Meet Me Here Tomorrow (EXTRAORDINARILY SLOW UPDATES, NOT KIDDING)

Just Acquaintances!

"My opinion on the garden gnomes?" Chuckled Mila. "Yes. What do you think of them?" Asked Gina lightly. That was the question that would determine if Mila was the type of girl that would suit Albert in Gina's opinion.

"Oh, well, I respect that his mother collects gnomes. I'm a collector too! Instead of garden gnomes, I collect KFC chicken buckets. they make great storage bins!" She grinned and proudly announced to Gina.

Mila had passed with flying colours. Gina had assumed that she was just a shallow popular girl who wanted to use Al's brain for school so she could get out of working because Albert was labeled as a nerd (even though he didn't have the greatest grades). After Gina decided that Mila was okay, they became fast friends and the date between Al and Mila turned into a hang out session that included Gina. The rest of the afternoon passed by smoothly and as they were all parting ways, Al had already went ahead to walk Mila home like a gentleman.

Gina, preparing to leave alone, glanced around the room to find the clock. The wall clock was right above the counter and it read 5:50. Then something else caught her attention, she saw one of the middle schoolers back at the counter harassing the cashier. Poor Chris. The middle schooler was leaning toward the counter, clearly trying to give Christopher a view of her boobs from her low-necked top while talking non-stop in a disgustingly fake, sweet voice. Christopher looked very uncomfortable.

I should help him... Whispered Gina's conscience, suddenly appearing and smacking her brain lightly. Why should you? It's because he's attractive that he's getting attention from that fake-y girl. Said Conscience #2. It was like having the mini versions of her in an angel suit and a devil suit on either of Gina's shoulders. Gina was tired of all that. Quickly shooing away the angel and devil by making up her mind, she enjoyed watching him squirm and slowly regress for a little while as the irritatingly fake girl flirted and squawked on about whatever it was she was yapping about.

When Gina was satisfied with the pure torture looks that Chris was shooting desperately at her, she calmly stood up from the chair she was seated on brushed the cone's remaining crumbs from her long-sleeved sweater and straightened her glasses. Slowly, she walked towards the two of them and waited for the girl to notice and leave once that she wanted to make an "order".

Instead, the flirty, young girl (AKA Fakey) flung her hair that was long enough to reach the waist of her too-short shorts behind her and effectively slapped Gina in the face. Fakey didn't even notice (or she was purposely ignoring Gina) and kept talking as if Gina wasn't there. Getting a little frustrated, Gina cleared her throat a little to get the brat's attention. Fakey swooshed her hair and stared at Gina with a look that clearly stated "Who the Hell are you and what do you want?", her overly lip glossed mouth pursed unattractively.

"Yeah, I'm here to-" began Gina a little forcefully, expecting the chance to finish the sentence with 'make an order, so I would appreciate it if you moved.' but before she could continue, Christopher butted in, hurriedly and loudly.

"-pick me up from work! She's my girlfriend y'see?" He pointed at a horrified and shocked Gina. Fakey looked devastated and time seemed to stretch out like a rubber band as a twinge of an unknown feeling pierced through Gina's very being. For a second, just a mere second, Gina felt... happy? Was it possible that a part of her still loved Christopher Blake?

Then, one end of the rubber band loosened and reality catapulted Gina back to where she was. Recovering as fast as she could, she stalled to escape suspicion. Plastering on a sickly smile and tilting her head, Gina improvised, her face, neck and ears the shade of a ripe tomato. "Yes...we're together."

Fakey looked torn. "B-but, you're so-" Fakey motioned at Gina with her arms, "boobless and ugly!" Cried out the middle schooler in exasperation. Her expression of sass turned into a look of crushing, utter defeat and like a faucet was turned on, her eyes began streaming great, fat tears. Sinking to the ground, she began bawling and hiccuping. She tried to say something but no one could understand her at all through the tears. That made her cry even harder and she covered her face with her well manicured hands and she sank to the ground. Good thing that the shop was already empty and the only attention from onlookers were the people walking past the store windows.

As Gina ignored the insult and tried to figure out what to do, Chris seemed to understand what was going through the girl's mind. Grabbing a cone and filling it with vanilla soft serve ice cream, he ran around the counter and handed it to her, squatting down lower so that they were eye to eye.

The girl's eyes widened in surprise and she managed to stop crying. "You feel like you need to grow up, don't you?" Chris asked, his normally loud voice, replaced by a gentle and comforting one. "H-how did y-you kn-know?" She hiccuped, her fake, sweet voice gone, revealing a deeper and quavering voice.

"Hey, you're still a kid." continued Chris softly. "Enjoy being one while you can. You really don't need a boyfriend at your age. Soon, you'll be old like me and you'll be so busy, you'll regret not being a kid while you had the chance to!" Smiling supportively, helped her to her feet and led her to the the exit. With bleary eyes, the girl smiled. A real smile. The girl ran back to Gina. "I'm sorry that I called you ugly." Mumbled the girl bashfully.

"Oh, it's alright! I get that a lot so I try not to let it bug me." Gina responded, positively baffled by the character change displayed by the girl. At first she was a sassy and inappropriately dressed brat, now she was just a young adolescent girl who was apologizing? "Also," whispered the girl, "you and that guy look really good together." Running out the door, she quickly yelled over her shoulder as she got farther away, "THANK YOU!" and she disappeared from view as she ran past a corner, the setting sun dying the lake across the street a glimmering orange-y yellow.

When Christopher walked back to the counter to put away his uniform, he came back to see that Gina hadn't left right away and that she was just sitting on the bench, located outside the shop. She was just surveying the lake, thinking about people, how they can change.

As the door tinkled open, Gina realized that it was probably time for her to go home. Standing up, she started walking down the sidewalk, towards her small house. "Wait!" A voice called out to her as she was about to make the turn at the corner of the block which was 3 shops farther than the ice cream parlour. She stopped and curiously turned to see who it was. Chris stood there, blushing? It was difficult to see at such a long distance apart. "4:00 tomorrow right?" His voice amplified from the cupped hands over his mouth.

"Yeah!" Shouted Gina back at him. She quickly added, "and we're just acquaintances got it!?"

"Yep!" Chris responded and he watched Gina turn the corner. Maybe it won't be that bad tomorrow. He thought to himself as he walked towards his own house. That night, the both of them thought what weirdness tomorrow was going to bring them.