Archive of Our Own

Pushing a button, all the lights in the room simultaneously turned on, the blue hues illuminating the room. Bkornblume set down her bag and turned on all of her equipment, she sat down on her chair, testing all of her equipment to make sure they were working properly. She put on her headphones, whistling into the mic and testing the sound quality. Once everything was ready to go, she pushed the button to start as the sign on her door lit up with a bright red “LIVE”.

“Good evening, everyone! It is your favorite radio host, Blumie, here.” She smiled into the mic even if no one could see her. Working as a radio host was something she had wanted since she was a kid, and now it was reality. Not to mention, her show was steadily gaining more listeners as time went on so at least, she wouldn’t be on the chopping block if they decide to cancel a show.

“What a busy week, huh? I had to finish my assignment in a day even when I had a whole week because my procrastination makes up 70% of my personality now. Haha.” She laughed, making small talk as she waited for the phone dials to come in. Apparently, her talk show was really popular with college students from what her coworkers told her and the fact that all of her phone calls always came with something related to college. She wasn’t sure how that happened, maybe her lament about her assignments resonated with a lot of people. Not long after she went live, a call finally came in.

“Hellooooo, Blumie here, what’s up, caller?” Blumie greeted enthusiastically, she always liked listening to people with their problems. The voice on the line hesitated for a moment before responding back, “Hey… um, I am calling totalkaboutmycrush.” The voice rushed out at the end, sounding super flustered. Bkornblume took a moment to register what the caller had said before a lightbulb went off on her head (figuratively).

“Soooo, a crush huh? Not the first time we have one around here so don’t get too flustered haha.” She laughed, the voice on the other line mumbled a sorry and Bkornblume rushed to reassure them that it was okay. She continued, “You wanna tell us anything about them?”.

The voice on the line sounded hesitant and she could vaguely hear cheering in the background, probably their friends hyping them up. “She, um–” The voice continued before cutting off again. Bkornblume whistled, the voice was undoubtedly very feminine sounding, it sounded like it was a bad case of gay panic the caller was having right now.

She waited patiently as the cheering got louder and louder, she could almost make out the words in the background, she giggled. The caller let out a loud sigh and talked again, “I see her around sometimes, frankly we never even talk. I think she is in a different major than me too. Ahhh! I sound so pathetic, but hnng I don’t even know how this crush developed.” The caller fake sobbed on the phone, Bkornblume could hear the sound of laughing in the background.

Bkornblume was about to say something, but the voice on the other line continued, “She is, um, really pretty. I always see her around with headphones and a scarf wrapped around her neck no matter the weather, haha.” Bkornblume was jolted from her seat, why did this sound like her?! Crazy coincidence, she dismissed it in her head. She shook her head to dispel the thought and listened to the continued rambling of the caller. It was rather cute, although she wondered how the caller could talk for so long without stopping to breathe.

“Do you plan to ever confess to her?” Bkornblume asked once the caller stopped rambling on about how their crush was literally perfection embodied in a human body. There was a pause before she could hear a loud thud coming through, she laughed, “Hope you didn’t just fall down from shock.”

“Of course not!” The caller rebutted back, their tone in mock anger, “Your question just caught me off guard… I want to get closer to her first, but we don’t have anything in common aside from 1 mutual friend and that said friend is having a crush on her friend as well.” They sounded so defeated and Bkornblume could hear a loud “Hey!” from the background, said friend was probably annoyed to get dragged into it as well.

Bkornblume tapped her table repeatedly while trying to think of something to help, but the caller seemed to recall something else. “Ah! I think she might like kornblume… the flowers and the color blue, but that is kinda useless, isn’t it?” Bkornblume stared off into space, no way, it couldn’t be about her. She was practically invincible in her class and she only ever talked to Isolde and 37, there was no way someone had a crush on her.

Whatever, her existential crisis could wait until later, she had a job to do. Trying to run through all the yuri mangas she had read for clues on how to help didn’t really provide her with anything useful. She would just say what she would like and maybe it would help the caller, “Um, how about just going up and striking a conversation with her? It would be even better if you have a good excuse like the table being full if she is the type to go to a cafe.” She stopped herself before she could ramble about her habit even further. The thought of this caller having a crush on her was making her really flustered.

“That might work, I’m not holding out too much hope though… A girl as perfect as her probably has someone already, right? Ahhhh, overthinking will not help me. Thank you for the help, Blumie.” Bkornblume did her usual goodbye and the caller put down the phone, she didn’t even get a moment to breathe before another call came in. Existential crisis later, her paycheck wouldn’t appear at her doorstep by itself.

-x-

“AHHHHHHHHH!! Why the fuck did I do that?!” Melania screamed into her pillow as she rolled around on her bed. Kakania and 37 were laughing at the state of their friend who was bright red. Melania got annoyed at their laughter and threw the pillow at them. The two didn’t seem to mind as they continued laughing.

Melania couldn’t believe she had let them talk her into calling the radio for help, this was really the lowest moment of her life. Kakania finally had pity on her friend and got up from her bed to pat Melania on the head. “That was really fun, you should do that again.” She laughed and 37 joined in as Melania got more and more annoyed. She finally had enough and started tickling Kakania. Not anticipating the attack, Kakania instantly admitted defeat as she was helpless against the merciless tickling. 37 jumped in to attack Melania and it evolved into a big mess as the 3 kept tickling each other to get back at each other.

Once they were finally done, all 3 laid on the floor in exhaustion from laughing. Kakania took deep breaths and started talking, “How dare you attack me when I haven’t even held you accountable for airing out my business like that?!”

Melania smacked Kakania right in the stomach, “You better not be using therapy talk with me. Anyway, you deserve it for making me call the station. 37 is lucky she has nothing I can blackmail her on.” Kakania curled into herself from the pain of the smack and 37 sat up from the floor, a cheeky grin on her face directed at Melania.

“You guys just don’t believe me when I say I already have a fiancée . Anyway, I’m going to make cup noodles. Anyone want some?” Both Melania and Kakania showed a thumbs up and 37 went out of the room to make food for all 3 of them. Kakania also sat up, looking at Melania.

“Not to use therapy speak again, but Blumie isn’t really wrong, y’know. Strike up a conversation with her first and see where it goes from there.” Kakania adjusted her glasses and got up from the floor, walking to the door to follow 37, “Oh and actually, 37 was the one that brought up this idea. Take it up with her, loser.” She laughed as she closed the door behind her.

Melania swore she aged 10 years after these two found out about her crush.

-x-

Bkornblume had a terrible sleep last night, the moment she finished her show, she instantly went to bed, ignoring all the messages her two friends sent her, she was sure it was nothing good. Terrible timing as she had a class early in the morning. Once the class was finished, she finally opened her app and their groupchat was filled with messages about the call. She stared at the 100+ notifications and decided she had no energy for that. Too bad for her as one of her beloved friends was right outside of her class.

She pretended to not notice her, but she followed closely behind her, snickering, “So, it seems a certain someone has an admirer.” Sophia teased with a large smile on her face. Bkornblume quickened her steps, as the other quickly followed behind her. The scene was rather comedic to see the 2 power walking through the hallways. Bkornblume pulled her scarf up, obscuring the bottom part of her face as she started running through the ground. She heard laughing behind her as her friend laughed at her action.

She wouldn’t follow her, she knew that for sure. The more she could evade their questioning, the better. She ran to her favorite spot, a little spot under the tree behind the business major building. The courtyard for that major never saw many activities that she would usually find herself being the only one there. Opening the door, she was shocked to find another person was already napping under her favorite tree.

The tree was the biggest one in the area which also meant it provided the most shade from the sun. She let out a sigh and walked toward the tree, leaning on the opposite site of where they were resting. It was nice that they were a quiet sleeper too. She took out her book and started reading through where she left off. Bkornblume was a big fan of romance novels, only certain types though. Romance was better when the main leads are both women, just her opinions.

It was already autumn, the cold breeze was a nice welcome change compared to the hot summer air, Bkornblume was never a big fan of summer. The way she dressed and her scarf always made her stand out way too much during summer.

The time passed quickly, she needed time to recharge between her interactions with her friends. All 3 of them were introverted, that was how they managed to become close in the first place. The sun rised up high in the sky and the person next to her started stirring from their slumber. Bkornblume was almost impressed that she managed to nap for so long in public.

The figure mumbled something incoherent before quickly sitting up then falling down again on the soft grass. Bkornblume could hear the mumblings, but she couldn’t make out what was being said. She looked at the figure, noting down the appearance now in her mind.

The person had brown hair, tied up in a low ponytail. The hat that was used to obscure her face from the sun was now on her head properly and she could finally see the features on her face. The lady had wide honey brown eyes, her eyelashes were really long. Bkornblume couldn’t help, but think that she looked a lot like a squirrel, very cute like one too.

The lady probably sensed Bkornblume’s piercing stare as she looked back, directly meeting her eyes. Bkornblume smiled, waving as the lady had a face of confusion before it morphed into a surprise. “Hey there.” Bkornblume said warmly.

“H-Hey!” The lady nodded back, looking down and smoothing her clothes from any creases that could have formed.

“I hope I am not intruding?” Bkornblume asked, the lady shook her head repeatedly. Bkornblume could almost make out a red cloud forming on the lady’s face, “I haven’t seen you around before.”

The lady blinked at her dumbfoundedly before a smile formed on her face, “Oh! I rarely come here, this is the first time I actually stayed in this courtyard for a while.”

Bkornblume was about to reply, but a sound interrupted her thought, her phone alarm rang off. It was time for her to go now. She gathered her stuff into her bag and looked toward the stranger as she slowly got up.

“Pleasure to meet you. Unfortunately, I have to go now. Hope we see each other again.” She walked off, hearing her shout goodbye on her way. A smile formed its way onto her face.

-x-

Melania gathered her stuff and rushed off the opposite side of where Bkornblume went. The phone in her hand was being relentlessly pushed by her finger as she typed into the group chat she shared with her roommates.

melanirat
WHAT THE HELL I JUST TALKED TO BKORNBLUME

One with the tism
Did you finally confess?

Mentally sane psych student
I’m proud of you, Melania. What happened though?
Also 37, I doubt Melania could be talking to us now if she had confessed. She would probably be buried 6ft under rn.

melanirat
very funny haha 37 >:(
anywayyyy i just embarrassed myself in front of my crush, say yay if i should kms

One with the tism
Nay, if you are gone, the dorm would be very quiet

Mentally sane psych student
Don’t kys, you are so sexy haha…

melanirat
what the hell kakania

Clearly her friends were not helping, she needed to talk to them face to face and explain how much she absolutely fumbled. But god… Bkornblume was really pretty up close.

-x-

Kakania smiled as she read through Melania’s replies. She was supposed to be in class now, but she decided to skip today and checked out the new stock in the bookstore nearby. She was skimming through the selection when Melania messaged the groupchat.

Even if she kept giving advice to Melania, it wasn’t like she was taking her own advice. Melania really overstated her relationship with Isolde, they were barely friends. Kakania became a fan of her after seeing her star in a few movies and as luck would have it, Isolde and her frequented the same coffee shop.

One time all the tables were full and Isolde had asked to sit with her, they talked for a bit and now whenever the shop was busy, Isolde would wait at her table for her order. Isolde never ate at the shop, she probably was too busy for that or something so Kakania never managed to exchange more than a few words with her. Thinking about it, Kakania got really bummed and now her mood plummeted.

She shook her head, dispelling all the thoughts, her love life was a thought she could foster another day. She browsed through the classic section, seeing if any stories that she hadn’t read before were here. She disliked reading on her tablet so it was really unfortunate that there were only a few bookstores nearby that regularly change their stock.

She picked up a book she hadn’t seen before and read through the summary, getting intrigued enough, she decided to buy it. As she was closing the book, someone came up to her and leaned over to look at the book in her hands.

“Jane Eyre, huh? Rarely see anyone buying it nowadays.” Kakania couldn’t see the person’s face, but she was oh-so-familiar with the voice. The person leaned back and Kakania could finally see their face, it was Isolde! Kakania’s brain almost short circuit before she caught herself and stopped herself from making a fool of herself in front of her crush like Melania. Melania must have cursed her.

“Oh, Isolde! Didn’t really expect to see you here.” Kakania put down the book into their pile again and fully turned to Isolde. Isolde looked different today, she wore her hair up and her face didn’t have any makeup on, she looked so much more casual today and still as beautiful as ever. Isolde smiled at her, Kakania felt her heart skip a beat.

“Me neither.” Isolde laughed quietly, “I rarely come here, but I didn’t have any class today so I figured why not? It must have been my lucky day to run into you.” She finished off. Kakania wanted to bash her head into the wall, how could Isolde say something so sweet so casually?! If Kakania didn’t know any better, she might have thought Isolde was flirting with her. She quickly grabbed the book she just put down and started fanning her face. It was somewhat warm in here, totally not because of what Isolde said at all.

“It is me who is lucky to run into you.” Kakania chuckled, trying to contain her nervousness, “The worker here gave me a schedule of when a new shipment will come since I’m already a regular so I was just browsing for anything new to read.” She rambled on, her nervousness got the best of her. Kakania had a really bad habit of becoming a parrot chatting away when she was nervous.

“Ah, if you don’t have anything in mind, how about I recommend some stuff? I have read a lot of books, both for my job and as a hobby.” Isolde offered kindly. Today must have really been Kakania’s lucky day. She nodded enthusiastically as Isolde chuckled at her reaction.

Isolde wrapped an arm around hers and started leading the way to another section. Kakania was sure she could die today and would have no regrets. Isolde was cold, her body temperature lower than Kakania’s, but when their skins touched, it felt soothing. Kakania hoped she didn’t have a blush on her face. So much for calling Melania a loser, she totally was the same.

-x-

Melania could barely focus during her class, the interaction with Bkornblume swirling in her head over and over again. She couldn’t believe she fumbled like that. She let out the nth sigh now since class started 10 minutes ago. If she knew, she wouldn’t have skipped class to take a nap, at least, that would have saved her the embarrassment.

Her mind wandered to the first day she saw Bkornblume. It was rather silly how she started falling for that girl, she never told her friends the reason because she knew they would totally laugh at her, understandably so.

Melania was running late to an exam and this professor would lock the door once it started. She had seen some unfortunate students experience this first hand and she was not about to become an example. 5 minutes left, she could do it if she did something crazy… like jumping over the fence gate to the courtyard of the building instead of going through the door. Only problem was that the gate was too tall for her to climb over without any equipment.

Here came her savior in a blue scarf and the prettiest smile on her face. Bkornblume approached her, seeing her disheveled state, Bkornblume had a kind smile on her face and asked her if she needed any help. Melania was about to cry from either stress or happiness, she didn’t know. After some incoherent rambling that Bkornblume managed to understand, Bkornblume helped lift her up over the gate.

When she got down on the grass again, Bkornblume showed a thumbs up to her and shouted “You can do it!” Melania probably fell right there, she looked so cute and Melania was really weak to cute girls. She bowed quickly to express her thanks before running back through the backdoor to her class. She did make it in time thankfully, all thanks to Bkornblume.

After that day, Melania kept noticing Bkornblume whenever she walked around campus. It was like her eyes automatically tried to find the girl with the prettiest smile hidden by her blue scarf. She later learned the name from Kakania when Kakania caught her staring at Bkornblume. She was a close friend of Isolde’s, Kakania’s crush. What a funny coincidence it was.

37 had a good laugh when she found out about the whole ordeal with their crushes being friends as well.

-x-

Sophia hummed quietly as she cooked dinner for both her and Bkornblume. Isolde messaged them that she wouldn’t be here today. With the wrapping up of her latest film project, Isolde had been busy the entire week, today was her first free day where she didn’t have anything to do. Sophia was planning to cook Isolde’s favorite, but Isolde had to be out today. Sophia was pretty bummed since she wanted to grill Bkornblume about her crush too, Isolde was better at that than her.

The dorm door was loudly opened as Sophia spaced out. She shook her head and turned to look at Bkornblume who was having a wide smile on her face. Sophia whistled, this was a complete contrast to the mood she saw her in this morning.

“What got your mood up so high, Blumie?” Sophia asked as she turned off the stove, just in time, the food was ready. Bkornblume brightened up even more when she smelled the scent of food wafting through the dorm. She quickly put down her bag and helped set up the table for Sophia. It was a routine they were already used to.

Sophia was the best cook among them so the cooking was always left to her. Isolde and her would help prepare the ingredients or the table if they were present whenever she was cooking.

Once it was all set, Bkornblume sat down and they started eating. Both of them were never ones to talk much, preferring the silence, but today would be different because Sophia was really curious. Bkornblume was always a bit of a loner, she never even saw her hang out with anyone aside from them.

“Since you have fallen into my traps now,” Sophia pointed at the plate on their table, “You can’t run away from the questions anymore.” A smug look was on her face. Bkornblume gulped down the food once she realized she had forgotten this whole ordeal. The idea of someone having a crush on her flustered her greatly, she never entertained such thoughts before. When being put on the spot like this, Bkornblume felt great embarrassment.

“Soooo… Have any idea who it might be?” Sophia asked excitedly once she saw Bkornblume’s defeated expression. Unfortunately, her friend shook her head. Aw, that wasn’t the answer she had hoped for.

“Ever noticed anyone who follows you with their eyes? Or show up at the same place as you?” Bkornblume shook her head again.

“Ahh… this is so boring, but I will say. It is kinda impressive how you managed to pull a girl without ever talking to anyone else. Isolde was right when she said you have some invincible power to charm people.” Sophia pushed the spoon against her mouth, thinking of questions that could help pinpoint who the admirer would be. She knew her friend wasn’t lying. Bkornblume never lied, she would just not answer altogether if she didn’t want to tell the truth.

Bkornblume laughed at Sophia’s statement. She was always told she was really good with people, but she never tried to make friends. Isolde and Sophia only became her close friends because they happened to share a dorm and they all clicked together very well.

“Fine, fine. Your admirer is too good at their job. Why were you smiling so widely when you arrived?” Sophia changed the topic instead, this admirer would reveal themselves sooner than later. Call it her cupid sense, but she was never wrong about love. She and her fiancée were about to reach their 10 year anniversary already, not to brag.

Bkornblume smiled widely and looked down at her plate. “Nothing.” Bkornblume chuckled a little, but Sophia knew her long enough to know it is not just nothing, “I just met someone again.” Bkornblume continued. Once her friend started talking in cryptic, Sophia knew better than to try to get her to talk about it. She shook her head and their dinner continued in comfortable silence.

-x-

Isolde put down her phone after she messaged Sophia. Kakania and her were sitting down at a fast food chain near their college campus. After seeing how the sun had already gone down when they were finished with their business, Isolde suggested for them to get food together and after short circuiting for a bit, Kakania excitedly agreed.

Isolde smiled to herself, she didn’t realize that going out today would lead to her going on a whole outing with Kakania. She chuckled to herself as she waited for Kakania to bring their food. She didn’t know if Kakania was interested in her or if she was just this cute with any ladies, but Isolde found it very amusing to watch her reactions. She visited the coffee shop more often just to see Kakania. Sophia said that Isolde was totally interested that way, but that couldn’t be. Isolde rarely fell for anyone at all and it always took her a long time to do so, she barely knew Kakania. Kakania was just an amusing fellow to hang out with.

She heard footsteps and looked back to see Kakania with the biggest smile on her face walking to their table. Kakania quickly put down the tray and situated herself properly as Isolde watched on, noticing her little quirks whenever she moved around. Kakania always seemed so full of energy, she walked and act with a light bounce on her steps.

“I heard you have finished with your latest film?” Kakania asked as she unwrapped her burger from the wrapping. Isolde hummed and nodded to her question, a small smile on her face.

“Yes, we just finished a few days ago. Today is my first rest day in a few months,” Isolde paused, taking a bite out of her burger, she was never a big fan of greasy food, “I am excited to see your reaction to it. I love every review you left on the other films.” Isolde continued, like she didn’t just assassinate Kakania with her words.

Kakania flushed from the statement. She never told Isolde she was a fan, it just never came up! What if Isolde thought of her as a fanatic fan trying to befriend her by trying to use coincidences?! Kakania would never live that down. But… Isolde did say she loves reading her review, maybe Kakania was overthinking it. (She totally was.)

Kakania coughed into her hands, her throat suddenly felt very dry, “Ah… you have seen those? It was just my useless ramblings I have for the film, I hope you don’t take them too seriously.” Kakania looked down at the burger in her hand, it felt hard to look Isolde in the eyes all of a sudden.

“It isn’t just useless rambling. Your criticisms for the film are well thought out and I agree with you a lot. Quite sad that I am just an actress, I can’t believe I have to act and say half of those things. Beside that, the way you analyze every frame of the film and comment on my acting warm my heart. It makes me feel really appreciated.”

Kakania looked up to see the most gentle smile on Isolde’s face. The light in the dingy place was shining just right and Isolde looked absolutely ethereal right now. Kakania could die with no regret now. “I-It is absolutely my pleasure. I love you- I love your acting!!” Kakania understood Melania now, she needed to dig a hole and bury herself.

Isolde didn’t comment on her slip up and only laughed softly. The smile was still on her face. A smile appeared on Kakania’s face too. Seeing her laugh like this was all worth it.

-x-

“Hey, Melania~” 37 singsonged, Melania heard the moment she opened the door. It was already past 10 and these fools were still up waiting for her. Why? To torment her about the details of what she sent in the groupchat, of course! All three of them were very nosy and now it was time for Melania to be on the receiving end of it.

“I am eepy.” Before she could escape, 37 had already hugged her to stop her in place. Kakania appeared and took off her bag and pushed both of them to the couch. Melania was restless the entire day and now she was being annoyed by her beloved friends too! She knew it would be useless to try and fight them so she just succumbed to her fate.

“So~ What happened and don’t leave out any details.” Kakania asked as she sat next to her. 37 laid her head on Melania’s lap and sprawled herself on the other side of the couch.

Melania let out a deep sigh and started explaining everything that happened between her and Bkornblume. It was an incredibly short encounters, but she had 2 very curious audience members that didn’ know when to shut up so the whole ordeal took almost half an hour to explain. Once she finished, the two still didn’t let her go as they continued chatting between the two of them.

37 poked her and Melania looked down at the girl on her lap, “You are a loser.”

Smack!

Melania smacked her hand on 37’s forehead, extremely annoyed now. She knew she was a loser, no need to rub the salt in.

-x-

Melania didn’t have class today, but a part of her was telling her to go out anyway. She was extremely sleepy, her two beloved friends said too much and Melania couldn’t stop thinking. Reluctantly, she got up from her bed and dressed up simply for an outing. Might as well take her baby for a ride, she hadn’t done so since her assignments piled up like mountains. It was still a mountain, but that was a problem for future Melania to worry about.

Pulling off her skateboard from the wall, she grabbed a piece of bread from the fridge to calm down her grieving stomach and set off for campus ground. She immediately put down her skateboard once outside, pushing it to ride to a cafe nearby to grab breakfast. She was already proficient in skateboarding enough that she didn’t need to wear any protective gears.

The cafe wasn’t crowded when she got there, there were barely any students at all. Probably because classes would already have started so late in the morning. She went in and ordered before looking around for a seat. Her eyes didn’t wander long before she locked onto a familiar figure. Bkornblume was here! And just her luck, her crush looked up at that moment and now they locked eyes.

Bkornblume smiled at her and cocked her head toward the empty chair in front of her, giving Melania a silent invitation. Melania knew she could never bring herself to decline so she walked toward the table, leaving her skateboard by the wall as she sat down.

“I never managed to catch your name yesterday.” Bkornblume started, the smile on her face so radiant that Melania was thinking she had accumulated so much goodwill in her past life to be on the receiving end of such a blinding smile. She was just being dramatic, but Melania was nothing but a hopeless romantic who really liked corny romance novels too much.

“It is Melania. You might have already guessed what major I’m from, it is business.” She looked expectantly at Bkornblume. Even if she already knew of her name, it would still be nice to actually formally “meet” her crush now.

Melania, Melania… Bkornblume tested the name under her breath, it was pleasant to say.

“It is Bkornblume. Nice to meet you, Melania.”

-x-

“A little birdie told me that you went on a date yesterday.”

Sophia sat down in front of Isolde who looked genuinely confused by her statement. She did hangout with Kakania yesterday, but it wasn’t a date.

“What little birdie? Also it wasn’t a date. I just happened to run into a friend while walking around.” Isolde said, folding the book she was reading and putting it on the table, giving her full attention to Sophia. Sophia laughed, knowing full well that the little “birdie” had first hand information from the source herself.

“I know it is Kakania who you met yesterday, your little crush.”

“I told you it is not a crush.” Isolde disagreed, “I just find her very interesting, that’s all.”

Sophia laughed, she knew that her friend would not admit so easily to such things out loud. Isolde was very good at acting nonchalant, a perk from being an actress for so long, but she could read through her friend like a book. She knew that her friend wasn’t just interested in Kakania, she liked Kakania already.

“Anyway, I am going to tune in for the night. Have fun waiting for BB.” Before Sophia could reply, Isolde already made her way to her room. She locked the door and pulled her phone off the charger, looking at the notifications that had piled up. One immediately caught her eyes and a smile spread across her face without her even noticing.

Unknown
Hey Isolde, this is Kakania <3
You gave me your number, but you didn’t take mine :( Please don’t think I’m a random weirdo.

Me
Hi :) I didn’t think I would need it hehe
You did text me after all

Kakania
Well, you are right haha.
Yesterday was really fun, you know a lot.

Me
I like to see plays and read old tales so I guess you can call me a bit of a nerd

Kakania
A cute nerd :)

A flush appeared on Isolde’s face, she giggled.

Kakania
Btw, do you want to go to the mall tgt tmr? A friend just told me they brought some new stock in.

Me
Yes :) looking forward to it!

She was sure she had two classes tomorrow and the mall wasn’t near enough where she could make it back in time even if she rushed. Well, a couple of missed classes wouldn’t affect her.!

-x-

“AHHHHHHHHH!” Kakania screamed into her pillow, using it to muffle the sound or else they would get a noise complaint. She couldn’t believe she called Isolde “a cute nerd” right to her face. Thank god Isolde didn’t comment on that. Now she managed to secure an outing with Isolde tomorrow too. It could be worse honestly.

Knock Knock

“Kakania, shut up. I need my beauty sleep.” She could hear 37’s muffled complaints through their thin walls. She could make it up to her later, the important thing was that she was getting closer to Isolde now.

She went to sleep with a smile on her face.

-x-

Melania spent too much time looking at herself in the mirror. she was just going out with a friend, totally a friendly platonic date with a friend whom she hopelessly had a crush on. Melania looked at the clock and shoot! It was only 10 minutes away from their meeting time.

Melania rushed out of her dorm room. In the end, she didn’t even have the courage to wear the new clothes she bought for this not-date and she wasted a lot of time for nothing! Melania ran all the way to the front of the store they were supposed to meet.

Standing there was Bkornblume who was all pretty and elegant with not a single hair of place then there was Melania who was disheveled from all that running from her dorm to the store front.

Bkornblume was wearing a different outfit from her usual one today, her blue scarf was switched out for a white dress and…glasses?! she looked so pretty already and the glasses made Melania swoon even more.

Seemed like Bkornblume finally noticed her as she smiled and waved at her. Melania’s heart skipped a beat. Bkornblume giggled and started walking toward Melania who was struck frozen.

“Hey, you made it.” Bkornblume tried to stifle her giggles from the state Melania was in. She lifted her hand, patting down Melania’s head gently, trying to fix her hair that was all over the place. She must have been in a rush.

Melania felt like she would die any second now. She smiled at Bkornblume and put her hand on Bkornblume’s that was stroking her hair, “Hopefully, I wasn't late.” she shook her head and intertwined their hands together, leading the way for Melania to follow her.

“How about we get ice cream first? You can catch your breath there.” Melania nodded, too aware of the warmth enveloping her hand.

They walked side by side, slowly to the ice cream shop. It was a short walk which meant that the warmth on her hand left her after a few minutes too. Melania never visited this place much despite being a 10 minutes walk from her dorm, she didn’t have that big of a sweet tooth for ice cream.

The bell rang as they walked through the door, the person behind the counter gave them a smile as they both looked over the ice cream flavor.

Bkornblume asked, “What flavor do you want?” Melania hummed as she looked up at Bkornblume again.

“What do you recommend?” Bkornblume cocked her head to the side and ordered one strawberry and one mint chocolates ice cream.

“Am I the one getting strawberry or do you dislike me?” Melania asked while poking Bkornblume’s arm. Bkornblume didn’t reply, only shooting back a smile at her. Melania would eat anything, even mint chocolate if Bkornblume gave it to her, but she would never say that.

They found a seat near the window and sat down after Bkornblume paid for both of their cones without Melania being able to argue back. Melania saw the corner of Bkornblume’s eyes crinkle from her smile and suddenly the fact she didn’t manage to finish any paper due to her excitement is all worth it. She really liked being on the receiving end of Bkornblume’s smile.

“Glad to be doing something other than my assignments, just hanging out with you is enough. hehe, who needs to work on their assignment when they can hang out with a pretty girl instead?” Melania said this in a joking tone, but she was panicking on the inside. Her fake confidence could only get her so far.

What if Bkornblume thought she was serious– She was– and asked her, she wasn’t ready to confess yet! But thankfully, her concern was unfound as Bkornblume only giggled with a blush on her face, “What a sweet talker you are.” They shared a laugh as the order for their ice cream was called.

“Ready to get going?” Melania nodded and they went up to the counter. Bkornblume handed Melania the strawberry ice cream and started linking her mint chocolate one.

“You like mint chocolate? I thought you actually hate me.” Melania joked as they walked out the door.

“Hm, is it really that weird?” She looked Melania up and down and smiled, “I think I have pretty good taste actually.”

It would be kind of delusional to think Bkornblume was flirting, Melania was screaming to herself inside her head. She was just looking at Melania, that’s all. Melania’s heart did speed up a bit from that though.

Trying to calm herself down, she replied back. “Actually, yeah, but I saw people with weirder tendencies than actually liking mint chocolate.” She thought back to when she saw 37 eating ice cream on a pizza, she involuntarily shivered.

The conversation died down as they walked in comforting silence. Melania was the one who asked Bkornblume out on this not-date, but she would be lying if she said she wasn’t freaking out leading up to the not-date. She was afraid that the not-date would be boring for Bkornblume, thankfully, it seemed that Bkornblume was enjoying herself.

The walk wasn’t that long, but Melania felt like only a second pass. It was enjoyable, this walk with Bkornblume. The birds chirped nearby on the trees as the sun set. She hoped many more would happen.

-x-

Kakania didn’t buy any books today, but there was still a bag with a ton of books in each of her hands. Kakania had talked about a few of her favorite books while walking through the place and Isolde was certainly paying attention as when they were about to leave, she told Kakania to wait as she was going to buy some books. Who knew she would walk to the register with 10 of Kakania’s favorites stacked on top of each other?

Thankfully none of the books are super dense so the bags weren’t super heavy, but Kakania insisted on carrying them for Isolde anyway. If her roommates saw her, they would be calling her a whipped loser.

Kakania zoned out while they were waiting for the elevator, only to get jumpscared by a cool sensation on her neck. She jumped, looking at the source, only to find Isolde looking at her with a smile. In her hand was a bottle of water that she tried to hand to Kakania, but both hands were already occupied. Instead, she unscrewed the cap and pushed the opening to Kakania’s mouth.

Kakania looked in confusion, but she obliged and opened her mouth anyway.

“You were babbling the whole time while in the store, your throat must be begging for help.” Isolde laughed and pulled down the bottle once Kakania closed her mouth. Kakania laughed timidly once she heard that. Her throat really needed that, she didn’t even realize herself, but she was somewhat embarrassed. She didn’t realize she was rambling on the whole time.

“It is cute though.” Isolde continued, not knowing that Kakania’s soul was about to leave her body with that compliment. Just in time, the elevator arrived and Kakania didn’t have to reply back. They got in and pressed the button for the ground floor, but it seemed like it needed to make a trip up first. They got to the top and the other people in the elevator started walking out and some walking in.

Kakania could see the arcade in front of them, the music booming through the place, reaching the elevator and the sound of the multiple arcades machines. She didn’t want the day to come to an end yet, she wanted to spend more time with Isolde. She grabbed Isolde’s arms and went out of the elevator before it managed to close.

“Let’s go to the arcade.” Kakania said enthusiastically, looking behind her at Isolde. She looked bewildered, but her face quickly morphed into a smile and she nodded, agreeing to Kakania’s suggestion. She slowed down her steps for Isolde to catch up to her.

“You are a very impromptu person, y’know.” Isolde said, there was nothing, but amusement in her voice. Kakania had nothing to say to that, she was someone that always had to plan meticulously, only being outdone by Melania, but with Isolde, she felt like she had to take any opportunity she could get and this led her to making some very last minute decisions. Isolde was a famous actress, she was sure there would be no shortage of people wishing to be in Kakania’s place right now. Cut her some slack.

“What do you want to play first?” Kakania asked, redirecting the topic. Kakania had exchanged for a handful of coins for both her and Isolde; the two bags of books were left with the staff at Kakania’s request. She jiggled the coins in her hand, looking at Isolde for her answer.

Isolde looked around the place, nothing particularly caught her eyes, “I have never been here before. You should choose.” Isolde shook her head, handing the decision back to Kakania. Kakania nodded in uncertainty. She used to come a lot as a kid, following behind her big brothers, but since they moved out, she never went alone so she didn’t really know what would be fun for Isolde.

They passed one arcade machine after another, seeing the different games in them. She saw 2 kids playing a co-op shooting game. Seeing that, she pointed toward it, asking Isolde who nodded along without any protest. Thankfully, there was another free machine with the same type so they put in the coins required and got to work.

The first round started and Isolde immediately got overwhelmed, she had never played one before. It didn’t take long before Isolde’s HP went all the way down. Kakania laughed at Isolde’s sullen face and finished the first round. Guess she still got the skill from all those arcade trips as a kid. Before the second round started, Kakania called Isolde over to her side.

“Hold my gun, Let's play together, hehe.” Kakania gave the gun to Isolde and stood behind her. She put her hand on Isolde’s arms to guide the aim, her head resting on Isolde’s shoulder. She didn’t even notice their close proximity, her focus was wholeheartedly on the game flashing on the screen. One enemy fell after another. Unfortunately, at the end, they still got too overwhelmed with only one gun shooting.

Isolde looked to the side, her eyes catching Kakania. Their distance was nonexistent and Isolde could feel Kakania’s breath hitting her. Kakania chuckled, Isolde could smell the scent of mint.

“Guess we couldn’t win after all, haha.” Isolde laughed as well, they disentangled from each other. What neither noticed were the red hues now spreading on their faces. They both turned away from each other, pretending to look around, but in reality, they were trying to calm down their own beating heart.

After Kakania felt her face going back to normal temperature, she looked around, trying to distract herself from what just happened. She saw an unoccupied air hockey game and turned back to Isolde, asking her if she wanted to try it. Isolde nodded and they both walked to the machine.

On the way over, Kakania saw a claw machine infested with bird plushies. One type was a green parrot with a glass pattern on it and the other was a white nightingale with a rose on its chest. The green parrot was rather ugly, but the nightingale was kind of cute. It reminded her of Isolde. She shook her head and caught up to Isolde who was already at the table.

They put in their coins and the air started blowing as the game started. Kakania managed to score a few goals as Isolde tried to get used to the control, but when she finally did pick it up, the game became more even as neither side managed to squeeze out any point from their opponent. Isolde proved to be a bit faster than Kakania and as the timer ticked to 0, the score became tied.

It seemed that both of them had a rather competitive side to them as they both were huffing and puffing by the end of the game. Kakania made her way to Isolde’s side, counting the coins in her hands. They had only a few left, Kakania’s mind traveled to that plushie. She wanted to give that little nightingale to Isolde. Kind of a big problem was that she wasn’t the best at claw machines, she never won anything from them before, but It couldn’t hurt to try.

“Are you tired? We should go back now. Why don’t you go collect our bags? I want to look around a little.” Kakania wasn’t happy to ask Isolde to get their stuff, technically it was Isolde’s, but Kakania still felt a little guilty. It would be better to try and get the plushie in secret so she wouldn’t embarrass herself in front of Isolde if she fails.

Isolde didn’t really mind, it was her stuff in the first place anyway. Kakania was just nice enough to carry it for her with no complaints. She was kind of curious what caught Kakania’s attention, but decided against asking it. Kakania would tell her if she wanted to.

Kakania made her way over to the claw machine once Isolde was gone. The machine needed 2 coins for each attempt and she only had 4 left. She shook her head, no use in being a downer right now. She needed to win at least once just for Isolde.

She plopped 2 coins in and the timer started. She should have paid more attention to those videos showing her how to actually win one of these stupidly rigged claw machines. She zoned in on a nightingale near the shoot and walked around to look from all sides of the machine to try and see if she was right with her placement. She pushed down the button when she was sure, but to her dismay, she ended up missing it, leaving her empty handed.

She slumped her head against the display glass and pulled out the last two coins in her pocket. As she was about to put it in, she felt a presence behind her back. She turned around, only to come face to face with Isolde who was looking at her with interest. She scanned her from head to toes and seemed to get the idea on what was going on.

“Playing the claw machine behind my back? That isn’t very nice of you.” Isolde put on her best deadpan face, looking straight at Kakania. Kakania was about to panic, but Isolde broke out into a smile and walked next to her, “Just kidding~” Kakania was about to preemptively pass out, but thankfully Isolde was just joking.

“C’mon, put the coins in. I wanna see your skill.” Kakania regained her spirit and pushed the coins in, trying to get the nightingale again. She did what she had done earlier, Isolde laughing at her ridiculous action, but she didn’t even feel embarrassed, this plushie was more important.

She pushed the button, and to her horror once again, the claw machine missed the nightingale. But in a stroke of cursed luck, it managed to grab the ugly green parrot and dragged it all the way to the drop chute. Kakania was cursing her luck in her mind, however, Isolde seemed happy and happily bent down to pick up the little plushie from the machine.

“Sorry, I wanted to get the nightingale for you. This parrot is a little… ugly.” Isolde looked at her with a big smile on her face as her hands kept squeezing the plushie.

“For me?” Isolde asked, Kakania was getting a little embarrassed now, but she nodded nonetheless. Isolde looked down at the plushie in her hands, “No takeback, I’m taking this plushie home now.”

“But you don’t have to, it is kinda–” Before Kakania could finish her sentence, Isolde put a finger on her lips, stopping her talk.

“Nuh uh, this little one is very cute. It kind of reminds me of you so stop calling it ugly, okay? It is pretty cute, like you.” Isolde said with a big smile on her face. Kakania flushed from the last sentence and she didn’t have anything to retort to that, so she just nodded and accepted her defeat. At least, she did manage to get something for Isolde in the end. She picked up both bags as Isolde carried the little birdie and this time, time to finally go back now.

-x-

So that was a lie. They were in a mart nearby the campus. Kakania was supposed to walk Isolde to her dorm building as they were actually staying in different buildings, but her stomach decided to make itself known to them so Isolde pulled Kakania into a mart to get something to eat first. She should have eaten something before meeting Isolde, but she was too anxious to stomach anything.

Beep Beep.

Kakania pulled out her cup noodles and walked toward the window seat. Isolde was already here, eating a lime ice cream.

The sun had already set and the stars started coming out one by one. They sat side by side as they looked out of the window toward the park nearby. They ate in silence as the sound of chatters from other guests accompanied them. The bags were by their seats as the green plushie was staring Kakania down on the table.

Now that Kakania really looked at it, Isolde was right, it really did look like her. Beside the obvious green color palette that both of them were matching right now, she was called a babbling parrot quite a few times by her friends. Her cousin, Marcus, said so since they were kids and 37 like to call her that as well. She hoped Isolde wasn’t calling her yapping annoying.

“I am too lazy to go to an actual market to buy it in batches. The next trip was supposed to be 37’s, but we ran out first.”

Kakania could hear a familiar voice from behind her, the mention of 37 was not missed either. That voice really did resemble Melania’s, but she was on a not-date with Isolde and Melania would totally misunderstand. Kakania gulped down the last bite and turned back, to her horror, it really was Melania!

“Isolde?” Oh no, Bkornblume recognized Isolde too and even called out to her. Melania looked up from the shelf and their eyes met. Both of them could see the horror in each other’s eyes. It was to be expected that they hid the not-dates from their friends with how nosy everyone was. It was rather embarrassing too, to announce to everyone that you finally managed to get a friendly hangout with the crush you were pinning for a whole year now.

“Oh! BB, what a coincidence. And that is?” Isolde looked toward Melania, she had never seen her before. Kakania smiled at Isolde and got up from her seat. She walked next to Melania and grabbed her arm.

“This is Melania, a friend of mine. A funny coincidence, I need to talk with her too, haha.” Kakania dragged Melania out of the store and to the side of the building as both of their subjects of affection looked on in confusion before bursting into laughter and their actions.

“You are on a date with Isolde?!”

“You made a move on your crush!?”

They both shouted consecutively. Their faces flushed from their own embarrassment. Melania leaned on the wall and slid down to sit on the floor, her feet felt weak. Kakania joined her and they both let out a deep breath.

“I met her yesterday and I suggest we hang out today to take our mind off of her assignments.” Kakania looked at her skeptically, not really sure if she wanted to believe her friend. Melania was a loudmouth and rarely kept any secrets.

“Just a friendly one…?” Melania nodded sadly, she wasn’t brave or stupid enough to ask Bkornblume out the second they met formally. But it was okay, slow and steady, one day she would ask her crush out and it totally wouldn’t end in disaster.

“You? You never even said anything about Isolde.” Melania poked her friend. Kakania was shut tight about anything Isolde related besides that one time she accidentally let it slip that she was having feelings for Isolde.

“I mean, we know each other. We only really started knowing each other a few days ago. Also no, it isn’t a date, unfortunately.” Kakania slumped down. Melania could understand her friend’s feelings exactly and started patting her back in consolation. They were in the same boat, very unfortunate news for both of them.

-x-

“Was that Kakania?” Bkornblume asked, sitting down next to Isolde. Isolde nodded and Bkornblume giggled. It seemed like she was constructing an image in her mind that Isolde wasn’t sure of what it was.

“I’m starting to think Sophia is right. You must like her.” Isolde was about to protest, but Bkorblume wagged her finger, “You never even gave anyone else that shows interest in you even a glance and now you are even on a date with Kakania.”

“How are you so sure she is interested in me?” Isolde asked back, but only got a blank expression from Bkornblume. It was like a silent question asking, “Are you serious?”

“That girl practically drip heart eyes every time she looks at you, it is so obvious.” Bkornblume said. Isolde shook her head and pretended not to hear it as she continued eating her ice cream.

“Also it is not a date.” Isolde continued, Bkornblume nodded along even though she was sure that Isolde thought of this as a date. 2 against 1 would be better, she just had to pull Sophia in to talk to Isolde when they got back to their dorm.

“Hey, we are back.” Melania’s voice interrupted them before Bkornblume could get another word in. Kakania gave a smile to Isolde and received one back just as warm. Bkornblume watched on in silence. Yea, “not interested”. She called bullshit.

Melania poked her, getting her attention. In her arms were 5 different packages of noodles, she pointed to the cash register. Bkornblume gave one last look to the couple and shook her head. Isolde needed an intervention.

-x-

Me
I had fun today
Thank you :)

Kakania <3
I had a lot of fun too.
Who knew you would be so competitive?
And also buy 10 books just cause I recommend them

Me
What can I say? I am an unpredictable gal
Need to keep everyone on their toes, ofc

Kakania <3
Ooooh, How mysterious.
I’m intrigued now.
Can I get to know you more, mysterious lady?

Me
I won’t say no to that offer
I’m sleepy so I am going to sleep now
Goodnight, Kakania <3

Kakania <3
Goodnight, lovely Isolde.

Isolde put down her phone and looked at the green plushie she got today. She smiled and laughed quietly to herself. She brought the little guy closer, kissing it on its beak and hugging it. Maybe Sophia’s and Bkornblume’s talk earlier was right. Her eyelids became heavy and she fell into a lovely dream.

On the other side, there might or might not be another noise complaint waiting for Kakania to receive in the morning.

-x-

Time flashed by like a tidal wave, it was already about to be the end of the semester. Every student was rushing to finish their projects for class at the last minute and others were dreading the exam. Melania was no different, she was running all over the place unlike her other 2 friends who were chilling with their finished assignments. It was worth it though, she didn’t spend any time on her work, but she spent all of that time hanging out with Bkornblume and that was all that mattered. They got much closer, but Melania still never asked her out to the dismay of Kakania and 37.

37 could confidently say that this semester was the funniest one yet. It was so amusing to watch both of her friends gradually lose their minds pining over the two girls. She was glad she would never have to go through that. She also had a surprise for them before break started too.

Kakania was having a grand time after handing in all of her assignments, she only had a final exam to worry about, and she had already started on her review. The most pressing matter right now was that Isolde gave her a ticket to a premiere for her newest movie and Kakania may or may have not avoided Isolde for a week now since she was scared she wouldn’t be able to hold back her feelings and confess. Since Isolde gave this to her, it would be rude to decline so she could only grit her teeth and go, she didn’t really want to completely ghost Isolde either, she liked her too much to do that.

-x-

Kakania looked over her outfit again, it was fancy enough, right? Compared to her usual outfit, she would certainly say so. She decided not to worry anymore about her outfit and got out of her dorm, going to the bus stop. Isolde said she would meet her there, she had to go first since she was the main actress and all. Kakania understood, but she was kind of bummed about it nonetheless.

This was a big budget movie, Kakania was happy to receive an early viewing, but she was not sure if she could say that after she finished the film because this was the dreaded romance film. Kakania didn’t really have that bad of a parasocial relationship to her favorite actress before so when Isolde got announced to be in the film, she was happy for her idol, it was a great opportunity directed by a film director loved by critics. Now that she actually knew Isolde as a person and not an untouchable star, she knew she was going to die of jealousy. Her feelings got too deep, it was her downfall, really.

She arrived at the venue quicker than she realized, the place was jam packed with paparazzi and fans. She could see Isolde was on the carpet, posing for the cameras. She looked stunning, her heart skipped a beat. She was wearing an off-shoulder white dress that was hugging her figure tightly. Isolde never really dressed up in anything fancy whenever they hang out, the fanciest was a sundress and Kakanai almost lost her consciousness when she saw her in it. It wasn’t like Kakania had never seen her in a formal dress, she was a pretty avid fan of Isolde after all, but this time of getting to know her really made every feeling intensified tenfold.

She walked closer, staying off to the side, the film wouldn’t start in another 30 minutes. She looked on as Isolde continued posing, at one point, they managed to catch each other’s eyes and a wide smile spread on Isolde’s face as the camera flashes went crazy.

Once Isolde walked off the carpet and into the theater, Kakania followed closely behind. Inside, the theater was decorated lavishly, guess they really had a lot of budget to spare. Isolde was waiting for her and Kakania joined her side.

“Hi, pretty girl.” Kakania greeted, a wide smile on her face. Isolde giggled and Kakania could see the faintest hint of red on her face. She was very happy to be the one to be able to pull this reaction out of Isolde, she felt rather proud of herself. She knew there was a high chance Isolde liked her back, but what if she read every sign wrong?! It would destroy her friendship with Isolde and Kakania was already too attached to Isolde to ever go back to being strangers again.

She grabbed Isolde’s hand into hers and pulled her into the main hall further in. The place was packed with the film actors, staffs and other celebrities that had been invited for the pre showing. Isolde immediately got called over and she looked at Kakania, reluctant to leave her. Kakania didn’t mind, she knew that this was technically still Isolde’s job so she told her it was okay and let her hand go. Isolde walked over and joined seamlessly into the circle that was chatting animatedly.

Kakania walked over to the side, sitting down on the couch by herself, but her eyes couldn’t help but to follow after Isolde’s figure. She was radiating, it was like she couldn’t take her eyes off for even a second. She went on her phone, texting her friend to cure her boredom. Her eyes still couldn’t help but to look up every few seconds to stare at Isolde. She really fell hard for Isolde, huh.

As the time was nearing its showing of the movie, people started getting into the auditorium one by one, the place was much emptier after that. Kakania pocketed her phone and got up to use the restroom. She washed her hands and combed through her hair, making sure everything was in place. The place was practically empty aside from her. She hummed as she walked out of the restroom back to the main hall, but before she could step out, she heard Isolde’s voice through the door. She opened the door a little bit to peek through, seeing Isolde speak with a guy. If she wasn’t wrong, he was the main lead of the movie alongside Isolde which meant that he was Isolde’s love interest in the movie. Kakania didn’t like this guy already.

“Haha, yeah, it has been an honor to work with you.” Isolde laughed, but Kakania could hear the awkwardness behind it. She had picked up a lot of her habit throughout the months and managed to read through Isolde pretty well most of the time.

“Me too, Isolde. Erm…” The guy scratched his cheek, his eyes darting all over the place, he seemed nervous, “Would you like to… grab a bite together sometimes?”

No way, the guy was asking Isolde out. Kakania had to control herself not to run out and gave him a piece of her mind, but she realized it really wasn’t her place. She and Isolde weren’t really an item even if she wanted it to be a reality so badly. Kakania was green with envy, she wanted to say no in Isolde’s place. She was also overcome with fear, what if Isolde said yes?

Thankfully her worst fear didn’t come true and Isolde rejected him, “Sorry, I’m not interested. You are a cool guy and all, but…” Isolde didn’t even finish her sentence before the guy bowed deeply, saying sorry and rushing off to the auditorium. Served him right for daring to ask her goddess out.

Kakania pushed the door open and walked out, Isolde looked back to the sound and happily came to her side, “I was waiting for you.” Isolde said, her hand grasping Kakania’s, “C’mon, the movie is about to start. I’m rather nervous about my first romance film, hehe. You need to give your unbiased criticism, okay?” Kakania smiled, nodding along. She knew she couldn’t ever be unbiased, but Isolde was always perfect in her role anyway, there would be nothing to criticise. The male lead on the other hand…

Isolde quickly bought both of them a bucket of popcorn and they rushed off to the room, afraid to miss even a second of the movie. Her hand in Isolde’s felt warm, Kakania loved this feeling. During the movie, they act like those sappy couples in those romcom movies. They never let go of each other’s hand and the bucket of popcorn was shared, it almost fell a few times, but the important thing was that it didn’t fall over.

The movie ended with a round of applause from the audience. Kakania loved it a lot, she just had to pretend the male lead wasn’t there and just enjoy Isolde’s lovely acting throughout the movie. When they walked out, Isolde told her she needed to use the restroom and Kakania waited outside for her. She pulled out her phone and went to the group chat.

Mentally sane psych student
Emergency, I need to confess to Isolde NOW.

One with the tism
?

melanirat
you wanna tell us what happened or…

Mentally sane psych student
I’ll give the full details later, now we need a plan.

melanirat
wdym we… how did we get dragged into this…

-x-

Today is the day! Kakania is going to confess to Isolde and nothing will go wrong at all.

Melania said to reassure herself as she looked at Kakania who looked on the verge of passing out right now. 37 was fanning Kakania with her notebook as Kakania was slumping on the table. For someone who was taking psychology, Kakania was the one not taking her own advice. Melania went back to blowing the balloons as the other two idiots were not helping with the preparation at all.

This stupidly big basketball court was decorated mostly by her, Kakania was lucky she loves her dearly or else Melania wouldn’t be suffering all on her own. She even had to owe a favor to J to borrow the gym for the day. She mumbled incoherent curses under her breath. 37 was not helping at all besides talking riddles to Kakania which Melania was sure would confuse Kakania even further.

Sticking the last balloon onto the wall, Melania jumped down from the letter. She walked to Kakania with determination as 37 laughed, she already knew what was about to unfold. Melania pulled Kakania up from the desk and shook her violently like a stress ball, she might as well be since she was the source of her stress for the past week now.

Kakania seemed to regain her consciousness and started screaming to be put down now. Melania gave one last shake before throwing her into the pile of balloons on the floor. There was a loud thud before Kakania got up again. She had an apologetic look on her face and probably some back pain now from the fall.

“Get to work, you two!” She shouted, 37 and Kakania jumped from their place. They saluted and started running around doing the leftover works. Melania let out a sigh and went back to blowing balloons, her lungs were screaming for help and if she ended up in the hospital, Kakania would be the one footing the bill.

Me
Isoldeee, can you come to the basketball court?

Isolde <3
Right now?

Me
Yep! I hope you aren’t busy?

Kakania was about to die from anxiety. She was bouncing all over the place and 37 was holding her down to her seat in case she wanted to run away.

Isolde <3
Nope, you are lucky my prof canceled my class last min.
I should arrive in 15?

Me
Looking forward to seeing you <3

All 3 of them let out a sigh of relief. It seemed Melania risking her life to pop the professor’s tire was worth it. Kakania owed a lot to Melania now, she couldn’t wait until Melania brought this up in every favor she would ask. She might as well hand over her life to Melania now.

37 went outside, sitting on the bench to wait for Isolde to arrive. 10 minutes passed and they started preparing for the final moment. Melania walked around and started lighting the candles on the floor, there were a bunch, she hoped nothing unfortunate won’t happen. Kakania looked down at her outfit. She bought a new formal suit at the incessant of 37’s.

The suit was purple, Isolde’s favorite color. She never wore something this fancy and god, she hoped that she didn’t look ridiculous. The feather standing tall on her head didn’t help the feeling. She was getting jittery again, but Melania saved the day once again. She smacked Kakania on her back and turned off the light. The room was now dark, being dimly lit by nothing but the candles on the floor.

Melania didn’t want to think about how much of a bitch this would be to clean up, but at that point, it would be Kakania’s problem and not hers. Her phone suddenly rang and 37’s name popped up. She answered the call, only to immediately become briefly deaf from the volume of 37’s shout.

“Melania! Help! Isolde is not alone!!! Your crush is here too! AND their other friend.” Melania looked at Kakania who was having a guilty smile on her face. Clearly, someone didn’t ask for Isolde to come alone. She felt every bone in her body collapse in exhaustion.

“If you don’t sponsor my study until I get my PhD, don’t consider us friends.” Melania said and immediately rushed out of the place. Kakania sat back down on her chair, bouncing her feet up and down to try and calm down.

Melania came out, her eyes quickly locked onto the 3 people walking their way. She ran past 37 without a word and toward the group. Bkornblume noticed her first and waved to her. She got there and grabbed Bkornblume’s hands into her own.

“BB, come with me. I need you right now.” Without being able to protest, Melania already started running. What a fool she was making of herself. She could hear 37 was talking to the other 2, distracting them from the fact she and Bkornblume were literally running in the direction of the court. She ran to the backdoor and loudly barged in, scaring Kakania in the process.

Kakania jumped from place, but calmed down when she noticed it wasn’t the front door being opened. Kakania didn’t pay them any mind and walked to the front door. Melania pulled Bkornblume near one of the benches where a laptop was being connected to the speaker.

“Can you stay quiet the whole time? As you can see, we are helping Kakania with something.” Bkornblume had a look of realization then she smiled and nodded, making herself comfortable on the floor beside Melania.

They didn’t have to wait long before the sound of footsteps was heard behind the door. Kakania took a deep breath and put on her best smile. Isolde was the only one behind the door when it was opened, 37 did manage to pull the redhead away.

Isolde was surprised by the scene in front of her. The entire place was dark, it was only lit by a path of candles that ended in a big heart further in. The path was decorated with red petals. It felt romantic. She could smell the scent wafting from the candles, it was lavender, her favorite. Kakania was wearing a suit she had never seen before, it suited her very well. She looked very handsome.

“Good evening, my lady. Would you be so kind as to take my hand?” Kakania held out her hand. With the new getup, Kakania looked so different, not in a bad way. Isolde felt her heart beating faster and her face getting heated, must be the amount of candles inside.

“I would love to.” Isolde responded, letting her hand fall on Kakania’s. The glove on Kakania’s hand left a cool sensation that flowed through her. Kakania cocked her head toward the center of the candles, where the heart was. She started walking there, Isolde followed her, side by side.

Isolde wasn’t stupid, she totally knew what this was supposed to be. She wasn’t flustered by that alone, she got many love confessions in her lifetime, but this was Kakania. Kakania was confessing her love to her and in the most romantic way possible and it was making Isolde feel dizzy to be on the receiving end of it. She kept looking around, nothing was visible beside the immediate area lit by candle light, she wondered what Kakania was planning next.

They reached the center and Kakania turned around, that stupidly handsome smile of hers was still on her face, “Would you give me the honor to have this dance?” Having said that, ballroom music started appearing out of nowhere. Isolde didn’t even see a speaker on her way in. Isolde nodded, too speechless to say anything right now.

Kakania pulled her in closer and whispered, “I’m very honored.” Her smile widened even more, the corner of her eyes crinkled. Isolde flushed from the words and how nonexistent their distance was. She could almost count Kakania’s eyelashes if time had permitted. Kakania put one of her hands on Isolde’s waist while the other held her hand. Isolde was thankful she had learned this for a role before. She put her hand on Kakania’s shoulder and they started falling into a rhythm with the music.

Kakania took the lead and Isolde followed the rhythm Kakania had set. It felt like they had danced together thousands of times, there was not one point during their dance that they hesitated or their movements clashed, it flowed so smoothly in harmony. Maybe their hearts beat in tandem too.

The dance continued, Isolde felt like this moment would last forever, she hoped it would last forever, her and Kakania dancing. However reluctant they were for this moment to end, it had to come to an end as the music reached its last note. Isolde bent back as Kakania hugged her waist tight to stop her fall. Isolde circled her arms around Kakania’s neck.

God, she wanted to kiss Kakania right now.

Their breath mingled, Kakania wanted to lean down. The moment seemed so perfect. She could hear nothing, but the beats of her own heart in her ears. She had already forgotten the presence of her friend in here. She could care less about them even if she remembered, but she needed to do something first.

“Isolde, I love you. Do you want to be my girlfriend?” Fuck, her speech got thrown out of the window, she completely forgot about it. Melania would be annoyed about that since she was the one that Kakania kept babbling to with all of her speech drafts. Melania could wait, Isolde could not. Kakania was waiting for Isolde’s answer with anticipation.

Isolde did not say anything, she just smiled. She pulled Kakania down, making them both fall. Their fall was cushioned by the rose petals everywhere, but it still hurt. However, Isolde couldn’t bring herself to care right now, all she wanted was to kiss Kakania and so, she did. She pulled Kakania in and from the first contact, she felt like her heart exploded.

Isolde’s lips were soft, that was the only thing running through Kakania’s mind. She was sure she died and ascended to heaven right there. She responded back to the kiss with her heart beating in her throat. The kiss was gentle and slow, they were testing the water. It felt like a longing they both had for a long time now was being fulfilled. When it was getting hard to breathe, they finally separated. Their foreheads rested against each other as they smiled looking at each other.

The light turned back on again as Melania and Bkornblume walked quietly to blow out all of the candles, too scared to pop the bubble the new lovers were in. Sophia and 37 watched on from the sideline, waiting for the new couple to get up.

“I promise to be the best I can ever be for you.” Kakania whispered, her smile never fading from her face. This felt like a dream come true.

Isolde giggled, her pale cheeks dusted a pretty pink, “I know you will be.” She gave one last kiss to Kakania and got up, pulling her (now) girlfriend with her as well.

“Well, better late than never.” 37 said and pulled the trigger for the party popper. Melania saw this and followed after with the one in her hands. They were supposed to do it the moment Isolde accepted the confession, but they were kissing and it would be too awkward to do that, even the normally-dense 37 knew that.

The confetti flew on top of the new couple who just laughed at the display, their hands clasped together. Kakania smiled at Isolde and squeezed her hand tightly. Isolde smiled back and turned to her two friends who were also here as well.

“Were you two in on this?” Isolde asked, both of them shook their heads. They were as surprised as Isolde. Isolde nodded at their answer and looked around the place. On the wall hung a big slogan saying “Congratulations to the new couple!!” decorated with balloons all around which were in heart shapes as well. She laughed and nudged her girlfriend.

“What makes you so sure I will accept?” Kakania coughed awkwardly at her question. It was just blind confidence (and Melania egging her on). She turned to Isolde, the awkward smile on her face betraying her confident demeanor.

“Lucky guess?” She chuckled and Isolde couldn’t help, but to pull Kakania in for another chaste kiss. Kakania quickly flushed from the display of affection. She did kiss Isolde for much longer earlier, but now that she could see her friends right in front of her, it felt a bit embarrassing.

“Don’t be showing too much PDA now, at least think of your single friends here.” Melania deadpanned, she might be a little jealous that Kakania just got the girl and she was still hopelessly pining for the girl beside her.

Melania sighed as Kakania ruffled her own hair in embarrassment. Melania looked at her watch, it was already late into the evening. It would be time for Kakania’s reservation at the restaurant soon enough.

“Kakania, isn’t it almost time?” Kakania jumped when she remembered the reservation. They still had 30 minutes left and the place wasn’t that far away. She let go of Isolde’s hand and rushed to Melania, pulling her into a hug. This entire plan was entirely carried by Melania, 37 was very much her emotional support pillar the entire time, but Melania did the hard labor of actually getting anything done. Kakania was so happy she could kiss Melania, but she wouldn’t do that.

“W-what!? Put me down, loser! Why are you spinning me around?” Kakania laughed, not paying any mind to Melania’s words. The crowd bursted into laughter at the scene as Melania flushed from the attention. After making sure that Melania felt her affection, Kakania put her down, laughter still bursting out of her. She hooked her arm around Melania’s neck, pulling her closer.

“I’m just so happy, you don’t understand. You know, this entire thing wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t call that radio station. You are my lucky charm, Melania.” In the midst of her excitement, Kakania blurted out the phone call Melania made to “Blumie”. Of course, this wouldn’t mean anything unless the call was listened to by her subject of affection, unfortunately for Melania, Bkornblume was actually Blumie.

“Ah! So you are Bkornblume’s admirer. We were wondering what happened to them.” Sophia blurted out, piecing all the pieces together. She looked at 37 who was nodding her head to confirm her suspicion.

Melania instantly froze in shock. There was no way Bkornblume was listening to that broadcast too and now she would know it is Melania. Melania turned back to Bkornblume who was burying her face into her scarf, but the tip of her ears were visibly red. Melania flushed too, knowing the cat is out of the bag now. She glared at Kakania who only had a guilty look on her face. In the midst of her excitement, she completely forgot the possibility of Bkornblume hearing that anonymous confession too.

“Now, now.” Isolde’s calm voice interrupted them, she walked forward, pulling Kakania with her to the door, “I’m sure these two have something to talk over, we should give them space.” Sophia and 37 got the cue and followed after them. The door closed with a soft thud and in the large place only stood the two of them, going off into their own head from embarrassment.

Melania was about to pass out from uncertainty before her phone buzzed in her pocket. She took it and read it, thankful for the distraction. The text on the screen was from Kakania and it read:

I’m sorry huhu, I swear I’ll make it up to you later for everything, oki? But uh, Isolde gave me a little tip, she said you should make your move now, maybe you will get a gf too. If you get a gf, only 37 will be single and we can make fun of her tgt :)

Well, Kakania was not helping after literally throwing Melania off a cliff. It would have been better if Kakania texted her that she suddenly got murdered by a bird or something so she could escape this situation. Fuck it, it was now or never. She took a deep breath and ran up to Bkornblume. Her face was still half hidden by the scarf, but it was okay, she just needed to see Bkornblume’s blue eyes. The eyes that were as blue as the ocean that never failed to make her lose herself in them.

“Un-Unless there was another call with the same description as mine, the call about the beautiful girl with the blue scarf who always managed to make my heart skip a beat is you! I like you, Bkornblume! Since the day you helped me, it was like my heart had already decided that you are the one for me. My eyes always manage to find you in the crowd and e-even when we never talk, I have already fallen deeper and deeper for you because of all the little quirks you do. God, I sound like a stalker.” Melania joked, her nervousness getting in the way, she couldn’t focus on anything at all, she was just rambling on whatever is on her mind.

She took a deep breath and continued, “When I woke up from that nap and saw you, I was shocked, but really happy to finally talk to you. Then we kept bumping into each other, one by one, this crush became something uncontrollable. Oh my god, I am just rambling on and on, haha.” Melania laughed, the question she wanted to ask seemed like it didn’t want to come out at all.

Bkornblume looked down, her hands finding Melania’s and holding them tight. She drew circles on the back of Melania's hands, knowing it would help calm her down and it did. Once Melania started speaking slower, Bkornblume used her hands to squeeze Melania’s face. Melania was confused and so, she stopped talking.

“I love you, Melania. Be my girlfriend?” Melania took a moment to process that question and once she did, she slowly put her hands above Bkornblume’s ones on her cheek. Feeling the warmth from her hands, she was wondering if she was dreaming this whole thing. Suddenly, her nervousness faded away and a sense of calmness washed over her.

“I… love you too. You should have let me pop the question instead, y’know. You know what a hopeless romantic I am. Be my girlfriend?” Melania asked back with a large smile. Bkornblume smiled seeing Melania back to her usual self, she leaned in, giving a chaste kiss to Melania who readily accepted it.

“That’s a yes.” Melania laughed when they separated, she couldn’t believe Bkornblume was actually her girlfriend now after a whole year of one sided pining from her. She felt unbelievably lucky. She took Bkornblume’s hand on her face and gave a kiss to it, her affection felt like they were leaking right out of her heart.

Bkornblume mumbled, “Cheesy.” But Melania couldn’t care less. Now, she didn’t need to hide her affection for Bkornblume anymore.

“Oh,” Bkornblume suddenly gasped out, she laughed at her girlfriend, “You already confessed to me once already, Melania.”

Melania cocked her head in confusion, Bkornblume leaned in to whisper even if no one was there to listen to them, “I am Blumie, the host. All of your confessions have been heard and received by me since that day you made that phone call.” Melania’s jaw dropped in surprise at the information, but she quickly accepted it. Blumie and Bkornblume were kind of obvious in hindsight. She laughed, joining her girlfriend in poking fun at the funny twist of fate.

“I’ll text back Kakania.” Bkornblume gave a nod of confirmation and stood still as Melania told Kakania to get back in. They were not subtle in their eavesdropping, Melania could hear 37’s shout from inside. The door opened and everyone walked back in. Their friends let out a big smile once they saw their joint hands. All the confessions today, even if one was an accident, were successful.

“Wow, you finally stop being a useless lesbian now.” 37 said, mocking Melania. She was happy for her, for both of her friends actually, but nothing would stop her from taking a little jab at Melania. Melania walked toward her, pulling Bkornblume with her.

“Well, guess who has a girlfriend now and who doesn't.” She stuck out her tongue at 37. She deserved to be this childish since she finally managed to get over the thing 37 always made fun of her for. 37 laughed at her actions.

“You are right, I don’t have a girlfriend.” 37 said during her laughter. Melania was about to call her a loser before 37 turned to her side and pulled Sophia in for a kiss. Everyone was shocked, Kakania even let out a yelp of surprise. The only one that wasn’t shocked was the one on the receiving end of the kiss.

It was a quick kiss, but it felt like an eternity for the onlookers. 37 turned to Melania with a smug smile.

“Not a girlfriend, but a fiancée .” Sophia laughed, her cheeks slightly flushed. She and 37 did plan to tell them today, but the kiss was unexpected.

“Oh, Sophia, you never told us you had a fiancée .” Isolde inquired, she was the first one to get over the shock and asked the question to the couple. Sophia ruffled her hair in embarrassment.

“It just never came up, we were engaged the moment we finished highschool.” Sophia said, pulling out a necklace laced with a ring from the inside of her shirt. 37 laughed at the dumbstruck look on both of her friends’ faces and pulled out the same necklace from inside her shirt.

“Told you so, you fools just never believe me.” 37 said, poking Kakania’s chest with annoyance. Her words were dripping with smugness.

“No offense, who would believe someone would willingly get with you?” Melania jabbed back at 37. 37 was actually a decent person and a great friend if you took away the fact she has horrible time management and forgot to do her household chores every time it was her turn.

37 wanted to jump Melania, but Kakania held her back. Unfortunately for 37, Kakania was much stronger than her.

Kakania laughed at their banter, “You started this, y’know.” 37 mumbled something, but she ceased her struggling afterwards. Kakania let her go while Bkornblume smacked Melania on the back for the tease. Sophia was used to the antics between the 3 friends by this point, 37 talked about them a lot. Sophia held onto 37’s hands and smiled at her fiancée, she got a mischievous smile back from 37. They both chuckled to themselves before Sophia coughed to bring everyone’s attention to them. Sophia smiled at all their friends and spoke up.

“Oh guys, by the way, we are getting married next month during the semester break.”

Silence enveloped the entire room.

“WHAT THE FUCK.”