Charis ¦ KTH/JJK (ShortStory) ✔

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I took a sip of the warm cappuccino clasped between my nervous hands. Reiza should be arriving at any moments and I still could not believe I agreed to her idea.

Another sip of coffee and she was finally stepping inside the cafè. I waved to her who reached sitting next to me not before ordering a vanilla iced coffee. I honestly couldn't understand why people would drink their coffee frozen with ice cubes - it made it taste like dirty water.

Anyway, Reiza and all her lovely thick curls joined me at last, and a grin spread accross her dark melanin blessed face. She didn't say a word but tugged at the reusable straw with burgundy painted plump lips.

We couldn't be more different, she wore a dark caramel skin with black curls, proves of her origins, while I was fair skinned, blonde haired and luckily to get sunburns at the first sun. Because of which the 50+ spf sun cream I carried everywhere was my best friend, after Reiza, of course.

Even our characters were opposite, but that was probably why we clicked in some way. We balanced each other.

We grew together in Cornwall until her parents moved to London while I stayed in the countryside with grandma and grandpa. Luckily, we never lost contacts. I've never known anything of my dad and lost my mom of an illness when I was a kid.

Not that 20 years old is that old, but after finishing high school I had to take a couple of gap years to help my grandparents with their store. They weren't getting any younger and I couldn't leave them just like that. With time I managed to convince them to hire someone else and allow me to move to London. They weren't against the idea, as they always did their best to me, but they were from another generation and wouldn't fully understand why it wasn't enough for me to live in the countryside.

Still, I loved them to pieces and everything turned out okay in the end. I got into university and moved to London where I shared a small flat with my best friend, finally reunited.

Reiza grinned at last, I raised an eyebrow. "Rei, what?"

Her lips unwillingly left the paper straw as motioning her head towards me. "Look at you, you're so nervous". She chuckled.

My gaze followed hers dropping on my fingers, they were incessantly fidgeting against the ceramic cup. There was no reason for me to deny it, nor I cared to. "Of course I am! You made me enlist, Rei! And I let you, what was wrong with me?!" I cried out, frowning.

She didn't seem at all bothered. "Oh, come on now S, it's years you talk about the Spring Lord, years! Don't tell me you didn't want it! I merely gave you a push".

"A push? I was drunk and you coerced me with fantastic scenarios. I would never do something like that! Like, ever. Did you even know? This morning I received an e-mail asking my permission to examine my medical records? That's... Private!" My voice pitched.

Reiza sighed, but amusement still rang in her voice. "Because they need to make sure everyone is safe and healthy, it's for everyone's sake, yours included. You know how things turn into during the Festivities". She gave me a shrewd look.

I knew, I blushed. "I know... That's why! That's exactly why it's your fault I placed my name for the enlistment!"

I really wanted to smash my forehead on the cafè table, but that would have been too weird even for me. My desperate state had to soften Reiza because she placed a hand on mine and squeezed it gently.

I kept my eyes on our joined hands, hers much warmer than mine, while she spoke serious. "Look S, I get it's out of your comfort zone, but it's not something you never did. I mean, you dated, you hit all the classic - she fingers quoted - basis, it's nothing different at the end. It's just a more... relaxed mood, maybe inebriating in a way but yeah... everyone is cool. You know the authorities are in charge of thorough researches before accepting any request".