Hey Monday

p o t a t o e s

"No kidding," Ellen mumbled. Then, straightening up, she added, "Whatever. Let's just go to this coffee shop, get a couple things knocked off the bucket list, and then get the hell out of Idaho."

I nodded and hopped into the driver's seat, setting my GPS for directions to the nearest Starbucks. In reality, I hated Starbucks, but Ellen just couldn't get enough. For her I'd drink ten caramel mocha lattes, or whatever they're called.

I set off down the crowded street, carefully maneuvering Jamie so that I wouldn't hit anything. It had taken me weeks to get used to driving such a big vehicle, but Ellen purchased it about a month before we left so that I could have some practice. I was getting pretty good, but I would feel terrible if I dented or scratched it or something.

"Do you think they'd pour my starbucks into this?" Ellen asked, looking curiously at a purple mug.

I sighed. "El, I don't understand your mug fetish, and I don't think that the people at Starbucks will either."

She shrugged. "It doesn't matter if they understand it, it's just important that they support it. Like you and this whole damn trip."

"Oh, it's not just this trip," I chuckled. "I don't understand half of the things you say and do."

Ellen laughed. "Yeah? Why's that?"

"Well, you skipped up to my grade, graduated early with five AP classes, you write in a journal every day, and that makes you pretty darn literate. For another thing, you just have all these cute- ahem, I mean weird- habits, and sometimes they bewilder me but mostly I think they're just these special idiosyncrasies that make you you. But it's okay that I don't understand all this stuff, because you're my best friend and I know what you mean anyway."

Ellen raised her eyebrows, her plump pink lips parted slightly. I immediately got insecure- had I said too much?- but then Ellen smiled and relief washed over me like a welcome summer rain.

"Wow," she murmured. "You're amazing."

I was about to reply, but the monotonous voice of the GPS cut in.

"Arriving at destination."

Indeed, there was a starbucks right in front of us, standing high and mighty like a castle. Ellen squealed and jumped out of Jamie, and I quickly followed after locking everything up.

We waited in line for about five minutes, which was far too long for mediocre coffee if you ask me. When we finally got to the front of the line, Ellen was almost giddy with excitement. She turned to the guy working- a twenty-something dude with messy blonde hair- and took a deep breath.

"Hi, uh, I'll have a salted caramel mocha please? And can you make it in this mug?"

Ellen held out her purple mug and flashed the cashier a dazzling smile. He smirked, his eyes sliding up and down her slender frame.

I coughed loudly a few times and Ellen elbowed me in the ribs. "I'll have a peppermint hot chocolate," I grumbled. "No mug preference."

"Can I get a name for the order?"

I squinted at his name tag. His name was Craig, which sounded like a douchey name to me.

"I'm Valerie and this is Cole," Ellen said quickly. I opened my mouth, about to interject, but Ellen flashed me one of her signature shut up, I know what I'm doing looks.

The guy turned around, but not before flashing a wink to Ellen that was definitely not necessary.

"Well, how's that for customer service?" she giggled, poking my stomach.