Bernadette Dear

Get A Life

Three

I would much rather not let Corry see me in the passenger seat of a four year old army green Yugo on our first officially planned hang out (NOT a date, there's a difference) with my brother bobbing his head to horrible music turned up so loud it's more a 37 part dying cat chorus than a rock band. So I decided it was safest to have him drop me off at the bookstore, which was just a little ways down the street from the Cafe, and walk to the Cafe myself.

When I approached the front window of the cafe I saw Corry sitting at a table in the back. He was on his phone but he put it away when he saw me enter.

I walked over to him and he stood up and opened his arms. I smiled and he embraced me into his big, warm puffy coated body. It occurred to me mid-hug that this was the first time he'd ever hugged me, and probably the most our bodies have ever touched since I met him. Thought it didn't feel weird somehow. It felt normal, like just another part of the Corry Routine. The hug lasted maybe a second longer than "just friend" hugs would, but I didn't think much of it. He knows we're just friends. He knows this is not a date. He knows.

"Have you ordered anything yet?" I asked.

"No, not yet."

I got my usual, a tall coffee-based cinnamon dolce latte with a to-go cup of whipped cream on the side to bring home to piwi. Corry had at first tried to order a frappuccino. And then I laughed and told him this wasn't Starbucks, there were no frappuccinos. Then he pouted like a little kid, making me laugh again, and finally settled on having the same thing as me. Then we kept the line waiting for five more minutes while we argued over who was paying. I eventually gave in and swore that I was going to pay him back, but only because it was taking us 15 minutes to order. Then at the last second he threw in a large blueberry scone which took four more minutes to redo the order on the computer.

I laughed as I sat back down at our table in the back. "What was that all about?"

"Ordering at coffee shops makes me nervous, okay! My brain doesn't think right when I'm under pressured." He ran a hand through his sandy blonde hair.

"Yeah, well it's a good thing you're adorable when you do it, or this whole shop might be steaming mad at you." Wait, that's okay right? Do just friends call each other adorable? He blushed a little and smiled. I could tell he was trying to act calm. Maybe not.

Our order came a few minutes later and we sat sipping our drinks and sharing the scone in silence for a moment. I refuse to let this silence last long enough for it to get awkward. I thought. Come on. Speak!

"Ya know what my father and I used to do when he brought me here?"

"Yeah?"

"You do?" I said, confused. I didn't quite know what he meant.

"What? No, I mean, no I don't know. I was just saying yeah, like you know, 'Yeah, I hear you, keep talking' kind of yeah."

"Ohh." I nodded softly, still the tiniest bit confused.

"I guess... that's just how, like, Americans respond... to things like that. Or something." He said slowly.

"Yeah." I smiled. I never say yeah, it's just a habit for me to say yes.

He smiled back. "Anyway, sorry, continue."

"Oh right. The Get a Life game."

"Get a Life game?"

I leaned back and sighed, memories of my father flooding back to me. "It was a game my father made up with me and Piwi one of the times he brought us here. It became something that we always did whenever we were bored. It exercises your imagination my father said."

Corry broke off a piece of scone and popped it in his mouth. "Okay. I'm interested. Do explain."

"So it basically goes like this. You just pick a person, any person, inside the entire coffee shop, or wherever you are. Then you explain their life. What they went through, what their going through right now, and maybe even what they're going to go through. Of course we don't actually know anybody's real life story so we have to make it up." I spread my arms as if presenting something, "The Get a Life game."

Corry sipped his drink, "Does their story have to be realistic?"

"Of course not!" I remembered my drink and picked it up before it got cold. "That would be boring. Here, I'll give an example."

I leaned forward and put my elbow on the table, resting my chin on the back of my hand. I looked over the cafe, and then chose my subject. I pointed with the hand my chin was on top of and said, "That guy. In the blue, sitting alone." I stared at the man. He looked about 50, and was sitting all alone at a large booth towards the front of the store. He was staring at his coffee intensely, stirring it with a wooden stirrer. "Yesterday a witch came to house and made him a potion that would give him freezing powers. He's trying to test it out now by attempting to make iced coffee." Corry laughed. "And if he doesn't pay the witch back by making her three tons of lemon popsicles in three days time, she will take away his powers, along with! *dramatic pause* His life." I smirked and tilted my head back to sip my latte.

Corry laughed and applauded quietly. "Not bad, Bernadette, not bad."

I smiled and bowed my head. "Alright. Your turn."

He scanned the shop. "Hmmm... so many people who need to get life in this place, who to choose... Ah! That lady." Corry nodded to a lady in a cat jacket, who appeared to be petting a fat white cat while standing by the door.

"Jemima Heathersworth used to be your average, everyday, 60 year old crazy cat lady. But one day, she came home with a new cat, who turned out to be quite special. Because one evening, when it bit her, she turned into Catwoman!!! Protector of the night! With special cat powers and her new cat as her sidekick, Mr. McFluffums, she goes around saving citizens and solving crimes. Since then, every single night she turns into Catwoman, and solves crimes all around the city. But by day, she goes back to being your average, everyday, 60 year old cat lady, Jemima Heathersworth."

"That," I applaud, "Was amazing. You're pretty good at this!"

"I am, aren't I." He looked at his hands, clutching his mug in his lap. His face went serious, and his voice snapped out of the light tone he was using before, and became grave.

"Ya know, I'm not really good at much. I don't like things that are planned out, like you have to do them a specific way. I'm not good with rules, or having to stay inside the lines, ya know? I like it better when I just get a task, and then get to do whatever I want with it. That's why I love games like this. And that's why I never was really good at school, 'cause they have a lot of that rules stuff there. That's why I begged my mom to home train me when we got here. And now she is, and she barely has time to pee in between teaching me, working on the computer, and cooking my meals. And we're not even by ourselves yet, we're living in my aunt's apartment!"

I wasn't exactly sure how to respond. I just looked at him and opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

Corry ran a hand through his hair, "I don't even know why I'm telling you this. I'm sorry I just-"

"No, no it's okay, I understand." I said, even though I didn't really.

"I just feel like I can and should tell you everything. I trust you, ya know?"

"Yeah. I trust you too Corry." I sighed and thought about my father. Corry's told me a lot about his life, I should probably tell him about mine too. Just not today... "Okay, my turn." I said finally, thinking of nothing else to say.