With Rae's father doing god-knows-what and going god-knows-where in that chilly July night, Rae's mother apologized to my mom more abundantly than ever. Rae contemplated the evening's events, sitting on the stairs. I hesitated to join her; I felt somewhat accountable for the way things went wrong or, at least, not right.

Our moms carried the uneaten food the Watters brought out to their car, and Phil and Ariel sat uncomfortably close to each other while staring deeply into their phones.

I mustered the nerve to get up and walk toward her. It seems she had the same thought as we almost bumped into each other in the middle of the room.

"Oh! Uh, hi?" I said, sort of weak-kneed, and tucked my hair behind my ear.

"Hi," Rae said, waving a single eager wave. "Blah! This is so weird and cool!"

"Oh. Well, I was gonna ask you if you were okay, but you look... like, fine. I mean you don't look just fine, you look beautiful, like always, but not in a weird way. What I'm trying to say is that I'm not even gonna ask, 'cause you look fine. And beautiful." I sighed. "I hate myself."

"You are adorable," Rae said, studying my eyes carefully. "I better get outta here. A tsunami of emotions should hit any second now and I should be near my DVD of P.S. I Love You when that happens."

"Okay — but do you... maybe wanna go on a date? At some point! No rush."

"Love to. Just text me whenever you want," she said coolly. She leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek. "See you, sweetheart." She turned and head for the door.

"Bye bye, Rae!" Ariel screamed.

"Bye, Ariel. Bye, Phil," Rae said, and then marched out the door. I collapsed onto the couch, not quite sure on the overall feel of the night. Rae will probably get Hell for embarrassing her mother, but perhaps her father will rethink... everything after he drew blood for, I assume by his reaction, the first time on one of his tirades.

I pulled out my phone and texted Charlie.

Me: Chuckles didnt eat wanna go for food and here the hole story in elecktrifying detail

Charlie: U know it Kiki, I'll stop by. Idk what it is but i feel tonight is magical

Me: Ur weird

Charlie: What an acute observation. I am blown away by ur AMAZING detective skills. Bravo bravo bravo

Me: 💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩

I felt equal parts proud and ashamed for my total lack of sentence structure and punctuation — it was my guilty pleasure. I put my phone away and got up. I planned to go outside and wait for Charlie while trying that cigarette I found in Phil's jacket pocket, but the la-di-da-duo stopped me in my tracks.

"Where ya going, Jacky?" Phil asked.

"Out," I said.

"Out where?"

I sighed. "Me and Charlie are going for food at that diner on Pembroke Road."

"Sweet. We'll come, too."

As much as I hate to say it, I did a double take.

"Yeah, we didn't eat anything," Ariel said, as if nobody knew that.

"But — I don't — How could you — Why — I mean—" I babbled. They smirked and tilted their heads to me in unison, like they didn't get why I was yowling.

In a weird way, they were perfect for each other...

I give it two weeks, maybe three.

I spun around and marched out the door, I could hear them gathering themselves in the background, so I walked faster. I stood on the curb and, to put it straightly, thought about how much I adored Rae. She was weird — but not in an annoying way — and strong — but not in a male way — and opinionated —but not in an asshole-ish way — and beautiful — but not in an arrogant way. She was perfectly imperfect and perfect, and did I mention perfect?

"Hey!" someone yelled. I looked down the street and saw Charlie. "Jack, what the hell happened? I want details!" He slowed from a sprint to a saunter and stood next to me with hands in his jacket pockets.

"I'll get to the details, but I think you should know that Phil and Ariel invited themselves on this dinner," I warned him.

"Phil? Coming with us? Wait, who's Ariel? And why didn't you protest? What?"

"Yes, Phil. Kinda. Phil's girlfriend. Because I'm tired! Geez."

He thought about it for a second.

"Damn," he said. "That sucks, but I'm over it — tell me everything!"

I told him. At length, and he listened intently the whole time.

"I feel like I'm in a play or something," I said. "Though that's impossible... right?"

"I dunno," he said. "All I know is that 'preternatural' would be a great name for a book."

We looked at the camera.

He cleared his throat. "Anyway. Did anything else happen that might make me squeal?"

"She said I'm adorable."

He squealed.

"And called me 'sweetheart.'"

He squealed louder. I laughed. Phil and Ariel stumbled out of the house and sidled up next to us.

"So, Charlie, this is Ariel. My girlfriend," Phil said.

"Hey," Ariel said.

"Sup." Charlie nodded once. "Let's get moving! I have a whole day of practicing tuba and zero dollars burning a hole in my pocket!"

We all headed walking in the direction of Pembroke Road.

"You!" someone shouted. I wondered why so many people were yelling at me that day. I looked towards the sound and I saw our next door neighbour. Charlie and I had jokingly described her as an 'avid gardener and a weird lady,' but since we learned she had early-on-set dementia, we promised to never speak of it again.

"You stole my cosmos!" she yelled.

Oh... shit.

I had completely forgotten that circa two weeks earlier I had picked one of the flowers in her garden and given it to Rae. I never expected consequences, but that was because it was a tiny little freakin' flower. But you never know with your neighbours. They could be some ex-landscaper/vigilant person, or they could be Jason Bourne.

"Jesus christ, it's Jason Bourne," Charlie whispered in my ear.

Someone came up behind my neighbour and led her back inside the house. They stared at us for a minute, like they knew one of us. They looked vaguely familiar, too, but the darkness outside and the ridiculous amount of lamps inside the house obscured their face.

The figure hopped down the yard and into the glow of the street light.

"Willa," I said, squinting through the blackness. Yes, it was Willa. Willa who helped Rae, Ariel and I clean up the old guy's toilet papery-property. Well, 'help' might be a bit of an understatement.

"Jack!" Willa exclaimed, running to me for a hug. "Oh, my god, it friggin' fate that we meet again! What's this? Are you having a walk-party!?" She grew more and more athrill with each word.

"No, we're just getting some food at a place over on Pembroke," I said, pointing west. "Do you wanna come?" At this point, the number of people I disliked outweighed the number of people I liked in the group, so I was attempting to even that calculation out.

"Uh, YES!" she said. "I was just leaving my grandma's house to head home, but I'm starved. All she has in her cupboards is Ritz crackers."

"She's your grandma?" I asked.

"Yeah," Willa said, putting her curly hair into a tight ponytail on the top of her head. "By the way, do you know what she was talking about when she said 'you stole my cosmos'?"

"Um."

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Hello wonderful people!

How are you?

That's great!

Anyways, see you next time. Peace!