By: Forlay
Chapter Four - Beginnings
The next morning, Gaia actually woke up early to
carefully plan what to wear. She'd always thought the girls on TV were
unbelievably shallow when they spent hours primping for their dream guy,
but here she was, doing the Gaia version, picking out a pair of jeans with
only a small hole in one knee, and a sweatshirt that was too new to be
stained or torn. She brushed her hair and briefly considered leaving it
down for once but that seemed a bit extreme. This was a casual date after
all, right? so she pulled her hair back into a messy pony tail and ran
down the stairs.
"Bye, George!" she called as she ran out the door.
She'd grown a little warmer to the man since Ella's death. Not warm enough
that she was about to skip her morning donut run to eat cold cereal with
him, but he usually knew of her whereabouts now.
"Looking good today, Gaia," Ed said when they met
at school.
Gaia handed him a donut from her box. "You mean
you can actually tell?"
"I can tell your clothes are unusually free of holes
and stains today. What's the occasion?"
"Going to see Sam after school."
"Ah. That would do it. Uh, don't look now."
"What?"
"Heather."
Gaia heeded Ed's warning and pretended to be very
intent on pulling books out of her locker. She half expect to hear some
snide remark from behind her, but Heather and her throng of FOHs seemed
to be mute this morning.
As soon as the last bell rang, Gaia practically ran from the school, not even bothering to throw books into her locker or say goodbye to Ed.
Navigating through New York streets could be a pain no matter the day, but right after school lets out is one of the harder times. It took Gaia nearly half an hour to reach the cafe, though it was only a few blocks away. She expected Sam to be waiting there for her, probably wondering what was taking her so long since she was usually so punctual, but she didn't recognize anyone there.
He probably got caught up in traffic just like me, Gaia assured herself. She found a seat near the back of the cafe to wait for Sam.
Gaia watched the people coming and going from the cafe as she waited. The mothers with their young children, the NYU theatre students animatedly discussing some show or another, the street person who'd managed to beg enough money to afford coffee and a roll. The best of New York, right here in...well, they were the best of New York, until Heather Gannis walked in.
Gaia turned her attention to her coffee, not wanting to attract Heather's attention.
"Hello, Gaia."
Didn't work. "Am I just a magnet for you lately? Why the hell do you keep seeking me out? No, don't answer, I don't want to know. Just go away, I'm meeting someone."
"I know."
Gaia looked up at Heather sharply. "How?"
Heather slid into the booth across from Gaia. "I sent the message."
"What?!"
"I wanted to talk to you, it was the only way I could think of."
"Like hell you want to talk to me. I'm not waiting around here to trade insults with you." She stood up to leave, not caring if Heather was left to pay, but Heather grabbed her arm. The action surprised her so much Gaia didn't pull away immediately.
"Don't go, Gaia. We need to talk, I'm serious about that."
Gaia came to her senses and pulled her arm away from Heather's surprisingly strong, but well manicured, hand. "Why?"
"Sit down and I'll tell you."
"No." Gaia began to leave again, but Heather jumped up and grabbed her shoulders. Gaia spun around to face down Heather. "Touch me again and you'll get that ass kicking I promised."
They'd attracted the attention of everyone in the cafe now but Heather either didn't notice or didn't care. "Please, Gaia," she said gently. "It's about...the three of us."
"Three?"
"You. Me. And Ed."
Gaia sat down slowly, not sure why this convinced her to stay around but deciding to go with it. "Okay. Talk."
"Thank you." Heather took her seat. "Has Ed told you why we broke up?"
"No. It's none of my business."
"Do you want to know?"
"Stop acting like we're old friends Heather and get to it."
Heather pressed her lips into a firm line. "It was about you."
"Why the hell would you break up over me?"
"I - I don't really know," Heather admitted. "Ed seemed to think I was jealous of you, which I assure you was not the case," she added quickly. "I just felt he should spend more time with me than with you. I was his girl friends, after all and you're...well, you."
"The feeling's mutual," Gaia said sourly.
"Anyways, I feel really bad about the break up, but I know I don't have a chance unless I meet Ed half way. So could we compromise? At least act civil to each other, especially around Ed, and maybe occasionally go out together. Just you and me, or all three of us."
"Just why should I help you? I thought it was a bad idea for you two to date in the first place. I couldn't be happier now that you two aren't together."
"Tell me the truth, Gaia: Ed was happier than you'd ever seen him before when he and I were dating, right?" Gaia nodded reluctantly. "And he's back to being the Ed he was before now that we've broken up?" Again, Gaia nodded. "So don't do it for me, do it for one of the only friends you have left."
Gaia stared at Heather for a moment, trying to figure the brunette out. 24 hours earlier, they'd been in the park ready to tear eachother apart, and now Heather was offering in truce. But what Gaia couldn't tell was if Heather was being sincere, or if this was a cover for some bizarre prank only Heather and her friends could think of. Unfortunately, there was only one way to find out.
"Okay. But I'm not doing this for you," Gaia told Heather quickly. "For all I care, you can leap off the Empire State Building. I just want to get Ed back to the way he used to be, so long as you don't keep trying to convince him I'm a bigger bitch than you are. Deal?"
Heather flashed her perfect smile. "Deal."
Gaia stood to leave, having spent enough time with Heather to last her a life time, but Heather's hand was on her arm. Again. "Didn't I tell you not to touch me?"
"Sorry," Heather apologized. Gaia was tempted to check Heather's temperature. Heather didn't apologize to anybody, especially girls like Gaia. "Can you not mention this to Ed? I'd rather see if we can get this to work before telling him."
"Fine."
"So when would you like to get together?"
"What?"
"Wasn't that what we were just talking about? Getting together, being civil, getting Ed back to normal?"
Gaia had faced some bizarre things in her life, but this had to top the list. "I don't know. Whenever."
"Free tomorrow night? Dinner and a movie?"
"You make it sound like a date."
Heather shrugged. "How's movie and a snack sound then?"
"Sure. I'll...meet you here at seven. Work for you?"
"Works for me."
"Then...I'll see you then."
"Yeah, see you, Gaia." Heather smiled a Cheshire Cat grin at Gaia's retreating back. The hunt had begun.
"Wrong? There's nothing wrong."
"You've been acting weird since I called you last night. Did something go wrong with your date with Sam last night?" If he had done something to hurt Gaia....
"No. It went fine."
"Then why are you acting weird?"
Gaia hit her locker door for emphasis. "I am not acting 'weird'!" She began spinning her lock.
"So power walking and virtually ignoring me are part of your daily morning routine?"
Gaia flung the locker open, not flinching at the loud clang when the door hit the locker next to it. "I'm just distracted today. Leave it alone, okay?"
"Okay. Whatever." He gave Gaia a moment to, rather violently, pull her books from her locker and shove them in her bag. "You doing anything tonight?"
Gaia froze for a moment, but quickly resumed the task of closing her bag. "Actually, I am. I'm going to catch a movie."
"Oh. With who?"
"Why do you care?" Gaia snapped. "Why does who I spend my free time with concern you?"
"I was just curious! Friends ask friends things like that."
"Well, if I'm supposed to reveal every facet of my life to you just because we're friends, you better find someone else fast."
"God, Gaia, what is your problem? Why do you have this need for secrecy surrounding everything from what you got on your math test to why you live with the Nivens? I can respect the big things, I don't particularly want anyone rummaging through my past either, but the little things just get old after awhile."
Gaia leaned her forehead against her locker. Damn Heather, this is all her fault! "I'm going to catch a movie and a snack afterwards with Sam. Just an innocent date, like most girls have done hundreds of times by the time they're my age. Okay?"
"Okay," Ed said, figuring that was as close to an apology as he was going to get from Gaia. The bell rang before their conversation could go any further. "I'll talk to you later."
"Yeah." They left in opposite directions.