It was cold, and Aya, short for Ayame, was running late for their girl date. She was supposed to pick Rae up at 1 so they could work on their book together and have some girl time. In the room next to her, she heard her roommates wake and start moving around. Maybe that had been awake, but just really quiet and talking. It was Stupid's day off anyway. Rae laughed to herself, if only he knew what she called him in her head. His name meant nothing to her anymore. He was no one. They didn't move far, she noticed, just before a sea shanty assailed her ears from their video games. Deciding she'd rather be outside in the biting wind, she grabbed her purse and went onto the porch for a cigarette.
She hated smoking, but it kept her calm, for the most part. She hated the taste, the smell, and the feeling of her stomach clutching with every drag, but it kept the voices at bay. With a sigh, she lit her smoke and took a drag, exhaling slowly. Disorganized schizophrenia was such a bitch to deal with. Even worse when she admitted to herself that she actually had a voice in her head. Gloria. The loud, horrible, angry woman who said hateful things when Rae felt her worst. It was hardest when she was depressed, and depression was part of her disease. Fun times.
Halfway through her smoke, Aya showed up in her tiny blue car. Her obnoxiously curly red hair was tied up in a tight bun. She honked once and Rae jumped up, putting out her cigarette, spritzing herself with perfume, and grabbing her purse. She ran to the car and jumped in to the sound of extreme bass and violin. Rocking out to Lindsey Stirling, they drove back to Aya's.
In the passenger seat, Rae bit her lip. She had had some very vivid dreams the night before involving her best friend and her pink vibrator at home. Thinking about it made her blush. What if that actually happened, would it make their relationship weird? That was what stopped Rae every time she tried to get close. What stopped Aya most of the time was her boyfriend. All Raena wanted was the chance to make her dream a reality so she could stop asking herself, "what if".
Her tormented thoughts continued until they were inside Aya's house. The two story house had always been a mystery to Rae. All of her friends had stories from growing up with Aya in that house, but her mom never liked Rae, so she was never welcome. The kitchen was her favorite place. It was small, with a big rectangular table taking up most the room. You had to shuffle in between the chairs and counters on one side, and then chairs and stove on the other. Her family was all gone, except her roommate, who preferred to be by herself in her room.
