(18+) RED (Complete)

Ch. 4: Peroxide blonde

"Why the hell didn't you answer your phone?!" Gabby yelled so loud that I had to hold my ears.

"Quiet, Gabs!" I hissed, and pulled her after me to a quieter place in the cafeteria.

"I hate when you call me that, but do you know what I hate more? Friends that don't call back!"

I pushed her down on a chair and took the menu offered from a slightly annoyed waitress.

"Just bring us some Pepsi Max," I mumbled to her, still trying to keep my best friend from blowing up like a chain reactor. The peroxide blonde, middle aged woman scurried away with a scowl.

"He stood me up," I said before Gabby could say anything more, and her face dropped from anger to absolute dripping, sappy sympathy.

"But oh, my God! I love him!" I whined as quiet as possible.

"You what?" Gabby exclaimed, confused as fuck.

"Not love-love him of course, but yeah. He's one insane son of a bitch."

"Okay! Rewind a couple of pages."

Then Gabby corrected herself.

"Or maybe we should read the whole book from the beginning. I don't understand a single bit, Mimi. He stood you up, but you love him? That doesn't make any sense at all."

"I know! It doesn't make sense to me either. The whole thing is just so crazy..."

I stopped talking when the waitress came with our drinks. She kept squinting at us in a way that made me want to apologize even though we didn't do anything wrong.

"We'll keep it quiet," I promised, although I wasn't sure how Gabby was going to react to what I was about to tell her. And the meek, fake smile from the lady told me that she didn't exactly believe me. She just kept chewing on her bubblegum with a tired, unamused look. But she did leave us alone eventually, and Gabby was quick to pull at my arm.

"Speak up before I contort into a black hole!" she whisper-yelled, and I nodded vigorously.

"Okay, so this is how it went."

But then I remembered something.

"Oh, mom loved my outfit, by the way. She told me to say thanks."

I received a dead-panned glare.

"Okay! So mom dropped me off at the restaurant..."

"He didn't even pick you up like planned? Man, that..."

"I didn't want him to! I didn't want him to know where I live, so I never sent him my address. I just asked where we could meet, and..."

I gestured with my wrist to make sure she knew where I was going, and she nodded eagerly.

"Well, he wasn't there."

I rolled my eyes when I thought of his explanation. I still didn't understand how we'd missed each other if he really was there.

"Or... He says he was, but somehow we didn't see each other."

Not unexpectedly, Gabby frowned. She didn't buy that at all, and to be honest, neither did I. Not really. I just accepted it because he sounded so sincere.

"Sis, the place has like twenty - twenty five tables. Tops! How is that even possible?"

"I don't know! Maybe he got lost in or behind the chaos of people, but at least I couldn't see him. And if he really was there, it was strange that he didn't just meet me at the entrance or whatever. Anyway!"