"Just do it Steven" Gail demanded into the phone.
"Nope. Not until you tell me why".
Gail bit back the retort on the tip of her tongue. As much as she wanted to tell Steve it was none of his business she knew he wouldn't budge until she told him. But what could she say? How could she explain something that she didn't even understand herself? She had experienced guilt before. But, she never felt guilt to the extent of wanting to right the wrong she had done. Especially since running into Holly had truly been an accident. Why did she feel such an overwhelming need to try and fix her mistake? Why was she going to such great lengths to show Holly how truly sorry she was? Why did she even care what Holly thought about her?
"Gail? I'm waiting" Steve said through the phone, bringing Gail out of her thoughts.
Gail sighed. "Because Steve, I need them".
"Gail, you expect me to go get a bouquet of lilies from the best florist in Toronto and get two tickets to Toronto comic con by tomorrow for you without any explanation? Who are you and what have you done with my sister?" Steve teased.
Gail groaned. Steve was right. This was completely uncharacteristic of her. She was certain she had never gone to this extent to apologize before. But, in fairness she didn't know what to really get Holly as a gift. She didn't know the girl all that well. Sure, the flowers made sense because she had destroyed the other ones. But, she didn't feel like that was adequate enough for the utter devastation Holly had shown. So, she had thought Holly might want the comic con tickets. Holly was a major nerd after all and what nerd didn't want to go to comic con? None that Gail could think of.
"Alright look. I kind of messed up and I need the stuff to apologize. Ok?"
"Well well. I never thought I would see the day that Gail Peck would apologize to anyone. My little sister is growing up," Steve teased lightheartedly.
"Shut up Steve" Gail shot back defensively. "Will you just do it?"
"Hmm. It depends".
"On what?" Gail asked impatiently.
"On whether or not you'll answer my next question".
"What is it Steve?"
"Are you apologizing to a particular girl?"
Steve's insinuation was not lost on Gail. She scowled even though Steve couldn't see it. "Ugh it's not like that Steve".
"Uh huh. Of course its not" Steve retorted playfully.
"Steve get your mind out of the gutter and just get me what I asked alright?" Gail's patience was running thin. She didn't have time for Steve's ludicrous thinking. Why couldn't she just get something nice for someone as an apology? Why did he always have to read into it?
"Yes I will get it for you. But I expect details soon".
"Whatever. Just be here before school starts tomorrow". Gail knew she was never going to give Steve details. Mainly because there weren't any details to even talk about. Without waiting for Steve's response she hung up and looked at the time. If she was lucky she would still make it to dinner before the dining hall closed.
Gail nervously shuffled her feet and took a deep breath. She had been staring at Holly's closed door for the last five minutes, unable to will her body to knock. She knew she probably looked ridiculous standing out in the hallway holding a large bouquet of flowers. But she didn't care. After successfully dodging more of Steve's noisy questions she carefully made her way up to Holly's dorm room with purpose. But once she arrived in front of it she suddenly felt nervous. Was she doing the right thing? Would Holly appreciate or even understand why she was doing this? Would Holly even forgive her? Probably not Gail told herself. But at least Holly would see she made an effort. That was all that really mattered. She didn't care if Holly forgave her.
Gail took another deep breath. Screw it she thought and moved her hand up to the door. She knocked and waited with baited breath for any signs of life behind the door.
"It's unlocked," a voiced yelled from inside. Gail pushed the door opened and swaggered in, keeping her face stoic and unreadable. She glanced around the tiny room expecting to see Holly. Instead, her gaze fell on a vaguely familiar person perched on one of the two beds in the room. The girl had a book in her hands and was curiously looking at her.
As soon as the girl recognized Gail her curiosity was replaced by fury. She immediately sat up, her posture defensive, and her eyes narrowed angrily.
"What do you want?" she demanded.
"Where's Holly?" Gail asked, ignoring the girl's question.
"That's none of your business! Why are you here?"
"I need to speak to Holly" Gail replied.
The girl snorted. "Not a chance. You've done enough to her" the girl spat, rising off her bed to take several steps towards Gail.
Gail quirked her eyebrow in amusement, thoroughly enjoying how worked up this girl was getting. She decided she would have some fun while she waited for Holly to come back to her room. "Heel boob job"
The girl's eyebrows almost reached her hairline. "Excuse me? What the hell did you just call me?" her voice rising several octaves higher than normal.
"You're Holly's friend. I remember you saying you wanted to be a plastic surgeon in Mr. Callaghan's class once. So, boob job seems pretty fitting to me" Gail answered as if it were obvious. Her brow furrowed a moment later. "Although you don't seem to catch on very quickly. So maybe botched boob job might be more fit?" she smirked.
"That's rich coming from you. I'm surprised you can even dress yourself in the morning".
Gail rolled her eyes. "I'm disappointed. I expected something better from you". Gail took several steps towards the other bed, deducing that it must be Holly's.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" the girl asked as she stepped sideways to block Gail from moving forward.
Gail squinted at the girl. "Has anyone ever told you that you have tiny arms? They're like Tyrannosaurus Rex sized. It's really weird. You should probably fix that after the botched boob jobs you do".
"You're unbelievable. I'm going to get a teacher," the girl threatened as she began walking towards the door.
"You do that. I'll be here waiting" Gail said to piss the girl off even more.
The girl scowled, obviously conflicted on whether or not to leave Gail alone in the room. Gail just smiled widely at her, almost as a sort of challenge. Before the girl could properly decide what to do the door burst open and a distraught looking Holly walked in.
"Hols," her friend whispered. "What-" she trailed off when Holly lunged forward and dug her face into her neck, her whole body shaking with deep sobs; seemingly unaware of Gail's presence.
Gail immediately felt uncomfortable. She always hated it when people cried in front of her. She never knew what to do. She was never good at comforting people. But somehow it being Holly just made everything worse. Gail's guilt intensified at how defeated Holly seemed. Was this all because I messed up her flowers? Is she really that upset about a bunch of stupid flowers? Gail wondered. She looked down at the bouquet and envelope in her hand, suddenly feeling like the gifts were entirely inadequate for the level of distress she had caused. Maybe this idea was dumb. I should never have gotten this for her. Maybe I can sneak out without being noticed?
Gail took a tiny step towards the door, hoping to go undetected. Unfortunately, the floorboard creaked underneath her, causing Holly's head to whip up at the noise. Surprise, confusion, and anger flitted across Holly's face in a matter of seconds.
"What are you doing here?" Holly asked.
"Umm, I came to give you these" Gail stammered. She thrust the bouquet forward towards Holly, watching the genuine surprise on Holly's face. "And um, to you know, apologize for ruining your other ones even though it was a complete accident" Gail justified. "But uh," Gail paused and rubbed her free hand on the back of her neck. "Anyway, here" she stepped forward and placed the flowers in Holly's hand.
"Thank you" Holly whispered cautiously.
"Of course. Oh and here is this too" Gail muttered as she thrust the envelope into Holly's other hand. "Right well, again sorry for everything" Gail said before running out of the door without a second glance.
"What the hell just happened?" Holly wondered aloud.
"I don't know. But I don't buy it Hols. She probably booby-trapped the flowers. Let me throw them away before something pops out of them" Lisa said as she reached for the flowers. But Holly quickly pulled them out of reach.
"Nonsense Lisa. These flowers are beautiful and must have cost a fortune". Holly walked over to her bed, wiping away the remnants of tears on her cheeks. She carefully placed the flowers on her bed and slowly began to open the envelope.
"Holly wait!" Lisa warned. "What if it's laced with anthrax?"
Holly looked up and gave Lisa a disbelieving look. "Lisa. Its not laced with anthrax".
"You're right. Gail probably doesn't even know what anthrax is" Lisa mused.
Holly rolled her eyes but decided not to start an argument with her friend. Holly finished opening the envelope and pulled out a card. She opened it and quickly began to read it.
Dear Holly,
Sorry for being such an immature childish jerk to you. Also, sorry for destroying your flowers even though it was completely ACCIDENTAL. I thought these tickets and flowers could make up for it. I thought about getting you a cat groomer's number because your cat looks like Chewbacca after his bachelor party but figured these would be better. Not that your cat isn't nice. Its just ugly a very interesting thing. Shit. I'm already ruining this. I'll stop now before it's too late. Your cat is fine. Sorta.
Sorry,
Gail
Holly reread the note several times, a tiny smile playing at the corners of her lips. She finally glanced at the tickets that were resting inside the envelope. Her eyes widened when she realized they were two VIP tickets to the Toronto comic con over the summer. She was completely floored. She wasn't sure what to make of it. One thing for certain was, that Gail Peck might not be half bad after all.