After side by side apperating, Mark, Alice and Lexi all went into the three broomsticks. They sat down in a small and dusty booth, the girls excited for some well-deserved ice cream.

Alice had her nose buried in a book she grabbed before leaving home. It was called, Quidditch Through the Ages. her eyes were concentrating deeply in the words.

Mark coughed fakery as though to grab Alice's attention, but to no avail, she continued reading. A waitress came up to the table. She asked for orders. "I'll have some fire whiskey if possible. And my little sister here will have," Mark said gesturing to Alice. She hadn't noticed. Mark gave a look of disappointment. "...Vanilla ice cream, thank you."

"And you, sweetie?" The waitress said, looking Lexi's way.

"Umm," Lexi started. "I'll have vanilla too please!"

The waitress wrote the orders down on a small pad before rushing off to the kitchen. Alice's eyes were still glued to the pages. "So, Alice," Mark started.

"Shhhh!" Alice yelled placing one finger on her lips, but only moving her eyes across the page.

"What are you reading?" Mark asked trying to remove the awkwardness floating around the table.

"A book. " Alice replied simply. There were only a few pages left in the entire book. Mark disregarded Alice's rudeness and turned to Lexi. "And how are you Madame?"

"I'm doing just fine," Lexi said looking out the window. The sky was getting darker and it looked like rain. It always made Lexi seem distant when the sky's turned gray and the cold rain pelted the window. She thought that rain always looked like tears, slowly dripping down.

Lexi shook her head as she realized Mark had been trying to get her attention. "Sorry, what?" She asked, feeling kind of rude. I mean, Alice had just totally shut down Mark and here Lexi was, doing the exact same thing! What a nice pair of friends to take to ice cream. Whoops...

Mark was not at all disappointed when she looked away. He knew she was boring. The waitress brought over everyone's stuff. A dish of vanilla ice cream was placed infront of Alice, with a  small cherry on top. She loved cherries. Smelling the ice cream, her eyes shot out of her book. "Ice cream? When did I order this?" She said happily as she dove her spoon into it. Her eyes glazed over in sheer happiness as she ate the first spoonful. It was her favorite. She noticed Lexi now, sitting in the old, beaten up booth.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Alice asked between spoonfuls of vanilla heaven.

"No need to hear my thoughts, you know me too well. You can just read me like an open book, page by page." Lexi said in a slight monotone picking up her spoon before slowly begining to eat her ice cream. She wasn't really in the mood though, blame it on her emotional roller coaster ride she was on right now.

Something just wasn't right with Lexi. Never, did she act that way, nor did she ever eat ice cream that glumly. Alice grabbed a napkin and the pen she had found on the ground. On the napkin, she scribbled, Our tree, 10 minutes after we get home. We need to talk. and slid it across the table.

Mark traced his finger around the rim of his empty glass. "Lemme just get the check, and then we can bounce," he said straightening his posture.

Lexi lifted her head and met eyes with Alice. She nodded as Mark asked for the check. They paid and went outside, where the first few raindrops were falling. Lexi blinked as one fell into her eye. She grasped Mark's hand, and off they went.

When they got back, Lexi let go of his hand and tumbled to the ground. She hated this nauseous feeling that had appeared in her gut. She saw Alice let go of Mark's hand too and walk a little unsteadily over to where Lexi had fallen.