Seashells

September 15th, 2007

Minh told me I should wait a bit before contacting you to show that I wasn't desperate. I hesitated on listening to her because she never had a boyfriend before, so how would she know? But that was her choice, because there was no shortage of guys falling all over her.

We were at the mall the day I decided to finally send you an email.

"I thought the guy was supposed to make the first move," I said when we sat down at a table at the food court.

"Cassie, did you hear nothing of what I told you last month?" She threw her bags on the chair next to her and sat down. "You'll never get anywhere if you keep thinking like that."

"I know but-"

"Guys never do anything right," she said. "So we have to do it ourselves."

"I guess..."

"So when we get back to your house, you can send him one of those old fashioned email thingies."

"Shut up. And I have no idea what to say to him."

"Oh, Cassette Tape, you're doing that whole thing again."

"What thing?"

"You're not being confident enough!"

"I know, it's just-"

"I'll be there to help you, okay?" she reassured me. "You won't be alone. And you should know how to do this; you're close to him."

It was my turn to sigh. "But I don't know. I'm not the one who has like ten thousand guys ready to propose."

"Neither am I," Minh said.

"Stop lying to yourself."

"They're not ready to propose, they're ready to jump in my bed," she said. She then placed a hand on her chin as if she was in deep thought. "Maybe they just can't resist my nonexistent chest."

"Doesn't matter, you know you're gorgeous, Minh," I said. I wonder if she could hear the bit of jealousy in my voice.

"Yeah, yeah. Stop trying to change the subject! You will send him that email."

"Fine."

"We'll eat then go home." She stood up. "Now, to look for a place that sells rice."

Luckily for her there was one. We bought our food and went home (after a detour through Spencer's).

When we got to my house, Minh went straight to my room, threw her shopping bags on the floor, and turned on my computer.

"Password?" she asked when she got to the log in screen.

"Not telling."

"Fine, I'll just guess," she said as she typed. "Minh is sexy. No. Hmm. I really like Pop-Tarts."

"The hell?" I said. Something about her incredibly stupid guesses made me smile, though.

"It was a possibility," she said, shrugging. "Now to get serious."

I watched her try a few more times and on the fourth try, she got in. "How did you know?" I asked, surprised.

"I know you," she said simply.

"Well, it wasn't that hard to guess anyway," I admitted. It was kind of stupid, actually.

She logged into my email (because I used the same password for everything, which was not a smart idea) and opened up a new message. She got up and forced me into the chair while she herself sat on my bed and ate some of the candy we got at the mall. I typed your email address into the box and then stared blankly at the screen.

"Get going!" she said as she shoved cotton candy in her mouth.

"I don't know!" I said, feeling helpless.

"Well, at least say hi. Ask how he's doing. Come on, you know how to talk like a normal person, don't you?"

"Fine."

Hey Aden, how have you been?

"One sentence, really? You have a problem if you can't even make normal conversation with him."

"I don't know what else to put!"

"Keep it simple," she said as she moved on to the jelly beans. "And just be yourself."

I asked that question that had been bothering me for a while. "And what if myself isn't good enough?"

"Then he's not worth your time."

I thought about her words for a minute, and I realized how right she was. So I started typing.

I'm so glad it's the weekend. School is such a bitch, isn't it? At least we're almost done with it forever. I can't wait until summer comes again, it will be great. I think we should leave the island again, but this time will be different. I'll try not to get grounded again.

Anyway, what have you been up to? Eaten any good ice cream lately? I haven't. Nothing seems to beat Beaches and Cream. Except for the ice cream on the present I got you for your birthday.

"Keep it short and sweet," Minh said. "You can end it there if you want. Add in an inside joke or something, to let him know you're still good friends."

"Okay."

Oh, and remember: next year, I'm totally pushing you into the shack as payback.

Love, Cassie.