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Misty had never been quite sure how to define the word “friend.” She called her teammates, her Yellowjackets in arms, her “friends.” She spent more time with her teammates than with anyone else in her life. That should make them her friends. But she always felt that that wasn’t quite right. Or, it wasn’t how other people used the word “friend.” Other people used “friend” to describe someone whose house they gathered at when getting ready for a party, people they went to the movies with, or someone who they called after a first date to debrief. Misty couldn’t even imagine going to a party, let alone getting ready for one at Shauna’s house. She’d never been asked on a date, but she did know that if she ever did go on one, Taissa would hear one word out of her mouth before hanging up. She’d seen Natalie at the movie theater once. Misty had waved eagerly, hoping that they might be able to share some popcorn while watching it and then go to the diner afterwards to share their thoughts on the story. But Natalie had just given her a tight nod before sitting down across the theater from Misty.
No, that behavior didn’t quite seem to align with what the masses spoke of when they talked about their “friends.” In any case, “friend” was too small to describe what Misty’s Yellowjackets were to her. They were sisters. They were family. She would do anything for them, and she knew that deep down, if they were pressed, they might admit to being willing to help her out. If she begged.
But all families were like that weren’t they? They were supposed to argue and be bitter and mean but they all came together in communal joy when it mattered. Just like her team.
So what? They weren’t her friends. They were too important for that. Even if it did rule out some people that she might be able to consider “friends,” that was okay! Misty had a thriving social circle. She talked to those surrounding her in class. When she referenced them in conversation to her parents over the dinner table at Friday Night Dinners, she called them her friends. True, that was more of a shorthand. She could call them acquaintances, but she didn’t want to seem cold. And they were more than just that. They were people she talked to on a consistent basis. She even had running jokes with some. Sometimes, some classmates would want to partner with her when it came time for group projects! They never ended up contributing too much, reassuring Misty that she would do a better job than they would. That her handwriting was far neater. Her classmates were not lying. Misty would end up doing a better job than most of them combined could turn out with. She knew that they were using her, at least a bit. She knew that using people for their skills wasn’t exactly what friends did. But that didn’t do anything to damper the rush she felt at being useful. If she could contribute nothing else to the world, at least she could help someone who was nice to her sometimes get a good grade on a presentation.
That was what mattered to her, more than anything else. Being useful.
“Friend.” A term used so loosely. Defined entirely by the person using it and the moment in which they were using it. Misty knew the circumstances that most people used it under. It was used to describe the relationship between certain key players when someone was telling a story. It wasn’t something people just threw out in typical conversation.
So when it was used, Misty immediately took notice.
It was just before practice. The topic of the spring fling came up. Misty hadn’t been planning on going. The dance may have been on a Friday, but the test she had in physics the next Monday wasn’t going to study for itself! Besides, who would she even go with? She could ask one of her teammates if they wanted to go as friends, but somehow she knew that wouldn’t be received well. They’d either laugh outright and say no. Or, the worst-case scenario: they’d become the awkward one for once, trying to avoid eye contact while making the excuse that they were already going with someone, or had a large enough group of people. Or, the even-worse worst case scenario: they would say yes and then promptly abandon her at the actual dance, leaving her with no one to talk to. She might have been fond of gardens, but Misty had no interest in being a wallflower. What good was she standing at the perimeter of the room all night? No. If she stayed home, then she would at least get some studying done.
That’s what she would tell her parents if they decided to ask her why she was home. If they even knew about the dance.
Misty’s mind had wandered as she weaved her unruly curls into one neat braid going down the back of her head. She tuned back in when she heard Jackie talking about a dress that she had bought for the event.
“It’s so cute, but it’s loose enough to be a pain. I’m going to have to find somewhere to get it taken in before Friday which is damn inconvenient,” Jackie shut her locker as she turned to face the room. “Anyone know a good place?”
“There’s this one place in the plaza by that Chinese place. They do all of my stuff,” Lottie pitched in from across the locker room.
This was her chance, Misty realised. She called out, “Wait, actually! I know how to sew! I’ve been tailoring all of my clothes for the past five years. You’d think that big companies would realize that a good amount of their clientele would be shorter than the national average of 5’4”, but nope! I’ve hemmed half of my wardrobe. I’d be happy to help with your dress!”
Jackie looked over Misty’s shoulder to where she knew without needing to turn around that Shauna was standing. Her eyes flicked back to Misty. The shorter girl couldn’t quite read what was in her captain’s eyes. But the moment passed and a smile took over Jackie’s face. “Seriously? You’d do that for me?”
“Of course!” Misty said quickly. Anything to be useful. Anything.
Jackie crossed the room to give Misty a quick side hug. “You’re an amazing friend.” Friend. Misty was so stunned by the use of the word that she forgot to hug back. “We’ll make a whole evening of it. You’re free tonight?”
“I am! This is going to be so fun!”
“You know it,” Jackie called over her shoulder as she left the lockers. But Misty could hardly pay attention. Her mind was already filling with ideas of watching movies and making popcorn with Jackie. When her parents got home from work, they would see her and Jackie lounging on the couch in the living room. They’d be laughing together over some clever joke Misty would make, or maybe over the movie they would watch together. Did Jackie like John Hughes? She seemed like the type. But maybe that was putting her into a box. Misty would just have to take out more DVDs out of her movie collection, then. It was no problem. This was going to be her shot to show Jackie that she could be enough. She was worthy of the title “friend."
Jackie drove Misty home from practice that day. Was this a glimpse into what other people had? Was this the companionship that Jackie normally felt with Shauna, who she knew was always giving Jackie rides all over town? Was this the camaraderie of Taissa waiting up for Van after practice to drive her home? Misty wasn’t sure. But if she played her cards right tonight, then she might be able to have more opportunities to be the passenger in someone else’s car. To be the person that someone chose simply because they liked her company.
“You’re quiet today,” Jackie commented off of what must have been an unusually long silence from Misty.
“Sorry! Just this big test I have coming up,” Misty said quickly. “It’s in physics which I don’t hate because I wouldn’t put feelings that strong onto a class, but it’s definitely my least favorite.”
“You don’t have to apologise. I was just saying. When’s the test?”
“Monday. I’m going to be studying for it the second classes get out on Friday. Which is a shame because I was really looking forward to getting my English and psych readings done. I guess I can always fit those in after I finish with the main sections that I need to study for physics. Hmm.” Misty looked at Jackie before realising that she was talking too much. She should ask the other girl something. “When did you take physics? Did you like it?”
“I’m in it now,” Jackie said dismissively. Huh. Misty would have thought that with as smart as Jackie was, she would have taken the class at a younger age. Not that she was judging Jackie in any way. She had no right to do that. Plus, friends didn’t judge friends. And that’s what her and Jackie were going to be. “But, wait, you said you’re studying for it on Friday? What about the dance?”
“Hmm? Oh, I’m not going. I don’t have the time. If I want to get a good grade in physics, at least!”
“Misty, you can’t just not go to the dance,” the words could have been a reprimand, but Jackie’s tone wasn’t harsh. “Two full days of studying over the weekend are more than enough to cover for one night of having fun.”
Misty couldn’t think of an adequate response to that. “Well. More studying never hurts.”
Jackie glanced over at Misty, but let it be. The two drove in companionable silence before arriving at Misty’s house. Misty hopped out of Jackie’s car and grabbed her gear bag from the back seat.
“Thank you so much for driving me. Seriously. I really appreciate it.” She needed Jackie to know how grateful she was. If Jackie knew that, then she would know just how good and grateful Misty would be as a friend.
“You’re fixing my dress, it’s the least I can do. Speaking of which, I don’t have it with me. I’ll be back in 20, I need to go home and grab it. It’s what, 5:42 now? So I’ll see you at, like, 6:00.”
“Sounds great!” And it was great. This would give Misty more time to prepare.
By the time Jackie ended up at Misty’s house, it was 6:15. That was fine. In that time, Misty had been able to pull out several of her favorites from her film collection, as well as some options that she thought Jackie might like. She had gotten bags of microwave popcorn out on the kitchen counter but she hadn’t popped them yet. If she did that, then they would get cold. She didn’t know if Jackie wanted to do the dress first to get business out of the way, or if she would want to end the night with that. Better safe than sorry, so the popcorn remained unpopped for the time being.
Misty was just trying to decide which bowls to use for the popcorn when she heard a knock on the door. She whipped around as if she had been caught doing something that she’d need to make up an excuse for. Calm down. This is Jackie. She’s nice.
Steeling herself, Misty marched to the front door and yanked it open. “Hi, Jackie!”
“Hey, Misty.” Jackie gave her a wry smile and lifted up an arm bearing a bundle of cloth. “I’ve got the dress.”
“Great! We can start with that, then. If that’s alright with you…?” Misty ushered Jackie into her house. It’ll give us more time for movies later.
“Yeah, that’s good with me. How long do you think it’ll take?”
“Um, I’ve never actually done something of someone else’s before. For doing my own stuff, maybe half an hour to get a dress fixed? But that requires me to keep trying stuff on and repinning and all that jazz. If I have you there, then I don’t have to worry about repinning. And trust me, that’s half the battle!” Misty paused for laughter that did not come. She cleared her throat, motioning for Jackie to follow her. “So maybe 25 minutes optimistically? We should have plenty of time after.”
Jackie nodded. “That’s cool that you know how to do that. I never bothered learning.”
“It’s a wonder what you can do with the foundations of home economics!” Misty said eagerly. “My mom let me use her old sewing machine after taking the class, and I just learned from there.” Misty stopped before a door that was slightly ajar, gesturing to it. “Tada! After you!”
“Thanks,” Jackie said, pressing forward into Misty’s room.
Misty had spent a good 15 minutes of her time cleaning her room, walking into it, envisioning what it would look like from Jackie’s perspective, and then cleaning it some more. She only had one shot at this. She had to make herself look like someone that someone like Jackei would want to be friends with.
Ultimately, her room looked much the same as when she’d left for school that morning. Cleaning too much might make her look like she was trying too hard. Nobody liked desperation. But not cleaning enough would make her look like a slob. And if there was one thing that was worse than desperate, it was sloppy.
Misty walked over to her desk, where her sewing machine sat poised neatly on top. “This is where the magic happens,” she placed a gentle hand on top of the machine.
“So, should I put the dress on…?” For the first time in Misty’s memory, Jackie Taylor was awkward.
“Oh! Right! Yes, I’ll just leave so you can do that. Where is my head today?” Misty scurried out of her room to give Jackie some space. She smacked her hand to her forehead as soon as the door closed. She should have seen that coming. She should have immediately offered the bathroom down the hall for Jackie to change. Now she was getting more time in Misty’s room. More time to see the lack of photos with friends on her wall. She prayed to any deity out there for the phone in her room to not ring while Jackie was in there. She didn’t need a prank call to mess this up for her. Or maybe it would be a good thing if Jackie answered the phone. If she did, then surely all of those girls would see that Misty had to be cool if Jackie Taylor was choosing to spend her free time with her. Right?
The door to Misty’s room opened and Jackie stuck her head out. “Ready!”
Still half-lost in her thoughts, Misty came back into her room. “Great! This will be so quick and easy!”
“No rush, though. Take all the time you need.” Jackie then spread her arms as if to display the dress. “So. How’s it looking?”
Misty gave Jackie a once-over, taking in how the dress fit. It wasn’t too bad. A different person might have just worn the dress and said to hell with it having just a bit too much fabric at the waist. “There’s not a ton to take in at the waist, but that’s not a problem. Then there’s the straps. They’re not bad, but they’re not good, either.”
“But it’s something you can fix?”
“You betcha.”
“Of course you would know how to sew. I bet you could survive the apocalypse, too.”
Misty beamed. Jackie was impressed with her. “Thank you! But sewing isn’t actually that impressive. It’s just a practical skill. I’d hardly say I’m qualified for the apocalypse.”
“A plane crash at the very least, then.”
“Hmm. Maybe. If I even made it past the initial crash. I could easily be squashed to death between seats when the plane first went down. Did you know that in the 1972 crash of a rugb--”
“Woah, there,” Jackie held up a hand, “not to cut you off, but I don’t want to take up your whole evening. Did you want to start with the pins?”
Misty almost said that it would be a pleasure to have Jackie take up her whole evening. But that would come across as too much. She needed to be like everyone else. She needed to be normal, if just this once in her life. After Jackie and her established themselves as friends, then she could share all of her survival story fun facts.
“Alrighty!” Misty went to reach for her pin cushion before something dawned on her. “So, I actually should have said this before, but could you put the dress on inside out? That way I can take it in correctly. I could always do a French seam, but this isn’t really the place for that.”
“Oh, sorry. Yeah, I can do that now.” Jackie then looked at Misty expectantly. Misty stood staring at her for a second before realizing that Jackie was waiting for her to leave so that she could change. Misty nodded three times in rapid succession before once again skittering from the room. She only realized when she had closed the door behind her that she was still clutching her pin cushion.
Idiot, she smacked her forehead. The basic rule of altering clothes dictated that you pin them while they were inside out! How could she have forgotten that? Now Jackie was going to think that she was incompetent. In the locker room, Misty had claimed that she altered her clothing all the time. And she did! Having Jackie here was messing with her far more than she had realized. It’s going to be fine. This snag in efficiency won’t take too long and you’ll still have plenty of time to watch movies and eat popcorn. It’s fine. You’re fine.
Misty was about to start pacing when her bedroom door opened again. “I’m ready for take two,” Jackie smiled at her.
“Awesome!” Misty lurched back towards her room, hoping that she didn’t appear too eager. She walked Jackie back towards her desk and set the pincushion down. “So there’s not a ton of fabric to be taken in, which means that the pins won’t look like they’re doing that much. But trust me, once I actually sew it, you’ll notice the difference.”
“I trust that you know what you’re doing,” Jackie said reassuringly. “And the sleeves? You can fix those, too?”
“Of course. I didn’t get voted best seamstress in my class for nothing!” Misty grinned. Then she got set to pinning. She was careful with the fabric around Jackie’s waist, minding herself to not get too close to the other girl. She pinched the dress, treating it as if it belong to queen of England. This was the most important sewing job Misty had ever, and likely would ever, do in her life. “Stay still here so I don’t poke you by accident,” Misty murmured under her breath.
Jackie hummed her acknowledgement.
Misty pulled back, taking in her handiwork. “Okay, that looks good! Now the sleeves.” Her hands lifted to pinch the dress’ straps so she would be able to pin them in place, but that felt like a violation of Jackie’s space. It would put her hands far closer to Jackie’s chest than Misty was sure Jackie would be comfortable with. Besides, Misty had already gotten close enough to her captain with her previous pin work. She didn’t want to push things. She needed this to go well so that next time Jackie wouldn’t come over to just have Misty play tailor. No, this was a gold mine in terms of showing Jackie what Misty would be like as a friend. Next time, Jackie would come over with a movie that she’d rented because she just knew that the two of them would have a fun time watching it. But that would only happen if Misty did everything correctly.
Misty dropped her hands. “Could you adjust the straps to where you want them to lay? Then I can pin them.”
“Of course,” Jackie said, reaching up to pinch the straps on one side. Misty grabbed a pin and forced it though the thick, folded over fabric of Jackie’s dress. Jackie moved to do the same on the other side, and Misty went to get another pin as Jackie tried to match the second strap with the first. “I think this is the same as on the other side?”
“We’ll see when I pin it in place. If it’s not, I can just repin. Nothing is set in stone, yet!” Misty made quick work of the other sleeve. “That looks exact! Fantastic!”
Jackie examined herself in the mirror above Misty’s desk. “Wow. My boobs look so much better in this now.”
Misty glanced between Jackie’s chest and her face. The other girl wasn’t wrong, but Misty didn’t know if it was okay to say that. Did her and Jackie have the kind of relationship where it was okay to say that? Better safe than sorry. “Mmm. Sleeves can really impact the silhouette of a dress.”
Jackie laughed. “You bet they can.”
Yes! Misty internally congratulated herself. She had made Jackie laugh, which meant that she had said the right thing! She had done a good job. “This all looks great from my perspective,” Misty started. Then just as quickly as the words left her mouth, she regretted saying them. Couldn’t she have just said you look great like any other teenage girl talking to their friend. She rushed to say, “As the one sewing it all, I mean. Does it feel normal, or should I take in more fabric from the sides?”
“No, this is…” Jackie turned in the mirror, taking in the fit with a clinical eye. “This is perfect.”
“Fantastic! Then I’ll just pop right out, you can take off the dress, and I can get to sewing it!” Misty clapped her hands. Then we can watch movies and eat popcorn.
“Thank you, Misty. You’re a lifesaver,” Jackie looked her in the eyes. “Seriously, I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
Misty’s brain just about short circuited. She was a lifesaver to Jackie. Because of her, Jackie would be able to get to wear this dress to the dance. And so, in a way, she would sort of be going to the dance with Jackie. By proxy of the dress. So it didn’t even matter that as Jackie danced with Jeff or Shauna or whoever. Because Jackie would be reminded of Misty every time that she looked down at the dress she was wearing.
Misty realised that it had been about three seconds longer than it would have taken for a regular person to respond. “Oh! Of course! Literally anytime! I mean it, if you ever need anything I will help you with it.” That was too much. Misty smiled. She hoped it was friendly enough to tone down what was sinking in to be oddly intense words. Not giving Jackie any time to say anything, Misty turned and walked out so that Jackie could change. “I’ll let you change now!” Misty called as she neared the door. Could she save this all with a joke? “But not too much!”
Misty closed the door behind her while trying to decide if she had succeeded at that interaction. She’d been doing so well. The second Jackie gave her confirmation of that, calling her a lifesaver, it all fell apart. Misty slid her fingers under her glasses, pinching the bridge of her nose. She knew she was too off putting for her own good. She had only hoped that just this once, she could manage to be normal.
Good things did come in threes, because for a third time Jackie stuck her head out of Misty’s door. She was wearing the same t-shirt and jeans that she’d been wearing when she first arrived at Misty’s house. “I’m decent!”
“Great,” Misty nodded and came back into the room.
Jackie raised a lump of fabric towards Misty, “Here’s the dress.”
“Great,” Misty said again. What is wrong with you. You JUST said great. There are other adjectives out there. “Awesome! This will take no time at all! Provided that my machine decides to cooperate instead of taking on a mind of its own. But it should behave this time. It’s been good lately. To tell you the truth, I think it can sense fear. But that won’t be a problem.”
Jackie’s eyebrows raised in a way that suggested she found Misty’s yammering to be humorous. “It won’t be?”
“Not at all! See, since I’m sewing it inside out, all of the strings will be inside. So even if my machine is having a bad day, you’ll never even know when you’re wearing the dress.” Misty sat down in front of the machine, laying Jackie’s dress out in front of herself.
“You keep personifying the sewing machine like it’s this wild beast that needs to be tamed,” Jackie noted.
Misty shuffled the fabric so that it was under the machine’s needle. She had already threaded it with white prior to Jackie’s arrival, which she figured would be fine since it was just internal stitching. “It is a wild beast that needs to be tamed! These things are seriously temperamental. I make a lot fewer mistakes than I used to, and half of that is just that the machine is used to me by now.”
Jackie laughed. Again. Yes! That was her second laugh of the night. Misty had to be doing something right. Her wobble earlier meant nothing in the face of her victory now.
“This is going to be kinda loud,” Misty warned Jackie before turning on the machine and pressing the pedal down. She worked in the calm that the machine’s droning provided while Jackie watched her. It was quick and easy, just as Misty predicted it would be. The alterations weren’t extreme. Besides, Misty knew that she needed to make short work of this. Time was already a-wasting!
When she ran into the straps, a slight problem arose. “Oh no,” Misty muttered to herself.
“Is something wrong?” Jackie was alarmed.
Misty needed to quell that alarm. Immediately. “No! Nothing wrong at all, it’s all fine. It’s just that the fabric is thick…” Misty bit her lip. This kind of thing could break her needle if she went pedal to the metal. It would be worth it to break the needle for Jackie, but she didn’t have any backups. And she certainly wasn’t hand stitching at this point. That would take ages. “Although, I think if I…” Misty trailed off. She took the wheel on the side of the machine and manually rotated it, piercing the needle through the fabric. It refused to go. “Come on, work with me,” Misty said to the needle. She exerted just the faintest bit more force on the wheel. The needle passed through the doubled over fabric of the sleeves. “Yes!”
“You figured it out?”
“Yep,” Misty said, continuing her progress. With that bullet dodged, she finished the sleeves in record time.
“Okay, this is technically all set. I just want you to try on the dress one more time to make sure that everything fits how it’s supposed to. It would be terrible if something came up on the day of the dance and then you couldn’t wear this! It’s such a beautiful dress.” And I am now a part of this beautiful dress.
Jackie nodded and went to take the dress from where it lay on Misty’s desk. “That’s some clever thinking, Quigley.”
“Thanks,” Misty smiled. In a perfectly normal way, this time. She left the room for a fourth time. But this time, she didn’t overthink as she waited in the hallway. She just mentally reflected on her work, thinking back to how she had aligned the pattern on the dress so that it wouldn’t look odd when its sides were restitched. When Jackie summoned Misty back into the room, Misty did not re-enter with slight trepidation at the presentation of a new social situation that she could mess up. She walked into her room eager to see how her completed job looked.
“Oh, that’s beautiful!” Misty cried out. “This looks so much better than it did before!”
“Damn right it does. This is going to be perfect for the dance.”
“You’ll have to tell me if it gets any compliments,” Misty said unthinkingly, moving to clean up the carnage of loose strings that had made their home on her desk.
Jackie was silent for a beat. Misty just barely refrained from whipping her head around. She had just been doing so well. What was wrong with what she had just said? It had seemed fine to Misty. Clearly not, though, if it provoked this reaction from Jackie.
“About that,” Jackie said. “Misty, are you sure you don’t want to go to the dance?”
“I have to--”
“Study, I know, you said. But this is just one night off from that. You could have a lot of fun, you never know.”
I do know. I know that I will stand there and watch other people have fun, but how can I have fun when I am in a place where it is so clear that I am an outsider? But Misty didn’t say any of that. “Not more fun than I’ll have with my physics! A night of dancing won’t beat the joy that I feel when I do well on that test!”
A look passed over Jackie’s face that Misty couldn’t quite decipher. But it was gone just as quickly as it had appeared. “Suit yourself. I’ll get out of your hair, now. It’s getting late.”
“Is it?” Misty glanced at the clock on her wall. It was barely 7 o’clock. If she wanted to get to bed by a reasonable time, then there were still a solid three hours of merriment that still could have been had.
“Yeah, I should really get going. I’m sure you have a lot to do, and it’s a school night.”
Misty tried not to feel like she had just been kicked in the gut. Jackie was the one who probably had a lot to do. She probably had people to call. Friends to talk with. Misty wanted to ask Jackie to stay. She desperately did, and her desperation disgusted her. Why was she like this? Why was she always the one clinging on? Begging for more than she was given? She could imagine Jackie telling Shauna about this later. Telling the brunette about how Misty had barely let Jackie leave. How the girls on the team were probably the only regular conversation Misty got. How there were no polaroids with friends on her walls, or photos taken in photobooths. It all flashed before Misty like remnants of a bad dream that are suddenly recalled over breakfast during the day. The way everyone on the team would distance themselves from Misty more than they already had. How they would all join in on the bullying that they all seemed to mostly refrain from. If there was one thing Misty was grateful for, it was that. No matter how awful the other kids at school could get, she never heard a word against her in the hallways from her fellow Yellowjackets. Did they give her a fair amount of jibing during practice hours? Yes. But who could fault them that? Certainly not Misty.
“Yes, definitely. I bet you do, too,” Misty managed to get out. “I’ll just walk you to the door, then.”
She and Jackie made their way through Misty’s house. Past tasteful art and the occasional framed family photo. Misty went a bit faster as they went by the kitchen. Jackie didn’t need to see the bowls and microwave popcorn that sat unpopped in their bags. That popcorn would be going straight back into the cabinet as soon as Jackie was gone. Along with Misty’s hopes for friendship with Jackie.
Finally they were at the door.
“I wanted to thank you again for this,” Jackie motioned down to the dress that she was still wearing. “You’re a real friend for helping me out on such short notice. I feel like I need to repay you somehow.”
There was that word again. Friend. Coming out of Jackie’s mouth. In reference to Misty. Had Misty really done it? Had she turned Jackie into her friend in less than an hour? Was she really that powerful?
“Nope, don’t you even worry about it!” Misty paused before deciding to take a page out of Jackie’s book. She would use the word. “This is what friends are for, right? Helping each other out?”
Jackie studied Misty’s face. Misty wasn’t sure what Jackie was looking for, so she just stood still. “Yeah. Absolutely. Well, anyways, thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow at practice?”
“I’ll be there!” Misty chirped.
“See you then!” Jackie turned, heading down the front steps to her car.
“Drive safe!” There. That was the final staple. Misty had been polite, kind, had made Jackie laugh several times, and had wished her well on her travels. What more could anyone want in a friend? After all, Jackie had just confirmed it herself and then confirmed it again when she didn’t protest to being called Misty’s friend. Yes, it was a let down that she and Jackie hadn’t gotten to do all of the fun things that Misty had planned. But all of that sorta paled in comparison to Jackie calling Misty her friend. Misty hadn’t even needed the whole evening to do it. Not that she was using the whole plan with movies and popcorn as a secret operation to befriend Jackie. It was just a plan designed to show Jackie what a great and valuable friend Misty could be. And all planning aside, Misty herself was supposed to have fun with Jackie. But none of that mattered now. Jackie was gone. The house was empty. Misty’s parents were out of town on one of their date nights and wouldn’t be back until late. Misty supposed she could get some surplus studying done.
Or, she could spend her time going over every single detail of the night. Repeatedly. Whatever she had done had worked with Jackie. Misty was determined to find out exactly what X factor she had been imbued with that evening to make Jackie Taylor call Misty her friend.
So when Misty carefully tucked away her movies in alphabetical order, she was not disappointed that Jackie had left early. When she put the popcorn and bowls away she hardly even noticed the aching feeling settling into her stomach and around her ribs. She and Jackie were friends. What more could Misty want?