The Hanahaki Club: Episode 15
Episode 15: Exposure Therapy, Part 4
So far…
Taran has a crush on his best friend, Cherie, who is dating his other best friend, Kai.
And Remi discovers that Sam is very much dedicated to his exposure therapy theory.
Episode 15: Exposure Therapy, Part 4
Taran
Taran shivered and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket as he followed Kai out of the Design & Technology block. Kai cast him a bemused look and Taran challenged him to make a patronising comment with the most cutting glare he could manage in the face of the crisp breeze that funnelled along the main walkway of the campus and coaxed icy tears from the corner of his eyes.
“I didn’t say anything,” Kai said, clearly grinning under the scarf that warmly wrapped his neck and the lower half of his face.
“Why is it so bloody cold today?”
“It’s January,” Kai replied. “Did you forget that when you woke up this morning?”
“It’s been shitty January for months.”
Kai hummed in agreement and pulled a gloved hand out of his pocket to check his phone. “Cherie’s in the canteen. She’s saved us a table.”
“I’ve got to hand some work into Mr. Jain’s office.”
“Can’t you do it after lunch?”
“No, he said to come at the start of lunch. He probably wants go over my notes.”
“I’ll come with you.”
They paused where the pathway split in two and Taran kept his chin tilted into his collar to avoid looking directly at Kai. “Don’t be dumb,” he said quickly, “Cherie’s waiting.”
There was a flicker of hesitation before Kai spoke. “I’ll see you in the canteen, then?”
“Yeah, if Jain doesn’t keep me too long.”
“Okay. Cherie will be annoyed if you don’t show though—she really wants to set you up with this friend of hers.”
Taran peered up at Kai with a bemused look. “Huh?”
Kai shrugged. “She says she’s got this really cute friend you’d like. She desperately wants to do a double date this weekend.”
Taran grit his teeth and hunched his shoulders further as he balled his fists in his pockets.
Setting him up? Double-dating? What fresh horror was this?
“I’m at the salon this weekend,” he said, perhaps a little too curtly.
Kai laughed softly. “What’s the problem? Is it the double date thing? Or being set up?”
“Both,” Taran admitted bluntly. “When have I ever needed help picking up girls?”
“Never,” Kai admitted. “I think Cherie was just thinking you might…” he shrugged again. “You know… be interested in something less casual.”
Since he couldn’t say ‘I am, but you’re already dating the girl I want that with’, Taran scoffed and rolled his eyes. “What’s wrong with casual? We’re still in college.”
Kai grinned. “Just giving you a heads up that Cherie’s become obsessed with the double-date idea.”
“Well, tell her to stop being so cringe. It’s not going to happen.”
“No thanks. You tell her.”
“I absolutely bloody will.”
Kai just laughed as he turned to walk towards the canteen and Taran watched him go for a second suddenly feeling disorientated. Oh shit. Double dates? It was going to happen, wasn’t it? Even without him: Kai and Cherie were going to start hanging out with other couples every weekend and Taran was going to become the hopeless single friend no one knew what to do with because he ruined the nice even numbers on a table-booking. He could see it clearly: a long table set for five, with him sat at the end, an empty seat opposite, and used drinking glasses and plates piled up in the spare table-top space.
Except, of course, it wouldn’t be a problem for long, would it? Because the hanahaki would kill him and then no one would have to worry about his sorry, single arse.
Once he’d handed his work into Mr Jain, who thankfully had no intention of keeping him for a second longer than necessary during his own lunch break, Taran headed towards the roof of the Old Gym. Technically, the roof was out of bounds for students, but the door was always unlocked and the security cameras were never working. It was a popular spot in warmer weather, but on a January afternoon, with heavy clouds threatening sleet and a brisk wind skittering around every corner, it was bound to be empty.
Except that, when Taran pushed the door open at the top of the stairwell, he immediately saw a figure sat with their back to the concrete guardrail, huddled out of the reach of the wind and hunched over a sketch pad they were resting on their knees. They were sitting on a plastic bag they’d put down to protect against the damp and were bundled up in a thick coat and scarf, grey fingerless gloves, a woolly hat with a bright yellow bobble, yellow and purple striped leg warmers and black military style boots.
My luck really is shitty today—was Taran’s immediate thought.
Disturbed by the creak of the door, Merryn looked up from her sketch and blinked a couple of times in surprise before she acknowledged Taran with a smile.
“Hey,” she said. “Who are you avoiding?”
Taran didn’t reply but instead turned to descend the stairs again.
“Okay, you don’t have to answer that,” Merryn called quickly. “I was just about to leave, if that helps.”
Taran heard the rustle of the plastic bag and a hissed curse as Merryn struggled to her feet. He turned slowly around again to see her clumsily trying to stuff her sketchpad into her bag whilst she tried to keep hold of the wildly flapping plastic bag under one arm. She eventually managed to zip up her bag and scrunch the bag into her coat pocket, adjusting her hat and scarf, before giving Taran another, slightly sheepish, smile.
“It’s pretty cold today, huh?” she said.
Taran eyed her Eskimo-esque get-up and shrugged. “It’s January,” he replied flatly.
“Yeah, still,” Merryn agreed, making her way towards the door. “Are you coming to the hanahaki group tomorrow?”
“Nope.”
“You sure?” she asked, as he stood aside to let her pass. “It could be fun.”
Taran stared at her and Merryn paused just over the threshold into the stairwell to snort a laugh.
“I’m kidding,” she said. “But still… it’s nice to know you’re not the only loser in the world, right?”
“Speak for yourself,” Taran replied, and firmly closed the door in her face.
He walked straight across the roof to the guardrail, and then slumped against it in almost exactly the same spot Merryn had just vacated. The concrete was cold and a little damp through his jeans, but the rail shielded him from the worst of the wind as he took his lunch out of his bag and turned on his earphones.
Who are you avoiding?
Taran supposed it was an obvious assumption to make. Why else would anyone be up here during lunch, freezing their backside off in hypothermic temperatures? Is that why Merryn was up here in such bitter weather? Was she avoiding her crush too?
Crap. He was going to have to go on that double date, wasn’t he? Cherie was stubborn and once she got an idea in her head she wouldn’t drop it until she’d seen it through. And he couldn’t keep avoiding her forever. Perhaps he just needed to take the bullet between his teeth and bite. Maybe he’d develop some sort of immunity to seeing Kai and Cherie together if he exposed himself more often to their disgustingly sweet displays of affection. Perhaps if he took the opposite approach and refused to leave them alone, the tables would turn and they’d be the ones sneaking away to the Old Gym roof for ‘quality couple-time’.
Taran shivered as the cold of the concrete soaked through his thin layers and rested his forehead on his knees. He really was a loser. Even within the pathetic little group that would be meeting tomorrow afternoon in that hideously blue room, he was the most losery-loser of them all.
Remi
Why couldn’t the hanahaki wait until she was at home before deciding to push a flower up her oesophagus? Just another half an hour and she could be hunched over her own toilet, hacking her lungs out without fear of being overheard or walked in on.
It was the end of the school day, so at least most people had gone home, but it would be terrible luck for a cleaner to walk in right now and catch her spitting blood onto the pink flower now bobbing in the toilet water. This was what happened when you forgot to take your inhaler in the morning. Remi hated the inhaler. It was essentially watered-down weed killer and it tasted like it too. It was supposed to shrivel the blooms before they got to their full size so that they would disintegrate when they dislodged from their stems and squeezed up her throat like velvet assassins. But Remi had forgotten to take her inhaler this morning, and she hadn’t had time to get around to it until it was suddenly the last five minutes of the last lesson of the day and a dislodged bloom was already tickling her throat.
She had rushed to the girls’ toilets as soon as the bell had gone and had the pleasure of coughing up a beautifully plump and firm flower head that looked no worse for wear by the time she spat it off her tongue. The same couldn’t be said for her throat which had lost the fight in the struggle and was now sore and scratched.
Remi watched the flower and her blood disappear with the flush of the toilet and then left the cubicle to wash her hands and rinse her mouth. She was just reaching for a paper towel when the door to the toilets opened.
She turned to glare at the intruder. “This is the girls’ toilet,” she said, hating how raspy her voice sounded.
Sam shrugged and let the door fall shut behind him. “There’s no one in here.”
“I’m in here!”
“Merrick High have unisex toilets.”
“This isn’t Merrick High. And their toilets are open plan.”
Sam shrugged again. “I just came to let you know there’s a group of us hanging out this Saturday.”
Remi didn’t reply, but binned the paper towel, took out her inhaler and gave it a vigorous shake whilst she continued to glare at Sam, hoping he would get the hint that his presence was very much unwelcome right now. He didn’t—instead he unabashedly watched her inhale a puff and then grimace at the sting in her raw airway before putting the inhaler back in her pocket.
“Gio will be there,” Sam added.
“So?”
“You should come.”
“I’m not invited.”
“It’s an open invitation event.”
Remi slung her bag on her shoulder and then folded her arms. “You need to leave.”
“Are you going to come?”
“After you’ve gone. I’m not leaving together. Imagine what people would think.”
Sam gave an amused scoff that made Remi flush hot from head to toe. “I meant on Saturday,” he said. “Are you going to come?”
“No. I’ve already told you. Your idea is dumb. I’m not going to gate-crash some social like a loser for your pseudo-science. Now, get lost.”
“You wouldn’t be gate-crashing. There will be a bunch of people you know there.”
“Then one of them can invite me.”
“I’m inviting you.”
“Go home, Sam.”
Sam gave her a smile that was far too confident for someone who had been so forcefully rejected. “Well,” he said, as he reached for the door handle. “If you want the deets, you have my number.”
“I am not texting you.”
“Sure. See you tomorrow, Head Girl.”
Next time: Episode 16—The Second Session, Part 1
Teaser:
“What plan is that, Emery?” Anabelle asked.
“To get Lila to like me—like Merryn suggested.”
Merryn paused, teacup halfway to her mouth as she tried to recall when she’d ever made such a suggestion. “Uhh…?”
The Hanahaki Club Index
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Author’s Notes:
I wrote this episode whilst I was suffering from an acute throat infection that came with about a fifty-billion nasty symptoms, so I would like to formally apologise to the members of the hanahaki club for all the suffering I’m purposefully putting them through. I love you. And I’m sorry.
Next time: Episode 16—The Second Session, Part 1
PJ
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