those years between us

[7] HOODIE

i greatly suggest reading the second half(?) of this chapter while listening to hoodie by hey violet

  SOMEHOW, WHEN MY girls and Jeremiah's friends left the club we'd been at, we were chatting with Orion and his friends. Orion had led Dean, Lance, his girlfriend Samantha and their friends Chase, Alvin and Dru over to our booth when we'd all gotten tired of dancing, and they'd hit right off with my friends. Some of them shared majors, so my friends started begging for any little bit of advice and suggestions regarding their academic careers. I watched, half-amused, half-annoyed.

  Orion had given me a knowing look from across the table, and I'd glared at him. But when Jeremiah had been sitting next to me, so I was quickly whisked back into the next round of conversation.

  At the next club we arrived at, we bumped into Livia and Amphion. Turns out Lance and Livia were schoolmates back in Hong Kong, so they joined our little group as well. Though at this point I just wanted to get away.

  Orion was watching me with an intensity that was becoming suffocating. Jeremiah was sweet, but his enthusiasm was also starting to get on my nerves. Camille had disappeared with Eileen and Danielle some time ago, and I was left with a group of people I was not all that familiar with.

  I took to pouring cup after cup of water down my throat, which was probably not the best idea, but I felt like my night was coming to a near close. Whenever we decided to leave this club, I'd probably cry a stomachache or something and try to escape back into my apartment.

  Orion seemed to sense my need for escape, and, when some of the others had gone off to dance, leaned in towards me. "You look like you want to leave."

  "No thanks to you."

  "Did I ruin your fun, little Salome?"

  I sent him a scathing look. "You're a fucking bastard sometimes, you know that, right?"

  "This is no way to speak to your neighbour gor gor, you know."

  "We're both adults. Those kinds of things do not apply anymore, Orion."

  "You know, entertain me. Back when we were kids you always called me Tsun-kit gor gor. And then we went to England and you started calling me Orion instead of that. What happened?"

  I sent him a side-eyed glance. "I hardly think a fourteen year old calling you Tsun-kit gor gor in front of your friends would have been appreciated."

  "How do you know it wouldn't have been?"

  The music in this club was far quieter than the other one, and we didn't have to shout to hear each other over the noise.

  "It didn't seem appropriate to keep calling you that. It wasn't like we were eight or nine years old anymore. Everyone else was calling you Orion too, so I thought I'd do the same."

  "You're not everyone else, though."

  I glanced at him, momentarily nonplussed. He met my eye with a truthfulness that momentarily knocked me off-kilter. "I've known you since we were little kids. You could have called me whatever you liked."

  "Whatever," I mumbled, rolling my eyes as I quickly recovered. "I'm used to calling you Orion now. Calling you Tsun-kit reminds me too much of our parents."

  "My parents still call you Yam-yuet."

  "I know. Mine call you Tsun-kit too."

  "In their minds we're just kids forever, huh?" He leaned backwards, kicking his legs out. He had very long legs. Which made sense. Because he was tall.