Chapter 24: The Incident at The Planet

One of the really cool things about Marina Ferrer, besides the fact that she owns The Planet and is hot, is the fact that her accent allows her to say pretty much anything and it still sounds amazingly intellectual and awesome.

The morning after Bette’s opening was the first time in awhile that I’d managed to drag myself over to The Planet (moping around like a baby after Bette dumped me took up a significant amount of time, which I’m sure you can understand). I was sitting at the counter and what Marina said to me, first thing after she’d given me my espresso, was: “For you, I give Bette nothing.”

“Oh, okay,” I chuckled. “But don’t give her nothing nothing because she gets cranky when she doesn’t have her coffee. You don’t want to do that.” Setting a cranky, non-caffeinated Bette loose on the world is probably some sort of crime.

Marina‘s response was to call Bette a word that I didn’t understand, but the intent seemed clear.

“Yeah,” I said, “and don’t do that thing where you curse at her in Italian, because she’ll totally understand what you’re trying to say.”

“She will regret it,” Marina said with an awful lot of conviction. She was wrestling with the cappuccino machine. “Once you get your bearings and cannot keep the girls away.”

I laughed. “Yeah, okay.” I wasn’t sure which was funnier, the idea of me not being able to keep the girls away, or the idea of Bette regretting anything.

“I’m serious!” Marina cried. She abandoned the cappuccino machine and leaned across the counter, facing me. “She doesn’t know what she’s missing. Just wait until the girls realize you’re single.” She winked.

I frowned and drank my espresso in an effort to look nonchalant. If Marina was hitting on me, then she and Francesca have one strange relationship.

“Okay,” I said. Okay is my neutral response of choice.

Marina left me alone so I could drink and pretend to be writing, when really, I was just moping. This is another reason why I like Marina-she totally recognizes when you’re in the mood to be alone.