"Get your Flippiees here! Now also serving hot dogs, and for a limited time, cotton candy!" A gruff yet familiar voice belched, belonging to none other than frugal convenience store owner Flip. He stood next to a cart that sold all the items he had just listed, with a group of people and children of various ages forming around him.
David eyed the cart, specifically the cotton candy machine, and subtly licked his lips as he watched the bright pink, sugary fluff spin around.
Lisa takes notice of this and smirks. "Ah, feeling a bit peckish, are you?" She teases.
"A little, since that cotton candy looks so good!" He reaches in his pockets and pulls out the empty fabric that was inside. "But alas, I didn't bring any money."
"I have some," Winston jumps in. He reaches in the inside front pocket of his jacket and pulls out a brown leather wallet. "My parents allow me to carry a few bucks on me in case of emergency. How much do you need?"
"How about enough for us all to share," David says.
"I've never been to that foul smelling man's store, so I have no idea how much that would be." Winston sighs as he shuffles through his wallet.
"Since he's here, how about we get some Flippiees for all of us?" Lola suggests.
As Lisa and David nod in agreement, Winston raises an eyebrow, "What exactly is a Flippiee?"
"They're Flip's special nickname for slushies." Lola replies.
"Slushies? I can't say I've ever had those before," Winston confesses quizzically.
"Have you ever had a snow cone or shaved ice?" Lisa asks.
Winston pauses for a moment to think, "I've had shaved ice once, pretty good, though not as good as ice cream."
"Well, think of Flippiees as shaved ice if it was melted to a liquid, while still maintaining the cold and sugary flavor." Lisa explains.
Winston gives a grin, "Sounds interesting, I'll take one."
Lisa nods, "So, if we get four Flippiees, plus one wad of cotton candy that's enough to feed four people, I believe it would be best if you give us about…$14. Flip is extremely frugal, so it's best to cater to his whim than to argue with him endlessly."
Winston shuffles through his wallet and pulls out that exact amount. "There we are."
David holds his hand out and retrieves the money from Winston. "Can somebody come with me please? I really don't like that guy."
"I'll go, I've dealt with Flip hundreds of times, he doesn't scare me." Lola volunteers as she gets up. "We'll be right back."
After Lola and David walk away to do business with Flip, Lisa and Winston have a little chat.
"So, how did you and David meet?" Winston asks.
Lisa grins. "We met about two months ago; with our relationship being the standard 'casual classmates' affair. However, in addition to his amazing intelligence on par with my own; the thing that stood out about him, that I found rather alluring, is how helpful he is. During one of my experiments, I inadvertently caused an explosion, covering my glasses in black soot. Without having me ask him for assistance, he voluntarily cleaned my glasses using a squeegee."
A small red glow tinted onto Lisa's cheeks and she heaved a small sigh. "Almost in an instant, I fell in lo...ahem, I mean, I viewed him as a suitable companion for me. So, following advice from my siblings, I sent him a token of affection...a literal beating heart from a pig specimen in the biology lab."
"My goodness!" Winston gasps. "Sorry, keep going."
"That's how he reacted too, well less talking and more screaming. Anyway, per more advice from my siblings, I sent him a love note. Lo and behold, we got to know each other more, and now we are as close as we can possibly be."
Winston chuckles. "That's wonderful, if a bit odd. You know, when you mentioned a love note, I seem to recall Lola sending me a love note too. I wonder if it happened the same day you gave David his?"
Meanwhile, the pageant princess and the boy genius reach their destination, but see a large crowd overwhelming Flip. "Nyehh, one at a time people!" He shrieks.
Passing the time, the two kids engage in small talk. "I can imagine that you and Winston view each other as more than friends. How'd you get to that point?" David asks Lola.
Lola sighs lovingly as she tells the story of meeting her beloved prince. "It all started during one of my pageants. During my baton twirling act in the talent portion, I looked at the judges; they gave me a 9, an 8, and another 9. Then, I saw that Winston was sitting with the judges for some reason and gave me a 10! I was so surprised and happy that I blushed and smiled at him. Even though I really wanted to get his attention, I was shy in approaching him directly, so I decided to send him a signal that I like him. When he fell off the slide like earlier, I gave him a perfect 10 score, hoping he'd like it. He did, since he smiled at me! Eventually, I wrote him a love letter and buried it in the sand so he can dig it up. I sprayed it with my perfume, and he instantly recognized my scent cause he sniffed it, and smiled wider than I've ever seen. A couple days later, we talked, and now we're in love!"
"Love, you say?" David squeaks.
"He hasn't said the words 'I love you' to me yet, but given that he's kissed my cheek three times and my hand a million times, I just know he loves me!" Lola squeals. "Speaking of kissing...have you ever kissed Lisa on the hand yet?"
David's face instantly flushes bright red and his pupils shrink in shock. "Uh, buh, uhh, I uh, well…" He stammers. Avoiding the question all together, he looks to his right and sees that Flip is free from the crowd. "Oh look! It's our turn!"
As they approach Flip's stand, he stares at them. "What can I do ya for?"
Given how much he dislikes Flip, David answers him with weary hesitation and barely looking him in the eye. "Can we have four Flippiees and some cotton candy please?"
"Eh, I dunno, you seem like a little shrimp, and I ain't exactly selling this stuff for a nickel. You want the sweet stuff? Then you'd better lay some cheddar on me!" The man bellows, with a stench of cheese and beef jerky breath blowing in their faces.
Lola motions for David to hand her the cash so she can handle the business, so he does. She smacks the dough onto the stand, "Money is no object Flip, just give us whatever this covers."
Flip's enormous bushy eyebrows shoot up towards his forehead while he displays an enormous brown stained smile. "Now you're speaking my language!" He triumphantly squeals.
A few seconds after that ordeal, Lola and David return to their companions; with David clutching a paper cone with an enormous wad of cotton candy in it and Lola trying as hard as she can not to drop the four Flippiees she's carrying.
"Lola, let me help you!" Winston gets up and takes two cups, much to Lola's relief. "Ooh, these are cold. You poor dear, carrying them all by yourself."
Lisa takes it upon herself to help her own beloved by holding her hands up towards the cotton candy so she can catch it in case it topples over. "Goodness, you really have good balance to keep it intact."
"I'm always willing to protect my favorite sweet of all time, especially since a lot of things will stick to it if it falls on the ground." David slowly sits down while holding onto the pink fluff for dear life.
Winston observes the two Flippees in his hands. "So which is which?"
Lola looks at which color they are. "Ok, so the purple one is David's, and the reddish-pink one is yours. I have mine and Lisa's." She looks at her sister. "I got you lemon, is that alright?"
"Yes, excellent choice!" Lisa grabs her Flippee from Lola's hand and takes a sip. "Ahhh!" She sighs.
"Here you are, chap." Winston holds David's Flippee out to him.
The young genius' arms start to hurt from holding the cotton candy for so long. "Uh, just a minute. Can you guys grab some before it falls over? Also...anybody mind holding it for a while?" He begs wearily as his left arm shakes a little. Each kid obeys and grabs a huge wad of the sugary fluff.
"Give it to me, I can hold it." Lisa volunteers as she retrieves the paper cone from her companion.
"Ok, I'm ready for my Flippee," David states as he grabs his sweet drink and also takes a huge sip. "Mmmm, grape, my favorite!"
Winston wearily stares at his own Flippee. "Lola, what flavor is mine?"
"Your favorite flavor: strawberry!" Lola squeals as she winks at her crush.
Feeling touched that Lola remembers that he loves anything that tastes like strawberries, he looks at it one more time before taking his very first sip. After swallowing and smacking his lips, his eyes light up upon realizing he likes it!
"Wow, this Flippee is delicious! It tastes exactly like frozen strawberry juice!" Winston gasps in delight.
Lola wraps her arm around him and snuggles his cheek. "I'm so glad you like it!"
With that, Winston begins to eat his wad of cotton candy. "Mmm, this is good too! Did you know that in the UK, they call this 'candy floss'?"
While Lisa and David nod, Lola slightly wrinkles her nose. "Why would they call it that? 'Cotton candy' sounds so much better."
Winston shrugs. "People in England just have different names for stuff. Like how they call French fries 'chips', or how 'tea' could mean a light afternoon meal as well as having literal tea."
He looks at David. "Oh, speaking of tea, do you drink it at all?"
David finishes chewing his cotton candy and looks at Winston. "Only when I have a sore throat. My Nana first introduced me to it and it tastes really good with honey. Although, I haven't really thought about casually drinking it besides then."
"Tea definitely soothes any sickness, and as a gentleman of English descent, I'm kind of obligated to like it all the time, haha. However...I don't particularly care for honey in my tea, I'm more of a sugar person. Say, David, might you like to have tea with me sometime?"
David grins and nods. "Sure, that sounds like it could be fun. I'm guessing it would have all the fixings like crumpets and such, haha."
"Come now lad, rather bold of you to assume it wouldn't!" Winston heartily laughs as he takes a large sip of his Flippee. Unfortunately, he feels a mildly intense pain surge through his forehead. "Ouch! Brain freeze!"
Lola puts both her hands on both his shoulders. "It's Ok Winstie. Just rub your forehead nice and slow and then the ouchie will go away." Winston obeys and does just that. After about ten seconds, his brain freeze subsides.
"Thank you Lola, that really helped." He smiles at her, resulting in her smiling back.
The indulgence of sweets was interrupted by a familiar, classic tune emitting from David's pocket. He once again retrieves his cell phone and looks at it.
"It's Diane." He presses the answer button on his screen. "Hi Sissy, what's up?"
As he quietly listens and nods, his eyes instantly light up. "Oh boy, we're spending the night with Mom and Dad?! That's so great! Huh? Oh, you're on your way now?! Cool!"
He pauses and looks at Winston and Lola. "Hey, would it be alright if my new friends meet them, and maybe Lisa can say hi too? Ok, nice. I'll just meet you guys in the parking lot."
He hangs up the phone and places it back in his pocket. "You guys get to meet my parents today; they're really nice people, and I really think they're gonna like you." He pauses and frowns as he clasps his hands together. "But, I beg you, please don't say anything to them about what I've told you. They might be upset that I revealed something personal about our situation."
As the girls nod in understanding, Winston raises his eyebrow and wrinkles his nose. On the one hand; he really wanted to get to the bottom of this family drama, despite his new friend's insistence that everything is fine. However, he was taught to respect people's privacy, and the last thing he wanted was to be nosey at this time. So, despite hesitation, Winston gives a reassuring nod.
After everyone gets up and properly disposes of their trash, they walk towards the parking lot, which is quite a distance from where they were sitting.
"This day has been quite fun; and it was a pleasure meeting you David." Winston shakes David's hand while they walk.
"The pleasure is all mine, and of course, we have these lovely ladies to thank for introducing us to each other." The two of them look at the Loud sisters walking behind them and give warm smiles.
Lola smiles back and winks at them, while Lisa places her hands behind her back and gives a coy smile.
Winston speaks to David again, "Say, would you like to come to my house tomorrow and have that tea party I promised?"
David gives a small frown, "I'm sorry, but I can't. My family is very religious; so not only do we have church every Sunday morning, but they also believe that Sundays are the day of resting from work and other activities."
"I understand, perhaps another time." Winston sighs.
The boys are so busy chatting that they don't realize the girls have stayed behind, watching them get along as if they've known each other for a long time.
"Wow, you were right Lis, they are perfect for each other! I just love seeing my Winstie Boo so happy, and your friend David is actually a lot nicer than I thought he was gonna be!" Lola squeals.
"I agree, this plan was a complete success, and I too couldn't be happier that my beloved has found a friend." Lisa sighs as she stares at them.
Lola snickers. "Your beloved? Ooh, Lisa's got a crush!"
"Hush!" Lisa pouts in embarrassment.
As the boys share a nice laugh in the distance, Lola gets an idea. "Lana's friend Skippy is also a pretty nice guy, do you think we can get him to meet them too?"
Lisa shakes her head. "I think we should keep their friend group small for the time being, then perhaps when they've been acquainted long enough, then we can add one more."
They hear David call out to them and see him wave. "Lisa, Lola, my parents are here! Come say hello!" To which, the two sisters follow suit.