If Jealousy Could Kill

Would you mind if I came over?

Haruna glanced down at the flashing screen of her cell phone, a smile beginning to play on her face when she saw the text from Tomomi. It had been a few days since the first meeting Haruna had had with this girl but the group of four was already becoming fast friends. Mami had a very good judgment of people after all; she always seemed to know just who would make the best friends.

Sure. You remember where our apartment is?

Haruna sat the phone on the soft material of the couch she sat on, leaning her head back onto the back of it as she waited for a response from Tomomi. Haruna was alone in the house seeing as Mami and Rina were both at classes at their respective universities. Haruna didn’t do any of that though; she wasn’t made for the corporate world. She was a free soul. Haruna’s passion was music and she was determined to break into the music industry no matter what, she didn’t have time to waste on universities and whatnot. Haruna’s phone buzzed beside her, attracting her attention again.

Yup. I’ll be over soon, okay?

Haruna could feel a smile snake across her face as she typed a small “sounds good” message to Tomomi. She tossed her phone lightly onto the coffee table in front of her, leaning back into the couch and propping her arms up behind her head. Now it was just a matter of relaxing and waiting for Tomomi to come over and entertain her.

***

“Welcome back to my abode,” Haruna said, leading Tomomi into the small living room. Tomomi had been to Haruna and Rina’s apartment once, but it was only for a few minutes as she waited for them to finish getting ready for a night on the town. This time, Tomomi could see more of the roommate’s small apartment. The living room was very small, no bigger than the size of an average bedroom. It contained nothing more than a medium-sized couch that could sit three and a worn down TV. A small coffee table sat in-between the couch and TV. A medium-sized bookshelf sat off to the left of the room and leaning on it was a black guitar case.

“You play?” Tomomi asked taking a seat on the other end of the couch from Haruna, leaving a large gap in-between them. Haruna glanced up, muttering a small ‘hmm’ before noticing Tomomi looking at her guitar.

“Oh that. Yeah, I play the guitar. Do you?”

“Eh, just a little,” Tomomi admitted turning her attention back to the brunette beside her. “I’m better at the bass.”

“Ah, the baby version of the guitar,” Haruna said with a smirk. She knew that would get to Tomomi and that’s exactly what she wanted. She wanted to have a little fun with her. Tomomi snorted at Haruna’s comment.

“Baby version, eh? Well let’s see the big bad guitarist play the bass,” Tomomi challenged. Haruna chuckled softly, move her body closer to Tomomi as she leaned in closer. Tomomi could feel Haruna’s breath as the two stared eye to eye.

“Is that a challenge I hear, Ogawa?” Haruna challenged back, a devilish smirk on her face.

“Oh that’s a challenge alright, Ono,” Tomomi shot back, an equally devilish smirk on her face. The brunette wasn’t about to let the sassy Haruna defeat her. Haruna let out a soft laugh, pushing herself away from Tomomi again.

“Too bad I don’t feel like it,” she said, waving her hand at Tomomi. The audacity of this girl! But Tomomi liked it. The sassy nature of Haruna only made Tomomi that much more attracted to her. “I’m hungry!” Haruna announced out of nowhere, bouncing off the couch and bounding into the kitchen, not even bothering to ask Tomomi if she was as well.

Tomomi sighed heavily, shaking her head as she leaned back into the couch. That girl was something else. The way her personality and attitude could change in the snap of a finger. Haruna returned only seconds later, setting a bowl of cherries down in the middle of the coffee table.

“Cherries?” Tomomi asked with a raised eyebrow.

“What? They’re good for you,” Haruna stated, grabbing on and popping it into her mouth.

“Funny, with all the wrappers of junk food, I didn’t know you or Rina knew what a healthy food was. Or what a garbage can was,” Tomomi retorted with a smirk, grabbing her own cherry and following Haruna’s lead.

“We’re two twenty-whatever years olds living in an apartment together, do you really expect us to have the gumption to clean up after ourselves?” Tomomi could help the laughter that escaped her at Haruna’s statement. As if that was really a valid excuse for not bothering to clean your house.

“Speaking of Rina, where is she today?”

“She’s at school,” Haruna said, her speech slightly muffled by the cherry she was eating. Neither she nor Tomomi had the manners to not talk with their mouths full. Haruna finally swallowed, continuing her sentence food-free. “She won’t be home until late; she has work right after school.”

“Where does she work?”

“At a bakery. What’s up with all the sudden interest in Rina?” Haruna asked, batting her eyelashes at Tomomi in curiosity.

“No reason, just curious. And what do you do? Besides, you know, make messes for a living.” Haruna laughed at Tomomi, picking up a cherry and throwing it at her forehead.

“I work part-time as a waitress.” Tomomi slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the laughter that wanted to come out. Haruna Ono was a waitress. The free soul I-can-do-whatever-I-want Haruna Ono was a waitress of all things. She made her money from waiting on people hand and foot. Tomomi made a mental note to ask Mami where Haruna worked; she wanted to go pay Haruna a visit at work one of these days. “Is something funny about that?” Tomomi shook her head in response to Haruna’s question. Nope. She wasn’t touching that with a ten foot pole.

“So you don’t go to school?” she asked, completely disregarding Haruna’s last question.

“Nah, I’m not made for that. I’d rather focus on my music.” Haruna shrugged before continuing her sentence, “now that I’ve told you my life story, why don’t you tell me what you do for a living eh, Ogawa?”

“For a living? Absolutely nothing. For the meantime? I work in retail.”

“No school?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“I’m just not, okay?” Haruna raised an eyebrow at Tomomi’s newfound furious tone. Obviously Haruna had hit one of Tomomi’s buttons. But why would that have made her mad? Haruna inwardly shrugged, deciding not to push the subject anymore. The last thing she wanted was to make her new friend mad and hate her. Now that would be fun to explain to Mami.

“Hey, Timo,” Haruna said, calling Tomomi by the nickname she had heard Mami use a number of times. Tomomi turned her head to the side, surprised to hear that nickname come out of Haruna’s mouth. “Do you know what they say about cherry stems?” Haruna twirled a cherry in the air before popping it in her mouth, amused at the confused look Tomomi carried.

“What about them?” Tomomi asked hesitantly, almost scared to find out where Haruna was going with this. She may not have known this girl for long, but she had figured out enough about Haruna to know she could be very mischievous and dangerous.

“They say if you can tie the stem in a knot with your tongue, that means you’re a good kisser,” Haruna informed her friend. She continued her sentence with a new challenge. “Bet you couldn’t do it.”

“You just like making bets, don’t you?” Tomomi said with a small giggle.

“It’s sort of my thing, I like to be reckless. Life is more fun that way. So, up to the challenge?”

“I bet I could do it faster than you.” Haruna laughed at the challenge, grabbing a cherry and tossing it Tomomi’s way. Who was the one making bets now? Tomomi barely caught the cherry thrown at her, almost dropping it to the tan carpet below. Haruna grabbed a cherry for herself, smirking at Tomomi.

“You’re on.” Both of the girls downed the cherries, making sure to keep the stems held in their hands. As Haruna counted to three, the girls both stuffed the stems in their mouth, making their faces contort into awkward shapes as they tried their little test.

“Aha!” Tomomi shouted, spitting out the cherry stem and gleaming with pride. Haruna spit out her own a few seconds after Tomomi, both of them having passed the test.

“Well, well, well, looks like the mousy girl is a good kisser after all!” Tomomi gasped, placing a hand on her chest and faking her hurt. She was not “mousy”. Haruna laughed, tossing her stem into the pile that was growing on the coffee table.

“So, if I finished first, does that make me the better kisser?” Haruna let out a small chuckle at Tomomi’s question. She slowly crawled over to Tomomi’s side of the couch, leaning in close to the bassist. Her hot breath hit Tomomi’s neck as a mischievous glint passed through her eyes.

“I don’t know, why don’t we find out?” Without giving Tomomi time to react, Haruna placed her hands on opposite sides of Tomomi’s face, crashing their lips together in a forceful kiss. Shocked at first, Tomomi began to kiss Haruna back before Haruna pushed herself away from Tomomi, a smile on her face. “Not bad, Tomomi.”

“Oh…” The simple word was all Tomomi could mutter as her cheeks turned a bright red. Haruna let out a round of obnoxious laughter when she saw how hard Tomomi was blushing. This was just too good; Haruna was having so much fun with it. Tomomi’s reactions were priceless.

“Is the great Tomomi Ogawa speechless? I’ve never heard you be so silent.”

“S-shut up! You haven’t known me that long!” Tomomi stuttered out, still flabbergasted by Haruna’s bold action. Haruna chuckled softly. She must be good to leave such a talkative person speechless. Without a response, Haruna picked up the TV remote, beginning to channel surf. Tomomi’s mouth fell open as she stared at Haruna. Wait… That was it? Haruna was just going to force Tomomi to kiss her and then watch TV like nothing ever happened? “So what? You’re not even going to apologize for jumping on me?” Haruna craned her head to look at Tomomi, grinning at her with that mischievous glint back in her eyes.

“From where I’m sitting, it looked like you enjoyed it a lot. I don’t think an apology is needed.” Tomomi continuously opened and closed her mouth, trying to think of a comeback to shut that sassy girl up with. But she had nothing. Her mind was blank. It was unbelievable. Haruna had silenced the unsilenceable Tomomi with a single kiss. How was that even possible?

Tomomi let out a huff, sitting back into the couch and crossing her arms with a pout on her face. Haruna wins round one.