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“Oh, Mikey.” Thea ruffled her friend’s dark hair until it loosened from its top knot. “You’re always welcome to hang out with us.”
With a huff of annoyance, he swatted her away. “Uh huh.”
“No he’s not,” replied Bryce bluntly. “He gets bored of us after five minutes and pulls out his earphones.”
“‘Boredwith,’” he corrected. “And you talk about womanly stuff, like… menstrual cycles andDirty Dancing.”
Both of them snorted at that. Thea and Bryce rarely watched rom-coms together, though they might’ve occasionally been guilty of the former, and refused to censor their monthly pain for the sake of a man. Naturally, their movie nights almostalwaysended up with a marathon of Wes Craven films.
“Please,”Thea said, pained. “Youtalk aboutDirty Dancing.Wetalk aboutA Nightmare on Elm Street. Just say you’re afraid of Freddie Krueger and go.”
“Every sane person is afraid of Freddie Krueger.” Mikey kicked his feet into the spare chair opposite and linked his hands across his soft stomach. “That dude traumatized me for life. Anyway, I have a favor to ask you both.”
“Nope. Can’t. Busy,” said Bryce.
“You don’t even know what it is yet!”
“Make it quick.” Bryce was ready to dash off, her purse tucked under one shoulder and the button of her purple shirt buttoned to the top, now. The compulsory bow tie was scrunched in her hand, Bryce’s least favorite part of the uniform. It just so happened to be Thea’s favorite, not because the white and grey stripes were silly, but because Thea actually quite liked bow ties. And bow ties on women…
“I need you… I was wondering…”
“This is whywedo the talking and you do the other stuff,” Thea huffed.
Mikey sighed in frustration. “The thing is… I like this girl. You probably know her. She works in that cool goth place down the street. Leather ‘n’ Lace.”
Bryce snapped her fingers. “Oh, you mean ‘Adult Wednesday Addams!’”
“So… ‘Morticia Addams,’” Thea teased.
“Her name isHannah,” Mikey ground out, “and I like her, okay? I’ve been trying to find an excuse to talk to her for weeks. In fact, I have a grand total of ten rose quartz crystals and five Green Day pins to show for my failed attempts. Everytime I go into the store, I freeze up.”
“I’ve seen her lining up outside that new cocktail bar on Friday nights after work,” Bryce shrugged. “Maybe you should do whatever it is people do nowadays. Dance or grind or whatever.” Bryce often talked as though she was decades older than them, and not a very baby-faced twenty-six. Most likely a result of becoming a second mother to her younger sister, Olivia.
“Exactly. That’s where you two would have to come in.”
“Gross,” Thea gagged. “I’m not grinding on you.”
“Oh. My. God.” Mikey’s eyes drifted to the cobwebbed ceiling as though he was pleading with a higher being to send down reinforcements, or at least give him strength to make it through the conversation. “I’m asking you to be my wingwomen.”
Both Thea’s and Bryce’s features crumpled with frowns.
“I think you should ask your men friends for that,” said Thea. “When women see other women around men, they tend to assume at least one of them is a girlfriend, and I truly do not wish that label upon myself or Bryce.”
“Forget it.” Mikey punched something into his keyboard angrily, and it left a shred of guilt in Thea’s gut. She knew that other than the two of them, Mikey kept to himself. He probably didn’t have any other friends in town to help him out, and despite the work he did for the podcast, he rarely asked for favors in return.
“All right,” she sighed, eliciting a daggered glare from Bryce. “The Bloody Mary, Friday, nine.”
“Ugh.” Bryce groaned her disapproval, but it was clear she didn’t have time to back out now. Mikey, on the other hand, looked ready either to cheer or jump with joy, and Thea shot him a warning glare before he got the chance.
“I’ll be upstairs if you need me,” Thea told him, though he knew by now where to find her during the day and always ended up providing good excuses for her to sneak away from the store.
She followed a heavy-footed Bryce up the narrow, creaking stairs, worried eyes boring into her back. As they reached the top, she begged, “Don’t be in a mood with me, Bryce.”
Bryce was panting slightly as they came to a stop, and rested to catch her breath against a stack of boxes along the back wall. The others were covered in shelves brimming with untidy piles of colorful books gathering dust. It instantly made Thea’s nose itch, and she fought back a sneeze as Bryce replied.
“I’m not in a mood with you. I just have better things to be doing than playing Cupid for Mikey. He’ll have a new crush next week anyway.”
“Oh, comeon.We never do anything fun anymore. It’ll make a change from my mother’s basement or the diner, won’t it?”
