She Won't Be Lonely Long

What an exquisite day... Sergio took the time to think while pouring himself a mug of water. His house, although not quite empty, was unusually quiet because he had made an effort to wake up early this morning before anyone else stirred. The liquid breeze from outside made its way in and filtered itself through the arteries of his home. It was the type of breeze that had a smell that fabric softeners only strived to imitate, that made you wish that you could inhale it and never let go.

He found a place on his couch and kicked his feet onto the maple coffee table at the center of the room, letting the beauty of this morning turn his lips upward into a smile. His smile fell prematurely as his ears noticed some movement in the far end of his house. It wasn't a minute before his girlfriend appeared looking not only tired but disappointed.

"What is it?" he asked, the very second she came to sight.

He could read her like a book, not only her face but her posture. She wasn't strutting her stuff like usual, walking tall and confident around him the way she did even in the mornings.

She whimpered and tangled herself with him on the couch, a reasonable compensation, he thought, for ruining the quiet.

"Maral's sad." she sighed into his chest.

She was speaking in third person now, something that also helped him to read her. This meant she wanted something, which wasn't as bad as it seemed if you looked at it from another angle. It meant he could help.

"Whys that?"

"Hannah just told me she wants to get drunk..."

That was something that he couldn't read, that she needed to elaborate on. It seemed normal for a rambunctious young girl to party during her first ever week in Spain.

"Well then we'll take her out tonight....." Sergio mumbled, staring down to his girlfriend quizzically.

"You don't get it! She told me that, laying in her bed, alone. She called me into her room and said, and I quote, 'We're getting drunk tonight'."

Sergio pushed his lips up to reach the tip of his nose and stared into space, shaking his head slowly while trying to fathom what this meant.

"You don't remember? That date we set her up on last night? It didn't go well, that's why she's alone this morning, and that's why she wants to get drunk!"

Sergio couldn't help but snicker. He found humor in Maral's perennial concern.

"Sergio! I invited her here to cheer her up, and to convince her to move away from that..." Maral took the the time to recall Hannah's hometown, the place that she had visited just once and developed a strong hatred for. "Damned cow-town full of all of those mean people! I need her here, with me. How am I supposed to convince her to move all the hell to Spain if she's miserable the whole time she's here? And how is she not gonna be miserable here unless she's all... sexed up?"

Sergio began rubbing his temples at the term 'Damned cow-town' but didn't refrain from the circular motions once Maral quit griping.

"Maral, I have set her up with two very suitable men since she's been here and not one of them have put a smile on her face. Have you considered yet that maybe she doesn't want to be... ' all sexed up'? Maybe she just wants to relax during her time in Spain. She seems fine to me."

Maral grinned smugly and firmly planted her pointer finger on his shoulder. "You're so cute, yet so ignorant. It's Hannah we're talking about here! Of course she wants to be sexed up--"

Sergio couldn't help but interrupt. "I'll try my hardest to cheer her up, I'll call another one of my friends. But please, stop saying 'sexed up'."

Maral squeaked and pulled Sergio's face closer to her so she could kiss his cheek. "Babe, I love you."

"I love you too, very much." He pulled away from her and began scratching the stubble that decorated his chin. "But who should I call?"

Maral turned forward and stared at the same object that he had been staring at; a polished, brick-like ash tray on the table.

"I just don't know! The Hannah I know would have gone crazy for your friends! Those guys were drop-dead sexy! I don't understand why those dates didn't work out..."

Sergio sighed and opened his mouth to speak, but the cracking of floor-boards from the back of his house told him not to. He and Maral straightened their posture and laced fingers to await Hannah. They quickly ended their conversation but it was still probing their minds as she walked out, wearing nothing but a pair of modest underwear and an Iron Maiden t-shirt.

"She's wearing no pants. That's good! Pants make her mad." Maral whispered in Sergio's ear as if Hannah wasn't half a yard away from them, hearing everything that she had said.

Hannah stopped and turned on her heels to the couple, ready to comment on how weird it was that Maral had just whispered that to Sergio. She decided just not to speak and slid right past them when she noticed how awkward it was that they were both staring at her, deep in thought.

She disappeared into the kitchen and buried herself in the refrigerator. She shut the door of the fridge and leaned up once she found a carton of juice that appealed to her, shocked to find that Sergio was sitting at the other side of the counter when she turned around. Still absorbed in his own mind, he had bawled up his right hand into a fist to rest his chin on and had a weak yet incredibly awkward grin smeared across his lips.

Hannah stopped all she was doing and swivelled her eyes around the kitchen, trying her hardest not to make eye contact with Sergio as her stared right at her.

"Sergio... is there something you'd like to say to me?" she whimpered helplessly, scratching at the side of the juice cartoon at hand in hopes of him responding with something normal to say.

Leave it to him to make an uncomfortable situation even worse without saying a single word.
He didn't acknowledge her question and took a minute to conclude his thoughts, wracking his brain to evaluate everything about her and compare that with all of his friends. Once that process was finished and his answer was clear, he could return to human mode again.

"Good morning, Hannah." he chirped quickly while leaving his barstool at the counter and navigating back to the living room.

Still a bit shaken up from that experience, Hannah decided to hide out in the kitchen for a while and ignore the zombie couple in the living room. She knew they were up to something, but couldn't quite manage to pry because they had been up to something every second since she had arrived and her consent never seemed to make a difference.

"I've got it!" Sergio rejoiced while joining Maral at the couch again.

He wrapped his arms around Maral, taking her as a reward for solving their problem.

"Well, who will it be this time?" Maral squeaked quietly, straightening her posture to await Sergio's answer.

She slumped into the cushions of the couch again when he revealed to her that it was a surprise, but he would arrange for this mystery man and Hannah to meet in the next week. Maral grovelled a bit but knew it was to no use. Her imagination went wild for the rest of the day until all three of them became distracted with booze later that night.