Sleepless In September

5 - You Stupid Fucking Whore

"You should probably sit in the front with Sakura," Minji tells Hanni in the parking space of Casey's Diner.

"Why? You trying to get rid of me so soon?" Hanni half jokes and nudges Minji's shoulder.

"Huh? No it's not like that, we took out the backseat to fit our band equipment, you'll have to cram with three of us in the back there until we drop the stuff back at our place, so it might be uncomfy." Minji answers and stretches her arms to prepare her body for being jammed against Winter's drum kit all the way home.

Hanni's gaze immediately bolts itself to Minji's stomach, unsheathed from her Back To The Future t-shirt. She imagined dragging fingernails down Minji's soft skin, and wondered how long the scratches would take to go away. The lack of a happy trail is surprising, but not disappointing. Entirely too soon, fun's over and Minji's pulling the bottom of her shirt down so it fits nicely again.

The ride to the house was probably as comfortable as being stuffed and smuggled through airport luggage. Hanni sat on the wheel cover next to Winter. Across from her is Minji on the other wheel cover and Kazuha on the van floor made of steel tread plate. They couldn't so much as hold a conversation back there. If Sakura braked too suddenly or took a sharp corner, random parts of the drum kit or one of the guitar amps would try to crush them against the back of the front seats, and they'd start yelling like they were being killed. Maybe this would be less scary during the day. While the other two listened quietly to Chaewon and Sakura's conversation about what they're gonna waste money on when the band makes it big, Hanni and Minji played rock paper scissors, giggling and getting way too competitive.

After they passed the flyover, La Mesa's rust was left behind for big lots of grass that were either dead or overgrown. Welcome to El Burro Heights. There's so many small houses, some are unpainted brick boxes and others are wooden and falling apart. Sakura drove slowly on the street coming up to the house, because the road is so fucked up, full of potholes, and she isn't trying to make anyone get an uppercut from a flying bass guitar. Some of the street lights don't work anymore, but it's okay, they can pretend the cracking walls in ugly graffiti go away at night.

Sakura parked the van alongside the pavement, a few feet ahead of a clutter of overflowing trash bins. The house was a tiny bungalow, green and wooden with a brown and bending tile roof. The roof literally looks like God beats the house with a large hammer when nobody's home. The satellite dish should've fallen off by now. Surely the rent for this thing couldn't be more than two pennies and a food stamp. The chain link fence surrounding the property is also bending, anyone could jump it if the top wasn't lined with rusty razor wire. Twelve short steps connect the pavement to the front door and Minji already feels tired knowing she'll have to make several trips up and down to help bring everything inside.

Hanni thought she'd wait in the van, so she slipped into the front passenger seat after Chaewon and Sakura got out to help the others unpack. She was sitting there scrubbing the radio for something good and Minji startled her by knocking on the window. Her hand slid around the door, searching for the window switch, but instead there was one of those cranks you gotta wind in a circle and Hanni can't be bothered with doing all that. She decides to slowly push open the door instead.

Huh? Hanni asks.

Minji places her hand on the roof of the van and leans closer, "I don't want you out here by yourself, can you come inside the house for a bit?"

Hanni doesn't mean to feel as thrilled as she does but she really can't help it, Minji basically admitted to caring if she lives or dies. Minji is so soft and pretty under the orange street light dim, and Hanni doesn't want to see her face anymore, her stomach hurts knowing she can't just jump into her arms and kiss her the same way she does in her imagination.