Her, Him, And Her

"Me or her?" Joanna didn't mean for the words to come out sounding so harsh, but she needed to put her foot down. For once.

His mouth opened. "Uh."

"Come on, Al. You're killing time here." She folded her arms across her chest.

"Can't you two just get along?" He shot his arms out in front of him on the table. "This isn't fair. It's like asking who do I save if my mom and my girlfriend were both drowning." Albert knocked on the wooden table because he was superstitious.

She shook her head. "It's not fair. That's life. And I'm not your mom or your girlfriend, am I?"

"You know what I mean."

I know because I'm your best friend."

He looked like he was about to say something, but he thought better of it and kept his mouth shut. "I can't choose."

"You're just being difficult now." Joanna stood up and turned to leave. He was surprisingly fast considering he had fifty pounds on her. She moved like a dancer.

He griped her arm. "Joanna, please."

"I'm done." She shook her arm, trying to get him to release his hold on her.

Somehow he managed to get in front of her, blocking her path to the door. There wasn't another exit nearby.

"I just want to know something." Albert chewed on his bottom lip. "You might not want to hear this...but I'm gonna say it anyway."

"Just spit it out."

"Is this because you don't have a boyfriend?"

Her gaze met his. She shoved him so hard he nearly fell backwards. "Have you lost your mind?"

"I'm serious." Albert reached for her arm, but she pulled back, out of his reach. "It's just you've never mentioned, you know, a boy."

"Because it's none of your business," she spat out.

A number of patrons had their eyes trained on him. He didn't need to look to know. Albert dragged her out of the coffee shop and into the streets. Once outside, she began hitting his hand.

"Let me go."

HIs eyes scanned the street, left and right. He couldn't meet her gaze when he said the next words that came out of his mouth. "You knew all along, didn't you?"

She froze mid smack, her hand in the air.

"You knew I'd choose her."