Ch. 2-Girl Talk

Author's Note: Again, I do not own either Wilt or Frankie Foster; they belong to Cartoon Network. I DO own, and DID create, Elena Trueheart and Kathie Marksdale, though. The website mentioned in this chapter is a complete fabrication, based upon those silly dating sites that are advertized everywhere nowadays. Once more, probably not the most exciting chapter, but it's needed to set the stage, so to speak.

As Frankie headed for the multi-colored former school bus that served as the official mode of transportation for Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, and doubled as her own personal ride until she could save up enough money for a down-payment on a car, she caught the attention of one of the home's other residents. One eye or not, there were few things that escaped Wilt's notice, due to his height. Like a giraffe on the African savannah, his height gave him a distinct advantage when it came to spotting anything interesting or important that most people, Imaginary or otherwise, would miss. Frankie's red hair, almost as red as his own, had first called his attention away from his daily basketball workout, and as he turned to observe the young woman, he realized that she was heading for the bus. There was no way he could allow her to have to open the bus door herself, and besides, there might be something else that she needed his help with, like shopping or something. It was his nature to try to be as helpful as possible, to anyone and everyone…at least that was what his rational self tried to tell him. There was, though, this nagging little voice at the back of his mind, that was trying to say something else.

Sure, you just wanna be helpful…and I don't suppose it matters any that this is Frankie Foster, does it?

Wilt sucked his teeth to show his contempt for that irritating, irrational little voice, then tucked his basketball under his arm and strode over to the bus to intercept Frankie, his long strides bringing him alongside her within a few seconds. Frankie jumped a bit, startled by his sudden appearance, and half-fearing that even as she was getting on the bus, somebody would come running out with a list of more chores for her to do.

"Wilt! I didn't even know you were out here! Please don't tell me the rabbit sent you out here to get me!"

"Well, no…nobody sent me out here; I just saw you headin' over to the bus and figured you might need some help with something. I'm sorry if I startled you."

Frankie smiled with relief upon learning that she wasn't being required back inside the house after all. "Actually, I was just leaving to go over to my friend Elena's for an extra evening off, believe it or not. Thanks just the same, though." She reached for the door handle, but found a much-larger red hand already gripping it.

"Here, let me get that for you", her companion spoke, opening the bus doors for her, and stepping to one side to allow her access to the bus steps. "Thanks, Wilt. You know, it would sure be nice if more guys were like you. Most of 'em have no idea what it means to be a gentleman these days."

Wilt grinned, but still managed to look somewhat embarrassed at the same time, and gave the basketball he'd carried with him a couple of idle bounces on the pavement. "Oh, it's nothing, Frankie; you know how much I love to help people. So, you got a night off, huh? "Bout time, if you ask me."

"Yeah, well, Mr. Herriman must have been sick or something…I dunno, but who am I to argue, right?" She paused, then turned to Wilt, who was still standing in the doorway of the bus, "Well, I guess I better get going before he wakes up and realizes what he's done and calls me back inside for speck of dirt on the floor or something."

"Oh, sorry for holding you up…didn't mean to do that! You go ahead and have a good time on your night off, OK? If Mr. H finds anything that needs doin', I'll take care of it, no problemo!" assured Wilt, backing out of the doorway, flashing his well-known smile that could be seen from the space shuttle in orbit around the planet. "Drive carefully, and I'll see ya later!"

With that, Frankie returned a smile of her own, and closed the bus door. Wilt stood next to the drive and watched the colorful bus pull out into the street, and continued to monitor its progress until it was out of sight, even for him. Something was still bugging him, some vaguely unpleasant feeling, almost like having forgotten something, or of needing something, but not knowingwhat. It was like one of those "left-for-vacation-and-wondered-if-I-forgot-to-turn-the-stove-off" feelings, just as distracting, but somehow different. His smile slowly replaced by a slight frown of puzzlement, Wilt sighed, and turned to saunter back to the basketball court, slowly dribbling the basketball as he walked, almost as automatically as most people would breathe. Oh, well, he mused, whatever it is, if it's important, I'll find out soon enough, and if not, maybe this feeling will just go away. Probably nothin', anyways.

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Later that evening, three young women sat around a somewhat cluttered(though the occupant preferred to think of it as "cozy")four-room apartment, the abode of one Elena Trueheart, who was one of the three. Her two guests consisted of two of her closest friends, Kathie Marksdale, a slightly plump blonde, and of course, Frankie Foster. The three were still engaged in the hotly-debated topic of what to do, now that all three actually had a night off at the same time. The irony of how easy it was to think of things to do on worknights, while finding it impossible to come up with anything remotely agreeable on a night off was not lost on any of them. Anything that one could suggest was quickly nixed by one of the other two, it seemed.

Kathie Marksdale seemed to fly in the face of conventional blonde stereotyping by usually being the voice of reason, and acting as a sort of buffer zone between the often firey-tempered Frankie and the impetuous Elena, and as usual, found herself in just that position that evening. Frankie, as things would have it, was insisting upon a movie, while Elena was just as insistent that the three go out to clubs and meet some guys. Even though Kathie herself was the only one of the three with a "steady guy", a fiance' , as a matter of fact, she was a flexible individual, and would be perfectly happy one way or the other.

"I don't get it, Frankie; you used to be the first one to want to head out to the clubs and try to pick up some cute guys! What happened?" queried Elena, as she struggled with a stubborn strand of hair in front of a mirror.

"I don't have a problem with clubs," replied Frankie, "but I'm just not up for the whole 'picking up guys' thingie. Let's just say that there's a lot going on at, you know, work? OK, I'm just sorta under a bunch of stress right now, and I really don't think I'd be able to bring a whole lot into a new relationship at this point."

"That's MY whole point, girl-you NEED to do something to let go of that stress, and…"

"And YOU think that meeting some new guy would be just the thing, right?" Frankie sighed, clearly exasperated that Elena could not see her point. "I mean, I don't have TIME for a relationship, Elena-not right now, anyway. It wouldn't be fair to the other person!"

"Who said anything about a 'relationship'? I was just talking meeting some cute guy, for a little…you know…" Elena wriggled suggestively.

Finally, Kathie spoke up in intervention, before Frankie had a chance to say anything else. "You know, Frankie does have a point. I know what it's like to try to meet new guys on a busy work schedule. You're just not…you know, your best. At anything. Maybe we can just rent a movie and watch it here, quiet evening at home, a little girl talk, that sorta thing. To tell the truth, I'm sorta broke right now, anyway, so it wouldn't hurt my feelings to give the clubs a miss."

Elena smirked, "Awww…you're just feeling bad 'cuz Roger can't get off work tonight, aren't you?"

"Well, yeah, I DO sorta feel guilty going out to clubs and stuff without him, if you have to know."

Now it was Frankie's turn to speak up in favor of a movie at the apartment, if they couldn't agree to go to the theater for one. "The rental sounds good to me. Look, I know I must seem awfully boring to the two of you, but really, I'm just not up for the clubs right now. Besides, after my LAST date, it's probably a good idea to just take it easy in the looking for guys department."

Both Elena and Kathie knew what, or rather, who, Frankie was talking about, having been filled in, several times in fact, on the shortcomings of one Dylan Lee. Dylan Lee, as it were, happened to have been the last real date Frankie had had. The handsome young man had seemed to be Mr. Right when he and Frankie met up at one of the local clubs, but as it turned out, he'd actually been the World's Biggest Jerk, or at least that was Frankie's opinion. Such a jerk, in fact, that she'd left the boy with a bloody nose and the mother of all wedgies. The whole experience, while not her most pleasant memory, had at least clued her in as to what her real priorities were, and Dylan Lee did not fit within those parameters.

"What about that guy with the glasses you went with awhile back…what's his name…Kyle? He seemed like a pretty decent guy, so they aren't ALL bad" opined Elena.

"THAT guy? Puh-lease! All he cared about was his freakin' Mustang; made me take off my shoes before I got in the thing for our dates, so I wouldn't track any dirt into the carpeting. Every time we went to a club or a restaurant or something, he'd park like, half a mile away, so nobody would park next to us and bump the door with their car door. Ever walked half a mile over pavement while wearing HEELS?"

Kathie winced, "Ouch!"

Elena refused to give up so easily, though, so onward she pressed. "Alright, so maybe Kyle was a little OCD. You seemed to like David What-His-Face though-wasn't he in the entertainment business or something?"

"Yeah," replied Frankie, "IF you call being an Elvis impersonator at a strip joint 'entertainment'".

Elena looked a bit perturbed. "You know what your problem is, Frankie? You're way too picky! I mean, NOBODY is perfect, least of all MEN. I still think, though, that you really do need a man, seriously. And I'm taking this as a challenge to find you one. I hooked up Kathie and Roger, and THAT worked out fine, right, Kath?"

"Sure", answered Kathie, "BUT we had already met each other before, so it's not like we were total and complete strangers."

"Yeah, but just because you were in the same Advanced Algebra class back in high school, doesn't really mean you KNEW each other. Anyway, Frankie, whatever happened to your sense of adventure? You used to be game for just about anything, and now it's like you're…I dunno, someold person who's afraid to take risks or something."

Frankie felt her defenses on the rise. "OLD? I don't act old! And I still have a sense of adventure; it's just that it has to take a back seat to work, most of the time.

"Oh, really?" replied Elena with a challenging tone. "OK, then, girlfriend, let's see if you still have a sense of adventure or if you're ready to hang it up and join the Old Maid's Club. How about a blind date?"

"Blind date? You're joking, right?"

"Not joking at all. There's this website that's been all over tv and the radio, that matches up local people based on characteristics they are looking for in partners. No pictures, just descriptions. Then it gives you this email box so you can contact the matches, and better yet, it's free. Whatya say about giving it a try, hmmm? What have you got to lose, except another boring, lonely night?"

"Well, let's see…what do I have to lose…how about my LIFE? I mean, what if the people on that site are like, psychopaths or something?"

"I'm sure the site does criminal background checks, and anyway, you aren't under any obligation to actually meet anybody; I just thought it sounded like fun, that's all."

"Sure," replied Frankie sarcastically, "if your idea of 'fun' is being held hostage in the trunk of a car for a week, or something. Sorry, Elena, but I don't have 'STUPID' written all over my face, and there is NO WAY I'm going on a blind date arranged by some website! Forget it!"

Ten minutes later, all three young women were sitting in front of Elena's computer, with the website, BlindDatesRFun Dot com, pulled up in front of them, Frankie sitting with her arms folded and an "I-can't-believe-I'm-doing-this" look on her face, while Elena typed, and Kathie sat in for moral support.

"I cannot believe I'm doing this," Frankie sighed, staring at the screen.

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun! Now, let's start by filling out YOUR information, no-wait, let's fill in what you're LOOKING for in a guy, first. Age?"

Frankie looked a bit confused, "MY age, or his?"

"HIS, I think. Now, what age are you interested in? Not some old geezer, I guess. Let me re-state that; what's the OLDEST guy you'd go out with?" asked Elena.

"I dunno, like, thirty-two? Like you said, I don't want to go out with somebody on Geritol."

"Ohhh…Kaaay", mused Elena, as she typed in "40". "Now, how about a description of the guy's personality?"

Frankie thought about this. "Hmmm…somebody who's nice, and really polite, who has good manners. Maybe a little you know, 'old-fashioned', the sort who still opens doors for ladies and stuff? Somebody who's not a jerk? A guy who's like, uhm, really helpful…likes doing things for others and kinda like….you know, puts others first? Yeah, that sounds pretty good. And a guy who can…who can…" she struggled to find the exact words she was searching for.

Kathie, who'd been pretty quiet all this time, jumped in with some help at this point, "who can say 'I'm sorry' when he screws up!"

Elena rolled her eyes, even as she typed in Frankie's requirements, "Oh, get REAL! EVERYBODY knows that no guy can apologize when he screws up! It's like, I dunno, something physically wrong with their mouths that they can't even say the word, 'sorry', or something!"

Frankie started to say something in rebuttal to that assessment of guys in general, but decided that what she was about to say really didn't apply, so she kept quiet.

"OK, now what about hobbies and stuff? Well, besides EVERY guy's hobby, IF you know what I mean!" This last one got all three girls into a somewhat giggly mode, resulting in some rather off-color comments, before the conversation was able to get back on track, as it were.

"I'm not really that particular about hobbies, as long as he's not obsessed with his stupid car or anything. Sports are OK, just as long as he's not like one of those guys that turns into a sports zombie or whatever every time a game in on tv, and totally forgets he has anyone else in his life. I wouldn't mind somebody who's sorta athletic, though. Better than a couch potato, I guess. OH, and don't forget a sense of humor under behavioral traits, somebody who can laugh at even my corny jokes."

Frankie looked down at the floor at her feet for a moment, wondering if she should bother bringing up the one thing that was really on her mind, then decided she really needed to. "And, one more thing-I would need to find someone who'd understand, you know, what I do for a living, and where I stay. I guess that's a pretty big turn-off for most guys, once they find out what I do. Most people just don't really understand it, so whoever I find would have to be really open-minded."

"Alrighty then, gotcha," answered Elena. "Now, I'm ready to type in what you want the guys to know about YOU; let's start with appearance, and take it from there, shall we?"

And so it went…

Finally, the whole thing was done and submitted, and all that was left now was for Frankie to start getting messages from would-be suitors, or to take the initiative herself and send a message to a guy on the site who met her requirements. She decided it would be better to wait for a response first, being in no rush to find out just what sort of individuals would reply. Needless to say, she remained skeptical of the whole thing.

Frankie wasn't the only one who was skeptical. Both of her friends kept constantly reminding her that her expectations were set way too high; there could not be a guy out there who could measure up to them, no way. She was asking way too much, and as such, would always be destined for disappointment. Frankie was nothing if not determined and a bit stubborn, though, and she insisted on sticking with the qualities she'd outlined. "If I can't find someone this way, they'll turn up one day, probably when I least expect it, and where I least expect it", she told the other two.

Just like my keys, she thought randomly