Friends

PART TWENTY-NINE: DIS/AGREE

November 5, 2007, Monday

Before Fiona knew, everyone had compiled her interests for her special day. "Having pineapples on pizza is a straight-up no for Fiona. That is a shame, I enjoy pineapples on pizza," Wayne mentioned, scrolling through the list and passing it over to Harry.

"Didn't we order a pizza that had pineapples as a topping? Poor Fiona. Must be why she starved herself that night," Harry added, looking more entrusted to keep this information.

Jade responded with an eager glance at the list, "This was an opportunity to get to know her better. Not knowing you'd start with that question. I'm curious about her preferred topping though. She just likes them plain—cheese."

"It is what it is. At least it isn't a salad that she likes," I said to them, making a horrendous expression when talking about mixed vegetables.

"Looking at the list, it's clear that she wants us to bring her to Barbie Land and Ken with her because of all the pink in this list," Harry said, laughing. "No, but really."

"Sure, Golding," turning a keen glance towards him. "But we do know that she likes to bake, in that case, let's return that favor by baking her a cake in this entire kitchen. It's been a while since that occurred," Jade suggested to the group as if she was missing the old days that failed to create memories. "We've got eggs, water, oil, flour, and even vanilla here."

"Just no nuts," Harry said.

"Why would we put nuts when you're allergic to it? Anyhow."

The last time we had a cake was after the midterms during high school. Fiona was the head chef of the group, and we were her assistants. Everyone bonded at that time, and it's clearly on everyone's faces. I remembered putting chocolate frosting on Fiona's face, and she deliberately smacked frosting on everyone's face. My face smelled like chocolate for eternity, and we were all laughing.

Jade as head chef, everyone agreed, and the flavor we decided on was vanilla; the topping would include pink frosting and berries. As they organized the food, I started messaging Tony.

I began typing his contact and messaged him. "Greetings, you may not know me, but I am one of Fiona's closest friends. I am here to inform you that we are planning to surprise her for her upcoming birthday which will take place tomorrow evening. We were wondering if you would like to join us," I pressed send and left a smiley face. "P.S. We didn't steal your number."

Moments after that, Wayne is bargaining by coming to the mall all alone. "I will go to the mall if someone will be accompanying me," he tells everyone. "I can't decide on the gifts alone. I need two brains working with me." Wayne slowly turned his head around me, which made me decide to come.

"I will escort Wayne, and you should prepare the cake. I can count on you to handle Harry well," I said to Jade as the both of them wore red aprons of two cupids aiming at each other. Wayne was waiting for me on the doorstep, wearing a jacket and pants, rubber shoes, and shiny hair, "Did you wax your hair?" He can't stop his smile, and he releases it while nodding. "It looks great. I think I'm all ready. Let's hail a cab from the other side because they don't go here," I said, signaling to cross the road.

In a taxi, we put a lot of thought into choosing a gift. And it wasn't easy because Fiona can get a total lot of senseless judgment around here—or picky. Dealing with her is not easy. We were dropped off near the department store of the mall.

We were tasked to buy four gifts. "There are tons of displays here—pouches, bags, backpacks, handbags, purses," Wayne said, talking about the handbags. "I could choose this pink handbag as Jade's gift. I mean, the cost is 13 dollars and she handed me an extra seven dollars," he said, checking the value and even wearing the bag on his shoulder.

"It even fits you. I'm not kidding, it does like you have these small arms.," I said, and his cheeks were up. He handed me the bag with a questioning perceived look.

"I have small arms? Really? I gained muscles, you know?"

"No, but really. You should wear bags, we'd come pair side by side."

"That is why my birthday is coming soon and presents come in handy," Wayne said to me, eager to receive a bag as a present.

"There's still hope for my birthday?"

"Moving on," finding a way to distract the mood. "For Harry's present, heels are his only budget. There must be a lot coming from him"

"Let's go and find heels for Harry," brief imagery of Cinderella when she lost her shoes. "Her shoe size is the same as yours if I'm not mistaken," I suggested that Wayne should measure the heels. "See if the shoe fits. It seems that everything fits well on you," he wore the shoes and gladly walked with them. It's as if he was Cinderella after wearing her glass slippers again.

"By the way, did you know walking with heels feels great? Try them on," he suggested

"I should," I tried balancing and it fit. "Holy shit, don't lose my hand as I step down," I expressed as I stood up but became calm. "Don't forget to check the tag. Harry only gave us 25 bucks," Wayne bent down and saw the price tag cost 22 bucks. "That's why department stores are the best for buying presents. It's all about the quality rather than the quantity," I said to Wayne as he added the heels to the cart.

I was thinking of buying a stuffed toy for my present. We headed inside the store, and my eyes were locked on one thing. The rabbit stuffed toy that is displayed at the entrance, I surround my eyes, but nothing comes this close to the bunny. I remembered the time she wanted to have a bunny stuffed toy. "A nice stuffed toy for a nice friend," I said innocently, and Wayne scoffed. "Why? That's true."

"Okay, I guess Fiona is sometimes nice," he said while smiling uncontrollably and emphasizing sometimes. Wayne took the stuffed toy and hugged it. "This is super-duper-undeniably soft and fluffy. No wonder you had your eyes on it," he said, staring at my brown eyes and releasing a glimpse of teeth in a dialogue with a limerence vision.

"Well, the one you're holding is eleven dollars and that means, add it to the cart." I felt the capacity of another item and said, "Why is every stuffed toy here such a stress reliever?"

The colors of the stuffed toy as Wayne hugs it match his shirt, black and white. I would love to live in that color where the old and vintage forms of ideas come from. But the modern is full of colors, wide and bright, e.g., the translucent emotions where everything is visible.

Heading home, we tend to forget the last gift. I insisted on buying makeup. Wayne had a hint of the makeup store, "You're right. Fiona always keeps a pouch in her arms like "Calm down, it's not going anywhere," he imitates her in the most Wayne ever.

Entering the store, there were a lot of choices, but luckily, a kind employee accommodated us. We go through shades, colors, and types of makeup. "What about this makeup set? It only cost fourteen bucks," he asked me, looking tired.

"It does have a variety of options. It's final. We're taking this up to the cashier. You've had a long day."

Today, we depleted our deprived bodies and were stressed as if it were an exam. We proceeded to the cashier and bought ourselves a gift. I opened my phone and didn't notice a message from him.