Those Three Little Words

Those three little words. You know them well. But perhaps never have they been such heaven to my ears. “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!” I admit I was a little confused at first. I’d just told Tatiana, BFF extraordinaire (BFFE, if you will), about the past week. During said week I’d had dinner twice and lunch thrice with Colby, plus dinner and a movie with Steven (the Midnight Kisser). Anyway, when I wound up my tale of woe with, “I feel so guilty, but I really can’t decide,” and she proclaimed “Marcia, Marcia Marcia!”, I thought maybe the half-a-mimosa had gone to her head.

“Huh?” I asked.

“Look to Marcia,” Tatiana said. “She dated a different boy every day of the week, and did she beat herself up about it?” Not usually, I thought. “In fact,” she went on, “it was perfectly acceptable, and going steady was something that required your parents’ permission.” I sipped my own mimosa. I wasn’t sure exactly where Tots was going with this, but I was feeling better already. “What I’m saying,” she finally explained, “Is that maybe you just aren’t ready to go steady. That’s no crime, is it?”

“No,” I agreed, “but what do I say?”

“Well, that could be a problem,” Tots admitted. She paused, then suggested I avoid lying, but simply keep mum unless asked a direct question. And by then, I’d probably have made up my mind.

“I feel a hundred times less guilty,” I said.

“That’s what girls’ brunch is for,” Tots said. “And I’m not just telling you what you want to hear because Brian loved that Christmas present so much.”

I smiled. Both Tots and her hubby had thanked me profusely for that Hard Candy chemise. Apparently it had been just the thing for lounging around the hotel room on their winter get-away. Ah well, so what if it had influenced her advice just a little? I raised my glass. “To Marcia!”

“To Marcia!” Tots agreed.