Cabin Fever | ✓

(37) How To Be A Good Girlfriend For Dummies

Double update. Chapters 36&37!

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"Do you really want to know?"

Marley shot Eve a dry look from across the table in their staff room. They had finished most of the dishes, so while they waited for more to pile up Dean had offered for them to take a fifteen minute break before slaving through the last hour of their shifts.

"Look, he's done so much for me. He's stuck by me through thick and thin, been there to support me no matter what. In my darkest moments, Aiden makes them bearable. I owe him a gesture and I asked so yes, I do really want to know what you have in mind. You know he's my..." she sighed, looking down at her coffee mug and feeling a redness on her cheeks, "first boyfriend, so I'm lost. I need help."

Marley felt brave enough to look up at the blue haired girl across from her, who was smiling like a Cheshire cat, leaning back in her seat, "There's one thing guaranteed to make any man's day no matter what, if you're up for it."

Her ears perked up at an apparently secret formula that would make Aiden happy. Marley, being new at this, could use all the help she can get. She knows Aiden well, but while he's effortless at the gestures, she could use a How To Be A Good Girlfriend For Dummies handbook right about now.

And Eve seems like the type to be as close to that as Marley will find.

"Okay, well, what is it?" she probed cluelessly, for the first time suspicious at her devious expression.

"Step one:" Eve held up a finger, and Marley would've taken notes if she had stationary on her right now, "go to the mall, grab what you need. Step two: get him out of his bedroom for an hour or so, prepare what you purchased and wait on his bed. Step three: you just became the best girlfriend ever."

Marley leaned into her seat, intrigued, "What do I need to buy? A gift? Something he might like? I'm thinking for Christmas."

Eve snorted, "Might? Oh he will like it. And it's a perfect Christmas gift."

"Eve," she sighed, rubbing at her temples, still feeling as though she was hit by a car five minutes ago, "Can you just be straight with me? I'm so tired right now and I'm pretty sure over half of my brain cells have short-circuited." She took a sip of her coffee.

"Fine," Eve shrugged, "Bluntly stated? Buy lingerie, give yourself enough time to put it on, be waiting on his bed when he gets back."

Marley's eyes bugged and she was instantly coughing up her coffee, choking as it went down the wrong pipe with a face lit up a dark shade of red. Lingerie.

"I wanna lick your abs."

Eve reached over to pat Marley's shoulder and hand her a napkin to dab the front of her shirt, her chin, and the countertop. She was coughing so much that she had tears in her eyes, but in the back of her mind this shouldn't shock her as much as it is right now.

This is Eve, Marley asked probably the most inappropriate, spontaneous person she knows for relationship advice and this is definitely karma.

"Hey, I get it, alright? It can be nerve-racking. I'd be happy to give you some tips-"

"I am not..." she took a deep breath, finally able to breathe again as she wiped the coffee drops off of the table, "A gesture, Eve. A surprise date or an actual gift or anything but that. I probably shouldn't have asked you."

"Damn straight you shouldn't have asked me. I'm the Virgin Mary sooner than I'm a fuckin' romantic. But hey," Eve stood from her chair and Marley followed suit, the both of them realizing that their break was over, "it's always the thought that counts. So if you fuck up, it goes to show you gave a fuck in the first place - can't go wrong anyway."