Funny friend.

"Thanks for the funnel cake!"

"Take care, sweetie!"

"Later, Allison. Mrs. Jorges."

"Allison! Wednesday, yeah?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Oh oh, watch out, the cake, sweetie, it's going to..."

"...fall!"

"AAHRGHA!"

"John, catch!"

Nat grinned. A second later, she was chuckling.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"That wasn't nothing."

"You wouldn't care."

"Would too," I harrumphed.

"The cake." Nat held up a hand against her lips, as if disclosing a conspiratorial joke. "It was shaped like Allison's butt."

"It was?"

"Uh-huh. Even had that little mole she has on the inner side of the right cheek."

"I wish she didn't have a mole there," I verbalized, preferring my image of a blemish-free ass. A small ripple went through reality, though no one noticed. Not even me. I was busy running Allison's exposed rump through my mind again, wondering if there really was something.

Still, I scoff-laughed, slumping in my seat. "That's pretty funny though."

After letting the music run, shuffling through random pop and hip-hop on Nat's music app, she spoke. "You know, I guess you do have a bit of a point."

"About what?"

As Nat turned the wheel, passing by a crossing pedestrian, she shrugged. "I don't really know why we got those pickles..."

I turned my head to face her. She did the same. As our eyes met, I took to a one-second ponder.

"Nat, wanna see something?"

"Sure," harped the girl. "What?"

I was about to grab her wrist, when, suddenly, a stomach rumbled. The two of us froze. Eventually, the awkward silence was broken by, of course, none other than my funny, multitasking-mastered friend.

"Well..." Natalie jutted her thumb towards the plate cozily strapped up in the backseat. "Good thing we got cake!"

I cleared my throat. "You know, I'm in the mood for a different kind of cake."

"Like what?"

Promise it wasn't dirty. "Pancakes."

"Oh, you're shameless." Her gift in clicking her tongue showed itself. Always sounded so sharp. Don't know how she did it.

"What?" Pity eyes, that always worked! "I don't got money, you know how it is..."

"Well, you'll owe me." Natalie gave me a wry look. "Again."

A moment of sense overtook me, like a revolving door yanked back when pushed in the wrong direction. On I marched.

"How much?" came my quandary, as a tingle shimmered through the air.

Natalie parted her lips. "You'll have to grope your favorite part of my body. I want you to squeeze it hard. Make it flap if you have to. Deal?"

Adjusting my legs, I coughed into a hand as Nat parroted the exact same words I planted into her head. "S-sure, I guess we could do that."

Smiling mischievously, Nat returned her attention to the road full-sale. "This'll cover all the other times, so consider yourself a free man!" Nudge nudge.

Wink wink.

I chuckled anxiously.

Weren't we all.