“Hey, girl,” Maine said, leaning against the gym’s wall with her phone up to her ear. She cupped a hand around it.
“What are you up to?” Min’s voice croaked through the other end.
Maine practically pushed her phone to her ear, attempting to block out the background shouts. “You sound like a corpse.”
There was a pause on the other end, followed by chips crunching.
“Took the biggest nap when I came back from chee”—her end rustled—”cheer.” She yawned.
“First thing you did when you woke up was to call me?” Maine asked, raising a brow.
“Wanna group call later?” Min asked.
“Iona has any gossip?”
“Study…” Min elongated the word.
Maine hummed, folding her arms. “We never actually do anything—”
“Where the hell are you? It’s so loud.”
Maine smiled a blank one and raised her head. All she needed to see was Jacque swinging a fukiya at Ned, the latter evading and yelling as Imo and Ezra laughed their butts off.
She had her answer.
“The mall.”
“Ah.” A pause. “What you buying?”
“Window-shopping.”
Another pause.
“What?”
“Hmm?”
“Can’t you just”—she yawned again—”window-shop online?”
Maine scoffed. “Go back to sleep, girl.”
A groan came through on the other side. “Study.”
“Procrastinate—I’ll speak to you later.” She made a kiss sound. “Bye.”
“So yes to the call tonight?”
“Sure.”
“Cool.” Min returned the kiss.
Maine hung up. She huffed and quickly scrolled to GhosTalk to ensure she had her location off. She put her phone away and rubbed her face with her hands, reluctantly tuning back in with the scene playing out in front of her.
“I said I give in!” Ned shouted, hopping around Jacque and flailing his staff around.
Jacque laughed, withdrawing the fukiya from what was bound to be a relentless swing. “Come on! You barely even fought back—”
“I’d die if I fought your meathead butt!” Ned heaved, clasping his knees and adjusting his specs.
“I don’t even know martial arts like you do.” Jacque patted the man’s back, eliciting an ‘ouch’ from him.
“Still.” Ned pulled out his phone and tapped away. “I need to book my ride home—hold up.”
“You lost again,” Imo said, still shaking from laughter.
“Shut up. I won last week—damn, these fares are high—wait.” Ned lifted his buzzing phone into his ear and paced around. “‘Ello… Wow, last minute? I don’t mind.”
“Ah, it’s almost 6.” Imo checked her watch. “Had this room booked until then, so we should probably leave. We’re done for today anyway.”
Maine perked up.
“Well, this has been… nice,” Maine said, murmuring near the end of her sentence. “Food good and all that—you ready, Jacque?”
“Yeah—uh, thank you so much for letting me stay,” Jacque said to Imo, holding his fist out. “Didn’t expect to have this much fun—”
“Of course, of course!” Imo fist-bumped him with a wide smile. “Glad you stayed!”
Maine clenched her fist and stomped towards the door. “We jogging back or taxi?”
“Jog.” Jacque fist-bumped Ezra and Ned, the latter still on the phone. He dashed to her side. “I still have energy.”
“Same.” Maine took his hand and smiled as they opened the door.
“Have a good night, do come again if you want!” Imo waved them off.
“Sure!” Jacque said.
“Yeah…” Maine said weakly.
Hilarious.
The two left.
Hmm…” Ezra picked up his hoodie and slid into it. “You think they’ll be coming back? Mostly asking for Maine, I guess.”
Imo sat on the thought, tapping her fingers against the fukiya and staring into space. She shrugged.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I hope.” She wiped the instrument with her sleeve. “I came off a bit strong so…”
“Was a surprise she even came,” Ezra said, chuckling.
“Right?” Imo laughed alongside him.
“Ok, ok, just save this for tonight—yeah, see ya,” Ned said, hanging up and sighing. “Too talkative—holy.”
“Who was that? Mama Harrold?” Ezra asked.
“If it was any of my parents, I would’ve had this call outside,” Ned murmured, pushing up his glasses.
“What was it about?” Imo asked, sliding the fukiya into a case.
Ned’s face turned grave. “Apparently… I have a battle scheduled.”
The other two froze, Imo’s eyes widening. However, her expression darkened just as quickly.
“Spill.”
----------------------------------------
“The tea’s just too deep—and Re—remember, Regina had only been with him for, like, 2 weeks—yeah, 2 weeks.” Iona applied a green facial mask in her facecam, her phone positioned in a way that displayed her cluster of makeup items and purple neon lights. “She got too attached—don’t be so”—she squinted in a mirror—”dramatic about some bum—some 2-week bum.”
“That girl can’t keep a relationship for more than a month,” Min said, her eyes occupied on the textbook questions she worked through with a disinterested look.
“A month is being way too kind.” Iona started painting her nails.
“True.”
Silence fell on the call, the only sounds being Min’s murmurs as she punched numbers on her calculator and the buzzing of the TV in front of Maine as she alternated between watching the call and watching the reality show. Both felt the same regardless.
“Reg’s a mess,” Maine said, twiddling a straw between her lips. She looked to the side and panned her phone slowly to Jacque sleeping clumsily on the couch beside her, his mouth waiting for a fly to swoop in. “She needs a huge”—she panned her camera back on her face—”miracle—huge.”
“So true,” Min said, typing something at top speed on her laptop.
“It would cost all our souls for one,” Iona said, inspecting her nails.
Maine hummed, her head lolling back onto the headrest and staring into space despite looking in the direction of the hijinks on the TV. She stretched a bone-breaking stretch and yawned.
Her breathing rate entered her mind for some reason as she held the straw steady. It slowed as she stopped chewing its end. She shot small bursts of air into it.
She repeated the action a few more times, coming to her senses as she dipped the straw back into her glass of orange juice and sipped.
“Ugh…” Maine grimaced, straining her eyes at the TV. “How is Jason still in this damn game?” She blew small bubbles in her drink.
Min stared right into the camera with a disappointed stare. Maine glanced at her and smirked.
“We get that—”
“This was meant to be a study call—”
“—you’re pretty.” Maine yawned again.
A pause.
“Wow, thank you,” Min said, her face lightening.
“Oh yeah…” Iona brushed her hair. “Study…”
The three giggled.
“You two are done for—wait, can I do something?” Min typed away on her laptop.
“What?” Iona asked.
“Wait…” Min smiled at something, glancing at her camera with a cheeky look. “Uh, ok—is it fine if I invite someone to this?”
“Why?’ Maine asked.
Iona groaned. “Don’t bring Regina. I’ll bust laughing.”
“Nah…” Min tied her brown frizzy hair into a ponytail. “I need study help—a question’s screwing my mind.”
“Who, who?” Maine pressed.
A pause.
“Ned,” she murmured.
Another pause.
“Wha?”
“Ned.”
A new facecam popped up, displaying a spectacled guy sitting at his desk and adjusting his camera.
Maine frowned at the same time he did.
“Hey, Ned,” Min said in a playful tone.
“Hello…” His face fell as he wore a tight-lipped smile.
“Oh.” Iona turned to her camera. “Hello.”
“Hey…” He scratched his hair.
Maine turned her camera away from herself, rubbing her face and pinching her forehead.
“Why do you look so depressed?” Min asked, leaning forward with a wide smile.
Ned took off his specs and cleaned the lenses. He ruffled his hair and sighed.
“It’s 11:04.”
“And you still accepted.”
Ned tutted. “Be grateful. Share your screen so I can see what you’re struggling with.”
“Hmm, sure.”
Maine sighed a long one.
“Are we just…” Iona sifted through her supplies. “We just bringing our boyfriends on now?”
Maine snickered to herself.
Min groaned. “Oh my gosh—don’t even start—”
“Always said you liked dorky guys with glasses,” Maine said, showing her smug face in full.
“He’s just a frie—class—the gaslighting is actually crazy—”
“Iona, it’s true, right?”
“Actually crazy—”
“Oh, very,” Iona said.
Maine revelled in the sanity leaving Ned’s face. “That’s harsh.”
A pause happened, Min sharing her screen on a past paper, her mouse circling over an integration question.
“By parts,” Min said.
“Right,” Ned said, pressing his tongue against his cheek. He wrinkled his nose. “Do you ever close your tabs?”
“Shut up. I need them all.”
“You trying to kill your laptop?”
“No—”
“It’s probably running like its life support is a potato.”
“Do the question.”
“Sure.” Ned rolled his eyes and started writing stuff down with a frown.
Maine focused on Min’s cam, picking out how she smiled and fidgeted with her hair.
And we were just talking about taste in men. Come on, Min. Do better.
Maine bit into her straw as she observed silently, smirking at the ‘theyre flirtin hehe’ text notification from Iona, who smiled cheekily at her cam in response.
“Look happier, Ned.” Iona giggled.
“Why should I?”
“3 cute girls on call and you’re the only boy,” Maine said, sipping her orange juice and panning to Jacque, who was snoring lightly. She chuckled. “Say hello.”
Ned gave a deadpan look at his camera.
“Let’s include him in the goss—Regina—Ned, have you heard about Regina?” Iona asked, her green face practically enveloping her cam as she moved around her room.
Ned dug his face into his hands.
“This is gonna be a hard battle,” he grumbled.