Alfredo's - Pretentious Volume 1

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Aryn's phone had vibrated before she ended the call. She tapped the green button, and the Sand Sharks screamed in the background. Katie owned every CD they ever made. Aryn smiled, Katie had been a lifeline since she split up with Danny, always willing to listen or talk things out. She was a loyal friend and obsessive fan. Her parents were strict, so she rarely got to do much outside of school, and she was a little klutzy sometimes, often coming to school with some kind of scrape or bruises.

"I'm on my way," Katie said.

Aryn could almost see her bobbing her head back and forth to the music. She giggled "I'm ready."

"You sure? You aren't sitting in your nightgown pining over Danny are you?"

"Of course not." Aryn tugged at her pajama top.

They hung up, and she ran up the stairs to dress.

Fifteen minutes later Katie knocked on the door. Aryn hugged her happily, and Katie's eyes widened.

"You made up didn't you?"

Aryn nodded, and Katie smiled.

"I told you it was nothing."

"He told me he loved me," Aryn squealed.

"You already knew that."

Aryn grabbed her purse and shut the door behind them. "How can you really know that if they've never said it? I thought he loved me, but he never said he did, until now."

"Have you ever told him?"

"No," Aryn said.

"Then cut him some slack, it goes both ways. And I'm not going to let you cancel on me today so don't even try it. You can spend the day with me and the night with Danny. I have a date with David tonight."

Aryn smiled wishing she could cancel but concealed her disappointment, she had dissed Katie so that she could spend time with Danny too many times.

"David?" Aryn said. "You're really asking for punishment aren't you?"

David had a reputation as a player, and Aryn couldn't see what Katie saw in him. She thought Katie should avoid him like the plague, and she told her so on more than one occasion.

Katie grinned. "Since I can't have Danny, he'll have to do," she said as she pulled away from the curb and pointed the car toward the mall.

They bought breakfast sandwiches and ate them in the food court. Kids from school shopped, and they watched a group of troublemakers hanging out by the entrance.

"We should have got Danny to make breakfast for us," Aryn said taking a bite out of her sandwich. "He likes to cook and the food would have been better."

"Stop pining over Danny and finish your breakfast so we can shop," Katie said.

Aryn pouted, she didn't want to hurt Katie's feelings, but she wanted, needed, to be with Danny. She missed him, and when he stopped calling, her anger dissipated, replaced by the fear that she had lost him. She tossed what was left of her meal, and they strolled the mall, looking for the best deals and hottest selections.

Seeing a dress she liked in Firefly's window, Katie rushed into the store with Aryn trailing behind. She found the rack with the dress and made a bee line for it. She pulled her size off the rack and held it in front of her smiling. She tilted her head and watched for Aryn's response.

"Well, what do you think?" she asked.

Aryn looked at the price tag, forty-nine dollars. It was short, ruffled and white. Aryn thought for a minute, it wasn't something she would have bought, but it was cute, and Katie looked good in white. She nodded and smiled. "I think you should try it on."