Cherry Lollipop

A Taste

The night grew cold as the wind blew the tips of her raven-colored hair while she leaned on the side of a Japanese conbini. Restless, she continued watching the clock on her phone as minutes grew and grew. With one last bite of her ice cream, she flicked the wooden stick towards the trash can as it landed with a satisfying *ting* below. The woman was waiting for someone and was quickly getting impatient as she checked on her phone every 30 or so seconds.

As she looked at a distance, she finally saw who she was looking for. As the person passed under each streetlight getting closer, the swagger and confidence in her walk showed while she kept her hands tucked in her pockets. She had a Rockabilly biker look straight out of the 1950s with her black leather pants and jacket, black boots and wore a red and white striped shirt that matched her long black hair with crimson red tips. Her hair was tied in a ponytail with some of her bangs left hanging loose on her forehead, swaying with each step. She had a red lollipop that she'd occasionally moved around in her mouth as she kept her eyes straight on the woman leaning on the conbini.

As the person approached closer, the woman got tenser and she pushed herself off of the wall and stood firm as she crossed her arms and tapped on her elbow.

As the other person arrived, she stopped in front of the woman and they stood head to head as they began an intense staredown that spooked nearby pedestrians that walked near.

"30 minutes late but you finally came...."

"Quite brave of you calling me out like this ...Kang." she spoke with as she grabbed the lollipop in her mouth and started twisting it with her tongue.

"This is the first time we spoke in years and I'm downgraded to my family name now? Pretty insulting, especially coming from you ..." She spoke with a questioning tone.

The other woman kept firm and didn't respond as she kept her eyes focused on the woman in front of her.

"Okay, I see how it is. I can do that too.....Miyawaki. Just stay away from our girl..." she spoke back.

"You mean 'her'? The last time I checked, she was a freelancer ...though my friend seems pretty interested in her lately and I don't mean by her work. We may be getting a new member on our team from the looks of it..."

"Is that so?"

"Why would I lie? If your group was really was interested in pursuing her, y'all should've tried harder. I'm sorry to break the bad news to you but you lost and we won." Miyawaki reported as she continued to twist the lollipop in her mouth, now with an added smirk.

Kang narrowed her eyes into a glare as she now released her crossed arms and balled her fists beside her body.

"Fine, we'll take that as a lost however, you and your little group has been encroaching in our area lately ...gettin' bold are we?"

"Last time I checked, it was a neutral area to scout soooo maybe get your facts straight eh?" she stated as she took the lollipop out of her mouth and gestured with a point in Kang's direction.

"Close enough to our place to call our own..." Kang stated.

"And that's where the problem lies ...your crew seems too rowdy for their own good and maybe I should do something about it." she said as she took 4 steps closer and got within 2 feet of the former.

".....we work in rival fashion magazines, you are making it sound like we are gang members in a turf war."

".....s-so...? I can have my fantasies ..."