Counting Down The Days To Go

“Hey girlies! Let’s have some fun today! Meet at the mall at 11. Today is officially girls’ day,” The text message I just received from Amanda read.

I groaned. I had just spent the whole day at the mall with Aiden yesterday. It was a lot of fun but I wasn’t looking forward to spending another day there again.

“Girls’ day?” I texted back. Maybe there was a way to get out of this? But I haven’t really been hanging out with Amanda ever since she hooked up with Brad and I kinda miss her, as weird as that sounds. I think maybe she’s serious about him this time round. I mean, they have been together for almost a month already. A month in Amanda's dating book is equal to almost a year in normal BGRs.

“Yeshh. Me, you and Chanel. Girls’ day = Mani-Padis; Hair salon; Shopping + a chick flick!” Amanda replied my text.

“Ok. See you,” I typed. It sounds fun so why not? Today was Sunday and I barely had any weekend homework this week so another day out wouldn't hurt, right?

***

At 11.00 AM, I was standing at the opening entrance of the mall waiting for Amanda and Chanel to arrive.

“BOO!” Someone squealed and tackled me to the floor.

“Amanda!” I screamed. This was her way of saying hi.

“Yes?” She asked while she made herself comfortable on top of me.

“We are at the mall! People are looking at us funnily,” I said, trying to get her off my back.

“Oh pish-posh. Fine,” She said and finally got off me.

“Hey,” I heard Chanel say. I turned to my right and saw her a feet away.

“Great. So all of us are here. Let’s go do our mani-pedis first,” Amanda said and she led the way to the beauty salon.

It turns out, Amanda had already booked an appointment for us so the women working there were just waiting for us to come in and let them work their magic on us. I sat on a very comfortable sofa-chair between Chanel and Amanda while I chose a black butterfly design on my fingers and toes.

After choosing the designs, the women helped to put on some face masks on us and it was very relaxing. It had been a long time since I had this sort of pampering so it felt almost heavenly. Sometimes, Amanda just knew what we needed and I applaud her for that sixth sense.

“So, Crystal, since Mike and you don’t have anything going on, do you have a crush on anyone?” Amanda asked.

I blushed and I was thankful for the mask covering my face.

“No silly. Of course not,” I said.

I could almost sense that Chanel was smirking behind her mask.

“What about you and Brad? How are things?” I asked.

“Well, we had…you know. And I think he is the perfect guy for me,” Amanda said softly. I thin she had just announced that Brad and her had had sex.

“Use protection,” Chanel said from the other side of me.

“Well, Brad doesn’t really like it. He thinks that protection hinders him. So…”

“Be careful Am,” I said. “What about pills?”

“Yupp. I’m eating pills. Let’s hope they are like super duper effective,” Amanda said in a hopeful voice.

After our mani-pedis were finished and fully dried, we headed to the hair salon. I decided that my hair was just blah right now so I layered it some more and added some brown-ish red highlights. Amanda retouched her roots as they were showing up. Her natural color was actually brown but she had been bleaching it for a few years now. Chanel decided to get a simple trim.

Chanel finished first but she flipped through some magazines and waited for the two of us.

“And then, Sally told Margaret that she was dumping Eric. I was like what the hell? Because Eric is a fine guy and it is Sally’s loss,” Amanda ranted. She was telling us the latest gossip of the school.

“And you heard that from?” I asked, trying to sound like I was interested in whatever she was saying.

“Sandra. Crystal, I was wondering, what do you think of Aiden?” Amanda asked.

“Aiden? He’s a great guy friend. Why?”

“Because, last week when I told him that you know…you and Mike were together, he freaked out. He was like yelling and everything. He said something about ‘Damn. I should have acted first. And now it’s too late.’ He was like totally freaking out and he was like totally mad,” Amanda said.

“Really? Maybe he was just drunk,” I said.

“Or maybe he has feelings for you,” Chanel muttered but I heard her.

“Yeah he does. And I’m the queen of England. You know what guys? I think Aiden is secretly gay,” I said.

Chanel and Amanda burst out laughing at my remark.

“Let’s wait and see,” Chanel said with a smirk.

I don’t get why she was so mysterious all the time. I gave an eye-roll and flipped through the glossy magazines. Why would they even think Aiden likes me in that way? We are just friends and I’m sure we’d stay that way forever. And I like Mike anyways so me and Aiden are just a big no no.

"Never say never," Amanda's voice pierced through my thoughts, startling the hell out of me. It was almost as if she read my mind. Well, Amanda does have her smart moments sometimes. She gave a sly wink and turned her attention back to the magazine on her lap.

Pssh.