Before the Summer's Out...

"... I mean, I know Joey doesn't like Matthew and Jeff, but c'mon. He has no reason to be suspicious of me. Like just because they fall over me, begging me to jump them doesn't mean I'm going to," Heather was saying while we stood in line at the Orange Julius.

I watched her brush her glossy, long bangs away from her face. Even her nails were great: shiny and delicate.

"Of course, Joey doesn't own me. I can do whatever I like. Within reason of course. I mean it's not like I'm totally heartless," Heather continued, looking at me and blinking her dark blue, ebony flecked eyes. They shined enticingly, even under the mall fluorescents.

"... but boys are so complicated. I'm glad you're not that way Benj. Enid is lucky," she said and looked ahead again.

"Thanks," I said automatically. "Wait, what?"

"Hi, can I have a small strawberry banana Julius?" she said to the little Chinese girl behind the counter.

"Sure. Anything else?" the Chinese girl asked

"No that's all. Unless, did you want something Benj?" Heather spun around to look at me. It was one of those moments where I could imagine her hair tossing up swirls of cinnamon.

"No," I assured her quickly.

She looked back at the little Chinese girl and smiled.

"Um, Heather?" I said.

She looked at me and blinked. Have I mentioned that she has long, curled eyelashes?

"What did-" I began, but the Chinese girl started up the blender and drowned out my question. I had to wait for what felt like an excruciatingly long time for the blender to stop. When it did, the Chinese girl poured Heather's drink.

"What did you mean when you said Enid was lucky?" I asked Heather.

She stuck a straw in her drink, her slender fingers gently pinching the straw. She took a sip of her drink. "Hm?" Heather hummed at me and looked up at me, wide-eyed. Her eyes were So. Fuckin. Beautiful.

"When you said Enid was lucky? What were you talking about?" I asked, trailing after Heather as she went to a table and sat down.

"Oh. To have you as her boyfriend. She is lucky. You are such a sweetheart," she grinned at me and gently pushed my shoulder coyly.

"What?? Enid isn't my girlfriend." I was shocked.

"She isn't?" Heather blinked. She sounded genuinely surprised.

"Nooo. No, no. We are only friends," I stamped that out quickly.

Heather blinked some more and took a thoughtful sip of her drink, then put it down on the table. "Hm. I assumed you two were together. I mean you guys are like always hanging out. You just seem to have that... relationship-y feel," she said, scrunching her shoulders and holding her smooth palms up, as though offering me her words as a gift.

"What? Really?" Did we really?? Me and Enid? I thought she and I were the most plutonic thing on the planet. But I had complete faith in Heather's words, so what she was saying was really playing havoc on my brain.

"Mhm. Don't you think she's cute?" Heather asked me after taking a sip of her drink.

"Ummm, well I... I mean. I'd never really thought about it," I said honestly. I tried to picture Enid like that, to look back on her in a different way.

"I bet she thinks you're cute. I mean, who wouldn't?" Heather grinned at me.

Abruptly my mind stopped thinking about Enid. I think Heather had just come on to me. It was so hard to tell if it was real. I had the suspicion that my brain was pretty capable of putting meaning behind Heather's words that weren't really there. Still, I grinned back at her, feeling my cheeks turn a bit pink.

"Especially if you grow out your hair. Like I said. Too emo cute," Heather said confidently. She took a sip her drink and reached across the table to touch one of my locks of hair.

I stared at her, my genitals stirring at her touch. I was, after all, having a horny day.

My cell phone rang, interrupting my moment. I had this dreaded feeling that all of my moments with Heather would be interrupted.

"Hello?" I said impatiently into the phone, still staring at Heather.

She had her eyes up at the ceiling, playing with me by not looking back. God she was frickin hott. She drank her Orange Julius.

"Hey. I'm on my way. Where are you?" It was Enid.

I blinked and somehow looked away from Heather. I felt warm, and I didn't know why since I'd been cooling off steadily since being in the mall.

"I'm in the food court. I'm sitting with, uh Heather," I said and blinked. I'd had a weird black out where I'd actually forgotten that. Saying the words reminded me and I looked at Heather.

She shook her long hair. Swirls of cinnamon would have been dancing in the warm sunlight.

"Oh. Ok... well do you want me to, like, hide in the soap store and film it?" Enid said. She sounded sarcastic, but her assumption was genuine- that I didn't want her there.

"No that's ok. Come find us." I said the words. I can't believe I said them.

"Oh. Ok. I'll, um, see you," she said, offensively shocked and then hung up the phone.

I hung up my phone. "That's ok if Enid joins us right?" I checked nervously. After all, Heather had said Enid was weird.

"Well I guess. I mean I won't have you all to myself but..." she said teasingly and then shrugged. I admired that go with the flow quality so much. Heather's laid back style and grace was just so sexy. Her blonde hair gleamed in the golden sunlight...

Blonde hair?