Who Would've Thought?

I lean back against the couch cushions, shutting off my phone with a heavy sigh. As entertaining as social media is, even TikTok gets boring after an hour of scrolling.

My eyes trail around the room, purposefully skipping over the slight figure slouched in the armchair across the room. I've been stranded at Louise's house for nearly two hours after she abandoned me to hang out with her boyfriend. Seeing as she was my ride back home, I can't exactly leave whenever my heart desires. What's worse, I can't ask either of my parents for a ride since I lied to them about where I was going - they don't like me hanging around Louise, and I'm starting to see why.

"I won't be gone long, Anna," Louise had told me. "Just give me half an hour."

Right, half an hour, I think irritably. I cross my arms over my stomach, chancing a glance at the girl in the armchair. Ri is 15 years old and, according to Louise, she's more annoying than a housefly. But from where I'm sitting, she looks more intimidating than annoying, with her symmetrical face resting in a glare, her dark eyes half-hidden behind silky black curtain bangs.

She looks a lot like Louise - they both inherited their mother's traits. And from the looks of it, they must act the same too; all high and mighty, going around like their opinions are the only ones that matter.

I don't realize I'm staring until Ri's eyes dart away from her phone and rest on me. She cocks an eyebrow as if to say, "What do you want?"

I avert my gaze, but not before I catch sight of the pin on her mini backpack.

My eyes widen, and before the thought fully processes, I find myself blurting, "You've seen Attack on Titan?"

Instantly, I retract against the couch. Stupid, I scold myself internally, she could have just found the character pin and thought it looked cool. I can already sense her judging me for opening my dumb mouth.

"Yeah," Ri responds, but the way she says it makes it sound like a question. "So what?"

"Nothing." I tuck a brown strand of hair behind my ear nervously. "It's just one of my favorite shows." Oh my God, can you please stop talking?

I avoid eye contact with her, pressing myself lower into the cushions as if I could disappear into the leather. As if sitting alone in someone else's home wasn't awkward enough, I've just gone and made it worse.

"Same here."

Since I hadn't expected Ri to engage in conversation, her response surprises me. My gaze flashes back up to her, and my shock deepens when I notice she's put her phone down, her eyes trained on me.

"Have you seen the new episode yet?" she asks, and it takes me a moment before I'm able to reply.

"Yeah, I watched it as soon as it came out."

A slow grin spreads across Ri's face, and she shifts in the armchair to lean forward on her knees, her eyes suddenly dancing with excitement. "Me too. What did you think?"

I can't help but smile along with her. Her expression earlier was so scary that her smile is a startling contrast, but it's not unpleasant in the slightest. "It was so good. It didn't seem like it was an hour long at all."

Ri giggles. "I know, right!" She hesitates for a moment before revealing her favorite scenes, and I can't help but marvel at how wrong my first impression of her was. I find myself matching her excited energy, and before I know it, we've switched to talking about other shows we've seen. It takes me longer than it should have to realize she's nothing like Louise at all.

"I didn't expect you to like anime," I tell her without thinking, and she frowns, asking, "Why's that?"

"Well, Louise thinks it's weird. She always insults me for watching it."

Ri rolls her eyes. "Of course she does. After all, her opinion is the only one that matters, right?" She laughs sardonically, and my eyes widen.

"That's literally exactly what I was thinking, like, twenty minutes ago!"

Ri sighs, leaning back into the armchair and crossing her arms. "Honestly, I don't see why it's such a big deal to her. If you like something, she should respect that. Especially if it makes you happy." She eyes me, clearly referring to how enthusiastic our conversation had been only moments ago. "Besides, it's not like she has to watch it, too."

I smile, agreeing fervently. "Exactly."

We fall into silence, but it's not uncomfortable. How strange... I think to myself. I feel so much more at ease with Ri than I ever felt around her older sister. I briefly wonder if it's weird to get along better with someone three years younger than me.

"Hey..." Ri starts, looking slightly sheepish as she brushes her bangs out of her face. "Do you wanna go chill in my room? We can watch something, if you want."

I can tell she's uncertain, so I grin. "I'd like that."

By the time Louise barges into Ri's room, we're an hour into Weathering With You, the both of us aching with laughter over a comment Ri made.

Louise takes one glance at the screen and scrunches her nose. "Really? You're watching this crap?"

My smile vanishes like a light going out, but Ri doesn't hesitate in retorting.

"No one's making you watch."

Louise rolls her eyes. "Whatever, freak. Anna, you don't have to hang out with her. Just because she doesn't have any friends doesn't mean you have to pity her."

I don't know why, but something in me snaps, and I can't understand why I ever hung out with Louise in the first place. I can barely keep my jaw from clenching.

Louise doesn't seem to notice my change of expression. "C'mon. I wanna go to Dutch before I drop you off."

I scrunch my nose the same way Louise had only moments ago. "No, thanks. I'm good."

Louise frowns. "You're 'good'?"

"Yeah, I'm actually gonna stay the night here."

"Well, I have plans tomorrow-"

I shake my head to cut Louise off. "With Ri."

Louise stares at me incredulously. "You're joking, right? Why?" she demands as if she couldn't figure out why anyone would want to be around her little sister.

I shrug. "I'm having more fun with her than I ever did with you."

I expect Louise to blow up, to rage at me about how I'm such a crappy friend and how I should "pull my head out of the sand and pay attention to the real world instead of 2D figures on a screen" (Louise's words, not mine).

But she just scoffs, muttering, "Fine. You freaks can do whatever you want." And she pivots out of Ri's room, slamming the door behind her.

Ri and I stare at the door in her wake, Ri seeming more pissed off than surprised.

"Sorry she's just a-" Ri curses carelessly, which causes me to believe this isn't the first time she's used such a word to describe her sister. "I didn't mean to screw up your friendship." She seems genuinely upset, like she blames Louise's reaction on herself.

"It's fine," I reassure Ri with a shrug, settling into her Pikachu plushie and returning my gaze to the screen. "I prefer this over Dutch, anyway." I throw a grin her way, and I can practically see Ri's glee overflowing as she barely contains a giggle.

We rewind the movie to rewatch what we missed, and I can't help but feel immensely grateful that Louise prioritized her boyfriend over me.

And I have a feeling I'm not the only one glad for it.