celestial

十五

Last edited » September 23, 2023
Author's Note » just a side note: whenever i write a character with a second language(s), i try to write their "native" or favorited language appearing as filler words (like, uh, well) or interjections (oh, ew, hey!)

with my first language being english and my second being spanish, if i were speaking spanish, i'm more inclined to say "no soy bueno en el baloncesto, like... en absoluto" not "no soy bueno en el baloncesto, como.. en absoluto" because "como" doesn't come naturally to me: i instead revert back to english to think, if that makes sense.

but that's just me, plus i started learning spanish in freshmen year, so sorry if the japanese inserts seem forced or are awkward. the reader grew up with both english and japanese so that likely differs but i'm only capable of so much |(￣3￣)|
Referenced Movie(s) » N/A
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A FEW DAYS LATER
END OF THE SCHOOL DAY

"You should come over," Dash lightly suggest. It was the end of the school day and she happily sat in the passenger seat of your car. Her catching a ride with you to go home has become much more frequent.

"It's been a month!" she whined when you were hesitant to respond. "More than a month!"

"えっと... I- It's..." It was suddenly a difficult task to put your thoughts in English. "...It's just a really big honor in Japanese culture when you're invited to someone's house. I don't want to wear out my welcome."
- Etto... → Well...

"You're not going to! My parents love you already, they really liked your house gift." Your lips flatten in doubt.

"Come on!" Dash grabbed your shoulders, shaking you around. You two were just sitting in the parking lot so this was fine.

she's so strong, my gosh —You gently held her biceps to get her to stop. "Just... let me make a bag and then go to the store so I can get another gift, and... I'll stay for the night."

"You should also come over on the weekend and stay until Monday."

that is a lot —"Weekend or today. I'm not doing both."

She palmed both sides of your head, gently shaking, "Princess!"

i'm gonna get whiplash —"Calling me pet names isn't going to change my answer."

Dash grumbled something unintelligible. "Weekend."

"Okay-"

"But!-" she smiled- "I still wanna hang out. We can go to a park for all I care, I just.. wanna be with you."

"Ask your parents."

"Oh. My. God." You laughed as she took out her phone with an attitude.

"Why don't you ask your parents?"

"...No offense but they're quite literally on the other side of the globe. Not that they don't care, but they can't do anything. A flight from here to Japan is at least a day, so I text them my plans so they know where I last was, and they have my location, but that's all anyone can realistically do."

Dash dryly hummed, shoving her unlocked phone in your face. "Happy?"

You smiled at her parents' snide approval. "Very."

She sighed but meant well. "Are your parents coming home for summer?"

"Yeah, in July. We go to the beach and hang out and stuff. Catch up in each other's lives, but not really, I don't miss much. They text me every day." You showed her your family's own group chat.

"What kind of work do they do to be so busy? Not to be... nosy, you don't have to answer, I just don't know a lot about your personal life." You put your car in drive as today you backed in, per usual.

"They have their own medical business, so I guess you can call them doctors. They got their degrees so they are legitimate, but they don't work in one singular hospital or facility."

"They fly the world and help various companies or more unfortunate regions. They're not totally non-profit, though, only when they help 'third-world,'" you air quote. The ordinal number of a country had much more to do with the effects of the Cold War than the poverty rates of a state, "countries."

"But you don't know about my personal life because I don't have one," you softly laughed. "You're as interesting as it gets."

Dash scoffed. "You're interesting by yourself."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Like what?" She hesitated. "And don't compliment my intelligence. That's a trait, not generally interesting."

"...Your culture."

"That doesn't-"

"It counts," Dash laughed. "Not everyone is an athlete, [Nickname]. You're an interesting person once you get to know yourself." You rolled your eyes, earning a flick on the cheek. You laughed.

ARRIVING AT THE PARK

You slapped Dash's bicep when she was about to run and beat a kid to the last two open swings. "Stop it."

"Ow?" She looked over, rubbing her arm.

"We're the odd ones here," you mediated. "We can walk, skip rocks.. other stuff..."

"I didn't come here to skip rocks, I came here to swing!"

"Wait your turn."

"We were literally here first?!" You laughed.

"Where's the closest ice cream stall?"

"I don't know..." Dash took out her phone.

"...It's a far walk."

"I can use a walk that's not five in the morning." Dash moved her right hand to imitate a talking mouth as she mocked you.

You took a moment to think: in your opinion, Dash has (albeit jokingly) attacked you several times, so you gave her a taste of her own medicine and shoved her shoulder. Smiling as she slowly looked over, you two would slap each other in intervals as Dash's phone direct you two to the ice cream stall. This aggression quickly became a competition of who could get the last hit.

When she flicked your knuckle, you seemingly stopped but couldn't fight a smile. Looking around at the calm environment, you punched her hand without looking over before running. Hearing her rasp, you laughed as she chased after you.

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