Author's Note:

Oh my Gosh, I'm so sorry I haven't updated anything in so long. It took me like ten days to write THIS amount , judging by how much homework we get every single day. :'( Don't be mad, I'm trying.

And stupid FF is being a bitch to me, :[ I'm finding some real difficulties in uploading this chapter! Well, enjoy...whenever you read it lol -_-;

| ~ | ~ | B l u e . E r s a t z | ~ | ~ |

3
"All At Once"

-SuzieQuaKes-

"You begin to wonder, could you find a better one? Compare to her, now she's in question."

"You're kidding, girlfriend!"

I wish, I thought to myself in despair as I rolled my eyes. Crossing my hands over the yellow blouse I was wearing, I shook my head at my laughing assistant slash friend, Laura Denise. Laura was one of my closest friends that I met in high school. Although our friendship hadn't been going for as long as Dawn and I, we were still pretty inseparable. Laura knew about Drew, and then later on came to help with my boutique when she heard that our wedding got canceled. She had been there for me during rough times.

"I'm not kidding," I sighed, running my hands through my thick locks of chocolate hair. "He was there. And he was with . . . somebody else."

My friend's pretty and deep chocolate complexion clouded into sincerity and seriousness. "What?" she exclaimed. "That little . . . I knew he was no good since I saw him!"

"Laura, we can't blame him for being with another girl," I swallowed back my hurt and stared down at the floor. Leaning against the counter of Blessed Blue, I sighed. "It's just stupid of me to care so much. I'm so dumb."

I felt the same nausea that swept over me when I first saw him. Just thinking about it made me feel sick all over again. The same hands that caressed me, that same lips that kissed me, the same him that told me all these lies about love, about devotion and adoration. . . Now he was doing the same to another girl. I clenched my fist until I could feel my nails digging into my flesh.

"May, darling, its okay," Laura whispered, as she rubbed my back. "I understand that you still haven't gotten over it. But, honey, to be honest, it's been two years. It's about time that you deserved somebody else."

I sniffed, telling myself to keep the tears down. Stop feeling like this when he probably was not even thinking about you in the slightest bit!

"What about that boy? Danny or somethin'?" Laura suddenly said. "I'm guessing he has some feelings for you, girl. Have you thought about getting him? Maybe then you would get over that rascal for good."

I stopped thinking about Drew, my mind wandering to what Laura just said. She was right. And it wasn't as though I haven't thought of this before; I have. I've thought of Danny in many ways, and none of them were "just friends". Maybe if I stopped the mere crushing on him . . . and actually started to show that I—that I didn't want to be on the "just friends" terms . . . I knew I sounded major desperate, but it was the last (and only) option on my list of 'How to Get Over Andrew Hayden'.

I looked up into Laura's eyes and nodded with determination. "I'll do it."

Drew, you aren't the only one who can find a replacement.

"Oh my God, I cannot believe that I had agreed to do this!" I cried in frustration, throwing myself on my bed. "I must have been crazy, under an alien warp or something! There is no way—no way that I am doing this!"

Dawn and Laura stood over me, arms across their chest and looking at me with frowns. Dawn raised a brow, tapping her foot impatiently as Laura just looked on wearily.

"I thought you wanted to get over Drew," they both said in unison, eyes narrowed. They looked at me like two angry principals, waiting to pounce on the kid who set off a food fight. I shriveled at the harsh tone of their voices and pushed up my lips in a pout.

"I do! But—but this is just crazy! He'll laugh into my face! Or he'll probably never talk to me again!"

"May, I talked out of a day of work with my overpowering bossto get to your sorry ass!" Dawn yelled; her arms on her hips. She flicked back her long blue hair and flared her nostrils. "And I did not do that for nothing! Come on, get dressed! We arranged the entire thing with Danny, and it's not a very good impression to be late." Her blue eyes flashed. "You should be grateful enough that I'm giving him up for you!"

I looked helplessly at Laura, hoping for a hint of sympathy that Dawn was clearly not showing. But my prayer was unanswered. Laura looked very fed-up with the entire thing. She shook her head of black braids and inserted her fingers in her belt hoops. "There are just two choices for you, chicka. See what you can do with Danny—or spend your life as a forty-year old virgin, daydreaming of once-upon-a-time."

Oh, geez, what would it cost for my friends to be just a teeny bit more nice?

I sighed, and slowly raised myself from the mattress. "Do I have to do it?"

Dawn narrowed her eyes, and I instantly took back my words. She became like this every time she got out of work for me. And it wasn't like I forced her to get a day off. She did it willingly; so that she had a reason to talk to her boss slash crush, Paul or something. And when that Paul guy got mad, she blames it on me. And believe me; I don't think that's very fair at all. He had been known for being a grump and she hadbeen known to grow an interest on every guy that passed by her.

"You either take it or leave it, May Maple," Dawn snapped.

Die Dawn. Die.

I stood up. "Fine. What do I have to wear?"

"That's more like it!" The blue-haired girl chirped, her features brightening up into a humongous smile. "Now I found this adorable dress for you and you'd be like just perfect!"

"Bipolar," Laura muttered under her breath as Dawn raced over to bring out a Bloomingdale's shopping bag. "I swear to God, she's crazy."

A few minutes passed. And before I knew it, I was sitting in front of my dressing table, wearing the light violet dress, with matching heels, my hair in a ponytail, and make-up all done. Dawn was beaming but Laura looked over me with a blank expression on her face. She had one hand on her hip and the other twiddling with her braids.

"Now all we have to do is drive to the park!" My happier friend said in a singsong voice, smiling. "Aw, I could just imagine the little Maple-Parker kids running around!"

I grinned back at Dawn, revealing all my teeth, before standing up, pose, elegant, and in all my glory. I walked forward a step. And stopped. Both of my friends' eyes were on me.

. . .

. . .

"I CANNOT DO THIS!"

Within a couple of minutes, I was thrown inside Laura's car. Dawn clasped my seat-belt on and then waved as we drove away from my house. Hello Mom and Dad? How could you possibly be watching re-runs of 'Seinfeld' when your own daughter was being kidnapped by her so-called friends?

I huffed and crossing my hands over my chest, turned towards the window. Green rushed by, as we drove out of my suburban neighborhood. I stared out of the car with butterflies in my stomach, but still too stubborn to admit that. I mean-honestly! What the hell was I supposed to go and tell Danny? Oh hi, Danny! I just wanted to say that because I can't quite get over my ex-fiancé yet, I want to start dating you!

Oh yeah, I'd be lucky if he laughed into my face. Seriously, was this what my friends had expected from me?

"Oh stop being such a grump," Laura muttered, breaking the silence. She kept her eyes steady on the clear road in front of her, not looking at me. "If that Dawn girl wasn't enough . . ."

I pouted and rolled my eyes. Turning to my more sensible friend, I tried to explain my situation with the best of my ability. "I am not doing this." Well that came out pretty well. My skills of elaborating were at an expert level.

The dark-haired girl shook her head slightly before shrugging her shoulders. She stopped the car at the traffic lights and readjusted the straps on her tank top. "It appears to me that you are, darling."

"This isn't fair," I told her with a sulk. "I'm going to come back probably punched in the face."

My friend found this amusing. Was it just me, or was everyone entertained at the fact that I was going to embarrass my ass off? Yeah, it was definitely just me. Laura laughed, and the traffic lights flashed green, making us another step closer to the moment of confrontation. "He's not gonna do that."

"I don't even know a single thing to say when I get there!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air. "When I agreed to your plan, I didn't know that I was going to be telling him face to face so 'effing soon! I thought I would have some time to plan, to analyze . . ."

"This ain't an English essay, May," the dark-eyed girl told me with a snicker. "Planning and analyzing ain't gonna get you nowhere. Just tell him what you want him to be."

I blew my bangs away from my forehead as we got closer and closer to the park. When Dawn heard about this new plan; she instantly called Danny and told him that I had something important to tell him. She also arranged the entire thing. He would get to Hawthorn Park first, I would arrive "fashionably" late, we would sit on a bench overlooking that tiny stream and then I would tell him what I wanted. All the while Laura was looking of course. Dawn couldn't afford everything to blow up. Not after her little adventure with her boss.

Of course, I could also arrive there "fashionably" late as planned, wait until Laura turns her back and run for my dignity.

The idea seemed tempting enough for me to actually do it.

Before he popped into my mind. Drew, with his pretty little new girlfriend, enjoying his life. Forgetting about all what happened with that previous piece of trash, otherwise known as me. Who knows? This girl might have even been his second or third girl that he's gotten since the whole thing with me.

And that thought drove me to do what I may have never done otherwise. Little did I know that everything would go wrong.

I shouldn't have ever opened my mouth.

Author's Note:

Please, please, please, please REVIEW.

I'd give you cookies. :)

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THOSE OF YOU WHO HAD IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTERS :D ily.

Sorry it turned out short, and utter crap. I haven't written in so long. -.-; I'm getting a little frayed.

-Suzie x

Edited: 4th September '10