It was grocery day for the guys. Peter went to their favorite market to shop for food to last them for a while. Since their last gig at the summer fest and a few small gigs afterwards, they gained enough money to pay the rent and actually have something to snack on in the pad when they felt like it. Peter was chosen to go cause the other three had dates that night. It was a good week so far, Peter thought as he loaded the bags of food into the car. He popped into the car and drove down the road. On the way down Beechwood he saw a familiar sight; Meagan walking down the side of the road with her bar maid outfit on, and a pair roller skates slung over her shoulder. Curious at the appearance of his new friend, Peter pulled over on the side of the road.
"Hey!" Peter called as he opened the side window.
Meagan turned and smiled weakly at him. "Hi."
"Whats wrong?" Peter asked. A car honked at him from behind. Like before when this had happened, Meagan quickly opened the door to the Monkeemobile and hopped in. Peter pulled onto a side street and drove slowly.
"I got fired." Meagan sighed. "Its not been a good couple of days for me."
"Why did they fire you?" Peter asked.
"They wanted me to roller skate with my waitress costume." She explained the roller skates. "Ok, I said, I'll give it a whirl. So I used what little money I have for other stuff to get a pair. They are nice and cheap." She said dropping the skates on the floor with a clunk. "Unfortunately they are also old enough to be Fred Flintstones roller skates." Peter laughed. "I don't know how to roller skate. No big deal. I can learn on the job."
"Did you?" Peter asked.
"Sort of. I was delivering a drink to a guy. I slipped and landed on his lap. He whispered a very lewd comment in my ear."
"Ew." Peter said. "What did he say?"
"It would be unladylike to say, but lets say he wanted me to come back later and do stuff not related to my actual job!"
"What a jerk. Did you report him?" Peter asked.
"I slapped him and said if he ever talked to me like that again...well the drink he was holding would be suddenly undrinkable in a big way." She laughed.
"I can guess what happened next." Peter said as they pulled near a kids playground. He stopped. "Your boss heard you but didnt hear him."
She nodded. "I got fired on the spot. I couldnt even change cause I didn't bring my own clothes to work with me. I was late so I got dressed before I left. I'm supposed to bring it back tomorrow."
"So much for learning to skate." Peter said.
"I had a crash course." Meagan smiled. "Its just as well, I think I was getting ready to quit anyway."
"What are you going to do now?"
"Besides hope for a roller derby team to start?" Meagan asked. "Not much." She turned to Peter. "How was New York?"
"Interesting town. We may go back if we get the record deal. We left early." Peter said. "Mike wants to get some more songs ready to go if we need them."
"Hows Sofie?" Meagan asked.
"Pretty good." Peter nodded. "Though for some reason it seems we are getting farther and farther away from our wedding. We havent even talked about a day or time or another."
"So far all you have is me." Meagan said. Peter looked quickly at her. "After all, you did say something about me doing bar at the wedding reception or a rehearsal."
"Thats true. So we got one thing." He laughed. He sighed. "Come on, I'll take you home."
Meagan looked at the playground. "Nah I think I will stay here. There is a basketball court I can practice skating on. It won't hurt to try to learn."
"Are you sure?"
"Sure. I can walk home." Meagan said opening the door. "Thanks for the ride."
"Maybe I oughta stay." Peter said. "There are a lot of weirdos around."
Meagan moved to protest but Peter didnt listen to her as he pulled his car farther off the road.
"All rightie." She finally said. "I just hope you have no ice cream or dairy in there."
"I don't." Peter smiled. "Its one of the few things we do have to eat at the pad." He got out of the car. "If you fall, I don't want to be responsible for leaving you here to get hurt alone."
"Okay." Meagan said. She sat down on a bench and took her shoes off and put the skates on. She stood up wobbily at first, but soon made a hesistant step forward. Peter followed her as she made a few steps to the basketball court. It was very flat and a very perfect rolling surface.
Meagan slowly rolled around a little bit around the middle of the court. She turned her head and smiled at Peter. Then she almost fell to the ground. She shot out a leg and recovered very quickly.
"It takes a few minutes to get your balance!" Peter called out. "One time I roller skated and fell on my butt. It knocked the wind out of me." Meagan laughed at this. "I never did it again. They guys still poke fun at me for it to this day."
"Well if you ever get bored, then you can always learn again." Meagan said getting to the end of the court. She turned to come back. "I need a skating buddy."
"I'll think about it." He said as she approached. "I can be a skating guitar player."
"There you go." Meagan said getting close to him. She put one foot out too far and started to fall. Peter reached out and caught her before she hit the ground. Peter slowly brought her to her two feet. He looked down into her eyes and realized how close he was to her. She looked back into his eyes. Before he knew what happened she kissed him. It only lasted a second, and Meagan pulled back, but they both knew something weird had happened.
"Oh my god." She whispered. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just kissed a man whos about to get married." She said shaking off Peters hands. "Oh my god." She said moving away quickly. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."
"Wha...wait, where are you going?" Peter asked as she moved quickly away. "You live so far from here..."
"I can't stay here." She said as she grabbed her shoes. "I gotta go. I can't stay here." Meagan said frantically. "I'm sorry." She said stopping for a second. Their eyes linked. "Forgive me." She said turning and rolling in the other direction.
Peter decided to try to give chase, but she was faster, if not more graceful, on the skates than he was running. Before he had a chance to stop her, she was rolling around the corner. Peter stopped and tried to catch his breath. There was no sound around but the sounds of crickets and his heartbeat.
"What was that?" Peter asked himself. "What just happened?"
