#BlogBattle: Drop – Week 17 – Drop a Hint

🙂 Tuesday = #Blogbattle

#BlogBattle is a weekly short story challenge using a single word for inspiration.  Hosted by the talented Rachael Ritchey.  This weeks word:  Drop

This is a continuation of one of my previous stories, All the Rage.  I had fun with the two main characters Michael and Nita, so I brought them back this week.  So here goes.

Drop a Hint

It’s Tuesday morning, Nita walks into the Cosmetology school, and finds Michael already in the break room.

“Michael I’ve been texting you all weekend…you didn’t answer, what’s up with that?”

“Good morning to you too Peaches.” He replies flatly.

“Seriously, why didn’t you answer me?” I insist.

“First of all…breathe.”  He makes an exaggerated motion of breathing in and out, prompting me to join him.  I give him an exasperated look and smack him on the arm, causing him to explain.

“I didn’t have my phone.  Saturday night I was out with Jasmine, Nate, Mia and Roman. We were driving around before they took me home…the weather was so fabulous, we had the windows rolled down and the music cranked up, and you know how I get when the beat drops.” He raises his arms eager to demonstrate.

I quickly put up my hand and say, “Uh. No!!  It’s too early for all that.”

He puts his arms down and shrugs and continues to explain, “My phone must have fallen out of my pocket in Jasmine’s car.  She didn’t get it back to me until late last night, and the battery was completely dead.  I thought I was going to die without my phone, but surprisingly I actually got a lot of stuff done…who knew?  Soooo…how was your date with Jason?”  He looks at the time on his phone, grabs my arm and says, “We have to go, walk and talk Buttercup, walk and talk.”

“I hardly think you could call it a date Michael, we were with his Grandparents.” Michael gives me a sideways glance and then a dramatic roll of the eyes.

“Ok, if it was a date, then it was pretty close to perfect.”  By this time we made our way to our adjacent stations, and begin setting up.  It would be slow; it always was on a Tuesday, so we would just be doing work on our mannequins, which would give us a chance to talk.

“Pretty close to perfect?” Michael asks.

“Yeah I’ll get to that.  The wine tasting fest was very interesting and a lot of fun.  I don’t know one wine from the other, but Jason seems like a wine connoisseur, and knows his wine.”

“Oh gawd, he’s not one of those wine snobs is he?” Michael questions with a hand to his chest in mock horror.

“Oh no, he seemed to enjoy teaching me all about the various wines we tasted, it was actually quite fun.  Hank and Sophia walked around with us for a little while.  Jason must have been getting texts on his phone, because every so often he would look at his phone, and almost look upset, but then put it back in his pocket.  Well you know Sophia, she noticed it and by the third time she called him out on it.”

“Good for her, what did she say?” Michael says.

“She said, ‘Jason dear, how can you even think to look at that high-tech gizmo even for a second, when you have the most beautiful woman right here in front of you.  What could possibly be more important?’ Jason told her, ‘you are absolutely right Grandma that is why I just turned it off.’ I continue my story.

“Gotta love grandma,” Michael fondly says.

I go on, “We had stopped and sat down at a table for a bit, Hank and Sophia were on one side, Jason and I on the other.  Jason then suggested that we go get a bite to eat.  It was so funny, Hank was about to say that it sounded like a great idea, but Sophia must of pinched him under the table or something, because he couldn’t get the whole sentence out before a look of pain and annoyance came over his face.  Then Sophia interrupted and said, ‘Hank, dear, I think we should head home, I’ve got stuff to make us some sandwiches, let the kids go on by themselves.’  I could feel the glare she gave him from across the table.”  I quietly laugh as I recall the scene.

“That Sophia, she’s a feisty one isn’t she.”  Michael says shaking his head

“Yeah she is,” I agree with a chuckle.  “So then we went to dinner, and it was really nice.  But I had gone to the bathroom at some point and when I was walking back, I could see him and he was texting on his phone.  As I approached the table, he tried to play it off, and quickly slipped his phone back in his pocket without saying anything about it.  So that was what made the date pretty close to perfect.  I mean I would understand if it was work related or something, and he could have just told me, it was just weird.” I say still trying to understand it myself.

“Well darlin’, you should know by now, there’s no such thing as a perfect man.  There’s just the select few of us that are damn near close.” He drawled in his best southern accent.  This is one of Michael’s things, some days the more he talks, the more his southern accent comes out.  I have no idea how that is even possible since he was born and raised in Maine.  How much more North could you get?

I tilt my head sideways and just look at him and say, “Really Michael?”

“You betcha.” He gestured like he was shooting a gun and then winked.  All I could do is laugh, there was no stopping him now.

“Well all in all it was still a nice day, and on the drive home, I tried to drop hints that I’d like to see him again, without being too obvious.”  I assert.

“Well, that there Missy never works.  Droppin’ hints to a fella is as useful as a screen door on a submarine.” He continues to drawl.

Laughing I say, “Ok Michael, I think we need some lunch.”  Hoping the change of scenery will bring him back up North.

We grab my purse from my locker and as we head to my car I check my messages on my phone.  I am pleasantly shocked to see a message from Jason.  Before I reply to him I say to Michael, “Hmmm…screen doors on submarines, huh?”  I hold out my phone so he can read the message on the screen

If you’re not busy tonight, how about
we check out that new place you
suggested.  Would love to see you.  🙂

“Well of course he wants to see you again, Gingersnap, that’s ‘cuz you’re prettier than a glob of butter meltin’ on a stack of pancakes.”  Micheal says with a grin as he drapes his arm over my shoulders and we head to my car.