After Frankie had finished telling me all the gossip she had stored, I got dressed in my favorite jeans, a blue tank top, and an old loose hoodie. Frankie insisted that I'd wear something nice, like the floral cotton dress she'd given me for my birthday, but I wasn't in the mood for it. I'd be stuck all afternoon in the store working, so, what was really the point of dressing up for that anyway?
Before we headed upstairs to have lunch with Marie, I tried to tame my curly mane. I was never very successful at it. Usually, I just tucked my hair in a messy crooked bun and was done with it.
We left Lucky sprawled on the carpet of the basement and I locked him in there before Frankie and I skipped up the stairs to the apartment. We quickly sat on the kitchen table to wait for Marie to get our lunch ready when I heard the kitchen door being slowly nudged forward.
"And three, two, one..." I counted under my breath as Lucky pranced all perkily inside the kitchen on cue. "It's like he's frigging Houdini!" I wailed theatrically to the room.
He didn't even dignify looking at me as he curiously inspected the kitchen.
Lucky loitered beneath the kitchen table while we ate our meal, snatching up all the food that Frankie 'accidentally' let fall on the floor. By the end of lunch, she wasn't even bothering to keep up pretenses and was feeding him directly from her hand.
When I tried to give him some food, he blatantly rejected it, as if my food wasn't worthy of his sophisticated palate. I think he was still resentful because I had tossed him out of my basement and slammed the door in his face.
When lunch was over, Frankie convinced me to go out to the Reef's Pier and eat ice cream together. It was Sunday after all and tomorrow I'd have to stay to work at the Pet store or help Marie with the CLinic. It was a good way to finish the weekend.
"It's cute that he's following you around outside now too." Frankie noticed as we walked along the sidewalk.
"Who's follow-" A black furry feline skipped right beside me. "Oh, it's you again." I glared down at him. "I don't get it. You made it perfectly clear that you hate me, why won't you leave my side now? I really want to hear what you have to say about that, you know."
"Uh, Mia, sweetheart," Frankie interjected. "You know how we talked about you talking to cats in public as if they were real people?"
"Yeah," I mumbled awkwardly.
"And what did I tell you?"
"To stop doing it."
"You can't complain that people call you 'crazy cat lady' if you keep doing this, hon." Frankie patted me sympathetically on the shoulder. "Let's try to have conversations with humans only when you're out in public, kay?"
"Fine." I huffed, embarrassed.
We arrived at Reef's Pier and headed straight for the ice cream shop where Frankie wanted to go. The second I stepped inside, I realized the real reason for my best friend's sudden ice cream craving. Frankie's new boyfriend Bobby-what's-his-face was sitting at one of the tables with Adam Campbell at his side.
"Oh, look, it's Bobby and Adam! What an incredible non-planned coincidence this is!" She chirped with the most fake-innocent face in the world.
"Frankie, please tell me you didn't orchestrate this," I grunted at her.
"Orchestrated what? Don't know what you're talking about." She insisted on lying.
"I saw you texting someone after lunch." I hissed at her. "It was Bobby, wasn't it? Did you plan this with him, Frankie?"
"No! Of course not. Well, he did text me saying he was here, and I thought it would be nice to come have some ice cream too!"
"Right," I grumbled, giving her a suspicious glare. "So, it's a total coincidence that Adam is here too then."
"Bobby might have mentioned that Adam was hanging out with him, I can't quite recall exactly..." She mentioned absentmindedly before turning to greet her boyfriend so she wouldn't give me the chance to scold her for this. "Hi, guys! Look who the cat brought in?" She joked, pointing at me while Lucky skipped close to my feet.
Bobby glanced our way and frowned when he saw me arriving with Frankie.
"Oh, hi, babe. I didn't know your friend was coming too," he said, giving me a slightly annoyed look. "I thought you said you were coming to have a walk with me on the beach. Is she coming with us too?"
Frankie sat on the plastic chair next to him and patted him on his bulky arm. "We are going for a walk, but I want an ice cream first. And don't be rude, Bobby, I asked Mia to come with me. She's my friend and I want to have some ice cream with her too." She admonished him. "Since Adam is here, we can sort of have a double date, what do you guys say? It's going to be fun!"
"I'm in for it!" Adam quickly agreed with a pleased smile. "I mean, for some ice cream with you, guys." He quickly added when he saw the panicky look all over my face when I heard Frankie mention 'double-date'.
"Awesome!" Frankie cheered excitedly. "I take some time to pick my ice cream, but you guys can go ahead and order yours," she told Adam and me as she grabbed a menu from the table to check out the flavor options the shop had available.
"Come on, Mia! I'm buying. Any flavor you want, my treat." Adam offered kindly as he stood up from his chair and motioned for me to follow him inside.
I shuffled reluctantly after him, not before shooting Frankie seething silent daggers from my eyes. The insistent match-maker traitor! As I passed by them on the table, I overheard Bobby muttering to her. "Doesn't she get tired of being the third wheel? It's the second time she ruins our date!"
I narrowed my eyes at him and clenched my fists.
"Hey, listen here, pal. You've been on dates with her every frigging day of this week. You have seen her more than I did, as a matter of fact. She's been my friend way before you came along, so suck it up and stop with the whining, you big baby. Just because she's your girlfriend now, it doesn't mean she can't leave your side. I'm here and you can just deal with it."
That's what I wanted to tell him but of course I didn't, because I have no backbone, and I never talk back. As a matter of fact, I avoid confrontations at all costs. I'm the quiet, introverted, loser, always sitting by myself on the lunch table. I would never say anything rude to anyone.
I shuffled dejectedly to the ice cream display while Adam tried to lighten up the tension in the air. "That was a really dumb move on Bob's part. Everybody knows you don't pick a fight with your girlfriend's best friend. He should be buttering you up and trying to make you like him, so he can have you on his side, you know?" He teased playfully.
"I don't even care. I'm used to people hating me." I muttered and pretended that I was inspecting the ice creams behind the glass display.
"Well, I'm really glad you came along," he said. "I didn't have the chance to apologize for Noodles' tantrum yesterday. I'm really sorry about that."
"Oh, yeah. How's he doing?" I asked, feeling slightly more cheerful now that the conversation had moved from my social inadequacy to his awesome dog.
"He's doing well. That meltdown he had was crazy, but he's back to normal now. It was pretty weird, right? He never reacted like that to any cat before, I swear. He even likes them, usually."
"It's okay. Sometimes cats and dogs don't get along. It's normal."
"What flavor do you want?" he asked me while he paid for our ice cream and I shuffled uncomfortably behind because it was nice of him to offer to buy me one since I didn't bring any money (on account of being broke), and I was counting on Frankie's promise to buy mine, but I didn't want him to think this was an actual date either.
"Hey, Adam? You don't need to buy me anything, Frankie got it covered." I tried to subtly drop hints about the real status of this encounter.
"I know I don't need to." He chuckled. "But I want to. Consider an apology for Noodles' awful behavior in your store. I was really embarrassed with the rumpus he made in there. I don't know what came over him."
"Hey, Mia!" Frankie shouted from outside. "I'm going to the beach with Bobby for a sec, okay? You wait for me, I'll be right back!"
I mentally cursed her but kept a fake smile plastered on my face as I replied, "Okay! See you soon." You backstabbing traitor.
"Hey, you wanna sit at the pier? It has a better view." Adam suggested as he handed me my ice cream after I had picked a flavor.
"Yeah, sure." I agreed, shyly. It was a warm, peaceful afternoon, very pleasant to be outside.
"What flavor did you get?" I asked him, making small talk as we headed outside with Lucky tagging right along with us. The annoying cat walked between us and every time Adam inched too close, he would nudge my leg with his flank to make us break apart. It was like having our private furry chaperone.
"I got lemon," Adam replied.
Lucky scrounged up his nose and made a tiny noise of disgust at my feet, and I let out a small chuckle because I knew how cats usually detested acid tastes and smells.
"It's my favorite, you know?" Adam commented. "But sometimes I get the triple chocolate when it's a very crappy day. Which certainly isn't today, 'cos I got to see you." He turned to me and his usual goofy-Labrador-smile was back on his face.
Oh boy.
I should really try to clear things up before it was too late.
"Huh... listen Adam... you know this isn't really a date, right? Frankie was just joking around."
"Oh. Y-yeah. I know that." he said quietly and sounded so disappointed.
"You're a great guy. You shouldn't bother wasting your time with me. I know of at least a dozen girls who would die for a chance to go out with you."
He smiled, but it lacked warmth this time.
Going out with Adam seemed like a truly epic nightmare. Every girl in town was going to want me dead. And I've had enough of harassment for a lifetime already, with his best buddy Russell. I didn't need any of that drama in my life again. Plus, boys were usually a lot of trouble and a bucket full of drama all wrapped in one giant pile of heartache. Adam would probably get bored of me in a week and dump me like an old sack of potatoes. I seriously didn't need that kind of aggravation in my life.
We decided to sit on a wooden bench facing the ocean, so we could watch the sunset and finish our ice cream, with Lucky stretched purposefully over my lap to make a point that I was his property when someone called from behind.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Mr. Campbell on a date with Miss Stinky Cat-Lady." Adam's best friend sneered venomously behind our backs.
...