The Friend

Alicia

Alicia sat with Maxine at their dining table that night, watching Maxine dig into the chicken Alicia made with a fork. She paused after a second and then smiled at Alicia, nodding her head.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"It's delicious," Maxine said, "What marinade did you use to make this?"

"It's a secret."

"Well, in that case, this chicken is cute, but it isn't better than mine!" Maxine laughed, and Alicia joined in, "But no, all jokes aside, I'm proud of you. You're finally getting your head out of books and trying something new. You know those books can't teach you something's."

"Just eat, Rachel Ray," Alicia rolled her eyes, "I try to cook some chicken and you want to turn this into a lesson."

Maxine smiled and began to eat the brown rice. Alicia watched her, not touching her plate. Maxine was the one who cooked mostly out of the two of them and it was because the girl had magic fingers. Whatever she touched turned into mouth-watering, savory meals. If put to the task though, Alicia could cook for herself and she often thought cooking put her mind at ease. As she cooked, she was able to think things through whenever there where issues that bothered her. And today was one of those days. Yes, her talk with Dezzi made her realize that he was right. She couldn't have been working in a place for two years without absolutely no progress. She had started as an intern and was still an intern.

Still... there was something else on her mind, too. She turned to Maxine, watching as the friend silently ate dinner, and spoke.

"I saw your friend today."

"Who?" Maxine asked.

"You know..." Alicia paused, "That guy. The construction worker."

"You mean Rodney?" Maxine said, "Why didn't you just say his name?"

Alicia couldn't. She knew that the man's name was Rodney, but it just felt wrong of her to say his name. She didn't know him that well and from the times they had spoken it wasn't on such great terms.

"Where'd you see him?" Maxine asked.

"At the deli down the street. You weren't kidding when you said he worked around here," she said.

"Well, it's over between the two of us. It was over even before it started," Maxine rolled her eyes, "How are you going to get mad at me for dancing with other guys?"

When Alicia gave her a look, Maxine rolled her eyes again until Alicia spoke, "It looked like you and that guy you were dancing with were having sex with your clothes on on the dance floor. If you're out with someone else, then maybe you shouldn't do things like that."

"Boo-hoo. He was probably going to cheat anyway. Did you see that face? Something like that can't be faithful," Maxine rose, taking her plate to the sink. "Besides, we probably would've just had sex anyway. That's it. He was a pit stop."

"To where?" Alicia asked and when Maxine didn't answer, she continued, "See, you don't even know."

Maxine turned to her, "At least I'm putting myself out there, miss I'm-too-all-that-to-give-anyone-a-chance."

"Dezzi dyed the tips of his hair blonde today," Alicia said.

"What!"

"And the hoodie is gone," Alicia laughed.

"My God!" Maxine joined her, "If you don't get out there and grab him, someone else will, Alicia. He's the one for you. You guys like the same things, words...in sentences...in books and all that jazz."