"Aaaaavvvaaaaaaaaaaa," Maggie whined, "you're not listening to me!" Magnolia Lacivi was sprawled on her bed, cellphone tucked between her ear and her shoulder as she painted her toenails a forest green to match the hair color that she insisted was "all the rage right now."
"Maggie, you know you're not even supposed to call me while I'm at work! What if Ruby or Daniel had picked up? Do you know how bad that'd make me look?" Ava scolded her as she was closing up shop for the night.
"But Ava, Gil said when the summer ends he's going to be traveling with these missionary doctors to 'spread the good will and word of God', whatever that means," she said with an eye roll, "but the point is I gotta change his mind! Or go with him! He's the one, Ava, I just know it."
"And how many "the ones" have you been through in this past year? You're only sixteen, Maggie, and Gil's twenty-one. Not to mention he's already in a relationship with 'God: our Lord and Savior.' You don't even believe in God! Does Gil know that?" Ava actually liked Gil and didn't want him to get hurt. Though he was nice to everyone, he was nice to her and that's what really mattered. "I'm just sayin', Maggs, I'm not sure this is one of your best ideas."
"Blah blah blah, all I'm hearing is 'I need to get laid because Maggie is getting all that fine ass while I'm getting none'," Maggie snickered as she switched the phone from her shoulder to her hand.
"Magnolia!" Ava was blushing as red as a tomato. "And! And! I met someone today and he was nice to me so stop acting like I can't get a guy! I just don't wanna. Not everyone is like you, Maggs."
"What!" Ava promptly dropped the phone due to the loud shriek Maggie let loose and then scrambled to pick it back up in time to hear her friend go off again. "Ava Ire met someone? Come on Ava, don't hold out on me!"
"I, well, I don't really know him. His name's Odin and he just moved here and he was at the shop ordering flowers for his sisters' birthdays and he smiled at me a lot but he also made fun of my height but he said he's seventeen and he was really tall - almost as tall as Gil - and he was a scruffy kind of cute." Ava was rambling at this point. She could faintly hear Maggie snickering on the other end. "But really he's just some dumb nerd and he's coming by the shop tomorrow to pick up his order."
"You should totally ask him out."
Maggie was met with silence. Ava had stopped what she was doing.
"Hello, Earth to Ava?," she drawled, "Are you there?"
"Yes. I'm here. I'm here and I think you're absolutely crazy."
"If you don't take your chances you're gonna die alone, I hope you know."
Ava sighed audibly. "If you say so, Maggs. Maybe I'll ask him. Maybe. No promises. I do have to maintain some level of professionalism at work, you know. I have to go now, I'll talk to you later, okay? 'Bye." Ava hung up before Maggie could talk her ear off. She turned out the store lights as she exited the building, locking the door behind her. Unlocking her bike from a pipeline behind the shop, she stopped to take off her apron and stuff it into her backpack. She zipped it closed, only to catch one of the floppy ears attached to the top of the bag. Bunny backpacks, while cute, were somewhat impractical, Ava thought to herself.
She hoisted herself onto her bike, toes barely scraping the ground as she managed to kick off and start on her way home. The roads were darkening and the streetlamps were flickering to life as she pedaled. Ava thought about that Odin boy and what Maggie said. No. She wouldn't think about that now. She shook the thought from her head and almost fell of the bike in doing so.