Balls

46

Molly pushed her two friends to each side and slide herself in between. She sat on the bench without an ounce of guilt.

"I'm ruining your date, and I just wanted to be obvious about it," she explained unnecessarily and held out an onigiri on each hand as a peace offering.

Iqball coughed but Ballqis laughed. Molly's brand of joke was something Ballqis found charming. She accepted Molly's gift.

"Come on Iqball, of course Ballqis would tell me that there's something going on between the two of you. I know it's still new and you two aren't ready to use labels just yet... But I don't plan to ruin your date unknowingly like I did when I saw you guys at the pasta place. So if I'm going to ruin the mood, I'll announce beforehand. If I'm not aware, tell me," she spoke candidly.

"Thank you for the heads up. But we are not on a date at the moment. We were just hanging out and you're most welcomed to join," Iqball grinned and grabbed the onigiri.

Molly smirked.

"Thank you for the food," Ballqis said as she opened her onigiri pack.

The trio ate in silence for about a minute before Molly sighed a little too loudly.

"I don't know if I like Nastia," she said, again without tact nor filter.

Ballqis stopped chewing.

"Nastia?"

"I'm peeved she's taking too much of Aga's time that he canceled our Calculus session today. But, I'm more worried about Nastia herself. She's... I don't know how to put it. My gut just doesn't sit well when she's around," Molly said, staring into space.

"So it's not that you mind she's getting too close to Aga, but you're more worried about what Nastia is up to?" Iqball summed up.

Molly nodded her head, grateful that she was understood.

Ballqis and Iqball exchanged looks.

We can trust Molly, Iqball agrees when Ballqis asked if they should share, all with just exchange of looks.

"Truth is Iqball and I felt there's something off about Nastia too," Ballqis confided.

Molly's head snapped her way.

"I knew I wasn't the only one. I met Mirna earlier today and she told me the Russian boys suspects that Nastia is a lot older than them. And that they don't think she's a student at all. I asked Mirna how come, Mirna told me the Moscow boys said they've never seen her study. She's always hanging around the lab and Aga whenever she's not having classes," Molly enthused.

"Wait, Mirna gets to talk to the Moscow boys and you're not jealous?" Iqball joked. The matter was becoming too serious to his liking, and the fact that even other people noticed how invested Nastia was in the lab activities made him nervous.

"Iqball!" Molly berated him.

"Nastia likes Aga and, or the fish lab a little more than socialising with other students or studying..." Ballqis recapped to get the conversation back on track.

"I know the fish inside the lab are expensive but surely an exchange student like her would not try something as funny as sneaking a live animal back home, right?" Molly thought out loud.

"Doubt it. The flight alone would be a crazy journey and a fish is not that easy to smuggle in. Besides, a tilapia may be expensive but if I was desperate for money I still would not risk the law by trying to kidnap a fish," Ballqis agreed.

They ate again in silence, each one buried in their own thoughts.

"Wait," Molly said. "What about that weird fish Aga was talking about? The nosey one who likes staring at people videocalling. Could it be a rare species worth fishnapping?" Molly asked.