6:59

by Nonye Acholonu

  “Um, nothing,” she responded lightly. “I was just wondering if you still wanted to pick me up for that picnic thing.”

  My eyes bulged as I glanced at the clock. It was well after one, the time I’d promised I’d pick her up at. I’d been too busy rambling on to the camera to notice that I was late. Really late. “Oh, Anjolie, I—”

  “It’s okay, Cameron. You don’t have to pick me up, I can walk—”

  “No, Anjolie,” I interrupted her, hopping off the bed and shutting off the camera. “I’m coming over right now. Hang tight.” I grabbed up my keys and raced down the stairs. I was out the door in seconds, hopping into my car and speeding down the road toward Anjolie’s house.

  When I arrived at her house, she was sitting on her porch swing, swinging back and forth slowly. I rolled up to her driveway and watched as she trotted over to my car. I noticed that she wasn’t clad in her usual gray and white garb, but wearing short, dark-blue frayed shorts and a soft, pale pink, flowy, tank top-like blouse. Her hair was tied back in a loose ponytail, silvery-blond ringlets framing her face and neck.

  She looked great.

  “Hey, Cameron,” she said as she hopped into the passenger seat of my car and shut the door.

  “Hey, Anjolie.” I waited until she buckled her seatbelt before pulling out of the driveway. “Sorry I’m late; I was just videotaping myself for Cam.”

  Anjolie scoffed and wiggled her eyebrows. “That’s kind of kinky, don’t you think?” she asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

  I laughed at her comment. “No, not like that, Anjolie,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I just told him about myself and asked him a few questions.” I looked over at her. “Hopefully, he responds.”

  Anjolie just shook her head disbelievingly. “He probs won’t, Cameron. He’s too cool for that.” She toyed with a silver bracelet that rested on her pale wrist.

  “I see you’re wearing color,” I said, motioning at her sunny outfit.

  She blushed and glanced down at her clothes. “Oh, yeah, right,” she said, smoothing out her blouse. “Hudson and Armando bought me some clothes yesterday. They thought I needed some color in my wardrobe.” She smiled sheepishly, seeming to be embarrassed at my noticing.

  I shot her a warm smile. “Well, I like it, Anjolie.”

  She returned my smile, uttering a “thanks” before turning to face the window.

  When we arrived at the park, I could see up ahead where Hudson and Armando had already laid out the checkered blanket and set out the food. They were relaxing on the blanket, sitting in each other’s embrace, talking peacefully.

  Olive was nowhere to be found.

  “Excited for the picnic, Sloane?” Anjolie asked me as she unbuckled her seatbelt. As she shuffled around in her seat, I could smell a whiff of cinnamon emanating off her pale skin. The scent filled my nostrils and sent warm feelings down my body.

  I quickly shook out of my momentary daze. “Uh, yeah, totally excited,” I replied, scrambling with my seatbelt, trying to rid myself of her attractive scent. I couldn’t get out of the car fast enough.

  Anjolie waited for me to catch up to her. “I’m excited, too,” she responded, giving me a happy smile, as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You hang around an awesome group of people, Sloane.” She clapped me on the back, her delicate hand branding an imaginary mark on my skin. I shivered at the contact.

  “Uh, thanks,” was all I could say.

  We reached the picnic blanket momentarily, eyeing the food that was scattered all along the large blanket. “Hey, guys,” I said, taking a seat beside Armando.

  They greeted me back, but their focus was on Anjolie. “Aw, Anj, you look simply adorable in that baby-pink top!” Hudson cried, reaching up to embrace her. “I absolutely love it!” Her large smile was bright and genuine, indicating that she was well impressed with her new fashionable project.

  Anjolie muttered a “thanks” before taking a seat across from me. The four of us had formed some sort of box, all of us equidistant from each other.

  “So, where’s Olive?” I asked, anxious about her whereabouts. She and I were becoming more and more distant from each other. Sometimes, I would go days without seeing her. I knew she was invited to this picnic; if she stood us up, I’d have no choice but to confront her about it.

  Hudson sighed and rolled her eyes. “I’d been calling and texting her since noon, and she still hasn’t returned any of my calls.”

  “I guess she’s not coming,” Armando suggested, shrugging his broad shoulders. He and Hudson shared disappointed glances and then focused their eyes on me. “I don’t blame her. She’s been hanging out with Cam a lot lately,” Armando informed us. “And since he only wakes up at night, she probably has no choice but to stay up all night with him.” He looked around at all of us. “She’s probably tired.”

  I gulped, uncomfortable with this new information. I knew she was hanging out with Cam, but I didn’t know that she’d basically rather hang out with him than me. I don’t see her for eons, but Cam gets to see her every time he wakes up? That didn’t seem fair to me.

  But I shrugged off all of my jealous thoughts. She could hang out with whomever she wants to hang out with — boy or girl, Cam or me. Just as long as she wasn’t doing anything she would regret, I was fine with it.

  “I don’t get her sometimes,” Anjolie piped up sourly, knocking me out of my questionable thoughts. “Who’d rather hang out with Cam, than with Cameron? Cam’s just a stupid, rotten, little idiot who wouldn’t know a nice comment if it kicked him in the balls.” She rolled her eyes, peeved at the thought of him.

  “Why don’t you quit talking trash behind Cam’s back, Anjolie?”

  We all saw Olive, who’d appeared out of the shadows of a large tree, dressed in black jeans and a dark top, her dark hair covered with a black beanie and her eyes lined with heavy eyeliner. Her whole image was a stark contrast to the frilly white desserts and lightly colored blanket that surrounded us. Her appearance, coupled with her scowl, was an anomaly to me, and I had no choice but to stare. Olive didn’t even glance over in my direction; her eyes remained fixated on burning holes into the back of Anjolie’s head.

  Anjolie chuckled, twiddling a lock of her curly hair and turning to look up at Olive. “Oh, sorry, excuse me,” she said sarcastically. “If I had known you were eavesdropping, I would’ve called you over just so you could relay the message to Cam yourself.” Anjolie smiled sweetly up at Olive. “You know, since you hang out with him so much.”

  Olive narrowed her eyes at her. “Do your own dirty work,” was her spiteful reply as she walked across the blanket and sat next to me.

  Before I could offer her a greeting, her lips were on mine, silencing any form of sound that could escape from my lips. I was shocked, yes, but she was still my girlfriend and I did miss her kisses. It was a long time before she released me from her tenacious grip, smiling at me mischievously. “Hey there, Cameron,” she said, winking at me.

  “Uh, hey, Olive,” I said, returning her smile with my more genuine one. She smelled of spicy perfume; the kind that — if you had a really sensitive nose — would have you squirming with discomfort.

  She smiled at everybody else, grabbing up a small cupcake and popping it into her mouth. “Hey, everyone,” she said, giving a little wave.

  “Way to not return any of my calls,” Hudson said, skipping the greeting. Her neatly sculpted eyebrow hiked up as she crossed her slim arms.

  Olive shrugging was her only response.

  Hudson rolled her eyes at her and also grabbed a cupcake, Anjolie doing the same. Armando and I just sat there, witnessing this semi-catfight, not wanting to come in between anything. I could just feel the tension in the air.

  I looked to Armando, hoping that he’d say something that would relieve the tension. But, watching as he, too, grabbed a cupcake and shoved it in his mouth, I could tell that however Hudson was feeling, he’d feel the same way, too. It was up to me to break the ice.

&nbs
p; I clapped my hands together and helped myself to a tiny cupcake. “These look delicious, Hudson,” I said, tossing it into my mouth. “Did you make these?”

  Hudson smiled at me. “I did!” she said graciously. “It took forever to ice them. They were just so small!” When she laughed, Armando, Anjolie, and I joined into the laughter, grinning at the miniscule cupcakes.

  “They’re so cute, though, Hudson,” Anjolie commented, helping herself to another cupcake. “I don’t even want to eat them!”

  We all laughed out again, praising the small cupcakes. But it was Olive who silenced us. “They’re just cupcakes, Anjolie. Not small puppies,” she said, scooping up a handful of them and popping the treats into her mouth. “Stop being so dramatic.” Her snappy words caused Anjolie to frown.

  Noticing this, Armando chimed in, reaching for the drinks. “Sparkling cider, anyone?” he asked, grabbing up the large wine-bottle-shaped container.

  “I’d gladly take some,” I said, catching onto his efforts of soothing the mood. Hudson and Anjolie agreed, nodding their heads simultaneously.

  As Armando began pouring glasses of cider, Olive asked, “What about booze? Got any of that?”

  It was as if she had just asked if anyone wanted to hold one of her eyeballs, it was that blasphemous.

  Hudson cocked her head to the side as she stared, narrow-eyed, at her friend. “Are you serious? You don’t drink.” She seemed surprised at Olive’s question.

  Olive just shrugged again, playing innocent. She placed her head down on my shoulder and twiddled with the skin on my palm. “I was just asking,” she snapped.

  Armando cleared his throat. “Well, sorry, we don’t have that,” he said as he handed us our drinks.

  I tried once again to break the tension. “So, I heard you guys all went shopping yesterday,” I said, opting for a topic that at least three-fifths of us could join in on.

  Hudson smiled. “We did, and it was so much fun,” she responded, talking through smiling lips. She looked at Anjolie. “I hope you like everything we bought you, because I sure did.” Her brown hand clasped onto Anjolie’s warmly.

  Anjolie smiled. “Yeah, I do,” she answered. “Thanks for that, really.” She seemed genuinely thankful to the two of them.

  Armando shrugged, smiling as well. “Hey, it was our treat,” he said kindly. “If you like the clothes, then we’ve done our job soundly.”

  The three of them smiled nicely at one another.

  “Why do you always have to be everyone’s charity case, Anjolie?” Olive asked, splintering the happy moment. “You grab rides from Cameron, you take money from those two lovebirds, and you can never do a stupid mission without Cam’s help.” Olive narrowed her eyes at Anjolie. “You are such a charity case.” Olive’s eyes lit fiercely as she spoke.

  “Hey now, Olive, that’s not true,” Armando intercepted, frowning at her. “Anjolie doesn’t take anything from us.”

  He motioned between himself and Hudson, who crossed her arms, and added, “Yeah, Olive. It was Armando and I who offered her the money in the first place. She had nothing to do with it.”

  When everyone peered at me, I reluctantly felt the need to defend myself as well. “Uh, yeah, and I was the one who offered her a ride, not her.” It felt awkward talking about Anjolie like she wasn’t even there. And I didn’t really like confrontation — like, at all. Especially with my girlfriend.

  We all then took in Anjolie’s expression, anticipating either a huge cat-fight or some major waterworks. Either way, it wouldn’t be pretty.

  But Anjolie just rolled her eyes, sighing beneath her breath. “Whatever, Olive,” she said, her voice eerie with calmness. “You know that’s not true, so don’t even go there.”

  But Olive had other plans in mind. Crossing her legs beneath her, Olive leaned forward, her eyes narrowed at Anjolie. “I’m speaking the truth, honey,” Olive spat, cocking her head to the side at the sound of the slimy pet-name. “All you do is run around, acting all ‘woe is me!’ like, and making people feel sorry for you!” She sat back and crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, even though everybody else buys it, I don’t. I see through your whole charade, Anjolie. And frankly, you suck at pretending.”

  Olive’s words hung in the air as we all stared at Anjolie in silence.

  Anjolie’s eyes narrowed as well, her eyes forming dangerous slits in her head. “Wow, Olive, where’s all this coming from?” she asked. “I never did anything to you.” Even though Anjolie was handling all this with such a calm and easy demeanor, her red cheeks and pout indicated that she was not just angry, but maybe a little sad. I felt my heart grow heavy as I watched her face fall. I wanted nothing more but to reach over and embrace her, to soothe her misery.

  But Olive was my girlfriend.

  Olive snuggled into me, resting her head on my shoulder again. “Just admit it, Anjolie. You want Cam just as much as you want Cameron and all of my friends. You can’t make your own friends and Cam thinks you’re trash.” Olive smirked at her. “Face it. Nobody likes you for you. You’re just a stupid little leech.” Her eyebrows perked up, satisfied with her jab.

  That was way too far. I decided to end the feud before anything started. “Whoa, now, let’s not go there—” I started but was strictly silenced by one of Olive’s death glares.

  It was silent as we again anticipated Anjolie’s next action. Surprisingly, she still retained her tranquil behavior, shrugging as she said, “I cannot believe you are doing this right now.” She chuckled a little. “Point out all of my ‘flaws’ in front of everyone? Really Olive? Are you that insecure about your relationship with your friends that you have to put down me, an innocent bystander to your guys’ own problems?” Anjolie just shook her head, smiling as she helped herself to a chocolate-chip cookie. “Personally, I think you’re just desperate.”

  Gasping, Olive huffed noisily, opening her mouth to spit out another rude comment. But Hudson cut in before she could utter any other words. “Could you guys just cut the crap?” she asked, severely blunt. “It’s a picnic! Not a mud-brawl!”

  The two girls silenced themselves, glancing down at their hands in embarrassment.

  Hudson sighed angrily and grabbed up some apple pie. “Now who wants pie?” she asked, already slicing it into pieces. She glared at Olive. “And no, we don’t have booze pie, either,” she snapped, ushering slices onto our plates. Olive rolled her eyes, shrugging nonchalantly.

  When we all had our own slice, Armando grinned and asked, “Did any of you guys hear about that new amusement park they’re creating?” He took a few bites of his dessert and eyed me, notifying me that he was changing the subject in order to distract Anjolie and Hudson while I talked to Olive.

  I immediately took the hint, gently nudging Olive, who was still resting her head on my shoulder. “Hey, babe, are you okay?” I asked, my voice low as I whispered into her ear. I knew I had to take the babying route in confronting Olive’s extremely rude behavior because if I attacked Olive in any way, I knew she would explode. “You seem a little cranky. Is everything alright?”

  She looked up at me slowly, her eyes still flaring with a hint of anger. “Anjolie’s just annoying me now-a-days,” she informed me.

  Her eyes revealed nothing else, so I continued to soothe her. “I understand. She’s just not your cup of tea.” When Olive smiled softly at my joke, I kissed her forehead. “Just know that even if someone isn’t rubbing you the right way, doesn’t mean that you should put her down. She’s going through a rough time right now and we should all respect that. Do you hear me?” I gently smoothed down the hair that fluttered in her face, smiling a kind I’m-not-on-her-side-or-anything-but-just-hear-me-out smile.

  Olive nodded obediently, sighing, but offering nothing else. I could tell that she wasn’t taking my smile seriously. I knew she thought I was on Anjolie’s side.

  Noticing her defeated expression, I grabbed up her chin and kissed her softly on the lips, lingering there until I felt her give in
to my efforts, pulling me close and kissing me back. After a moment, I pulled away and said, “Just play nice for now. For Hudson at least.” I smiled sheepishly. “Because nobody wants to see her angry.”

  Olive rolled her eyes and smiled, knowing exactly what I was hinting at. Hudson angry was bad news for all of us — to put it nicely. Olive grabbed up my hand and held it between both of hers. Smiling up at me, her eyes mischievous, she said, “Don’t worry, Cameron. I’ll play nice.” And with that, she ceased the conversation and shoved a mouthful of pie into her mouth, no other words escaping her lips.

  Turning, I looked at Armando, who widened his eyes in concern. I nodded my head at him, motioning that Olive was alright and that she was going to play nice from now on. Armando gave me a relieved smile. He continued with his aimless conversational efforts and Olive joined in this time, offering her own two cents about the topic. Soon enough, she and Hudson and Armando were all laughing at a joke together, the bitter tension immediately dissolved from the air.

  I smiled, knowing that my work paid off. I made sure to glance surreptitiously at Anjolie to see how she was holding up. But when our eyes met, she quickly looked away, her eyes sad, her mouth frowning.

  When all attention was off of her, she let her guard down — this being apparent at the moment. I felt helpless, not knowing what to do, what to say, how to console her hurt feelings. But I couldn’t do anything to stop her pain.

  Olive was my girlfriend.

  ****

  As the picnic drew to a close, we all began to clean up our trash. “This was fun, guys,” I said, my mood cheery, my stomach full of delicious desserts. “We should really do it again.”

  Armando laughed and clapped me on the back. “Let’s take a rain check on that, shall we?” he said, eyeing Olive and Anjolie. He was regarding their previous brawl earlier, indicating that he did not want to go through that again.