Strange as IT Seems

Chapter 71: Crossroads

"P-Please, Beverly, I'm d-desperate," Bill begs over the phone.

He sits in a chair in the kitchen, trying to avoid the chaos in the living room as his mother tries to sew Georgie's Halloween costume and the kid refuses to keep still. His little brother moaned and complained about how the fabric itches, and his mother insisted that he needs to hold still to avoid being poked with the pins. But he had to worry about Mia's birthday, which was in two days, and he was at a loss for what to get her. He couldn't think of what she would like. He'd only ever had to buy presents for his brother and his parents, and they would like anything he made. He decided to call the only girl he knew to ask for advice.

"Bill, what makes you think I can help you pick out a gift for your cousin's birthday?"

"Y-You're a girl," Bill reasons.

"And because we're the same species, it means we know what she wants." Max's voice is heard.

El's laughter can also be heard in the background.

Bill inhales. His friendship with Beverly seemed a bit easier when she didn't have a posse of girls surrounding her. While it was nice that they were all friends now, especially with Max, united under a common goal, it wasn't fun being laughed at for being clueless.

"Y-You know, out of the three...three of you, you could c-come up with something," Bill stammers.

"Yeah, we could if we cared enough," Max says.

Bev turns away from her friend to talk to Bill without the unnecessary commentary.

"Bill, I wish I could help, but I barely know Mia, and I'm not great at buying gifts either."

"OW! THAT HURT!" Georgie's voice screams out.

"I told you to stop moving, I warned you..." Sharon snaps back.

Bill sticks his finger in his ear to drown out the coming complaints from his brother.

"P-Please, Bev. I-I don't have a clue..."

"When have you ever?" she teases.

Bill growls through the phone, wishing she'd stop and take this seriously.

The redhead senses the tension and realizes she needs to curb it. The last thing she wanted was for Bill to resent her. Guess Max was rubbing off on her a little too much.

"Have you actually asked her what she wants?"

"Aren't p-presents supposed to be a surprise?"

"Sure, but it doesn't hurt to ask. She might give you a list of things, and then you pick one, thus keeping the surprise."

"T-That's a good idea," he says.

"You sound surprised," Beverly smirks.

"Thanks, Bev," he says before hanging up.

"Glad to be of help," she says to a silent phone.

She then hangs up and glances at Max and El as they hang out in Max's room.

"Boys," she rolls her eyes.

...

Mia sits upstairs with her duffel bag in front of her. It was a sight all too familiar. It had been packed and repacked so many times that the zipper was worn and ripped in a specific place that you now had to pull at carefully to completely zip it up. It was also faded and ragged from so many trips shoved into trunks and thrown in backseats from the never-ending trips. All ever since she was twelve. It was one of the few consistent parts of her life, and the inanimate object had been with her every step of the way.