I hear voices from above me. How long have I been asleep? It's not just Maria talking, Chrysa and Eri too.
"Should we wake her up?" Eri asks, and I almost laugh. I'm awake now. "No, let her sleep." Maria insists. "-but it's late." Chrysa argues. Before they can keep talking more, I open my eyes and toss the blanket away from me, I am too hot. "Oh nevermind she's awake." Chrysa says and sits beside me and gets her tobacco case to roll up a cigarette for her and Eri.
"As I was saying, Zuho was so cute today. He came by the atelier and brought me breakfast and flowers!" Eri gushes over her situationship. Her and Zuho are practically dating, but neither of them will make it official. They are exclusive to everyone, just not themselves. We don't bore her about that anymore, some day they'll come to their senses. Chrysa lights her cigarette and then Eri. There's some silence in between, but it's comfortable.
"Maria said you ran into the guy from the restaurant again." Eri tells me, and I nod as I grab the tobacco case to roll one for myself. I'm not a smoker, except for when I want to smoke, like now. "I fell on him, and we chatted. He seems like a nice guy." I say, adding tobacco to my paper and rolling it up to the best of my abilities.
"Ask for his instagram next time." Eri says. I swear we all share the same brain. "I don't even know his name, though! He never told me, and I feel like it's too late now." I say and light the end of the cigarette, taking a drag from it, "And then you'll be dating and still won't know his name." I roll my eyes at what Chrysa says.
"Stas, the guy I told you about, came by again asking for the same thing." Maria says. "Again? Maybe he just wants to talk to you." I say, "I don't know, maybe." Maria sighs. For a few minutes, we sit in silence again smoking.
"Chrysa, do you want to come by tomorrow? You can be my lab rat." I say with a mischievous smile. "Sure, if it's free food." She says, and I laugh.
"The guy suggested it, actually. To be my lab rat." I chuckle and take another smoke from my cigarette. "You should've taken up the offer." Maria tells me.
"We should watch a movie." I then say, to change the subject. Chrysa picks up the tv remote and goes on Netflix to find a horror one. We always watch horror movies.
By the end of the night, we ignored the movie and started playing some game of questions about us. Some repetitive, but they were always nice.
The girls ended up sleeping in our apartment last night. Maria's bed is king-sized and mine queen sized. I slept with Maria on her bed while Eri and Chrysa slept together. They were comfortable like that.
Eri works earlier than me, so the time I got up to get was already gone. Our group chat was already blown up with texts and videos from work, her complaining about annoying customers.
I go to my room to get some clothes, Chrysa is already awake and scrolling through tiktok. "I will start getting ready now. You should, too." I tell her, and she nods. I turn on my straightner to warm up while I pick out some black jeans and a basic white tank top and then a cream coloured zip-up hoodie with a blue cherub on it. I leave my hair down and just fix my curtain bangs with the straightner now that it's hot. Then I put on some light makeup and go to fix my bag to take with me.
Soon, we are out the door on the way to the restaurant. It's like muscle memory. We buy the tickets and then get on when the train gets here. The way there goes smoothly.
When we arrive, I see Mark already serving people, and we enter from the front. "Morning, Mark." I say to him with a smile, and he nods. He is carrying a tray with plates towards one of the tables. "You brought Chrysa again?" He says, smiling at Chrysa. "I came to be her lab rat." She says, making roll my eyes. "She'll be fine, I'm not giving her poison." I cross my arms. "Yeah, right." Mark says.
