Pissed off

I tried to call Cait a few more times as Hana drove us back to our apartment building. No answer, as I expected. I texted her a few things about how I wanted to talk, wasn’t mad, was on her side, was confused, etc, etc…. Maybe I sent too many texts, I admit, but I really didn’t want my first girlfriend to be lost in a way that wasn’t my own fault.

Hana stayed silent throughout the drive. Her silence broke once we arrived.

“Hey, uh… do you wanna, like, have a drink at my place? You seem like you could use it.”

I nodded. I did need a drink.

We rode the elevator up. I kept checking my phone to see if Cait responded. She didn’t, obviously, but I couldn’t help it. What if I missed her reply?

When we got to our floor, she led me to her apartment. It was right beside ours.

“Give me a sec.” She put up a hand to stop me before going inside. I awkwardly stood outside the door. I received a text from an unknown number.

Kenzie: Hello it is Kenzie sorry about tonight I told Kate that she needs to explain everything to you and she said she would next time also I want to talk to you about our next mission since I still want you to lead it even if you are angry okay thanks

I had to reread the message to completely understand what was being said. Once I deciphered the run-on, I began typing a reply. Then I realized I couldn’t think of anything that wasn’t rude, so I put my phone away without responding.

Hana peeked her head out the door. “Okay, you’ll need to hurry to my room. I really don’t want my roommates seeing me bring a man in.”

I hadn’t even considered Hana having roommates, but I guess it made sense. Apartments are usually copy-pastes of each other, right? So, presumably, she had room for at least three roomies.

I nodded. We slinked through the living room, then to the hallway and into her room.

“Stay here, I’ll grab some drinks.” She left me alone in her room.

I looked around Hana’s bedroom. It was… bare. She had a closet, a tv, and a nightstand next to the bed. No decorations at all. It was weird.

Hana returned shortly with as many beers as she could carry. Usually I’d say she grabbed too many, but I was thankful to drink my anger away.

“So, do you want to, like… rant?” Hana offered.

I sighed, taking a drink from my bottle. “What’s left to say? You were there. Kate ran up on Cait and was such an ass that my girlfriend ran away crying. She’s not answering my texts.”

Hana gave me an awkward pat on the shoulder. “Yeah. That sucks, dude.”

“You’ve known everyone else longer than me; do you have any idea what the problem was?!”

Hana shook her head. “The timeline for that group is, from my understanding: Kenzie and Kate met Ava, then Sara. I guess I met them through Ava, but I don’t know if I’d really call myself ‘in the group’.” Hana shrugged. “So if you ever want insider info or, like, history… I’m definitely the last person to ask.”

I sighed. I finished the first bottle of many and popped open another.

Hana also grabbed a second bottle. “Hey, I don’t want to be a dick but I have to ask: you really didn’t notice?”

“I mean, I noticed they looked similar! How was I supposed to know?! Neither of them ever noticed a sister!”

“Yeah, but… they look the same.”

“Well… yeah! But, what, I’m supposed to assume any cute, nerdy redhead is related to the others? Am I supposed to assume any Japanese women I meet from New York will be your relative now?”

“Okay, now that’s racist. There’s a difference between two people of the same race and carbon-fucking-copies of each other.”

I sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. I don’t know, I guess I’m just… dense?”

Hana laughed. “You just noticed?”

I laughed with her. As we talked, I began checking my phone less and less. After midnight, I stopped checking entirely. I don’t know how many drinks we were in, but at some point Hana suggested we put on a movie and just chill. I gladly accepted. Anything to take my mind off of the world for a little bit.

Hana scrolled and found some random horror movie on Netflix. It had hardly began when we realized it would be terrible. We sat on her bed, back to the wall.

“You know, out of all the beds I thought I’d end up tonight, yours was pretty low on the list.” I joked.

Hana giggled, followed with a drunken hiccup. “You thought you’d get some tonight?”

I shook my head. “I mean… no. It was only going to be our second date. It’s third date you ‘get some’, right?”

Hana shrugged. “I dunno. I’ve only been with Ava.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. What of it, eh?”

“Nothing, nothing! You’re just… well, it’s hard to imagine you couldn’t rebound, you know?”

Hana grinned slyly. “Are you saying I’m pretty, Michael?”

“Nah, you just have easy access to ****.”

Hana punched me in the arm playfully, laughing. “You dick!”

Our attention was brought back to the movie via the main character screaming from a jump-scare.

Suddenly, Hana slumped her head onto my shoulder.

After a moment, I put my arm around her. Because it was more comfortable, you know? Her body was squashing my arm, so I needed to put it somewhere else.

Yeah. Because it was more comfortable.

-

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