If Jealousy Could Kill

“Haruna! Are you almost done in there?!” Rina whined loudly, pounding on the door to the bathroom, the room her older friend was currently holed up in. Rina sighed loudly, backing away from the door and leaning on the wall in front of it. She swore that it took this woman three forevers just to get ready. Their other friend, Mami, had invited them to the park today in order to meet another friend of hers and if Haruna didn’t hurry up and get ready, they were going to be late. Rina didn’t want to get another earful from Mami because of Haruna again. “We have to go!” Rina continued to whine, drawing out the “o” sound in go.

“Chill out, Rina! I’m almost done!” Rina heard the muffled response from the other side of the door, sighing dramatically in response to her friend’s statement. This was almost a daily routine for the roommates. Haruna was usually never on time unless Rina made her be on time. It was only a few minutes later until Haruna emerged from the bathroom, her routine of getting ready finally finished.

“About time,” Rina remarked, another overly dramatic sigh following her statement. Haruna laughed softly, giving her friend a playful shove as she walked past her.

“I didn’t take that long, you drama queen,” Haruna retorted, making her way into her room in order to retrieve her bag. The older brunette picked up the messenger back from the floor, throwing it over the shoulder and grabbing her cell phone off of the table before turning to face Rina.

“Ready?” she asked, an eyebrow raised at her friend. Haruna gave her a bright smile, nodding her head firmly.

“Ready! Let’s go meet that special friend of Mami’s now, shall we?” Haruna asked, hooking her arm with Rina’s and pulling her down the hallway.

***

“Haruna! Rina!” The two brunettes whipped around upon hearing their named call, both smiling when they saw the blonde standing not too far from them. Next to Mami stood another, unknown girl. Her long brown hair reached past her shoulders as she stood up against the wall, her eyes darting around quickly to survey her surroundings. The duo rushed over to Mami, waving at the other two girls when they got closer.

“Hey, Mami, is this your friend?” Haruna asked, leaning forward and cocking her head to the side as she stared intensely at the unknown brunette.

“That would be me,” the brunette answered in a high pitched voice. “I’m Tomomi, who’re you two?”

“The name’s Haruna and this is--”

“Rina,” Rina answered, interrupting Haruna who could only stick her tongue out playfully at Rina for the interruption. There was a reason those two were roommates, they were practically sisters with how close they were.

“Nice to meet you guys!” Tomomi responded, fake saluting the girls.

“Now that introductions are done, how about we go find something to eat so we can all talk a bit more?” Mami offered.

“Sounds good to me. I am starving!” Tomomi responded quickly.

“So am I,” Haruna agreed, rubbing her stomach. Rina snorted at Haruna’s comment.

“You’re always hungry, Haru.” Haruna gave Rina another playful shove before the three girls set off towards the small café at the end of the park, making small talk the entire way.

***

“So, Tomomi, how long have you known Mami?” Rina asked, popping a french fry into her mouth. Tomomi took a quick drink of her smoothie before answer Rina.

“A couple years now.”

“And you never introduced us?!” Rina shouted, feigning hurt. Mami shrugged at Rina, taking a bite of her burger instead of answer Rina. “I am so hurt, Mami.”

“You’ll survive,” she answered, her mouth full of food. Rina scrunched up her face at Mami’s action, teasing her a bit about learning not to talk with her mouth full. As the brunette and blonde bickered, Tomomi’s eyes slowly led her to Haruna. The petite brunette was sitting in her own little corner of the booth, silently eating her fries as she watched the bickering between her friends. This was the usual for Rina and Mami; they always had silly arguments over silly things. It was how they showed their love for each other. Haruna quite enjoyed watching them make fools of themselves, so she never bothered to step in.

Tomomi’s actions froze as her gaze fixed on Haruna, her eyes slowly looking the young adult up and down. The woman was beautiful. Her layered brown hair fell just past her shoulders, her bangs swept to the side to show off her glistening brown eyes. She wore a leather jacket over a tight shirt that hugged her body, showing off every curve she had. Her jeans were just as tight and Tomomi couldn’t help but notice the slender legs that they covered. This woman- this Haruna – was beautiful in every sense of the word. She was one of those girls every man wanted and every woman wanted to be. She was the kind of person who could probably get anyone she wanted.

“Oi, earth to Timo!” Tomomi jumped back from the shout that had just been blasted into her ear, shaking her back from her daydream. Tomomi saw a grinning Mami who closely resembled the Cheshire Cat with that grin of hers.

“What’d you do that for?!” Tomomi shrieked in her high pitched voice, throwing a single French fry at Mami.

“You were staring off into space again. Had to wake up the space cadet somehow,” Mami said with a shrug, leaning back against the wall to the right of the booth, casually swinging her arm over the back of the booth.

“So you had to shout in my ear?!”

“Who’s the one shouting now?” Mami asked, that same grin coming back to her face. Tomomi gasped, throwing a handful of fries at the feisty blonde this time. Across the table, Rina and Haruna watched the two in amusement.

“Yo, Mami,” Haruna said, her head resting on her connected palms as she stared at Mami. The blonde looked over at Haruna, raising an eyebrow to silently tell her to continue. “Do you ever stop causing fights?”

“Hey! It was Timo’s fault, not mine!”

“What?! You shouted first!”

“Well you should have been paying attention!”

“You could have gotten my attention in a nicer way!” Tomomi jutted her bottom lip out in a fake pout, batting her eyelashes at Mami who only groaned in return. The famous puppy dog look of Tomomi Ogawa. No one could survive getting that look from her.

“Oh fine, you win!” Mami groaned. Tomomi clapped her hands together with a small squeal. The puppy dog look never failed. “Oh! Why don’t you three exchange numbers?” Tomomi and Rina cocked their heads to the side, staring at Mami. They’d barely known each other for an hour and Mami wanted them to give out their numbers?

“I don’t see a problem with that,” Haruna said, throwing an arm around Rina’s shoulder. “What about you, Rina? Tomomi seems like a nice enough person and a close friend of Mami’s is a friend of mine.”

“Mhm, I agree with you, Haru!” Rina said, a bright smile coming to her face. Anything Haruna was comfortable with, so was Rina. “What about you?” Rina asked, turning to look at the hyperactive brunette.

“I’m fine with it.” Tomomi nodded in affirmation.

“Then it’s settled!” Haruna cheered, clapping her hands together. She quickly grabbed a napkin from the table, fishing out a pen from the mess she called a bag and scribbling down her number and Rina’s number. Tomomi grabbed a napkin as well, stealing Haruna’s pen when she was done with it to write down her own number of the pair.

“I think the four of us have just started a beautiful friendship,” Mami grinned.