Bandaids

Chapter 3

I finally got out of the car. The trip hadn't been that long - just 30 minutes to be exact - but to me, it appeared to had been eternal. Once Saeko had introduced the topic "love", everyone had seemed to make a silent pact and turned against me. They kept teasing me about my feelings for Kuroo and kept saying that I was "crazy in love" with him and stuff. I just couldn't bear it. Thank God we were just some minutes away from the party, or I swear I would've ripped Noya's head apart.

"Bye guys! Have fun! AND BE CAREFUL. RYUNOSUKE, TAKE CARE OF LIV, YOU HEAR ME?" yelled Saeko from the driver's seat while we got further and further away from the car.

"YEAH ONEE SAN, I'LL TAKE CARE OF HER!" Tanaka replied, wrapping a protective arm around my shoulder.

"I'll be back at 4, DON'T MAKE ME COME IN THE HOUSE AND DRAG YOU OUTSIDE!"

"WHEN HAVE YOU EVER DONE THAT?!" Indignantly yelled his brother "You can go now!" We all waved goodbye at the white van until it got lost into the darkness of the night. We turned around and slowly started walking towards the gleaming house, from which lights of all colors were emanating and loud music could be heard. Walking to the front door, Ryu and Noya came across several "friends" who they greeted lively, introducing me every time someone new came along. Once we were inside, Tanaka suggested it was best to find the rest of the team, who had arrived some minutes earlier. Suddenly, a guy with a dyed blonde mohawk materialized before us, screaming and hugging Ryu enthusiastically.

"TORA!" screamed my friend, "It's been so long! I didn't get to see you in the tournament earlier today" he added while letting him go.

"I know! I kept looking for you, but once I finally found your locker room, you had already gone into the court. Hey Noya, what's up?" He interrupted himself to greet Nishinoya with a fistbump, who had apparently gone by unnoticed by the flamboyant boy. "Anyways, did you guys get the chance to see my game?"

"No, we had to be back in Miyagi by noon, so we left the tournament rather early" replied Tanaka with a sad expression on his face. "But I hear you guys won! So... CONGRATULATIONS YOU PUNK!" He threw himself over this Tora guy again, almost knocking him down. They entered this interminable loop of telling each other how good a player they were and playfully punching each other when they received a compliment until Noya interrupted - I think kind of jealous - and asked "Tora" if he had seen the rest of the team.

"Yeah, I thought I saw them in the back, on the couches next to the big window." We said goodbye and dove ourselves into the crowd, trying to get to the other end of the room. I had just got here ten minutes ago and I already felt so uncomfortable and out of place - Tanaka and Nishinoya seemed to know almost everybody here and had to introduce me every time. Not that it mattered honestly, knowing someone's name didn't automatically give me tons of information about them. I had to watch them greeting so many people while swimming through the crowd - bumping their fists, hugging them, patting their backs - whom I haven't ever heard of. They looked as though they really belonged there, naturally. These were the guys who they had trained with before and their future rivals. But all I was able to think about was how much of an outsider I was. I had never felt so alone before, not even when I first landed in Japan. It wasn't a pretty feeling, at least not one I was used to. 

I was starting to get sick when we finally came across the team. Almost everyone was there - the seniors were sitting down on the comfy couches, holding a beer each; Kiyoko was talking with some girls nearby; and the amazing duo was being loud, as usual. Apparently, Asahi had given Kageyama a carton of milk when he had asked for a drink and everyone was laughing at him. After yelling at them that he was not a kid, he angrily shoved the tiny straw into the carton and sucked forcefully. Hinata started jumping around him, telling him how much he looked like one right then, sucking at the milk in that angry manner. Tobio got even madder and screamed at Hinata "HOW DO YOU WANT ME TO DRINK THE STUPID MILK THEN?! HERE! ENLIGHTEN US, BOKE!". He shoved the milk carton into Hinata's hand, waiting for a demonstration. The orange-haired boy said "like this!" and in the most innocent way possible, he pursed his lips and brought the straw to his mouth. The image was so pure my heart melted a bit. And apparently everyone else thought so as well. They all exclaimed a long "aaawww!" and threw themselves at Shoyo, grabbing his puffed cheeks and ruffling his hair. They all silently agreed that THAT was the correct way to drink from a milk carton.