13.
On the other side of town, Fran was feeling pretty down as well.
"Fran…Fran, please tell me what's wrong."
Shopping always seemed to perk Fran up and get her into a chipper mood. However today, she just really wasn't getting into the spirit of it and only had one small bag to show of her mall adventure. And even that was only from a quick trip to a make-up counter inside the shopping center's department store where Fran had purchased some mascara and eyeliner that she was currently running out of. Val had become concerned and decided it was time she confronted Fran. Particularly because once they had both became seated in Val's car, Fran had a sudden breakdown.
"I know they didn't have any sales today at Macy's, but there's always next week…" comforted Val, her hand rubbing Fran's shoulder.
"Oh, Val!" exclaimed Fran, pushing off Val's hand and still sobbing a bit. "To think my problems were caused by the lack of a low-priced special… I wish!"
"Oh Fran, I'm so sorry. Here, have a bite of my Oreo Blizzard!" she offered kindly, holding the cup in front of her.
To reflect her deep feeling of sadness at the moment, the rain began to fall lightly outside and then all of a sudden, much heavier. The patter of it was loud against the windshield and Val put the windshield wipers on even though they were still parked.
"Aw, no thanks, I'm not all that hungry…" replied Fran, but she still stared at it anyway.
Val shrugged and just as she was lifting up the spoon of ice cream and about to place it in her mouth, Fran took it from her hands.
"On second thought…" decided Fran in a soft voice, beginning to eat it.
"Fran!" yelled Val, pretending to be disappointed and smacking her lightly on the side of the head. She was willing to sacrifice her frozen dairy treat if Fran would be back to her old self again. Plus, Val didn't really believe she didn't want it in the first place, considering it was rare for Fran to turn down food, let alone any desert.
A small, fragile smile curved at the edge of Fran's lips.
Val pulled out of the parking spot and after exiting the mall lot area, she got out onto the main road.
"Now what's the problem Hun, huh?" asked Val, dearly concerned. "What or who is raining on you parade?"
"Mr. Sheffield."
Instead of Fran's usually whiny self when she was upset, she talked with a more solemn tone in a small voice today. This was new to Val and she figured that Fran was totally down in the dumps.
Val rolled her eyes.
"Oh, boy!" she responded, knowing all too well that he always ended up causing some kind of unhappiness for her. "What is it this time?"
Val felt deeply sorry for her friend falling in love with him so hard when he didn't feel the same. She couldn't even begin to imagine the heartache she was enduring.
"Well, I already told most of this to Niles, but not really the whole story. You're the only one who can really hear me out."
"Okay, so spill."
Fran proceeded to inform her of most of the happenings of the "intimate" night between her and Mr. Sheffield.
"Val, he's—he's never… he's never ever touched me like that before. I mean really touched me like he did," revealed Fran. "I can still feel the trace of him on my skin…"
The yellow glow from the stoplight in front of them appeared fast and Val slammed on the breaks right before the front line, a mere second before it turned red. They both jutted a bit forward and then quickly back, while the small, star crystal that was hanging on a string from the rear-view mirror rapidly hit around. The abrupt stop made things more dramatic considering the subject of interest in the air.
"Geez Val!" said Fran in response to Val's quick halt at the light.
Val recovering a bit, spun around to the right to face Fran.
"Sorry Fran, I'm just so shocked!" responded Val, reaching her hand out to the radio knob and turning down the volume on the Blondie song "Call Me" that was blaring from the speakers.
This was one of Fran's favorite songs, but she wasn't in the mood to sing and dance along right now.
"Shocked about what?"
"YOU HAD SEX WITH MR. SHEFFIELD!"
It was a good thing the windows were up or half of all the cars waiting at the intersection would have heard her proclamation.
"What?!" shouted Fran, shocked. "Val, c'mon now… were talking about Mr. Sheffield here. He can barely say the word 'sex' let alone do the act."
"But Fran—I thought—"
Fran interrupted her.
"Val, we just made-out intensely and he felt me up a bit—okay, more than just a bit, but that's basically it. It was so spontaneous and exciting though… I felt like a teenager again."
"Wow Fran, wow... STILL! I'd give anything to be in your shoes."
"No you wouldn't," joked Fran. "They might be cute and trendy, but I'm telling ya, they've given me these horrible blisters…"
They both laughed.
There was a green light and Val proceeded slowly forward, still a bit shaken up.
"But yeah, it was pretty darn close enough to it too… the closest I've ever been with him."
"So what's the problem then? I thought you wanted this to happen—and don't worry about offending me just because Julian is my cousin… whatever or whoever makes you happy, makes me happy Fran," admitted Val.
Fran became quiet for a moment, staring around at the surrounding cars nearby and how their lights and those of businesses shined bright, blurry streams of colored light across the wet roads.
"That's good to know Val, but unfortunately that isn't the problem," divulged Fran.
"Then what is?" asked Val, still curious.
"HE DOESN'T REMEMBER!"
"What? What do you mean he doesn't remember? Did you knock him out? Men, they can be so—"
"Noooo! He was completely drunk at the time when he came onto me," explained Fran.
"Oooohhhh," said Val, dragging out the word.
"Yeeeaaahhh."
"So, like he doesn't remember anything at all? Or are there certain parts he knows about or something like that?"
"As far as I know, he can't recall anything that happened to him after he downed all of his darling scotch."
"That's… a real bummer. That just blows Fran!"
"Yep, you're tellin' me."
"Well, what do you plan to do about it?" questioned Val, wanting to know the truth of how she was going to go about this odd situation.
"Nothing," she replied.
"Nothing?" repeated Val, confused.
"Nothing," confirmed Fran, simply and in weak spirits.
"I don't understand…"
Val furrowed her brow and Fran figured that the least she could do was give her lost friend an explanation.
"Val, if I tell him, it's only liable to bring us farther apart instead of closer together. He'll be wondering why I didn't do anything about it. Which reminds me… please just don't say a word to Julian, because I'm still really into him. I guess, I well—I really should have stopped him, but I just couldn't. He puts me under a spell and I just can't think right anymore."
"Oh, Frannie I know. Don't worry about it, because I'm not telling Julian," reassured Val.
All right, so maybe Val wasn't the brightest crayon in the Crayola crayon box, but she was the only one that had somewhat of an understanding of Fran and Mr. Sheffield's beyond complicated, so-called "relationship." Mostly because there were just some things that couldn't be talked about with Niles, such as the dreaded "thing" for instance. Not only is he real buddy-buddy with Mr. Sheffield most of the time, but he's also a man.
"Thanks Val," said Fran, with gratitude.
"No problem," replied Val, sincerely.
"I just wish he was—you know, sober at the time. I want him to know about it… about us—how good we can be together," confessed Fran.
"I know Fran," sympathized Val, with a look of pity plastered on her face. "It's a shame things have to be so difficult."
"That's the thing Val; he's the one that makes it that way! I'm a very flexible, easy-going person and you know that. I've been plenty patient these last couple years and I'm dead tired of waiting."
"Of course."
As they pulled up aside the curb of the Sheffield mansion, Val still chatted on with Fran.
"If I were you, who I wish to hell I was, then I'd hang onto Julian for a little while to be on the safe side. Plus, you know how Mr. Sheffield gets when he's jealous…"
Fran took her suggestion into consideration and unlocked the car door. After all, the love of other men for Fran always seemed to increase her value in his eyes and made her even more desirable to him. Or, so she hoped.
"Toodle-loo!" she said in farewell, turning to her best friend.
"Bye Fran!"
As Fran opened the car door, she stuck her umbrella out into the storm and clicked it to expand it to its useful size. She then closed the door, swinging her purse with the small plastic bag of her make-up in it onto her shoulder. Fran walked slowly up to her current place of residence in the pouring rain, a million decisions and thoughts floating around in her head. However the hot, musty wet air gave Fran such a headache that she vowed not to bother with anything until sometime later on when she could think straight—a time essentially when all of the chaos and mass mind confusion settled down.