Chapter 24

“Hello, Oliver,” Hannah said as she flicked on the light. She was sitting in the chair in the living room area of the apartment, while Margot and Hikaru were sitting on the couch. You’d just come in, finding it strange that all the lights had been off.

Now that they were pulling ‘angry parents waiting for you to get home,’ you got the joke.

“It’s almost 11 PM, Oliver,” Margot said, putting on an equally silly-serious face to Hannah’s. “We were worried about you.”

“You’ll need to explain what you’ve been doing,” Hikaru said. “Who have you been hanging out with? Are they pressuring you to do the drugs?”

“Are you selling drugs now, son?” Hannah asked. “Are you into the crack cocaine?”

“Or is it the Devil’s Lettuce?” Margot asked.

“Or maybe you’ve been selling and/or ingesting Shrooms,” Hikaru added on. “Are you tripping balls right now, Oliver?”

“Yeah, are you tripping balls?” Hannah asked, barely keeping her smile from her face.

“No,” you said, shaking your head as you stepped into the living room area. “I have not, in fact, been ‘tripping balls,’ selling drugs, or getting peer pressured into using them.”

“Then where have you been, Oliver Warren?” Hannah asked, doing a pretty good impression of your Mom.

“What the hell were you guys watching tonight?” you asked. “The Wire? Law and Order?”

“We’re asking the questions here,” Hannah said, tilting the lamp next to her so that the light was more directly on you.

“Start from the beginning, Mr Warren,” Margot smirked, trying to hold in her laughter. “If that’s your real name.”

You rolled your eyes and shook your head, but gave them the bullet point list of the things you’d done on your date with April. When you got to the last little bit at the park, you said you’d gone on a walk and didn’t mention what you’d actually been doing. “Then we came back here, and we talked about our next dates.”

“Dates?” Hikaru asked.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Margot said. “You guys just walked through the park holding hands? At night?”

“Well, we were ... talking,” you said. “And we might have kissed a few times.”

“Ugh, disgustingly cute,” Hannah said.

Margot was giving you a look, and you could tell that she was seeing through your explanation, but she didn’t push it any further.

“What were you saying about next dates?” Hikaru asked again.

“Well, we both want to keep seeing each other,” you said. “And since she needs to travel for work the week after next, we planned two dates. The first one is on Wednesday, and I was thinking that you might want to come with us, Hannah? April wants to meet you, and I know you want to meet her so you can ask me fewer questions about her constantly.”

“Oh,” Hannah said, blinking and a little surprised. Then she smirked a little. “Are you asking me out on a date with you and your girlfriend, Ollie?”