Le Voyage_4

Part 1        Part 2       Part 3

             "Gotta run Babes!" I said stealing a peek at the clock at the bottom of my screen. I’d been skyping with Ama for the better part of two hours and as much as I missed her, it was time to hit the books.

            “Where are you running off to?” she asked wiggling her eyebrows at me. “ Hot date?”

             “I wish!”

             “Come on Chale, gimme gist!”

             "Got course work to finish up."

            "Don’t be such a geek." she retorted. "Which one is course work again? Are you not supposed to be creating a robot or finding a cure for cancer or something?"

            "Err, news flash, I'm still just a student and I've got 90 credits to make up for."

            "You're such a bore! You've been there barely 3 months and you're already spending all your time studying. No wonder that big fat pimple is getting fatter and fatter!”

            "What? Is it bigger than it was yesterday?!" I asked patting my face frantically.

            “Perks of being a boring geek." she retorted.

I scrambled off my bed where I'd been skyping with her and went to the dresser to examine my face in the mirror.

            "Shouldn't you be asleep?" I asked. "It’s almost 2 am over there." the bloody thing did look bigger!

            "Whatever! So, what's new with your sexy landlord?" she asked. Again.

            “What?” I returned to my laptop, still poking and prodding at the pimple.

            “Your sexy landlord! And stop pinching it, you’ll just get an ugly spot”

            "He's not my landlord!" I said for about the millionth time that evening.

            "Irrelevant. At least get a picture!"

            "And I haven't even seen him since..."

            "Since when?!" she pounced when I trailed off.

            "You know what? I really have work to do and I have to go.”

            "You start talking now Chesca or I’ll…."

            "Love you Ama, talk to you later." I said.

            “Francesca!” she exclaimed sternly and through the thousands of miles separating us and hp’s Gorilla capacitive touch screen, I could still feel the glare of that look!

            “Ughhhhhhhhhh! Okay, don’t bite my head off!”

            “Now spill!”

I sighed in resignation. I could as well just get the whole thing off my chest. She wouldn’t let me have any peace until I told her anyway!

                      *                                 *                                   *                                       *

            "Hey guys, this is Frankie!" I said when we met up with the others that Saturday afternoon.

            "This is Matt, Rajesh, Bells and Adele."

            "Nice to finally meet you!" Adele said hugging and air-kissing her. “You can call me Del.”

            “It’s actually Bella, but never mind him!” Bells popped in, taking her turn with the hugs and air-kissing. “We've heard so much about you!"

The guys just stood and stared at them awkwardly. Girls.

            "Pleased to meet you guys too!" she said.

            "We should hang out, just we girls." Bells was saying. "You know, properly welcome you to Edmonton, show you all the nice spots.”

            “Yes, we totally should!” Adele added.

Matt cleared his throat. “Ladies, are we gonna see the movie or what?”

            “Don't be such a kill joy!” Bells chided him.

            “What are we seeing?” Adele asked.

            “Where are you from?” Raj managed to add.

            “Come on! Let the girl breathe! What's with the 50 questions?” Bells had assumed the mother-hen role. Classic!

            “What...?!” Raj spluttered. Poor dude!

            “Girlfriend, ignore the guys. They like to think that...”

Bells linked her arm with Frankie's and dragged her off with Adele on her other side. I smiled, happy that my friends had taken to her instantly.

                      *                                  *                                  *                                    *  

             “Okay, what was so bad about him introducing you to his friends?” Ama asked. “They sound like pretty nice people to me.”

             “Of course they are!” I exclaimed.

             “So what was the problem then?”

             “It wasn’t anything to do with them, it was…”

             “Girl, you are supposed to be the smart one, but right now you’re  not making any sense!”

I sighed. “I don’t really know what happened, how a perfect day out with lovely friends turned into a marshmallow situation!”

Ama gasped dramatically. “Marshmallow?!”

Marshmallow was Ama-gibberish for a really messy and awkward situation.

             “Which one of them squashed the marshmallow?” she asked. If I hadn’t been so upset, I would have told her not to be such a drama queen.

            “Was it Matt or Raj?” she asked.

I sighed again.

             “Okay, this is what happened…”