//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Game of Darts // by bahatumay //------------------------------// It was a Friday afternoon at BulkCo, and like usual, the club warehouse was packed full of people. The sound of shoppers chatting, children shrieking, carts rolling, tvs playing the same demos over and over, cash registers beeping, and more filled the air. It would take a very silly person to enjoy being here at this time. Lyra was one of those silly people. She loved people-watching, and this spot on the patio furniture display was the perfect spot to watch everyone go by without making it look like she was watching everyone go by.  But today was special, because today, she was looking for one person in particular. One very best friend who hadn’t made it to any of the summer trips CHS had taken had finally responded to her text messages. She glanced back over to the door. Bon Bon didn’t have a card, so she’d have to go let her in as soon as she arrived. And then two hands suddenly covered her eyes. “Guess who?” “Bon Bon!” Lyra nearly shouted, tripping over her shoes in an effort to get behind the chair to grab her best friend in a tight hug. “I missed you!” “I missed you, too!” Bon Bon said, gladly returning it. Lyra finally broke the hug, but kept her hands on Bon Bon’s arms, her heart still racing at being able to touch her best friend again. “It’s so good to see you! Feels like it’s been forever.” “It really has!” Bon Bon said, clearly just as overjoyed at seeing her best friend as Lyra was. “You’ve had some crazy adventures this summer!” “No kidding! The storm was huge! Magic is real! I was a little pony! It was just, whoa.” She brought her hand up to her forehead in the universal sign for ‘mind blown!’. “I bet you were a cute little pony. I totally would have thought the pictures were photoshopped if there hadn’t been so many.” “Where were you, anyway?” Lyra asked. “You left, like, a week after school got out.” “Oh, I’m secretly a spy, and I got called up and had to go undercover for a mission overseas.”  There was a brief pause.  Bon Bon cracked first, then Lyra did, too, both girls laughing with each other.  Lyra had missed Bon Bon’s laugh.  “Nah. I got dragged on another of my family trips. And, like usual, no pictures, because my mom’s a stickler about ‘living in the moment’.” She rolled her eyes.  “Well, we have some great moments to live in now,” Lyra said, finally letting her go but staying close enough to easily bump her with her hips. “Come on.” The two sat, just watching, happy at being next to each other.  Something occurred to Lyra. “Hey, how did you get in here without a card, anyway?” “Eh. The best way to get anywhere is just to look like you belong,” Bon Bon answered airily.  “I say you belong here with me,” she said, taking hold of Bon Bon’s arm. Bon Bon smiled, agreeing. Together, they watched the people go by.  And then Lyra’s stomach growled.  The two looked at each other. “Sample time!” they sang in unison.  The two best friends wandered through the aisles towards the back.  Lyra gestured with a fork full of pasta salad. “I just… who needs a four pack of toilet cleaner?” she asked as Bon Bon giggled. “Like if you really need that much, maybe watch what you’re eating, you know?” “I know, right?” Bon Bon tossed her empty paper cup into the trash can. She paused and cocked her head. “Hey, look at the toilet paper stack. It kinda looks like a throne.” “Ha! It does! I can be the TP Queen.” “Nah. That’s your mom. You can be the TP Princess.”  Lyra laughed. She was right.  And she did like being called a princess, especially by Bon Bon. “Seriously,” Bon Bon continued. “It is everywhere in your house. The first time I tried to get a glass of water and somehow grabbed a roll instead, remember that?” “I do!” Lyra laughed at the memory. “Apparently, she ran out as a kid once, and she’s still afraid of it happening again. So once a month, whether we need it or not, another BulkCo pack of toilet paper. She tried to hide some in my closet once. I opened the door too quick and it fell on me.” “Gotta get rid of some of it.” “How? Taco night, but for a month straight?” “I was thinking more like a massive raid to TP Mr. Doodle’s house.” Lyra nearly choked on her last bite. She laughed as she threw the paper cup away. “I’m not saying I would…” “But you wouldn’t not?” Bon Bon finished playfully.  Lyra’s heart seemed to skip a beat. “You know me so well.” Lyra spun in the office chair. “I… don’t like it,” she said, feeling strangely disappointed. “I want to, because wheelie chair-” “Of course,” Bon Bon agreed. “But it’s not as comfortable as it looks. Look how padded it looks and then-” She blew a quick raspberry. “Just, sadness and deception.” “Yeah. Maybe it’s just because it belongs to an office job. I could never be stuck in an office. I’d rather, I don’t know-” “Travel the world?” Lyra suggested teasingly.  “Yeah, but with my phone this time,” she said. “I don’t think you’d do great in an office either.” “Oh, no?” “Nah. You're one of those people who can’t have routine. You need new experiences, new places, you’ve got to be free, Lyra.” Bon Bon totally understood her.  Lyra smiled, hoping she wasn’t blushing too hard, but inside, she was determined. Nothing would stop her.  Once she figured out how to bring it up, anyway.  Lyra and Bon Bon paused to let the deli worker load a cooler with plastic packs from her cart.  “Ooh, sushi. They’ve got a big selection today. Do you like sushi?” “Sure do,” Bon Bon said. “On one of my other family trips, we got authentic sushi caught literally right off the ocean, and since then, nothing else has quite measured up.” Lyra had not gone on many trips and was reminded of the time she went on a school trip and would have gladly eaten gas station sushi if Bon Bon had not intervened. “You go on a lot of trips.” “Sure do,” Bon Bon said tiredly. “And no pictures to show for it.” “We can take one now,” Lyra offered, pulling out her phone. Bon Bon agreed, putting on a cute pose.  Lyra posed with her mouth open dramatically as she held the giant tray of truffles. It was far too many for her to eat at one time.  Not that she wouldn’t have made an attempt at it, because she definitely would have; but it was a little pricey.  Bon Bon giggled.  “How long would it take you to make something that big?” Lyra asked as she put it back.  “Way too long,” Bon Bon said wryly. “I prefer hard candies, anyway.” “Huh,” Lyra said. “You always make me chocolates. For my birthday, for New Years, for fall equinox—I really liked the red leaf decorations-” Bon Bon waved her down. “You’re my best friend, Lyra. You’re always worth it.” Lyra giggled, looking down and hoping her blush wasn’t noticeable. Bon Bon was just too sweet.  Bon Bon looked at the take-n-bake pizzas. “I swear these are getting smaller,” she muttered.  “Yeah. Nothing like family pizza nights. That much dough is a pain to roll out, but fresh pizza can’t be beat. Do you know how to make pizza?” “I definitely like candy more than pizza,” Bon Bon said, brushing a finger over her wrapped candy motif on her belt, “but I can follow a recipe.” “What, nothing about how pizza overseas you tasted on one trip is superior?” Lyra teased.  “Yeah, no. Pizza from here is what I think of when I think of pizza. Deep dish, caked in cheese, greasy, looks like someone dropped half a meat shop on it, big enough for a whole family but so good you eat so much that there’s only one slice for breakfast the next day.” Lyra licked her lips. “You’ve got a way with words. Now I’m getting hungry.”  Pizza from the snack bar wasn’t quite homemade, but it was fresh and hot, and fairly inexpensive, which was the perfect combination for two girls that were technically adults but still in school.  As she waited for her slice to cool, she took a drink from her cup and looked around.  A hot tub hung from the rafters, drawing Lyra’s attention. “I always wanted a hot tub,” she commented. “My grandparents had one, but they lived, like, forever away, so we didn’t get to go often. I used to love going there. I thought it was the coolest thing, and I cried once when I forgot my swimsuit.” She chuckled. “Went back last year and it was tiny, like, so small. Baby Lyra could swim around in it, but Grown-up Lyra takes up half the tub. I could maybe go under the water, if no one else was in it.” Bon Bon giggled. “I’m sorry, I’m just imagining Tiny!Lyra being so sad about forgetting her swimsuit. You’re so cute in my mind.” Lyra hesitated. Could that mean she was cute now? “Hey, I’m cute now, too,” she floated.  Bon Bon grinned. “Yeah, you are,” she said with a wink. She leaned down to take another bite of her pizza.  Lyra shook her head. She wasn't sure if that was flirting, but she was sure she was overthinking this. She had held this inside long enough. She had to just go for it.  Not right here, of course. She had no intention of ever celebrating any anniversary in a noisy, raucous BulkCo food court.  But she couldn’t just buy a hot tub. That was way out of her price range.  But the two pack of foam dart blasters below it was not.  And an idea took form in her mind.