{"id":23,"date":"2022-05-12T13:57:53","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T17:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/?p=23"},"modified":"2022-05-20T15:24:45","modified_gmt":"2022-05-20T19:24:45","slug":"fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/fight\/","title":{"rendered":"Fight"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

by Kiran Das-Goel ’25<\/em><\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
\n

My phone goes off again and her eyes flicker away from my face.<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry,\u201d I mutter as I glance quickly at the screen. Asha\u2019s icon is still typing as I put her on Do Not Disturb. \u201cYou were saying?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could try taking your phone off the table,\u201d Evi says as she crosses her arms. She\u2019s pretty when she\u2019s angry, her eyes get all narrow and glinty while her clenching jaw makes her naturally soft features harsh. It makes her look older<\/i>, I think, as I place my phone exactly where it was.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what did you want to talk about?\u201d I lean forward, trying to keep my smile from drifting into a smirk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you know.\u201d The restaurant is mostly empty, but they still made us sit in the corner, basically behind the door.\u00a0Inside Out<\/i>\u00a0is playing on the most inconveniently placed TV I\u2019ve ever seen, above Evi\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I?\u201d<\/p>\n

Evi sighs. \u201cLook, I don\u2019t want to make this a thing, okay?\u201d Her fingers thread through her hair, winding and unwinding the same curl. \u201cI barely see you anymore, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s asking too much for you to be, like\u2026 responsive.\u201d<\/p>\n

I try to soften my expression. \u201cI\u2019m not trying to be rude,\u201d I say, reaching for her hand. I pull her fingers away from her hair, running my thumb over her knuckle. \u201cBut I honestly don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

I feel her hand clench into a fist. \u201cGod–Don\u2019t you ever listen to me?\u201d She snaps so suddenly I almost pull away. \u201cYou never come up here, you never reply, you never initiate, you-\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you serious<\/i>? You\u2019re mad that I have-\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not mad! I\u2019m just- I\u2019m frustrated, okay? I-\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou do realize how busy I am, right? Sorry that your need for constant attention isn\u2019t really my top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cConstant atten- What is\u00a0wrong<\/i>\u00a0with you? I\u2019m literally just asking you to be a slightly less shitty girlfriend and you can\u2019t even-\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not my fault you live in goddamn Sacramento. That\u2019s not exactly close, you know. You could come to me if you care so much but no, I\u2019m always the one who has to-\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not the point!\u201d Evi\u2019s voice is so loud the restaurant\u2019s sole waiter removes an Airpod and glances at us quizzically. \u201cI know it\u2019s far, okay? I get that you can\u2019t see me as much as I\u2019d like, I get\u00a0<\/i>that. But you don\u2019t even reply to my texts. Sometimes I think if I stopped pushing, I\u2019d never see you again.\u201d<\/p>\n

My face burns and I struggle to keep my tone level. \u201cYou know that\u2019s not true.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I?\u201d Evi snips back. Her body is wound tight like a snake but I\u2019ve never been a mouse so I let her anger sizzle in her teeth, trapping her in my silence.<\/p>\n

After a minute of nothing, Evi speaks again, softer now. \u201cSaira?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, um-\u201d She fidgets, glancing at our hands. \u201cOkay. I\u2019m just going to say it-\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan we leave?\u201d<\/p>\n

Evi blinks, her mouth still open. \u201cUh- What? We didn\u2019t even order. And there\u2019s something I need to discuss with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay well let\u2019s\u00a0discuss\u00a0<\/i>outside.\u201d I stand abruptly, letting her hand fall.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Kiran Das-Goel ’25 My phone goes off again and her eyes flicker away from my face. \u201cSorry,\u201d I mutter as I glance quickly at the screen. Asha\u2019s icon is still typing as I put her on Do Not Disturb. \u201cYou were saying?\u201d \u201cYou could try taking your phone off the table,\u201d Evi says as…Read more Fight<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3782,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction-very-short-stories"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3782"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":541,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions\/541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/writers-on-writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}