Page 4 of A World Apart
“Yo,” I said in greeting as I pulled out a chair and sat down, pulling a container of chicken salad towards me.
Becka waved her fork at me, her mouth already full.
“Good day?” she mumbled around a mouthful of leaves. I made a non-committal noise and then we sat in companionable silence while we ate.
Once I was done, I put the lid back on the glass container, slid it across the table, and picked up my water bottle. “What was your news?” I asked as I unscrewed the wide lid.
“Hmm? Oh, that.” Her words were casual. Entirely too casual, which caught my attention. Warily, I eyed her.
“Remind me,” she said, wiping her mouth on a napkin and twirling her fork around. “What’s the name of the KPop group that did that collab with Haley a couple weeks ago?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “You know full well that was GVibes − I’ve played the song enough times.” And I had. Ever since it came out recently, I’d been playing it multiple times a day. That song slaps.
“Ah, yeah, you’re right.” She speared an olive with her fork and popped it into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully.
“And?” I prompted.
She finished chewing before she said, “There’s like, a lot of them, right?”
“Five,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Yeah.” She took a sip from her straw.
“Which one is the tallest one?” She asked casually, like she was asking after the weather. For a moment, I was caught off-guard.
“Baek Jihoon,” I said tentatively, the words more question than answer.
She tipped her Stanley cup towards me. “That’s the one!” And then she put her cup on the table and rummaged around in her bag before pulling out her compact mirror and a tube of lipstick. Silence fell as she took her sweet time.
“Becka!” I almost shouted. She only laughed at me before opening her compact.
“Okay, okay,” she chuckled, “I figured you might be interested to know that that one-” she waved her lipstick at me, vaguely.
“Jihoon,” I finished.
“Yeah, that one.” She nodded, before uncapping her Mac lipstick − shadeRetro− “is booked in for Thursday.”
Silence.
Becka slicked the lipstick across her bottom lip as I watched mutely before −
“FUCK OFF!” The words burst from my mouth in an exhalation of disbelief.
Becka flinched, smudging her perfect application at my almost-shout.
“I’m sorry?” She looked at me, affronted.
“Are you joking right now? Is this a joke?” I leaned towards her; drink forgotten. She was lucky I hadn’t spat it at her.
“Ok, first of all,” Becka started, giving me a side-eye as she took a napkin and delicately wiped at the smudged corner, “chill the fuck out. Secondly, no, absolutely serious.” Seemingly satisfied with her repair, she began on her top lip. I waited until she had finished and blotted, but she held her hand up to stop me. She recapped and put the lipstick away before she swivelled in her chair and for the first time all lunch, gave me her full attention. The Rebecca Hanson take-down.
“Sorry,” I muttered.
Gradually, her lips relaxed, and her eyebrows went back to their normal altitude.
“I’m glad you’re excited, but it’s actually kind of a total fuck-up.” I watched as she almost went to bite her lip, before she remembered her recent application and relaxed her mouth. Despite my overwhelming need to squee, I put that aside for the moment and dug deep for my ‘supportive friend’ mode. It was an effort, but I got there.
“Why, what’s occurred”? I asked, which made her smile. For some reason, that phrase in particular always amused her.
