Float

Original Edition: Chapter Four

"C'mon, Waverly. You can come, too. Let's go have some ice cream!" Lena declared, grabbing Alissa's tanned wrist and the sleeve of my shirt to drag us along with her. Alissa and I tried not to fall on our faces as Lena marched us out of the bookstore and down the street to the ice cream parlor Rachel had pointed out.

The air conditioning was blasting. I sighed in content and inhaled the cool air, letting it soothe my lung. Alissa, on the other hand, folded her arms over her chest and stomped her flip-flopped feet against the black-and-white tiled floor.

"It's too cold in here!" she whined.

"Quit being a baby," Lena laughed at her.

"Lena?"

The voice that came from across the room made me jump. I looked over at the counter. Standing behind the buckets of various flavors of ice cream was a tall, lanky boy with a mop of golden blonde curls on his head, freckles coating every inch of his body, and an ice-cream scooper in his left hand. 

I knew at once that he was Lena Fletcher's brother.

"Hey, moron," Lena greeted, confirming my suspicion.

"What are you doing here?" Jesse asked, nose crinkling.

Lena, as inconspicuously as possible, motioned towards Alissa with her thumb. Jesse spotted the mascara-stained tear tracks on her face and his mouth formed a little o shape. Then he nodded at Lena to let her know that he understood what the problem was.

"Double chocolate fudge?" he asked Alissa.

"With sprinkles," she squeaked, collapsing onto the red-cushioned bench that ran along the wall of the parlor. Alissa rested her elbows on the black table in front of her and buried her face in her hands, letting out another heaving sob.

"I'm on it!" Jesse said, saluting us with the scooper in his hand before grabbing a little plastic cup from underneath the counter. Just as he dug the scooper into the giant vat of double chocolate fudge ice cream, Jesse looked up and frowned at me, "Who are you?"

"Oh! Right!" Lena said. "Waverly, this is my twin brother Jesse. Jesse, this is Waverly. She's Rachel Lyon's niece from Alaska."

"Hey," Jesse greeted me, a dorky smile spreading across his face.

"Jesse's an idiot, by the way," Lena told me.

"I am not!" Jesse protested, glaring at his sister.

"Are too!" Lena teased.

Jesse didn't have a good comeback, so he stuck his tongue out at her instead.

I chuckled, taking a seat at the same table as Alissa. Lena plopped down next me, sighing wearily as she watched Alissa's shoulders shake. She reached out a hand and placed it on Alissa's head, patting it softly.

"Cheer up, Lissa," she encouraged, "They're just boys."

"Who is?" Jesse asked from behind the counter.

He frowned curiously as he set a cup of ice cream onto the counter.

"None of your business," Lena snapped.

"Did I miss something last night?" Jesse asked, placing another cup onto the counter. I wondered why I hadn't seen him at the bonfire last night. You'd think I would have noticed the six-foot-four kid who looked like a male version of Lena.

"Blake dumped me!" Alissa wailed into her hands.

"He did?" Jesse asked, feigning shock. Alissa nodded, not picking up on his sarcasm. Jesse rolled his eyes and set down a third filled cup of ice cream on the counter.