fawn

  ****

  Rust

  “The only good part of this job is the ice cream,” Beth said. “Everything else is crap.”

  “I thought you liked it when the football team came in,” I replied as I washed one of the ice cream scoops in the back sink.

  “Well, yeah, and that. But you like that too. And I mean, what warm-blooded person wouldn’t? But do you even like ice cream?”

  I shrugged. “I guess.”

  “You guess? Who guesses they like ice cream? God, Rust, you’re so weird. Your dad is the town butcher, and you don’t even eat meat.”

  “I think No would be upset if I did.” I placed the scoop on the drying rack and grabbed a dishrag to wipe my hands.

  “And we mustn’t upset the bird,” she replied.

  I put my hands on my hips and grinned at her. “He has feelings, you know. Sensitivity isn’t strictly limited to the human race.”

  Beth blinked. She was sitting at one of the small tables in the front of the shop eating the hazelnut and vanilla ice cream that was one of our best sellers. She had her feet propped up on the chair opposite hers. Whenever customers weren’t in the shop, Beth treated it like her second bedroom.

  “How do you get your hair to do that thing?” she asked.

  “What thing?” I replied.

  “The thing where it looks all styled, but I know that you didn’t do anything to get it to look like that. How’d you do it?”

  I paused for a moment. “Uh, nothing.”

  “Figures.” She went back to eating her ice cream.

  A few minutes later, the door chimed, and Beth shot to her feet. Putting her hands, and the ice cream along with it, behind her back, she scuttled behind the counter with me.

  “Of course,” she whispered. “Just fifteen minutes before we close.”

  I heard what she said, but I wasn’t really listening. I was too engulfed in staring at Ancel and the girl attached to his arm.

  Of course he had a girl attached to his arm. Of course he had a girl like Cindy Miller attached to his arm. She was all long, blonde hair, bubbly personality, and big blue eyes. My heart sank a little, but I knew it would. Boys like Ancel always had people fawning over them, fighting for their attention. Ancel was dark and mysterious, and I wasn’t the only one to notice.

  A group of five people poured in— Ancel, Cindy, and three other boys from our school, Gary, Justin, and Kevin. I’d never spoken a word to a single one of them. They were popular, cool and sleek, like a brand new car with a brand name that everyone knew. Ancel didn’t look my way, didn’t even see me. He was talking to Gary while Cindy laughed at something he said.

  “Hey,” Beth said in a whisper. “I’ll do till if you scoop the ice cream. These guys are idiots, and I’d rather not deal with them, even if the one with the black hair is hot.”

  “Okay,” I said. I didn’t mind interacting with them, especially if Ancel was with them. It didn’t bother me that he had popular friends or beautiful girls hanging off his every word. I would’ve thought less of the people in my town if they weren’t. Ancel was something special— something beautiful and rare that deserved to be admired and praised for all it was worth.

  “Chocolate,” Kevin said. He was standing in front of me, and I hadn’t even noticed.

  I smiled and looked down to open the glass door to the ice cream chiller. “Sorry.”

  I scooped out his chocolate ice cream, and then Gary’s strawberry-vanilla next. As I was packing the ice cream into the cone, Gary started laughing.

  “Nice necklace,” he said mockingly. “Is that a rabbit’s foot?”

  I looked down at the necklace I’d made last summer. It was a rabbit’s foot on a long, gold chain, encased with a few gold beads.

  “Yes,” I replied honestly. Because why wouldn’t I?

  Justin chimed in from where he was standing near the till. “Are you wearing clips in your hair? What are you, some kind of girl? Why would you wear clips in your hair?”

  I frowned. I didn’t understand the question. “Because they’re beautiful.”

  Justin, Gary, and Kevin all burst out laughing, doubled over, dramatically clutching their stomachs. I tried not to listen, just to finish my job and ignore their jeers. Gary, I think it was, whispered something under his breath, a word that made my eyes sting. The other two boys laughed even harder.

  It was only then that Ancel, who’d been busy talking to Cindy, seemed to notice me.

  His head snapped up. Those icy, cool eyes of his darted toward me, then at his chortling friends.

  “Hey,” he snapped at them. “Keep your mouths shut.”

  Within a second, all three of the other boys stood up straight and looked at him. He was big in magnitude, not just size. The air in the room changed, just for a moment, and I could tell that I wasn’t the only one to feel it.

  “Shit, okay,” Gary said. “We’re just joking around. Cool it.”

  Silence filled the small room, but the other three boys left me alone. They paid for their ice cream in silence and left out the front door.

  “Hey,” Ancel said quietly as he walked up to the counter.

  “Hi,” I replied shyly as I stared down at the counter. I was positive that my face was the same color as the cherry ice cream.

  “Ew,” Cindy chimed in. “I can’t believe you’re wearing a dead animal’s foot around your neck. That’s so weird.”

  “Then I guess I’m weird,” I replied.

  Cindy sneered at me. “Come on, Ancel. I’ve changed my mind.” She tugged on his arm, pulling him toward the door.

  Ancel just looked at me, the corner of his mouth quirking up a bit in the corner. After they’d gone, it took Beth saying my name to snap me out of my daze.

  “You in lust or something?” she asked me.

  I smiled at her. “Or something.”

  “Well, there’s no use competing with the likes of Cindy Miller. Especially not for a guy like that. Men like him knock up super models and drive fast, expensive cars. People like us don’t stand a chance.”

  I already knew that. I knew that people like me got lost in the shadow of men like him.

  So why did it still hurt to hear?