Happy Ever After

Video Call between Tia and Bright

Tia:
You have to help me.

Bright:
Hello to you as well.

Tia:
Help me.

Bright:
What is it that you need help with?

Tia:
Dara is mad at me.

Bright:
What did you do now?

Tia:
Why do you assume it's my fault?!

Bright:
Years of experience.

Tia:
Mark my words Bright Guntithanon I will not assist in your proposal in any way. Let's see how smug you are when Win wrinkles his nose in disappointment when you pull out a tacky ass ring and -

Bright:
Alright! Alright! I'll help you!

Tia:
So you are proposing?!

Bright:
(Turns bright red)
No! Well um...not yet. It's just been a month. That's too soon right?  I mean that would be insane of me to -

Tia:
My problem first please.

Bright:
Yes, of course. Dara is mad at you.

Tia:
Can you find out why?

Bright:
How would I even begin to do that?

Tia:
You are regularly sucking face with her best friend, dear brother.

Bright:
Please do not call it that.

Tia:
Why not? I am sure there is a lot of sucking...

Bright:
Tia! I am hanging up!

Tia:
Don't! Don't! I am sorry.

Bright:
You are worse than Father.

Tia:
I hear he texts you about IVF and adoption every two minutes.

Bright:
Someone should really ban him from the Internet. Maybe we should buy him a dog to get his mind off grandchildren.

Tia:
Find out why Dara's mad please. It's so hard to figure things out from so far away. Please. Please. Please.

Bright:
How much longer are staying there anyway?

Tia:
(Rolls eyes)
Well, you know our parents. This is now a whole European political summit thing.
It's a good thing I at least have Lita here. Otherwise I'd be bored to tears.

Bright:
Still hanging out with Lita?

Tia:
Yeah! She's great. You should meet her.

Bright:
Sister dear, how many times have you told Dara about Lita and how great she is?

Tia:
Huh? I don't count.

Bright:
Make an estimate.

Tia:
Well, maybe once a day? She's my only friend here so who else am I gonna talk about?

Bright:
(Gets his tablet to check something)
Hmmm... Your social media is all pictures of you two as well.

Tia:
Since when do you watch my Stories?

Bright:
I don't. But you do know news outlets love featuring your posts right? And I get a
media debrief every day?

Tia:
Alright. So what? Again, what else would I put in my Stories? Am I supposed to not have friends?

Bright:
Of course you should have friends. But does Dara know Lita's just a friend?

Tia:
Huh? What else would Dara think Lita is? Your questions are weird.

Bright:
Tia, you're smart. You know what I am getting at. I think you need to be clear with Dara that Lita's just a friend.

Tia:
Why would I need to clear that up with - oh.
Oh.

Bright:
There's that genius IQ kicking in.

Tia:
(Turns bright red)
You think Dara...
Dara feels...
Dara is...

Bright:
Alright, it seems like the IQ is disappearing once again.

Tia:
(Finally gets her words together)
Dara doesn't feel that way about me!

Bright:
(Shrugs)
I could be wrong. I am not the best with emotions.

So. Does that mean you only see Dara as a friend?

Tia:
(Glitches)
Stop interrogating me!

Bright:
It was one question!

Tia:
I can't. I can't.
I can't talk about this now.

Bright:
We can talk about-

(Tia ends the call.)
(Tia throws her phone and it lands with a thud into her trash can.)
(Tia covers her mouth with her hand.)

Tia: Well fuck me.