Severed Bonds

I feel a shift on the bench but don't bother looking up.

"Just drop it Justin!" I spat.

"Did I catch you at a bad time?" That doesn't sound like Justin, I look up to see Noah smiling.

"Sorry I thought you were Justin, he's been bugging me about grades and shit you know." I play off.

"Yeah, he can be a bit of a pain." He nods. I sit there awkwardly I can't tell If Lacey was being genuine, or it was a back the fuck off speech. "If you don't mind me asking are you failing any classes?"

"Um, yeah just math I don't get the equations and the different operations." My hands begin to sweat.

"If you want, I can tutor you." AHHHHH!

"No, you don't have to."

"Don't worry it won't replace the movie date." He said date, but in general right? Not like a date, date!

"For a second I thought you chickened out." I tease.

"Never! Actually I came here to talk to you about that. Can we postpone it? I forgot me and me are going out that night." Suddenly a lump in my throat forms. I put on a smile.

"So you're using your girlfriend as an excuse to not pay, huh?" I can feel my eyes sting a bit, I zone out for a bit and look up at him. "No, really, it's fine." I say as sweetly I can muster.

"Phew, thanks for understanding." He smiles back. I hear the crunching sound of concrete made by wheels. I look up and see my dad. Usually I hate seeing him here when I'm talking to Noah. But For the first time I'm relived to see him, I wave goodbye quickly at Noah and hop in the Jeep. When we arrive home, I run upstairs and have a good cry. It's not like he canceled on purpose I keep telling myself. My phone vibrates, Justin is calling if I don't pick up he'll break the door down. I answer it trying to keep my tone giddy as possible,

"Hey."

"You took awhile to answer?" He says suspiciously.

"Well, I answered didn't I?" My sassy tone becomes more timid. I bite my lip to hold back a sob.

"Han?"

"Hmm?"

"What's wrong?" I open my mouth to speak but all that comes out is some sobs.

"I'm an idiot, I'm such an idiot!" I say while holding head in my hand.

"You're not an idiot! What happened?" Justin has his stern tone, instead of his usually light and joking one. I just sob some more. Just thinking about it makes me cry, "Lola is coming to pick you up, so be ready."

"W-where we going?"

"You'll see, you're going to be fine Han." He hangs up. I grab my bag and head downstairs,

"Hey dad Lola invited me to hang out is that alright?"

"Yes, but Hannah? Are you okay you seem out of it lately? Well, more than usual." He panicked a bit when he said I was out of it? OH! Right! Damn it! Why did I say, it’s my time of the month

"Yes, dad I'm fine." I sigh.

"Okay OK, I just thought you were holding on your old man!" He smiles he's awfully quiet lately, sometimes I wonder if he's keeping something from me!? No, there's no way we tell each other everything. I hear a honk outside and see Lola shouting.

"Hurry up bitch! I'm starving!" She hollers out.

"That must be your ride?" Dad chuckles.

"Yeah." I smile uneasily.

"No later than nine Hannah, and remember-"

"Stay away from boys." I playfully add. His face changes from a smile to a frown.

"Be safe." Before I can question his quick change of expressions Lola honks again, forcing me to run out. When I step inside I see Justin in the back. I guess he's hiding from my dad.

"So where are we going?" The car begins to move,

"I'm treating all of us today for wings!" He smiles really cheesy. My jaw drops I give him the, "Really?" face. He replies back with a slow nod. Lola busts out laughing from looking at my face. Justin knows how much I love wings it's my favorite food.

"Woo!" I yell while Lola stares at me giving me a warning glare.

"Sorry." She shakes her head and smiles. Along the way Lola turns on the radio to a jamming song. She sways her head both directions as me and Justin bop our heads up and down to the tempo. Soon as Justin starts signing we all join in. In my mind were singing on a stage surrounded by thousands of people;they stare at us in awe of our performance. But to other people were probably just a bunch of drunk teenagers. People start giving us weird looks, why is it not like they can hear us? OH SHIT! THEY CAN!

"Lola! Bring the windows up!"

"Why? The wind feels nice and cool." She giggles.

"What if someone from school sees us and records us!"

"Then will be famous!" Justin chimes in. Justin and Lola may not give a shit about society but I do! I don't want to live with a bad image!

"Yeah, for our terrible singing and dance moves!"

"Dance moves? All you can do is bop your head in a car!" He laughs. To make matters worse they start singing louder. People continue on giving us questionable glances as I offer them a strained smile. We finally arrived! I jump out the car before they can pull a crazy stunt like that again! I take off before them,

"Hannah wait!" Lola yells behind me. I pretend to not know them,

"Wait up!" Justin joins in. I refuse to look at them. Ha! That's what you get for embarrassing me like that!

"I'm the one who's paying!" Lola yells again. Shit...I throw my head up and walk beside them. Justin hugs me close,

"Hahaha! Now you're stuck with us! Quick Lola trap her on the other side!" AHHH! NO! I try to pull free from Justin. Lola wraps her arm over my shoulder and hugs me in tight. Nooo!

"I got her!" We walk in the parking lot holding on together. Justin comes up with this "brilliant" plan to walk at the same time while holding on tp eachother.

"You can't be serious!" I shake my head.

"Oh! Come on! How hard can it be?" Lola puts one foot out and Justin does his best to time his step. He steps too late and causes us to tilt a bit, "AHH!"

"AHHH!" I scream. We try again, this time I start and Lola follows. Hey were actually getting this? I smile at Justin and Lola. And then Lola stepped too late. "AHHHH!"

"AHHH!" Justin's weight tilts to the side of me.

"AHHH!"My weight then collides with Lola. Next thing you know we fall like dominos, my but hits the ground hard. Lola fell on the side of her leg and Justin is flat on the ground. We all say nothing for a moment until the fits of laughter start to come up. I laugh so much I start crying and wheezing. Justin throws his head back and laughs and Lola holds her side from laughing so hard. My butt is sore and will have an ugly bruise in the morning, Lola's dress is ruined and Justin probably has a sore back and were laughing. Like a bunch of drunk teenagers! We are drunk, drunk on youth and laughter. We pick up our sore asses from the ground and head inside the smell of frying wings is mesmerizing. A woman shows us to our table and provides us with a menu. We take our seat in a booth, Lola and me sit on the left and Justin takes his seat on the right. I'm assuming it's because he's closer to the woman.

"Can I start you off with something to drink?"

"I'll have water." Lola chimes.

"Sprite for me." Justin adds giving her a longing stare.

"A lemonade for me." Lola and I gaze at each other with the "Here we go again look." She recites our requests to us out aloud then smiles at us.

"Anything else?" Soon as we see Justin about to open his mouth me and Lola chip in.

"No were good!" We both exclaim, she looks at us oddly and walks away, as she does Justin watches her hips sway shamelessly. Lola smacks him over the head,

"Hey!"

"What!" He has the audacity to be annoyed?

"Stop perving on our waitress!"

"Nothing wrong with admiring a woman from afar." I don't even...

"She's like thirty!" Lola cups her hands on the side of her head.

"So, she's hot!" Lola's shock expression is identical to mine.

"Do you hear this, Hannah?" She smacks her hand to her face and turns to me. I sigh.

"Sadly, yes..." I shake my head in disbelief. The waitress comes back with our drinks, she slides our drinks over along with wrapped straws. Shit! I didn't look at the menu! Should I ask for more time?

"Are you ready to order?"

"Yes!" Lola chimes. So much for asking for more time, Lola and Justin should give me more time. I scan through the menu reading the descriptions of every wing flavor argh! So much to choose which ones did I have last time? It's been too long since I've been here! Umm... I'll just go with.... With...

"Hey when you serve our food if you want you can slip your number on the side." AHHH! The woman eyes him ridiculously.

"How about I surprise you." She looks toward me. It's fine, I didn't have an idea what I would order anyway. She walks away hastily.

"He was just kidding!" Lola yells out. When she's far from our booth me and Lola glare at Justin. He's wearing a sheepish smile on his face. Lola smacks him again,

"Hopefully she won't tell the manger!"

"She's not going to tell the manager!" He laughs.

"Oh no I wouldn't tell the manger if I had a customer who was perving on me and directly asked me out while I was working!" Lola spats sarcastically.

"Oh, please she can't resist a hot guy like me." He sways his hair, ugh...sometimes he 's insufferable. For the last minutes me and Lola try to get through Justin's thick skull why it's not good to flirt with the waitresses. She'll probably kick us out! Or charge us more! Well, I'm not paying so that's okay. But if get kicked out because of this idiot! There will be hell to pay! Our food is brought over to us by a male server. Oh, she just asked to get switched. By the look on Justin's face he's disappointed. Well that probably gave his ego a bit of a bruise. I wonder how he's taking it?

"She must be shy." Shy? SHY? She probably has kids! Or a wife or husband! Or isn't interested in minors! I look towards Lola and she wears a blank expression on her face, let's just eat. I dive into the mysterious flavor of my wings I open up my bleu cheese and ranch,"It's nice knowing you guys." Justin says sorrowly. Lola cackles,

"That's what you get for trying to impress the waitress with your manliness." She laughs harder.

"Huh?"

"This crazy idiot ordered 911 sauce wings." I gasp and put my hand over my mouth dramatically.

"He's going to die." I nod my head slowly. Me and Lola carefully watch Justin as he puts one wing in his mouth. He starts to cry and his nose gets runny, he takes in deep breaths and exhales out. He does this for some time and wipes his eyes with his sleeve. Me and Lola wait for Justin to notice us staring, "Is watching me suffer entertaining to you guys?" I smile along with Lola. He exhales out again, I decide to leave him be and bite into one of my own wings. Woo! That's hot! I can feel the pepper getting spicier and spicier by the minute. I exhale out and wave my hand over my mouth. Like that would help! My mouth is on fire! But it tastes so good! I bite into another and another. The bleu cheese is poured on top of all my wings, it does help with the spice. But it's still fire! The table is filled with nothing but the sounds of inhales and exhales. When my plate is left with nothing but smeared bleu cheese and bones I make my way to the bathroom. Here comes the second round of wings, I enter the stall and do my business.