15 – Coming to An End
At about seven o'clock in the evening Saturday night, Serena woke up from her nap only because her phone was buzzing hard enough to be a massage chair piece. She fumbled for it, eyes crusted and weighed down by sleep. She barely managed to swipe the right direction before flopping her face back into the pillow. She didn't even see who it was.
"Yeah...?"
"Evening to you too."
"Nee-sannnnn," Serena whined. "It's hot today."
Her sister laughed. Damn her. "It's nice and cool on the plane."
Serena actually had to sit up now. "Are you calling me from a flying plane?"
"Am I that irresponsible?"
Serena made her sister wait for that answer and then deflated handily. "No, I guess not."
"Good answer." The tone of her voice made Serena struggle not to roll her eyes.
It was a lie, anyway. Her sister would be that reckless because she would forget. This only changed if someone was with her and didn't know. That was just the way her sister worked with these things. She was just in denial about it. So it was more forgetfulness.
"You'll be back tomorrow?" she said, shaking herself free of her own thoughts. Cause they were very rude thoughts. "Do I need to drive out all the party animals?"
"You wouldn't be sleeping through any party animals, believe me." Maria let out a disapproving sigh like she had fallen for the joke anyway. "But I'll be back tomorrow night. We've got to go into the studio to hear Genjuuro-san's opinion and the base going forward. You don't have to wait up for me. You can go home now if you want."
Serena thought about this. She didn't mind. As a matter of fact, it was kind of the opposite. She'd like to go home and make sure her cat hadn't keeled over because her friends hadn't looked up how to clean a litter box and had forgotten to change the food and water more than once.
You can just call them and figure that out, she reminded herself before she spoke again, out loud. "Nah, I can wait. I wanted to talk to you about something out loud, you know..."
"In person? Are you okay?" Her sister's voice got a lot louder.
"Nee-san, get away from the phone." Serena made a face at it. "Seriously, I'm fine. It's just awkward to talk about on the phone where you and your coworker can spread it to a whole plane."
"Oh hush." Maria's voice was a grumble, but Serena gratefully heard her deflating. "I just worry. It's just emotional then. And I'm not that loud." She added as an afterthought.
"Sure you're not." Serena laughed, heart, thumping in her chest. "Anyway, I won't keep you delaying the plane. Good night, Nee-san."
"Good night, Serena." And she was gone leaving Serena laughing again until she realized she was the only sound in the room. She stared at her phone with wide eyes and then, decisiveness in every bone, dialed again.
When she picked up, Serena took another deep breath.
"Kanade-san?" she said. "It's Serena. Would you go on a date with me tomorrow?"
A/N: And of course I'm ending it there, right? I'll leave the answer to everyone's imaginations unless so asked. Thanks so much for reading!