Wow Me • PHOEBE TONKIN

FOURTEEN

MAR RUBBED HER HANDS ON her shorts. She knew all she had to do was knock. Phoebe was at the other side of the door. Still, Mar was nervous. How could she not be? All of her ride to Phoebe's apartment she'd been babbling to the cab driver about what had happened. The cab driver had only nodded his head, not providing anything to the conversation. This was of course, annoying but it felt Mar feeling robbed.

She'd wanted an impartial point of view of everything that was going on. Someone that wasn't her family or her friends. Her friends all said she should kiss the girl. Her sister just laughed at Mar's predicament. Mar took a deep breath, feeling her stomach making flops. She shouldn't be feeling this nervous, after all she'd been friends with Phoebe for years.

But she felt it.

This time was different.

The door opened and Mar almost collided face-to-face with a girl. The girl gasped, taking a step back. Mar stood there, wanting to run to the restroom and barf everything she'd eaten. The blonde girl smiled at Mar. She returned the smile. Smiling back to people was like a reflex at this point. Even if she didn't happy, the damn smile still appeared on her lips.

"You must be Marina," the girl said. "I'm Jeanne. I'm Phoebe's neighbor."

"Did you get the sugar?" Phoebe called from the apartment.

"Yeah, I got it Phoebs!" Jeanne gave Mar another smile before walking past her. Mar watched as she walked across the hall and entered her apartment. Mar halfheartedly knocked on the door before walking in.

"Hey," she said. Phoebe was bent over the fridge, trying to grab something. She knocked her head the top of the fridge as Mar walked in.

"Hi," Phoebe said. She put down the tomatoes she'd been holding on her hands. She rubbed her forehead instead. Phoebe closed the fridge door and went to Mar. They hugged, Phoebe giving Mar a good squeeze. "I was just trying to see what I have in my fridge."

"What were you planning on making?" Mar asked.

Phoebe shrugged. "A salad." Mar made a face at the mention of the word salad. Its not that salads were bad, the more she tried the more variety she saw. But salads felt like sad food to have when there were so many more options out there.

"Okay..."

"It's okay. Do you mind going to the market with me? I need to get a few things. I just saw this great receipt. We get the food ready and put it on the oven. Once in the oven, it'll be in there for a few hours so we can watch a movie."

"Sounds good," Mar said.

"Alright, let me go get my purse," Phoebe said. She disappeared inside her bedroom while Mar stood in the middle of the kitchen. There wasn't much to see, she'd seen Phoebe's kitchen before. She kept it clean and smelling fresh. (Mostly because she rarely used it.) The walls weren't bare, but instead had painting hanging on them.

"What do you think about the weather?" Phoebe asked when she returned. She shrugged on her purse and walked towards the front door. Mar followed her out of her apartment and towards the elevator.

"It's nice," she replied. "It was snowing back in France."

"France was cold," she said. Mar nodded at that, not knowing what else to say. The two walked out into the street and Mar was suddenly looking at the buildings. At the people walking down the streets and people riding their bikes. Once they got to the market, they bought coffee.

They walked down the aisles of food, coffee cups in hand. Phoebe looked at her phone and back at the food, trying to figure out what the receipt required. Mar helped by buying snacks. She also bought some flower's not for Phoebe but for Phoebe's apartment. (At least she told herself so.) When Phoebe finished buying things, the two girls walked back to the apartment.

Mar helped Phoebe by carrying two bags. She carried the two bags in one hand. Her other hand was free, swinging back in forth as Mar tried to make walking exciting. In the distance, Mar could she paps. They'd been at the farmers market too, taking pictures as they bought food and talked.

Phoebe stopped on the sidewalk and Mar stopped too. She wasn't sure why she'd stopped. Mar turned towards her as Phoebe grabbed her face in her hands and kissed her. The kiss was just a peck on the lips, but Mar was stunned. The kiss lasted a little over five seconds. Phoebe continued walking, looking at the paps as she did.

Mar had heard the clicking as they'd kissed and she knew they had taken pictures of it.

..

There was no mention of the kiss. Everything went by as normal. Mar helped Phoebe chop some things necessary for the receipt. Phoebe eventually shooed Mar away from the kitchen and did everything else by herself. The girls put on a movie, sipped some wine and eat some popcorn. They talked more than they saw the movie, as they usually did. Mar sometimes stopped, wanting to look at the movie. Mostly, she wanted to hear Phoebe talk and she didn't pay attention to the screen.

Phoebe's receipt was a disaster. (As they often were.) Thus, proceeded the conversation they always had when Phoebe tried to cook but failed.

"It doesn't taste bad! I can still eat this piece that isn't salty and burnt," Mar reassured her. She squeezed her shoulder.

"I'm going to go order some takeout," Phoebe sighed. She laughed seconds later, shaking her head as she looked at the food. "Why do I keep trying to cook? It's obvious I can't do it!"

"We all suck when we start at something. You'll get better eventually."

"You've been saying that for the last five years."

"Yeah, well, it'll be true one of these days," she replied. Phoebe laughed, grabbing her phone and dialing a takeout place. Mar went inside the restroom while she ordered food. She splashed her face with water. She had to rub Phoebe's taste off. She had to.

There was no reason to believe tonight was going to be any different than any other time they'd hung out. So far, it had been the same. Mar knew how the next couple of days looked like. The two of them would have fun and go to events together. They'd go to spas and Phoebe would tell her all about the new products she should try. Mar would nod her head always forget to try them.

In a few days time, she'd be back home confused as the day she'd come. If not more confused.

Mar let out a sigh, letting go of any expectation she'd had. She let go of everything silly her friends had said and walked out back into the kitchen.