"Alexis", David called. "Alexis!"
"David?" she said incredulously. "What are you doing here?"
He tried not to show her how hard he was breathing, waving her down. "I thought- I thought maybe you'd want to get ice cream with me?" he said lamely.
"What?"
"Oh my God, do you want ice cream or not, Alexis?"
She considered it for a half a second, nodding. "Why, David?" she pressed.
He paused. "Because Mum and Dad are back from London tonight and you know how Mum gets when they've been travelling", he said quickly. "I just thought… ice cream would prepare us?"
"Oh", she said with a nod. "I thought they weren't back until Friday?"
He shrugged. He didn't really know when their parents were coming home- he didn't even know if they were in London.
He could never tell Alexis why he was picking her up. She was young and flighty and naïve and would probably think of it as a compliment.
He'd heard classmates- friends was not the right word to insert into that sentence- talking about her. Everything they said about Alexis made his blood boil, and it had taken everything he had not to stand up and punch each and every one of them. They had never used their last name, but the way they were leering solidified his thoughts. They were talking about his baby sister, and it made him so bad he wanted to scream.
She was twelve. She was so young. She was young and naïve and flighty and outrageous, but she was only twelve. She'd been spending far too much time away from home, and he spent far too much time worrying about her.
Alexis shoved her backpack at him and he frowned, shoving it back. "No". He held up a firm hand. "Get in the car, Alexis".
"Fine". She huffed at him, before breaking into a grin. "Hey… Dad's got a bunch of new movies at the house, Adelina told me. Maybe… maybe we can watch one together when we get home?" there was a note of hope in his voice, and he frowned internally, knowing that he hadn't been doing his part either.
"Okay", he agreed easily, turning the keyring around his thumb.
It was only ice cream, but it was an afternoon where he knew where his little sister would be.