The Last Guise

"You still haven't talked to ginger?" Leo asked. He sat flicking through a newspapers in his usual table at the back corner of the shop. The few afternoon customers consisted mostly of regulars who live in the neighbourhood, either having a cup of coffee and reading or enjoying music. Only a couple students occupied the window seats absorbed in their papers. Sam and I worked this particularly chilly afternoon and evening together, thus we had plenty of time to sit and talk to Leo without much disturbance.

I sighed. "Not really. She didn't reach out and I've just been busy with class and work. I couldn't make time to talk to her."

"It's weird how you two are becoming more and more distant. Your fights never used to last more than a day." Leo kneaded his beard thoughtfully. "Are you sure it has nothing to do with your handsome friend?"

Of course he had to emphasise the word friend because he couldn't let my love life, or the lack thereof, just go. Not to mention, he effectively reminded me of the fact that my conversation with Dominic was cut short because he had to go to work urgently. But not before we agreed that he'd visit later to continue our talk- Well more like he'd made a non-negotiable plan and went to work leaving me flabbergasted in his wake. It was much better than continuing with the same tone where we left off. I ran my fingers absently through my hair and looked at Sam who sat unbothered, playing video games on his phone with the tip of his tongue poked in concentration. I shook my head at the ridiculous boy and met Leo's awaiting gaze.

"Well she's the one who brought up some very unsavoury details about our past. That's not even counting the things she'd said to Dom as well." I sighed. "I do hope she comes around and at least apologizes to him. It's not like she and I can be mad at each other forever. We'll eventually and inevitably make up one way or another."

Leo's chest rumbled with laughter. "That is very true. You two can't be separated for long." He cleared his throat. "However, are you not in the least concerned that she hasn't tried to contact you?"

I shrugged, "Honestly, after many years of friendship, I'd be lying if I said I understand Maddie's way of rationalizing things in her head. I'm a tad bit hurt that she isn't reaching out, but I'm trying not to dwell on it. I'll give her time to come around."

Leo gave me a gentle pat on the hand. This man never failed to treat me like a child but it still warms my heart and fills a void deep within. I smiled gratefully at him and stood up just when the door bells chimed.

To my surprise and confusion, it was none other than Madeline. I thought it weird, her coming here without checking with me first to see if I would be working or not since I didn't have a fixed schedule. I was about to greet her when she evaded my gaze, my scowl deepened further at the person entering right behind her. It was the asshole who had bumped into me the other day and refused to apologize. One of her boyfriend's friends. She noticed I was standing still and gave me a hesitant smile. I must have glared back the same second her companion looked at me. He walked ahead of her to a vacant table without sparing me another glance, and I decidedly turned the other way. Finding Sam and interrupting his gaming session, not without many protests, I asked him to serve them instead but when he'd noticed they were sat on one of my tables, he flipped me the bird and refused to go. The annoying brat.

I gave up and tried to ignore Leo's amused gaze as I dragged my feet toward them, occupying my hands with a notebook and pen. "Hello, what would you guys like to get?" I grumbled, less than cordially.

"Lilianne." Madeline called to get my attention away from tapping my pen furiously on the no longer blank clean page. I lifted my gaze to meet her apologetic one, and then the guy sitting opposite her eying me with mild curiosity. "Can we talk afterwards please?"

"Did you come here to talk to me?" I asked directly, waiting for an honest answer.

She bit her lip and reddened slightly. "No but that was also my intention-

"Don't bother, please." I looked away from her. "You clearly have better things to do with your time." Okay, so maybe I was more hurt and angry than just a 'tad little bit'. I bit the inside of my cheek and asked again. "Can I get your orders now?"

"Lily don't be like this- She started, but the guy, whoever he is, clearly wanted to get rid of me. He spoke coldly. "An iced coffee for me."

I wrote that down and tapped my foot impatiently until I got Madeline's usual order, that I of course knew by heart, then darted away immediately.

"Ginger got a new friend?" Leo asked amusedly, leaning against the counter where I waited on the drinks to get made.

I shrugged, glancing their way. They seemed to be absorbed in a tense conversation. At least it seemed tense, since Maddie kept playing with her fingernails and tucking her hair behind her ear every ten seconds. The hell do I care anyway! "She has a boyfriend, and last I checked that jerk was his friend."

Leo's interest was piqued. "Did something happen I don't know of?"

"Nothing worth mentioning." Knowing he'll make a big deal of that little incident, I didn't tell him a few select details of that day.

"Cara, you're glaring at them like they killed your cat." He noted, getting my attention with his following comment. "Are you just jealous?"

"Jealous?" I asked incredulously, then lowered my panicked voice. "Why would I be jealous?"

Leo chuckled. "Well, jealous that your little best friend didn't come here specifically to talk to you, that she's hanging out with people you don't know much about."

"No. Seriously?" I furrowed my brows, thinking about the ridiculity of his statement. I was not jealous. We're not in middle school and I have no ownership on Maddie. She can hang out with whomever she wants. It's not like I've ever stopped her before. "You have way too much time on your hand. You're starting to get weird ideas."

"Whatever you say." Leo laughed and Sam snickered from where he sat behind the counter. I threw my tea towel at his face and bit my lip, looking discreetly towards Madeline's table. Leo continued in a whisper. "Think about it, rosa. Doesn't her outburst make a lot more sense now? She's never had to share you and suddenly you've got Dominic. She didn't comment on it, probably thinking it was childish, and she let it simmer inside for so long. Your fight was inevitable, tesorina."

I looked at Maddie. Was that really it? Could it be that she was jealous of Dominic and that's why she said what she did? That didn't make much sense at all. I mean, I get it. Those emotions could have contributed to her anger, but it seemed to be more than just that. At its heart, she seemed to harbour some sort of strong resentment toward him, and I don't think I could be the cause of that. Madeline would hardly feel threatened by my friendship with someone else. For the longest time, she'd been the social butterfly. The one making friends left and right, dating, having a colorful social life that she'd always persuade me to partake in, and I was never up for it. She had always encouraged me to make friends and hang out with people who weren't her, so is it my fault if I don't think that she's acting out of jealousy over me particularly? I scoffed. "That is very farfetched."

The drinks and cake were ready. I trudged to their table and placed their orders as they ceased talking. What could they possibly talk about, other than her boyfriend that they had in common? I'm obviously not going to ask. I left without looking at either of them and sat back at the counter, watching the street outside like it held the answers to all my questions.

It didn't. But it did give me a clear unobstructed view of Dominic crossing the street and jogging lightly to get to the café. I had completely forgotten.

Dominic sat beside me at the counter which meant he had a perfect view of the table where Madeline and that guy were sitting. I mentally cursed the universe for its irony and looked to gauge Dom's reaction, before stealing glances towards Maddie too. This amount of drama in one week must be a personal record for me.

"I know. Don't ask because I have no idea what to say to you." I sighed, anticipating his question.

He didn't look as puzzled as I thought he'd be. "Since when did the two of them start hanging out like best buds?"

"Again, I have no idea. It's truly beyond me." I shrugged.

He raised a brow at my response. "Everything okay? You seem pissed."

"I'm not." I answered shortly, rounding the counter to make his usual drink. Deciding to change the subject. " Are you done for the day?"

"Yeah, thank heavens." He fist-bumped Sam who came to greet him and hand him a freshly-made bagel sandwich. Sam had a bit of a boy crush over Dominic, so his willingness to serve him unsollicited was to be expected. "I took tonight off. I'm beat after today's practice, and I have a paper due tomorrow."

"Ouch." I stole his glass of water and exchanged it for his coffee. "You need to take some time off to relax, you know."

Hewaved away my concern as usual, tucking into his meal. "So, are you going to pick up from where you left off earlier or do I have to pry the answers from you?"

Of course I knew this was coming. "There isn't much to it, Dominic. It was a bad end to a relationship and I frankly hadn't thought about him for a long time- that is until Maddie brought it up that day. What she said, it really shouldn't affect you. None of it reflects on who you are or anything you ever did. I'm so sorry if my silence made it seem that way."

Dom eyed me silently for a few seconds and looked down at his drink, thinking. "Let me get this right, Maddie wanted to make the point that I was in one way or another just like your ex?"

Gritting my teeth and trying to keep my neutral face from slipping, I refuted his statement. "Trust me when I say, you're nothing like him, alright?"

Dominic nodded, probably sensing my distress, put the subject to rest. It seemed he still had more to say and after contemplating it for a bit, he continued. "You know you're a precious friend of mine Lily. I appreciate you for all you are and all you do for me. Maybe there are parallels between me and whomever it was you dated. I just want to make sure you know like that can happen between us because..." He scratched his head awkwardly. "Well, because we will not be romantically involved."

He didn't meet my gaze but kept turning his half empty mug as he continued. "I mean, you're a wonderful girl, and I'm sure there are plenty of guys out there-

"Dominic, be quiet." I scowled, stretching my hand to interrupt his monologue. It was hard to keep from blushing or bursting into laughter at the look on his face. "Are you seriously trying to let me down slowly?"

Dominic caught my incredulous expression. He scratched the back of his head. "Jeez, fine. I know. I totally missed the mark, didn't I?"

I raised a brow at him. "I've never seen you as anything other than a dear friend either, Dominic. We're on the same page." Regardless of people's opinions of us, I never thought about him that way.

He winced visibly, letting an awkward silence settle between us as we both fidgeted aimlessly. "Well now I made things awkward." He commented, breaking the tension.

I chuckled out of disbelief. Yeah, he sort of did. I gave him a slight nudge to the shoulder. "Let's not talk about this again please... In fact, let's forget it ever happened."

"Please." He nodded in agreement. "So we're good?"

"We're good." I chuckled, glad that we at least set the record straight, however odd it was.

"Rosa, the corner table are done." Leo alerted me from his seat, a few paces away. I nodded and headed over to Maddie's table, regrettably.

She seemed less on edge, and her companion looked both deeply pensive and indifferent at the same time. I cleared my throat and delivered their receipt. The guy paid before Madeline could protest.

Madeline followed after me shortly and dragged me to the side, effectively excluding Dominic. "I'm sorry."

"Are you?" I was slightly annoyed with her stubborn ways. "It doesn't seem to be the case."

She crossed her arms, frowning. "Lily, seriously, let's not drag this out for too long. We've had worse arguments that didn't even last a day." She tucked her ginger short hair behind her ear. "I was angry and said things I shouldn't have. Especially that last comment about- Well, you know what I mean. I overstepped and I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too, Maddie." I scoffed. "I'm pissed, not particularly because of the things you said to me. What was that all about Dominic?"

"We are not having that conversation now-

"Yes, we fucking are Madeline Rowanda!" I retorted. "He was going to get into a fight with Cullen and his friends for the distasteful comments they made about us, then you pop out of nowhere, without context, and defend that jerk at the expense of your friends. You didn'teven listen to us- to me, your best-friend." I motioned to myself. "You've known me for a decade now."

"It wasn't just about that, Lily." She whisper shouted, trying to keep our conversation as private as could be. "He had no right to butt into our friendship. You've also known me a decade more than you knew him, and you choose to defend and side with him at every turn. I didn't ask his opinion. He had no right to talk to me the way he did."

"You can get offended at the way he spoke to you, but you can't disregard it's the truth." I answered immediately. "You're completely missing the mark. You may not consider him a friend but I'm pretty sure he does. Otherwise, what business does he have getting angry on your behalf? What does he gain from fighting your so called boyfriend? Someone who doesn't care about you wouldn't do that Maddie."

She took a deep breath to calm herself and looked away, pursing her lips. I tried to douse my temper too.

"I've never asked him to." She shrugged, not unlike a petulant child.

I shook my head. "You're being unreasonable and petty."

"I'm petty now?" She narrowed her eyes at me.

We're not getting anywhere if we continue this argument like this. "What's really behind all of this animosity? Are you jealous?"

She knitted her brows in indignation. "Why the fuck would I be jealous-

"Because I managed to make a friend for the first time in so long, because you're not the only person I'm hanging out with anymore?" I pushed.

"Congratulations on making a friend, Lily." She bit, sarcastically. "When did I ever discourage you? What do you even mean?"

I ran my fingers back through my hair tiredly. "Then what is it about? What did he ever do wrong?"

I didn't get an answer. Instead she only shrugged and looked away. I kneaded my temple. "You know you should apologize to him."

"No I don't." She replied with finality.

"Maddie, you were out of line. The least you could do is apologize so we can move on with our lives. I'm not telling you to become best buddies. You've deliberately hung out with the two of us so many times, and you seemed to be just fine with it up until you got into a relationship." I reasoned.

She drew back into herself, stepping back. "I apologized to you because you're my best friend and I hurt you. I can't say the same for him. Plus, I don't see him apologizing to me either."

"So you expect me to just overlook it, pretend all is well with this big elephant in the room unaddressed?" I raisesd a brow expectantly.

"Why do you insist on drawing this out? I don't have to be in good terms with him to be all good with you. We've never let anyone come between us. We're not going to start now, or is that what you're suggesting?"

"That's far from it but this is important to me." I gave her an imploring look. "I don't want either of you having such a terrible impression of the other. Is that so wrong?"

"And I didn't want you to have such a bad impression of my boyfriend either, but we don't all get what we want, do we?" She challenged.

"You're unbelievable, Maddie!" I seethed. I was hardly an angry person, but my god did this girl know how to pull all my strings.

"I said what I needed to, Lily." She said dismissively. "Do what you will. I'm leaving."

"Maddie!" I called, but she ignored me and left without looking back.