Frog Meets Girl

Chapter 19-- Footwear, Love, and the Lamest Gift Ever

I just love this chapter, but I am reminded of many poorly written stories where hate/loathing turns to sudden lust and am a teensy bit worried that this chapter will feel like that. Feel free to tell me you have emotional whiplash from turning things around too soon. I won't be offended. In fact, I'll thank you profusely and make the change (but not before giving you a well-earned cookie). 

Also, this chapter is dedicated to the lovely SkyDancer, who was able to complete a fantabulous story much more quickly than I ever could, but also doesn't judge me for my slowness. 

            Will thought that it was a little strange to fall in love over footwear, but overall still a good story. Sniffling a little, he wiped at his nose with a webbed hand.

            For most of their teenage years, he and Lance had hypothesized about what girls did with their time. The mystique almost killed his buddy and really enthralled Will. Endless questions about how they got their hair to look like that and what made them smell so different from guys peppered their everyday conversations.

            They usually went something like this:

            “Man! I’m so full. I don’t think I could eat another drumstick if you dared me,” said Lance, loosening the ties on his drawers.

            “That was some seriously good pig. Oh yeah,” said Will, making sure that no one was looking their way and then loosening his own ties.

            “Say, I’ve been thinking,” said Lance, “Remember that girl with the dark hair that came in with the duke?”

            “Um, the one with the funny nose?” asked Will, laying back in the grass with his hands behind his head.

            “Yeah, that one.” Lance sprawled next to him. “Did you notice all her necklaces?”

            “She had at least three.”

            “No way, it was more than that. At least five.” Lance began picking meat out of his teeth.

            “Couldn’t have been more than six though,” said Will.

            “Why was she wearing so many? Geez, did she think she had to wear all her jewelry at once?”

            Will shrugged. “Girls are weird.”

            “Oh yeah. So weird.”

            There was quiet for a minute before Will said, “Hey, one of the dogs just had puppies. Wanna come pick one out?”

            “Heck yes! Was it the hunting dog you were telling me about?”

            Then they both jumped up and waddled their full bellies across the grounds to the stables.

What had been mostly unspoken was what girls might look like without all those layers on. Lance had been more intent on finding that last one out than Will and had more than once been punished for peeping over the walls of families with daughters and even one memorable occasion, a convent.

            It was going to be difficult to break the truth to Lance: Girls did needlework and cried a lot. Plus, he remembered Acantha, there was a lot of backstabbing. On an intellectual level, there wasn’t much about girls that could explain the fascination he and Lance had shared.