Bouquets of Laughter

Chapter 3: Shittle Skittle

Excuse the typos, as always.
Warning: Cliché up ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you.

"Oh hey Sahara," Richie says cooly.

I swoon. I thought he didn't know my name! His arms are linked with the beautiful brunette standing beside him. I don't think I've ever met her before. She must be nice, though, without a doubt. Probably better than me in all aspects of life, without a doubt.

My heart breaks a little because now I know that Richie may never be mine.

"H-Hey," I stutter. I manage a small wave before rushing right past them. As I do, out of the corner of my eye, I see her smirk. It was like a "haha I'm better than this dork" kind of smirk. A pang goes through my heart as my anxiety spruces through the roof. I run into the car and I begin heavily breathing. It feels like I just ran a marathon; my knees are weak and heart is pounding.

"Sahara? What's wrong?" Dani asks, with a look of worry. "I saw Richie go in, did he say something bad?"

I shake my head "no" and sink into the seat. "He knows my name and I think his girlfriend just scoffed at me? I'm shook."

Dani purses his lips. "Well now I'm shook, B. Let's bust this place, shall we?"

He grabs the control stick and tells me to buckle up. I do as he says and we ride away from both Richie and the Waffle House. Oddly enough, I'm glad we are.

-x-

On the ride home, Dani asks me a bunch of questions. I'm just playing So Social on my phone.

"Have you had any other encounters with him?"

"He asked me to open his big pickle jar while we at that party," I reply.

Tap tap. I just upgraded my Selfies. Yes.

"You saw him at the party?" he asks, shocked. "And a pickle jar?"

"Yeah."

We stop at a redlight and he looks at me. "So why did you get uncomfortable at Waffle House?" he asks with a highly curious tone. I shut down So Social.

"You know how frogs fight each other for mates? The intensity as two males fight for mating rights?"

"Yeah," he says, extending the last part of the word. We move forward on the greenlight.

"That's what I felt, except I'm not a frog and I definitely did not fight," I explain, "but I bet I could. Actually, maybe not. She looks like she could take me down with a single bat of her fake eyelashes."

"So you felt threatened? Sahara, this the Twerking Era, not the Caveman Era. We no longer fight for reproduction purposes," he jokes.

Blushing, I immediately shout, "I was not thinking about reproducing with Richie! Shut up!"

"I didn't say that you were," he retorts. He quickly looks over at me and sticks out his tongue. After a long silence, with a smirk on his face he says, "So you were thinking about reproduction. You sly old coot."

I groan in my seat and rest my head on the seatbelt strap. Dani notices I'm tired and decides to play some slow tunes. I stare out the window whilst Dani jams out to the radio and taps the steering wheel. As the lights and the houses blur by, the steady rocking of the car as it goes over little bumps slowly lulls me to sleep.

-x-

"Sahara," says a voice.

"Sahara!" says the voice again, but more sternly and with a tinge of fustration. "Wake up!"