Mini Stories and One Shots

Friendship For Dummies

I press my ear to the cold frame of the door, trying to get a better glimpse of Connor, who's having a conversation on the phone, oblivious to my presence.

            “I will ask her... I have it all planned out,” Connor says nervously, pacing around the room, the phone pressed to his ear. “No, no, I know that! I know what I’m doing!” He pulls back the phone and recoils before placing it beside his ear once again. “I don’t need emotional support, you moron!” he barks and I find it hard to hold in a chuckle. “Yeah, yeah, I’m hanging up. No. Bye.”

            And then I realize I’m currently spying on my boyfriend of seven years whilst he was having, and I quote, an “important conversation.” I scramble backwards, making a mad dash for the living room before butt-launching myself on the couch and flicking on the TV.  

          “Georgie,” he calls, walking into the sitting room and looking at me questioningly. “What are you doing?”

            “Oh, you know... Watching the—” I turn my gaze to the TV and see the one show I did not watch, “—The Jeremy Kyle Show, because I love it!”

            He raises his eyebrow at me, turning his gaze to the television screen. “You hate that show,” he says slowly. He suddenly crosses his arms. “Georgie what have you done?”

           I shrug. “Nothing, just watching Jeremy,” I say weakly, smiling in what I hope looks like reassurance.

           “Really?”

           Is it my lack of acting skills that make him doubt me or am I just an open book?

            I give him a thumbs up. “Yep!” I say enthusiastically.

            “Ok.” He frowns. “I’m going to go pick up the pizza from the store. You stay here and don’t break another plate.”

            “It was one time, one time!” I mumble to myself angrily. I raise my voice a little. “I won’t,” I say, scowling. “It was one time on Thanksgiving and, in my defense, my hands were slippery!” I shout after him as he retreats out the door.

            Deciding I really didn’t want stay here and watch The Jeremy Kyle show whilst Connor was probably planning something, I run after him before he can even make it out the front door. “Hey, can I come?” I ask when I catch up.

            “Nope,” he says. “Love you.”

            And with that, he slips out the front door, locking it behind him, before I can reply. “Love you too,” I mutter to myself once I hear the footsteps growing fader.

            I turn around to make my way back to the living room when something catches my eye.  I smile when I realize what it is; a photo from Connor’s twenty-third birthday celebration. Grinning from ear to ear at the memories, I pick it up.

            “Smile wider, Connor!” Nathan tells him, making a happy smile with his fingers. “Ava, move a little to the left and Georgie, you wrap your arm around his waist,” he instructs, positioning the camera he got for his eighteenth on the stand.

             When the little dial starts ticking, he rushes over to join us before putting his arm around his girlfriend, Ava.

             “On the count of three say cheese!” he says through his wide grin. “One...” I smile wider, hugging Connor closer to me. “Two...” My cheeks start hurting from the effort of grinning. “Three!”