Josie skipped ahead of Georgie and Luke, down a hill that Georgie had not anticipated being in the area, in spite of the fact that she'd been told to walk beside them multiple times. Georgie hadn't seen her little sister this excited about anything. She went to dance classes, met up with friends, but she hadn't seemed excited about those things.
Growing up, Georgie had thought about how cool it would be to have an older sister, even though she'd always known she had an older brother. She would think of all the cool things they'd do together, like going to the park, watching movies together, and swimming in the local watering hole. There was so much that she'd wanted to do, if only she had an older sister. Maybe, just maybe, those were things that Josie had imagined and wanted to do. And that was why she was so excited.
This was their first summer together, Georgie wanted to make it memorable for her little sister. She'd never imagined that in her sister bonding moments that she'd be the big sister, however, she rather enjoyed it.
"Jo, I need you to get your booty back here or we're marching your booty right back to the house," Georgie called after her sister, who stopped on the spot and turned back, but she stayed put. "Of course she's going to act like a little madam," she rolled her eyes as Luke just laughed.
He had put the parasol up when they realized the sun was shining directly into Leo's eyes and periodically, he'd dip his head around the side of the stroller to see if he was awake. And every time, Leo let out a giggle, because Luke would say, "Peek-a-boo, I see you."
"If you can see me, then it's okay," Josie shouted back to her sister.
"She's right, as long as she doesn't cross the road or turn the corner," Luke defended the little girl, only for Georgie to raise her eyebrow at him. "Josie, your sister's right, walk beside us," he called to her, and with a huff, Josie retraced her steps and stopped beside Georgie. "Best to be on the safe side, right?"
"Why?" grumbled Josie, holding onto one of the handles of the stroller as she looked up at Luke. He looked like he was at a loss for words, but Georgie had an answer, one she was sure her sister would have heard plenty of times. Melinda seemed like a worrywart, so she had to have used it before.
"Because if you're too far ahead and someone tries to snatch you, neither Luke or I will be able to stop them," she told the little girl, adjusting her hat that had started to tip to the side because she shook her head as she skipped.
"Chase said that if someone kidnapped me, they'd bring me straight back," Josie stated, nodding her head. "He said they'd regret it."
"Well, the same goes for him," Georgie told her sister, tickling her neck. "We don't want you getting hurt, okay? So, please, walk beside us."
Georgie should have let her walk a few steps ahead, that way she could talk to Luke. However, she didn't want to give Melinda or their dad anything to worry about or give them a reason to hate her. A skinned knee would probably do it. Both sisters were wearing shorts, all it would take is one trip.
Eventually carrying Josie on his shoulders, Luke had handed the reins for the stroller over to Georgie, even though she'd said she'd carry Josie. But her sister insisted. Luke was taller than Georgie, if she was on his shoulders, she could see over hedges. Georgie hadn't meant to laugh at how much of a snoop her little sister was, but it was hard not to.
Luke had also shown that he was pretty good with kids, which was more of a surprise than Josie being a snoop. He didn't mind that Josie asked him to carry her, he didn't mind that she held onto his hair, and he didn't seem to mind that she would turn his head to look up at her if he didn't hear her the first time she said something. He sang the songs that Josie wanted to sing, nursery rhymes that he probably hadn't sang in about a decade. If Georgie hadn't already developed a crush on this boy, she would have now.
JosieJo, as he was calling her, acted like he was her older sibling, not Georgie. It only stung a little bit, but if Georgie was her, she'd probably like Luke more than herself, too.
Actually, she did like Luke more than she liked herself.
In Edenton, Georgie and Max would hit up Broad Street, and always find somewhere along there to hang out. Here on Lapsley Street, both sides were lined with businesses that were all mom and pops stores and restaurants, aside from a couple chain stores, like CVS and a Dollar General. There was a bakery, a cake store, a party decorations store, and a bookstore. The store they were headed to, however, was the ice cream parlor that was nestled between a video rental place called 'Movie Mania' and a barbershop called 'Neat Back & Sides'.
The ice cream parlor had a large ice cream cone out front with multicolored─faded─sprinkles on top of the large whip of ice cream. It had a striped light blue and white awning and some white circular tables and plastic blue chairs set out front. The ice cream parlor was called 'Retro Gelato', but Luke had already told Georgie that they only ever called this place 'Giuseppe's'. The owner was a man named Giuseppe and he ran the parlor with his wife.
"Okay, do you know what you want?" Luke asked Josie as he lifted her off of his shoulders. She knew what she wanted. She'd been talking about it since they reached the street, stating that her dad would bring her in here every time he brought her down to the cafe. His cafe was on the other end of Lapsley Street.
"Yes! Bubblegum and banana!" she shouted, tugging on Luke's arm to drag him into the parlor. The interior of the ice cream parlor looked like someone had plucked the interior for a fifties diner and pasted it here, but made sure to change all of the red to light blue. It wasn't too big, but they'd managed to fit eight baby blue leather booths in, four on each side of the shop. The counter was stainless steel, plain but had a large printed menu propped beside the register.
Georgie's eyes were drawn to the display of different flavored and colored ice creams. The display case was silver with a large clear window for customers to gaze in at the creamy goodness.
On such a hot day, it should have been packed, but there were only a few customers filling the booths. Georgie looked up at the counter where a man wearing a baby blue sailor's cap and large grin greeted her. "Welcome! Benvenuto!" he boomed, taking her back a little. But beside her, Luke waved at the man.
"Good afternoon, Giuseppe," he said, walking Josie up to the counter and smiling over at Georgie to join him. "Giuseppe, this is my friend, Georgie."
"Ah, Luca, such a pretty friend," stated Giuseppe, and Josie, who was bouncing beside Luke, giggled. "And the ever pretty Miss Josie is with you."
"Georgie is my big sister, she's from North Carolina!" Josie was sharing far too much information, but Georgie didn't have the chance to get a word in edgewise to stop her or Luke from sharing anything else.
"It's nice to meet you, Sir," she said with an awkward smile as the owner reached a large meaty hand over the counter to shake hers. His hands were surprisingly warm for someone who worked with ice cream.
If she hadn't already assumed that Luke and the guys visited here often, the fact that Giuseppe knew what Luke's order would be would have had her guessing so. His flavor of choice was something that Giuseppe called 'his famous mocha whirl'. It was a cross between chocolate and coffee flavored ice cream, with chocolate chips and coffee beans blended through it. She had to admit, that sounded really good.
Giuseppe fixed up two cups of ice cream, one with Luke's order and one with Josie's, and sat them on the counter before he turned to her. Put on the spot, Georgie had no idea what to order. But Luke slipped in, suggesting she get something called the 'caramel caffe'. "Coffee and caramel," the owner told her and she agreed, because she would have been standing there for a while trying to decide.
With their ice cream, and a small tub of vanilla bean for Leo, they sat in one of the booths. It was far too hot to sit outside.
Georgie made Josie scooch over to the window and sat beside her, while Luke sat opposite them. Her thighs were already sticking to the leather of the bench, and she knew she was going to have to peel herself off when it was time to leave. "Leather seats are the worst," Luke muttered, shifting a little on the bench across the table, clearly peeling his own legs off of it. She let out a giggle that got his attention. "Sticking to it," he said with a lopsided grin.
"Me, too," she laughed.
∞༺ ༻∞
Luke's history with babysitting had gone pretty smoothly. Well, there was one time he'd lost a kid that he was keeping an eye on, but that was because the kid was playing hide and seek…and hadn't told Luke he was playing hide and seek.
He hadn't done much babysitting, in actuality, but he was pretty good with kids. His mom had friends with younger kids and whenever they came over for parties or just visits, Luke was the one who entertained them. And right now, he was putting this to use. Entertaining Josie, making Leo giggle with every game of 'peek-a-boo, I see you' that he had to, to show Georgie that he was good with kids, that they liked him and that, hey, this guy is so sweet!
He shared his ice cream with Georgie, letting her taste it and stealing some of hers, even though he'd already had it before. Josie even let them try some of hers. It was so sweet, however, that he had to turn down her third offer. He wasn't much of a sweets type of guy…unless the sweet thing was Georgie's giggle. He'd overdose on that if he could.
"What kind of dance do you do, JosieJo?" asked Luke as he reached over to feed a little of the vanilla ice cream to Leo. The baby made a funny face every time he tried it and Luke chuckled at him every time. It was adorable, he had to admit.
"Tap," Josie answered, sitting on her sister's knee instead of the bench. "And ballet, and jazz." The area around her mouth was blue from the bubblegum ice cream and the sauce that Giuseppe put over the top. Georgie had tried to wipe it, only for Josie to wriggle and have the napkin smudge the sauce further up her cheek.
"Do you like it?" Luke couldn't imagine the 6 year old not liking getting to run around for an hour or two every lesson. He didn't know what a dance class full of 5 and 6 year olds looked like, and thinking about it made his head hurt.
Josie nodded as she scooped more ice cream into her mouth. "She does gymnastics, as well," Georgie slid in, her arm reaching under Josie's to get the small spoon she'd been left with to try her own.
"I'll help, Gee," Josie insisted, ice cream dripping down her chin as she tried to scoop Georgie's ice cream up with her own spoon.
"Jo, no," Georgie attempted to stop her sister, but the little girl had already gotten a large amount on the spoon and was twisting to feed it to her. Begrudgingly, obviously, she accepted the scoop of ice cream. Luke forced down the laugh that was bubbling up at seeing the expression on her face, but he could only force it down for so long as she gave Josie a thumbs up.
He let out a loud laugh as Josie turned to him with a proud smile on her face. "You are so helpful. That's so nice," he praised the little girl, getting a look of almost betrayal from Georgie which he shrugged his shoulders at. "She helped."
"Josie," Georgie started, swallowing the ice cream in her mouth, "why don't you help feed Luke his?" she suggested, turning it on him. Maybe she'd caught on to the fact that he was being extra nice to her little sister as a way to get her to like him more. But either way, he couldn't say no. He didn't want to upset Josie or make Georgie think he couldn't joke around.
However, as Josie slipped off of Georgie's knee, someone called her name and she turned around. Alex had spotted his little cousin and she'd darted right over to him. Bobby and Reggie were with him.
Funny, he thought, I told you guys half 12 at the earliest. When he checked his watch, it was only just after 12. He glared for a second before smiling at his friends. Alex took Josie up to the counter to order ice cream for the three of them while Reggie and Bobby came over to the booth.
Reggie was almost immediately infatuated with Leo, who gave him a gummy little smile when he saw him. Bobby stated he was laughing because Reggie's face was funny to look at. Georgie had been pushed into the window, Bobby beside her and Reggie at the edge of the booth, making faces at Leo.
Luke now had two reasons to punch him. Yes, this was a practice date, to see how things would go in the event that they went on a real, just them, date, but Bobby was the one who probably told Alex and Reggie when to meet him, after hearing Luke tell Georgie he'd meet her before they all met up. And now, he was getting cozy beside her in the booth? This was what jealousy felt like and Luke did not like it.
"Hey, Bob, why don't you go help Alex with your ice cream?" Luke suggested, hoping that he would get up and he could switch sides with Reggie. But Bobby shook his head.
"Reggie's in my way, he can go help," he told him. Luke could not remember a time when Bobby was more dense than Reggie. But he had definitely beaten him now.
"Dude…move," Luke said to Reggie, who was still making the baby giggle while stealing his ice cream. "That's his, stop it," he swatted his friend's hand. "Go help Alex."
"Can I get out?" Georgie asked Bobby, who froze. He was probably afraid she was going to yell at him again but he slowly nodded his head, pushing Reggie to make him stand up and shuffling out of the booth. "I'll help Alex," she said once she was on her feet, wiping at the back of her thighs that had gone red from being stuck to the leather. An odd thought crossed Luke's mind as he imagined squeezing them, or pinching them. He had to clear his throat and think pure thoughts.
"Why are you guys here so early?" he asked his bandmates, leaning over the table so that he could whisper. "What happened to 1?"
Reggie exchanged a look with Bobby, who shrugged his shoulders. "You were hitting on Georgie," Bobby stated. Would it have taken a genius to figure that one out? Absolutely not, but Luke was going to need that genius to figure out why Bobby had to point it out.
"Yeah, so…why are you guys here already?" he asked, gritting his teeth a little. He loved his friends, they were his brothers, they did everything together…but they did not have to be present when he asked his crush out on their first date. "I can't ask her out if you guys are here, and definitely not with Alex here."
Alex had told them that Georgie was off-limits. Reggie had asked what happened if she showed an interest in one of them, and in Alex's own words, "If she happens to like any of you degenerates, that's fine, but do not make a move on her." Luke had no idea what 'moves' he meant, but surely Alex could read the same signs that Luke was reading. She giggled at the things he said, she blushed whenever he complimented her, she smiled whenever she looked at him. That was a sign, right? A billboard sign.
"Wait, that's why?" Reggie asked, shocked as he looked at Bobby with a raised eyebrow. "You told us Luke called and said─"
"I was doing you a favor, dude," Bobby insisted.
"If you wanted to do me a favor," Luke shook his head, glancing over at the cousins who were talking to Giuseppe, "you shouldn't have come early."
"Sorry, but this is really the favor," Bobby insisted, once again, and started telling them a story about how Alex had told him that Georgie had a boyfriend. Luke didn't believe that for a second, because Georgie had already told him that she didn't have a boyfriend. Why would Alex tell Bobby that his cousin had a boyfriend when she didn't?
"You're lying," he dismissed him, continuing to glare at him as he leaned back in seat. Bobby didn't go on, didn't insist further, but he just gave Luke a look that pushed that he was telling the truth.
Giving Josie ice cream had proved to be a problem. The way she'd been running ahead when they were walking to the ice cream parlor was a breeze compared to the way she was running ahead on their walk to Luke's house. The only saving grace they had was that Reggie and Alex ran after her, Reggie as bad as the little girl, who was very loudly singing the same 'Bear Hunt' song she'd taught Luke in the morning.
Bobby walked beside Luke and Georgie, Leo snoozing in the stroller as his sister pushed him. They'd all decided not to bring bikes and Bobby complained about walking in the heat. "Oh, hush," Georgie scolded him. "If it's too hot, wear a hat and lighter clothes," she told him, and Luke inwardly grinned at the fact he was being told off.
"What, you wanna see me in less clothing, Georgie?" Bobby chimed in, making eye contact with Luke who was growling at him.
"I'd rather jump into a lake filled with gators and cottonmouths," she told him, making a face that had Luke chuckling. "In other words, I'll pass."
"Had worse reactions," shrugged Bobby, skipping up ahead of the two. "At least I know my own address!" he called back, teasing her for not remembering it before.
They were a few minutes away from his house. It wasn't enough time for Luke to ask her out and Bobby knew that. Luke was so mad at him.
Not only was he being an ass to Georgie, but now, he decided to be an ass to him? What the hell was wrong with him?
Ahead of them, Reggie and Alex were holding Josie by each hand and swinging her. She would jump, they would swing, and she'd cackle loudly. And Luke saw Georgie flinch when they did it. "She's okay," he told her, the girl's worried expression doing all kinds of things to his stomach and chest. "Big sister mode is in full gear, huh?"
"Sorry," she tried to shake it off. "But my dad and stepmom will kill me if she gets hurt."
"They won't let her get hurt," Luke promised, patting her hand gently and he saw it again, the blush that had been right across her nose when he'd held her hand in the cafe, when he'd mentioned going to the movies. He wasn't misreading anything, she liked him. "We're almost at mine, two houses up," he nodded and grinned at her, her smile flitting across her lips involuntarily.