Lamest ever

The elevator ride was uncomfortable. There was an obvious tension. I mean, in a way, I’d been casually kidnapped from my bed. What did she plan to do to me?

Admittedly, Hana seemed to feel none of the tension, as she casually scrolled on her phone and hummed a tune.

We arrived at the ground floor and she walked away without a word. The spineless idiot I am, I followed. She lead me to a cheaper car than I’d expected. It was a tan… piece of shit, really. I tried to think of a nice way to describe the car, but I simply have no other notes. I would have envisioned Hana being driven by a limousine with a full-time driver. I also imaged he had a bomb in him too, just for a sense of camaraderie. I think I preferred my van.

“Inconspicuous.” She said flatly, likely seeing my reaction.

“Huh?”

“To maintain a veil of being the ‘broke college student’ type; I drive this. I’ve seen what you drive, though; don’t act high-and-mighty, douche.” She got into the drivers seat.

I got into the passengers. Well, tried; the car was a mess, to put it lightly. Wrappers, papers, bottles that used to be filled with ****… jeez.

“Is this also part of the act?” I asked, trying to hide my smile.

“Shut the fuck up.” She threw the debris haphazardly into the back seat. I didn’t look to see how bad that area must be.

I sat into the uncomfortable, cramped seat and Hana pulled out of the parking lot. I guess her Bluetooth connected, because my ears were immediately assaulted by the loudest, most distorted heavy/ **** metal shit I’d ever heard in my life. Her speakers were definitely fucked if this is how she listened to music. I wanted to cover my ears, but I also didn’t want to look like a pussy.

Hana gave me a side eye and reached to the volume dial and turned it to a reasonable level.

“Sorry. I forgot not everyone likes this stuff.”

“It’s fine. Not my cup of tea, but I get the appeal or whatever.” I tried to make the conversation casual, mostly to avoid discussing the elephant in the room. “I rode with Ava once and she listened to this kind of stuff.”

Hana nodded. “Yeah, that’s something we share. It’s how we met- actually, hold up: how much has Ava told you about me?”

“Not much, from what I remember. I think just that you are friends. You go to the same college, I think?”

“Huh. That’s all?”

“Yeah. Why?”

Hana chewed her lip. I didn’t know if she just did that, or if she was annoyed/ nervous.

“Just wondering. Surprised she hadn’t mentioned more, is all. We’ve know each other our entire lives, actually.”

“Really?” Ava definitely hadn’t mentioned that. “So… you’re from New York too?”

“Yeah. Well, Japan. Then New York.”

“You’re from Japan? That’s cool.” She didn’t have an accent or anything, so I’d have never guessed.

She shrugged. “Yeah, but we moved when I was young, so I don’t remember much.”

“Then you met Ava in New York?” I’m not sure why she was talking about this, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t genuinely interested at this point, rather than just stalling.

Hana nodded. “Went to the same Catholic all-girls school thing. And no, I don’t have the uniform still. Ava might, but I don’t think she’d wear it for you.”

“What?! I didn’t- I wasn’t-!”

Hana snorted. “Shut up, dude; I’m fucking with you… I do have a uniform still.”

“That’s… uh… no, I…”

“Fuck, you’re way too easy to fuck with.” Hana laughed. “You got that date though, eh? Not like you should even be thinking about me in a schoolgirl outfit.”

Her poke about not thinking about other girls made me think of Vanessa. I really needed to figure out my moral compass concerning ghost-based cheating.

“Anyway; we met at the school. Got in a bunch of trouble together. We were the ‘bad girls’ or whatever, right? Wore skirts too short for the nun’s liking; listened to angry music; cut our hair short; blah, blah, blah.”

“Huh. Cool.” I could definitely imagine the pair. Ava as aggressive and still had that punk air to her, and Hana was… evil, so that was easy to picture as well.

“You should have seen the look on Sister Gertrude’s face when she caught us making out in the bathroom.”

If I’d been drinking something, I’d have done a spit-take. “What? You two-“

“Dated? Yeah, for years. Middle school, high school, and some of college. That’s why we go to the same place, we wanted to go to school together.”

“Uh… can I ask why you two… broke up? Or is that, like, rude?”

Hana hummed as she decided. “Nah, I think that’s a story you’ll have to pry from Ava. You’ll have to get her wasted, though; no way she’d talk about it sober.”

What a tease. Not only was the idea of them together hot, but now I was left with a mystery to boot.

“You seem to be on friendly terms though, so it couldn’t have been that bad.”

“Oh, it’s bad. It’s just…” Hana let out a deep breath as she processed her sentence. “It’s… hard to describe, but I don’t think either of us can live in a world without each other, you know? It’s not quite a sisterly bond, but it’s… something. We just don’t scissor anymore.”

I choked on my own spit at the last bit. Hana laughed. If she hadn’t put a bomb in me, this could have genuinely just been a drive between two friends.

-

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