hazy nights

chapter three

Monday afternoon. Rin sat beside Miku with her head perched on her hand. The tealette merely sat in silence, eating the lunch she had prepared the day before.

"Hey, guys!"

Miku coughed; her food seemed to have traveled down the wrong pipe at hearing that voice.

"I...." Rin's eyebrows drastically raised at her pure shock. "Hey, Luka." It sounded like more of a question than a greeting.

"Mind if I sit here?"

Miku continued eating her food, refusing to even glance at the girl sitting in front of her.

The blonde looked over at the silent girl beside her, then back at Luka, "Um, not at all."

It wasn't unusual for Luka to sit with them. In fact, it was routine. With the circumstances and tension between her and Miku, neither Rin nor the tealette had expected such a bold move from their senior.

"So, how's everyone doing?"

Rin eventually settled into the atmosphere and began to talk as normal, "I'm pretty good. Math sucks though."

How are they so damn calm?! The tealette thought to herself.

The pinkette let out a subtle laugh and then turned to the silence in front of her, "How are you, Miku?"

She shivered at Luka saying her name; that's not how her name was being said on that night. Realizing she had to say something back, Miku let out a shaky response, "I-I'm good."

"That's good!" Then, her and Rin got into light conversation.

The tealette wanted to shout at Luka. She wanted to shout at her for being so calm, for coming to sit with them in the first place, and for being so nice throughout the past few days. Miku remembered everything about the night. Every aching detail came back to her; surely the same had happened to Luka. For the first time, the girl who was once terrified to look in front of her did exactly what she was scared of. She gazed at Luka, really gazed at her, until their eyes met. Almost instantly, the pinkette's face went a light red. "You okay, Meeks?"

That nickname had never left their side. Miku lowered her eyebrows and decided to be as blunt as possible, "How much do you remember?"

Now, Luka's face went completely bashful; one of the two expressions Miku saw that night, "I - um - what do you mean?"

The tealette's voice got sharper, "What do you remember about the night?!"

"Everything."

Rin piped up, "Miku, do you remember anything?"

"No, I don't." She said, still glaring at Luka.

The oldest girl amongst the three had finally had enough. "Yes, you do. You remember everything, which is why you're trying so hard to see what I remember!"

Just like that, Luka had seen right through Miku. "Fine... you're right. Happy?"

"No, because you won't admit to anything!"

"You're right about that too."

"Then why are you talking about it here of all places?"

"Because I just wanted to, is that good enough for you?" Miku felt rage inside of her, but was it really aimed towards Luka...?

"I'm not here to judge you or be mad at you, I'm here to help us both through the situation, but you're acting like a brat and you won't even try to fix things!"

Now the pinkette was mad at her.

"I don't know why I even came." After that, Luka simply got up and walked away.

Now Miku wanted to bawl, right then and there. "Damn it, what'd I do?"

Rin sighed, "Listen, I get that you treasure the friendship or whatever, but eventually you're going to have to come to terms with reality: you and Luka had sex that night. You-"

"I don't care about that! That's not the problem here!"

"Then what is it?!"

"It's the things that were said during it and before it. We both said some things... I said some things... and I don't want her to just move on from it, but, at the same time, I'm afraid of what'll happen if we act on what we said."

Rin merely cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "I have no idea what any of that means, but all I know is you shouldn't be scared. Clearly she wants to help, so just let her do that, and it'll be fine!"

Miku nodded in agreeance, but deep down she knew she wouldn't follow her friend's advice.