Chapter 24
The day after the math test, Anna went out for ice cream with Taylor and her grandpa. He still had to take it easy, but, as he told her grandma, "The only way ice cream can make you feel bad is if you give yourself brain freeze."
With the weather nice and warm despite it being the middle of February, Anna expected to see at least a few people in line. Instead, the only person inside was the young woman behind the counter with a pigeon roosting in her hair. Her head shot up as they came inside, sending the bird cooing in alarm as it looked for a more peaceful place to nap. "Welcome to The Inside Scoop! How can I help you?"
Anna's stomach growled as the scent of freshly baked waffle cones filled her nose. There were so many delicious flavors and toppings that she didn't know where to start! "I think I need a minute."
The employee chuckled. "No worries. I work here, and even I have a hard time choosing half the time." Her smile sagged a smidge. "I'm just glad y'all came in. We haven't had any customers since Tuesday, and I'm pretty sure he only bought something 'cause he felt bad for only coming in to use the bathroom."
"But everybody loves ice cream!" Taylor said.
"Everybody loves cookies too, but that hasn't helped Sweet Surprise much," Anna said. "Besides, it's February. It's not exactly the most popular time of year for ice cream."
"I wish that's all there was to it." The woman sighed. "Ever since that new bakery opened up nearby, folks've been satisfying their sweet tooth over there instead."
"That wouldn't happen to be Cake Kingdom, would it?" Anna's grandpa asked.
"That's the one. The guy who owns it is a real turd, too." She rolled her eyes. "Acts like he's the coolest thing since refrigerators even when he's giving people a hard time about their companions."
"My bakery's been hit pretty hard ever since his came to town, too," Anna's grandpa said. Bertrand stood on his hind paws beside him, peering over the counter at the jars full of sprinkles and candy. "If you're ever interested in branching out into ice cream sandwiches, give me a call. You've got a really nice variety of flavors here."
"Thanks, I'll be sure to tell my boss. Speaking of flavors," the woman pointed to a huge tub full of bright green ice cream with brown streaks winding through it and bright red crystals peeking out, "there's our flavor of the month: Backyard Bonanza. It's got mint chocolate chip ice cream, peanut butter, and pop rocks."
"Pop rocks?!?" Anna had heard of all sorts of crazy flavors, but who in their right mind would put pop rocks in ice cream?
"Don't knock it 'til you try it! We've also got regular old vanilla and chocolate if you want something more tame." The woman gave them a playful smirk. "Tell you what, if you try it and don't like it, you can have two scoops of whatever else on me. I've been dying to see someone actually eat that, and spending five bucks ain't gonna kill me."
"I dunno..." Anna eyed the pop rocks as if they were about to explode and cover the whole store in half-melted ice cream.
"Sounds super fun!" Taylor said. "Let's try it."
How was Anna supposed to say no when Taylor was looking at her with those beautiful brown eyes of hers? "Two scoops of Backyard Bonanza in cups, please." She'd at least make darn sure none of that weirdness dripped on her fingers.
"Awesome! And for you, sir?"
"Too many good choices." Anna's grandpa squinted at the labels running along the bottom of the display case before pointing to a tub filled with light brown ice cream. "One scoop of butterscotch in a cone for me, and a cup of pecans for Bertrand, please."
"Coming right—"
CRASH!
Countless cups clattered to the floor, and cones crunched beneath Bertrand's paws as he accidentally knocked over the stacks on display. The bear licked crumbs from his fur as everyone turned their attention to him and the huge paw prints he'd left on the case.
"You're not a cub anymore, Bertie. Behave." Anna's grandpa sighed and pulled out his wallet. "Sorry about the mess. I'll get that cleaned up in a jiffy."
"Don't sweat it," the employee said with a laugh. "I'm just glad to finally have some excitement around here, but the only cup he didn't get his paws on is the one in my hand. Would y'all like some cones instead? Shouldn't take too long to bake some new ones."
"I don't mind sharing," Taylor said.
"Me neither," Anna said. "Besides, a certain bear might try to sneak a lick if we get cones."
Bertrand pressed his nose against the display case, his breath fogging the glass that protected the ice cream from his greedy tongue.
Anna's grandpa apologized again and insisted on leaving a ten-dollar tip before leading Anna and Taylor to a table for two. "Don't mind me." He nodded toward Bertrand, who was sniffing the floor for any stray crumbs. "I have to keep an eye on Mr. Sticky Paws to make sure he doesn't cause any more trouble."
Neither of the girls minded having the table to themselves, nor did it bother them that Bertrand's mischief left them sharing a cup. No, they were perfectly happy digging into their scoops of Backyard Bonanza. Or at least, trying to.
"It's so thick," Taylor said as she struggled to submerge her spoon in a particularly large chunk of peanut butter.
"Maybe we should start with the chocolate chips," Anna said. That looked like the most salvageable part, anyway. Now that she was looking at the ice cream up close, she had about as much interest in tasting that bizarre mix of ingredients as eating her spoon.
"What's the point of getting somethin' weird if we don't eat it right?" Taylor said. "I mean, I already know I love chocolate chips and pop rocks, but I've never had them together before. How about we both try it at the same time?"
"Even if this does turn out to be delicious, I know it won't be as sweet as you." No matter how the ice cream tasted, at least Anna got to see Taylor blush. They both dug out heaping spoonfuls of ice cream, with stray pop rocks falling back into the cup. "On the count of three. One. Two. Three!"
Both girls shoved their spoons into their mouths. Chocolate and peanut butter blended together in perfect harmony, with the mint's refreshing aftertaste balancing out the peanut butter's saltiness. Even the pop rocks added their own fun flare to the ice cream, clattering against Anna's teeth in a sweet strawberry symphony.
"What did you think?" Taylor asked.
"I think I'd better try some more just to make sure."
They laughed as they shared the rest of the ice cream. By the end of it, both of them were scraping the bottom of the cup for the last melted mouthful.
"That was so good," Anna said. Her tongue still tingled from the pop rocks.
"Told you it'd be fun to try." Taylor dabbed at a smudge of chocolate on her lips. "Speaking of fun, any idea what you're gonna make for Sliced?"
"Whatever it is better knock the judges' socks off." With how Anna's audition went, she'd be lucky if she untied their shoelaces.
"Everything you make is so good I bet they'll offer you your own show!"
Anna laughed. "I wish. Or maybe not. All those people staring at me..." She shuddered as her bees swarmed to block the ice cream shop's windows. "That'd be too much."
"But you did great when everybody tried your cookies at the companion showcase last semester."
"Yeah, everybody I actually know, not a bunch of random strangers. What if I mess up?" Anna groaned. "I've seen people do the most embarrassing things on Sliced. This one time, somebody tripped while they were bringing their cake to the judges, and it took three cameramen to keep Philip's duck from eating what was left of it. Another time, one kid left his chocolate tart in the blast chiller so long they had to hammer it into pieces so the judges could try it."
"Yeah, but they've made lots of awesome stuff, too," Taylor said. "Remember how stressed I was when I had to start my companion showcase project from scratch? I was a total mess, but that turned out great."
"It sure did, but—"
"But nothing. Everybody's gonna help you practice, and you're gonna do fine." Taylor pulled out the pen and notepad she always kept in her purse in case she needed to jot down some inspiration for her paintings. "So, what are you thinkin' of making?"
"Well, I don't know the episode's theme yet, but I really want to show them I'm paying a lot more attention to how my dessert looks this time. I think I might try making something fancy like tiramisu or macarons."
Taylor bit her lip. "That sounds... different."
'Different' was right up there with 'interesting' when it came to words people used when they were trying to be nice despite thinking something was awful. "You don't think that's a good idea?"
"I'm sure the judges will care how it looks," Taylor said as she fidgeted with her pen. "It just doesn't sound like something you would make. You always come up with such fun ideas. You making something boring and fancy would be like if I started using oil pastels instead of paint. It just wouldn't feel right."
"But what if the judges don't like it?" Anna sighed. "This isn't like when I came up with that recipe for my project, Tay. If I screw up, Sweet Surprise will shut down forever."
"That won't happen." Taylor reached across the table and gave Anna's hand a squeeze. "I bet they'll love it! Remember that time someone won the first round of the all-stars tournament by making a super cool s'more?"
"Hard to forget when someone's crazy enough to make their own marshmallows and use a passion fruit ganache." Anna fought to keep her expression serious, but her lips twitched into a smile. "I didn't know you've seen that episode."
"I haven't seen the whole thing, but you gushed about it so much I couldn't resist watching a clip on YouTube," Taylor said. "You're really cute when you talk about stuff you care about a whole lot. I don't know as much about baking as you do, but the way your bees do little loops while you're talking about it makes it impossible not to get super excited, too."
Heat rushed to Anna's face as her fingers twirled one of her braids. "Aw, shucks. I love when you gush about art, too. All I know is the colors are super pretty, but they're nowhere near as pretty as you."
Now it was Taylor's turn to blush. "If you want, maybe we could go to the art museum sometime. They've got a new exhibit on impressionism I've been meaning to check out."
"That would be so fun!" Especially since Anna would have the best tour guide in the whole world. The paintings could all be kindergartners' scribbles, yet she'd still love listening to her girlfriend tell her all about the different techniques they used and how they reminded her of her own work.
As they started planning their visit to the art museum, Anna silently thanked Taylor for changing the topic away from Sliced. Taylor meant well, but she didn't understand how tough the judges could be to impress, especially Ivan. If Anna wanted to have a chance at saving Sweet Surprise, she couldn't bake what she normally did. No, she had to blow their taste buds away with something truly amazing.
"After we have lunch in the sculpture garden, we can go see the origami demonstration," Taylor said. "I don't wanna miss the make-your-own pottery class, though, and that's all the way on the third floor. Maybe if we cut through the surrealism gallery—"
Growls echoed through the ice cream shop as a crowd of people and companions gathered in front of the bakery across the street.
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top