The Hanahaki Club: Episode 20
Episode 20: A Burden Shared, Part 3
So far…
Remi has reluctantly agreed to try Sam’s ‘exposure therapy’ plan, in the hopes that if she gets to know the ‘real’ Gio, she’ll get over her crush on him and cure her hanahaki.
Episode 20: A Burden Shared, Part 3
Remi
Remi very nearly slammed the door in Gio’s face when she found him standing on her doorstep at fifteen minutes past eleven. Sam had said he’d pick her up on Saturday morning, but he had never said he was picking up Gio first, the jerk.
She’d expected to at least have the car journey to gather her wits before being plunged into the deep end. She was not ready to deal with Saturday-morning Gio, at all. Bright, smiling, casual, Saturday-morning Gio, who looked disturbingly good, wrapped up in a grey pea coat, dark navy jeans and a red woolly hat that had no right looking as stylish on anyone as it did on him. He flashed Remi a bright smile, and she absolutely felt a new bloom bud in her left lung at the sight. Oh crap, this was a horrible idea that was going to kill her faster.
“Morning, Rem,” Gio said cheerfully, “Sorry we’re a bit late.”
Remi peeked around him at the boxy, off-white car parked on the road outside the gates and channelled all her worst wishes in its direction. She hoped Sam realised how close he was to death, right now. “No worries. I’ll just grab my bag.”
She ducked back into the house and grabbed her bag from the hall table, calling out a half-hearted “I’m off!” before darting back to the front door where Gio was still waiting for her. She shut the door quickly against her mother’s faint querying response from the study and caught the twitch of the blind at the window as she hurried down the steps.
“Where exactly are we going?” she asked as they walked down the drive towards the waiting car.
“We’re going to pick up lunch and then head to Spytton Caves. Have you been before?”
“No, I haven’t,” Remi admitted. “It’s going to be cold, right?”
“Freezing,” Gio said. “But it’s sunny at least.” He eyed her woollen coat and scarf. “Are you going to be warm enough?”
“I’ve got a hat and gloves in my bag.”
“You’re going to need them—Sam’s car has no heating at all.”
When they reached the car, Gio opened the rear passenger door for her with a flourish. “Welcome to The Ice-box!”
Sam twisted round in the driver’s seat as Remi slid in behind him. “Care to walk to Spytton?” he asked, as Gio ducked his head into the car to purposefully witness his friend’s unimpressed expression.
“At least I’d get warm,” Gio replied, before closing the door on Remi and walking around to the front passenger door.
Sam leant over casually and popped down the lock on the passenger’s side before Gio could reach for the handle. He wound down the window a sliver. “Have fun then,” he said.
On the other side of the glass, Gio pouted and poked the tip of his finger through the opening at the top of the window. “Don’t be mean, Sammy.”
“Don’t be rude about my car, brat.”
Gio rolled his eyes. “Fine. I’m sorry. I won’t be rude about Brenda.”
Sam flipped him off and then released the lock.
“Brenda?” Remi asked, as Gio clambered into the front seat.
“That’s her name,” Gio said, patting the dashboard and giving Remi a broad smile over his shoulder. He poked Sam on the shoulder as he started up the engine. “Isn’t it, Sam?”
Sam casually told him to piss off, as if this was a tease he was so accustomed to he couldn’t bother to fight it.
“Brenda?” Remi asked again, as they pulled out into the road with a throaty growl from the vehicle. She caught Sam’s quick glance in the rear-view mirror and returned it with a delighted smirk before she leant forward in her seat with a questioning look at Gio.
Gio twisted around further to face her, leaning in, as if to share some secret, and Remi felt her heart flutter as she found herself in the centre of his brown-eyed gaze. “Brenda is practically part of the family. She was Sam’s eldest sister’s first car and she’s been handed down since to each consecutive sibling on their seventeenth birthday. Sam is her very lucky fourth caretaker.”
“I see,” Remi said. “But why ‘Brenda’?”
“Apparently,” Gio explained, adorably enthusiastic about getting to reveal Sam’s family secrets. “Jenn always wanted a pony called Brenda, and since she never got one, she gave the name to her first car instead. Each of Sam’s sisters has kept the name and now it’s impossible to change it.”
Remi glanced at Sam and caught him rolling his eyes. “I didn’t know you had older sisters.”
“There are reasons I don’t mention it,” Sam replied dryly, yanking Gio’s hat off his head with his left hand and tossing it in his face. “You’re supposed to be navigating, idiot. You better text Hayley and tell her we’re running late.”
For a mindless second, Remi’s hand twitched with the temptation to reach out and smooth the tousle of Gio’s soft, dark curls. Instead, she retreated back into her seat and deliberately turned her attention to the view out the window with a gentle cough.
“Sure,” Gio said, shifting back around in his seat. “I’ll explain it’s your fault.”
Sam smoothly changed gear as they came to the junction at the end of the street, and then reached out to yank on Gio’s hair. Gio yelped and shuffled further away, towards the window, as he took out his phone and began texting Hayley. “So touchy today,” he grumbled.
They picked up Hayley Chan ten minutes later and she bundled into the back seat with Remi where they huddled under a blanket that Sam had had the foresight to provide for his passengers.
“Oh my god, why is it colder in here than outside?” Hayley exclaimed before she’d even put on her seatbelt.
“Careful,” Remi warned. “If you’re rude about Brenda, you’ll upset her papa.”
“Who the heck is Brenda?” Hayley asked as Gio cackled his head off and Sam aggressively accelerated off the curb.
“We’re going to pick up some lunch,” Gio, explained as they pulled up in a supermarket carpark a few minutes later.
“I need to check the tyre pressure,” Sam said. “You guys go ahead and get the food. Don’t forget to get batteries for the torch, Gio. Want to go with the Wonder Duo, or want to stay here, Hayley?”
Hayley, who, was on her phone and had the blanket pulled up to her chin, shook her head. “I’m not moving until we get to Spytton.”
Sam sent Remi a suspiciously self-pleased smile over his shoulder. “Off you go then, Wonder Duo. I’ll meet you back here when you’re done.”
Remi glared at him before she scrambled out of the car. What kind of poorly disguised, obvious-as-hell set-up was this?
She slammed the door shut and turned to join Gio, just as her bag vibrated with a notification on her phone. As she fumbled for the device, Gio rested his hand on her shoulder and gave it a friendly squeeze. Remi glanced up, feeling her face grow warm, and her heart even warmer, as Gio beamed down at her.
“Let’s go, partner!”
Something shifted in Remi’s chest as the steady weight of Gio’s hand left her shoulder. Oh no, this was definitely a horrible idea. She should never had listened to Sam.
Finding her phone, she glanced at the new message on the screen.
Sam: 11:37—Remember, no school-talk, head girl.
Remi inwardly scoffed. Did Sam really think she was that socially awkward? There were plenty of things she could talk to Gio about, without having to resort to their school leadership duties. She stole a glance at her companion as they crossed towards the carpark to the supermarket entrance together. Shoot. If only she could actually think of something right now. For some reason, her mind had spontaneously emptied itself of all appropriate conversational topics the moment she’d got out of the car. She had plenty of interests, Gio had plenty of interests, and they were bound to have at least one thing in common that they could converse about, so why were the only topics she could conjure at the crucial moment the weather, the Spring Festival and Sam’s stupidly-named car?
As they walked in through the supermarket entrance, Remi swiped a basket from the stack and tried not to panic as the silence continued to stretch between them. It had only been a short walk across the carpark, but now it was definitely bordering on awkward.
“Sandwiches first?” she suggested, as they headed up the first aisle.
Gio nodded. “Sure.”
Oh crap. This was such a bad idea.
Whatever you do, do not ask him what his favourite sandwich is —you’re not that desperate.
Her phone buzzed again with another message and she whipped it out with no small relief.
Sam: 11:38—Ask about Strife Island. He’s an idiot for that show.
Remi scowled. Jerk. She did not need his help. She could think of something herself. Of course she could; she was a confident, socially capable young adult who initiated conversations with her peers all the time…
Did you hear back from the parent’s association about funding?
I’ve asked for quotes from a couple of food vendors.
We’re going to need volunteers for stewarding.
Did the prefects who are doing assembly on Monday send you their presentation yet?
So, Sam has three older sisters?
What’s your favourite sandwich?
Oh crap.
Another message soon had her phone vibrating in her hand again, and, knowing full-well who it was from, Remi squeezed her fist around it first, imagining a slim, pale neck under her fingers, before swiping open the message.
Cautiously, she exhaled, trying to loosen the fist of nervousness that had a hold of her chest. “Hey, Gio,” she said, as they stopped at the sandwich aisle. “What’s your favourite show at the moment?”
Gio paused with a BLT in his hand. A curl of hair was still sticking up on one side of his head and Remi gripped the handles of the basket harder as he flashed her his most joyous smile yet. “Have you heard of Strife Island…?”
Nope. There was no way this plan was going to work. Right now, she was certain of only one thing: this boy and his soft hair, bright eyes and endearing dorkiness, was going to kill her for sure.
“I’ve seen the trailers,” Remi replied, as she gave her phone a last quick, rueful glance and then shoved it back into her bag. She smiled encouragingly. “It’s a survival show, right?”
Sam: 11:40—Don’t forget my dessert.
Next time: Episode 21—Your Type, Part 1
Teaser:
Here, more than anywhere, Taran was painfully aware of the raw, unrequited feelings that were tearing up his lungs. Even with a girl sitting next to him who was exactly his type, all he could think about was the girl sitting opposite, cradled comfortably under the arm of his best friend.
The Hanahaki Club Index
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Author’s Notes:
Sam loves Brenda more than he’ll ever admit.
Next time: Episode 21—Your Type
PJ
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