If It Makes You Happy

by Julie Olivia

“I’ll see you after work, Michelle. Don’t forget the bus.” She tosses a weak thumbs-up without looking away from the sink. “Three o’clock,” I repeat. She shakes her thumb higher in irritation. I laugh. “So happy we’re friends now.” “Don’t make me show you a different finger, Cliff.”

I’m not the kind of woman to lie on a quilted bed and dress down for dinner at the combination pizzeria / coffee shop—which is a monstrosity I have yet to get an explanation for.

Emily, finally broken from her stunned state, bursts out laughing. “Oh, it looks bitchin’, Michelle.” Cliff nudges her elbow with his. “Emily, come on. Language. We’re in her place of business.”

“She’s been waiting on your call.” “Crap, I knew it,” he whines. “My mom has been hogging the phone. She got some radio sweepstakes thing.”

I am LOVING that this is set in the 90s