Girls With Luv

FOUR Spencer

"With that logic, you'll be on the cover too... What about your boyfriend?"

"Please... the day Spencer brings home a guy, I will wear bright pink lipstick for an entire day." Liya mocks and I roll my eyes. She's always exaggerating my inability to date. Since forever, I've been a work-and-self-oriented person, which is a big problem with a lot of guys. Fine then, I'm not dying to go out either. I'd rather marry myself and live a happy, stress-free life. But this attitude doesn't translate well for a lot of conventional people, especially my family, and it becomes a major source of quarrels and unnecessary fights. Well then, hold my lollipop.

"When was the last time she went on a date?" April asks.

"Probably the early 2000s."

"I was a kid back then, trying to solve futile math problems..."

"Yeah, that's the closest romance you're ever gonna get."

"You know what, I'll probably end up having a whirlwind romance with a celebrity. If not him, then definitely his cuter twin brother, and you will regret saying that." I mutter under my breath and look out of the window, whilst the buffoons giggle their minds away. We were talking about April's supposed blondie boyfriend, why did I fall under the spotlight all of a sudden? And why on earth is Liya switching teams? I feel betrayed.

"Okay fine, then I'll date said celebrity and Liya can hit things off with a common friend of theirs. It'll be the best rom-com script ever."

"Cool. Oh, and we'll go on a triple date. By the way, it's pretty obvious that you are referring to EuphoNia."

"Well, duh," I say. "EuphoNia is the only band that has managed to wreck my sanity."

"Please... You said the same thing for One Direction."

"They broke up before I could plan our June Wedding."

"You girls should never give up on this fantastical imagination. It makes you who you are, and frankly speaking, it's my favourite thing." Mrs Gilbert heartily exclaims and pats our heads with her warm hand.

"This imagination is ours, to begin with, Mrs G. So, it's not going anywhere."

"That's the best thing I've heard today. I'll get your usual meal?"

"Yeup."

Mrs Gilbert hops away and we admiringly stare at her retreating figure. I'm sure April gets her momma gene from her, both of them take care of their loved ones with all of their heart, which is very rare and comforting. Liya and I practically ditched our own families and chose to live closer to Mrs G, that's how motherly she's been to us. I speak for myself when I say that I'm sometimes jealous of April, keeping in mind the fact that her mom doesn't force her to go out on miserable blind dates just because the daughter in the house "is getting older by the second."

"So, my swim season will be over soon and that painfully desperate need to run away is getting stronger. Are you both up for a vacation or should I go solo again?" Liya says and sits back in her seat with a loud yawn. She has always been a solo traveller and never lets company bother her when it comes to escaping to the snowcaps or the pacific ocean. April and I, on the other hand, are practically married to our jobs. We don't know how to separate ourselves from the overwhelming pervasiveness of our work tasks. Maybe that's why Liya never pressures us into going along with her on her crazy adventures. While April knows how to be optimistic and productive about everything, I'm more of a whiner who won't shut up about the cruelty of 9-5 jobs but would also keep it first on the priority list. I'm a walking case of self-contradiction and I've made my peace with it.

"I don't know..." April twirls her flick around her index finger and pouts.

"Unrealistically speaking, hell yes let's conquer the world. But the slightly obnoxious realism that I was born with is screaming NO. Unless my boss decides to shut down the publishing house for a month, I'm pretty much work meat. Although the idea of going away and the enormous set of my paid leaves is tempting me to just give in..." I reply and look at Liya. Her poker face doesn't prepare me for the hard smack across my arm. "OW! What the heck?"