That's What Friends Are For

Irene leaned over to Pete in the front row and told him that Myka was there. He turned around, but couldn't see her in the crowd. "How do you know….?" he asked, straining his neck to see.

"I just know," the HR Director stated assuredly. She didn't need to turn around to know. All she had to do was watch the change in Helena's expression when she saw Myka.

Pete hustled towards his boss to make sure the crowd didn't get out of hand. One of the teenagers whispered - 'That is her bodyguard' –and her friend answered that – 'He's cute!' Pete puffed his chest out even farther as he asked people nicely to keep their distance. Helena was unaware of any of this; her eyes were locked on her wife who stood at the edge of the crowd. Myka smiled back, while students and teachers tried to talk to Helena.

"What motivates you to do your best every day?" a teacher asked, hoping that the CEO's words of wisdom would inspire the students.

Helena listened to the question, smiled with a knowing expression, and then turned, her adoring eyes falling on Myka. "She does," Helena said and then people turned to see Myka there. The students' eyes darted between the women, as the couple's gazing filled the space between them. No one dared break it.

There was a collective 'aww' from the crowd. Helena walked to Myka and kissed her. Much to Ted's chagrin - even that got more applause than he did.

"Hello, you," Helena said, to which Myka responded in kind; "Hello, you." "I'm so pleased you came," Helena said, always happy to have Myka with her.

"I love watching people watching you," Myka confessed and bit her lip over admitting the guilty pleasure.

"Well, I love watching you watching them watching me," Helena cooed.

"Huh?" Pete asked, unable to keep up with the exchange.

Students pushed forward to ask the couple to take pictures and they obliged. Myka loved that Helena was so at ease with the youths, making jokes and charming them. Helena watched as people asked Myka for her autograph and how surprised she seemed, even though it happened all the time.

Finally, it was time for school to start. Helena took Myka's hand, pulled her in as they walked together to the car.

So caught up in seeing her wife shine, Myka forgot all about the stranger who looked familiar.

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Claudia uncharacteristically yelled at Steve. He immediately withdrew his hand from the odd looking object. After dropping Myka off at the school, he returned to work. He went to ask his best friend if she wanted to grab lunch when he stopped into her office.

Only after providing three pieces of information that only he would know, did Claudia let him in.

"You couldn't identify me by my voice?" he asked, sitting on a swivel stool and moving in half circles. He was hungry.

"I had to be careful. Never mind, don't touch," she reminded him.

"I thought you and Helena came up with the proposal strategy?" he asked, leaning over to get a closer look at what she was doing. She was decked out in safety goggles as she used a soldering iron to put the finishing touches on her creation.

"Yeah, we did." She put the device down and stood back. "Now say – I will," she whispered to her friend.

"I will what?" Steve asked back because simple instructions evaded him.

"No. Just say- I will….," she said again in a hushed tone.

Steve and Claudia had been best friends forever, partly because no one settled the tech genius quite like he did and no one could get under her skin faster than most. "You will…," he said and drew himself back in a ball when she hit his arm.

"Not me, you!" she gritted her teeth.

"Not you, me," he said, laughing and finally could see she was too close to the edge. When she told him that Helena had discussed the plan and even called Tim Cook, he foolishly assumed that the techie would be calm about the plan now. Silly Steve.

"Okay, I'm sorry. Let's start over," he said clearing his throat and speaking loudly. "I will."

Nothing happened. Claudia ripped the safety glasses off and threw them on the table. "UGH!"

"What? What was supposed to happen?" Steve asked and Claudia just grunted in disgust.

"Poof!" she said and he had to really think hard about what that might mean. He had become something of an expert in Claudia-ese and could guess most of her incomplete sentences.

"The machine was supposed to? He guessed and saw the 'duh!' look on the inventor's face. "Of course it was. Okay, is the volume set right?" he asked.

Claudia snapped her fingers and smiled and Steve felt safe for a minute. "Yes, that's it. The modulator is off," she said, twisting something on the boxy object on the table. "Now," she said and waved her hand at him to repeat himself.

"I will," he said on cue and this time there was a loud fizzing sound from the machine right before an explosion of confetti shot out in plumes.

Steve sat there – slightly surprised and heavily covered in multicolored paper.

"Too much?" the techie asked, her teeth biting her lower lip.

"Naah," her friend said, puffing out air to get the confetti out of his mouth.

"It is!" Claudia wailed. "It's too much!"

Steve knew that Claudia detested whining of any kind and had to be near tears for it to seep through her voice. "Now listen to me," he said, spitting out the last of the tiny paper caught on his lip. He turned Claudia to look at him. "We can make ….this work," he said even though he wasn't quite sure what it was they were doing.

"We can?" Claudia asked in a helpless tone so unfamiliar to him that he had to take a minute.

"Yes, yes, we can," he reiterated. Then he turned and looked at the expectorating robot. "Now, it might help me if I understood, you know, what …uhm….the purpose might be," he pointed out gingerly.

Now in a calmer state, the techie was able to speak slightly more cohesively. "Well, since Helena was kind enough to get me the Apple Store for when I ask Eileen, I thought I could have a little tech help when she says yes," Claudia explained and then heard her words. The color drained from her face as she reached out and grabbed both of Steve's forearms tightly. "You don't think she'll say no, do you? Is that why you don't want me to use this? That's it, right? You think she might say no!"

He had to reach out to grab his friend having a meltdown right there. "Claudia! Claud, listen to me," he said, and had to shake her a little. "I do not think that. I think she's the luckiest girl in the world and I think she knows that." He said it simply, plainly, and as slowly as he could.

"Really?" Claudia asked, now able to hear how sincere those sweet words were.

"Yes, I really do," he said, nodding his head up and down to make sure she was getting it.

Only then, did she notice that more confetti was falling out of his hair and she got hysterical. "Maybe I could lower the firing power?" she laughed and the color returned to her cheeks.

"You think?" he said, shaking his head and letting more fall while the two friends got hysterical. "What exactly…..?" he bravely asked when he looked around, "…..were you planning?"

The fact that the tech wizard's plan wasn't abundantly clear caused the doubt to shake her all over again. "I don't know what I'm doing! I'm going to screw it up. In the middle of a fraking Apple store, I'm going to mess this up!" she wailed and lowered her head.

Steve quickly looked around, begging God to give him some insight into what the plan was. "What about….," he said slowly hoping his idea would form as he spoke. "You have her look at the new models and when she opens it up, we'll have the story of your relationship on it….," he hesitated as he thought on his feet.

"And the last one will be of a ring and when she turns around, I'll ask her!" Claudia said.

"Bloody brilliant!" Steve said in his best Helena imitation.

Claudia beamed, but the smile quickly faded as the nagging doubt persisted. "Suppose I'm not…," but he cut her off.

"Don't you dare, Claudia Clare Donovan!" he said sternly and it was only the second time in their years together that he used her middle name, another forbidden condition of their friendship.

"But…," the techie said, unable to really believe the woman she thought was perfect would spend the rest of her life with her.

"You've got to get ahold of yourself, Claud. She's crazy about you. Everyone can see that! Can't you? Steve said a mixture of surprise and firmness. He had never seen his friend so insecure.

"No, I know," Claudia said, knowing in her heart how Eileen felt. "I just want to be.."

"You are, Claud. I swear to you, you are," Steve assured her. She looked at how earnest he was and spontaneously hugged him. Within seconds, the feelings started to break through and she fought like hell to put them all back.

"Okay, then….I'll just, you know, work on something….to play …..on the …..you know, laptop," the techie said, shoving her hands back in her pockets and clearing her throat, putting distance between them.

"Yeah, everything's cool, okay?" Steve said, knowing exactly when Claudia needed to back off. "Let me know if you need…..help," he said from the doorway.

"Sure," Claudia answered quickly and then added – "Hey, Steve. Thanks, you know, for all of this," she said sweeping the air.

"No problem," Steve said, smiling back because he wanted to be the epitome of calmness. He knew one slipup could cause his fragile friend to lose it all over again.

Claudia smiled to think what a great pal Steve was and how she was going to ask him to be her Best Man – IF – Eileen said yes. That started the anxiety to rise again and Claudia grabbed the table. This was so unlike her and she knew it. She had to get a grip!

"Now Claudia," she said, starting to speak to herself, "Let's take this one step at a time."

She sat down at the table and opened her laptop. What did she think of when she thought of Eileen? A warm, fuzzy feeling immediately came over her. Now all she had to do was put that into something visual, she thought, as she lowered her head onto the table.

Then she thought of something.

"I will figure this out," she said confidently to encourage herself. "I will!" she said emphatically.

The next thing she knew, she was covered in….. confetti.