Description: Lara begrudgingly introduces her best friend to her boyfriend . . .
Author's Note: Gabie is the first character (other than the BSB and their associates, of course) that has not been created by me. My friend Gabs is actually a person, who (strangely enough) is actually a fan of the awful group the Backstreet Boys! She begged me to write her into a story, so anyway, here it goes. Even though she is a fan of *that* particular group, she is still a tres cool person and friend. This story is for you Gabs! ;)
Anyway - You know the drill!
"No, you'll embarrass me!"
"I will not! Please! Best friend ever in the www! Puleeeeeeze!"
"I said no! And BTW I am not a member of the world wide web!"
"Www = whole wide world - ditz!"
"That's it! There is no way!"
"Lara!" Gabie whined. "You mean to say I flew all the way out here to meet your boyfriend and now I don't even get to? Lara . . .?"
Lara continued making her sandwich. She had invited one of her best friends on Earth down to visit her in BC from Ontario. Now, as they stood in Lara's kitchen, Gabie whining at her every second, Lara was beginning to regret it.
"Awe Gabs! I thought you came down here to see me!" Lara replied good-naturedly.
"Psht! No!" Gabs snipped sarcastically. Lara gave her a hurt look. Gabie laughed in her charming way. "Of course I came down here to see you! But I want to meet him too! Give him my stamp of approval!"
Lara gave Gabs a doubtful look and took a bite of her seaweed, tofu, left over chili and rice sandwich.
"C'mon!" Gabs continued, smiling. She began to sing: "Cause, If you want to be Lara's lover, gotta get in with Gabs! Make it last forever! Gabs never ever blabs! If you want to be Lara's lover-" Gabie started to do the dance from the Wannabe music video. Lara began to laugh, unfortunately her mouth was full of food which she spit all over Gabie. This only made Lara laugh harder. Gabs glanced up at a string of seaweed hanging from her hair. "Just for that, I better get to meet him!" Through her laughter Lara nodded.
"C'mon Nick! I've already met her once!" Brian whined at Nick, as he and his friend grabbed their luggage and headed for a cab.
"Yes, and you embarrassed me then too!" Nick snapped. "Take a separate cab!"
"I'll just tell the driver to follow you!" Brian warned.
Nick rolled his eyes. "Yeah Bri, one yellow taxi following another yellow taxi in a city where there are a million yellow taxi's-"
"This isn't New York, Nick!" Brian interrupted.
"No, it's Vancouver and there are plenty of taxis around - believe me!" Nick replied.
Brian sighed as they walked through the glass sliding doors of the airport. "If you didn't want me to meet her again, why did you ask me come?"
"I didn't! You invited yourself!"
Brian paused mid-step. "Oh yeah." He remembered flatly. He continued. "If you let me come I'll only say good things about you to Lara . . .?" Brian raised his eyebrows.
Nick turned to his friend. "Why do you want to come so badly?" He asked honestly.
Brian looked his friend in the eyes. "Because she's an important part of your life and I'd like to get to know her." Brian answered seriously.
Nick wrinkled his nose. "Fine! You can come! But no funny business - got it?" He hailed a cab.
Brian stood up straight and saluted. "Aye, aye - Sir!" The taxi pulled up.
"Damn straight!" Nick nodded. "Owe!"
"You fool," Gabie mused, assessing Nick's head injury.
"Fool! I am -"
"Yes, I know you are!" Gabie delighted in interrupting him.
"Aye! That he is!" Brian added, nodding quickly.
"Shut up! Both of you!" Nick told them angrily. "It's bad enough that -"
"Nick! You're early!" Lara gasped, walking out of the hall in just her bathrobe, toweling her wet hair.
"Wow! Bright lights go off in Lara's brain! A revelation!" Gabie stated grandly. She wiped an alcohol swab over Nick's small head abrasion.
"Owe!" Nick cried. "What are you doing?!?"
"Disinfecting it, you mut! Who knows what kind of excrement you've been digging in!" Gabie returned.
"Gabie!" Lara chided.
"I like this boyfriend of yours, Lara! He takes abuse well!" Gabie laughed.
Lara sat down on the black leather couch beside Nick. "Don't worry Nick," She told her boyfriend sweetly. "Gabie is a professional. We actually met each other at a life guarding convention in Calgary." Lara raised her fist in the air. "More power to White Pine!"
Gabie paused her examination to lift her fist in the air. "More power to Queen E.!"
Together the two girls shouted: "Camp Tangerine!"
Brian shook his head. "Reminiscing about the good old days at the ripe ages 23, 19, 18 and 18 - makes you wonder when we'll go rotten . . ."
"Brian," Lara whispered in his ear. "I know I've just met you once before, but it really does worry me when you compare yourself to fruit."
"Anyway," Lara nodded toward Nick. "What happened to you?"
"He was whacked off by a cab!" Gabie informed her gleefully.
"He was what?!?" Lara asked incredulously.
"Whacked off," Brian repeated. "Whacked off on the bean real good!"
Lara bit her lip. "Please tell me that ‘bean' is still some sort of slang word for head?"
"Ya, ya! Mon it is good - eh?" Gabie replied in a German accent.
"Kay." Lara said quietly.
"Hey Nick?" Gabie began. "Did I ever tell you about the time Lara ran naked across the football field at Notre Dame?"
"Streaked!" Lara corrected swiftly.
"No, no, streaked sounds far too covered up! She ran naked," Gabie smiled, nodding at Nick. She completed patching his head up with a Flintstones butterfly band-aid. "Thousands of football fans -"
"There were not thousands! Like next to no one was there!" Lara interrupted.
"- Saw your girlfriend naked. I bet that's more than you've seen, isn't it Nick?" Gabie smiled sweetly.
Nick stared at her, open mouthed.
"Hey Lara, did I ever tell you about the time we threw Nick out of the dressing room in just his briefs, in front of a whole bunch of fans? And they started grabbing at him and yelling: ‘Take them off! Take them off!'- Did I ever tell you about that?" Brian asked innocently.
Lara's face paled.
Brian and Gabie exchanged glances. This was going to be fun.
"Yes, you already told me that story, Brian," Lara nodded grimly.
Brian sighed. "Oh but there's just so many of them! How ‘bout the time -"
Lara and Nick exchanged a glance, then a smile. "I need a drink!" Lara said suddenly. She hurried into the kitchen. Nick was quick to follow her.
They glanced into the living room. Gabie and Brian were whispering and laughing together.
"I've got a plan, to get rid of these two . . ." Lara smiled.
"Oh, well, hmm, I wonder if we should try it . . ." Nick returned her smile, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.
"Oh yeah?" Gabie laughed. "Well, I - What are they doing?"
Lara and Nick marched by silently. They both held strange looking objects in their hands.
Brian's eyebrows creased. "I have no idea! Let's follow them!"
The two scurried after their friends. Soon Brian began doing a mission impossible type dance and they both began humming the theme song. They hurried up the plush, carpeted stairs to the guest room. Entering, Gabie kept her back to the wall and followed it around to the walk-in closet. Brian copied her actions. On either side of the closet, Gabie counted them in: "1, 2, 3 - Go!" They turned and, shoulder to shoulder, pointed their invisible guns at the invisible intruders in the closet. No Lara and Nick.
"Huh?" Brian wondered.
Out of nowhere came a shove from behind. Gabie and Brian tumbled into the closet. The doors swung shut. They could hear Lara and Nick laughing on the other side. There was a strange noise, like something being shoved through the door handles of the closet. Then nothing.
"Shit!" Brian muttered.
"Is dark and smelly - much like this closet," Gabie added.
Lara quickly slammed the doors shut and rammed a piece of wood through the large brass door handles. She wiped her hands off on her bathrobe.
"Well, now that's over with!" She smiled. Nick wrapped his arms around her and kissed her lips softly.
"I'm so glad they're out of the way . . ." He whispered. Lara laughed as he swept her off her feet.
"Oh! My knight in shining armor!" She giggled.
"Yeah, we could do that one!" Nick grinned.
That only made Lara laugh harder as Nick carried her out the door.
"Oh, oh my . . ." Gabie murmured.
"I'm praying right now that you're not claustrophobic . . . ?" Brian told her hopefully.
"A little, but don't worry - nothing too serious!" She lay back on the floor.
"The dark?" He continued.
"Oh, I'm not afraid of the dark!" Gabie told him. "Just the little grey men that live in it!" Brian was silent. Gabie paused then continued. "Oh so silence is your weapon? Ha! You're just jealous because the little voices talk to me!"
There was still no response. Gabie sat up. "Brian?" "Ha, ha, ha! Very funny! Well, when you get bored of trying to scare me and decide to come out and talk, I'll be around!" Gabie informed the darkness, lying back down on the floor.
Just then she felt a pawing at her feet. "Brian?"
"Yes?" A deep voice just above her head answered.
Gabie screamed. "Oh my God! What was that? My feet! Oh my God! Brian there's something in here!"
"No, there's not! Gabs - That's what Lara calls you, right? - there's nothing in here. I was just trying to scare you - that's all," Brian tried to ease her fears.
"No, there was something touching my feet!" Gabie cried.
"It was probably just some old shoes left in here or something. Don't worry about it! I promise you, there is nothing else in here," Brian said calmly.
Gabie nodded, but reached along the floor until she found his hand. She gripped it. "Okay."
"So," She said shakily, thinking she might as well try to start a conversation. "Are you in school? Do you have a job or anything?"
"Huh?" Brian asked. "Oh, I thought you knew. You didn't ask when I mentioned about Nick's fans and everything - so I just assumed-"
"Well, I know Nick's in some sort of entertainment line - are you as well?" Gabie continued. She pulled her light brown hair out of her face.
"Yeah, we're in a music group together. You may have heard of us: The Backstreet Boys?"
Just then Gabie jumped to her feet and screamed: "Help! Lara! Help! Someone! Anyone! Help Me!"
"Whoa! No need to get so excited now," Brian rolled his eyes.
Gabie moved away from him to the other side of the closet.
"Gabie, it's okay - Don't worry," Brian started. He sighed. "What are you afraid of? That I'll break into song?"
"Maybe . . ." Gabie replied in a small voice.
"Gabs, I promise I won't break into song, now will you come out?" Brian requested.
Just then Brian heard a shuffling noise.
"What was that?" Gabs asked.
"I don't know," Brian replied.
"Kay, I'll come out - now remember, no breaking into song! This isn't musical theater, it's a smelly closet," Gabie informed him.
"Oops - guess I missed that one," Brian muttered.
Just then there was another shuffling noise. "What was that?" Gabie asked him.
"I don't know," Brian replied. "Where are you?"
"I'm right behind you."
"Here?"
"Here."
"So then, what was that noise?" Brian wondered.
"Stop it! Stop trying to scare me," Gabie ordered.
"Honestly Gabie, I'm not doing anything!" Brian told her.
There was that noise again. A scampering, then a hissing.
Gabie grabbed Brian's hand again. "What the hell is that?"
"Muffin? Muffin? Where are you?" Lara called.
Nick walked out of the living room and into the kitchen. "What are you doing?" He asked incredulously.
"I'm calling Muffin," Lara replied.
"You jump up in the middle of kissing me to call for a muffin?" Nick's eyebrows creased. "I really don't think bakeries deliver . . . especially when you don't even pick up the phone . . ."
"No, Nick," Lara sighed. "Muffin is my cat. I forgot to feed Muffin and when Muffin isn't fed, Muffin gets mad - Muffin gets very mad."
"Mad Muffin, very mad Muffin," Nick mused.
"When Muffin gets hungry, you feed Muffin," Lara continued. "Muffin is one big Muffin."
"Muffin - a hungry Muffin," Nick thought it over. "So does Muffin like to eat muffins?"
"It's not funny Nick," Lara sighed. "But yes, as a matter of fact Muffin does like to eat muffins."
"A mad Muffin hungrily eating many muffins . . ." Nick wondered."What's Muffin's favorite kind of muffin?"
Lara began pacing the house searching for Muffin. "Friends, Muffin likes the muffins-friends. It's a mix of lots of different berries and oats. It's a really good muffin to feed to muffin."
Nick nodded. "Muffin and muffins-friends."
Lara glanced back at him and rolled her eyes.
Gabie and Brian had curled up into the corner of the closet as far away from that thing as possible.
"Brian, move over your squishing me," Gabie whined.
"No, you move, there's no way I'm getting anywhere near that thing," Brian snipped, huddling closer to her.
"You're the guy! You're suppose to protect me!" Gabie shoved him.
"No, I'm not! I thought you were a feminist!" Brian retorted. "What happened to girl power?"
"I am a feminist and that would be womyn power," Gabie shrugged. "Either way you remain quite a few sizes larger than me."
"What difference does that -" Brian was cut off by a moaning hissing sound. Then a low growl.
"Oi vey," Gabie squeaked.
"It's okay," Brian murmured. "It's okay it's-"
Just then there was a loud growl and a dark mass attacked Brian and dug it's claws into his flesh. Brian howled in pain and began hopping up and down on one foot, screaming: "It's on me! It's on me! Get it off! Get it off!"
Gabie took control. She screwed her fear and made a grab for Brian's legs, knocking him over. She reached up and grabbed the dark mass and hurled it against the wall. Everything was silent. Gabie approached the thing on the floor and touched it with her foot.
"Oh my God," Gabie murmured.
"What is it?" Brian cried.
"It's - oh my God! It's Muffin!" Gabie realized finally. She knelt down to pick up Lara's pet.
‘It's what?!?" Brian shouted. He had sudden images of a giant salivating, oat bran muffin running, or rather rolling, around the closet, hissing at them and finally attacking him.
"It's Muffin! Lara's cat! Oh Muffin!" Gabie cooed. Just then Muffin opened its eyes. "Oh no!" Gabie gasped. "Muffin hasn't been fed!"
"Is that a bad thing?" Brian asked.
"You don't understand!" Gabie said, jumping up and away from the predator called Muffin. "When Muffin gets hungry, you feed Muffin, or Muffin get's mad!"
"Oh shit!"
"Oh Muffin!"
"Muffin! Where are you kitty?" Lara called. Just then she heard a deranging sounding howl; Muffin's token hungry call.
She glanced at Nick. "It came from the guestroom," he nodded.
Lara's eyes went wide. "Oh no!"
"Gabie don't worry! We're coming!" Lara cried, bolting up the stairs. Nick was at her heels. Lara sprinted into the guest room and shoved the wood out of the door handles.
The closet doors flew open and a dark mass sprang from the closet: Muffin.
"Oh no! Muffin's really hungry!" Lara screamed.
Muffin glared at Lara and glanced at Nick. Then Muffin sprang forward and landed on Nick's head.
"Ah!" Nick screamed. "Get it off! Get it off!"
Gabie and Brian emerged from the closet looking tired and shaken. Seeing what was happening, Gabie announced: "Wait here! I'll save you!"
She sprinted down stairs, grabbed a bag of ‘Muffin's friends' and sprinted back up the stairs. Gabie tore open the bag and hurled the muffin's at Muffin.
The cat predator was off Nick's head in a second, devouring as many muffin's as possible.
"Did you name that cat Muffin because it loves muffins?" Nick asked Lara, panting.
Lara sighed with relief. "No, Gabie named it after a counselor at Queen E."
Nick glanced over at Gabie and glared at her. "My hero!" he muttered.
Gabie was still breathing hard, she squinted at him and nodded.
"You're outta here!" Nick and Lara told their friends, simultaneously pushing them out the door while handing them their bags.
"See ya in two days!" They added slamming the door and locking it.
Gabie glanced at Brian. Brian looked at Gabie.
Gabie turned her palm over to reveal a spare key to Lara's house. "So you want to get drink or something?" Gabie smiled.
Brian returned her smile. "You know Gabie, I think this could be the start of a beautiful friendship!"
TH E ND
So what did you think? Good, bad, okay, lame? I love feedback, as long as it's honest!
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