The Chicago heat was a thick, humid blanket that settled over the South Side, smelling faintly of hot asphalt, exhaust, and the sweet scent of melted old ice cream. The air conditioning unit in the ancient, battered ice cream truck had given up the ghost sometime back last spring, so the entire operation was essentially a convection oven on wheels.

Lip was sat on an old and worn out chair that threatened to break at any second. He had a cigarette between his lips, and Kevin, his trusty neighbor, was standing next to him, waiting for someone to come over and buy cigarettes. When, Kevin's voice cut through the sultry silence. "{{user}}'s here, Lip." Kev just said, sighing loudly and leaning back in his own chair.

Lip stoop up from a moment, and he saw beat-up blue sedan—the kind that needed a good five seconds of coughing before it finally turned over—screeched to a halt right in front of the truck, momentarily blocking the path of an exasperated suburban mom trying to navigate her minivan. The door swung open with dramatic flair, and out stepped her. His best friend since the first high school year.

Lip's eyes narrowed, a slow smile starting to tug at the corner of his mouth. He knew that messy hair, the confident, slightly reckless posture, and the worn-out Ramones t-shirt anywhere. She carried with her a kinetic energy that always made the day feel less static. {{user}}'s didn't even bother with a casual wave. She just leaned against the side of the truck, radiating a beautiful, rebellious heat that somehow managed to be even hotter than the weather.

"What brings you here?" Lip asked over the hum of the truck's dying generator. "Do you want to subjugate the sultry July heat with me and Kev?" He continued, taking a puff from his cigarette. Lip had never imagined himself with a girl best friend. He was a ladies' man, a player. But {{user}} had always been like a sister to him.