BABY LOVES ✗ fezco

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"Keep in touch," he grinned. Mina wished she could kiss him, even if just for a second, but couldn't risk anyone walking by and thinking they were anything but drug dealer/customer. He even gave her a ticket to seal the deal, and she walked away in a better mood than before.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

If Mina had known she'd be sitting there for twenty minutes without taking a single picture, she would've stayed with Kat and Lexi a little longer.

Her mother and father were taking turns taking orders and serving the cups of chili under the red and white striped tarp, while her brothers were just hanging around the booth.

"Mina, can you help out your father please? I need to run to the restroom."

Mi looked at Marsha with a straight face. "Why not either of them? Because they're not girls?"

Aaron and Nate shared a look.

Marsha lowered her voice. "Not here, Mina."

She rolled her eyes and took the apron her mom handed her. Mina watched her shake her head as she walked away, not surprised at the wordlessness of her brothers. It's not like either of them had opinions on things that really mattered, or anything they stood for, really.

She pulled the apron over her head and helped her father scoop chili into cups like a good, respectful daughter.

"Hey Mina," Aaron called. "Looks like you found your calling."

She turned to her older brother, eyes darting into his soul like Cupid's arrows. Something about seeing him sit there on a lawn chair made the blood in her veins burn black. "Shut the fuck up and get a job for once."

Nate roared with laughter at Aaron's dumbfound expression.

"Oh wait, you can't even make it past the interview stage."

"Mina," Cal warned. "Language."

"If you're not going to tell him, someone has to."

Her father sighed. "We can discuss this some other–"

"Excuse me sir?"

The Jacobs family turned to see who the windchime voice belonged to. Jules stood there in her usual fairy attire, like she was ready for a rave at any time. Except on that night, her hair was baby pink.

"Hi. How can I help you?" Her father tried to hide the fact that Mina's comments had thrown him, but it wasn't working.

"Could I have a small cup of chili please?" she asked politely. "Hi Mina."

The Jacobs girl responded with a quick "hi" and a smile.

"Yeah sure," Cal said, and began to scoop some chili into a cup. She didn't realize she'd been watching her father for a moment, then snapped out of it when she noticed Nate staring at the Vaughn girl with an intense expression. Mina figured he disliked her, yes, but this wasn't a look of utter distaste. He was looking at her like she was his prey, and she'd just stepped into the trap.

The feeling instantly made her uncomfortable, and she instinctively looked away.

Was Nate interested in Jules? she wondered. She definitely ticked all the boxes of what he liked in a girl. Except for the part where she wasn't cis-gender, and that seemed like that'd be a dealbreaker to Nate.

Mr. Jacobs handed Jules the cup of chili, and she accidentally let it topple over onto the countertop.

"Oh, shoot. Sorry," she mumbled. Mina immediately handed Cal the napkins stored in her apron pocket, and he wiped down the mess they'd made.

"Uh, it's okay. It's was my fault," he assured the Vaughn girl.

"I'll get you another cup." Mina scooped up another small cup as her mother rushed back and swooped in like she was trying to win employee of the month.

"Hi. It's two dollars. All the proceeds go to the football team."

Jules retrieved the money from her pocket and handed it to her.  "Cool."

"Thanks."

Mina handed her the cup and she went on her way, disappearing into the crowd of carnival-goers. She glanced at Nate again, like she needed confirmation that she hadn't been reaching when she read into his gaze. This time though, his eyes were still glued to the spot Jules had just stood, and she swore, it looked like he was longing for her.

"Yo Nate. Who was that?" Aaron piped up,  breaking Mi's train of thought.

"Her name's Jules. She's new here."

"She goes to East Highland?"

"Yeah, she's a junior."

Aaron made a low whistle. "Damn, that's jailbait. That's too bad."

Mina snorted in disgust. Aaron was twenty-two, way too old to be looking at high school girls and acting like that. It made her sick to her stomach.

Without warning, Nate stalked off dramatically in the direction of the porta potties. Mina wondered what had bothered him so much for only a second, before taking his seat and resumed her previous "resentful sister" duties. Because no one cared when he left but she knew, in a million years, she could never get away with anything Nate would away with in his entire life.