Dedicated to HaartTheWriter HI THERE

16) Who's the Real Third Wheel?

As individuals, we are born with different talents and abilities, which can help us find our future careers.

Some people are great with machines and can know what is wrong by just listening to the engine.

Others can paint a room then put random items like a moose head on the wall and call it interior decorating.

Then there are the people who were made for customer service, to help people in need. They always seem to be smiling and wanting to make others happy.

That is definitely not me.

"I'm sorry miss, unfortunately, we don't sell sugar-free cupcakes but can I interest you in a lemon meringue tart instead?" I offer an elderly woman who I've been going through the entire menu with for the past 5 minutes. I'm fairly sure the six people behind her are all planning her funeral because she is taking her sweet time.

She shakes her head "I don't like lemon very much. I find it too sweet."

We are talking about the same fruit right? The yellow round thing that life gives you that you're supposed to make lemonade out of?

"How about something savoury?" I pull out the next item from the display shelf "spinach, feta and pumpkin quiche?"

"No. I can't eat dairy, egg or wheat either. I've found that I get an upset stomach whenever I eat food. Like last night I ate-"

"Is the there anything you can eat?" I would really like to start throwing food at her so she will just leave but I don't think the other customers would appreciate being caught in the cross-fire.

She fiddles which her small glasses on her nose "Are you sassing me young lady, I'm going to have a word with your manager about your atrocious behaviour, " the moment she starts pointing her finger accusingly at me, I decide that I've put up with her for long enough.

Before I can jump over the counter and tackle the old lady, the store owner Tiffany comes around to me with a bright smile "Okay Mackenzie I think your shift is about to end, how about you go out the back and finish up. While I will serve this lovely lady a pastry on the house for all the trouble she's been through, " The lady looked at me from behind her glasses with triumph.

Happy to leave the picky lady in her capable hands, I walk to the kitchen but not before whispering "Don't let her appearance fool you, she's evil, " in Tiffany's ear.

After taking a cupcake for myself, I leave the shop and go to put my headphones on when a bright yellow jeep swerves up the gutter, making me almost jump out of my skin. What is with my friends and trying to run me over? The window is wound down with Zoe smiling like an idiot who is about to do something stupid and is going to drag me into doing it with her. "Get in loser, we're going shopping, " yep that sounds about right.

I walk up to the window and lean against the door "I feel like should I know that reference from somewhere. Also I'd like to point out that we went to the shops like two weeks ago, I doubt they've restocked since we were there last."

Zoe pouts, "I'm personally offended on behalf of all womankind that you don't know where that is from. Plus I decided that we are having a girl's day. You and me just chilling, having fun, making memories. We can get our nails done-"

"I don't have nails to paint unless we go to the hardware store, " I look down at my short nails that I seem to pick without noticing.

"We could go to the movies, " she adds hopefully

"I have DVDs and a perfectly good bed at home plus I won't need to spend any money."

"Fine I'll buy you ice cream, " she offers knowing my weakness for frozen dairy products.

Nodding I open the car door and hop in "Okay, what are we waiting for?"

***

After following Zoe into almost every store and dragging her out of each, we start to head towards the most important part of the shopping centre.

The Food Court.

Being so distracted by the thought of food I don't notice Zoe stopping to talk to someone.

I look back to see Zoe and Joel happily chatting away, obviously forgetting about the very important person that just left them behind.

Strolling up to them I scan around to see if anybody else from his group is a here.

*cough cough* Aaron

"Oh Joel, it's such a coincidence seeing you here, " It is nice to see the one friend of Aaron's that I actually like. He seems to be a really nice guy who's semi-decent and I could have a real conversation with that doesn't involve sports or cars.

His eyes shift side to side trying to avoid my gaze. "Yes, coincidence. I'm just strolling through the mall with-"

"All your friends? " I finish his sentence, looking around to see all his non-existent friends.

"Yes. Wait, no. Well, not exactly, I'm here by myself. Just having some well-deserved me time you know?"

No. I don't know. He sounds like he's trying to convince himself of his own story which is a great sign.

Zoe hooks her arm through Joel's "Well, you should tag along with us, we're grabbing some food than going to the cinemas. We don't want you to be walking around like a loner, do we Mace?" she nudges hard in the ribs. This is her way of telling me that I won't be getting any ice cream if I don't say yes.

"Even though I clearly remember you saying it was going to be a girl's day and I'm fairly sure Joel is not a girl, unless you're not telling us something..." He shakes his head "I guess he can come as long as we don't have to go into any sport or surf shops."

My best friend makes the girliest squeal I have ever heard from her which shocks both Joel and I "Well, now it's going to be a girls day FEATURING Joel. Oh my gosh. Who's excited?" She claps her hands while bouncing up and down. She's too enthusiastic for my liking.

When we grab our Mexican food for lunch something starts to annoy me about Joel being with us. My best friend and my new friend both seem to be sitting very close together and can't stop laughing. He's starting to brainwash her. So being the responsible adult that I am, I address the problem that is arising between the three of us.

I clear my throat to get their attention "So I feel like we need to talk about the elephant in the room. The extra wheel to a bicycle that is rolling around here, " I motion towards the three of us.

Zoe looks at me oddly "You mean the third wheel?" I nod happily knowing she knows what I'm talking about.

The pair sigh in relief when they look at each other and back to me "Phew I thought this was going to be a bit more awkward but-"

"It's all good, I completely understand."

"Oh good," Joel smiles brightly obviously relieved that I'm such an understanding person.

"Yeah, you just wanted to hang out with some people who have brain cells. I don't blame you, we make a very good company. But next time give us a bit more of a warning okay, I have to mentally prepare myself to interact with another human being."

He looks slightly taken back "Wait you think I'm the third wheel?"

I shovel the last corn chip that is left on the plate into my mouth "Um yes. Who else would I be talking about?"

Before Joel can reply Zoe bring up the soccer game for some absurd reason "Are you going to be playing in the soccer final tomorrow?"

Joel shakes his head "I'll be on the bench most of the game. I'm not the greatest at playing soccer but I can kick a ball in a straight line which should count to something. I think coach thought because I was friends with Aaron that I would automatically an amazing player, " he turns slightly pink "I'm the backup of the backup. Are you coming to the game tomorrow to watch Aaron?" he asks me directly.

I quickly shake my head "I don't really feel like getting lost trying to find a random field in the middle of nowhere to watch our team play another school I've never heard of."

"Actually it's at our school grounds," he says back to me "You do realise we have a soccer field?"

"Oh is that the green thing the gym teachers made us do laps on. I just called it the torture grass patch," I say in realisation, who knew the grass patch had so many uses.

They laugh at me together because they're such nice, supportive friends. Zoe tugs us both towards the cinemas "Let's go see a movie. There's one that I saw a trailer for and need to watch."

Knowing I won't be able to get out of this I go straight to the confectionary section to pick out suitable snacks. But as I start to pile up food in my arms I start to realise that they all have something in common.

They all are extremely overpriced.

"Why is this scoop of Ice cream $6? I could just as easily go to the shops downstairs and buy a tub for $4. This is exactly why I carry emergency spoons in my bag," I shake my head regretting not bringing my bag with extra spoons and snacks. This is what I get for going for an impromptu trip to the mall.

Walking up to the counter to find a middle aged woman on her phone "Hi, Could we get three tickets to see 'Exploding Vampire Love'? "

She looks me up and down "You have to be over 15 to see the movie kid."

"Kid? I'm almost 18 thank you very much, so I'm fairly sure that counts as being over age restriction," trying to joke around I give her my best toothy smile.

"Prove it."

Prove it? Is that a challenge? "Well, I'm currently in my last year of school which means I've got this super ugly year 12 pictures. Let's just be honest and say that no school photo ever looks good. My library card has some pretty advanced books borrowed on it like biographies and how to make my own jams. I could always ring up my mum so you could talk to her. I also know big words like haemoglobin, photosynthesis, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, oh and-"

"I think she means identification like a licence," Zoe buts in just in time before I can make an even bigger embarrassment out of myself.

Oh, that makes more sense. The ticket lady looks at me weirdly and gives us the tickets reluctantly.

We find our seats easily with the ads playing in the background.

Zoe sits down between Joel and I "Anyway, How was your fancy lunch with Aaron yesterday? Did you eat caviar and lobster?" She laughs at the absurd thought of me being fancy. I'm tempted to laugh with her.

"Almost. The police actually shut down the restaurant while we were being served. There was a Llama in the kitchen which is a big health violation apparently. So we didn't end up eating there but my mum did invite him for dinner at our house afterwards," I stuff some popcorn in my face when I say "osamusair."

"What?" they both look at me like I was speaking a foreign language.

This time I say it slower "So Sam and his parents may have been there as well which made it super awkward. Don't even talk to me about the kiss."

As the cinema lights dim I prepare myself for an overly cliche vampire movie with terrible CGI and pray that the conversation is finished.

Zoe almost leaps out of her chair "YOU AND AARON KISSED" she raises her voice gaining a chorus of shushing.

"No" awkwardly I pause "I may have turned my head so the kiss ended up on my cheek instead of my lips."

"Are you insane?" Zoe yell whispers this time, wary of where she is.

"It was super weird after the whole dinner with the parents plus Sam and his parents were there. He didn't really want to be there in the first place which I don't blame him for. The stares he was getting were pretty intense. Also, I'd like to point out all the adults were watching us through the window. My dad even asked why I didn't lean in for the kiss afterwards."

Joel takes a long sip from his cup. "Well he does make a good point."

I sighed realising that we won't be watching the movie until this conversation is over "I did text him later on but he didn't respond, so I took that as 'I'm too tired to talk about what happened, maybe another time when we're not being watched'. At the same time, can I make a point of saying that Sam was in my room at this point in time most chance looking through all my stuff. Wait. Did he look through my stuff? I'm going to kill him?"

Someone kicks my chair from behind "Get over it. Solve your problems somewhere else. We're trying to watch a movie here," Maybe I should start throwing my popcorn backwards.

I try to fill the pair in on the whole 'after dinner dilemma', excluding some of the less important things like our little game "So pretty much I got stuck with Sam after the whole dinner and I really wanted to dig a hole so I could push him in and bury him. But I did stomp on his foot really hard because he got inside my personal bubble which was the highlight of the night."

"Noooooo," They say synchronised looking at each other then back at me.

"Yessss. It was actually a little bit empowering; maybe I should step on people's feet more often."

"Girrrl you should have kissed him. That would have shut him up," Joel does a little sassy hand moment to go with his odd comment. Are we still going on about the stupid kiss with Aaron? I just want to watch a cheesy action romance comedy sci-fi fantasy movie in peace.

Zoe leans over and whispers something in Joel's ear. He nods and replies with a "Totally....else" not catch the last couple words makes me even more slightly confused and suspicious concerning what they are chatting about.

A bright light is shone on the 3 of us.

I knew it.

The aliens have come to abduct us and steal my amazing baking powers and lack of coordination.

"There have been complaints about a noise disturbance coming from this row so I have to ask you guys to keep your voices down otherwise I'll have to ask you to leave." The usher stares down and gives us a death glare.

Joel and I both nod silently not wanting to leave the movie after everything we've to get in.

"But what if I want to talk," Zoe asks shuffling forward on her seat "This is a free country where freedom of speech is encouraged. I should be allowed to make comments on things I find sad, funny or wrong. You have no right to take it away from me. And my cousin Miguel has come from Mexico so he could experience the world where he isn't involved in illegal smuggling and my friend here" She points to me "is blind and deaf. Is it so wrong that she wants to experience her first movie before she goes to her death bed because of that darn brain tumour? So just chill your beans and let us stay," she finishes looking triumphant.

***

We all sit awkwardly on the carpeted lounge outside the cinema.

Zoe looked deep in thought trying to work out what she did wrong "Hmm, I wonder why they didn't like my speech" she clicks her fingers at a revelation "I forgot to say please."

Cupcake Theory #16

Sometimes it's just easier to watch a movie at home. Also, don't forget to say please

:):):)

HELLO
What a fun week it has been. Glitching Internet, incorporative editing and a weirdly warm winter
Then this was this funny time when I thought there was something wrong with wattpad because my story was at #978 in humour for like 3 days then this happened

I wanted to say thank you to everyone that is reading this random weird book.
You are amazing, awesome, awestruck, astounding, astonishing and other words that mean your super cool and I love you guys so much

So pretty much thanks

Lots of third wheel love
Theforgottonone 🌈