Double Scoop

Sweet Young Adult; LGBTQ+; Summer Romance by Jennifer Moffatt

Tuesday

“What can I get you?” His name tag said ‘Sunny.’ He was tall and lean, about Charlie’s age, with an easy smile and short blond hair, buzzed on the sides and windswept on top. His skin had the bronzed glow of one who lived in the sun all summer, teeth flashing white against the gold. When he leaned over the ice cream tubs, his loose tank top revealed a muscled chest.

He was so beautiful that Charlie forgot to pick his flavor. “Um.” Charlie panicked, the chalkboard a blur. Sunny waited patiently, eyes sparkling like the light off the ocean waves that were rumbling to the shore just down the beach. “You choose.”

Sunny grinned. “Alright, then.” He leaned over, digging deep into the chocolate cherry, then the butterscotch. He gave Charlie a waffle cone with two perfect scoops. “Try that. It’s my favorite combo.”

“Thanks.” Charlie froze in place. Sunny was…gorgeous. Suddenly, being guilted into a week at the beach with his parents, despite being much too old to vacation with them—the rest of his college friends were touring Europe or South America, not a parent to be seen. But now…now the whole thing wasn’t so bad.

“You pay just down there,” Sunny said, pointing, while Charlie stood there like an idiot.

“Oh, right. Thank you.” Charlie smoothed his hair and hoped he didn’t blend in too much with the dumb, sunburned tourists.

“No problem. See you later.” Sunny turned and flashed his grin at the next customer.

Charlie paid for his cone, stealing at least three more glances in Sunny’s direction.

Later. Yes. Definitely.

***

Wednesday

“Oh, hey,” Sunny said when Charlie reached the front of the line. “You’re back.”

“Yup.” He remembers me. Sweat broke out on Charlie’s hairline. “It’s ‘later.’”

Sunny furrowed his brow, but only for a split second. “Oh, right, ‘cause ‘see you later.’”

He grinned, and Charlie’s heart soared. People never got his stupid jokes.

“What can I get you?” Sunny asked.

“Do you have another suggestion? Yesterday was amazing.”

“Sure.” Sunny scooped him strawberry cheesecake and pistachio. “Try this. It’s gonna blow your mind.”

Their fingers brushed when Charlie took the cone. “Thanks.” Desperate for their interaction to continue, he opened his mouth to say something lame about the heat, but a woman pushed her way to the counter and began rattling off her order.

Charlie paid for his double scoop and stole another glance at Sunny. This time, Sunny was looking back. Flustered, Charlie nearly ran into the doorframe. Well, he did actually bump into it, but only a little. Sunny watched him the whole way, smiling.

***

Thursday

“Hey,” Sunny said. His smile crinkled his eyes. “It’s you again.”

“It’s me.” Showered and refreshed this time. He’d spent long enough on his hair that his mom had commented when he emerged from the bathroom.

“You staying here for the week?” Sunny asked, leaning a hip on the cooler.

“Yeah, until Sunday. My family rented a place down on Seaside.” Charlie pointed in the direction of their yellow cottage.

“Nice.” A pause. “You want me to pick again?”

“Yes. Please.”

This time Sunny handed him peanut butter crunch and raspberry sorbet, blond hair spilling onto his forehead. “Some things just go together, you know?” His eyelid fluttered in a suggestion of a wink.

Charlie’s mouth dried out. He did not know, but maybe he would, one day.

***

Friday

“What’s your name?”

“Charlie.”

Sunny paused, holding Charlie’s gaze a moment before he spoke. “Nice to meet you, Charlie.”

Charlie’s stomach flipped, while his head drifted somewhere up the endless blue sky.

“You too.”

“Are you having fun here?”

“Yeah, it’s alright. Stuck with my parents, so…” So, I’ve never had a boyfriend. So I’m hopeless.

“A bunch of us hang out on the beach at night. If you want to stop by after close.”

This time his stomach tried to climb up his throat. “Oh, thanks…but my mom would lose her shit.” She insisted on family board game night, but honestly Charlie was a little relieved. There was no way he was cool enough to hang out with Sunny and his friends.

“Well, if you change your mind.” Sunny shrugged and handed him tiger and lemon sorbet. “Trust me on this one. Sometimes you have to take a chance.”

***

Saturday

They were going home tomorrow.

He had to say something.

It was pointless, he knew—what could possibly happen with this beautiful man he would never see again… But if it was pointless, then it wasn’t scary. If it was pointless, it didn’t matter if he humiliated himself.

He could do it. Something in Sunny’s smile told him he had to do it.

But when he walked into the shop on his last night, Sunny wasn’t there. Of course he wasn’t. He had to have days off sometimes. Charlie cursed himself.

Still, just in case, when he got to the front of the line, he asked, “Is Sunny working

tonight?”

“Who?” The girl—her name tag read ‘Cocoa’—blinked at him, uninterested in anything but his order.

“You know…” He pointed at an imaginary name tag on his chest. “Sunny.”

“Right, yeah, ‘Sunny.’ He’s not working today.”

“Oh.” Charlie drooped. “Okay.” The vision he’d had—holding hands on the boardwalk, exchanging phone numbers, having a boyfriend who lived on the coast—vanished like the surf into the sand.

“Do you want any ice cream?” Cocoa asked.

“No, thanks.” He turned to leave.

“Listen,” she called after him. “He’s usually down on the beach on his days off. Check the fire pit.”

Charlie’s hopes surged at the thought, but…no. No, he couldn’t show up like a stalker. And his mom would be expecting him back. It was a stupid idea.

He stepped out of the ice cream shop, salt breeze warm on his cheeks.

A breeze that whispered to him. Sometimes… Sometimes you have to take a chance.

Sunny sat on a picnic bench, one long arm along the table, legs stretched out, bare toes wiggling in the sand. Other young adults milled around, laughing, play-fighting, and drinking out of plastic cups. Charlie stopped at the edge of the boardwalk.

Right then, Sunny looked up. Their eyes met.

The smile that spread across his face put the sun to shame. “Charlie.”

Charlie walked across the sand and stopped in front of him, pulse racing. “Sunny.”

He laughed. “My name is Sam.” He patted the bench next to him. “Sit.”

Charlie sat.

Sunny—sorry, Sam—scooted over until their thighs were touching. “I’m glad you found me.” His voice shivered over Charlie’s skin in the syrupy-warm night.

Charlie’s heart leapt. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, ‘cause I—”

Sam kissed him, cool like ice cream, soft like a drip that winds down your hand, leaving a trail of sticky sweetness behind.

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