Chapter 62

Hikaru chewed on her lip lightly, bouncing her heel as she looked around the bar. This definitely wasn’t her scene - even in University, she’d been to bars but they’d never been where liked to hang out. She liked the library, or the ‘bar’ on campus that was more like a cafe for most of the day. Maybe that was why she’d taken to working at the cafe despite the early hours.

But she’d been invited out since she had the day off tomorrow, and she needed to make more friends in the city. She loved Margot and Hannah, and Ollie was ... well, Ollie. Everything. And even April was great, just kind of complicated for her. But she knew she needed a bigger social circle. Her super weird time with Zara early that morning had made that clear that she’d kind of been a bit of a stick in the mud shut-in, and she didn’t want to be like that.

“Hey, you OK?” Paula asked as she came back to their little table with a pair of beers, setting one in front of Hikaru. “I saw that guy chatting you up, but he left.”

“I told him I wasn’t interested,” Hikaru said. “He didn’t push.”

“Not like that other guy,” Paula grimaced. The first one who had come to hit on them - both of them - had been a dickhead. Paula hopped up onto the stool and stretched a little before settling in. She’d invited Hikaru out so they could get to know each other better, and Hikaru had been a little nervous about it because becoming friends with your boss sounded like it could be a problem if things went bad. And she was also friends with Ollie, which could make things complicated for him and that was the last thing Hikaru wanted. But the fact that she was friends with Ollie was also a green flag, even if it meant Hikaru was sort of horning in on another of his friends.