The Gemini

40 - Chi-York

June 15, 1989

"Maybe she'll like this."

Pausing her browse through a shirt rack, Jody looked up to where Tommy stood across the aisle holding a 70's style apple hat that was in the form of a literal foam apple.

"I think not." she snorted.

Putting it on, Tommy checked his image in a nearby mirror. "It's not that bad. Tilt it a little. What's that Frank Sinatra said about tilting hats?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure he'd agree that that one needs to be tilted over an open flame."

Moving past the shirts, Jody's interest was caught by a wall of Broadwayesque nameplates. As expected, searching them was pointless. She found a Nicole but she needed it spelled with a 'k' and not a 'c'. Not that she wanted one but there wasn't a  Jody either.

"Lames." she mumbled walking on. "Snow globes are cool, right?"

Finally taking off the apple hat, Tommy placed it back on its shelf. "It's June."

"So?"

"Who wants to see snow in the summer?"

Jody laughed, "Technically it's glitter, smartass." Grabbing a globe, she gave it a shake and watched iridescent flecks rain down around Lady Liberty.

"Shirts are easier."

It was the fourth time that he'd said it.

"Everyone gets shirts though." she complained. "Would you want a shirt?"

"I wouldn't mind." Picking up a pair of aviators, he donned them. "We've been in this store for almost a half hour."

"I just wanna make sure I get my bestfriend something special to show her that I forgive her for flaking out on me at the last minute."

"Do you really forgive her?" Tommy questioned despite already knowing the answer.

"Nope."

Yesterday, Nikki informed Jody that Devin surprised her with a couples get away. It was his apology for breaking their plans last month. Ironically they were leaving town the same day. Jody was bummed and even a upset at first, then she called Tommy. Easily he said, "sure."

So here they were in New York. Their plane, a flight covered courtesy of MTV's money, landed early this morning. After crashing for a couple of hours, they came out to do a little city scoping. Now Jody had a little under three hours until her appointment with destiny.

Grabbing up a purple "I ♡ NY" tank top, she waved Tommy along on her way to the register. There she saw a rack of keychains and, as a last effort, searched through. While she did that, Tommy spotted a familiar face gracing the cover of a magazine on nearby newsstand. Smoothly but quickly he turned it over to its back.

"I found one!" Jody excited plucking off a sparkled charm engraved with loopy lettering, Nikole. Passing it to the cashier, "I'll get both. Make her think I really love her."

"You're very caring." Tommy joked.

"It's one of my best qualities, I know."

After souvenirs was food. The two decided on pizza since it was the easiest. Seating wasn't an option as the place had a decent sized crowd. The line wasn't exactly short either.

"Are you nervous?" Tommy looked to Jody who stood close beside him.

"Not really. I had a couple of butterflies last night but they're gone. Now I'm just excited."