Alex’s POV:

I double checked behind myself to make sure that my car was locked. It was the weekend, meaning that the entire parking lot was filled with cars. Everybody was either going out shopping with their friends or family, or they were out going to get something to eat. While I was going to do something very similar to the latter, I was all by myself. But not for long.

Since Mickey, Jack, and Rian were working I didn’t really have many people to hang out with. Of course, I could go over to another friend’s house or hang out with Zack, but I decided I would meet up with my three friends at the ice cream parlor. They didn’t exactly know that I was going to show up, but I had done it quite often before. I usually came to try and see if I could get myself some free ice cream, especially when Jack was working. This time, though, I came to see if Mickey would want to grab some super late lunch with me after her first shift ended.

While I usually was always late, I came a little earlier this time just in case she had a different shift than I thought she did. That way, I’d at least be able to spend some time with her while she was working. They usually didn’t mind me hanging out around the counter, especially when Rian was the one in charge.

I pushed open one of the glass doors and walked in. The first time I had ever brought Mickey here was when her car broke down in the rain and she had tried to run away. I would have thought she would have hated this place ever since, but now she was working here. Instead of sitting in a booth looking miserable, she was now handing over some change to a customer.

“Hey,” I greeted and leaned against the class display that showed off all the ice cream.

Mickey looked up at me in slight surprise, a smile forming on her lips. “Hi, what can I get you?”

Since she was acting like she was still helping a customer, which was me, I decided to tease her a bit as well. I nodded a little and looked around like there was somebody in the back who I needed. “Well, there’s this girl I really like that works here and I was hoping to score a date with her. I was wondering if you knew where she was.”

“Hmm…” she shrugged and looked up at the clock to check the time. “I might be able to help you out, but I don’t end for another twenty minutes.”

“Girl, who said I was talking about you?” I snapped my fingers sassily, my lips pouted a little.

“No free ice cream for you,” she retorted and crossed her arms.

“No, Mickey, no,” I whined, stretching out so I was now covering the entire curved glass out of exasperation, “Mickey! Ice cream!”

“Plus, it comes out of my paycheck. I need that money.”

“Jack,” I groaned as he came from the back and stood next to Mickey, “please.”

“You should have asked me first, bro. I can’t help you out anymore,” Jack excused with a sorry look and grabbed a towel to clean up the counter with the machines on it.

“Mickey! I want ice cream!” I continued to moan like a kid who wasn’t getting a toy they wanted at Target. “The perks of having a girlfriend who works here includes free ice cream! You need to buy my love!”

She laughed and gently shook her head at me while there were definitely a few people in the parlor looking at me weirdly. “If you get one or two scoops, I could ‘accidentally’ give you more. But I can’t get you free ice cream.”

“Fine,” I grumbled and pulled out five dollars.

I proceeded to tell her exactly which flavors I wanted and she started making what I asked for. Like she had promised, she added way more than the usual amount, making my heart fill with glee. I was like a kid at the candy store getting whatever they wanted.

However, Rian happened to walk out just before she could give it to me.

“Mickey, that’s way too much,” he warned her, not even looking in my direction.

She just stared back and handed me my order without looking away. The grin on my face was gigantic as I took it from her, sticking my tongue in it. Only then did Rian look at who she was actually serving.

He took a deep breath as it took everything in him not to get mad, and looked at me. “Ok, I’ll let this one slide, but only because I like you.”

I flashed him another smile and ate my treat in the company of Mickey. Although I did stand there the entire time, there were other customers that would come and she would serve. Jack did the same exact thing whenever there were multiple people waiting. People from school would often recognize me, and I would say hi, but I wouldn’t start a conversation with them. If I would have, I would have been there for hours talking to everybody.

Mickey generally stayed nice to them except for one time. I had to admit that I would have also been fed up if I was the one working and getting the stupid question.

Some guy from our class and his girlfriend came in. The guy ordered first. What he wanted was a normal order. But he wasn’t the problem. The girl was. She was one of those girls that even I couldn’t stand. Sure, she was hot and I totally would have banged her in the past if I was super drunk, but I couldn’t deal with her behavior. She was one of those people a bit too concerned about their physical appearance.

“Do you have anything that’s sugar and dairy free?” She asked. I was waiting for Mickey to snap something back, but what she did was even better.

“We do, actually.” Mickey nodded, something in her eyes telling me she wasn’t actually being as polite as she was trying to portray. “You’re the first person to ask.”

She turned around and pulled out a cup, filling it up with water and put it next to what the guy had ordered. “That’ll be 3.35 please.”

The girl’s mouth dropped open, a small gasp escaping. While you would have expected the guy to at least defend his girlfriend, I could see him desperately trying to hold in his laughter. I, however, didn’t have to hold back at all. Though, I did to be polite and only initially snorted when I saw what Mickey had done and the reaction that she had gotten.

The guy paid the amount, not even letting his girlfriend get a second chance to order something else.

As they walked away, I said, “promise me to never do something like that to me?”

“Nope,” Mickey forced a smile and resumed her position closer to me.

“What, why not?”

“Cause you’re not stupid enough to order something that doesn’t literally use all the ingredients any sort of ice cream needs. Why even come to this place?”

“Okay, I’ll give you that one,” I smirked and looked at the clock. There were still only five more minutes to go. “But I swear to god, if you do anything like that to me ever--cause I say stupid shit occasionally--you’re not coming on tour with us anymore.”

“I’m the one that offered to drive most of the way, it’s your loss.” She raised her hands up in defense.

It was true, in a week and a half, we would be doing an east coast tour. Of course, it wasn’t at the level we wanted to be at yet, but it was a tour. At least we got to play at small venues and bars. It was how we got our name out there. With Mickey coming with us, it would be the first time that we didn’t actually need a parent with us all the time. Of course, our parents still argued that they wanted to come and make sure we didn’t do stupid shit, but they were ok with driving behind us in a different car.

“Only because I don’t want Jack’s mom with us the entire time again,” I joked and looked up at the clock again as if time had just gone by. Just a little while longer and I got to talk to her properly without any interruptions.

Unfortunately, we never got to that. It was like bad karma hit her. Not long after, two police officers entered the shop. At first, I didn’t think anything of it. It was quite normal for officers to enter places like this during a short break. However, they actually came here for another reason.

“Hi, we’re looking for a Monica Kingsley,” one of them immediately said to Mickey. “We were told she would be working here.”

“That’s me,” Mickey replied. I would have thought that she would have put up some sort of fight, but she just owned up immediately.

“Ok, well, we’re out searching for a man named Devon Kline, do you know him?”

“I do!” She nodded, seemingly happy or excited that they were out looking for him. Don’t get me wrong, I hated that guy, but she did have a past with him. Would she ever hate somebody enough to turn them in?

“Good, you’re going to have to come down to the station with us so we can question you,” the same police officer instructed. “Would you please come join us on the other side of the counter.”

Instead of walking to the back and going through the official ‘employees only’ door, she climbed over the counter. While very unnecessary, I figured she did it because she didn’t want them thinking she was going to try to run away. We didn’t need her being arrested now, did we? I was already upset enough that this meant I couldn’t take her out, but it was better than her going to jail.

Yet still, the second police officer pulled out a pair of handcuffs. “We’re going to have to handcuff you for our own safety. However, you’ve been very compliant so far, unlike the other people we have asked to help, so we’ll put your hands to the front instead of the back. It’s more comfortable that way.”

She nodded like she already knew that fact. Thinking about it, she probably did. There was no way this was the first time she was in handcuffs.

Rian came out just as they finished locking it, and he did not look all too happy with what was happening. But he wasn’t angry either, it was more like he was afraid. “Oh my god, Mickey, what did you do now?!”

“Don’t worry,” the first police officer held out a hand to calm him down while the second officer finished off completely with Mickey, “we just need her help to find somebody. The handcuffs are only for safety. We’ve had some other people try to run.”

“I’m sorry,” Mickey apologized to me before they took her outside and put her in the back of the cop car.

There were going to be some great rumors as soon as school started again.

Notes

Kinda all over the place again, but it's just a segway into the 'next part' of the story.