Baby's On Fire // Joonas Porko

1. Don't Look Back In Anger

"My hair is all over the place, can you please help me?" Hanna complained to her flatmate Linda and pointed at the mess of her black curls standing in the doorway of her flatmate's room.

"Since when do you care enough about the state of your hair?" Linda put her book down and got out of bed. She pointed for the other girl to sit at the vanity that took up half the space of her small room.

Both girls were just roommates, that didn't interact too much at first because both needed a place to live in Helsinki. Hanna had moved to Helsinki for the university to study programming and Linda was starting off as a makeup artist at the local theatre. One night a year ago Linda came home completely drunk and heartbroken and Hanna took care of her the whole night telling her that there was plenty of fish in the sea. After that night they started to become more open to each other and now they were practically inseparable.

Tonight they are planning to go to a concert and Hannas ex-boyfriend was going to be there. The one who had the audacity to cheat on her while they were out for a few drinks and she found him in the ladies' room with his pants midway and some chick on her knees. Linda knew why Hanna was so worked up, she wanted to show him that she was better off without him and she needed to look her best.

"Your hair is perfectly fine, but you shouldn't brush it so much," Linda took the brush out of Hanna's hand and started to work on her friend's hair. In a few minutes, Hanna's hair was looking presentable and Hanna thanked her friend.

"I don't even know why I'm getting so worked up for that dickhead," Hanna complained, "I also want to look good for myself, it feels like I haven't had a proper night out in weeks."

"We had a killer Christmas party.." Linda laughed at her friend.

"Please don't remind me," Hanna chuckled at the memory of her breaking an ice statue at her office's Christmas party. Linda was her plus one for the event because a lot of her colleagues were men and it was a bit uncomfortable to be around so many men alone. Hanna was working in video game development, so she had a thick skin and was fearless, most of the time, but even so, she needed a backup.

"I understand what you mean, but please don't get too drunk," Linda returned to the original topic and pleaded her friend. Linda walked up to her wardrobe and started going through her clothes, "Should I dress for the concert or should I dress for 'I'm taking the lead singer home with me?'"

Linda was a shameless flirt, she would seduce anyone anywhere if it would work for her benefit. Since that horrible night, Linda played around a lot and she wasn't looking for relationships anymore and so was Hanna. They mostly went out to fulfil their needs and left without getting any attachment.

"Definitely the second option, this is also the only reason I'm going out..." Hanna admitted and got up to walk back to her room.

The flat wasn't much, but it was homely and it suited the girls. Linda had a bit of a boho vibe around her, so there were a lot of plants, and colourful paintings around the flat. Hanna had a bit darker vibe around her. Hanna was a thinker, so the flat had books and little notes all around the place. Hanna wanted to study philosophy, but she knew that there was no money in it and her parents pushed her to pursue a career that had money in it. She liked making video games, it wasn't an easy thing, especially because she was a woman, but she didn't let that stand between her and her career.

Hanna's room was a bit bigger, but still, it had barely enough space for a double bed, a dresser and a massive desk. She had to throw out a bookshelf because she needed a bigger desk so it could fit 3 monitors. Now her books were laying around in piles, under her bed, under the desk and some even around their living room.