Lie to Me Again | ONC 2024

4 - Cold War

Yuki went into her Political Science class expecting a cold war, but was instead confronted with Rhett's warm smile. He was the only one present in the classroom besides the teacher, Mr. Manalo, who'd rolled his chair into the sun and now snored through the silence.

At a loss, she sat down at her desk several seats away from Rhett and opened her bento box. After spending most of the lunch hour trying to track Ethan down, she didn't wait to dig into the onigiri and fried chicken with pickled plums her grandmother had packed for her. 

"I'd almost forgotten how good your food always smells." 

At a cracking sound, Yuki glared at Rhett who'd moved to the desk beside hers and now sat munching on some thin strawberry cream-covered biscuit sticks. Her favorite flavor. 

Can't a girl have her lunch in peace?

While she glared at him, he shook the packet of cookie sticks at her. "They're not poisoned, Snowflake." 

She'd always said that to him, after he'd gotten a terrible stomachache from some spoiled milk she'd given him. Yuki still didn't understand why he'd drunk it without saying anything. 

The cookie called her; she couldn't resist. "Arigathanks." Yuki cautiously laughed as he cringed at her language mashing. "Baguette," she couldn't help but add. For this moment, this golden hour, time had reversed itself and they were friends again. The cold war had ended. The ice between them had thawed.

"That's such a childish nickname." Rhett grimaced, putting another packet of his snack on Yuki's table. To keep her from eating all of his, he would argue. "Baguette doesn't sound like Rhett."

"No, but it rhymes." Yuki giggled, tearing into the sweets bag. "Snowflake is such a silly nickname too. Like really? So basic." She stuck a biscuit between her lips, letting the cream dissolve in her mouth.

"Your name literally means snow." Rhett shook his head. "Don't you remember why I gave you that nickname?"

Yuki remembered.

"I'm going to call you Baguette," she said.

"Because it just barely sounds like Rhett?"

Yuki grinned and grabbed his hand to steal a bite of his matcha ice cream. "No, because I like bread. Duh."

"Stop eating mine, you little goblin! You've got your own." But Rhett didn't pull his hand away.

Yuki offered him her popsicle and after staring her down, he licked the whole length of it while she sighed in disgust.

"Yours will be Snowflake. That's what Yuki means, right?"

"Something like that. Is it because they melt, because I'm literally dying in this heat," Yuki complained, snatching the cap from his head to fan herself with.

Rhett grinned. "No, it's because they're pretty—

"Like you."

Yuki sucked in a breath, putting the cookie packet down. "I don't remember." Her eyelid twitched. 

But no matter how cold she grew, how pitch black like the darkest midnight, in Rhett's sunshine presence she became a transparent raindrop.

"Lie," he breathed, his voice like an exhale. It sounded like relief, as if he realized that he still knew her even after the two years they'd grown apart. She hadn't changed beyond his recognition yet. "Yuki, what am I to you?"

"Ask me no questions. I'll tell you no lies," Yuki replied. Scrambling for time, that's all she was doing. Yesterday Rhett had insulted her, wanted nothing to do with her, but today, something had shifted. Somehow their old, easygoing friendship had revived and she didn't understand how. Only one thing had changed—