The Hanahaki Club: Episode 28
Episode 28: Dates, Mates & Fakes, Part 2
So far…
Taran has a crush on his best friend’s girlfriend, who is determined to set him up with one of her friends. In his desperation to get everyone off his case, Taran resorts to a little white lie…
Episode 28: Dates, Mates & Fakes, Part 2
Taran
Taran was suffering from too many conflicting emotions for a Tuesday morning. On the one hand, Cherie had caught a cold and wasn’t in college, so he didn’t have to grin-and-bear it through repeated nausea-inducing displays of affection all day from his two best friends. On the other hand, he had a deep gnawing yearning right under his breast bone for the presence of the girl he loved: the teasing lilt of her voice, the quirky tilt of her smile, the heart-stopping warmth of her hand on his shoulder as she leaned in nosily to peek at his work; he missed it desperately and they were only two hours into the academic day. And every time he thought of her—wondered how she was doing, if she needed anything, if he should text her to ask—he immediately embarked on a deeply depressing guilt trip. Kai was sitting right next to him, working on his coursework and probably having the exact same thoughts about his girlfriend.
I am a shitty, friend, Taran thought for the umpteen time that morning. He really needed to stop thinking about Cherie. It was a good thing she wasn’t here, because she couldn’t bug him about whether he was going to text Bea, now that he had her number. At least when it was just him and Kai, Taran’s love life was no longer the focus of attention. Instead, they talked about what type of car Kai could persuade his parents to get him for his seventeenth birthday, the new arcade racer game Taran was currently acing, their coursework, and what to get for lunch. Normal, boring, non-hanahaki-inducing stuff that Taran had honestly missed for the past five months. No talk of dates, no talk of girls, no talk of Cherie even—which surprised Taran, considering how besotted Kai was with her. In fact, hanging out with Kai felt almost normal, like it had before falling in love with the same girl had complicated things. Even the hanahaki blooms weren’t giving him too much trouble today and the stuffiness in his chest seemed to have subsided so that he barely coughed all morning. Perhaps space from Cherie was a good thing. Perhaps this was the way to cure his feelings and this disease.
And then Jack Craven rocked up, as they were on their way to the library, and ruined Taran’s entire day.
“Have you two got a study period now?” Jack asked, elbowing his way between Taran and Kai.
“Yeah,” Kai replied, amiable as ever in the face of Jack’s characteristic rudeness.
“Cool. I’ll join you.”
“Sure.”
“Hey, Taran,” Jack said, slinging an arm around Taran’s shoulder which Taran was quick to shrug off. “Heard you had a date with Cherie’s friend, Bea—are you two a thing now?”
Oh shit, how had that news reached this jerk?
“No.”
“Bea’s cute,” Jack continued. “Are you going to ask her out?”
Taran cast him a suspicious look. Not this guy too? Cherie wouldn’t go that far, would she? “What’s it to you?”
Jack shrugged. “If you’re not, then I will.”
Taran felt a small rush of relief. “Knock yourself out.”
Jack grinned. “Really? You’re not interested? She’s super cute.”
“Ask her out then, idiot. Just leave me out of it though.”
Jack hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t have her number. Do you think Cherie will give it to me?”
Kai scoffed. “No way, buddy. Not after how things turned out with Katie.”
“That was a misunderstanding!” Jack protested, suddenly turning bright red, which was a little odd, considering he was usually pretty shameless. “I tried to explain, but she blocked me, so I didn’t get the chance.”
Kai shrugged without much sympathy. “Sorry, buddy. You’re blacklisted now.”
“How am I blacklisted but this guy isn’t?” Jack asked, jabbing Taran’s upper arm with his knuckles.
Taran smacked his hand away. “I’m not an arsehole, that’s why, moron.”
“I told you—it was a misunderstanding!”
“Yeah,” Kai said doubtfully, “Cherie’s still not going to introduce you to any of her friends. Sorry. She’s only interested in setting Taran up with one of them.”
Jack gave Taran an accusatory glare. “Seriously? When he’s turning down someone as cute as Bea?” He poked Taran again. “What’s with that?”
Shit. Just drop the subject, jackass.
“Keep your hands to yourself.”
“What happened on your date? Was it bad? Was she weird? What’s wrong with her?”
Taran refused to reply, as he pushed open the door of the library, hoping Jack would take the hint and shut up, or, better yet, piss off. Instead, Jack looked at Kai, as if he might have an answer, but Kai just shrugged, as if to indicate he was just as confused too. Unhelpful bastard.
They crossed the library foyer to the lift and Taran hit the call button.
“I would have thought Bea was just your type,” Jack continued. “I met her at Trickie’s Halloween party and she was so funny and confident—it was really sexy. I’m seriously surprised you’re not dating.”
“Well, it doesn’t take much to surprise you,” Taran said dryly.
The lift door opened and they shuffled inside, Jack taking up most of the space as he leant against the back handrail and used the shiny interior to run a hand through his hair. “Do you know what I think?” he said.
“Nope,” Taran replied. “And I don’t care to know either.”
“I think you’ve got unrealistic expectations. You’re not going to find anyone better than Bea, you know?”
“Are you the president of her fan club or something?”
“I just don’t get why you wouldn’t date her?” Jack turned from grooming himself in the reflective surface of the lift and turned to Kai for back up. “Do you?”
Taran turned his gaze to Kai, hoping his best friend was going to back him up on this one and tell Jack to drop it already. Instead Kai just shrugged again. “I don’t,” he said. “I thought Bea would be his type too, but he says she isn’t, so that’s all there is to it.”
Jack hummed again and turned a keen eye on Taran. “Sounds suspicious to me.”
A wave of panic flooded Taran’s veins and kicked his heart into a frantic rhythm. Oh, shit. Surely, this arsehole hadn’t worked out what no one else so far had realised?
“There’s nothing suspicious about it,” he said, as coolly as he could manage, “Just because a girl is ‘super cute’, it doesn’t mean I have to date her.”
“You’ve always dated the super cute girls though,” Jack pointed out, and, annoyingly, he wasn’t exactly wrong. “What’s different this time?”
Taran tried to think of an answer that would be so convincing it would kill this conversation dead, but it was hard to think with the blood rushing in his ears and his heart trying to mine its way out of his chest. Shit.
“Piss off,” was all he managed. How lame.
Jack grinned, triumphantly. “Oo! Touched a nerve, have I?”
Taran glanced at Kai, who was watching him with a bemused expression. Shit. “You’re an arsehole,” he told Jack.
Jack didn’t try to deny it, too elated at having managed to fluster Taran for the first time since they’d know each other. “But I’m onto something right? What is it? You can tell us, buddy, we won’t judge.”
The rushing in Taran’s ears turned to a throb in his temple and he suddenly felt sick. Say something smart. Say something convincing. Say something quickly. Say something, you fool, anything, now…
“I have a girlfriend.”
Don’t say that.
But it was too late. The look of shock on Jack and Kai’s faces confirmed that Taran had, indeed, said it aloud and the damage was done.
There was a ‘ding’ as the lift arrived on the second floor and the doors began to open. Jack and Kai continued to gawp at him and Taran inwardly sighed. No going back now.
He shifted his bag on his shoulder and reached out to ruffle Jack’s hair. “Did I surprise you again?” he smirked. And before he could receive a reply, he turned and exited the lift.
Next time: Episode 29—Dates, Mates & Fakes, Part 3
Teaser:
Taran groaned into his arms and then lifted his head so he could shrug off his backpack. It hit the concrete with a thud and he swore softly before squinting up at Merryn, who stood with her hands in her pockets, watching his face carefully as she waited for an answer. “I panicked and told a stupid lie to Kai.”
“Okay. What lie?”
“That I have a girlfriend.”
“That was pretty dumb of you. Why would you do that?”
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Author’s Notes:
Smart, Taran. Very smart.
Next time: Episode 29—Dates, Mates & Fakes, Part 3
PJ
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