ALDO

“Jer! You said what?”

I was laughing so hard I almost choked on my mint.
“What’s the big deal? I don’t get it.”

She answered lightly, trying to downplay my reaction.

I just stood there, smiling, shaking my head in disbelief

as she fumbled madly through her clutch.

Zip. Snap. Zip.

I was getting cold. I looked down at my toes.

My toenails were probably turning blue under the black polish.
“Hey, are we going?” I said impatiently.

“My nipples are startin’ to feel like ice pellets.”

Meanwhile, I had goose bumps all over.

The kind that make freshly shaven legs feel like sandpaper.

I looked back quickly at Blizzarts’ front window.

“Dammit Jer — he’s still staring right at us.

Let’s just go already.”
Zip.

Arghhh….

Then, out of nowhere, Jerrica jumped on my back

and almost knocked me over.

“F*ck!”

“C’mon, my feet hurt,” she whined.
I swung around to get my balance

and stole another glance at the window.
He was grinning at us. And his friends were too.

Shit.

“Let’s get a move on,” I said as I grabbed hold of Jer’s legs.
“Woo hooo!” she called out, flapping her arms wildly.
Slowly, we waddled down St. Laurent like some gong show act.
“Need a ride?” cabbies called out to us as they drove by.
A constant wave of people spilled onto the sidewalk

as we made our way south. With Jer’s arms around my neck

and her legs squeezing my hips, I felt like a lopsided hippo

trying to swim upstream through the mob.
I slapped her thigh and grunted.

“Time to get off, chica, I’m dying here.”
She slid off my back.

Splat.

Something hit the ground.
Ahead of us, at the corner of Prince Arthur just outside Rouge,

a girl crouched down and picked up

what looked like a flat black handbag.
“Oh, that would really suck!” Jerrica said sympathetically.
“Hell yeah,” I added in agreement.
“Wait a minute…. Chloe — where’s my purse?!”
“Are you serious?”
“I guess I must have let go of it at some point —”
“C’mon, Jer — let’s backtrack.” I said decisively.

“We gotta look for it.”

There’s nothing like the shock of losing your ID

to slap you out of that late-night haze.
Jolted into a painful state of alertness,

I heard the sharp click of stilettos on frozen concrete

as a swarm of barelegged girls hurried by.
“C’mon people,” I grumbled while I scanned the sidewalk.
We hadn’t made it halfway back to Blizzarts

when I thought I heard someone call my name.
At first I couldn’t see who it was.

Then I saw a flash of teeth break through the crowd.

Oh shit. It was him.

And he was smiling from ear to ear.
“Eh, Jer….” I grumbled faintly.
“Did you find it?” she turned to me quickly.
“Oh. Hey — look, it’s Kev!”

she cut in as soon as she’d caught sight of him.
He was walking toward us with a casual stride,

working his way through the crowd with little effort.
And he was holding something.

It was flat and cobalt-colored. With zippers.
“Hey!!!! That’s my purse!” Jer exclaimed happily.
Kevin looked at me with a cheeky smile

as he handed Jerrica her clutch.
“I guess we left you holding the bag, eh?”

I said, trying to play it cool.
“You’re lucky I noticed,” he answered in a half-serious tone. “Some asshole could ‘ve taken your money

and tossed your bag in the trash.”
“Ouch! Thanks for that uplifting public service announcement,”

I answered playfully.
I really hope I wasn’t turning purple. If I did blush,

I could always blame it on the frostbite.
There was an awkward pause.

I could feel Jer mentally biting her lip

to keep herself from saying something stupid.

Then Kev spoke up.
“So, uh, Chloe, you wanna grab a bite sometime?”
“Uh, yeah, sure, that sounds good.”

I fumbled to find the right words to say.
We exchanged cell numbers.

“Ooooh, hooo! Look who scored tonight!”

she teased as soon as he was out of earshot.
“Oh, shut your cakehole already,” I grumbled.
“C’mon, Chloe. You’ve had a thing for him for a while now.”
“So?” I replied curtly.
“Well, let’s just say I helped you work an angle.”

She smiled mischievously.
I raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Are you kidding me?

You dropped your purse in front of Blizzarts on purpose?”
“I didn’t, honest. But aren’t you glad it happened anyway?”
To tell the truth, I was.