She Won't Be Lonely Long

By eight, it was getting dark and people of the roudier kind were beginning to show up, Connar being one of them. Joe, of course, was already slobbering drunk thanks to his favorite Aunt, but she didn't follow suit. Something about the way that Maral and Sergio had been acting around her made her nervous to let down her guard.

Sergio was now aware of the conversation that Maral and Brenda shared and could guess that Joe was probably one of the central reasons Hannah felt so rooted to Michigan. They were inseperable the entire night, which was completely obvious because there were many times that he ignored his friends to wander off with her. They enjoyed being with one another, to more of an extent than just 'family time' and it was obvious that they would be a bit muddled without one another.

The bonfire that had been made was enormous, consisting of three full sized pine-trees that Mark had cut down, which was one of the many jobs that he worked aside from his factory job. He proved to be quite the drinker himself, and Maral didn't have any trouble noticing the similarities between his daughter and him, of not only their conditions but their character. Perhaps such a stagnant, basic atmosphere clashed incorrectly with such adventurous personalities to make for disaster. The idea of anyone similar to Hannah being doomed for self-destruction in that town scared the hell out of her.

The bonfire was too big to be contained in any pit so was just made on a spot of woolen grass in the back yard, and swayed far past the heighth of the house. Maral, Sergio, Hannah, Connar and Joe had formed a congragation behind it, sitting on some extra logs that hadn't been burnt yet. Joe made it certain that he had a strong distaste for Connar, always knocked into silence when the suitor of his Aunt had something to say, which he often did.

Hannah and Sergio soon got into an argument, as they often did, which was more playful than anything. Maral was used to that but Connar wasn't, and somehow took Sergio's side.

"Man, if you want the broad to shut up then just make fun of her fat feet or her big ears. That's what I do and she never has anything to say after that." Connar said smugly, chuckling arrogantly as if he had just solved all of the Spaniard's problems.

Truthfully, Sergio had already known about Hannah's two biggest insecurities but it had never crossed his mind to use them against her in battle. That would have been a cruel move to use as a friend, in his mind, not to mention a boyfriend. Connar had just made himself cozy on Sergio's list, and had already settled on Maral's and Joe's.

"Why the fuck would you tell him that?!" Hannah scolded, glaring to Connar at her side. "Sergio wouldn't fucking do that to me; Sergio plays fair because he's a good friend. We get into arguments all the time. So the fuck what?! You don't tell him how to make me back down by targetting my insecurities and hurting my feelings! What kind of boyfriend are you?!"

She was on her feet to quickly end that conversation and stomped for the house. Connar trailed closely behind, not necessarily because he cared but because it would have been too awkward for him to stay outside after what had just happened. The argument that stemmed from that situation was loud, but only a muffle to the ones sitting outside. Once that muffle had dissapeared and the roaring of a diesel-powered engine took its place, Maral knew that it was time to find Hannah.

Connar's truck had sped off by the time Hannah was found, sitting on the front stoop of her brother's house with her knees pulled up to her chest as she stiffly glared to the nothingness on the opposite side of the road.

"I broke up with him." Hannah said calmly, feeling a smidgen of remorse for what she had just done, not because it wasn't justified but because she had never seen Connar channel his hurt through sadness instead of anger before that point.

"Good job." was all Maral could think to say, now that bigger things were on her mind. "Now you can move to Spain."

Letting an exasperated groan slip through her tired lips, Hannah said "Yeah, because it's so easy. It would take years to gain citizenship, Maral! I don't even know the language, and I'm not living there without knowing Spanish. Not to mention I don't have a job."

"You can still live there on a visa until you can gain full citizenship. And we will teach you Spanish so you can get a job. In the meantime you can stay with us..." Maral spoke with a grin across her lips, proud that she could prove wrong all of Hannah's doubts so easily. "I know it's scary because I've done it before. And it wasn't as bad as I expected; It was the best decision I've made."

It was tempting Hannah now more than ever, her stubborness gone limp with the rush of emotions that Connar had brought to her attention.

"Just... jump in. Tell me right now you will do it." Maral pleaded, wringing her fists to tame her anticipation. "I'm not taking no for an answer after what I've seen."

There was some silence, leaving Hannah to think about how terrible it would be to work in that damn factory for another day, to get through another Michigan winter without someone there to warm her, and to smear away the details of her life with booze. Her dwindling health and well-being was also a concern.

"Fine." she squeaked quickly, deciding to take an angle on her decision similar to quickly tearing off a Band-Aid.

It was most definetely the biggest decision she had made in her life and frankly, it scared the hell out of her. The churning of her stomach knocked her into silence, contrare to Maral who was on her feet immediately.

"Oh!" she squealed excitedly, her face beaming with the glitter of her teeth as she threw her fists into the air. "Xabi will be so happy!"

Hannah goaned as his excessively mentioned name rolled off of Maral's tongue.

"Seriously, Maral, he lives in England! Your decision to set us up never made sense to me and never will."

Maral's ecstatic grin faltered to one more subtle with mischief. "Ya don't follow football much these days, huh?"

"No... why?" Hannah asked innocently, utterly bewildered. Truth be told, she used to follow the sport quite well, until her lifestyle took a turn for the worst towards debauchery.

Maral couldn't wait to uncover this piece of gossip , and didn't try the slightest bit. "Xabi's in Madrid! Real bought him!"

Hannah's lips fell, as did her heart. Xabi had been tormenting her thoughts quite a bit since the year before, and her discomfort would only progress as she lived in the same city as him, following his very club. The thought of mending their broken bonds didn't occur to her, because, although she could now understand the notion of him having a fling with her, she couldn't fathom him actually wanting to create a relationship. She had fallen too hard, too quickly for things to turn out the way she wanted them to-- She thought she was experienced enough to know that as a fact. But Maral, being quite the accesable Guru of knowledge, knew directly otherwise.