Miscommunication

Della had planned for this day for a couple weeks now. Today was going to finally be the day she told Gail how she has felt for the past 4 years and she was ready. She had the day planned out, and was walking to Gail’s house to ask her in person.

She’s already realized that doing that alone is a bit of an issue as Gail might be doing something, thought usually that is only playing a game she does stream from time to time. Della repeated to herself multiple times what she was going to say/

“Gail I wanted to confess to you that I’ve had feelings for you for the past couple years, and I was wondering if you’d like to go out on a date today?”

It’s simple but hopefully effective, though will be awkward if she’s not able to hang out. There’s also the fear of her not reciprocating, but Della would be okay with that since Gail is one of her best friends.

She could see the door, and she couldn’t help but begin to start sweating, filling her mind with the possible what ifs, like hel only accepting to be nice or her no longer wanting to be friends which to Della would have been the worse case scenario. She nearly forgot about the flowers pressing into her hands as she was so deep in thought, a small bouquet of violets she picked out earlier.

She rang the door bell and breathed in deep, she could already hear Gail talking but from the sounds of it to the other people she was playing with rather than a stream, which gave her some relief. She gave it a couple before giving it another push and that’s when she heard Gail stop talking. One more press and she heard the ‘hold on’ people give when talking on the phone.

Gail went to the apartment’s balcony and looked down, seeing her old friend outside.

“Oh hey Dell! Give me a second this round is almost over I’ll be right down,”
“Ohh okay! I hope it’s going well!” She was somewhat hiding the bouquet she brought to make it a surprise.
“Mmm..” She pressed the press to talk on her headset, probably to make sure the people on the other end couldn’t hear her “...Nah girl these people are terrible teammates ha, one second.” She took herself back inside her room.

Della sighed and waited, she couldn’t help but to turn around to look at what was going on around the apartment’s complex, there were just a few other cows wandering around minding their own business.

She sort of mentally tabbed out before she suddenly heard the door open behind her, causing her to jump and- accidentally tossed the bouquet to her side into the bushes before whipping herself around to see her friend.

“Dammit” she whispered to herself, her friend not noticing however greeted her with a smile.

“Hey Dell! Did you need something? You could of just called you know my phone is always right next to me.” Gail seemed oblivious to her friend’s wide eyed stare.
“I uh… well I’m…,” she didn’t want to reach into the bushes to get the bouquet, everything she thought to herself went blank, what was she even coming to ask her again? “I…”

She could see Gail’s eyebrow slowly raising inquisitivity, and a bit in confusion, she had to think quick.

“Well I was wondering if you wanted to um, go-o on a um…” She could see her face narrow, it was now or never “A date! Like a date uh, amongst girlfriends, friends, gal pals… girl.. Friends…”
“Ohh…” Della’s heart was pounding “Yeah we can go out man, what did you have planned?” a sigh of relief, thank whatever exists above she thought to herself.
“So like, I was thinking we go to that one bowling lobby that opened up a little bit ago and then get some lunch- or dinner at the local burger place if it’s late enough”
“Oh the place that has an arcade? I was thinking about heading there tomorrow or something, I’m down?”

This was exciting, Gail seemed so casual about the whole interaction so in her mind this all turned out well to her. The bowling alley is a bit of a drive so Della called a Moober for the two of them, they chatted while they waited. The drive didn’t seem too long as they chatted about anything that came to mind, Della talking about workplace drama and Gail telling her about game session she was having before Della dropped by.

They did a couple sessions of bowling, Gail not being able to help herself and was a bit competitive about casual games, but Della didn’t mind as she was just enjoying herself in the moment. When they were done they went for the arcade section, they bundled their tickets together to try to get a better prize. It took a couple hours but they managed to get enough tickets for one of the mega plushies that take like 400 tickets.

Della let Gail keep it much to her delight. They didn’t realize how late it was until they headed towards the door and noticed it was near closing, they ended up just getting their food and deciding to eat it when they go to their own houses.

It was more talk about anything that came to mind, gaming news, family stuff, Gail getting super excited remembering a series she liked was going to drop more episodes.

It was such a wonderful night and Della couldn’t help but to feel sad that it was ending, but happy it happened to begin with.

It was 8 by the time they reached Gail’s apartment, Gail struggled to get out of the Moober cause of the big silly plush they won together so Della had to hold it for a second while she got out, Della asked the driver to stay for a second since her house was elsewhere and they obliged.

“Yoo tonight was so fun Dell we should really do this again next week or something,” Della’s heart couldn’t help but to flutter, this really was the best case scenario “You get home safe okay? I’ll talk to you tomorrow, thank you again for tonight”
“Yeah you too, I’m so glad I- Oh wait!” she suddenly remembered that she tossed that bouquet into the bushes, “um, gimme a.. Second” she said leaning awkwardly into the bush for the violets, Gail looked a little confused, before Della presented her with the flowers, “I accidentally threw these cause you spooked me, sorry they’re sort of, damaged now I didn’t want to grab them and keep you waiting.”

Gail took them with a huge smile, Della’s heart was pounding “Aww thank you Della! You really are such a good friend, you know that?”

What. Her face sunk and she could feel her heart stop and shatter “...Friend?” she couldn’t help but to say with saddened confusion.

“Yeah! You said this was gonna be a gal pal date, remember? You said it weird you were like, girlfriends, gal pals, girl… friends.” She couldn’t help but to continue her confused stare before she realized. Oh dammit! Shoot! She really dropped the ball again didn’t she? She had to add in those extra phrases didn’t she. Gail could see the disappointed look in Della’s face, “Is everything okay? You look sad.” Della had to wipe that expression off her face, she couldn’t tell Gail now after everything they did.
“Yeah! I’m good I’m just tired you know, we did a lot today”

Gail smiled again, and gave Della a good bye hug before going into her apartment again.

It was over.

Della slumped back to the Moober, 3rd year in the row she messed up asking, but she couldn’t help but to chuckle and sigh to herself. She screwed up again, but today was genuinely so fun and she didn’t regret it.

“Night didn’t turn out how you expected eh?” The driver asked her, noticing she didn’t even tell him where to yet
“..Yeah, but it’s okay, there’s always next year.”