Tea Party
“Two cubes of sugar with yours, Jasmin?” asked Gina. “You know it,” replied Jasmin while Phoebe added some honey to her own cup of tea. The three had met once again for their Saturday afternoon tea party. “Cheers!” They raised their cups. “Here's to never forgetting our roots.” “To our friendship, here and now.” “To a future of fame and justice!” “Woo,” they all affirmed, lowered their cups again and took some tentative sips. 'Peppermint' for Gina, 'Autumn Delight' for Jasmin, and 'Angel's Touch' for Phoebe. “Oh, that's really good,” remarked Jasmin after a big sip. “You always say that.” Gina rolled her eyes. “Well, it's true. 'Autumn Delight' is the best tea flavour anyone has ever come up with. You can really taste the coming winter.” 'What's that even supposed to mean?' thought Phoebe. 'She always says that. Does it taste like brown leaves?' Jasmin and Gina turned towards her. They stared like they'd just seen a ghost. “What?” asked Phoebe nervously, “Have I got something on my face?” Gina blurted out, “Did you just think something out loud?” “Huh?” Phoebe took a moment to process the question, but couldn't come up with anything better to add than “What?” “You wondered whether my tea tastes like brown leaves, but, like, out loud,” Jasmin offered. “You're messing with me, right?” Phoebe laughed nervously. 'They can't really hear my thoughts. That's just silly.' “It might be silly, but we can definitely hear them,” replied Gina. “What! No. Okay, okay, wait. I'm gonna think of a number and you tell me what it is.” Phoebe closed her eyes and thought of the number six. A couple of seconds went by. “Well?” asked Phoebe. “You weren't doing it right. You got to think it out loud again,” protested Gina. 'So they can't actually hear my thoughts,' Phoebe thought, relieved. “So they can't actually hear my thoughts,” repeated Jasmin and Gina as one. Phoebe jumped up in shock, knocking over her chair. 'Am I going mad? What the f*ck is happening?' “Maybe you are. But if Gee and I can here it both then maybe it's us that are going mad?” offered Jasmin. Gina added, “And are you censoring yourself in your own thoughts? You are allowed to think the word 'fuck', Phoebe.” “Can you hear my thoughts?” asked Jasmin excitedly. The other two girls listened, but couldn't hear anything. “Nope. Maybe if you drink some of her tea? 'Angel's Touch' does sound ominous, maybe it's that,” suggested Gina. Jasmin quickly grabbed Phoebe's cup and downed the rest of the tea. She looked at her friends expectantly. “I can't hear anything,” said Phoebe and added in her mind, 'Maybe Gina can hear it and I can't, because I can already think out loud.' “Nope, I can't hear anything either,” admitted Gina. 'This is so spooky,' thought Phoebe, 'why is it me?' “Oh, I've got an idea!” Jasmin was suddenly excited, “what if we're in a story and Gina is the main character. And we've got a narrator that's limited to Gina's POV!” “Why would I be a main character?” asked Phoebe. 'On the other hand, I've always felt like I'm destined for greater things.' “Okay, girl, don't get too in your head now,” replied Jasmin. 'Well, I didn't want to say it,' thought Gina. Phoebe made a high pitched noise of surprise. Jasmin's expression switched to annoyed as she thought 'Ugh, am I really the only one that can't think out loud?'