by Lannah Smith
And John knew that by the thoughtful expression that crossed his best friend's face once more, his mind was working on who exactly Terry was and what she meant to him. And at that moment, while Leon continued to study him, John was barely hanging on to his temper. He knew Leon was just baiting him but, by God, if he heard him make another nasty joke about Terry again, he will smash his face in.
"Terry's Yukiko, isn't she?"
John felt a muscle jump on his cheek because he was gritting his teeth so damn hard.
"I thought you hate gossip," he gritted out. "What? You got a vagina now, too?"
Leon smirked. "So she is Yukiko."
"How'd you even know, dickhead?"
"I saw her from the window of your bedroom," Leon explained. Raising his water bottle, he took a long pull before continuing, "When you wanted to introduce us back when we were children."
"I remember you hiding," John said morosely. "You wouldn't come out."
"We were children. She's a girl. Girls have cooties."
"Oh, now you're being funny."
"It took me a while to remember and connect the pieces." Leon held his eyes and went on, "I only started suspecting it when I noticed you visiting the regular building far too often. And I also saw you kissing her a couple of times."
John's head jerked back. "What? Where?"
"In her car. And at the back of our building."
"You're a jerk," John mumbled. "You should have told me."
"Like you told me about her?" Leon's expression turned angry and John swallowed. "You told me you grew apart. You told me you didn't know where she was."
John took a quick step back. "Look, I'm sorry, alright? I just..." Crap, how the hell should he tell him without looking like he was putting the blame on him? "You... you don't need my shit, Leon. So I didn't tell you."
"Bullshit."
"And we're over. We already broke up."
Leon's head cocked slight to the side and he gave John a hard stare. "It doesn't look like it's over."
John stared at him, feeling his jaw get hard.
Then he shook his head and said, "You're right. It's not over."
"I won't force you to tell me," Leon said quietly. "It's your job to be the annoying best friend. But John, I don't like looking at you like this. It's my job to be the depressingly fucked up best friend, not you. So fix whatever it is you'll have to fix."
John didn't speak. He did this because he was surprised.
He couldn't believe he was getting advice from Leon. Like he said, he was the depressingly fucked up best friend who John was trying his hardest to get unfucked.
"And when you introduce her to me," Leon spoke again. "I'll make sure not to hide."
John shook his head and chuckled. "Fuck you."
"I'm serious. I'll not hide in your bedroom."
"This isn't like you, Nicky." John let out a small smile. "Is this the Sophia effect?"
Leon rolled his eyes and started up the stairs. "Get rid of that shit-eating grin and don't call me that, dumbass. And get the hell out of my house."
He chuckled again.
Man, but it felt like such a huge relief, Leon finally knowing about Terry.
"I love you too, Leon," John shouted as he followed his best friend up the stairs.
"Sophia is the most fickle person I've ever met in my entire life," Hannah mused.
I flicked up my gaze from the magazine I was reading. Sophia was sitting on my bed, looking at all the clothes strewn across that we helped her buy. She had a confused expression on her face and I knew she was thinking of Hannah's instructions about what to wear with what and which to pair with which.
I scowled, reminded of the torturous five-hour shopping with her and Hannah. I really shouldn't have let Hannah talk us into finally going shopping with her.
"Honestly, couldn't she just pick one and get over it?" I mumbled.
"Now I know why she hates shopping," Hannah replied. Picking up the curling iron from my vanity, which was now cluttered and covered with make-up, she rolled the last uncurled portion of my hair with it. "She takes too long to decide."
Returning my gaze to my magazine, I mumbled, "I'm thinking of introducing her to the wonders of online shopping."
"Think again, Terry. She's no computer whiz. She'll probably max out her cards or be a victim of an online scam."
"She's not that dumb," I muttered with a frown. But the more I thought about what Hannah said, the more I thought it was possible to happen. Sophia didn't even know how to take screenshots in her own cell phone. "Sophia can't be that dumb... right?"
Hannah giggled. "She doesn't even know the difference between teal and turquoise."
I rolled my eyes. "I don't too. They're both just blue to me."
"Uncultured swine," she muttered. "And what's wrong about shopping and browsing in malls or boutiques?"
"Everything."
"A hands-on experience will be good for her," Hannah argued. "So she'll stop wearing tacky clothes."
"She doesn't care. Her boyfriend doesn't care. You shouldn't too."
"But she hurts my eyes," Hannah wailed and I was glad she was already done curling my hair because she was waving the wand around like an idiot. "It should be illegal for a pretty girl like her to dress so ugly."
At this, Sophia's head went up and she frowned at us.
"Are you talking about me?" she asked.
"I said pretty," Hannah shot back. "Are you pretty?"
Sophia grinned. "Are you still mad I didn't let you push me into buying those heels?"
"They were perfect for your feet! You have such slender calves! And you hide them with... with sneakers!" she returned, spitting out the word like it was offensive. "You're blonde! You should act like your stereotype."
Sophia lost the smile and scowled. "You mean act like a bimbo?"
"Exactly!"
Amused, I closed the magazine and watched the two argue. Hannah was standing in front of Sophia, her hands on her hips, while Sophia looked up at her from her position, glaring defiantly.
My phone rang on the vanity and I glanced at it.
Then I groaned softly.
The jerk was calling me again.
"I need to take this call," I told the girls as I quickly picked up my phone. "Just... stay there and keep arguing."
"Let me put make-up on you," Hannah declared as I left the bedroom.
"No."
"Come on, Sophia."
"No!"
Shutting the door firmly behind me, I went near the window and answered the call.
"Stop calling me," I hissed.
"So this just happened," John spoke in my ear.
"I don't care—"
"Skull threw a punch at me."
"Seriously, you are such a pain—"
"But he missed and he was lucky he did because I would have beaten his stupid ass to the ground. And you know I could."
I gritted my teeth. The jerk really couldn't take a hint.
"I already told you about how we saved Rohan and got him to the hospital right? Well, if Skull had hit me he'll be staying in the same hospital too. You know why he tried to hit me? Because I wouldn't let him go back to the Den. I really wouldn't care if he'd go but Leon did so I had to stop him, you know."
With a sigh, I leaned my back against the window sill and just let John speak. That way, this one-sided conversation would finish soon. That way, he wouldn't call again and Hannah and Sophia wouldn't wonder who my persistent caller was.
"And Rohan, that brat. Apparently, he's been causing such a ruckus up in the hospital because he didn't want to stay there. He even made his mother cry. And he's step-father's so furious he didn't even visit nor let the girls see him."
"Are you done?" I asked wearily.
John fell silent.
Then he said, "Yeah, I am. I'll call you again."
"Please don't—"
But the line was already dead.
I breathed through my nose and gripped the
phone so tight if I was strong enough, I could have shattered it.
Ever since I called John out of fury after hearing he'd slept with someone, John had taken it up himself to call me over the silliest things.
Once, he'd called me to tell me he'd broken one of his prized action figures. Another time, he'd called me to ask which sophomore textbook was the heaviest so he could use it to clobber Skull.
Then there were the times he'd call to update me about Rohan. He'd also told me about the Den and how they all worried Rohan wouldn't make it when they saw how badly he was beaten up.
At first, to counter this pest calling me all the time, I again blocked his number. But then he used another number to call, and another, and when I got so fed up I blocked all my incoming calls, the jerk actually called Hannah, pretending to be Jack, the junior year representative, to talk to me.
I didn't want to confront him. I didn't want to see him, even though I wanted so bad to beat him up myself. Or, more to the point, it would drive me to murder if I had to breathe his air. So with a great sigh of defeat, I unblocked his number and just answered his calls. They usually take 5 minutes at most and though it sickened me how I still couldn't get away from him, a part of me was still glad we had this connection.
A very small part I was trying stamp out.
A loud noise in my bedroom jolted me out of my unhappy musing and I went back inside. Hannah was on the floor, laughing so hard she was crying. Sophia was standing on the bed, her hands clenched into fists. Her back was to me and I wondered what happened to the two.
"What's going on here?" I demanded.
Sophia's body flinched.
Then she slowly turned her head to me.
And my jaw dropped when I saw her face.
Her face was painted white, like a geisha, and her eyebrows and lips were red, just like a geisha. Even her hair was done up like a geisha.
Unbidden, laughter bubbled out of me and I had to lean against the door for support. Her scowling face wasn't helping; she looked like a geisha turned warrior at night and out for a kill.
"She... actually... let me," Hannah said between snorts.
"I think it's the blonde in her," I replied, wiping the tears from the corner of my eyes.
"Will you guys stop with the blonde jokes already?" Sophia said exasperatedly.
I quit smiling and looked at her.
Being Sophia's companion and sort-of friend as the days went by helped me to stop dwelling about John. Her naivety was exasperating but it was hilarious at the same time. And it was refreshing, being with someone who didn't care about who I was or how rich my family was. She didn't even seem uncomfortable while she was in the house even though she had commented how large and spacious it was when she first stepped inside.
Thinking all this, it brought to mind John's tirade about Rohan. It must be because of the freshman that Leon was busy and couldn't hang out with Sophia all the time. Well, it was fortunate that he was. It gave me time to spend with her and time to get close to her.
And reluctantly, I was starting to enjoy her company, though I hated it when she talked about Leon and in effect, John.
Pushing of the door frame, I walked towards her.
"Come here, Sophia," I told her. "I'll teach you how to do your make-up so you won't get fooled by Hannah again."
"Spoil sport," Hannah quipped from the floor.
"Will you stop calling me?"
John watched from the back of Skull's living room as Leon nursed a drink on the couch. John felt his lips twitch as he held the phone to his ear thinking, no. There was no way he'd stop calling her.
"What are you doing?" John said, leaning a hip against the foosball table and sliding his gaze to Skull, who was sitting beside Leon. "Thinking of me?"
"Are you drunk?" Terry asked.
"No. Why do you ask?"
"Because you're disgusting bold tonight."
John let out a low laugh. He transferred his cell phone to his other hand and tapped his fingers on his jeans.
"I just miss you," he told her.
"I'm hanging up."
"I'll just call again."
Terry groaned, "I'll give you five minutes to say what you want to say. Then I'll hang up."
"You know what we can do with those five minutes if you were here?"
She went silent for a few moments. Then she said in a repulsed tone, "Pig."
And John laughed again. "Get your mind of the gutter. Haven't you seen those 5-minute food recipes on Facebook? We can make dessert."
"You're still a pig."
"You know you want me. Don't deny it, baby."
"Did you just call me a child?"
John heard loud groans of disgust and his eyes went to Skull and Leon. They were both looking at him and their expressions mirrored the sound he heard them make.
He gave them both the finger but said into the phone, "I'm coming over later."
"I'll lock the windows."
"No. Don't lock the windows—"
"And letting out the dogs."
"Baby."
"Don't call me that. Don't come. Your five minutes is also up so I'm hanging up. And don't call me anymore."
Like hell, he won't.
"Fine," he sighed. Then he said in a teasing tone, "I'll see you later."
"Not happening," she said before she disconnected.
John smirked. In his mind's eye, he saw her face get adorably angry and heard her sweet but irate voice. Seeing it, hearing her voice, it made it harder to stay away from her. Still, he'd respect her decisions. But after she'd cooled down, he'd try to heal this breach, no, this chasm. So he'll take things slow for now.
Leon watched him as he crossed the room and plopped down the couch between Skull and him. His best friend didn't look happy and John briefly wondered why. He knew he went out with Sophia earlier. Was there another problem? John grabbed a slice of pizza off the table and would have asked him that question when he happened to glance at Skull.
"Why do you look so grumpy?" John asked instead, taking a bite of his pizza.
"Because Leon's depressing me and you're irritating me," Skull replied in a pissed-off tone.
John furrowed his eyebrows confusedly. "How am I irritating you?"
"Guys who have girls fawning over them irritate me."
"Wasn't exactly fawning over him if she's locking the windows," Leon muttered.
Asshole.
"Jealousy is unbecoming, you know," John replied.
"Who said I was jealous?" Skull returned.
"Yeah I'm out of here," Leon declared, getting off the couch. When Skull straightened up, he continued, "John, stay."
The eagerness in Skull's eyes disappeared as soon as he said the last sentence. Skull grumbled and fell back on the couch, looking murderous. John almost sympathized with him. He understood how Skull felt, If Leon was John's best friend, Skull was Rohan's and to say Skull was pissed when he saw Rohan's state when they arrived in the Den was a fucking understatement. He was out for blood and if it weren't for Leon, he'd probably be in the same hospital as Rohan.
Leon and John were both supposedly on guard duty right now, watching over Skull and making sure he wasn't leaving his house. The past few weeks were hell. Between taking care of Leon, making sure Rohan stayed in the hospital, making sure Skull didn't do anything stupid in the meantime and mourning over his wrecked relationship with Terry, John hadn't relaxed for a long time.
"What?" John's eyes narrowed at Leon. "Where are you going? I'm not staying all night."
"Yeah, you can go anytime." Leon pulled his jacket on. "Skull's not going anywhere if he wants to meet Sophia this weekend."
"Yeah?" Skull leaned forward. "You're not joking?"
"No."
"Tell her to bring my sandwich," John inserted as a joke. Fuck, but this was going to be fun.
"And mine, too," Skull piped up.
"You can both share," Leon muttered, picking up his helmet.
John scowled. "L
ike hell!"
"No fucking way," Skull protested.
"I'm calling Sophia," John continued to grumble.
