crème glacée [the fate of coincidences 1]

10: Jade

As the movie credits rolled, Jade looked around the room, blinking to adjust to the darkness. Sebastian and Levi were both passed out on top of each other on the armchair. Mika was furiously typing on her phone, long pink hair glowing from the light of the TV screen. Danny was crying onto a pillow from his corner on the couch. April and Cam were quietly whispering something to each other with Jade's body laying between them. She could barely hear the rain beating against the windows as the credits music faded. It was so nice and cozy when it rained at night.

April turned off the TV with the remote and Cam stood up to turn on the lights, making the armchair duo stir. Mika threw her phone backwards onto the couch, almost hitting Jade on the forehead.

"Just broke up with Guy," she said nonchalantly, getting up from her spot on the floor. "Get ready for a bunch of angry breakup songs from The Dancing Shrubbery Band."

"No one actually listens to them except for those wannabe hipster freaks at UW," Danny said, wiping away the remaining evidence of his movie-induced tears.

"You say that like you're not a wannabe hipster freak yourself," she replied, stretching. "Except you don't go to uni and sit in your studio all day, drawing that coffee girl's face."

"Ouch," Danny said, looking mildly offended.

"Mika, why are you still calling him by his stage name?" April asked, referring to Mika's first statement. "You guys dated for like a month."

Mika rolled her eyes. "Because I don't remember his real name."

"Aw, look at our Mika finally moving on and dating other people," Levi teased, pushing Sebastian off the armchair.

Jade laughed at seeing the subtle blush on Mika's pale cheeks. "She went through almost every guy at the college since you've been gone."

"Of course, I moved on," Mika glared at Levi indignantly, ignoring Jade's remark. "I'm not some teenager with a crush anymore."

"She's lying," Sebastian chuckled with that glint in his eye. "Now that you're back, she'll re-attach herself to your side again."

"Sebastian, you seem to forget that I know a few secrets of yours," Mika gritted out and Jade perked up, sitting up on the couch.

"Oh, what's this?" she asked, glancing curiously at Sebastian. "You're keeping secrets from us?"

Sebastian just laughed, like it was the most amusing thing in the world. "I think that secret would be a lot more damaging to you, Mika, than it would ever be to me."

Jade sprung up from the couch, all sleepiness gone in an instant, and went over to the bookshelf where Cam kept all his boardgames. "How about we solve this with Battleship. If Sebastian loses, we get to hear the secret. If Mika loses, she has to admit she still likes Levi."

"Bring it on," Mika said, grabbing the box out of Jade's hands.

Mika was extremely competitive, and it was funny how she didn't even think that both of the outcomes were not beneficial to her. April just sighed in the corner with the tea she made. Jade grinned at her. She would never pass up an opportunity to mess with Mika and April has long since stopped trying to stop her.

Sebastian settled on the floor opposite of Mika as she set up the game, the Cheshire grin getting a little sinister. "How about we pick people to our side? The people on the side that lose will all have to share a secret?"

Everyone agreed, some more reluctant than others, and it ended up being team Mika, Danny, and Cam versus team Sebastian, Levi, and Jade. By unanimous vote, April was not in the game. She didn't keep secrets about herself and she knew too many secrets of every person in the room.