Hangout

Thursday, July 11. 12:40 pm.

They’re late again. Yan looks at his phone for the fifth time in the past ten minutes, waiting for a message or something from his friends. Dozens of people stand nearby, perhaps also waiting for their friends or family to meet up. He accidentally makes eye contact with a stranger. Immediately, he turns away and looks at the ground, avoiding any further glances for a few seconds before he returns to a ‘normal’ standing posture, blending in with the crowd.

Just then, a message pops up.

Spain without the S: gonna be a bit late lads, just left home

Yan sighs. That’s just Herman things. Despite living closest to the mall, he somehow always finds a way to be late to every single meetup, whether by two or thirty minutes. Welp, might as well give him a little nudge.

Tanuki: run faster

Spain without the S: just gimme a few mins

XYZ: two stations away

These guys… And of course Jayden isn’t sending any messages to say where he’s at currently. Yan can only shake his head in disappointment.

With his message sent, he now turns his sights to the people walking in and out of the station exit, studying their movements. An old man with a beer belly hobbling around with a sleeveless shirt and shorts. A kid running around her parents, clearly having too much energy to spare. A young couple holding hands while walking, shyly glancing at each other every few seconds. A group of teenage girls excitedly discussing about something, one of them having a pair of large, round glasses—

Wait. He instantly recognises her.

‘Dude, why are YOU here?’ Crystal rushes towards him, ditching her group behind in a split second. It’s as if Yan is some pigeon and Crystal is trying to chase him away, because he sure wishes he had wings to fly away from this extremely shocking moment.

‘W-Why are you here?’ Yan returns the question. Is this some sort of retribution for not going to the bookstore last week? That God just needs him to see her at least once a week?

‘Going to Festies, duh,’ she responds.

‘Cris, wait up!’ a voice slightly more high-pitched calls out. Or perhaps shouts out. A girl with her hair dyed partially blonde clumsily runs over, followed behind by a slightly shorter girl wearing what seems to be a pokemon t-shirt.

‘Who’s this— wait, oh my god, it’s Yan.’ The pokemon t-shirt girl looks at him like some exotic species.

Yan knows them, even if he has never had a proper conversation with them. They’re literally in his class.

‘Uh, yeah,’ Yan greets nervously. ‘Hi.’

‘Oh, it’s Yan!’ the dyed-hair girl finally notices him. ‘What’re you doing here? Waiting for someone? Are they late? You want us to wait—’

‘Summer, calm down,’ the pokemon t-shirt girl interrupts.

‘Ah, oops, hehe,’ Summer laughs awkwardly.

Summer and Angela, two of Crystal’s closest friends at school… at least that’s what Yan assumes given his observations last year. He doesn’t really bump into them at all outside of school, and despite being in the same class, they’re practically strangers to him. Strangers he very much would avoid on a usual basis.

‘Anyway, what are you doing here exactly?’ Crystal asks.

‘Uh, waiting for my friends?’

‘You didn’t come to the bookstore last week.’

‘Well, I didn’t really feel like it, so…’

‘Uncle said you’d always come every Saturday. So why not last Saturday?’

‘Uh, well…’ It’s as if Crystal’s interrogating him in a trial, her tone quick, crisp and to the point, unlike her usual dramatic loudness. And maybe with a hint of worry in that voice?

He just forgot to go that day. Well, that’s the lie he used to convince himself. After the visit to Crystal’s place on Friday, he just didn’t want to overwhelm her again. Even though it seems to be usually her who talks on and on, switching topics as she pleases, it just doesn’t feel right. Fearing a new, budding friendship might collapse because of his blunder, he just chose to believe time will make things right.

‘You’re still coming this Saturday, right?’ Crystal asks. Her voice seems to be demanding, but layered within is a small plea, as if requesting for him to just show up on that day.

‘Uh… yeah, maybe,’ Yan answers hesitantly.

‘Ok, see ya later then!’ Satisfied, she begins to walk away, her friends already up ahead a little. ‘Have fun with your friends!’

He nods. Yet seeing her walk further and further away, Yan suddenly feels an urge to at least say something back, not because of some particularly specific reason, but just because he wants to.

‘Uh, you too!’ He waves, his voice significantly louder than usual.

Turning around for a moment, Crystal waves back before she continues on her way.

Now guess I’ll continue waiting—

‘YO!’ A heavy hand lands firmly on Yan’s shoulder, nearly knocking him to the floor. He jolts in shock, fearing for a split second he’s going to get mugged… but instead, staring at him is Jayden, grinning widely at his little prank’s success.

‘Gotcha there, didn’t I?’ he chuckles.

‘Jesus christ,’ Yan mutters. Well, at least one is here despite being a solid 15-ish minutes late.

‘Oh yeah, who was it you were waving to earlier?’ Jayden inquires.

‘... Crystal.’

‘Oooooh…’

‘Shut up.’

Just then, Herman and Larry also finally arrive, one clearly being more nonchalant about his tardy than the other.

‘Let’s go, bois,’ Herman says, patting Yan and Jayden’s shoulders as he passes by. ‘I think there’s a pretty interesting movie at 1, so we can watch that first then eat later.’

He really has no sense of shame. ‘Imagine being so late despite living like five minutes away,’ Yan comments.

‘Bro, I ran here,’ Herman explains.

‘Where’s the sweat on your face? Isn’t it 34 degrees today?’ Larry questions.

‘Erm…’ Herman awkwardly chuckles.

‘Busted,’ Jayden says.

‘L-Let’s just go already!’ Herman quickens his pace, his strides unnecessarily large as if to create distance between him and the rest of the group.

‘Shameless.’ Yan shakes his head.

‘Phew! That was really nice,’ Herman says, stretching his stiff arms and reaching towards the low corridor ceiling.

‘Dude, the fricking fight scenes were insane,’ Jayden adds as he rapidly punches the air. ‘The CGI was really smooth too.’

‘Ehh… I thought it could’ve been better,’ Larry remarks. ‘What did you think, Yan?’

‘Really good,’ Yan says. ‘Though not as good as the studio’s last movie. They really set the bar high.’

‘Bro, you sure? This one was hella good,’ Herman disagrees.

‘Yeah, just not on that level.’

For a pure action movie, Yan enjoyed every bit of it. The immersion or the plot may not be the greatest, but for something that came shortly after an insanely hype movie by the same studio, he can only see the film as a little lacklustre. But from a solely entertainment perspective, the movie did deliver on its promises.

‘Where do we wanna eat lunch now?’ Jayden finally brings up the topic of food, and as if on cue, his stomach makes a small growl.

‘I don’t mind,’ Yan immediately responds.

‘Same.’

‘Same.’

‘So where?’ Jayden repeats.

Being not very picky with food has both pros and cons. Pros: anything is fine as long as it fills one up. Cons: no one can decide on anything.

For the next minute or two, they just stand in silence, unable to think of a restaurant despite the mall having many places to choose from. People walk by, some glancing at the group of four boys just staring at the wall or ceiling deep in thought. Not exactly the best public impression, Yan imagines.

‘You know what?’ Herman finally speaks up. ‘Just go to the food court and decide later.’

‘Bruh, food court’s always filled with people,’ Yan finds himself protesting. Sure, the food court is fine, but there are too many times where he just walks between the choices, unable to make a decision for many minutes. And by the time he gets the food, it’d take him another five minutes or so scrambling around to find a seat. It’s certainly the cheapest option, but an annoying option he’d rather not choose.

Ok, maybe he’s actually a bit picky about food and restaurant choices.

‘It’s literally 3 pm right now,’ Herman points out. ‘How many people can there really be eating at this time?’

‘So you were saying?’

The four of them look at the crowded food court filled with people and chatter. There are no vacant tables, only sparse seats far away from each other. Despite being long past the usual lunch time, the food court is still extremely busy, leaving the four boys standing there once again, stunned by the scene.

‘I didn’t expect this many people, bro,’ Herman says helplessly.

‘How bout let’s just walk around and see which table’s nearly finished,’ Larry suggests.

‘Yeah, sure,’ Jayden agrees. ‘Better than just standing here.’

They wander around, sometimes stopping for a few seconds in an attempt to intimidate the people occupying the tables, but to no avail. As they walk, they notice other groups of people also traversing between tables, muttering words of ‘excuse me’ or ‘sorry’ every couple of seconds. The chances of finding a table in the next few minutes are slim, that’s for sure.

‘You wanna just go someplace else?’ Larry finally asks.

‘Nah, I’m sure someone is almost done with their food,’ Herman stubbornly replies.

Just then, a group of people from the table behind them stand up, carrying the trays in their hands. A miracle. Yan turns around, relieved that finally this torture has ended—

Only to find Crystal and her friends before his eyes, ready to depart from the food court.

Jesus christ.

‘Again?’