Friends are found in unexpected places

Part 10- In which multiple things are found

"TAMARI?" I called out to the house, with no answer. I began running through the rooms searching for them, checking the kitchen and dining room. "Tamari, where are you?" I looked in the office as well, to no avail. I was beginning to panic, and was about to duck into the guest room and wake up Angie so we could look outside the house, but she was already awake.

"Woah woah woah. Ophelia. What's going on? Why are you yelling? Is something wrong?" she asked sleepily, putting her hands on my shoulders so that I couldn't run off and had to look at her. I tried to explain, but the words stumbled and fell out in a nonsensical mess. It took multiple tries for them to all line up in order.

"Okay, okay, calm down. Breathe. Panicking won't help us find them. Did they leave a note or anything?" Angie asked.

"I- I don't know. I was just looking for them, and they're not here; we need to look for them," I tried to break away from Angie, but she stopped me.

"Slow your roll, there, Oph. Let's look for a note, maybe they needed to go somewhere or something."

"Where would they need to go? Did we do something wrong?" What else could they need? Sour Mike and Ikes? A power cord they could plug into the wall with? How did they get power anyway? Oh Carina, what if they ran out of energy all alone out there?

Angie seemed to have an answer to this too. "Maybe they went to find Arcadia, return her plushie. remember?"

I had forgotten about that. I agreed to search the house for a note, albeit reluctant as i still believed our time would be better spent looking for Tamari themself. A minute later, though, our search payed off.

"Ophelia, I found something," Angie smiled from the counter. 

I rushed over, desperate to find out what it was. "What's it say?" I asked.

Angie read from the note. "Went 2 return Arcadia's plush toy. @ the bookstore on Nancy st. if u need me." She looked at me. "See, I told you. Nothing to worry about. They're at that Barnes & Noble."

"Yeah," I agreed, embarrassed at the scene I'd made. "Sorry."

"No, don't be sorry, you were worried about them. It's fine. I'll drop you off there if you want, on my way to work," Angie offered. I declined the offer, deciding that I would rather take my own car.

*a quick 3rd person POV section brought to you by the Tamari plushie*

Tamari walked into the Barnes & Noble, plushie in hand, and made their way to the in-store cafe. Arcadia had said to meet here, right? They couldn't see her....

"TAMARI, YOU FOUND THEM!" Tamari's thoughts were interrupted by Arcadia running up to them. Tamari handed her the toy, and she hugged it tight to her body. "Thank you...." she looked up to the full-size android, and then threw her arms around them in an embrace as well. "I thought I had lost them forever... thank you so so so much for taking such good care of them."

Arcadia's hug caught Tamari off guard, as they were not frequently the recipient of hugs. After the moment of shock though, they relaxed and hugged back. That made sense to do. "It was no problem, Arcadia. I couldn't have just left it lying around not knowing what would happen to it. Then if you had lost it forever, it would be just as much my fault." 

Arcadia released Tamari. "Still, thank you for keeping them safe. It means a lot."

Just then, the cafe door burst open.

*Ophelia narration section brought to you by all the weird situations that I've listened to Qualia Automata songs for the first time in*

"Tamari, here you are." I saw them standing in the cafe with the girl they were hanging out with yesterday. She was holding her plush, Tamari must have returned it already. They both turned around to look at me, startled, and I realized that I definitely opened that door with more force than I had meant to.

"Sorry," I said, considerably quieter, to anyone nearby that I had disrupted.

Tamari was the first one to come to their senses. "Hello, Ophelia... I see you got my note." They gave me an awkward little wave and a smile, probably still a bit surprised by my dramatic entrance since the cafe was quiet and virtually empty.

I walked over to them, trying not to draw any more attention to myself despite the fact that the cafe only had one other person in it that had long since lost interest in my existence. "Yeah, we found it, and I appreciate you leaving it for us, but next time please tell me before you just run off like that maybe?" 

Before they could respond, I clarified, "Like, I mean I guess you are an adult, or programmed to be an adult or whatever, and it's silly, but I was scared you needed something or, that I was doing something wrong. I guess I assumed the worst, but... yeah. Sorry."

Tamari seemed surprise for maybe half a second, and then responded with, "It's fine, I can do that. I suppose that could be a bit---" they paused to find the right word--- "frightening."

Then, Arcadia piped up. "Ms. Ophelia, can Tamari please come over to my house today? Or maybe I go to yours? Or can you at least please talk to my mom about it? She said she'd consider it if she could talk to you. Please?"

I considered this. I loved playdates as a kid, but I didn't know if today would be the best day for it, since it was such short notice. Well, I could always talk to her mom about it, and find a day that worked best.

*quick 3rd person ending brought to you by Lamentations*

Arcadia's mom and Ophelia talked for what was definitely not forever, probably about 15 minutes, but felt like at least 2 weeks in the kids section of the Barnes & Noble on Nancy street, where Arcadia and Tamari sat in wait.

Both humanoids got out of their seats to greet Ophelia when she found them there after her conversation.

"I have good news and bad news," she announced. "The good news is, you all are having a playdate. The bad news is, not today. How does tomorrow after lunch sound?"

Neither Tamari nor Arcadia could wait for Friday.