May 6th

Today I worked and then bought the dress I picked out yesterday. It's pretty and the bride is happy. Of course these words aren't supposed to be about my day, they're supposed to be a short work of flash fiction. Here goes nothing.
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"How am I even supposed to know what she wants?" James complained. His head was buried in his hands and he was hunched over in the passenger seat of the car. "Everyone acts like there's some magical formula and I'm just supposed to know, but I don't."

Dev laughed and gentle prodded James until he looked her way. The frustration and hopelessness was painted clearly in the redness of his cheeks and the slight sheen of his eyes. Dev wanted to giggle again, but she held back for his sake.

"There is no magical formula, whoever told you that was just plain full of it. You're not supposed to know by magic, you're supposed to feel it, or learn it, or ask, or figure it out by observation."

"Yeah, because figuring it out would be so easy and asking wouldn't make her upset at all. You act like I haven't trying feeling or learning or figuring it out. I have. The only possible thing left is magic."

"Magic, or this." Dev turned the car into the mall and pulled into a parking spot. She reached into her bag and pulled out her video camera. Scooting over in the seat she held it out so James could see the playback as well.

"I don't see what good watching a video of us is going to do." James said, and he hung his head again. Dev cuffed him gently on the back of the head.

"That's cause you don't pay attention. I filmed this video the last time the three of us went to the mall. That was only a couple of weeks ago. Tell me what you see." Dev pressed play and they watched the girl and boy on the screen walk down the hall between the shops. They stopped here and there and looked in the shop windows. They even entered a few stores. As the video wound to the end Dev turned to James.

"I don't know what you expected me to see. I was there that day, I'm in that video. I don't see anything I didn't see then, it's not gonna be very helpful."

"Ugh, boys. When will you ever get it through your thick skull that that was how she was telling you what she wanted." Dev presses the rewind button. "See here, how she stares at that necklace, and walks back to it when you aren't looking?"

"So what, we were window shopping, the whole point is to stare at things in the windows."

"Yes, but she doesn't linger on other things. She keeps looking at this because she likes it. She's hoping you'll take enough interest to ask about it and perhaps get it for her." Dev rewinds more. "The same goes for this dress and that set of figurines. Every single time she stops like that and sighs, or pulls on your arm, she's telling you she likes that item. She's letting you know what to get her."

"Couldn't she just say, hey, I like that necklace? Why does this whole thing have to be a huge game of "guess what's going on", or is just saying something aloud too scary?"

"If it wasn't complicated women would want nothing to do with it. We're by nature complicated beings. Plus, if she has to tell you what she wants she might as well buy it herself. If you can figure it out, then you're actually giving her gift."

"This conversation is making my head hurt." James said and buried his head in his hands again. Dev put the camera away and turned as much as she could to face him. "I miss the days when we used to hang out. I always knew exactly what you wanted. You never kept me guessing, you told me exactly what I should do. I miss dating you."

Dev's clear laugh sounded unusually loud in the car. "That's probably not the best thing to say when we're out shopping for your girlfriend. Besides, by now you should realize that I'm not like other girls, I just like girls."

"I know, I know, today is about Amanda. I love Amanda, I just miss how easy it was before."

"Well with me as your guide it will be easy again. Let's go get that necklace."