If Tomorrow Never Comes
Chapter 13
Shane smiled, as he finished off his completely made up story, of why Melanee couldn’t
make it to the café.
“Wow, so she’s really sick, huh?” Gillian said, taking a sip of the coffee she had
ordered, “poor thing, we’ll have to go visit her.”
“Yeah,” Shane said, a little preoccupied.
He was thinking of what Mel had said to him.
First off, she was just being weird. All this talk of not being attractive, and everyone
hating her; It was just bizarre.
It was very unlike Melanee. She was normally so confident and sure of herself, she
has always used the fact that she was pretty to her advantage, Shane wondered what
could have possibly brought this on.
“Shane?” Gillian said, smiling warmly at him, “do you?”
“What?” Shane said, aware that Gillian had been talking to him, but had no idea what
she was actually saying, “sorry, I was just thinking about something… what were you
saying?” Gillian smiled, “Shane?” she asked, “why isn’t Mel here?”
“What?” Shane said, looking Gillian up and down, “I told you, she got really sick
and had to go home, she didn’t even go to work this morning!”
Gillian raised her eyebrows, “really?” she asked.
“Yes,” Shane said, wondering what she was talking about.
“But Melanee called me about an hour before we were due to meet, and told me to expect
her to bring you along…she said she was fine, and would be looking forward to meeting
me.
Shane smiled nervously, he was never good at lying, “well… she got sick…at work and
had to get home, this was… after you talked to her…”
Gillian laughed, “did Mel ever tell you, you were a hopeless liar!” she said, picking
up a strawberry and placing it in her mouth.
Shane just sat there for a moment, thinking about how kissable her lips looked, then
he snapped back into reality, “what do you mean?” he asked.
“You can’t fool me, Mel isn’t here, but she isn’t sick,” Gill said, wiping her mouth
with a napkin, “now where is she?”
Shane contemplated lying again, but decided against it, “Erm… it’s a long story…”
he muttered.
Gillian raised her eyebrows again, “we’ve got all afternoon,” she prompted.
Shane thought about it for a moment, “well,” he said, “we had a little fight, when
we arrived at the café, and she ran off.”
“Really?” Gillian said, leaning closer, “were you having a lover’s quarrel?”
“Oh, no!” Shane said, “we aren’t together, we’re just friends.”
“Oh,” Gill said, a little doubtful, “so what were you arguing about?”
“Well…” Shane said, trying to work out how he could say it, without it sounding like
he and Mel were a couple, “we were arguing about…” “Yes…” Gill prompted.
“It sounds a little weird,” Shane warned, “she was asking me why I didn’t want to…
sleep with her…”
“Oh, really?” Gillian said, suppressing a laugh, “and you guys aren’t involved!”
“No, that came out wrong,” Shane said, wondering how to put it, “she was wondering
why I didn’t find her attractive enough to sleep with her. See, I've just recently
broken up with my girlfriend.”
“Really?” Gillian said, looking Shane up and down, “how interesting.”
“Anyway,” Shane said, trying to hide his blushing face, “Mel just sorta went off,
when I told her that we were good friends, so we couldn’t sleep together.”
“So, she wanted to jump you, basically?” Gill asked, eating another strawberry.
“No,” Shane said, “that’s the weird thing, when I asked her if she’d ever actually
want to go out with me, she said no!”
Gillian laughed and shook her head, “typical Mel, eh?” she said, “always asking for
things she doesn’t really want!”
Shane laughed about this for a moment, before stopping abruptly, “but, I've never
seen her like that before,” he said, deep in thought, “something must have triggered
her off. But she was happy when we arrived here, then in like 10 minutes she turned
all funny and started asking all these questions. She’s never been insecure before!”
Gill nodded her head in agreement, “I remember when we were growing up, she was always
the one with the boyfriends, and I was always the insecure one.”
Shane smiled at this, “but surely you had guys coming out of your ears,” he said,
“I mean, look at you!”
Gillian blushed at this, “thanks, Shane,” she said, then looked up at him, “you’re
really sweet, I can see why Melanee loves you so much.”
Shane’s thoughts floated back to Melanee, and he frowned again, “I don’t know what
could be wrong with her?” he said.
Gillian smiled at Shane and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “Mel’s a big girl,
she can take care of herself.”
Shane looked over at Gill and an image of kissing her full, red lips, filled his
mind. He quickly shook out his thoughts and smiled back at Gill.
“You’re right,” he said, trying to convince himself as much as he was trying to convince
Gill, “I'm sure she’s fine…”
Gill looked down at her watch, “Well, Shane,” she said, standing up, “it’s been nice
meeting you, and I'm sure we’ll she each other again. But I have to go to a meeting
at the moment, you know, another business conference to add to my list of work requirements!”
“What do you do?” Shane asked, getting out of his seat too, and paying the bill.
“I work in advertising,” Gillian said, smiling, “oh, I never asked, what is Mel doing
with herself, these days?”
“Ah!” Shane said, nodding his head, “she’s landed herself a job as a television presenter.
Some new Saturday morning program!”
“Wow, she’s done well for herself!” Gillian said, gathering up her purse and giving
Shane a kiss on the cheek, “I hope to see you soon, Shane.”
Shane blushed slightly, “so do I, Gillian, it was a pleasure,” he said.
“I'll see you later Shane, bye,” Gillian called, as she walked down the street, “and
by the way, call me Gill!”