Innocent | Sugawara Koushi

27.

It's been a week since the visit at Koushi's parents. It was weekend and somehow I was preparing to go out again, but this time with my sister and Sana. I had no idea how those two came up with the idea that we should meet together, but I didn't question. I was in the middle of brushing my hair, getting more annoyed by the fact that it didn't cooperate at all when I heard the front door opening.

I peeked through the door and saw my best friend taking off her coat. "Make yourself at home, I guess." I chuckled.

"I was going to." She huffed, visibly glad to be out of the layers of clothing. "You're still not ready? Kaori will be pissed if we're late."

"As I remember correctly, you were always laughing at her punctuality." I pointed out before groaning audibly at the little tangle in my wet curls. "I swear I will cut those hair off!"

"Give me that." Sana took the brush out of my hand and directed me to sit on the bed while she gently brushed through every little tangle. Somehow it made my nerves settle down. "Why are you in such a bad mood? Is everything okay with you and the teacher?"

I took a deep breath before responding, trying not to take my frustration out on her. "Yeah, everything's great. We haven't seen each other much this week though. He has to prepare a show for his kids for Christmas. You know, the decorations, the whole scenario with rhymes and all. But at least I had a lot of time to draw after work." I said, feeling her fingers grabbing locks of my hair and making a small braid at the side of my head.

"Then why are you so nervous? It should calm you down." She said and I rolled my eyes.

"Hormones." I almost seethed, really hating my own body at the moment.

"Period?" She asked and I nodded lightly, making her grab my head. "Don't move or I will mess it up."

I waited patiently for her to finish and a minute later she moved away a little, admiring her work. I didn't see what exactly she did with my hair, but I felt her braiding the locks on both sides before connecting them at the back of my head. Knowing her, it looked pretty.

"Looks good. Now I want you to relax. It's a girls night, so I need you to smile and have fun." She stepped towards my closet and started looking through the clothes there.

"I'm already dressed." I said, making her look at my comfortable jeans and an oversized sweater. She looked like she wanted to say something, but one look at my slightly annoyed face was probably enough to make her let go.

"Okay, fine. I'll let it slide this time because you're bleeding. But you still have to dry your hair. It's freezing outside."

"You really start to act like a mother." I said jokingly, standing up to go to the bathroom.

"I have to practice on someone." She giggled before plopping down on my bed with a loud sigh.

It took me a couple of minutes to dry my hair and with already improved mood, I was finally ready to go out.

The drive to the restaurant was pretty fast. The biggest advantage of living in a small city was small traffic. At least when it weren't hours when everyone was rushing to or off work, but that wasn't a problem on a Saturday evening. While driving, I was trying hard not to speed despite Sana's rushing tone every time I had a free road ahead. I didn't want to risk of running into a certain policeman, who would surely make me remember how I was almost caught at the parking lot with my boyfriend last week.

"You drive like a grandma." She commented when we stopped in front of a small, cozy restaurant. The colorful lights outside made me think about Christmas despite it being only the middle of November.