“Yeah,” he replied, finding his voice. “I remember spending a lot of time over here for some reason? Like, didn’t I sleep over once?” He wondered if he was mixing her up with someone else. It was sad to say but at one point, he actually was social with pretty much everyone in his grade.

Stepping into a house you hadn’t been in for some time was a really weird feeling. For one, Token could already make out all the familiar stuff he saw when he was there before; all the completely wooden furniture, the various paint pots filled with murky coloured water, plants scattering the windowsills with mud, the chef holding the menu sign at the end of her couch on an end-table.

The teen snorted, letting out an amused laugh. “You’ve still kept that thing after all these years? Now that’s dedication.”

He slumped down onto the couch, seating himself next to Lola and let out a noise of relief, feeling the stress and ache from a long day pour out of him. Nothing beat just chilling out with a friend with some good food. Maybe an alcohol session but that could come later with one of his bros.

Turning to her, he smiled and cocked his head to the side. “So what season are we starting on?”

“My mom loves that little chef so much,” Lola mused, crossing one leg over the other, “I think it might be my heirloom.”

Scrolling through Netflix options, she grazed over other things in the recommended section that she considered watching later, though would probably forget all about the next day, as the vicious cycle of forgetfulness hit her square in the face. 

“We’re doing season 1 first! Only because it feels right.” She had already pressed play before she had even finished her sentence, and nestled herself into the couch. 

One of the overwhelming thoughts that came with watching shows with other people is that she never knew if other people talked over shows or not, or quoted lines right after they’ve been said like she tended to. But if she just stayed quiet the whole time, would that make things awkward? Token did come all this way to hang around her, what if he wasn’t just looking to sit in silence for a few hours? Maybe if she let her mindless jabber slip out, Token would either respond or tell her to shush, so she could get a good picture of how this evening was going to turn out.

Before the theme song could even start, she had already let conversation slip out. “Do you have a favourite on this show?” That wasn’t good conversation at all you absolute fuck, “If you say Ross I’m going to have to kick you out.”

Was she joking? Probably not. Ross was terrible.

She reached over to open a bag of kettle corn that she had popped well over an hour prior to this, so it was well past fresh, but if anyone cared, there was more in the cabinets. The last time Lola had ever sat still for even a moment was way beyond her knowledge, though she slumped back in her seat with the popcorn bag, placing it in between them, “I think out of any character from any show on this planet, Phoebe has me roped in for life.”

@tokenrichkid

Looking herself over in the mirror, Lola tried to remember the last time a boy that wasn’t just a boy toy to her mother stepped into this house. The occasional booty call from gentleman callers always had her make the extra effort of driving over to a lazy ungrateful guys house at 3 AM just so she could make just enough money from them to drive back. It never seemed worth it to her anymore, but here she was standing in the bathroom staring at her own reflection wondering if she should cake on a face of make up for something that could very well just be sitting around and marathoning an entire season of Friends in one go. 

Did she want to make that effort? It was well past 6 PM, so there might not have been a point in making herself look nice. Was her undercut getting too long? Should she give herself a quick buzz before Token got there? Would he even notice? Or care, for that matter? Probably not. It wasn’t like this was a blind date, No one had to look their best. It’s been, what, 8 years since she moved to this town? Everyone here was well aware of what each other looked like at their plainest, or their worst. They had all seen each others ugly middle school phase, or every bit of weight gained, every pimple, so why keep up appearances when everyone knew everyone else like the back of their hand?

Who cares? She put on some boots and went outside.

Token plucked a lose thread on the shirt, waiting for his parents to depart from the house so he could finally leave and get wild. And by get wild, he obviously meant marathoning at least two hours of the Friends TV show and whatever else him and Lola could come up with while also, hopefully, simultaneously getting sick from stuffing their faces with all the snacks she had in her cupboards at the time. 

“Alright Token, honey, we’re off now. Watch the house and be good while we’re gone.”

His head shot up from his lit phone screen at the sound of his mum’s voice, one eyebrow raising at the ‘watch the house’ part. What would even happen to the house when they had electric double gates and a guard protecting the front of it? 

“Will do, ma. Have fun with dad,” he replied, shooting a quick nervous smile in her direction, lips twitching. 

She gave him a strange look, obviously already suspicious but they both still left, leaving Token standing at the door grinning. Time to be the perfect child he was and leave the house. 

The drive over there was bumpy and quick, what with him trying to rush over there as fast as he could so as to not disappoint Lola’s expectations of him getting there in two seconds flat. Okay, maybe he couldn’t actually get there in that amount of time but whatever, no harm trying. 

Pulling up to her house, Token chewed on the inside of his cheek and licked his lips out of nervousness. He hadn’t hung out with anyone in what felt like forever. He liked to blame it on all the sports clubs he had, all the studying he had been doing, but the only thing that was to blame was his social anxiety. Maybe he shouldn’t worry since it is Lola, someone who literally didn’t give two fucks about what everyone thought of her and didn’t really care if you came from a swamp. 

‘Maybe you shouldn’t sit in your car like a dumbass while she’s standing right there at her front door, genius,’ he thought to himself, eyes flickering up to the figure stood in the doorway. 

Come to think of it, was her mom home tonight? If anything were to happen, what if her mom walked right into it? Not like her mom didn’t pull the same shit Lola pulled, though. She trusted the eerie silence in her house to mean no one else was there to interrupt an endless stream of iconic 90′s classics sure to come.

Staring at Token sitting in his car like a dumbass, it didn’t actually pass through her mind that he was just sort of...sitting there, staring back for a few moments. In fact, she was more-so thinking about how Ross didn’t deserve Rachel, and how making Monica a lesbian probably would’ve made for a whole new audience.

Maybe Token felt the same way? Or maybe not? The slamming of Token’s car door jolted her back into her mind and out of the minds of fictional characters. She folded a piece of loose hair behind her ear and gave him a raised hand in return.

“Hey!” Her voice cracked. Was there any reason to feel nervous? She cleared her throat, “It really has, I think the last time you were over was, like, what, 9th grade?”

Stepping back and opening up the front door, she peered inside just to double check that the presence of any embarrassing mothers was at zero. Coast was clear, so Lola swung the door open and gestured for Token to come in.

“I only grabbed a few snacks out of the pantry, but if we want more, the pantry is probably full of all kinds of crap.” Picking up the TV remote to the already on television, Lola flicked through settings to get to Netflix, flopping herself down onto the couch.

lola 

lola