During the morning’s antics, Tina had missed the beginnings of a new conversation between Harper and Ava. They had elected to go visit the mall that morning and were waiting on Tina’s response; by the time she had gotten to her phone, her two friends were jokingly sending each other memes and notes wondering if Tina had disappeared, been abducted by aliens, or never existed at all. With a “haha very funny”, Tina inserted herself into the chat and said she was free to go anywhere that day.
“Do we have a ride or are we taking the bus?”
“My parents would say that walking builds character.”
“We probably shouldn’t be around my mom and sister this morning. Squirrel incident.”
“What?”
“Bus it is then.”
There was a bus stop not too far from her block that would take her in the right direction, and Tina began to make her way there. The plan was a simple one, the three would start their day off at the local mall and wing it from there. She already felt a bit guilty for being late to the group chat that morning; if she had gotten involved with the conversations they might have settled on a more concrete plan for the day before. Still, summer had only just begun, and there was still quite a bit left for them to enjoy. As she rounded the last corner, Tina saw that she was already the last to arrive; Ava and Harper were sitting on the bus bench waiting for her. Upon catching her waving at them, Ava stood up and immediately strutted over to her friend, in a not-that-serious angry pout.
Ava: So, where were you? Held hostage by squirrels?
Tina: That’s one way to put it, yeah.
Ava: I was being sarcastic. Were you actually held hostage by a squirrel?
Tina: Well… hostage is a bit strong.
Harper: There was tickling involved, wasn’t there?
Tina: Ok, it wasn’t my fault! How was I supposed to know that a squirrel would be running around my feet this morning!
Ava: I swear your family’s cursed. Now, tell us everything!
Tina: Wait… is that our bus?
Sure enough, the Blue Line bus was rounding the corner, and upon seeing the trio at the bench, began to pull over to make a stop.
Ava: Ohoho, you almost missed it! You were this close!
The three friends got on, flashed bus passes to the apathetic driver, and went to sit down towards the middle of the vehicle. The driver started to pull away shortly before they had even sat down, resulting in Tina accidentally falling into Ava, and Harper needing to pull her off; they laughed, and fortunately, there was barely anyone else on the bus to notice the antics. Unusual for a weekend day morning in the summer. At Ava’s insistence, Tina went through a brief recap of the squirrel attack that morning, though she elected to leave out the part about Maxie to save herself the extra embarrassment. When she finished, Ava rolled her eyes and laughed.
Harper: And to think we thought you were dead.
Ava: Next time Tina doesn’t respond, we just assume she’s getting tickled by a mouse or something and we call pest control.
Tina: Hardy har.
Ava: What happens if I do this?
Tina: Hey doOHONT!
Ava had snuck her fingers towards Tina’s side to give her a quick poke; even through the jacket she was wearing, the redhead felt a ticklish jolt rip up her side and she spasmed in her seat, squishing herself towards Harper. Unfortunately, for her, there wasn’t much refuge with her.
Harper: Hey, watch it, one per seat!
With another push to the ribs, Harper sent Tina sliding back the other direction, straight into another BOOP from Ava. The only way to go to escape was forward, but before Tina could stand up, Ava gripped her arm; the Asian girl was short, but tough, and she motioned for Harper to hold onto Tina’s other arm, trapping her between them.
Ava: I got it. We use up the rest of Tina’s tickles right now, and then she’s good for life.
Harper: I don’t think that’s how it works.
Tina: That is NOT how it WORAHAHA!!! EEEP! TRAITORSAHAHA! OH NO STAHAHAPPP!!!
One by one, Ava and Harper squeezed their hands across Tina’s sides, sending her torso bouncing back and forth between the two. With her arms trapped, the redhead could do nothing but squirm wildly and wave her feet; even with her jacket on and her friends not being the most experienced ticklers, it was becoming too much for her to take. Ava prodded with genuine deviousness, like a sinister devil plotting punishment, while Harper mainly went along for the fun. It would be a few minutes before they finally stopped.
And if the three weren’t so busy, they might have noticed something was off.
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