'Tis confusion!

skating plans

Once Sal and Q had left, I just kind of stood there in a daze. This whole day was unreal. I also had a feeling I still had a big, stupid grin on my face. I shook my head and walked behind the counter. My coworkers were gone, more than likely on a smoke break. (God forbid they do any more work than they had to. I had a feeling dealing with Sal was more than they were prepared to handle.)

Suddenly, I heard a man clear his throat. I looked up. Q was back, standing in front of me holding two iced coffees. Sal was nowhere to be seen. "Hey again. Uhm, I just wanted to give you this. I figured you could use a little caffeine after having to deal with us clowns this long. And you said you liked caramel, so...here ya go." He pushed one of the coffees across the counter towards me. I could tell that stupid grin was still plastered on my face, and was probably growing. I was trying to keep my cool, but I could tell I wasn't successful. "Hey, thank you! This was really thoughtful, you didn't have to do that." Q smiled. "I know. I wanted to. I also wanted to tell you that Joe and Murr are actually wandering somewhere around this mall. But we really aren't filming any of this.Although, maybe we should have been. I've know Sal forever, and I think today was the first time I've ever seen him hula hoop."

I laughed. "Maybe the the last time you see it, too, judging on his performance. So what are you guys planning on doing now? Where did you leave Sal, did he meet up with the others?"

Q shrugged. "I'm not sure, and yes." He laughed. "I mean, I'm not sure what we're doing next, but yeah, Sal's with Joe and James. I just wanted to bring you this and let you know I thought it was really nice to meet you. It's not every day we come across fans who don't shriek and giggle around us. You were so chill, Sal and I really appreciated it. " Q cleared his throat. "I noticed this mall has an ice skating rink. Have you ever been?"

"Yeah, a few times. If it's not too crowded, it's pretty nice. And it's only a few dollars to rent skates."

Q took a sip of his coffee. Then another one. And another. He seemed to be stalling for time. I waited. He took one more sip, cleared his throat again, then finally  said "I was wondering if you'd like to come hang out with us, maybe go ice skating. I'm pretty good, and so is Joe, but Murr and Sal are both awful. It might be fun. I mean, I don't know how long you have to work..."

I glanced at the clock behind me. 4:37. "I was actually supposed to leave almost ten minutes ago. I guess I lost track of time when you guys came in...I'd love to go hang out with you."

Q grinned again. He seemed so excited by my answer, I could hardly believe it.

I grabbed my purse and headed around towards Q. We were walking towards the ice rink, and were only a few feet away, when I spotted another familiar face. Joe was standing in front of the pretzel stand, trying to catch pretzel bites in his mouth. Murr was tossing them to him. I was strongly reminded of seal feeding time at the zoo.

"Yeah, that's about right" Q said, shaking his head. "We really shouldn't bring those two out in public."

"As opposed to two grown men sword fighting in a toy store?" I teased.

"I didn't hear you complaining before." He winked, then shouted "How many has your nose blocked, Gatto?"

Joe turned at the mention of his name, and a pretzel piece smacked him in the cheek. "Thanks Murr. Always wanted grease cheek."

"Grease cheek?" Q asked.

"I dunno. It sounded better in my head. Much like everything Murr's ever said, I'm sure."

I laughed.

"What are you two doing?" Q asked Joe.

"It...wasn't obvious?" Joe and Murr looked at each other and shook their heads.

"So guys, I found out there's an ice-skating rink here. Who wants to check it out?

Joe smiled. Murr rolled his eyes. "I don't know, Q. You know I'm not very good."

"Why do you think I asked?" Q teased. " Where's Sal, by the way?"

Murr shrugged. "We thought he was with you."

"He was, but we split up after we left Starbucks. I figured you'd have run into each other by now."

"Maybe he ran into a pretty girl." Murr suggested.

"I know he did at least once today" Q said. I swear I saw his eyes dart towards me when he said it.

Just then Sal headed towards us, carrying an enormous rainbow swirled lollipop.

"How did you get that?" Murr demanded.

Sal grinned. "You remember when we went to the toy store and asked strangers to buy us a toy?"

Murr nodded. "Of course I remember. I still have that little duck." Sal rolled his eyes. "You would. Anyways, I tried it at the candy store, and...it worked."

"No way." Q said.

"I swear man. If you hadn't disappeared on me you might have gotten some too. Where'd you run off to, anyways? And why did you have that extra coffee?" 

I stood there, waiting for Q's response.  Before it could come, however, the lightbulb went off above Sal's head. "Oh, it's you! From the toy store... the one who didn't look at me like I was nuts."

"Wait a minute," Joe cracked. " Those people actually exist?" He and Murr high-fived each other.

"It's nice to see you again" Sal said to me, ignoring Murr and Joe.

"What Sally boy here isn't telling you, is that we went to the toy store on our own and attempted the buy me a toy challenge. Well, he did. And failed. But as it turns out, we met this young lady right here, who is a fan of our show, and it was really nice talking with her." Q turned to me and smiled, and I could feel myself begin to melt inside.

" Man, you're acting a little funny," Murr said. Are you feeling ok? He put his hand up to Q's forehead. Q pushed it away. "I'm fine, you idiot." He turned to Sal. "We're gonna go ice skating."

"Have fun."

"Oh, I guess I wasn't clear enough- we're all gonna go ice skating. All five of us. Or six, since that lollipop of yours is the size of a small child."

Sal groaned. " Guys, you know I don't like ice skating."

"You realize you sound identical to James when I told him a few minutes ago?"

Sal gasped. "How dare you say that to me!"

Joe nodded towards Sal and Q. "Just fair warning, this is what you have to be prepared to deal with if you hang out with these two."  He raised his voice. "If you guys don't come along right now and behave yourselves, we'll go skating without you!"

"That's all it takes to get out of going skating?" Murr wondered aloud. He turned to me. "Quick, start an argument with me so Joe makes me stay behind too."

"Nobody's staying behind." Q said. "Let's go."