ecdysis

You never really thought Kaede would agree to meet after whatever the fuck happened last week between the three of you.

Yet she sits in front of you, unfazed—amused even, with a hunger for talking you never thought she had in her.

A friend of mine works here, she starts, and after a couple of beats you realize this is a monologue. You are a glorified spectator, just staring at how those big dark eyes brighten her whole face or at the singular way her lips crease into a smile—she more than often flashes her canines in a way that’s kinda unsettling. Maybe Sohyun was right all along. There is indeed something special about this girl, just not in the way you imagined. 

You lose yourself observing how expressive she is, how her words mean less than the way she moves her hands, how by looking at the light in her eyes you can probably expect the sentiment of what she’s saying next.  

Sometimes you catch up on little things—how good this place’s milkshakes are (bet, especially since she's not paying), or how much she misses her hometown, or again, how annoying and invasive her new coworkers are (what?).

“Do you know why I told you to get lost?” 

A bell suddenly rings in your brain, and brings you back on Earth. She's talking about you, last week specifically, and you can only shake your head dumbfounded.

“I was sure one of you would come back crawling to beg me.” She pokes at her own cheek playfully and looks up, her eyes wandering towards something that could catch her attention. “I don’t know, I think I liked the scene in my mind.”

She laughs out loud and it’s crystal clear. 

See, that’s when you understand there’s not really much of a difference between how you, Sohyun and a milkshake’s texture are perceived in Kaede’s mind. You are just items on a menu, flavors meant to be tasted out for her own momentary craving

“I’m sorry, we—” you stutter in a poor attempt to turn this thing into a two-way conversation.

“Don’t be it,” she cuts you short, and giggles again. “Besides, better be useful than sorry.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t think you are really that dense,” she says, rolling her eyes, every gesture as theatrical as it gets. You stare, blank, as she huffs and brings a palm to the forehead. “Try a little harder”

“I’m not following,” you repeat, and maybe you should have stuck to nodding.

“Maybe you are really that dense.” 

Your run to wherever the hell Kaede brought you was quite an anticlimactic series of events: 1) you bumping with a server and getting served fresh strawberry milkshake with double whipped cream right on your shirt; 2) Kaede laughing at you as you tried to apologize with the personnel; 3) a mandatory I hate you message to Sohyun; 4) you bumping your head once again as you tried to enter this spare bathroom in the shop’s basement (why would they even make the door so short?).

“I'm still not convinced,” she mumbles as you try to defeat the giant pink spot on your shirt with sink-water and bad manners. And again you have no idea what she’s talking about.

“How is that supposed to happen?” 

“What?”

“You and me. And Sohyun, of course. I’m just curious.”

“I’ll spare you the details.”

“But I want the details. Tell me, how would you like me?” You notice in the past three minutes  you tried your best at being useless, she must have gotten closer. Your rubbing gets erratic, the warm feeling of her breath against your shoulders distracting you more than you’d like to admit.

“Listen, Kaede. We are sorry,” you blurt, your voice straining in the most pathetic way known to man.

You hear a puff, then her hand, soft on your collarbone. It’s gelid.