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 Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 11:23 pm
Hana strolled into Darlene's around nine, right as the dinner crowd was clearing out and the bar crowd was starting to fill in, and hopped up onto a stool at the counter. She adjusted her oversized bomber jacket, tugging the slipping shoulder back into place, and then leaned forward, hands on the counter, to peer into the kitchen. "Hey, Dhan?" she called, not seeing her brother. She settled back onto her stool and folded her arms beneath her chin - she could wait.
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 11:16 pm
Dhan was elbow-deep in dishes, but also up for a break, so when Nasir told him his sister was there Dhan washed his hands and abandoned his heavy apron to go greet her. "Hey, Hana," he said, leaning in to kiss her cheek as he joined her at the bar. "What's shakin'?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2016 8:01 am
Hana leaned against her brother, although she was very tiny compared to him and it was a bit awkward to lean against someone sitting on the next barstool over - but she could manage it. She gave him a quick hug, arm around his skinny shoulders, and then straightened back up. (Enough of that nonsense.) "Not much," she said. "Got bored. Finished my homework. Thought I'd come visit, see where you work." (It was Darlene's. She'd eaten here like 200 times in her life probably.) "Not even gonna try to get the bartender to serve me. I'll be getting carded until I die." She could shop in the children's section if she really put her mind to it.
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Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2016 1:17 pm
"We come here like once a month for dinner," said Dhan, but he was grinning anyway. "You don't have to sit at the bar. We still make some entrees after dinner service ends." We. He and Nasir, anyway. "Anything fun and interesting in the homework?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 12:37 am
Hana shook her head. "I already ate," she said, shrugging off his suggestion of food. She'd come by because she was bored and wanted to see her brother, not because she had a sudden craving for cheese fries. She considered the homework, treading carefully, not wanting to say anything that might hurt Dhan's fragile self-esteem. "Nnnnno," she said, leaning on the bar. "It's a western philosophy course. Buncha dead white guys arguing about ethics." She blew a raspberry at him. "What time are you off?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2016 1:31 am
"I think eleven, tonight," said Dhan, who knew the bar closed at midnight on weekdays and two on weekends, but after a certain point there just stopped being enough dishes or orders to justify his presence. He liked philosophy, and often thought wistfully about the sorts of courses he'd like to take in college--living vicariously through his sister was nice, but it'd be even nicer to finally be good enough to get in himself. Of course, it'd never happen, but Dhan coped. He got around. "You're almost done your basic requirements, aren't you?" Dhan smiled at her. "After this semester. I heard Dad talking to you about it."
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2016 8:20 am
Hana nodded, resting he head on her hands as she did so. Dramatically, she made a noise as though she was dying: "Ugghghghghghghghghghgh." Hana did not want to even think about finishing her basic degree requirements. "So what," she said, mostly into her hands. Their father wanted more for her. It drove him nuts that she was still in Ashdown.
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 10:26 pm
Dhan patted her sympathetically on the back. "I know," he said, because he did. He didn't want Hana to leave, either, but she wasn't best served here, and... he kind of dreaded being left behind but that was no excuse. "I don't want you to get all old and filled with regret or anything. That's all."
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 10:37 pm
Hana looked at Dhan through her fingers. "You sound like dad," she said. But, like, he had a point. She knew he had a point. That was the worst part of all this. "I'm too young to make informed decisions about my future," she said. "I'm too young to decide what to have for lunch without asking Snapchat for a second opinion."
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 10:38 pm
"Not making a choice is still making a choice," said Dhan. "I'm not trying to push you, I just... don't want you to hate me. You know?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 11:36 pm
"I would never hate you," said Hana, giving him a look that suggested she thought he was being incredibly silly. They'd come screaming into this world together, a pair of misbegotten b*****d babies, adopted into a loving family but always aware of where they'd come from. Dhan was the only person Hana felt like actually understood where she came from. She'd never give him up.
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 11:39 pm
"I know," said Dhan. It was incredibly silly, after all. He leaned against his small sister, cheek against the top of her head. "s**t happens, though," he said. "I don't want to be the s**t that happens."
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 11:43 pm
Hana obliged him for a moment, and then shrugged herself out from under him. "Don't get all mushy on me," she said, hopping off her bar stool. "You smell like Ajax."
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2016 11:44 pm
"Some of us work for a living," he teased, sliding off his bar stool. "Going home?"
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Posted: Sun May 01, 2016 12:37 am
Hana nodded, feeling suddenly self-conscious. Maybe she should get a job like Dhan had, and then she'd be less of a waste of oxygen. "Yeah," she said. "I'll leave the light on for you. There's a new Maury on the DVR."
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