Glass Half Empty - Glass Half Full

Carmen saw the mad little ball of energy glide closer and kept her hold on the frappucino light as it was taken easily from her hand. She rolled her eyes as Dakota skated on, turning effortlessly and sitting onto one of the benches. With a sigh Carmen walked over to the bench, not looking at her best friend and sat down next to her, taking a sip of her own frappucino before raising her hand and pulling down her large sunglasses to look over them at the smaller girl.

“Are you ever going to stop doing that?” She questioned imperiously. She pushed her glasses back up as Dakota replied and giggled. Carmen couldn’t stop the smile that was slowly creeping over her lips. She tried to hide it by taking another sip of her drink and shook her head in friendly disbelief before sighing softly. Her lips were pulled up in a soft smirk and she knew that she could not catch Dakota’s eye or everything would be lost. Carmen glanced quickly over at her best friend and promptly burst out laughing.

After several minutes of non-stop laughter Carmen took a few deep breaths to calm down and regain control of the situation. She finished her frappucino and turned to Dakota. They were on a serious shopping trip for a serious cause. They had a battle plan and this time they would stick to it. Carmen stood decisively and gazed slowly around her. She saw all of her favourite shops; saw the enticing outfits and the eye catching jewellery, the deathly high shoes and rainbows of make-up. Taking a deep breath Carmen started to smile for no apparent reason. The sun shone down and she could practically smell the electricity coursing through her and into the air. Carmen felt the butterflies in her stomach at the thought of the money she would be spending today.

“Why is it that we’re always waiting for Jak?” She asked in exasperation sitting back down on the seat. Carmen folded her arms and watched as Dakota changed her skates to a pair of simple flats. She sighed and slumped down on the bench glaring at the crowd, demanding it reveal the stereotypical emo-kid that was Jak. Her foot started to tap and then the other one joined in. Her fingers drummed against the bench and suddenly she was tapping out the rhythm to a salsa dance she’d just finished a few days ago with the beginning footwork. Carmen came to a more difficult bit and decided to stop, pulling her phone out of her bag and checking it for a text.

“Why are we always waiting for him though? He’s a guy; we’re girls, it should be the other way around,” She complained to Dakota, letting out a frustrated cry and stomping her foot. “Ow.” She added before laughing slightly and continuing to watch the crowd. Carmen was looking the other way and almost jumped a mile when the soft voice murmured between the two of them.

“Guess who…”

“Oh finally!! Jak we’ve been waiting ages!” Carmen cried spinning on the bench to see the pale hands of their best friend Jak go slightly slack over Dakota’s eyes as he gave her a look of disdain.

“You always have to spoil it, don’t you?” He accused gently, walking around the bench and hugging them both. Carmen hugged back and pulled out of it quickly, shouldering her bag and grabbing Jak’s sleeve.

“Only when you’re late, not my fault if you’re always late. Now come on, we’ve already wasted precious time!” She ushered them along beaming. Finally they were ready for the ultimate shopping spree. The eighteenth birthday bash shopping spree.