Opposites

0.6

   “Cali, what’s wrong? What were you dreaming about?” Mary didn’t let go of the embrace. I was shivering in her arms. 

     “My,” I sobbed and inhaled sharply. “My mom.” I lied.

   “Jake left for work about an hour ago. Do you want him to come back?” She slowly pulled away. Mary covered her hand with her sleeve and wiped away my tears.

   “No, no. I’ll be okay. You don’t have to stay either, but can you drop me off at the mall? I think I’m just going to hang out there for a while until Anne can pick me up and take me to hang out with her at her place.” I gave her a small smile and she rubbed my shoulder before walking away to get ready.

***

   I spent my first hour at the mall in the library there just reading an old, interesting looking book I found sitting on one of the shelves. I eventually sat the book down and just decided to go get some ice cream. I mean when is there not a good time to get ice cream? I realized Aimee was working her shift today and immediately stared down at the ground. How pathetic was that? I was scared to talk to someone I served at my own restaurant every week. Before I knew it, I was standing right in front of Aimee. 

    “Hi, Cali.” She smiled at me and I smiled back.

   “One cookies and cream please.” 

   I was about to walk away with my ice cream when Aimee walked out from behind the counter.

  “Do you want to hang out? I just got off my shift and I seriously need to buy something for Justin’s party.” I checked the time. One more hour until Anne was there.

   “Sure, Anne’s picking me up in an hour to go to the party.”

  “Are you going to wear that?” She motioned to my outfit which consisted of jean shorts and a blue, lace blouse that Emilia bought me.

   “Yeah, is this all right?” I gave her a weak smile.

  “It’s so pretty but Justin’s parties are usually a bit more dressy than that. Come on, let’s go look through forever 21 for some casual dresses.” She began to walk in the direction of the store and I didn’t dare try to argue about it.

   “So how do you know everyone in your group?” I tried to start a nice conversation.

    “We all met in freshmen year.”

    “You’ve been friends that long?” I stopped and she turned around to face me.

     “Well, kind of. Mack and Justin were who I met first because Mack’s my cousin. Justin and Mack just kind of hit it off pretty quickly until both of them got girlfriends a few months later. That’s how Tamara came into the picture. We’re all best friends now.” She looked down at her shoes and smiled. I never understood why best friends were so great. They seemed annoying.

     “Was Mack’s girlfriend Anne?” I tried to sound as casual as I could.

    “Yeah, but he cheated on her junior year. She forgave him but then she found out it wasn’t the first time. She kinda left our group after that. Aren’t you guys like best friends now?” Aimee seemed really friendly about everything with me. Usually everyone was pretty harsh and assuming with me.

    “Something like that,” I replied.

   She smiled and then grabbed my wrist and began to walk towards the store.

***

 “That one!” Aimee shouted in delight as I stepped out of the dressing room. She was wiggling her eyebrows at me as she stood up and walked over to get a better look.