Fraternizing With The Enemy

When They Hang Out

THE WEEK FINALLY ENDS and it's Saturday, which means Pet gets to go to The Cupcake Nation with Beth. One of the few things she enjoys doing without a doubt. There's just something about the bakery, the smell in the air is better than any flavor. Somehow the place captures everything good in there: the scent of freshly made coffee, the variety of cakes, the sweet and mixed pastries.

For one shouldn't let the name of the bakery fool them since it sells many things to delight the palate. And the best loaves of bread in town, always crunchy with a bit of softness. It always reminds her of that line from Ratatouille when Colette says "Oh, the symphony of crackle. Only the best bread sounds like that." And Pet couldn't agree more.

Since it's a cloudy Saturday, Pet decides to wear a cable knit jumper, a pair of denim and tan knee-high boots with an oversized scarf. Her brown hair falling wavily over her shoulders. She looks at her reflection in the mirror, with her head tilted to the side, and decides she likes the outfit, quickly giggling when she remembers Elijah chose it for her. Sometimes it terrifies her how her brother can have such a sense of style and be a jock at the same time.

Another proof of how multifaceted Elijah Blanchard can be.

That morning, Pet decides to apply some makeup to her face. She rarely does that, but that day she just feels like her outfit demands a bit of makeup to match it. Once done, she looks at the results, the eyeliner and mascara highlight her eyes, making them look even bluer than before if that's even possible.

When she walks into the kitchen, her father looks at her from his seat on the table where he's having breakfast. "Good morning, Pea."

"Morning, Dad," she bends down a little to kiss his cheek and heads to the fridge to prepare something for breakfast. "Mom went to work early today."

"Yes, a big emergency apparently," Nicholas pushes his plate a little forward as he chews on the last bite of his breakfast - an old habit of his. And their gazes meet when Pet sits in front of him; the way she can tell what's going on through his father's mind has become a convenient thing for her. He’s very much an open book, but his daughter is the only one who can only decipher the riddles.

That's exactly how she knows there's something off with his father. "What's wrong?" She frowns, leaving the fork at the side of her plate. "Something happened at work?"

Nicholas shakes his head, smiling softly. "That's only for me to worry about," he stands up and approaches to plant a kiss on her forehead. "You just need to worry about your chores and so, okay?" Pet nods unwillingly, as he grabs his plate and takes it to the sink to wash it.

All the Blanchard family knows how much Pet worries about her family's matters. If anything goes wrong in their life, she does anything she can to help them, and that includes Elijah without a doubt. Once, when she was about eleven years old, she heard her parents talking about money, it was way back then when Nick didn't have the good job he does now, and her mother was a doctor in a smaller hospital.

Pet would stop eating, so the food would last longer, and wouldn't accept the allowance they gave her every weekend. It didn't take long for them to realize what her reasons were. It happened again when she was fifteen, the age when Elijah's crush on Imogen started. Back then, there was a Halloween party at some guy's house, Elijah had asked Imogen to go with him, but she had rejected him, telling him she'd go with Heath.

After that, the whole on-and-off relationship between Imogen and Heath took a start, and Elijah was left heartbroken, and ever since then Pet has always thought his crush on her it's only a book he's never dared to finish. Anyway, he stopped eating for days, and Pearl only wanting to help his brother, stopped eating too.

Such a thing forced Elijah to eat again since he didn't want to see his sister starve, but mostly because their parents gave them a lecture of a lifetime and told them to eat normally again unless they wanted to be grounded for weeks.

"Morning, beautiful people," Elijah walks into the kitchen, wearing only sweatpants. His hair is wet from what Pet assumes is the water from the shower he must have taken. Soon enough, his lips meet Pet's cheek briefly, and then he sits next to her.

"Well, you're in a good mood today." Nicholas turns around, drying his hands with a towel. His gaze holds skepticism toward his son. Even Pearl looks at him dubiously.

"What? Can a person just wake up feeling happy? It's a beautiful day; we're alive and healthy with a roof above our heads. There are many reasons to be happy. And I've got you guys. What else do I need?" He says with much excitement.

A certain girl named Imogen, perhaps. Pet thinks to herself but instead says, "I think I might throw up my breakfast," She grimaces and gets up from her chair to put her dish in the sink.

"Hold on a minute," Elijah raises his index finger in the air with an amused expression. "Oh, no. It can't be. Dad, please take a look at your daughter. Pearl is wearing makeup," Elijah grins playfully. "What's the occasion? It's only seven in the morning if I'm not wrong."

"Nothing," she eyes him sternly. "I'm going to Beth's. And by the way, I'll go to the mall afterward, in case mom didn't tell you." She kisses her dad's cheek and then smacks Elijah on the head; a whine coming from him is the last thing she hears before she leaves the house.

The chilly air hits her right in the face, but it isn't cold enough for her to need a coat or anything of the sort. She makes her way to the house next door, jogging up the small steps of the porch. Her hand reaches for the bell, and she waits for someone to open the door. This is usually what she does on weekends, wake up early in the morning, get ready and go to The Cupcake Nation with Beth whilst her dad stays at home - since he only works from Monday to Friday - though sometimes he goes out to run some errands.

Elijah is pretty much the same unless he goes out with his friends. On the other hand, Abe goes to the other bakery they own, which is The Bagel Shop, they own two bakeries and a coffee shop, being those their economical source, The Cupcake Nation, The Bagel Shop, and Cup O' Beth, respectively.

The door swings open revealing Asher, who flashes her a smile when their eyes meet. "Hey, Pearl. Come in," he steps aside to let her in. "I was just about to go get you. We're almost leaving." His words get a puzzled expression from Pet.

"You're coming to the bakery with us?" She questions, walking inside. Her voice comes out a little weird and she fixes it by clearing her throat and thinking of something nice to say. Right when Beth appears from the kitchen, saved by the bell.

"Yes, I told him to come with us. It's been ages since he went to the bakery. Flora and Helen will be very happy to see Asher," she grabs her purse from the sofa and heads for the door, beckoning for them to follow.

"And where's Abe?" Pet asks, walking behind Beth.

"He left earlier. There are some issues with the coffee machines in the coffee shop," Beth explains as they get in Asher's car. Pet seats in the back, nodding in response.

During the ride, Beth and Asher are the only ones speaking while Pet zones out, not knowing how to be part of their conversations since they're talking about family matters. Asher's family from his dad's side is planning to visit for the holidays. That's the last thing she hears before her mind wanders somewhere else. More specifically, the homecoming.

The previous day, Mack and Pet had agreed to go to the mall together to buy their costumes for the homecoming. She feels slightly nervous, but not because of Mack, it's something else that is bothering her, but she can't quite put her finger on it. Maybe it's just because she has never assisted an activity of that kind, that's what Pearl convinces herself to believe, at least to shake the uncomfortable feeling off her chest.

The sound of the engine being turned off brings her back to the present, Beth's voice calling for her attention. "A penny for your thoughts, Pet," she says in a lighthearted tone, her green eyes shining with amusement as they look at the blue-eyed girl.

"Nothing important," Pearl laughs it off. They all get off the car and go to the bakery. Soon enough, Flora and Helen - two elder women that work at the bakery and are close friends with Beth - shriek with happiness when they see Asher. They hug him and comment on how big and all grown up he is, recalling memories of when he was a child. Pearl goes to the small kitchen area in the back of the bakery, where they take their break and such. There's a small closet in the corner where they put their things like purses and such.

She takes off her scarf and puts it inside the closet along with her bag. Right after, she grabs her apron to put it on, tying it around her waist and neck. Just when she's about to walk out of the kitchen, Asher's about to walk in, their bodies collide without harm, and he quickly steps backward. "Sorry." They say in unison. The sound of their voices together gets a smile from him, to which Pet responds with a tiny grin.

She steps aside, letting him in. They hold each other's gaze for a while, the sight of him brings images of a perfect day, for reasons she can't explain. It's just that the blue of his eyes recalls a spring day while the curve on his lips shows a warm smile. But for Pearl, to say his eyes are only blue is like saying the ocean is blue. Adequate but not elaborated enough to capture the essence of it.

Two people staring at each other for any apparent reason isn't considered socially normal as far as she can tell. So, she breaks the eye contact by walking out of the kitchen and joining Beth at the counters. The morning passes by as usual, with Pet attending clients like the rest of the employees. Asher also helps, though he does it a little slower since he doesn't know all the prizes and such, but he turns out to be a fast learner. From time to time, she catches him staring but he always darts his eyes away as soon as he's caught.

When the clock ticks two in the afternoon, the bakery is empty except for one client that's just finishing paying for a cake. Pet takes advantage of that to approach Beth, who was putting freshly baked brownies inside a showcase. "Hey, Beth. I was wondering if I could take off earlier today, maybe."

Beth stops what she's doing and glances up at her. "You don't need to ask for permission, dear. If anything, you're making me a favor by coming here to help every weekend."

"Yes, I just wanted to let you know," Pet shrugs, twisting his mouth a little. "I'll stay for one more hour, then I'll leave, okay?" Beth nods, giving her a reassuring smile before patting her shoulder. She goes back to the kitchen, looks for her phone and she's finally got it, seats on a small couch next to the closet, quickly typing a text to Mack.

My shift ends in an hour. Hope you didn't forget.

She waits for Mack to send a response, still holding the device in her hand. The wait ends when Asher walks through the door and heads for the fridge, not noticing Pet's presence in the corner. His phone rings and Pearl draws her attention back to her phone, though his voice reaches her ears.

"Hello? Oh, hey, how are you? No, I haven't. No, I wouldn't do that. Don't worry; I'll buy it today without delay." He ends the call, right before turning around, promptly going wide-eyed when he sees Pet on the couch. "Didn't see you there."

"Yes, I've noticed." Pearl stands up, putting her phone back in the closet, inside her bag. Eyeing him briefly before going back to the counters. Submerging herself into work, Pet forgets about everything else, though it doesn't last long because about three-thirty pm, Beth approaches her, asking if she had changed her mind, there she remembers she's supposed to go to the mall with Mack. Running to the kitchen, she hurriedly searches for her phone, only to find one missed call from Mack and a text message. Her thumb taps on the screen to open it and read it.

Sorry, P. I can't make it to the bakery. Mind if I take a rain check on that trip to the mall?

Pearl sighs as she dials Mack's number. To her luck, he responds right away, already knowing it's her. "Hey, Pet. I'm sorry. Very. Raven got dump by her stupid boyfriend and she's an emotional wreck right now. I know you wanted to go today, but maybe we could go someday during the week, sounds good?"

"It's fine, Mack. I'll just have to go by myself," she reassures him. "Go take care of Raven, knowing her as I do, she might go dry with all the crying." And indeed, she might. Pearl has been a witness of Raven Sulkin's meltdowns, and they're not pretty at all if anything they're terrifying.

"You're the best, Pet. Good luck with the dress hunting," he says, and she says her goodbye before hanging up. When she turns around, she sees Beth serving herself some coffee. Her lips turn into a slight grimace when she sees Pearl's expression.

"What's wrong?"

She wonders whether to tell her or not, as weird as it may sound, Pearl does consider Beth to be her friend. "I need to go to the mall to buy a dress for homecoming next week. A friend was supposed to take me there, but an issue surged and he's not going to make it. So..." She shrugs.

"Oh, I think I've got the solution for you," she says and holds her finger, telling her to wait. Beth leaves the kitchen just for a few seconds and comes back again with an arm wrapped around a certain boy with chestnut hair. "Asher can take you without a problem, isn't that right, dear?"

Pet starts to shake her head, just when he says, "Sure. I don't mind. I have to buy a suit myself, too," Asher beams.

"Great, it's settled then," Beth claps. "Take those aprons off and go." That's the last thing she says before leaving them alone. Pearl gathers her things, fixing her scarf back around her neck. And she can feel it coming, the uneasiness in her chest. She doesn't want Asher to feel any sort of obligation to drive her to the mall. She feels like she'd be a hassle more than anything.

But her lips stay sealed, mostly because she needs someone to take her to the mall, and even if she could ask Elijah or her father to do so, now she won't be able to do that because she doesn't want to be rude towards Beth or Asher by declining their offer.

They leave the bakery after saying their goodbyes to Beth and the other employees, quietly heading for his car and getting in. She only speaks once to tell him to which mall she's planning on going. The music from the radio fills the car, shooing away her thought, her fingers tapping her thigh to the rhythm of the song.

The next song, she knows it too well. And it soothes the lump that had formed on her chest previously. She mumbles the lyrics, humming just slightly. But she can tell Asher looks at her every few seconds, so she stops, feeling embarrassed. Definitely knowing that the comfort she felt when talking to him while doing the chemistry homework was exactly caused by that because they were doing something related to school.

Because now, both of them alone in the car, she isn't feeling remotely comfortable. And it's not Asher's fault. The problem is her, there's no need to debate that. Pearl Blanchard at the age of seventeen still has issues with interacting with people of her age.

Asher clears his throat. "So, you're buying a dress for the homecoming?" He looks at her from the corner of his eye.

"Yes," she answers simply. Though, something tells her she should add something else. "You're buying a suit for the homecoming?"

"Yes," he nods. "I wasn't planning on going but Elijah told me it could be fun, so I decided to do it." Pearl begins to wonder who's he going to take to the homecoming, but her brain already formulates a name. Mallory Collins.

They arrive at the mall and get off the car, to head inside. "Any idea of where you're going to buy your dress?" He asks and she shakes her head, looking around. "Here," he calls for her attention and sees him handing her his phone. "Let's exchange numbers, so when we're finished shopping, we text each other and go home." She agrees, giving him her phone so he can save his number, too.

They part ways and Pearl sighs, praying she can find a good dress for the homecoming.

°°°

AFTER AN UNSUCCESSFUL dress hunt, that only left her with tired feet as she walked around for about an hour, she's sitting on a bench outside the last store she had walked in. At least ten dresses caught Pearl's attention, but none of them were good enough. Either she's too picky, or too self-conscious about her body.

Her phone buzzes inside her purse, and she takes it out to check it. It's a message from Asher.

I'm finished. Where are you?

She sighs as her fingers type an answer giving him her location. It doesn't take long for him to appear from a corner, with a bag in each hand. That only makes her feel angry, not with Asher but with herself. How come she can't find one simple dress? And if she can't do that, let's not talk about the shoes and the jewelry to match them.

The frown on Asher's face makes her want to laugh. But she holds it back as he speaks, "What happened? Didn't find anything of your taste?" He sets the bags on the floor, taking a seat next to her.

Pet shakes her head. "It doesn't matter. If you're ready to go home, we can go," she says, looking at the people walking from one place to another with bags hanging from their hands. She wishes she could break all those bags as she feels they're laughing at her for not having one of her own.

Pearl Blanchard can have weird thoughts from time to time.

"You know what? I'll help you find a dress. Maybe you just need someone else's opinion. Come on," he stands up and offers his hand to her. "What do you say? You have nothing to lose."

Pet mulls over his words, considering the idea of saying no. But he's right in many ways, besides, she needs to buy the dress before Monday because the homecoming is going to be on Friday. And there's no telling if she'll have time to come back to the mall during the week. She gets up, accepting his hand. Such an act feels sort of different, she can't tell why. It just does. "Fine."

"Great, come on," he takes his bags with his free hand and pulls Pet forward to the next store they see. She had already come to this one and there was nothing she liked. And that's pretty much what happens for the next two hours. Asher drags Pet into every store in the mall, showing her dresses he thinks would look good on her.

Some of them, she instantly rejects, but there are others she does try on. But always ends up finding a flaw about it. Either it's too tight, too short, too revealing, or it doesn't fit well. Though, Asher doesn't seem to give up every time she says something negative.

While Pearl, secretly, feels like dying because she has never done something like this. Shopping with someone other than her parents or her brother. Even when she was supposed to be there with Mack, that's different. Because Mack is someone she's already familiar with, whilst Asher is barely an acquaintance, who happens to be friends with her brother, study in the same school as her, and live in the house next door.

It's a bit awkward for her to be putting on dresses and show them to him. She can tell Asher notices that, but none of them say anything about it. It is when she's inside a dressing room, about to put her clothes on again that she hears a knock on the door. "Okay, last one. I know you're tired but let's give it one last try." He passes the dress over the door, and Pearl grabs it.

She puts it on swiftly, a two pieces dress in a navy-blue tone with a scoop neck, the top pressed tight to her torso with covered beading, while the skirt falls loosely a few inches above her knees. With her finger, she traces the small line of the skin of her waist that is left at sight. Feeling dubious about it.

She turns the knob, opening the door. Asher, who is sitting on a black leather sofa, gives her a scrutinizing look from head to toe. Pearl shifts her weight from one foot to another nervously. Waiting for him to say something. Having the spotlight isn't something she manages well, even if the attention comes from only one person.

"Do you like it?" Asher asks. "Do you feel comfortable with it?" His eyebrows arch, as he looks at her expectantly. Pearl turns to the side to look at her reflection in a mirror on the wall to her right.

Even if the dress lets at sight more skin than she'd want to, Pearl finds herself nodding before realizing there's a smile lingering on her lips. "I think I like it. What do you think?" She asks sheepishly.

Asher nods. "That's the one."

The next thing to do is to find a good pair of shoes and jewelry to match the dress. Fortunately, that doesn't take long, maybe because she's too tired and hungry to think of any flaws about the shoes she finds, or because her taste starts to get a little less picky, and her confidence a little bit higher.

Either way, they manage to do it, both sitting on his car with bags containing exactly what they were looking for. The drive back home is less uncomfortable thanks to Asher, since he establishes conversation, mostly comments about the dresses they had seen or the look some employees were giving them because Pet declined all the dresses.

That night, Pet realizes Asher is a person really easy to talk to. And somehow, he manages to get her to speak without even trying. He doesn't ask her questions and does not request for her to add any comments or thoughts. She does it because she wants to. It just happens and she doesn't intend to stop it. For Pearl, it feels good to speak to someone like this, it reminds her that making new friends and socializing isn't anything out of this world and she's perfectly capable of doing it, even when her brain and body don't seem to get it.

When he parks in front of her house, she glances at him. "Thank you for everything," she gives him a genuine smile. The amount of gratitude she feels toward him is real because she doesn't know what she would have done if it weren't for the boy sitting next to her with his light blue eyes fixed on her.

"It's nothing. I guess my debt is paid," he laughs. "But you know, if you need help with anything, my house is less than a minute away from yours."

"I know," she giggles. "Thank you again. I'll see you around." She gets off the car, walking to her house with big strides, the bags hanging from her hands. The main door flies open, giving sight to a very smiling Elijah, who looks at her devilishly.

"Oh, look at that. Let me help you, Cinderella." He grabs the bags for her and steps aside to let her in. Pearl narrows her eyes with suspiciousness. "You didn't tell me you were going out with Asher. Kept it to yourself, didn't you?"

Pearl plumps down on the sofa, taking off her shoes. "Not like I owe you any explanations, but it wasn't planned. Mack was supposed to go with me, but he couldn't, so Beth asked him to take me. That's it." She shrugs, leaning back her head, and closing her eyes.

"Sure," Elijah snickers.