cross my mind [mollie]

Kristo had arrived at South Point Beach bright and early to help set up for a service project organized by a youth mentorship program he'd been volunteering with for the past four years. Lilycove's Kids, an organization that originated in Lilycove but had since spread throughout Amelia, connected children and youth facing adversity with a settled mentor. The Martha's Vineyard chapter was unique in that it was close enough in proximity to Solas, Ughdarras, and Dian that young clio from those areas, as well as Martha's Vineyard, could participate in the program.

Each semester, Lilycove's Kids started the year off with a service project on the island. While the event's intention was to foster a culture of volunteerism and promote civic engagement, it also served as an interactive and casual opportunity for paired clio to meet (or reconnect, if they were continuing in the program together for another year), and for mentors and mentees alike to engage with clio in their age groups.

Kristo was excited to reunite with his mentee, Haris, a young boy from Solas being raised by his uncle after his mother had died a a few years ago from illness. While his uncle tried his best, he had to work multiple jobs to support them and wasn't the best at showing affection since he'd never planned to have children in the first place. Since Kris and Haris had been paired together a year ago, they'd grown very fond of one another and developed a great relationship.

"Kris!"

Kristo turned as he heard his name from a familiar voice. Haris was running at him, full speed from the Solas group that had just arrived. Kris bent down, arms open to pull Haris in for a tight hug and a spin around in the air.

"Good to see you, buddy!" he said as he set Haris back down. "I missed you. Where's your ol' pal, Opal?" That dad joke never got old.

It did get old for Haris though, who forced a laugh. "Ha haaaa, very funny. I don't know where she is," he answered, looking around for his friend. Haris and Opal had met through the group and had become best friends. Kris had gotten to know Opal's past mentor, but she had ended up moving down to Adhbhar and couldn't participate in this chapter anymore, unfortunately.

"Well, let's go find her then," Kris said, putting a hand on Haris' shoulder as they walked toward some of the other clio huddled in the area.

While Kris was helping set up and then being super cool and mentor-like with Haris, Mollie had spent the morning wondering what she'd gotten herself into. When she'd signed up for this volunteer group last spring she'd done so with the thought that it was a tutoring group, but upon arrival today she had been notified that it was actually a mentoring group and would have very little to do with school work at all.

Kids had always slightly annoyed Mollie, who had had little experience with them. Whenever she thought of them she thought of her kid sister, Nat, and how she'd been when they were growing up. Mollie wasn't so sure she could handle something like this, and was totally prepared to back out, when a man leading a young girl had approached her and introduced them.

Opal was small and blonde, and actually kinda cute. Her smile was bright and happy when she was told Mollie would be her partner and Mollie didn't even have to fake it when she smiled back. So, Mollie thought, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

They talked for a few minutes, and Mollie learned a little about Opal as they did. She was nine and had a five year old sister (Jade) back home in Dian, her favorite color was purple, and she wanted to be ballerina when she grew up. All of these were things Mollie could appreciate, especially the ballerina thing.

"Maybe I can make you a ballerina tutu," Mollie told an excited Opal as they both sat criss-cross-applesauce in the grass. "I love making clothes, dresses especially. And I would love to make something for you!"

Opal got a giant smile on her face and Mollie was excited to hear what she had to say when suddenly Opal got up and sprinted away from her. Huh?

She turned and saw Opal slam into a boy. The kids fell to the ground, laughing. "Haris!" Opal laughed happily. Behind Haris stood a very familiar face; Mr. Lilas, who had a giant smile on his face that rivaled the childrens'.

Mollie got up and brushed off her jeans before walking over to where the kids were still laughing on the ground. "Minor collision, huh?" she asked as she approached.

Kris erupted in pure joy and laughter as Haris and Opal crashed into each other. He was glad to see Opal again, almost as happy as he had been to see Haris, but he hadn't expected to see Mollie following behind.

"Oh, that's nothing," he started, looking fondly at the children playing with one another. "Once they really get going, it's hard to tell if they love or hate each other." He laughed, walking over to stand with Mollie while the kids wrestled.

"I had no idea you were interested in this program. Are you Opal's new mentor?" he asked. "This one's Haris, we were matched together last year. He and Opal are pretty inseparable."

Kris had seen many of his students come through the MV chapter of Lilycove's Kids, and had unfortunately seen many of them leave after graduating -- but he always suggested that students serve in the program for at least one year. While it benefited the kids, he also witnessed many of his students growing personally from the experience as well.

"They're cute," Mollie said, watching as sweet little Opal continued to tackle Haris to the ground. Mollie's eyes widened. Cute was one way to put it, surprising was another (possibly more fitting) way. When Opal had told her she loved ballet, Mollie had never imagined she'd also like...wrestling?

Mr. Lilas wrote:I had no idea you were interested in this program. Are you Opal's new mentor? This one's Haris, we were matched together last year. He and Opal are pretty inseparable.

Mollie nodded. "This is my first time. My guidance counselor mentioned it at the end of last year, and I thought it would be a nice way to give back. Though, she also made it sound like it was going to be more of a tutoring thing, soo..." She lifted her shoulders and gave an "oops" sort of smile. "Not that I don't think this will be a good thing I just...I don't have much experience with kids," she admitted. "But Opal seems awesome, and Haris too."

"Ah, yep," Kristo said with a nod and smile. "I've definitely heard similar stories from students before. Even if this isn't what you expected, I'm sure you'll be happy you joined -- maybe it was fate tricking you into doing something you never would have otherwise."

Haris and Opal finished their brief wrestling match and bounced over to Kristo and Mollie. "Haris, this is Opal's new mentor, Mollie. She's a student at Redfern, just like Opal's last mentor."

"She's pretty like her, too!" Opal said with a huge smile.

"Shut up!" Haris said, nudging Opal and blushing a little.

Kris leaned over to Mollie, talking lightly to her. "Haris had a bit of a crush on Opal's last mentor. But don't worry, I'm working on teaching him how to be a gentleman," he said with a laugh.

A big smile stretched across Mollie's face before she laughed at Opal's comment.

Haris had a bit of a crush on Opal's last mentor. But don't worry, I'm working on teaching him how to be a gentleman.

Mollie laughed lightly at this, too. She was already having fun and they'd barely started.

"So, what do you kiddos like to do for fun?" she asked, pulling her hair up into a ponytail as the morning sun started to warm the beach. "Mr. Lilas, oh, uh, Kris," she said, correcting herself and trying to remember he'd asked her to call him by his first name, "What are some of the things you all did last year?"

"They really love to --" Kris was about to answer, but the two were interrupted by an excited young clio who Kristo recognized as recently-new (about a year in) staff within the program.

"Kris and Mollie! I see you've found one another," the clio said with a large, genuine smile. "I'm Frances, I'm a staff member with the program. I'm glad you two and the kids all found each other! Kris, as you know, Opal and Haris are a bit..."

"Attached at the hip," Kris suggested with a laugh. The young girl smiled and nodded.

"Right," she said, happily glancing at the two kids. "So it would be really great if you both, as mentors, could keep them together -- if at the very least, for this first meeting. I'm sure they'd like the opportunity to catch up. Feel free to go out to the beach and start."

Frances patted both Kris and Mollie on the shoulders with a nod and smile before heading off. Kris was used to the staff's quick and strong presence, which demanded the attention of everyone nearby but gave a strong and succinct message.

"Well," Kris started, looking past Mollie and the kids to take a gander at the beach's edge. "I know I signed up for a beach cleanup. What do you think?" He looked happily at Mollie, obviously expecting an excitable answer from her in order to pump the kids up for this somewhat-boring task.

Mollie smiled and laughed as Frances explained the bond Opal and Haris shared. It was definitely obvious that it would be hard to keep the kids apart...not that Mollie was bothered by it. Kris was not someone she minded being around. She had a feeling having him around would help her get through the mentoring thing (that she still wasn't sure she'd be the greatest at).

Sure enough, when Kris suggested they get down to the beach to start on the clean up, Mollie felt the urge to give a laughing complaint, but the way he spoke let her know she needed to act excited for the kids. Noted.

Mollie clapped her hands together. "Last one to the beach is a rotten egg!" she shouted.

Opal and Haris didn't waste any time before squealing and heading for the beach. They took off, laughing and trying to push each other over as they sprinted away. Mollie turned back to Kris and raised an eyebrow as if to say, "Well?" before taking off herself, with a laugh.

Brilliant, Kris thought as Mollie got the kids all riled up and racing toward the beach, but he wasn't expecting Mollie to run off too!

"Hey!" he said, jumping into a sprint toward the three of them and laughing. "I will not be a rotten egg, Mollie Sterling!"

He found himself full of joy as he ran across the beach, like he was a kid again back in Ughdarras. A few strands of hair fell in front of his face and blew in the wind, which was still a bit cold from the early morning. He finally caught up to Mollie and started to pass her as he ran toward the kids.

Mollie laughed the entire run across the beach before doubling over and holding her stomach when they all made it to the stand to collect their "trash collecting" equipment. By the time she reached the stand Opal and Haris had already caught their breath and were busy bothering the volunteer stationed there to hand out the supplies.

"How--did I--become the--rotten egg?" Mollie laughed Kris in between deep breaths. The cool salty breeze coming off the water felt good in her lungs. Running on that sand had been a little bit of a work out! It felt good though, getting out here. She hadn't been to the beach in ages.

"Hey I want that one!" Mollie turned to see Opal and Hari fighting over which trash poker they wanted to use. Opal was trying to grab the stick Haris was holding right out of his hand. He stuck his tongue out at her.

Mollie rolled her eyes. The tongue thing reminded her instantly of Nat. "Why are we fighting over sticks to pick up trash with?" she asked. "Does it matter who gets the blue one, really?"

Kris had to catch his breath a bit as well, but not too much since he ran pretty often -- though the sand definitely made it more difficult and he didn't usually sprint as fast as he could. Hanging out with Haris always meant catching his breath as some point, though.

He was about to respond to Mollie with some witty comment, but instead turned to try and handle the situation between Haris and Opal. They were always getting into some silly argument.

"Okay, come on," he said, walking over to address the two kids. "Why don't you switch halfway? Then you can both use the blue one."

"But I got to it first, so it's mine!" Haris said, holding onto the trash picker as tightly as he could.

"I know, buddy," Kristo replied, kneeling down to his level and putting his hand on his shoulder. "But it's good to share instead of keeping it all to yourself. What if Opal had gotten it first and you'd wanted it?"

Haris just looked at his little feet. Kristo patted his shoulder and stood back up. "Alright, come on -- Opal, why don't you pick out which bag you want? The handles are different colors, see?"

The kids pushed back a little bit longer before finally giving in, moving on, and presumably forgetting about the whole ordeal as they ran off to see who could get collect the most trash in five minutes, which would be timed by Kris.

"They'll probably forget that this conversation even happened," Kris said with a light laugh as he handed some equipment to Mollie.

Mollie watched Kris handle the situation with finesse. In only a few moments the kids were over their fight, and happily picking up the garbage that jerk students had left behind on the beach. Mollie couldn't help but find the whole thing impressive. She thought about her eye roll and was a little embarrassed. They were here to work with the children, after all. She was going to have to get used to squabbling.

Through the late morning and afternoon, Mollie, Kris, and the kids spent their time collecting the litter from the sandy shores. Though it seemed like menial work, Mollie soon realized that Haris and Opal were actually really funny. She and Kris were constantly laughing over their antics, and she found herself feeling more and more at ease.

By the time they were finished and had turned their equipment in, Mollie found herself giving genuine hugs to the kiddos. She was almost sad to see them go. The day had been long, but it had been good.

"See you in two weeks!" Mollie cried, waving at Haris and Opal as the ferry they were on floated away. The kids waved back frantically, yelling something Mollie couldn't pick out from the cacophony of voices coming from the small boat. She and Kris had promised to watch the ferry disappear from view.

"They are just so sweet," Mollie said with a little frown, dropping her hand slowly from the wave. They'd been rambunctious and crazy all day, but she had to admit she would be looking forward to seeing them again. "And I can't believe how funny they are!" she laughed.

Kris rested his hands on his hips as he watched the ferry disappear in the distance. "Oh yeah, they definitely grow on you," Kris said, eyes beaming after such a successful day. "I've seen them grow up so much over just a year...makes me so proud, both of them and to be part of this."

Even though he was physically exhausted, he had such a high from being so active all day and spending time with the kiddos. He turned to Mollie with a smile.

"You wanna grab some ice cream?" he offered. "There's a hidden townie gem around here that not a lot of students know about. You ever been to Roomy's? Their ice cream is homemade and they have a ton of funky flavors."

He loved taking the kids to Roomy's, and often ventured there with Holst to do his grading. There were a handful of places on the island that were clear of students, and somehow Roomy's had stayed that way.

"Though if I bring you there, you'll have to keep it secret so students don't take over the place," he said with a laugh.

Mollie was shocked by Kris' offer, but she felt a smile grow on her face, anyway. "Sounds fun," she said. "I feel honored you'd take me to a secret ice cream shop." She put her hand over her heart, grinning.

The jacket Mollie had worn earlier was now around her waist, tied there when it had gotten too warm on the beach. Mollie readjusted it as they walked, keeping her hands busy. She followed Kris, feeling a little weird to be following a teacher into town. It was one thing to participate in a mentoring program, but going to a "hidden townie gem" seemed a little more intimate. Was it childish to think so? She was a senior--she should be able to talk to Kris like a fellow adult--and there was more to a clio than just their status as a student or teacher, after all.

"Haris and Opal really seem to love you," Mollie said, deciding to make small talk about their shared experience. "How long have you been working with Haris?"

"I feel honored you'd take me to a secret ice cream shop."

"Yeah well, not just any student commits to spending an entire day cleaning up a beach dirtied by their peers while babysitting rambunctious kids -- I feel that deserves some rewards," he said with a chuckle as he led the way to the shop. While he had known a handful of students in the program, he had never had a student (be sort of forced to) spend the day with him directly. He felt she had definitely earned a sneak peek into townie (read: teacher) life on the island.

"How long have you been working with Haris?"

"This will be our second year," he started, turning a corner. "It did take a while for things to feel...normal, I guess. The kids are cute, but they're still kids -- takes a while to develop that real relationship." He looked over to Mollie with a reassuring smile. "But it'll happen."

Finally, they arrived. "Here it is!" he said, motioning excitedly with both arms.

Ahead of them was the cutest little ice cream shop: a white house with a blue roof and matching windowpanes sitting between two taller brick buildings, with a large blinking neon sign reading "ROOMY'S" on top.

The two walked up the stairs onto the porch and Kris opened the door for Mollie, motioning for her to enter. "Ladies first," he said, goofily exaggerating the gentleman-vibe.

"Oh, wow," Mollie said, looking at the tiny, adorable shop wedged between a set of much larger brick buildings, "it's so cute!" It was also pretty adorable how Kris waved his arms, obviously excited to be showing the place to her, but she kept that part to herself.

He ushered her in and she smiled at his exaggerated courteousness as he held the door. He was silly, which usually made the calm and dedicated Mollie annoyed, but for some reason with Kris she didn't mind as much. At all, really. It was definitely balanced by his own dedication to the things he was interested in--his eilemaiden, and his mentoring. The two sides of him contrasted together in such an attractive way that Mollie almost laughed at herself for thinking about it.

"This place is awesome," she told Kris as she looked around. It was just as cute inside as it was out, and it was surprisingly roomy for such a little place.

They walked up to the counter and Mollie stared at the large boards hanging on the wall. "There has to be a million flavors! What do you usually get?"

"There has to be a million flavors! What do you usually get?"

Kris was so happy that Mollie was enjoying the little ice cream shop. He looked up to the board, which he didn't often look at anymore because he knew exactly what he wanted.

"Yeah, I usually get the -- "

"Kris!" the clio behind the counter called. "Kristo, Kristian, Krissle! I know you want that Juniper Sugarberry! Let me get that started for ya."

Kris winked at the clio behind the counter and looked over to Mollie with a 'there you go,' sort of look. "Juniper Sugarberry is definitely my go to," he said as they reached the counter and he leaned against it. He looked back up at the board of flavors. "Before that though, the Honey Rhubarb and, I know this sounds weird, but the Vanilla & Cannellini Bean were both favorites of mine."

He looked back over to Mollie, leaning in a little. "Honestly, anything you get will blow your mind, I'm positive."

The clio behind the counter handed a large ice cream cone to Kris, saying, "Here you go!" He happily accepted it as the clio asked Mollie what she'd like.

"Okay, all of those sound awesome," Mollie said, considering Kris' favorites as she continued to search the board for something. It was so hard to choose! It didn't help that while she was reading the menu she kept thinking about how funny and charming it was that the employees here knew Kris so well.

When the employee brought Kris' cone over to him, Mollie laughed--it was huge! "Wow, that is beautiful!" The purple ice cream looked delicious and strangely artistic, scooped in a stack on top of a waffle cone.

"What will it be for you Miss?"

Mollie took one last look at the board before saying, "I think I'll have the Rosewater Sorbet?" she said. It came out sounding like more of a question and both Mollie and the clerk laughed.

"Great choice! You won't be disappointed!" He returned moments later with an equally large cone, heaping with creamy colored sorbet. Red speckles bled through the lighter color--pieces of the cherries Mollie had read about on the sign. It looked freaking delicious.

"Oh, gosh, it's so pretty!" Mollie said, taking it from the man. "Thank you so much!"

Kris couldn't have gotten the big smile across his face to leave even if he tried. He took his wallet out of the back pocket of his pants with his free hand, licking some of the ice cream that was dripping down the side of his waffle cone.

He set the wallet down, masterfully managed to get enough cash out to pay for both of the ice cream orders, and suggested that the clerk keep the rest as he slipped the wallet back into his pocket.

"You wanna grab a seat?" he asked, taking another lick of the amazing ice cream he was holding. "Or we could walk around the island some? Whatever you want to do."

Mollie laughed as he maneuvered his wallet into producing his money. "Wow, what skill!" she told him. She was mostly kidding, but it was also pretty impressive. She took a lick of her own ice cream, trying to get a good start on it before it started dripping like Kris' had. "This is everything I hoped it would be, and so much more," she sighed.

"Let's walk!" she told him. The shop was cute, but it was also a little small and intimate, and Mollie already felt enough like they were on some sort of strange date. Maybe she'd feel less aware of how funny and attractive Kris was if they were out in the open.

The two made their way outside of Roomy's, and strolled down the road. "Interestingly enough, I haven't explored too much of this neighborhood," she told Kris as they walked. The townie section of the island had never seemed that interesting. That and Mollie didn't have much time for exploring, anyway. "It's cute down here. Thanks for bringing me. And for the ice cream, too." She turned to smile at him and noticed he had a spot of purple on his nose.

"Kris! You--" she held a hand up to her mouth and laughed. "You've got a little bit of--" She laughed again, he looked so silly! She gestured to her own nose. "Hold on," she said, taking the napkin off her cone and leaning up. She wiped the bit of ice cream off. "Much better," she told him, laughing again.

Olivier raised his imaginary cardinal eyebrows. I thought you wanted to make this less like a date?

Kris was glad that Mollie was having such a good time. Like...really glad. A little more glad that he usually felt about his interactions with his students. He assumed it was because they had spent an entire day together with the kids. That would build a different type of bond with anyone.

As they headed outside of the shop, Kris led them to a nice little path that brought them through the island by way of the beach-side. He licked his delicious ice cream as Mollie thanked him for bringing her this way.

Why did you bring her out here? Holst asked, wondering what exactly was brewing here. Kristo ignored his daemon.

Kristo stopped when Mollie noticed something on his face, looking down at her hand as she wiped something off of him.

"Thanks," he muttered with a goofy smile, looking into Mollie's eyes as they made such close contact. He felt butterflies rush all over his body. Why was that happening?

He brushed some stray blond hairs from his face while they looked at each other. "Is it, um...all gone?" he asked with a smile.

In a very un-Mollie-like way, Mollie felt the urge to lean up and kiss him when he smiled at her. He was so ridiculously handsome and when he met her eyes she immediately felt like there was some sort of electric connection.

This was not normal. This was definitely not normal. Mollie looked away and licked her ice cream, trying to pretend like her heart wasn't suddenly hammering in her chest. "All gone," she confirmed without looking back at him. Her cheeks were warm--was she blushing? The moment had passed, they were walking again and Mollie was focusing her attention on the scenery; she pretended to be very interested in whatever it was they were walking past, but she couldn't help but feel Kris' close proximity.

Their hands could brush together as they walked if she just moved a little closer. Oh gods, why was she thinking like that?

Kris noticed Mollie's aversion, assuming he had something to do with it. Maybe he had done something wrong?

Or maybe she has a crush on you, like all your other students, Holst suggested. He, again, completely ignored his daemon. Mollie wasn't like other students -- she wouldn't join some involved program just to get close to him because she had a crush on him!

That doesn't mean she's not falling for you, Holst mentioned as the daemon followed along with the clio.

"Have you been around these parts before?" he asked, a little awkwardly. They were walking along a unique edge of the beach, one that was only accessible from the area of the island that they were currently on. He had a feeling she probably hadn't been, but he was mostly just trying to make small talk as they both licked their wonderful ice cream cones and explored together.

Mollie shook her head, to give herself time to chew the half-frozen cherry she'd just extracted from her ice cream. "If I'm being honest, I haven't had time to really visit the beach in ages," she said. "But it's so beautiful back here--I really am surprised there aren't any students." It seemed almost impossible that there was this little private section of Martha's Vineyard that almost no student knew about. Like a little piece of paradise.

And Kris had brought her here. She felt a thrill flit through her belly.

She opened her mouth to say something else and instead promptly tripped on a root that had snaked its way out of the sandy ground. She felt a sharp pain in her ankle but her gasp of, "Oh, no!" was pointed at the ice cream cone that hand landed unceremoniously on the ground.

Embarrassing AND disappointing. The worst kind of falling.

Kristo's eyebrows jumped up as Mollie's body (and ice cream) fell toward the ground.

"Oh my gods!" he said suddenly, bending down toward where she and her ice cream had landed. "Mollie!" he exclaimed, reaching his free hand out to her.

"Are you okay??" he asked, looking her body up and down. She seemed okay, hopefully she was. Along with checking that her body was physically okay, he seemed to be.........nevermind.