where to go, where to go…" he mumbled to himself, wandering the streets of town. After some thought, he chose to finally go and buy himself a cell phone. He took a plan that allowed him to call locally and would only be billed for the minutes he used. Perfect. The phone he got was a gray blue color similar to denim jeans, but the case for it was solid black and rubbery. He quickly set his friends' number into his contacts. The benefit of not having a cell phone was being able to have their numbers memorized.
Continuing to wander the streets, Jack yelped when someone grabbed his ass. Spinning around, he nearly screamed with rage seeing the same man from the club. "What the fuck!?" he shouted, kicking his hands off, "Fucking pervert!" And he rushed off, trying to keep somewhere nobody would grab at him.
Jack checked the time on his new phone. Would Pitch be open? Maybe he could go vent to him about the freaks grabbing at his butt. Mostly he just wanted to sit in the fancy chair again. With a smile, he went to the building and sat in the waiting room.
Pitch looked surprised to see him sitting out in the room. "Got some time off?" he asked, smiling as Jack waltzed right into the room and plopped himself down on the leather shrink chair he loved so much. Jack nodded with a big grin. Smiling some more, Pitch sat himself down in his own chair and faced Jack. "Did you actually come to see me or did you just want to sit in the chair?" he asked.
Laughing lightly, Jack said, "A little bit of both." Pitch rolled his eyes with a chuckle.
"Well, go right ahead and start jabbering," he said, motioning to him, "I won't write anything down this time either."
Jack crossed his feet over each other. "Well, I mostly just wanted to come and complain."
"I get that a lot," Pitch said, "Go right ahead."
Smiling, Jack let his head rest back on the chair. "Okay, so a couple days ago I was at the club and Manny was there," Pitch looked intrigued by this, but said nothing, "And he had some friends. I think they were possible business partners. Anyway, one of them was being a real douche. I was just trying to do my job and get drinks for another table and the pervert grabbed me, pulled me to the dance floor, and started feeling me up." Pitch looked pretty shocked to hear this. "I reported him to my manager, but he was back again the other night. It was stripper night, so I was kinda hopeful he wasn't gonna touch me or anything.."
"Wait; was Manny there this time, or just the man?" Pitch asked, slightly lost in Jack's tale.
"Just the guy," Jack said, "And even though I hoped he'd just ogle the dancers, I tried to avoid getting too near him. But he grabbed me again, almost pulled me into his lap, actually, and started squeezing at me again. I reported him again, and he got kicked out again, but when I was walking in town today he was out and apparently decided it would be okay to grope me in public."
"He followed you?" Pitch asked, looking surprised and worried.
"I don't really know," Jack replied, "If he was following me, I didn't realize it. But I think it was just bad luck…" Pitch nodded softly. Jack sat up. "That's basically all I wanted to whine about."
Now Pitch laughed. Shaking his head, the black haired man said, "I don't think of it as whining. You just wanted someone to listen to your problems. That's my job. I get it a lot."
Jack propped his arms behind his head and smiled at the space man. "I don't think I'd be able to handle it. I'd end up yelling at my customers. I'd tell them to quit complaining and suck it up."
Again Pitch laughed. "You wouldn't last very long, then," he said, "Nobody goes to a therapist to get shouted at."
"Be pretty weird if they did," he said. Pitch chuckled at him and stood up. He went to the closet next to him and then handed him a squishy orange alien looking man. Jack squeezed it and its eyes popped out.
He looked up at the shrink. "You seemed pretty frustrated about this," he said, pointing at the toy, "This should help a little bit. You've struck back against your attackers, haven't you?"
Smiling sheepishly, Jack said, "Maybe I smacked one or two of them with a food tray a couple times…" Pitch smirked at that and went back to his chair. Jack sat there and squeezed the toy over and over again; laughing at how silly it looked when its eyes bugged out.
Pitch sat and began writing on the papers covering his desk. Jack watched him for a second before asking, "Whatchya doin?" Pitch chuckled.
"Just filling out some paperwork. You don't mind, do you?"
"Nah," Jack said, flopping back down on the chair, holding the toy in front of his face and squishing it again. "I'm cool with being ignored by my shrink." Pitch laughed at him again and turned back toward him.
"Did you have anything else you wanted to talk about? I've got another appointment in about half an hour," he said, resting his elbows on his knees.
Jack grinned at him. "How's Sera doing?" he asked. Pitch sighed and shook his head.
"She's fine," he said, "She was a little upset that you were gone before she woke up the other day, though." Jack pouted at that.
"She's a sweety," he said, "Thanks to the shop I thought I'd never wanna see another little kid ever again in my life." Pitch gave him a curious look. "After dealing with about fifty thousand tantrums and 'mommy I want ice cream's, you start to figure every kid's the same." Pitch gave him a little frown. "Sera's different, though. An absolute sweetheart."
Pitch leaned back in his chair and smiled. "She adores you," he said, "Won't stop asking me when the next time she'll get to see her ice cream man will be."
Jack couldn't hold back the grin that spread across his face. "Adores me? Naw, you're her dad- all her adoration goes to you! You're her hero!"
Smiling warmly, Pitch just sat in his chair. Jack smiled back and squeezed the orange alien man again. He rested in the leather chair in silence for a little while. When Pitch said it was time for his next appointment, Jack honestly didn't feel like leaving. Even without Seraphina it was nice spending time with the tall man. Maybe it was just because it was in a setting where he was obligated to listen to everything he said, but Jack enjoyed that. Having someone who wouldn't interrupt you while you whined about trivial things.
"Maybe I'll be paying you and Sera a visit sometime soon," he suggested as he left.
Pitch smiled. "I'd like that," he said. He said goodbye and ushered in his next patient. Jack waved at him and then went on his way. He had the whole day to himself; he had a lot of free time to do whatever he wanted. But what did he want? He felt like going to an amusement park.
There was one a few miles away, Jack could walk to it. When he got there his legs felt like pudding, so he immediately went to a kiddy ride that had no line. He got to sit down quickly and ride out his exhaustion with tiny rolling hills and spinning carts. Once that was done he went to what he really wanted to get at- the big roller coasters. He went on every single one- he loved the adrenaline rush and the fun!
He had gone on each ride six times by now and was feeling pretty winded. He made a stop to get some fries. As he munched on the salty snack, he figured he may as well head home. Maybe he could stop by Pitch's house to say hello to Seraphina. It was only six thirty, there was time.
When he got to the grey house it was nearing seventy twenty, but he figured it would be okay to pop in for a visit. He walked up and knocked on the door.
Pitch was the one who opened it. At first he looked surprised to see it was him, but he quickly smiled. He turned his head and called to his daughter. "Sera, come see who's here!"
She poked her little head around the corner and squealed with delight. "Ice cream man!" she shouted, running up and hugging around his legs. She bounced up and down as she squeezed his knees, cheering about how he was here.
Pitch had to yank her off of him. "We were waiting for pizza!" she announced, "Daddy thought it was him!"
Jack smiled. "Nope, not the pizza man, just ice cream," he said.
"They should make pizza ice cream," Seraphina said, stepping out of the way so Pitch could close the door and let Jack in.
"I don't think that'd taste very good," he replied, smiling down at her. She smiled back and then looked to her father.
"Daddy, is the ice cream man staying for movie night and pizza?" she asked.
"If he wants," Pitch said, looking at Jack. Jack looked back to Sera and choked back the loud guffaw at seeing the pleading look on her face. Pitch looked and quickly scolded her for it. "Sera, let him decide."
Jack agreed to stay for pizza and movies. He sat himself on the couch, his little friend clambering right up beside him, and asked, "So what were you guys planning on watching?"
"We were gonna watch the Little Mermaid!" Seraphina replied, holding up the DVD box.
Pitch came and sat with them. "It's Sera's favorite," he said. Jack smiled.
"My favorite's the Lion King," he said, poking Sera's forehead.
"We don't start the movie until we get pizza," she informed him, "We have to wait for pizza." Jack didn't argue it. He just asked what they should do until the pizza guy showed up. Bouncing, she said, "We could tell each other secrets!"
Jack had to start. "One time I accidentally locked my friend inside the ice cream room at work," he told her.
She beamed at that, giggling fiercely. "One time I put chocolate syrup in daddy's coffee!" she said. Jack looked at Pitch, who just smiled and rolled his eyes.
They continued with the secret sharing. Sera told Jack that she sleeps with a blankie and her favorite beary. Jack told her he sleeps at his friend's house. Then there was a knock at the door and Pitch had to go up and pay the pizza guy.
"My daddy's really shy," Seraphina said in a not-so-quiet whisper.
Jack blinked and grinned over at Pitch. "Really? He doesn't seem it," he said.
But she nodded her head. "Mmhmm! He is! Once, a long time ago, he said he really liked our mailman, but he was too scared to talk to him!" Jack heard Pitch gasp in the middle of her story, and he was heading over, saying her name warningly.
Jack looked up at him with a smile. "So that's why you're not married!" he said, "Well, that makes sense. You did say Seraphina understood." Pitch's pale cheeks were a deep pink color by this point.
He picked up his daughter and whispered a scolding to her. "Sweety, what have I told you about sharing someone else's secrets?"
"To not to," she said, looking down with a pouty lip. Pitch sighed and rubbed her head gently.
"It's okay," he said, "Come on, pizza's here." She hopped right off his lap and rushed to grab herself a slice. Pitch let Jack go before he did, which Jack thought was very polite, and then they all returned to the couch and started the movie about a red haired singing mermaid.
Jack couldn't help but glance over at Pitch during a few points in the movie. So Pitch was gay… He was kind of surprised, but when he really thought about it, it sort of made sense. Smiling, he returned his gaze to the film. No matter what Pitch was, he was an awesome dad and a fun alien to hang around with.