Age of Death (Taennie)

5

Jennie was interested in trying out laser tag, as it turned out. I took her a week later. And although Haneul came along, i offered to pay for her, since she'd paid for ice cream the week before. She let me.

Even with Haneul hyung there, it still felt like a date from the moment it began. Maybe it still was. The night before we went or, she called me at ten o'clock. I paused the movie that I was watching to answer my phone, surprised to see her name on the screen. We'd exchanged phone numbers after ice cream, but had only texted a few times since then. She always initiated contact, and I couldn't force myself to ignore her messages.

"Hello?" I wasn't sure how casual I could be. We weren't really friends, and she was definitely more comfortable around me than i was around her.

"Hey, what's up?" She asked me. "Busy with your girlfriend?"

"Jennie. This obsession had got to stop," I joked, taking a cue from her tone. "I can't tell if you're reading me because you think I'm dating someone or teasing me because you think I'm not dating someone and therefore am single."

"Maybe it's both?"

"The Wizard of Oz."

"Huh?"

"That's what I'm watching. The Wizard of Oz."

"Oh. That witch terrified me as a kid." I heard a crunch on the line, and furrowed my eyebrows.

"What are you doing?"

"Eating a carrot. Gotta make sure my vision's at its best for laser tag, obviously."

"So you like carrots," I observed. "Mental note taken."

She laughed. "What, just in case you need ideas for birthday presents?"

"No," was all I said. I didn't want to think about when her birthday was. I didn't want to know at all.

"So what kind of movies do you like? I've seen a lot of action flicks, but only because I mostly hung around guys back where I used to live."

I shifted my phone to my other eat as she bit down on another carrot. "Alright. We'll I was just bored, so I thought I'd call my new friend. We are still on for laser tag tomorrow, right?"

"If you really want to."

She groaned. "Oh my God, I do! I knew i shouldn't have worn cyan on out walk. I'm totally a dork, i swear. I mean, I've never shot a laser hun before, but I'll learn. Do you want to invite your other friend?"

My gut reaction was to say no. J didn't want Haneul hyung to be there. By I also realized, deep down, why didn't I want Haneul there, and so I agreed. "Aure. I'll text him about it."

"Great. Pick me up at two?"

"Right."

"And Kuma, too," she croaked."Not really though. I was just quoting your movie. Sorry. I'm dumb. Okay, bye."

"Bye." I forced a laugh, and she hung up. Then I pressed the phone to my chest, squeezed my eyes shut, and let out the deepest sight of my life, mentally cursing myself.

_____________

Haneul came over the next day about half an hour before I was due to pick up Jennie and hung out with dad for a while, who seemed a little wary of him. I saw Haneul's eyes glance to my dad's left cheek when they first greet each other and was already expecting a comment on it once we were alone, especially given that we'd never explicitly discussed my dad's number before.

As we sat outside on the front porch and she smiled cigarette, he told me, "You're lucky."

"In the grand scheme of things, probably not," I pointed out. "Neither of us is."