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It was a bright and sunny day in Faraway Town. Summer just started and the people have never been more lively. A group of friends were hanging out in a treehouse they had built and were enjoying a fun card game. Things have started to get heated, however.
“There is absolutely no way you don’t have a three!” A little girl yelled at a bubbly boy.
“I’m telling you, Aubrey, I don’t have one!” The boy yelled back.
“What’s with all this commotion?” A teenage girl intercepted the small quarrel as she climbed up the treehouse.
“Mari, Kel is cheating again!” Aubrey shouted at the teen.
“N-no I’m not! Aubrey’s just overreacting as always!” Kel defended himself.
“Well now I don’t know who to believe,” Mari replied.
“Believe me!” Aubrey pleaded.
“No, believe me!” Kel retorted.
The rest of the friend group watched as the two bickered with each other yet again. The two of them would always fight over the silliest of things and today was no exception. A blonde boy pulled out his camera and took a quick photo of the argument.
Snap . The two stopped and glanced at the blonde boy.
“Basil, did you just take a photo of us?” Aubrey asked the boy.
“Oh, I wanna see!” Kel exclaimed as he dropped his cards and ran to see the photo Basil had just taken.
The rest of the group seemed interested in the photo too. Well, except for Aubrey. She stared at Kel’s cards and noticed that he indeed did have a three. She started to look upset and instead of grouping with her friends, she ran down the treehouse.
Mari seemed to notice Aubrey leaving and sighed, “Sunny, can you go check with Aubrey? Looked like she was about to cry.”
The quiet boy was already thinking of catching up with Aubrey before Mari told him to. He just didn’t want to leave abruptly and was too shy to excuse himself from the group. He took a small sip of his juice box and nodded at Mari. She smiled at him and watched him slowly get down from the treehouse.
He ran to their backyard where he noticed the back door was open. He carefully made his way inside, seeing Aubrey crouched by the sofa quietly sobbing to herself.
He cautiously walked up to her, careful not to startle her. She caught her breath and sniffled as she wiped away her tears. She noticed Sunny sitting next to her. “O-oh, hi, Sunny,” she tried to smile.
Sunny tilted his head.
“I-I’m fine, Sunny. You can go back with them.”
Sunny shook his head. He looked around and offered his juice box to Aubrey.
“O-oh! T-thanks, Sunny…” she said as she took a sip of juice, “You’re always so kind to me and I don’t know why.”
Sunny tilted his head again but managed to utter one word, “friend…”
Aubrey smiled at him, “I love being your friend, Sunny.”
“me too…”
Aubrey giggled. “Sorry for walking out like that.”
Sunny nodded.
“I guess we should go back now…” She stood up and started to make her way back to the treehouse when Sunny grabbed her hand. She was surprised by the sensation and stared at him as her cheeks flushed red.
“hungry…” Sunny muttered.
“Oh, you want something to eat? We can ask Mari to prepare something for us.”
Sunny shook his head, “ice cream…”
“You want some ice cream?”
He nodded.
“Okay, let's check your freezer if you have some.”
The two made their way to the kitchen where they opened the fridge. They were disappointed to not find ice cream in the freezer.
“It looks like you don't have any more ice cream, Sunny,” Aubrey broke the news to the boy.
Sunny remained cliff-faced as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out a few coins, counted them, and showed them to Aubrey. “buy…”
“Oh!” Aubrey exclaimed. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her own spare coins. “All of these should be enough to buy some popsicles at Othermart.”
Sunny shook his head, “soft…”
Aubrey didn’t quite understand. “Soft?”
Sunny explained by doing a scooping motion with his hands.
“Oh!” Aubrey realized, “You want soft-served ice cream?”
Sunny nodded.
“Well okay then!” she grabbed Sunny’s hand, which caused the boy’s ears to redden, and led him out of the house to get to Othermart. They ran all the way there while Aubrey held onto Sunny’s hand. She didn’t seem to notice that Sunny was having a difficult time catching up.
“aubrey…” he gasped for air before tripping on the sidewalk which finally caught Aubrey’s attention.
Her eyes widened when she realized what she had done. She quickly went over to him to check up on him and apologized. “I’m so so sorry, Sunny! I was just a little excited…”
Sunny took a deep breath but ultimately raised his thumb.
“We should take a break,” Aubrey suggested.
Sunny nodded his head before sitting on the floor, still gasping for air.
Aubrey stared at her friend. She felt bad watching him struggle so all she could do was…
Sunny felt arms around his shoulder and a sudden weight on top of his head. He only continued to perspire and breathe faster. “a-aubrey?”
“Yes, Sunny?” she asked in a baby voice. Completely unnecessary but this only left him even more flustered than he already was. “Are you feeling better now?”
He tried his best to hide his red face but nodded. Aubrey was satisfied with his answer. She stood up in front of Sunny and offered to help him up. A faint smile grew on the boy’s face as he held onto Aubrey’s hand and stood up.
She dusted off her shirt, “You ready to go?” she asked.
“yes…” he replied.
The two of them slowly made their way to Othermart. They walked inside and stood for a moment to be enveloped by the cold air of the supermarket. They both giggled at the situation. They eventually made their way to the frozen section where they started to look through different ice cream they could buy.
Aubrey spotted a cup of soft-served watermelon ice cream and immediately started watering. “Which one do you want, Sunny?” she glanced at the boy who looked a little upset. She pouted, “What’s wrong?”
Sunny pointed at the price of the ice cream cups, “expensive…” he muttered. He noticed that a cup of ice cream cost three dollars while they only had five. To make matters worse, there were no single-sold popsicles. They only came in packs which cost way more. The two of them were disappointed and didn’t want to have to make a compromise.
“Here, Sunny,” Aubrey handed Sunny her spare coins, “You can buy the ice cream flavor you want.” She smiled as she offered her money to him.
Sunny was abruptly stunned but was quick to shake his head and push Aubrey’s hand back. Aubrey was confused but Sunny explained in a couple of words, “you deserve it…”
Aubrey blushed at his choice of words but ultimately declined his counteroffer. “You wanted the ice cream in the first place, Sunny. You can have it, don’t worry about me.”
Sunny’s eyes dropped but didn’t want to upset Aubrey even further. He accepted her money and nodded. “wait for me…” he told her.
Aubrey smiled wide, “Okay, Sunny, I’ll wait by the entrance.” She made her way to the front of the store where she stood by the shopping carts, climbing them, and keeping herself entertained. After a few minutes, she saw Sunny walk up to the counter with a single ice cream cup. Deep down, she was sad that she couldn’t get one of her own but she was happy that Sunny got to pick his favorite ice cream.
The cashier packed the cup in a paper bag and handed it to Sunny. He bowed as a way of thanks and made his way to Aubrey. “What flavor did you get, Sunny?” she asked him.
“favorite…” he answered.
“I see, Vanilla, then?”
He shook his head. This confused Aubrey but then Sunny held the bag in front of her. “your favorite…” he said.
“Wh-what? You bought watermelon ice cream? Why?” she was surprised and flustered at Sunny’s generous and kind gesture.
He smiled, “you deserve it…” He repeated what he said earlier but this time, at least to Aubrey’s ears, there was so much genuineness and love behind it. It made her heart flutter.
“Sunny… I–” She felt tears of joy forming in her eyes which she quickly wiped away. She reluctantly took the bag from Sunny, “Thank you.”
“you’re welcome…” he replied.
“Wanna head to the park for a bit?” she suggested.
Sunny nodded his head. They began to make their way to the park. As they were walking, Aubrey took the ice cream from the bag and opened it. She took a small scoop and ate it, rightfully delighted and refreshed by the burst of flavor. She took some more scoops when she noticed Sunny staring at her.
“You want some, Sunny?” she brought out the spoon to him, “You did pay for it, after all.”
Sunny opened his mouth and Aubrey fed him the ice cream. They were both a little embarrassed by their situation but it didn’t stop them from continuing. When they arrived at the park, they sat on a bench and conversed with each other. From time to time, Aubrey would eat a scoop and feed Sunny one as well.
“This is a little embarrassing, isn’t it, Sunny?” Aubrey admitted but only got a shrug from Sunny. She giggled, “Well the good news is we got our money’s worth. Bad news, our friends might be looking for us by now.”
Sunny nodded. Aubrey was about to feed him another scoop but he raised his hand in front of her. “you can finish it…” he told her.
“Oh, are you sure?”
He nodded.
“O-okay… Thanks, Sunny!” she proceeded to finish the ice cream. Sunny stared out into the park, observing the activity in the area. He noticed two kids who just got off the swing after being called by their parents. Sunny poked Aubrey’s shoulder.
She had the spoon in her mouth as she turned to him, “What is it, Sunny?” He pointed at the empty swings, “Oh, you want to swing with me?” He nodded. “Okay, then. Let me just throw away this cup.”
They both stood and went to the nice old lady running the recycling drive. Aubrey walked up to her and gave her the empty ice cream cup and spoon.
“Why thank you for helping keep our town clean, young lady,” the old lady told her, “Take this as a reward,” she handed Aubrey one dollar.
The two kids’ eyes lit up, “You know what this means, Sunny? We can buy you ice cream, too!” Aubrey exclaimed.
Sunny nodded. Then, he paused momentarily, looked up, and pouted. “too late…” he muttered.
“What do you mean?” she looked up as well and noticed that the sky was getting darker. “Oh shoot, it’s getting late. We should go back to your place, Sunny, our friends must be worried about where we went off to.”
“Not really,” a voice surprised the two. They turned to see that it was Hero. “Hey, guys. Don’t worry about the others. We figured you two went off to cheer each other up.”
“We did!” Aubrey exclaimed, “We bought and ate some ice cream.”
“That’s nice. Looks like you helped dispose of them properly, too.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, it’s getting dark. Sunny, Mari’s waiting for you at your house. You should go back home, too, Aubrey.”
Aubrey wasn’t looking forward to going back there immediately after having such a fun and memorable day and Sunny noticed this. “sleepover…” he muttered.
“Huh? What was that, Sunny?”
“aubrey… sleepover…”
“Y-you’re inviting Aubrey for a sleepover?” Hero was surprised.
“You are?” Aubrey stared at Sunny in disbelief. He smiled and gave a thumbs up which melted Aubrey’s heart. “I-I mean, yeah! We talked about it earlier.”
Hero was contemplating, “Okay then… Come on, I’ll take you guys back to Sunny’s place.”
The two of them followed Hero on their way back to the Suzuki residence. Hero stopped in front of his home, “This is my stop, guys,” he explained, “Enjoy your sleepover, alright?”
“We will!” Aubrey exclaimed, “Bye, Hero!”
“Bye, guys.” Hero made his way inside, leaving Sunny and Aubrey alone.
After a brief moment of silence, Aubrey squealed, “Sunny! Are you actually letting me sleep over at your place?”
He nodded.
“Why?”
“don’t want… to be alone…” he answered.
“Don’t you have Mari to keep you company?”
Sunny shook his head, “don’t want… you… to be alone…” he clarified.
Aubrey felt her cheeks blush so she looked away, “T-that’s sweet of you, Sunny…”
Sunny proceeded to walk toward his house and Aubrey followed right behind him. They walked up and knocked on the door. Eventually, Mari opened the door for them.
“Why good evening, you two. Did you guys have fun on your little date?” she smirked. Aubrey and Sunny’s faces flushed red and none of them answered. “Aww, I’m just teasing. Shouldn’t you be home by now, Aubrey?”
“W-well, you see…” she fiddled with her fingers. She found it hard to explain herself.
“I want Aubrey to sleep over with us for the night,” Sunny spoke up. The other two were shocked at how he managed to speak a full sentence.
Mari giggled, “Why of course! It’s been a while since Aubrey had come over to stay for a night.”
“R-really?” Aubrey’s eyes lit up, “Thank you so much, Mari!” she ran and hugged the teen.
“You’re always welcome here, Aubrey,” Mari reassured her, “Come on, let’s set up our room.” The three of them entered the house, went upstairs, and prepared the room. Mari grabbed the spare mattress and placed it beside her bed for Aubrey to sleep in. Sunny grabbed some pillows and a blanket for her. Aubrey swept the floor to help. When they were done they all got ready for bed.
“Umm, Mari…” Aubrey muttered, “Is it okay if we move my mattress next to Sunny? I was hoping I could talk to him for a bit before sleeping.”
Mari smirked at the little girl, “Sure thing!” She moved the mattress. “I guess that should be it,” Mari said, “I’ll be heading to sleep now. You two better not stay awake for too long, alright?”
The two nodded and wished Mari a good rest. Sunny sat on his bed while Aubrey sat on her mattress. “I had so much fun today, Sunny,” she told him.
“me too…” he replied.
“Thank you again, for the ice cream.”
“you’re welcome…”
“I’ll make it up to you next time, okay?”
“no need…”
“Nonsense, it’s the least I could do for a great friend like you.”
Sunny felt his ears redden but he ignored them. “you… are also… a great friend…” The two of them smiled at each other. Aubrey yawned which caused Sunny to do the same.
“We should head to bed now, Sunny,” Aubrey suggested. She covered herself in her blanket and laid down on the mattress, “Good night, Sunny.”
“night…” Sunny closed his eyes and thought about the events of today. To think that this day with Aubrey wouldn’t have happened if Kel hadn’t cheated during the card game. Nevertheless, Sunny loved hanging out with Aubrey and wanted to hang out with her again next time. He started slowly drifting into sleep. He had a feeling he’d have a wonderful dream that night.