A Dinner Party

A dinner party. Organised last minute. Xiao Mei wanted to be seen and tended to by Nadia. Like before.

Xiao Mei brought a couple buckets of KFC. Nadia had made a tres leche cake. Leon said he would do the cleaning after. And he was a man of his word.

Crispy chicken. On the couch. A slice of milk heaven. Watching A New Hope.

“Why are we watching Star Wars… It's super old… Terrible CGI…” Xiao Mei complained.

“Not CGI… All practical effects… Old doesn’t mean bad,” Leon laughed, “It’s classic sci-fi goodness. Mark Hamil, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford.”

“Okay… I can get behind young hottie Harrison Ford… Old Harrison Ford gives me bad grandpa vibes too,” Xiao Mei chuckled.

Obi-wan bestowed wise Jedi knowledge to Luke. And by the time they were off Tatooine, Xiao Mei was fast asleep with cream on her upper lip.

Nadia leaned into Leon’s arm. She was making that face. Leon knew it all too well. Wrestling with something.

He made a guess, “Your friend from work… Nika, she didn’t come tonight…”

Nadia looked up, “Yeah… I don’t think she wants to be my friend.”

“No way… Literally everyone wants to be your friend…” Leon said.

“Leon, I don’t have many friends,” she said.

“Trust me… You don’t see it sometimes how remarkable you are. If Nika couldn’t come today it has nothing to do with who you are…”

“Okay,” Nadia blushed. He always said these things. Lovely words like “remarkable.”

In the corridor. Out of breath. Spiralling. Greg stood holding a knife.

“I can do this… Once and for all.”