John watched Angie walk away and he ran after her, wondering where he went wrong.
"Angie please - "
"Don't call me that!" Angelica turned around. "What do you want from me?!"
The rest of the group stared at them.
"Homework!" John exclaimed, while Angelica said, "Babysitting!"
"Babysitting, of course. We need to go. Together." John corrected himself, blushing.
"Babysitting what?" Alex asked, tilting his head slightly.
"My pet turtle!" John yelped.
"You don't have one!" Alex laughed, his eyebrows raised. "Face it, you just want to be alone with-"
"Actually, I'm buying John a turtle from the downtown pet store for being such a good drinking buddy last night," Angelica lied, smoothly.
"Really?" Eliza whistled. "Good gift! Especially for John."
"Daddy won't like it though," Peggy looked worried.
"Daddy doesn't need to know," Angelica winked.
"Daddy said not to go to the downtown!" Peggy complained.
"Like I said, we're grown-ups, we're free to go," Angelica was tired of these complaints from Daddy's little princess
"John, let's go," Angelica said, exasperatedly.
As they walked away, John leaned in close to her ear. "Wait, are you actually going to buy me a turtle?" He asked, looking excited.
"Why not? I have all the money in the world and I don't care where it goes," Angelica smiled.
John started to walk faster.
oOo
"I like this one. But that one's shell is prettier. Hmmm." John seemed to have completely forgotten about last night. "I can't choose!"
"I think you should get the one with a better, er, personality," Angie suggested, awkwardly wondering why he was being so... picky over, uh, turtles.
"This one!" John declared, petting it's head.
"Name?" Angelica giggled as John cooed to the turtle.
Wait, what? Angelica never, ever, giggled.
"Uh, how about Angel?" He suggested sheepishly.
"Angel?" Angie started to blush.
"I could name it, uh... Jelica?" John told her, trying not to turn bright red. "Not that it has anything to do with you, of course."
"Of course," Angelica nodded, trying to act serious.
"We'll take this one!" Angelica called, pointing at Angel.
"That'll be hundred dollars and fifty cents," the clerk told Angelica. She started to pull out a credit card.
"Wait, that's too much Angie," John looked at the price. "I can't ask you to pay that for me."
"Oh, shut up, John," Angelica handed over her credit card. "I barely use this thing."
John looked guilty, but still cradled Angel in his arms.
"And the name of the turtle?" The clerk asked, ready to engrave it on a small turtle collar.
"Angel Schuyler-Laurens," John blurted out, flashing Angie a nervous smile. The clerk started to put it on the collar.
Angelica stared at him in shock. He basically named their kid! Well, a turtle, but that was probably what their kid's name would be like. Not that they'd have a kid... Angie, you're getting ahead of yourself.
"A tank and food will make it up to two hundred, do you want them?" The clerk asked, looking at the college students with doubt in his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, take my money," Angelica told him.
"Angie..." John whined.
"John..." Angelica mimicked back.
"That's too much...please" John awkwardly told her.
"No, it isn't. You're a great drinking buddy," Angelica told him truthfully.
With that, John froze.
I shouldn't have brought that up, dang it, Angelica thought.
"We still need to talk about that," John whispered quietly.
Angelica picked up the bag with the tank and food while John lifted Angel and attached the collar, which fit perfectly.
They sat down on a bench near campus and let Angel crawl all over. Once in awhile, either John or Angelica had to pick the turtle up from going too far.
"So... How much do you remember?" John finally broke the silence.
"Everything," Angelica told him with a pained expression.
"Me too," John shook his head slightly.
"I know you think I'm weird, or selfish to like the guy who I barely met and I know my sister is infatuated with, but honestly, I just - " Angelica was cut off by John squeezing her hand tightly.
"Angie," he smiled softly. "How do you think I feel when I realize that I'm bisexual and in love with my best friend?"
Angelica laughed. "I'm okay with that. There's nothing wrong with that-"
"And there's nothing wrong with liking a guy that we both know is very, er, likable," John chuckled lightly.
Angelica breathed a sigh of relief. "But we both know we can't get him," she sighed. "We'll never be satisfied."
"Well, I'll probably have to be his best man at that wedding, so feel bad for me," John joked, trying to lighten the mood.
"I'd be the maid of honor!" Angelica exclaimed, looking horrified. "Wonder what I'll say then."
"You'd probably have a sweet message, then zone out for a long time," John laughed.
"Well, you'd be very drunk!" Angelica defended.
"I can't argue with that!" John said throwing his arms in the air. "That's what I do!"
"Wait, you do realize we actually have homework?" Angie remembered.
"We really should get going back," John stood up, gently putting Angel in her box.
"The others will start to worry," John argued.
"Let them worry," Angelica grabbed John's hand and pulled him back down. "Let's play 20 questions, or, well something. I wanna get to know you! Favorite color?"
And that was how the next day, neither of them had done their homework
"Let's see... green! Like Angel!" John's face lit up adorably.
"I should've known," Angie giggled.
"I love pink." She said decisively.
"You with all your feminist everything?" John laughed.
"Hey, you can be feminist and still like pink!" Angelica put her hands on her hips sassily.
"Ah, I see it," John nodded.
"I hate to see people treat women like what James did to Maria," Angelica declared.
John grinned at her. "I like the confidence, Angie. Favorite book?"
"Probably Common Sense by Thomas Paine." Angelica said.
"What?" John asked. "I don't even know that book!"
"We'll go to the library and I'll show it to you," Angelica rolled her eyes.
"Sounds like a date!" John blushed, realizing what that sounded like.
"S-s-sure! Like two friends on a perfect day!" Angelica stammered.
"We'll get dinner after, too!" John added.
"C-c-cool, sounds good!" Angie smiled at him.
"And it'll be on Saturday. Pick you up at 7:00, okay?" John was making it really hard for it sound like they were just friends.
"Library closes at 6:00, you doof," Angelica giggled.
"What? I don't read! 5:30 then," John said.
"Sounds great," Angelica smiled.
@Infinity_Moon_36 who collaborated with me on the story!
Hope you enjoyed!
- Eliza and Angelica 👸