Pink tinged Abbie's cheeks as Carson leaned closer to her and whispered something into her fully-pierced ear to which she replied with a fit of giggles. My gaze drifted over to where Colton sat, his blue eyes were fixated on the ground as his partner worked silently on their worksheet next to him. His hands clasped together, he was studying something with great observation and I followed his line of sight only to find the tiled flooring staring back up. The bell rung and he had snapped out of his daydream, "Colton? Can you come here?" I called as most of the classroom had filed out, Carson staying close behind Abbie as they left.

He began walking towards me, his head hanging low like a dog who had been yelled at for doing his business in the house. "Yes, Miss. Parsons?" He asked once he was closer and the last student had leisurely walked out the door into the crowds.

"Is everything okay?" I had already known the answer, though I felt like he had needed to admit it.

He released a slow breath while his right hand fiddled with his belt loop. "No, Mabel's left me and I don't know what to do."

I pressed my lips together in a thin line and laced my fingers together pressing them into my lap as I twisted from side to side in my chair. "Suppose there's nothing you can do but be patient." I finally settled on saying, the look on his face told me that wasn't what he wanted to hear.

"Yeah," he barked out something that mocked a laugh and without another word made his way out the door.

"I'm glad you girls invited me to tag along." My mom said as she sat a chair down from me with her feet outstretched, the kind woman readying them for the polish.

"Why wouldn't we, you're our mom." Harper piped in from between the both of us. She had opted for a bright red color making my mom and I look like prudes as we settled for a light nude shade.

"So, RaeLynn, how's school been treating you?" She asked tilting her head the slightest bit to look at me.

I bit my lip recalling the conversation I had with Colton earlier, "good."

She raised an eyebrow as she heard this, "that's all you have to say? It's good?".

"You know, Rae's been playing cupid, go ahead Rae, tell her about your matches made in heaven." Harper's voice was full of innocence as she spoke, and I knew she had meant no harm, she merely wanted something to converse about, though the death glare I sent her said I was thinking otherwise.

"Really!?" My Mom's voice was full of wonder. "Yes, please tell me more!" She wiggled in her seat a bit and the woman working on her feet glanced up, shooting her a dirty look. "Sorry." Mom whispered shrugging a bit but turning the upper part of her body in my direction regardless.

I looked at the woman filing away at my toenails and instantly felt bad at the poor conditions they had been in prior to this visit, "well this girl Abbie and this boy Carson seem to really be hitting it off."

"Oh tell me more, what are they like?" She was eager as she said this, wanting as much gossip about two high school teenagers she had just learned the names of, resting her wrinkled hands on her hollowed cheeks.

I laughed, remembering the first impression I got from Abbie, "well Abbie gives off this 'don't mess with me vibe', if you saw her you'd think the same. She's got this beautiful long black hair with strips of funky colors that are constantly changing. One time it was this awful puke green color though she had managed to pull it off the entire week. And don't get me started on her eyes, they are the most striking blue eyes I have ever seen." I stopped for a moment, mom's engagement to the story never fading. "And Carson has blonde hair and blue eyes, you'd think he'd be more of you pro-athlete, football type, and in a way he is, but mainly he smokes cigarettes and wears these big, black combat boots almost every day. You can hear him thumping down the staircase on the other side of the school if you're quiet enough."

"They sound like a cute couple." She noted once I had finished. "Any other one's?" She asked and I went on to tell her about the drama that unfolded between Max and Opal, even telling her about Max confessing his undying love to me. "No. He did not! RaeLynn! You heartbreaker." I laughed as mom said this, Harper made a funny face before a chorus of laughter left her lungs.

"Yeah, but tell her about Mabel and Colton." Harper chimed in, my heartbeat began to pick up speed as if a cheetah was chasing it and gaining on it. I fell quiet for a bit and watched as the woman worked on my nails for a long moment.

"Oh they sound like a trip." Mom piped in, and I replied with a snort.

"Yeah they are. Tell her Rae." Harper encouraged.

"Mabel is Dustin's younger sister and, let's just say she isn't my number one fan at the moment." I confessed.

"Oh my, is that how you met Dustin, he's lovely by the way, such a gent." She added, sounding proud which caused a smile to crawl onto my mouth for a slight minute.

"It is and I know he is, thank you." Shifting my gaze around the salon, it was near empty, "Mabel and Colton are in the middle of working things out right now and I think they just need space."

My mom laughed as if recalling a funny memory, "that's what you father said right after he left with some young blonde bimbo." My mom snorted, the woman who was working on her feet sported bleached blonde hair and smirked up at her. "Oh, no dear, I'm sorry." She began apologizing while Harper and I leaned closer together in an attempt to hide our fight with the giggles that wanted to be released.

"Yeah well, it put Dustin and I in a rough patch for a little while there." I hesitated a bit before continuing, "Mabel still hasn't found it in her heart of hearts to forgive me but I suppose she'll come around, that's what Dustin says anyway."

"Oh, all teenagers are like that sweetie, all you were doing was having innocent fun and what they made of it was what they made of it." I had been hearing those similar words a lot recently and I was almost beginning to believe them. The woman began rubbing lotion up from my feet to my ankles and I leaned back in my seat.

"Yeah I sure hope so."

"She went right up to bed after school, I haven't heard anything since." His voice sounded tired and I knew he had a rough day at work.

"How about dinner?" I held the phone nudged between my shoulder blade and ear as my hands dug into Speck's fur, he purred in approval. 'What're you a cat?" I teased him, he growled a bit at hearing the word 'cat'.

"Oh! Yeah, I distinctly recall her yelling 'I'll starve' when I told her it was done." He talked like he had just found the answer to the world's greatest unanswered question.

I forced my lips to the side, pushing them together like I was doing some kind of contorted version of duck face. "I'm sorry." I finally said.

He heaved out a heavy breath, "it's not your fault babygirl, don't ever apologize for something that stupid."

"It's not stupid, they loved each other, Dustin you should've seen them when they presented Romeo and Juliet, I thought they were gonna leap into each other's arms right then and there."

He groaned on the other end of the line, I know the last thing he wanted to hear was about his little sister jumping into the arms of a teenage boy. "Yeah well, he's stupid until he apologizes to my baby sister."

"He's trying, she keeps shutting him out." I protested.

There was a long pause of silence on his end of the line, "I don't know what you want me to say to that." He sounded defeated.

"There's nothing you can say to that." I admitted, feeling sorrow for not only him but the two student's whose love life's I had put in jeopardy.

"Goodnight darlin', I love you."

"I love you too." That was one thing that had ended on a good note for me.