Short Stories and Drabbles

Dream Guy

Guys always went for Brooke, and that had never been a problem before. Not even when one idiot had made the comment that Allison was the ugly girl the pretty girls used to deflect unwanted male attention. He'd made the mistake of saying it within Brooke's hearing. She'd punched him, and told Allison not to listen to idiots.

Easy to say, much harder to do. The words tended to run through her mind at the most inconvenient times, like now when she realized Brooke probably knew so much about Dream Guy because he was interested in her.

Brooke let out a disgusted breath. She and Allison had been friends since they were six, and it often felt like they could each read the other person's mind. Sometimes it was fun, other times, not so much.

"One, he's not my type. Two, it's been a month," Brooke said firmly. "One month, and not even a full month because he only comes in three times a week." She paused long enough to grab Allison's shoulders and give her a small shake. "Carpe Diem, Woman. Seize the man."

Brooke released her and continued on toward the door, leaving Allison standing in confusion behind her.

"I don't think that's what that means," she finally managed to get out as the other girl shoved the key into the lock.

Brooke grinned over her shoulder and, with a flourish, snapped the second lock open. "It is now."

Allison frowned. She was pretty sure that wasn't how...anything worked, but there was no time to think any further on it as Brooke flung the doors open and a flood of students began to rush in.

Time to get to work.

***

Allison shot a nervous look at the clock, convinced at least an hour had passed and Dream Guy wasn't coming. Instead the clock proudly proclaimed it to be 10:30, exactly five minutes since the last time she'd checked.

"I'm surprised you managed to wait that long between checks," Brooke said airily as she breezed past to deliver drinks to one of the tables.

"No one asked you, Brooke," Allison grumbled in mock anger. The trash bag she was trying to change finally gave up and allowed her to yank it out. She gave a small cry of triumph, and proceeded to change it for a new one and tie the old one up.

She started to lift the full bag, planning to take it to the trash bins outside, only to pause as Brooke was suddenly blocking her path. "Here," she said, putting her hands out. "I'll take it."

Allison blinked in surprise. "What?"

Brooke grabbed the bag and tugged it away with a bright grin. "I'll take it," she repeated. "You go take the register until I get back."

Allison's frown deepened. She hated the register. She was painfully shy and had a hard time interacting with people. Brooke, in contrast, loved talking to people but hated having to clean up. They had a system, Allison cleaned, Brooke ran the register and they both made coffee. It worked. It was perfect. It was–

Understanding set in and her eyes went wide with panic. "Don't you dare," she hissed. "Brooke."

Her friend simply smiled, turned and proceeded to damn near skip toward the door leading outside.

"Brooke." Allison hissed again, desperately. "Brooke!"

The other girl vanished through the door, and Allison already knew she was probably going to turn a thirty second trip into one of several minutes or more. Too long for Allison to be able to get away with ignoring the register or anyone already waiting there.