sugarrush-77

Yena had her head clasped between her hands. Sighed, looked up at Janice.

“Janice.”

“What.”

“I’m so lucky to be chasing my dreams. So few people get to do this. But it’s also risky, y’know?”

Yena took another shot.

“Sometimes I don’t know what I’m doing with my life. Why I even try anymore. I know chasing your dreams is supposed to be hard, but I didn’t know it was this hard.”

Janice nodded.

“I feel like I’ve hit a wall. An insurmountable wall. And it feels… so hopeless, y’know?”

A tear dribbled down Yena’s cheek.

Janice sighed.

“Yena, no matter how much you bitch and cry, you’ll never be able to marry Kasane Teto. She doesn’t fucking exist.”

Yena screamed in lowercase.

“NO! YoU can’t sAY THAT! NONONONO”

Janice rolled her eyes. Yena was saying crazy shit again. But it was fine. It’s what made her so entertaining.

“Yena, even if Teto existed, she wouldn’t like anyone like you. You’re stinky, 3 foot 10, insecure, and clingy. When’s the last time you had a shower? I can smell your pits from HERE. I had to take a smoke break earlier just to escape the waft coming off of your jacket.”

Yena took heaving breaths, and braced herself.

“TETO. IS. MY. WIFEEEE!!!!!”

Everyone in the restaurant stared. Janice left for another smoke break. Yena took another shot and kept eating the raw tofu in her plate. Yena was fucking autistic. They were at a Korean tofu stew joint, and she had insisted to the waiter, despite being told no multiple times, that she deserved. Absolutely deserved. Being served the tofu stew deconstructed in its entirety. She was a regular here. The waiter ended up shrugging, and ferrying the request back to the restaurant. Five minutes later, he came back with a raw egg, tofu, hot water, kimchi, and tofu stew base. He whispered an expletive under his breath, and swore that if she didn’t tip, he would kick her through the window.

Janice came back. Nobody knew why Janice hung out with Yena. When asked, Janice never gave a straight answer. Sometimes, she said it was because she needed help with homework, but they were in completely different majors. Sometimes, she said it was because she was really poor, and Yena had helped out with money once. But Janice was loaded from various side hustles she’d spun up “for fun.” Sometimes, Janice just shrugged and looked up at the sky. Nobody really knew except her. Janice sat down in front of Yena and leaned in.

“Yena, what if I dressed up as Teto? How do you think that would make you feel?”

Yena frowned.

“I don’t know if you have the look for it.”

Janice, mildly annoyed, turned away.

“Actually? I think maybe you could pull it off.”

Looked back, with a faint smile.

“Give me a second.”

Janice left for the bathroom with her backpack in hand. Yena took the moment to slurp the raw egg directly from the shell. She had nearly finished her tofu when Janice returned in monochrome red, from head to toe.

“Tada!”

A blob of tofu dropped from Yena’s mouth.

“Fuck. Fuhhhhckkk.”

“You like what you see?”

“Yeth.”