Earl Sewell - Boyfriend Shopping - Shopping for My Boyfriend / My Only Wish / All I Want for Christmas Is You

“Bernita is harmless,” he tried to assure me.

“Do you like her as more than a friend?” I asked.

“No, Anna.” He smiled.

“What if you found out that she likes you as more than a friend? Would things become different?” I asked questions my heart did not want to know the answers to, but my mind needed to know.

Jeremy shrugged his shoulders.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“It means that I don’t know.”

“Okay. If you had a choice between her and a girl that you knew was perfect for you in every way, who would you choose?” I asked.

“The girl that was perfect for me. You know that. I’ll catch you later, Anna.” He smiled before disappearing into the crowd.

three

I walked to the concession stand and joined up with Lauren. She was toying with her cell phone and didn’t notice me until I spoke.

“Come on. Let’s go,” I said.

“Where is Jeremy?” she asked.

“He’s not coming because he made plans to hang out with Bernita,” I said, feeling as if I had been scalded by a curling iron.

“Why does he want to be with her? From what you’ve said about her, sounds like being friends with her is like trying to hug a porcupine.” Lauren met my gaze and waited for me to provide her with a reasonable explanation.

“I don’t know. I warned him about her, though.”

“Do you think something serious is going on between them?” she asked.

“I hope not, but if there is, there’s nothing that I can do about it.” I sighed sadly.

“Did you ask if they were dating each other?”

“Of course I did, and he said that they were ‘just friends.’” I made the little quotation-marks gesture with my fingers.

“So what are you going to do?” Lauren asked.

“I don’t want to think about that anymore. I’m sort of confused right now. Let’s just go and get something to eat,” I said.

“Do we have to walk outside for a long time?” Lauren asked, shivering at the thought of staying out in the cold weather longer than necessary.

“We don’t have that far to walk. Here. Take my gloves. They’ll keep your hands warm,” I said.

“Then yours will get cold,” Lauren said, shaking her head.

“No, they won’t. I’m used to chilly weather,” I said and shoved the gloves in her hand as we moved toward an exit.

* * *

Lauren and I arrived at Chili’s a short time later. The hostess gave us a booth near a window. As soon as we were seated, I noticed that Jeremy, Bernita and some other people who had sung at the holiday concert were with them.

“OMG! I can’t believe we’re at the same restaurant,” I said.

“What are you talking about?” Lauren asked, confused.

“Bernita and Jeremy are here.” I tilted my head and pointed my gaze to where they were sitting. Lauren, as inconspicuously as she could, repositioned herself so that she could look over her shoulder at them.

“I’m sorry, but they don’t look all that cute together.”

“Well, apparently he sees something in her,” I said, wishing that I had a car so we could leave and go someplace else. Jeremy must’ve sensed that someone was staring at him. He glanced up from the menu and looked at me. He acknowledged me by waving hello. I waved back and then buried my face in the menu.

“Hey, Anna, how are you doing?” I looked up from my menu and saw that Sabrina and her boyfriend, Mike, had entered the restaurant. The hostess was carrying their menus and waited for them to continue following her.

“Hey, my friend Lauren and I are about to eat. Have you guys met?”

“No,” said Sabrina. “This is my boyfriend, Mike, and I’m Sabrina.”

“Nice to meet you both,” Lauren said with a friendly smile.

“Nice to meet you, as well,” Sabrina said as she removed her hat and gloves.

“How did you guys get here?” I asked.

“Keysha and Wesley are out parking the car. We all decided to come out together,” Sabrina said. “We’re just waiting for them so that we can sit together.”

“Actually, do you guys mind if we sit with you? Keysha and Wesley are arguing in the car,” Mike said.

“That’s fine with me. Are you cool with that, Lauren?” I asked.

“Of course,” Lauren said as she scooted closer to the window to make room for Mike to sit. The hostess left their menus and then went back to greet the other guests.

“Cool, because my big sister gets on my nerves sometimes,” Mike explained.

“You don’t like your sister?” Lauren asked.

“Yes, I like her a lot. It’s just that sometimes she gets a little bossy, which is why she’s in the car arguing with her boyfriend,” Mike clarified.

“Oh, I know how that can be,” I chimed in. “My sister, Maya, is the queen of bossy.”

“Wow. I can’t believe Bernita is here,” Sabrina said disgustedly.

“Where?” Mike quickly turned around and scanned the room until he located her. “Yo. That chick there has some serious issues.”

“What are you talking about? Did you used to date her or something?” I asked.

“Oh, hell to the no,” Mike said as if I had just poked him with a fork.

“Bernita is crazy,” Sabrina said coldly.

“Did you guys get into a fight or something?” Lauren asked.

“We almost did, but Mike held me back,” Sabrina admitted.

“What did she do that made you so mad?” I asked in search of another reason to place in my grudge bag against Bernita.

“Something real sneaky and mean.” Sabrina jabbed the tabletop with her index finger three times.

“I got to give it to her. She has a real twisted way of seeing things,” Mike said.

“Hey, guys.” Keysha and Wesley walked up to our table with smiles on their faces. I guess they kissed and made up with each other. Lauren and I said hello to them.

“Well, Mike and Sabrina, I see that you don’t care to have dinner with me and Wesley, so I guess he and I will just get our own table.” Keysha made a smart remark under her breath before she turned on her heel and followed behind the hostess.

“Later,” said Wesley as he trailed behind Keysha and the hostess.

“Okay, Mike, tell me why you think Bernita is twisted,” I asked.

“I’ll let Sabrina tell you,” he said as he slouched down in his seat. At that moment our waiter appeared with glasses of water for us. I told him to give us a few more minutes to look over the menu. Once he had stepped away, Lauren and I looked at Sabrina and waited for her to share the details of her rivalry with Bernita. Sabrina took a sip of water and then began talking.

“It happened earlier this year. I accepted a Facebook friend request from a guy named Shawn. I didn’t think anything of it because friend requests pop up all of the time. Next thing I knew, Shawn started posting stupid comments on my wall as if we had hooked up.”

“What!” Lauren said as she leaned in closer to Sabrina.

“You heard her correctly,” Mike chimed in.

“So what does Shawn have to do with Bernita?” I asked.

“Wait, it gets better,” Mike said and then waited for Sabrina to continue.

“Next thing I know, Mike sees the posts from Shawn and calls me up shouting at me.”

“I thought she was playing around on me,” Mike said.

“I had to tell Mike to calm down before I gave him a real reason to be mad. Anyway, I explained to Mike that I didn’t know Shawn personally and told him that I would delete him as a friend. Well, I didn’t get around to it right away and Shawn posted another comment talking about the birthmark that I have on my back and how he loved kissing it.”

“What!” I said. “If you didn’t know him, how does he know about the birthmark on your back?”