Chapter 16

“I don’t know what happened today,” Hannah said as the two of you sat on her couch. Her apartment was smaller than yours but was within her price range and you had helped her back when she first moved in to get everything set up. It was a one-bedroom flat, so her exercise equipment took up about half the living room space, but otherwise, she’d turned it into a cosy spot.

“She didn’t say anything, or text you?” you asked her. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Hikaru so worked up.”

Hannah shook her head and sighed, coming over and sitting down on the couch facing you and sitting cross-legged. “Nothing. Did she give you any hints?”

“Not really,” you said. “She just had a bad morning, so she took the day off from her job search. And I told her she deserved it.”

Hannah tutted softly and shook her head. “It could be all sorts of things,” she said. “Something like seeing someone on social media and feeling jealous when she’s frustrated about life. Or maybe she’s getting a visit from Aunt Flo.”

“I don’t know,” you sighed. “It felt like more than that.”

“Do you want me to check in on her? I mean, maybe it’s something she wouldn’t want to talk to you about, but would talk to another girl.”

“That would be a big help,” you said. “Seriously, Hannah. I’m worried about her.”

“That’s because you love her so much, and you still think of her as a kid,” Hannah said, giving you a push on the arm. “She’s an adult, just like us. And can you imagine that? We are adults?”

That made you grin a little and chuckle. “Well, one of us is. I don’t know about you.”

“Says the guy who plays with toys all the time,” Hannah teased, falling back on one of her favourites.

“Yeah, yeah,” you said, leading into your own long-standing and worn-out joke. “At least I don’t play with balls all day.”

“Ha ha ha, so funny,” Hannah deadpanned. “Alright, I’ll give her a call tomorrow. Maybe we can set up a little girls’ outing. I’ll see if Margot can come out as well. Between the two of us we should be able to get her talking.”

“Thanks, Hans,” you said.

“Of course, Ollie,” she said, shifting to sit more next to you and hugging your arm as she rested her cheek on your shoulder. “So, are you going to give me the real full story about your date with April now?”

You started from the beginning, telling her about getting there and taking pictures with April, and how she’d been friendly and silly. Hannah grilled you on whether you’d remembered her and the others’ suggestions, and you admitted that you’d forgotten a few but got most of them right. Then you talked about going into the restaurant, and how the food was and the conversation went. You could tell a few times that you were rambling, singing April’s praises as you recounted your nerdy conversations, but Hannah was smiling and listening.

“Then she said something like how she could tell I was a good guy by how I talked about you and Hikaru and my other friends,” you said.

“Well, that is true,” Hannah grinned. “Though now I’m worried you over-sold us and we won’t stand up to the hype.”

“Never,” you said, wrapping your arm around Hannah and hugging her to you. “You’re still the best thing that ever happened to me, Hannah.”