Rising Shards

“Did you bring money?” Oka asked.

While I hadn’t remembered to clean myself up a bit more, I had at least remembered to bring money, or my lil Raina Starlight Wallet with money in it.

“My treat,” I said, flashing the wallet. “Oh, but we shouldn’t get something too big because Kalei’s buying theater food.”

“On the other hand,” Oka said, looking towards the street’s Ultra Taco. “I desire that.” She pointed at a weird but very popular item on the menu called The Big Boy.

“A Big Boy is pretty big,” I said. “Are you sure?”

“I crave the Big Boy.” Oka said.

I took a booth seat inside Ultra Taco, expecting Oka to sit at one of the spinny chairs across from me. Instead, she sat right by me in the booth as she plopped down her tray. Each of us got matching orders of a Big Boy (the poor person behind the register had to actually say “The Big Boy (Trademark)” out loud) and a Shimmering Sunset Green pop. Our hips touched for a second and it really made me need to take a subtle deep breath to not freak out.

“This boy is not as big as I thought,” Oka said, untangling what was effectively a taco shell bowl filled with like three tacos and a burrito.

“Luckily we got two, I guess?” I said. “These usually fill me up pretty quick if you want the rest of mine when I’m stuffed.”

“You know I will,” Oka said, scooping a big bite out of her Big Boy with a regular sized spork. “Ack! This is…spicy? And…is that mint I taste? Why is there a hint of mint? I’m so baffled I’m rhyming!”

“That’s the secret ingredient, I think,” I said. Oka looked a bit repulsed. “Do you want to order something else?”

“No, this is fascinating,” Oka said, devouring her meal. “I bet everyone around here thinks I’m an alien or something.”

“I don’t think they care,” I said.

I got full pretty quickly from mine as usual when I ate there.

“It really feels like it’s been a while,” Oka said.

“Since you’ve had Ultra Taco?”

“No, I’ve actually never eaten here before,” Oka said. “It’s just been a long while since it’s been just us.”

“Yeah,” I said.

The high sugar levels of Oka’s drink began to kick in, bringing her giddy hyper levels up even more. I had the paper wrapping of my straw wrapped around my finger, somewhat nervously twisting it around. But it was a good kind of nervous.

“Reminds me of our first conversation,” Oka said. “Or our first conversation at the school, I guess, not at the dance. I always put on a bit of a voice when I formally introduce myself to people.”

Oka took the same more confident posture she had that day at Rising Shards.

“So, Miss Faleur,” Oka said, flashing a winning smile that was somehow the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen under the fluorescent lights of Ultra Taco. “Tell me your hopes, dreams, how you got your fangs?”

I laughed, thinking, most of my hopes and dreams are that this night can go on forever.

“Is that line part of your formal introduction?” I asked.

“No, that one’s just for you.” Oka said. I didn’t realize it was possible to feel myself blush more instantly, but Oka had accomplished it. Possibly realizing what she just said, she suddenly had a nervous look on her face.

“You alright?” I asked.

“Yeah…just…there’s someone staring at you.” Oka said quietly. “Don’t look, like, obviously. They’re a few tables away from us.”

I tried to look out of the corner of my eyes as I took a sip of my drink.

“Make sure to monitor your caloric intake,” the person a few tables down said in a deep voice, wearing a big brown coat, a giant fuzzy hat, sunglasses, and a fake mustache. They were holding a newspaper.

“Are you talking to us?” I asked.

“Y-yes,” They said.

I squinted.

“Do you know this guy?” Oka whispered.

“Wait,” I said. “…Stella?”

“Why no, I am the…spirit of…the season? Who, uh—" The person in the coat coughed, then sneezed, and their mustache fell off, as did their sunglasses. “Fine, it’s me,” Stella said, taking the hat off.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. “Did you follow us? How did you even know we were going here?”

Stella coughed again. Then sneezed again.

"That mustache," Stella nervously laughed. "It's preeeetty itchy."

"Don't dodge the question." I said, crossing my arms. "Or, questions. Don't dodge any of them."

“I might’ve…” Stella trailed off. “Followed you a little. Using the uh, the…”

“Using the what?” Oka asked.

“Ugh, are you on that app again?” I asked.

“What app?” Oka asked.

“Stella had me get chipped and she tracks me on this app thing, but I thought we agreed we weren’t gonna use that anymore unless I don’t contact for at least 48 hours. And you’ve had much better costumes than this.”

“…Chipped?” Oka asked. “Like a…potato…or a computer…?”

“Like a whatever chip! I just want to protect her, is all.” Stella said. “Especially after…you know. All that. With that Ovie Chirhart girl.”

“Ah,” I said. I really didn’t want to think about the Ovie incident, or any of my past crap on such a nice night. “Stella, I’m fine. I have Oka here, too.”

Oka smiled and waved, which she didn't really have to do since Stella knew she was there this whole time, but it was agonizingly adorable.

“Alright,” Stella said. “But I’m still gonna stand kinda near you tonight, just in case.”

“Can you stand like kinda far?” I asked.

“We do have to meet up with Kalei and Nikki soon,” Oka said. I instantly felt sad our alone time was almost wrapped up.

“Great! I’ll chaperone,” Stella said, doing that series of quick claps where the bottoms of the palms stay touching the whole time, which she always did when she was about to do something like naming herself chaperone of a trip to a movie. “Do we have a game plan tonight?”

“We’re seeing Dentist Haircut,” I said. Just then, Kalei sent a text that said, “ZETA. Im on the bus with NIKKI HELP.” I texted back some emojis to tease her.

“Really?” Stella asked. “You two?”

“We were invited,” Oka said. “Maybe it won’t be…that bad.”

Oka and Stella almost instantly burst out laughing. I was glad they got along, at least.

“Alright, well I’ll see if I can get tickets,” Stella said. “If not, I’ll just see the new Versus Wars again or whatever Infinites is playing.”

“Aw, we could be watching Versus Wars instead of Dentist Haircut,” I said. “I forgot it was still playing…and it’s Aluminum Foil Man for Infinites, if you end up going to that. It’s more C-tier, but it’s fine.”

“Yeah, I think I’m just gonna do Versus Wars,” Stella said. “If everyone’s at Dentist Haircut, I should have the theater to myself.”

“Which ones are those?” Oka asked. “I’m gonna be honest and say a lot of these sound like gibberish.”

“I’ll take you next week, how about?” I asked. “If you haven’t seen em, we’ll have to watch the other movies first, so it doesn’t get confusing. Oh, and they’re like scifi and superhero movies, respectively. With some overlap. It’ll make sense when I show you.”

“I’d like that greatly!” Oka said. “We should go wait for Kalei though, yeah?”