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A distinctly sharp item made contact with the back of Sara’s ribs, and it took all she had to bite back the cry of surprise that came bubbling up in the back of her throat. It wasn’t the first time she’d been unexpectedly poked in the back in the middle of class (and she was certain it wouldn’t be the last), but she’d only just gotten accustomed to it enough to stifle her reactions.
She tilted her head to the side, just enough so that the boy sitting behind her could catch a glimpse of her eye, and furrowed her brow at him.
Peace was restored only momentarily, for mere seconds later there came two more assaults to her ribs, slightly more insistent this time.
“Saraaaa,” whispered the boy behind her. “Hold out your hand.”
Sara hesitated, hoping to make herself as still as a statue- then, as soon as the precalc teacher turned around, hurriedly stuck her hand behind her back. The light weight of paper fluttered into her palm - oh, god, he’d decided to pass her a note - and she retracted her hand swiftly.
With another furtive glance back and forth across the classroom (she was lucky that her fellow students were as disengaged with the class as she was), she unfurled the scrap of paper and spent a moment taking in Joe’s atrocious handwriting.
“wanna skip class after lunch? ill pay 4 wherever we go :^]
- your favorite person in the world B) ”
Sara fought back the urge to laugh at the signature, though the two of them both knew quite well that he was right. Oh, it was so like Joe to bother writing a note for something he could have easily asked her after class.
Flicking her gaze up to confirm that the teacher was still facing the chalkboard, she flipped the piece of paper over and hastily scribbled a response on the back:
“Idk. Talk more after class? Pay attention dude.”
Paper safely secured, she dropped her hand behind her back and was grateful when Joe snatched up the scrap immediately. Sara waited for a few seconds, ears piqued in case she needed to catch the telltale melody of pencil quietly scratching against paper. When no such melody came, though, she let herself relax and rested her chin in the palm of her hand.
The classroom’s windows had been opened, giving way to the gentle serenity of wind whistling through the lush trees scattered across the grounds of the high school. It was late spring, just before the chaos of exam season started up, and the air was pleasantly warm and hazy. Sara always loved this type of weather, when time seemed to stand still and the endless possibilities of summer at her fingertips.
Joe was a different story,though; he’d always had twice Sara’s enthusiasm but half of her patience, and the agony of having to struggle through exams while the weather outside was so enticing was pure torture for him.
It was unlike Sara to be so listless; usually she was the star student of the class to a nearly annoying extent, diligently taking notes and writing down theorems fast enough to earn the teacher’s praise. But it was a lazy Friday, the weather was lovely, and the promise of lunch was hanging just over the horizon. So she let her teacher’s careful instructions fade into a distant drone and leaned into the gentle spring breeze.
Her rest only lasted for a minute or two, quickly broken by the shrill ringing of the school bell echoing through the classroom.
“Alright, everyone, you’re dismissed,” the teacher announced, turning around and casting a look around the room that nearly made Sara wonder if she’d been caught. “Remember, tomorrow’s the last day of official instruction, and then we start exam review! Hope you’ve been taking notes all year.” She gave a final pointed look towards the class (lingering on Joe, much to Sara’s amusement), then smiled tiredly and made her way back to her desk.
Sara hardly had enough time to stand up and start cramming her materials back into her school bag before a distinctly human weight threw itself across her back.
“ God , this was one boring class,” Joe mumbled in her ear, arms dangling over her shoulders like a ragdoll. “Dude, I was honestly about to fall asleep. If I doze off during lunch, you know who to blame.”
“Mr. Tazuna, my hearing isn’t as poor as you might make it out to be,” called the teacher from across the classroom. “You’re lucky the school year is almost over, young man.”
Sara chuckled, nudging Joe off her back and turning around just in time to catch his face flushing bright red.
“C’mon, let’s get going,” Sara laughed, snatching up Joe’s hand and dragging him out the door while he still struggled for a suitable response.
“I’m so fucked,” Joe mumbled as the two of them hurried down the hallway, face still practically glowing red.
“No you’re not,” Sara reassured him. “She was smiling- you aren’t in trouble.”
“That was still embarrassing,” he protested. “Never gonna be able to live that down. Not even after I’ve graduated. I’m gonna be married with kids in twenty years and I’ll still look back on that one moment in second year precalc and go ‘oh god, why did I say that, what was wrong with me?’”
“Oh my god, you’re so overdramatic,” Sara chuckled, lightly socking him in the arm.
“Okay, okay, never mind that. I’ve got somethin’ for you.” Joe dug around in the pocket of his slacks (which always seemed to be littered with the most random things) before cheerfully extracting yet another piece of paper. As with the former one, it was frayed around the edges and had been torn in a shape that would have been one hell of a pain to calculate the area of- clearly torn out of the worksheet the teacher had handed out at the beginning of the class. He blew a puff of air onto it, sending a few stray crumbs from the bottom of his pocket flying, and handed it to Sara.
As she accepted the paper, the two of them pushed the doors open and walked out into the schoolyard. The bright, vibrant sunlight hit Sara’s eyes immediately, and she winced against it as her vision adjusted to the outdoor glow.
Once it was possible to open her eyes without the light blinding her, Sara unfolded the neatly-packaged note. It took a second for her to squint at the note and make sense of the pencil marks on the page, but as she put the pieces together she realized that it was a crude drawing of a ponytail, two circling braids, and a neck.
“I drew your head from the back,” Joe proudly proclaimed. “D’you like it? Not much of an artist, but I was pretty happy with this one.”
“Yeah, looks great!” Sara beamed, carefully tucking the drawing away into the breast pocket of her jacket. “There, now I’ve got something of yours to put in my pocket. We match.”
Joe gazed at her with vague confusion for a few seconds, then his face split into a grin as he made the connection. “Aw, hell yeah!” He reached up toward the breast pocket of his own jacket, giving the tiny plastic keychain sitting inside of it an affectionate pat on the head. “I still need to get you something in return for this, huh?”
“Nah, it’s a gift.” Sara reached out to give the little dog a pat as well, eliciting a laugh from Joe. “Besides, it wasn’t even my money, I got it from Ryoko.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Joe chuckled fondly. “Speaking of Ryoko, where is she?” He straightened up to scan the campus grounds. “Something happen to her?”
“Oh, yeah, she got lunch detention for being on her phone in class. Ironically enough, I only found out because the last text she sent before her phone got confiscated was to tell me that.”
“Aw, man,” Joe pouted, folding his arms over his chest. “I was hopin’ the three of us would be able to go out today. Never feels the same when one of us is missing.”
“Uh huh, feel you there,” Sara frowned in agreement.
The two of them had reached the campus outskirts, on the verge of accidentally trespassing on one of the backyards around the edges of the school grounds. With a distinctly disgruntled look on his face, Joe folded his legs and sat down in the grass. After a few seconds of consideration, Sara followed suit. Joe leaned against her shoulder almost immediately, resting his chin near the base of her neck with a discontented sigh.
“So… wanna go to the karaoke place? My offer to pay’s still standing.”
Sara leaned back into the grass to consider, fingers scraping against the dirt. The grass at the far ends of the campus grew long and wild, evidently not a big priority for the groundskeepers. The sky was almost idyllicly clear, a cornflower blue dotted with plump, fluffy clouds.
“I don’t know. Don’t really feel like skipping class today.”
“Dude, you are no fun at all .” Face still creased into that puppy-like pout (Sara was almost convinced his face was stuck in that expression), Joe absentmindedly reached for the keychain in his pocket. “Your track record is perfect, skipping one class won’t hurt.”
“Oh, come on,” Sara complained back, flicking him in the nose and laughing when he cried out in shock. “What if we miss something important that comes up in the exam?”
“Sara.” Joe straightened himself up, crushing a few stray flowers in the process, and looked her directly in the eyes. “This is literally the last day before we review. You’re not missing anything important.”
“You don’t know that,” Sara protested, but leaned back again and gave the sky another contemplative look. Joe seemed to be content with waiting for her response, and sank deeper into her shoulder with a soft little mumble. Sara let her eyes flutter shut, and once more the crisp crescendo of the wind gusting and peaking through the trees entranced her into drowsiness. As the two of them settled into serenity, tiny details of the landscape around them that had previously gone unnoticed sharpened into focus- the meek chitter-chatter of birds hopping from tree to tree, the chirping of crickets laying hidden in the grass.
Serene days such as these didn’t come by easily… and they were surely going to become more scarce as time marched on. Adulthood was swiftly approaching, whether the two of them liked it or not. It was easy to forget that while Sara was in Joe’s company, for any diligence she tried to maintain always seemed to miraculously disappear when his mischievous grin was within a mile.
Joe was the best thing that had ever happened to her, and Sara had to wonder if he secretly knew that. He and Ryoko were the reasons she was never lonely, the people who kept her company when she was on the verge of throwing herself into her work and never re-emerging- the most fantastic people she’d never met.
As focused as she was on her work, on getting into university and having everything secured for the future… she didn’t want to grow up, not really. She’d have been perfectly content with a life full of poorly-sung karaoke and cheap fast food and as much idleness as she could bargain for. But, of course, such a life wasn’t as perfectly and easily attainable as she wished it was.
Sara let her eyes blink open, flooded with sunlight once more, and cast a furtive glance toward the boy dozing against her shoulder. His hair was still styled in that unkempt cut some of their classmates had chopped it into - a mullet’s drunk cousin, as Sara liked to affectionately call it. As laden as it was with hair gel just to keep everything orderly, there was still a certain sort of charm to Joe’s haircut. There was hardly an inch of bare skin that wasn’t glinting a metallic color from one of the many revolving arrangements of jewelry chosen from his drawer each morning, and his uniform jacket and tie were still hanging open loosely. Sara almost wondered if it took more work for him to ensure his uniform looked just casual enough than it would for him to actually button it up properly.
His face was almost remarkably peaceful, mouth slightly ajar and eyelids fluttering gently with every breath. Sara had seen him asleep before, considering how many times he managed to nap during class or lunch, but the sight of his cheerful face falling still was always a bit bizarre to her.
“Joe,” she mumbled, nudging him in the shoulder. “Hey, Joe, wake up.”
He blinked a few times, a clear daze lingering behind his eyes, and shifted himself off of her shoulder. “Hm? Did I fall asleep again?”
“Yeah, you did,” Sara laughed. “Only for a few minutes, though, don’t worry. Anyways,” she said crisply, rising to her feet and brushing a few stray pieces of dirt off of her knees, “I think I’ve made my decision. Let’s go out.”
Joe’s face lit up with that signature brand of glee that really only looked right when he was wearing it. “Really? You mean it? You’re not gonna chicken out last minute, right?”
Sara sighed with exasperation. “No, I’m not gonna chicken out.”
Joe cocked his head to the side, furrowing his brows comically. “Not so sure I trust you. How about we shake on it?” He proffered his hand and gave her another mischievous grin, one that was both childish and fantastically conspiratory.
“Dude, you are insufferable,” Sara complained, but accepted his hand all the same and gave it a hearty shake that made Joe stumble.
“Jeez, are you trying to pull my arm out of its socket?”
“Yeah, and I would have actually done it if your hand wasn’t so sweaty.”
“Uncalled for, man.” Joe shook his head with mock distaste. “Absolutely uncalled for.”
Sara laughed gleefully, prompting Joe to shake his head even more fervently and for the several metallic clips dangling off of it to clink together loudly. He straightened up, wearing an exaggeratedly disgruntled expression, then whirled around to face the backyard they’d been sitting in front of.
“Alright, you ready to potentially commit a crime?” He gave Sara a cheerful smirk.
“I’m pretty sure truancy already is a crime,” Sara replied lightheartedly. “How many different offenses are gonna be on our track record by the end of the day?”
“As many as possible,” Joe declared, ducking under the poorly-supplemented fence and creeping across the backyard.
With one final, hesitant glance back towards the school (and a whisper of ‘are you coming?’ from Joe), Sara tightened the strap of her schoolbag around her shoulder and crept after her friend. She flicked her gaze up to the back windows of the house, all of which were, thankfully, concealing their contents with tightly-closed curtains. Crouching lower just in case, she sidled toward the fence and crept just along its edge until she reached the side of the house. As Joe frantically waved his hand from the sidewalk, she straightened up and sprinted over to join him.
“That’s it, we’re officially criminals now,” Joe declared as the two of them strode down the sidewalk towards the main road. “How are we ever going to recover from this?”
“We’re not,” Sara sighed melodramatically. “We’re going to spend our twenties in prison instead of college.”
“Nah, we can get Ryoko to bail us out,” Joe grinned. “Unless, of course, she ends up in jail along with us. But I think that would end up being more of a party than a punishment.”
“Unless we get put in separate cells.”
“Shit.”
Joe fell quiet for a second, but the contemplative look in his eye and the way he was biting his lip made it very clear that he was deep in thought trying to find a solution. Sara chuckled, shaking her head, and picked up her pace; the main street was in sight, and the karaoke place was only a block or two away from the school. It had been a primary hangout spot for high school students for nearly decades, if the stains and tears on the couches and tables were any indication. Indeed, Sara had to admit she’d been excited to visit the karaoke place for the first time considering how much the upperclassmen had hyped it up as a crucial tradition for one’s high school years.
It was no big surprise that the first person she’d visited it with had been Joe- charismatic, enthusiastic Joe. Her excitement had been trivial compared to his own the day they’d gone to visit the old, dusty building; he’d nearly been sparking at the fingertips, ruffling through the lyric-book hastily and twisting at the old machine’s dial with such vigor that it threatened to break. She’d quickly realized that any extreme she thought her emotions could go to would pale in comparison to Joe’s any day- and, strangely enough, it was one of the things about him that she found remarkably endearing.
“Mm… alright.” Joe broke the silence with a discontented hum, hand giving one last thoughtful rub at his chin before falling back to his side. “I’ve got nothing. Guess we really are doomed if we end up in jail.”
“Well, shit.”
“Well, shit, indeed.”
“Guess we’re going to have to be extra careful not to end up in jail. No more skipping class for us, alright?” As she spoke, Sara rounded the corner and emerged out onto the main road, ducking under the tree branches and verdant leaves that hung over the path and littered greenery onto the sidewalk.
“Can’t promise that, but I’ll try to stick to it.” Joe, being several inches taller than Sara, winced as a few stray twigs branching off of the main tree tangled their way into his hair. “Aw, crap.”
Sara laughed, reaching forward to help him break free. Ordinarily, she’d have felt a bit more sympathetic for Joe, but the amount of times he’d lorded those few inches of extra height over her had been getting on her nerves.
“You know,” she mused thoughtfully, tugging a particularly crafty branch free, “speaking of track records and not getting into jail and all that… have you ever thought about what you’re going to do after school? Graduation’s only a year away.”
“Oh, man, don’t ask me about that kind of stuff,” Joe winced- the only time he’d winced then, despite the amount of objects that were tugging at his hair. “I don’t wanna think about that.”
“You haven’t given it any thought at all?” Sara raised her eyebrows, dusting one final leaf off of the top of his head. “There you go, all free.”
“I mean, sure, I’ve thought about it a little bit,” Joe shrugged. “But it’s not like I’ve got any concrete plans or anything. I figure I’m just gonna have to find out sometime. And that time’ll come soon enough.”
Sara gave him an incredulous look. “That’s… kind of a shitty plan.”
“I’m flattered you even called it a plan in the first place.”
“Fair enough,” she shrugged. “Really, though, you don’t have any ideas about your future?”
“I don’t know, man,” Joe replied, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his slacks. “Was thinking I might try to get a job at the vet’s or the animal shelter, maybe? I like working with dogs, I feel like that would be fun.”
“Okay, I don’t think you’re gonna want a job at the vet.” Sara wrinkled her nose. “You’d probably have to euthanize someone’s pet if you worked there.”
“Oh.” Joe’s face paled. “Oh. Yeah, you’re right. That’s such a downer, you know that?”
“Sorry.”
“Not forgiven.”
“I’ll buy you a soda when we get to the karaoke place.”
“Okay, you’re forgiven. I can’t hold grudges that long, anyway.” Joe let out one of his signature chuckles, tilting his face into the gentle spring breeze and grinning. “I’m assuming you have a long university career planned out, down to the week?”
“Well, it’s not that precise,” Sara giggled. “But I can confidently say that I’m a hell of a lot more prepared than you are. I’m not… all that happy about it, though?”
Flicking a quick glance across the road to look out for incoming traffic, she strode across the crosswalk with Joe bounding along in tow.
“I mean… I don’t know what Ryoko is up to, but you’re probably not going to college, right? What if we all end up drifting apart from each other? I know… that things change, and we’re all gonna grow up eventually, but that doesn’t really mean I want it to happen, y’know?” Sara laughed, edged with a hint of embarrassed bitterness.
Joe cocked his head to the side, his longest locks of brown hair cascading over his shoulder, and wrinkled his nose in thought. “Nah, we’ll definitely see each other as often as possible. I’ll drive to wherever you are and come visit you! I’ll come throw rocks at your window at two in the morning and piss off your roommate.”
“Wow, thanks,” Sara laughed. “I’m feeling better already.”
“Always happy to help,” Joe teased.
The two of them arrived at the door to the karaoke building, which Joe pushed open with a flourish, bowing overdramatically as Sara crossed the threshold. As soon as she walked into the lobby, she was hit by the overwhelming scent of cigarette smoke that was heavy in the air. At this point, she wasn’t surprised; the blinds of the lobby were always hanging low, tinting the room a hazy golden-brown, and the carpet was scuffed and stained from years of students tromping across it and spilling their drinks. There was always a different worker manning the front desk, but without fail they were always a young adult with tired eyes, puffing at a half-burned cigarette and looking as though they’d rather be anywhere in the world other than there.
Sara lingered back towards the hallway leading to the rest of the building as Joe strode up to the front desk and leaned his elbows onto the lacquered wood. He’d always been far more adept at interactions than she was.
“Hey, dude, what’s up?” Joe gave the worker one of his signature bright grins and was met with a long, world-weary stare. “How much would a room cost for, like… two hours? Maybe more than that?”
The worker paused listlessly for a second, then sighed. “Base cost is fifteen bucks. Every hour after that is gonna be another four dollars, then you pay at the end. And don’t try to scam me, I keep track of the time.” They pulled the cigarette out of their mouth and pointed it accusingly at Joe.
“Hey, hey, I’d never do that, I promise!” Joe exclaimed, face flushing tomato-red again.
The worker merely shook their head and took another drag off of their cigarette. “Aren’t you two kids? Ain’t that the uniform for Sonobeno, aren’t you two supposed to be in school right now?”
“Nah, they let us out early,” Joe replied, looking very much as though he didn’t believe himself at all.
The worker sighed wearily. “You’re lying straight to my face.” With an exasperated groan and the scrape of chair legs against the floor, they stood up and retrieved a key from the array hanging on the wall behind them. “Consider yourself lucky that I don’t get paid enough to care. Here you go, kid. Don’t get yourselves caught.”
Face lighting up with glee, Joe excitedly accepted the key. “Thanks!”
As Joe made his way down the hallway to find the appropriate door, Sara crossed over to the drink machine and mulled over her options. Several of the item dispensers had been broken for years, and despite the amount of dents and scratch marks on the machine, no amount of kicking and pulling had ever managed to earn anyone a refund. By the looks of things, it had been quite a while since any of the drinks had been replaced.
Sara shivered as the bulky old air conditioner on the wall whirred into action and spat a gust of icy air right at the back of her neck. Joe had already disappeared into the room; it would be best to make a choice soon. After a few more seconds of indecisiveness, she inserted her coins into the machine, each one clinking as it slid through the slot, and grabbed the bottles of cola and strawberry soda that had fallen out of their perches with heavy thuds.
As Sara treaded quietly towards the karaoke room, the cold of the bottles soaking uncomfortably into her chest, the faint sound of music floated through the hallway and met her ears. Only one of the doors was slightly ajar; the rest were all tightly shut, with only darkness beyond the windows peering into their rooms. A soft smile making its way onto her lips, Sara nudged the door open with her shoulder and stepped into the room to find that Joe had already turned on a song and was singing passionately into the microphone.
Chuckling to herself, Sara walked over to place the drinks on the low coffee table sitting between the two couches before removing her uniform jacket and tossing it onto the couch. The lobby had been cold, but this room was already swelteringly hot; sunlight was pouring through the windows, so bright that Sara could see each individual dust particle floating through the air after the impact of her jacket against the couch had produced a cloud.
As Sara sat herself down on the couch and pried the cap off her soda, the blaring volume of the music gradually faded and Joe whirled around with an excited grin. Sweat was already beading against his skin, but the enthusiastic glow in his eye automatically warmed Sara’s heart.
“Aw, sweet! You remembered my favorite soda after all, thanks, dude.” With some effort, Joe pulled the cap off his soda and took a sip.
“No problem.” Sara took another sip of her own soda, then leaned up against the cushy couch with a sigh. It was worn and threadbare, but just as comfortable as it had always been.
“Looks like you’re up next to sing something,” Joe grinned. “Feeling adventurous today?”
“I dunno.” Sara absentmindedly picked up the bottle cap and flicked it into the air, then caught it again. “Might start off with some pop song from the radio, just for safety.”
“There’s no shame in starting off safe,” Joe wisely proclaimed, tapping his soda bottle against the old table. “Oh, you know what? You should try a Samurai Yaiba song. Oh, oh, you wanna duet one of their songs later on?”
“Oh, come on, there’s no way I’m gonna be able to growl like RECO does.” Somewhat regretfully, Sara stood up from the couch, returning her half-drunk soda to the table, and crossed over to pick up the microphone. “You know, they haven’t released anything in awhile, I wonder what happened to them.”
“Heard one of the members got arrested,” Joe replied offhandedly, shrugging his jacket off his shoulders and rolling his shirt sleeves up to the elbow.
“Oh, yikes.” Sara picked up the laminated songbook and thumbed through it, looking for one of the familiar pop songs she could never manage to get out of her head. Landing upon one, she reached for the machine and twisted the dial until it finally landed upon her desired song.
As the music began to start up, floating through the speakers installed into the walls, her grip around the microphone tightened. Joe wiggled back into a more comfortable position on the couch, spreading his arms across the back of the sofa. Sara took a deep breath, wincing at the realization that she probably should have done some sort of vocal exercises before this… and began to sing.
Sara wasn’t a talented singer, by any means. Truly, she wasn’t really talented at anything related to the arts. Her singing was pleasant to listen to, though it was nothing special, but if anyone asked to see any visual art of hers, she would have broken down crying.
Joe’s singing was nothing special either, but he had that certain sort of charm that made it easy to forget that the quality of one’s voice actually mattered. Perhaps it was that grin of his, the youthful cheer tinged with mischief, or the sparkle in his eyes that always seemed to be present. Sara couldn’t count the amount of times he’d caught her eye while singing and winked, and every single thought in her mind had completely gone out the window.
Perhaps that was why she was so comfortable with singing her heart (and lungs) out in that room, knowing that she was painfully average- because the only one there to listen to her was Joe, and Joe’s presence provided a comfort like no other.
As she held a high note, the climax of the song, Joe gave her a thumbs-up and a wide smile- and, as the music faded out, she burst into laughter.
“What, what did I do?” There was no offense in Joe’s eyes even as he spread his arms in plaintive confusion.
“Y-you didn’t do anything,” Sara giggled, wiping a tear of mirth out of the corner of her eye, “you just threw me off. And then I completely fucked up the note.”
“Well, serves me right for being supportive, I guess,” Joe jokingly complained, rising out of his seat to accept the microphone from Sara’s hand. “Alright, my turn.”
“What’s on the menu this time?” Sara asked, laughter still lingering on the edges of her voice as she returned to her seat.
“Who knows?” Joe shrugged, picking up the book. “Something from a musical, maybe?”
“Of course you’d suggest that,” Sara replied lightheartedly, casting her glance around the old sun-stained room. Her gaze landed on Joe’s teal jacket, crumpled in a heap on the floor, and she gasped in mock horror. “Oh my god, Joe, how could you?”
“What did I do this time?” Joe looked up from the song booklet with a lighthearted smile.
Sara, who’d already retrieved the jacket from the floor, fished the dog keychain out of the breast pocket and held it to the light with an expression of mock disapproval. “What happened to wearing it until graduation, huh?”
“Oh, shit,” Joe replied, hurrying over to take the dog and stuffing it into the pocket of his slacks. “There ya go, little buddy. Well, I mean, he can’t breathe now, but at least he’s back in my pocket.”
Sara chuckled, sitting back down on the couch as Joe returned to choosing a song.
“Aha, got one,” he finally declared, tossing the book aside and turning up the music.
As the song swelled into existence, Sara immediately recognized it- it was part of the soundtrack to an immensely shitty musical the two of them had seen in person earlier that year upon Joe’s request. Joe had enjoyed every minute of it and had even sung along to some parts, while Sara had spent the better half of the musical scanning the auditorium to see if there was any visible clock on the walls so she could keep track of how long she had until it ended.
“You’re really subjecting me to this?” She called over the loud blare of the music, prompting only a mid-song smirk from Joe.
Sara waited until the song was nearly over until the last and longest note came- at which time she caught Joe’s eye and gave him the biggest wink she could muster. Joe immediately choked on his words, and the choking devolved into giggles.
“There, now we’re even,” Sara said smugly as her best friend gasped for breath.
“That is absolutely cheating.” Joe shook his head in defeat, handing Sara the microphone.
“What exactly am I cheating on?” Sara laughed.
“No idea, but you’re cheating on something, that’s for sure.”
Sara giggled as she returned to the karaoke machine. The two of them continued singing for the next few hours, tossing the microphone back and forth and choosing increasingly more ridiculous songs, including the oldest one they could possibly find in the book and a children’s song with nearly incomprehensible lyrics. At one point, Joe decided not to hand the microphone over to Sara, holding it just above her head with the most self-satisfied and dopey grin on his face, and the two of them spent five minutes fighting for control over the microphone to the point that the exhausted worker had to knock on the door and tell them to quiet down or else they’d be kicked out.
Halfway through, Joe went out to grab snacks for the two of them, seeing as how they’d missed out on lunch, and Sara flipped through the songs to find one sung by Samurai Yaiba where both the sibling vocalists were singing. Joe arrived back into the room, arms overflowing with snacks despite his promise to buy only one for each of them, and sprinted back over to the machine to join Sara. Neither of them had the skills to sing either part properly, but they were still nearly in tears from laughing by the time the song was over.
Eventually, the two of them were sitting quietly on the couch, voices nearly hoarse from the day’s events. It was far too early for the sun to be setting, only 4 or 5 p.m., but it had lowered noticeably in the sky and was tinting the room a pleasant golden hue. Sara lifted her chin to catch the sunlight, letting it warm her face.
“Dude,” Joe mumbled, “I’m so tired.”
“Me, too.”
The two of them returned to silence, gazing listlessly at the bustle of the town just beyond the window. It was set on the second floor, and the warm glow of the blue sky and fluffy clouds peeping over the town’s urban skyline were comforting. Birds fluttered past the window occasionally, stopping to perch on power lines or even sometimes on the sill of the window. Sara made sure to make eye contact with the birds every time one landed, watching the way each one tilted its head from side to side before taking flight again.
“Hey, Joe?” She asked, voice almost piercing against the warm, heavy silence of the room.
“Yeah?” Joe blinked twice, warm brown eyes almost doe-like when making eye contact with her.
“Can I get a hug?” Sara laughed quietly.
“Yeah, of course.” Joe’s weary voice was a lot more welcoming than Sara had expected it to be; he lifted one arm lazily and Sara leaned up against him, smiling slightly at the comforting weight when his raised arm came back down to rest on her shoulder.
Sara had always considered herself very lucky to have two best friends who both gave fantastic hugs, particularly Joe. There was a certain cozy warmth to his embrace, the way his arms always tightened protectively around his friends, that made them so comfortable.
Joe felt like home. Plain and simple, there was no other way around it. Joe was the scent of buttery cookies baking in the oven on a cool autumn day, the comfort of knowing you were safe in a place where nobody could hurt you, the security of being able to drift off to sleep peacefully and without fear. He was the best thing that had ever come into her life. That was one thing Sara knew with full certainty.
“Joe,” Sara whispered out tiredly. The words felt like molasses on her tongue. “I’m never gonna lose you, okay? Never. Promise you’ll never lose me?”
She lifted her arm up drowsily, proffering a pinky, and Joe quietly accepted it, hooking his pinky around hers.
“I promise. If I ever lose you, you have to come back soon so you can beat me up for letting it happen, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Sara chuckled. “You’re my favorite person, Joe. I like you a lot.”
“You’re my favorite person, too.” The arm that was draped across Sara’s shoulder squeezed her a little tighter.
Sara blinked her eyes tiredly, trying to resist the sleepy pull of the warm sunlight against her eyelids. There were a lot of things she still wanted to say to Joe, a lot more appreciation she wanted to express. So many words that were so much stronger than ‘like.’ But they could all wait until another day.
It was a hazy spring evening, the sun was beginning to sink into the horizon, and soon enough the two of them would have to get up and go home to start studying for exams. They had all the time in the world, Sara was sure of it.