Mako's Message: So, I'm... not too happy with this chapter, but it does what it needs to do and I don't think it's going to get any better so here it is. Let me know if you can think of any way it could have been better.
... ya know, I'd planned to write this really long message here... but I can't for the life of me remember what was so important. Oh well. Anyway, DangerousBeauty84 made another video, this one inspired by Ch68. Find it at Vimeo dot com forwardslash 2929163.
Well, Jessi and her boyfriend broke up.
Totally didn't see that coming. She seemed pretty happy with the guy. He was good looking, somewhat popular, and I thought he was treating her well, but that last one is kind of relative. Turns out he's been trying to get in her pants for awhile now, and last night he made a more determined effort than usual and when she shot him down again he ended it.
So, I'd have liked to congratulate her on sticking to her guns, but she was so devastated I was tempted to say maybe she should have given it up. I went over to Angela's today because we've kinda gotten into a habit of hanging out at her place on Saturdays, but when I got there I could hear crying and when I went up to her room Jessi was crying on her shoulder. Angela looked like she was going to ask me to leave them alone, but then Jessi looked up and held her arm out like she wanted a hug, so I went over and let her hug me.
Boy was that awkward.
I had no idea what to do or say. I have ZERO experience with anything like this. The closest thing I've had to this was my Daddy dieing and I dealt with it by killing a bunch of mother fuckers and then laying in bed crying and wishing I'd asked Dave to stay with me. Not really the same thing.
But I guess just doing that was enough because she stopped crying like, two minutes later and thanked us. My shoulder was still soaked though.
Even though she let us go, Angela was still rubbing her shoulder. I felt like I should be doing something, but just copying Angela would have made me feel stupid so I offered to treat us to ice cream. Jessi seemed to like the idea.
It's funny, it seems like it's always either Riley or Dave behind the counter, but I guess that's because we usually go there in the late afternoon or evening. So it was weird not seeing either of them when we walked it. To make it weirder the guy behind the counter looked like he should be in an office filling papers instead of serving ice cream. I mean he had a dress shirt and a tie on. And he didn't greet us by name either, obviously. I didn't think I'd gotten that used to seeing Riley there, but without her it was almost alien.
So when Riley did come in, for once in my life it was nice to see her. I didn't even mind when she said, "Hey Mindy, friends of Mindy" and sat down next to us.
The guy with the tie asked her if she wanted to clock in early and Riley just gave him this look and said, "So John called off agan, huh? I'll clock in early if we get more customers." Then she turned to us and asked, "So how are you ladies doing?"
Angela said, "Jessi's boyfriend broke up with her. We're numbing her pain with ice cream."
"Bummer. There'll be more though."
Angela asked, "More what?
And Riley said, "More boyfriends of course. When I was your age I had three or four each year."
I wasn't surprised by that at all, but Jessi looked at her and asked, "Really?"
Riley nodded and said, "And I dumped them about as often as they dumped me."
Angela and Jessi were practically hanging off her every word. It was like they couldn't believe any guy would dump this blond goddess.
"It didn't bother you? Getting dumped?"
"Well of course it did. If I was the one getting dumped it meant I liked the guy and he didn't like me and that always stings. But as I racked up a long list of ex's, it bothered me less, because I'd realized something. It wasn't that there was something wrong with me, it's that he was just looking for something I wasn't. Like, look up at the menu, kay? See all the sundae's and shakes and everything we offer? Well, what if you didn't know what you wanted, so you picked something at random, and then it turned out you didn't like it? Is there something wrong with what you ordered, or did you just not like it?"
Jessi just stirred her melting ice cream around in the bowl but Angela seemed to really be thinking about it.
I nudged Jessi and said, "Get it?"
Riley leaned over to look past Angela and asked, "Do you know why he broke up with you?"
Jessi didn't answer so I did, "She wouldn't fuck him."
Jessi went up in fucking flames, Angela looked at me like, "What the hell Mindy?", but Riley just raised her eyebrows and said, "Douche. Good riddance. Never give in to a guy like that. They don't care who the girl is, they just want sex."
Jessi's response was weird. She said, "He didn't care about me?" and for some reason it sounded like that made it all worse. I don't know why though. If it'd been me and I found out the guy was only dating me for a shot at my pussy I'd be glad I wasn't wasting any more time on the guy. I'd have stabbed him long before that though, if he was getting grabbier than I liked, of course."
"I feel like I'm on a roll here," Riley said, "You dating anyone?" she asked Angela, who said she wasn't allowed to until she was in highschool, so then she asked me, "What about you? Any luck with the boy you're crushing on?"
If it wasn't physically impossible to choke to death on ice cream, Riley would have killed me.
I told her she was insane and that I didn't have a crush on anyone.
Riley just turned to Jessi and Angela, "So who is he?"
Angela, the traitor, just giggled and said she had no idea who it was but that I had talked to this boy at lunch the other- I totally forgot to mention that.
I went to talk to the boy who wanted to come to my birthday party the day after. I hadn't been able to catch his name during class, so I just went up to him and said "Hey."
One of the boys he was sitting with answered. I don't know if he really thought I was talking to him or if he was trying to be funny, but I told him. "Not you. You." And I kicked his chair.
I guess he was still embarrassed about what'd happened because he couldn't look me in the eye, but I just needed him to listen to me not look at me so I didn't really care. I said, "So, I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I don't even know you, let alone dislike you, so I shouldn't have been so harsh. So, there. Sorry." and then for some reason I added, "Enjoy your lunch." I still don't know why I did that.
Unfortunately it didn't end there. I guess by apologizing I gave him his balls back because he came after me. He asked me if we could eat lunch together sometime and get to know each other, since I said I didn't know anything about him. It immediately made me regret feeling sorry for him. I told him, "I don't know. Maybe." and walked off. I mean, I don't have any reason to dislike this kid, but I don't have any reason to want to know him either. He's just a classmate.
Anyway, Angela went into this whole exaggerated story about how I talked to him at school, and that maybe it was him I was interested in. Why she'd think that was even a possibility I don't know, I still don't even know his name. Jessi disagreed, but she said she didn't even know I had a crush on anyone.
I told them all that was because I don't.
I really don't. What I have with Dave is more than that... It's a bond. We've depended on each other for our lives. We're going to be together, one way or another, for the rest of our lives, I know it. I just want us to be together out of costume as well.
Anyway, Jessi seemed to feel better after talking to Riley, so even though she barely touched her ice cream I guess my idea worked out.
When we were leaving Riley suddenly called me back and said, "Dave told me you just had your birthday, so I wanted to give you something," and she took one of their frequent customer cards and punched out all the holes and gave it to me.
Angela asked me how I ended up with all these cool friends. I just said, "I don't know. Why DO you two hang out with me?" That got a smile out of Jessi, a real smile, so I'm glad I came up with that.
After that we just went back to Angela's house where they tried to dig out who I had a crush on, but then I turned it around by asking why we never talk about who ANGELA has a crush on that's kept the conversation off of me since.
