The Hanahaki Club: Episode 26
Episode 26: Library Consolations
So far…
Having recovered once from hanahaki over her crush on Leon in secondary school, Hassie has developed hanahaki for a second time after reuniting with Leon at university.
Episode 26: Library Consolations
Hassie
Hassie hadn’t managed to get a space in the Work Room today. By the time she came out of her Victorian Literature lecture, the space had filled up with what appeared to be mostly third-year philosophy students and she was forced to take her reference books and find a little study table on third floor in the English Literature section of the library. She wasn’t surprised at all to find Izaak hunched over one of the tables in the furthest, most dusty corner, headphones on and nose stuck in a graphic novel he had bought last week. He swore and jerked comically when Hassie pinged one of his ear pieces against the shell of his ear, and then pulled off his headphones and twisted around to frown at her over the desk divider as she slid into the neighbouring seat.
“Must be nice to be on a course where you never get any assignments.”
Izaak hmphed and shrugged. “They’re all done.”
“You’re such a swat.”
Izaak eyed the three hefty tomes Hassie had stacked on the desk in front of her. “I bet that’s not even required reading.”
“Some of us chose courses we actually enjoy.”
“Nerd.”
“Weirdo.”
“Freak.”
Izaak’s lip twitched in amusement and his gaze dropped to Hassie’s phone as she took it out to sync her earbuds. “Did you download the app?”
“What app?”
“The dating app I recommended.”
Hassie side-eyed him and pointedly inserted an earbud into her left ear as she reached for the volume button on her phone. Izaak watched her with a calculating look for a moment and then reached for his own phone.
“Fine,” he said, his voice about ten decibels far too loud for their setting, “I’ll just set up a dating profile for you.”
Hassie practically leapt out of her chair to reach over the divider and snatch his phone from him. Unfortunately, Izaak was faster, and he twisted out of her way with a gleeful smirk, leaving her clutching at the air. He scooted his chair back and raised a foot to fend her off when she got out of her own chair to get better access to him.
“Don’t you dare!” Hassie threatened, managing to get around his defence and into his space enough to lean one hand on the arm of his chair, and stretch over his head for his phone as he tried to keep it out of her reach.
“It will only take five minutes. I’ll be nice, obviously.”
“Absolutely not. I can set up my own profile, thank you very much.”
“And when will that be?”
“When I’m ready.”
“You mean never, then—”
Hassie gave him her most serious glare. “Izaak Joseph Jord—”
“Look at you two—causing trouble as usual.”
Hassie paused and felt herself turn bright red as she turned her head and saw Zeke and Leon standing at the end of the nearest aisle of books and looking at them as if they were exhibits in a museum of oddities.
“Need me to call security?” Leon offered.
“Yes,” Izaak replied, “I’m being assaulted.”
Hassie peeled herself off Izaak’s chair and pressed back against the edge of her desk, wishing a black hole would open up behind her and swallow her up forever.
Leon cocked his head in amusement. “You probably deserve it,” he said to Izaak, before letting his gaze slide towards Hassie and allowing the corner of his mouth to curve up in a conspiratorial smile. “I’m automatically siding with your sister on this one.”
“What did you do?” Zeke asked. “I didn’t think anything could make Hassie mad.”
“We were just messing around,” Hassie interjected quickly, shooting Izaak a half-warning, half-pleading look. She gestured to the folder in Zeke’s hand. “Is that your finished script?”
Zeke held up the folder with a grin. “Yeah, I just finished photocopying it.” He nodded in the direction of the photocopier, a couple of aisles along. “Myra wants the cast to get familiar with their lines before we do the first read-through on Friday. Here…” He pulled two copies out of the folder and handed them to Hassie, who tossed one to Izaak—deliberately a little low so he missed catching it and had to scoop it up off the floor. “I can’t wait to get started on this. I think it’s going to be awesome.”
“Well, we’ve got a great cast,” Leon agreed.
Hassie looked up from scanning the title page of the script and found Leon’s gaze fixed on her with a smile so sincere her internal organs spontaneously began to melt, like they were made of wax. “Congrats on your role,” he said.
“Oh,” Hassie said, flustered by the sensation of her heart suddenly puddling behind her ribcage. “You too, Mr Leading Man.”
Zeke clapped Leon on the shoulder. “You and Tabitha are going to knock it out of the park, dude. You’ll be the next Romeo and Juliet.”
“Didn’t they both die unnecessarily and tragically young?” Izaak asked wryly.
“It’s the most iconic love story of all time!” Zeke protested.
Izaak scoffed as he got up from his seat and began packing the script and his graphic novel into his bag. “It’s dumb,” he said.
“Dying for true love is not dumb.”
Izaak shouldered his bag and pushed his chair back under the desk before he gave Zeke an unimpressed look. “It’s the dumbest thing ever,” he said. “Romeo and Juliet could both have lived long, happy lives if they’d made smarter choices. Love—true or not—isn’t worth losing your life over.”
Zeke chuckled good-humouredly. “You’ve obviously never been in love before.”
“Nope,” Izaak admitted, flipping his headphones onto his head. “I’m too smart for that.” And then he flipped Zeke off before skulking away through the narrow, musky aisles of books.
Zeke made a face and turned to Hassie. “How are you two related?”
“I got all the good genes,” Hassie said. “But he’s right, you know—Romeo and Juliet were really dumb.”
Leon looked scandalised. “You can’t say that here,” he stage-whispered, “The Shakespearean Secret Police will have you kicked off your course.”
Hassie laughed and felt the weeds in her lungs tremble. “I’ll be more careful.”
“Come on then, Romeo,” Zeke said, tugging on Leon’s collar. “Let’s find your Juliet. If I don’t get these scripts out today, Myra is going to scold me like a Victorian school ma’am.”
“Zeke,” Leon said, as he was led away, “She’ll beat you like a sociopathic prison warden… and I don’t remember signing up as your delivery boy…”
Hassie watched the pair disappear into the gloom of the bookshelves and then slid into her chair with a wobbly exhale. She coughed a couple of times into her fist, and then picked up her phone to open a playlist. There was a brand new text waiting for her on her screen from Izaak, with nothing in it but a link to the dating app he’d talked her ear off about yesterday, called Flutter. He had apparently done some research and determined that this was the one that had the best reviews from users in their age-range, and was also best value for money.
Hassie glanced over her shoulder to check for any further unexpected company, and then let her thumb waver over the link. Romeo and Juliet, she thought. Doomed from the start, or just really, really dumb? Was their tragedy written in the stars? Can a person change their fate?
She coughed again and then scoffed abruptly to herself.
Leon might be the next Romeo, but she was not his Juliet. Izaak was right… she needed to make smarter choices. Love wasn’t worth losing her life over—not just her ability to breathe and exist, but the new life she had built in Hickley since her first operation. She didn’t want to lose any of it, and she especially didn’t want to lose Leon again. At least if she were able to cure her hanahaki by getting over her feelings for him, she could keep him as a friend—that would be something at least. She had to at least try to move on this time, before the surgeon’s knife became absolutely necessary, and that meant being a little more proactive and taking some risks.
Flutter, huh?
Hassie bit her lip as she stared at the link for a few seconds longer, and then screwed up one eye, and her courage, as she clicked on it. God and Shakespeare, help me…
Welcome to Flutter! 🦋
Feel the butterflies, find your true love!
CREATE AN ACCOUNT today to transform your life!
Next time: Episode 27—Dates, Mates & Fakes, Part 1
Teaser:
Lila’s response was instant, like a snake that had had its tail trodden on. In less than than five seconds, she was up out of her seat, one hand grabbing Emery by the tie and yanking her across the classroom and out into the corridor before Emery had any time to catch her breath or register exactly what was happening. The club room door slammed shut behind them and Lila released Emery with a small shove that had her stumbling back a couple of steps before she caught her balance.
“What the hell are you doing?” Lila demanded.
The Hanahaki Club Index
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Author’s Notes:
Not sure what’s worse… Romeo Montague’s life decisions, or the invention of the dating app…
Next time: Episode 27—Date, Mates & Fakes, Part 1
PJ
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