“Ge, be reasonable,” Matt said, sitting on the round ottoman of his best friend’s office.

     “You be reasonable!” Gerald said, frustrated. “I have too much work that needs to be done.”

     Matt and Gerald met when they were about two years old. Matt knows Gerald inside out and Gerald’s the same about Matt. Their grandparents were also best friends and business partners as well. Both families were devastated when the older Anderson passed away, so Gerald had very big shoes to fill. Through it all, Gerald and Matt never drifted apart.

     “Dude, this is the first public event you’re gonna be able to attend in over two years,” he argued. “Have a little fun. Let the vice president handle that. That’s why he’s there.”

     “You know the press is gonna hound me,” Gerald said, looking for some papers on his desk.

     “Not in this event,” he said with a grin. “Remember, this is a masquerade ball. No one’s going to know that it’s you! This is probably the only place you can go to where you can have fun and not get noticed!”

     “Matt—“Gerald said, but Matt didn’t even let him finish.

     “No. I don’t wanna hear it, Ge,” he said firmly. “You deserve a break. Have some fun. You never know. Maybe while you’re working, you suddenly realize, ‘Oh, man! I should have gone to that ball.’ But it’ll be too late and you have to wait another year.”

     “Okay, bro. Fine. Under one condition,” he finally said.

     “Anything,” Matt said, with matching hand gestures.

     “You’re going to shut up about this so I can get some work done,” Gerald said, grabbing a pen and signing more papers.

     “Why?” Matt asked.

     “Because if I’m going to spend an entire night without work, I need to get some of this done so I don’t have to stay up for a full 36 hours,” Gerald said, stepping outside.

     “Where are you going?” Matt called out.

     “I’m late for a 10:00 o’clock!” Gerald called back.

     “This should be fun,” Matt said to himself, stepping out of the office as well.

     “Let’s go,” Matt said, after finishing his lunch.

     “Back to the office?” Gerald asked. “It’s only been fifteen minutes. Usually I’m the one dragging you back and you’re sitting there begging to stay another five minutes. What’s wrong?”

     “I’m fine. We’re not going back to the office,” Matt said, standing up.

     “Well, where are we going?” he asked.

     “Shopping,” he said, simply.

     “Shopping?” Gerald asked incredulously. “For what?”

     “Well if we don’t go shopping, then what are you gonna wear to the ball?” Matt asked.

     “I told you to shut up about it,” Gerald said.

     “Well, you’re not working at the moment,” Matt reasoned. “So whether I talk about it or not, you’re not getting work done right now, because we’re on break.”

     “We don’t have to go shopping,” he then said.

     “Yeah, we do!” Matt said. “I don’t have anything to wear and I know for a fact that you don’t keep an emergency masquerade ball costume in your closet.”

     “I’ll just ask Sheila to pick us up some costumes,” Gerald said, returning to his steak.

     “C’mon, man. What if what she thinks is awesome is actually something you wouldn’t wear in a million years?” Matt asked.

     “Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Just stop bugging me,” he finally gave in.

     “Come on, Kim!” Melissa said, shaking her cousin awake.

     “Mel,” Kim whined. “I’m still sleepy.”

     “Kimmy, it’s noon already,” Mel said pulling her arm.

     “Well, this is your fault!” Kim whined again. “Why can’t you love like a home cooked dinner or something? Why clubbing?”

     “Kimmy, come on,” Mel said, sitting on the bed. “We need to go shopping for the ball!”

     “Urgh!” Kim groaned, getting up. “Fine!”

     “Dude, this is the third store we’ve hit,” Gerald complained. “Just pick something so we can go back.”

     “Ge, come on,” Matt said. “Just try to find something nice.”

     “Fine,” Gerald said, and turned around. But what he didn’t notice was the beautiful lady that was standing behind him. As he surged forward, the impact was made and they both ended up on the ground.

     “Kimmy!” Melissa exclaimed. “Are you okay?”

     “I am so sorry,” Gerald said getting up. Once he did, he helped up the lady he ran into.

     “Be a little more careful, Ge,” Matt said. “Are you okay, miss?”

     “I’m fine, really,” Kim said. “Don’t be so hard on him. Neither one of us noticed.” She laughed.

     Gerald stood there, observing. Most people he ran into would probably yell. Most girls would probably take advantage of the situation to get him to go out with them—but not this one. He could easily tell that she isn’t one to easily get upset. She has a beautiful smile and an adorable laugh that sounded like music to his ears. She also has those small, brown, chinita eyes. But most of all, he was very thankful, because she made the situation a heck of a lot easier.

     When he and Matt left the store, costumes already bagged and paid for, he was still dazed. Matt had been talking for a while now—he could tell—but he wasn’t really paying attention. Gerald only looked at him when he waved his hand in front of his face when they got into the limo.

     “Ge?” Matt asked. “Are you okay?”

     “Yeah, dude, I’m fine,” he said, slouching.

     “You don’t seem fine,” Matt observed. “You’ve been like that since— ooh. I get it.”

     “Get what?” Gerald asked, looking at his best friend.

     “You, my friend,” he said, pointing at him, “are thinking about that girl you ran into at the store earlier.”

     “No, I'm not,” Gerald quickly defended, but Matt saw right through him.

     “Sure,” Matt said with a grin.

     “I'm not,” Gerald said again.

     “Uh-huh,” Matt said shaking his head. “Whatever you say.”