Just As Planned

Anna: Fix

"Why are you looking so sad?" Peter asked, sitting down next to Anna in the lounge. "Did your date go bad?"

Anna moaned. She put her head on the table and covered it with her arms. "It was a giant fuck up."

Someone else came to sit down. Anna heard Peter whisper something to whomever it was.

"The date was a bust if that's what Peter is whispering to you about," she said without moving.

"What happened?" It was Adam.

Anna had hoped it was Ken. She could have handled Ken. Ken was a bit of a fuck up, too.

"What happened?" Adam asked again.

"I don't know," Peter said. "She didn't say."

Anna lifted her head off the table. "I brought her to my friend Beth's art showing and we didn't get a second alone."

Adam and Peter both groaned.

"What?" Anna said.

"I told you this was a bad idea," Adam said. "Taking her to see your weird artsy friends and their weird art is not suitable for a first date! Caleb and Beth are weird and annoying. And kind of clingy."

"I didn't think they'd be that way with her!" Anna said. "I thought they'd be cool."

"Why would they be cool with her when they weren't with me?" Adam asked.

"Because she's a girl?"

Adam grumped. "I'll ignore that insult. Did you even tell them you had brought her there on a date?"

Anna groaned and went back to hiding her head under her arms.

"For fuck's sake, Anna," Adam sighed.

"I didn't want Beth saying something in case Mira wasn't into me."

Adam lay his head down on the table next to Anna. "Which is why you shouldn't have brought Mira there," he whispered.

Anna groaned again. Adam was right. She had fucked up. She should have listened to him.

"I would like to point out that as the only one here who's had a successful date in the past year, you should all listen to me," Adam declared.

"Don't rub it in," Peter said.

"What's your plan to fix this?" Adam said. "Have you called her? Texted? Anything?"

Anna lifted her head off the table. "I texted her to see if she got home OK, but haven't heard back."

"She never texted back to tell you she got home OK?" Peter exclaimed. "Are you sure she's OK?"

"She's OK," Anna said. "She replied to that text. Just not the one I sent after."

"What did that one after say?" Adam asked.

"Just that I was happy she got home OK," Anna said.

Adam and Peter looked at each other.

"Did you follow it up with anything?" Peter asked. "That you had a nice time. If she wanted to meet up again. That kind of thing."

Anna groaned and put her head back on the table. "We didn't have a nice time."

"Anna, what did you do?" Peter asked.

Anna cringed recalling the night. "I went to get her a drink and got hijacked by Shaughnessy, who wasn't even supposed to be there! And then each time I tried to get Mira alone, Beth, Caleb, and Shaughnessy kept following us. I even tried to take Mira for coffee, but they even followed us there! It was such a disaster."