Chapter 4

"Stevie, what time is it?" Miranda asked groggily. Despite her attempts to come down the stairs carefully, she still found herself tripping on the third to last step.

"It's 9:57, you slept in again!" Stevie was pacing around the shop with a notebook, tapping the pen against her head anxiously. "And don't give me the 'oh, there was traffic' excuse!"

"The car broke down. The train was late. I was chasing a white rabbit?"

Stevie sighed. "Let me remind you, you live upstairs!"

"What's so important that is making you pace around the shop like a mouse in a microwave?" Miranda giggled, then composed herself. "Mouse in a microwave, never gets old!"

"We need to hold a summit again," Stevie said, sitting down at the desk with a big grin on her face.

"You're blowing this way out of proportion, I've been on a date with Mike before!"

"And let us list all the things that have gone wrong, shall we? You got arrested, swapped places with Penny, galloped out, sung the Police, embarrassed Penny, pretended you were a scuba diver, opened the door in only Spanx and a moustache, threw your lamb out the window, said you had a horrible disease instead of the word for exotic fruit, aaaaaand majorly offended your boyfriend's father."

"Yes thank you," Miranda said, shushing Stevie. "But I am much more mature now, and some of those weren't even my fault!"

"You said that the last time," Stevie muttered, as she continued to scribble down on her notepad. The opening of the door signified the arrival of Penny.

"Miranda, are you married yet?" Penny said, walking in without even saying hello.

"No, but I'm holding another summit… Miranda has a date! Finally!" Stevie grinned, watching Penny's jaw drop as she went over and stood next to Miranda.

"Oh, Miranda, who's this man?! I must meet him!" Miranda laughed, and shook her head. "It's not a man?! Or have you finally agreed to get married to Benji, he has been waiting very patiently…"

Miranda looked at her mother in confusion and shock. "And a good morning to you too, Mother. It most certainly is a man! I know Stevie and I pretended we were lesbian lovers, but I'm not actually a lesbian," she confirmed. "It's someone you've already met. And Benji?! Really?!"

"Well, he's almost as insane as you are, so you'd probably work together just fine. And who? Is it Gary?" Penny asked, leaning in towards Miranda.

"Not Gary either."

"Oh, it must be! I don't know of anyone else, Stevie, can you think of anyone? I mean, she scared off everyone else recently, when she rolled down the main street and said she was a steamroller." Am I here?! Miranda thought. I think I'm here!

"Keep trying," Stevie hinted. "You've met him before, and didn't quite get off to the best start with one of his family members…" Get off to the best start? She nearly ruined all my chances with Mike!

"You don't mean Valeri-I mean, Mike!?" Penny stammered. "Didn't you reject him for Gary?"

Miranda cringed at what her mother had just said. The way that Penny had put it sounded awful, but upon further thinking, she realised that there wasn't any nice way to put what she had done. "Yes, that's him." Thinking about it further made Miranda's stomach churn with guilt, so she decided to put those thoughts away. "It's actually a second date," she said quickly, changing the subject.

Penny nodded approvingly, before adding, "and nothing went wrong on the first date?"

"Well, except for Stevie sneaking in," Miranda sent a glare over to Stevie, "it went rather well, thank you very much."

"And where exactly is this date?" Penny shuddered at the idea of Miranda in a restaurant, or a public place in general, but at least Miranda had improved in recent years.

"It's at Mike's house. He's going to cook dinner for us, it's meant to be an apology for what happened at the dinner party." Stevie and Penny just looked at each other, both able to read each other's minds.

"This totally is a thing," Stevie whispered, chuckling to Penny as they watched Miranda angrily place her hands on her hips.

"It is not a thing, it is a date! He's just having me over for dinner," Miranda protested, which was unheard due to the cackles of laughter which were coming from Stevie and Penny. This wasn't helped by Tilly's arrival with Charlie, who immediately started laughing, despite not knowing what they were laughing at. "Oh, be quiet! It's just a date, I don't see what the big deal is!"

"So, Queen Kong… what's this all about?"

Stevie quickly ran over to Tilly to explain, but accidentally ran into Charlie. "Bucket full of soz!" he exclaimed as Stevie shuddered, and stood next to Tilly. "Tell our lovely, clueless, friend Miranda, that if someone invites you to their house for dinner, alone, it totally is a thing."

"Oh, excellamundo! Does Kong have a date?!" Miranda nodded irritably. "Well, make sure you look half decent!" I always look half decent! What is Tilly on about?

Miranda went over to where Tilly was standing, only to be interrupted by yet another person entering. "I swear, if it's Gary, I wil-" Miranda was cut off by herself as she turned around to find that it was no other but Gary.

"Well, that was a bit scary, but Gary? What are you doing here?"

"Miranda, look, I'm really, truly, sorry. I came to apologise, but you weren't there the other night. I know what I did is awful, but I can't stop thinking about you." Miranda turned to Stevie, who just shrugged her shoulders and stood very still.

"Look, Gary, I forgive yo-"

"Oh wonderful! Thank you Miranda," he ran up to her, about to scoop her up in his arms, when she placed her hands on his chest. It felt strange, pushing away the man that she'd loved for the best part of 16 years. And it felt strange knowing that she could forgive him, and if she wanted to, things could go back to the way they were. But something nagged inside of her, telling her that it was not the right way to go. "Miranda?"

"I forgive you, Gary. But I've moved on. I don't think it's a good idea for us to be in a relationship anymore," she stammered, wondering if the words that were coming out of her mouth were actually being said by her. It didn't seem real. It didn't feel real. Was she really saying this? Would she regret it later? "I don't want to lose you as my best friend, but I can't cope with being in a relationship."

"Is this because of that date?"

"How did you know about that?"

"Everyone knew about it, just no one actually told me who it was."

"Do you need to know?"

"Not exactly."

"Why then?"

"Just a personal thing." He shook his head slightly. "You know what? It doesn't matter. I appreciate us at least being friends. Goodbye, Miranda."

"No, wait. I feel like you should know, because you'll find out somehow. I'm going on a second date with Mike tonight."

Miranda saw the reaction in Gary's eyes when she mentioned his name. She couldn't quite tell whether it was anger, or regret, or both, but she found herself unable to look him directly in the eye anymore. "I hope it goes well." He gave her a gentle hug, and memories of years gone by came flooding back. Don't, Miranda. You have to move on.

"Thanks."

Stevie looked at Miranda reluctantly as Gary left. "I didn't think he'd go so far as to come and find you. I thought he'd just leave it." Miranda nodded, and was about to speak before she heard Penny's phone ding in her bag.

"Belinda's organised some idiotic tennis lunch for tomorrow, and wants me to help!" Penny's voice was dripping with forced excitement and annoyance. "Such. Fun."

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for reading everything so far - I really appreciate it! Next chapter will be a bit different, and it's going to be written from the perspectives of Mike/Gary, in a kind of two perspectives at once thing. I'm really looking forward to writing it and seeing how it turns out.. oh well, haha. I hope you'll like it… it's different from what I usually write…

Sofie x