Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of it's characters and encourage support of the official release.
Sonic Dawn
New Year
I've never been one to dance, but right now I feel like it's the only thing I can do to express myself. After what seems like the longest year of my life, things finally seem to be at peace again. Things are in order in school, with my friends, with my family, and with my romantic life even. Actually, things are better than before. It all started New Years Day…
"Happy New Year!" shouted seemingly everybody in the room. I was in the basement of my friend Riku's house, sitting on the couch, watching the T.V. along with everyone else and counting down. It was a bit anticlimactic, as it was every year, but it was still fun to be with friends and make bad jokes about being the last time we do this or that until the next year. I stood up and feigned exaggerated excitement as everyone else did.
"Roxas! Let me give you your first hug of the New Year!" Naminé said as she immediately grasped me. I hugged back and let go, feeling a little bit short handed but shrugged it off. We had a quick meeting of eyes before being pulled aside by our other friends. Kairi, Riku, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Xion, Axel, Demyx, and my cousin Sora all gave me hearty pats and hugs after Naminé, basically all repeating that how they were our first hugs of the year.
After everyone sat down again and the joy of the occasion subsided somewhat, Sora, my cousin, came up with an excellent suggestion:
"Hey, lets play our first video game of the year. Rock Band anyone?" The girls all rolled their eyes with grins, convinced we were too obsessed with the game, but we didn't care. They could have turns too of course. Riku plugged in a few things and then handed Demyx a guitar controller, kept one for himself to use for bass, handed me the microphone, and then Sora positioned himself behind the drum kit. We all were mirroring our real instruments from our band, Sonic Dawn, for which I sang and played guitar. We lived in Twilight Town, my hometown, so the name went well for a band from there.
Riku shuffled through the songs and picked out a Smashing Pumpkins song. A little melancholic for the day, but a good band anyway, so we played along. I made faces as I imitated the singer as best I could and occasionally would point to one of the girls, usually Kairi, as I sang lines that included the word "you". I was actually kind of hoping she would take my rock star moves as hints. I had a subtle crush on her and was trying to give subtle hints.
We finished the song and took a bow as our sitting friends applauded our efforts. Sora and I stepped down from our glory and were replaced by Pence, who was Naminé's boyfriend, and Hayner, respectively. We sat down close to Kairi and Naminé, who were best friends forever, on one of the basement's old and beat up couches. I grabbed a water bottle before sitting, the best choice for a vocalist of course.
"I think we did pretty good," Sora said with a smug smile.
" Oh yeah, totally," Kairi said, playfully rolling her eyes.
"Hey, we weren't far off from a high score." I added, sipping some water.
"You guys did well, you should be proud." Naminé said with a grin.
"Thank you," Sora said as he turned his attention back to the current incarnation of the band. "They clearly don't have the same chemistry without us."
"Of course not," I added, shaking my head to further express my point.
"You guys are such dorks," Kairi said smiling. We all had a laugh and watched the others play. Kairi and Naminé insisted they didn't feel like playing much, choosing to instead stay with us. I was glad because it gave me a chance to be with Kairi for a bit longer. We all continued playing though for a little over an hour. About this time, Sora finally checked his phone to see the time.
"Hey Roxas, we better get going, we don't want to miss our parents," Sora said as the others were finishing up another song. The smile that had been on my face for most of the night faded a bit and I nodded in understanding.
"You guys are leaving?" asked Axel.
"Come on, we were about to watch a movie too I think," said Olette, holding up a pair of DVD cases.
"Yeah, either 'Yes Man' or 'Toy Story'", Hayner added. The second option may have seemed weird, but we all loved Disney a lot.
"It's tempting, but we promised our family we'd be home not too late," I said. Riku shut off the game and took a seat next to Xion, who smiled a bit to herself as he did. He sighed.
"Well if you have to go…" he began shrugging. Sora hit his best friend's shoulder as we began giving our goodbyes to everyone in the room.
"Hey, can I get a ride too?" Kairi asked. "I'm feeling tired," she explained. "Do you need one sis?"
"No, I'll get one with Axel, I already asked," explained Xion. The two were twins and looked alike, except for the hair. Axel and Demyx were cousins also, but only had so many similar features, unlike Sora and I.
"Can I get a ride too?" piped in Naminé. They needed a ride from someone as the three were dropped off together, so we obliged.
"Ah you guys stink," joked Demyx. The two girls gave quick hugs as we headed upstairs and out the front door. It was dark and very chilly, with the snow crunching under our feet as we walked. We all shivered as Sora got in the driver's seat, Kairi sat directly behind him, and I got shotgun, with Naminé directly behind me. Sora turned on the car and began the process of letting the car warm up. A pop-punk band started playing loudly and he turned it down so we could hear ourselves. After a few minutes, we finally took off.
"Today was fun," Kairi said with a smile.
"Yeah it was," Sora absentmindedly added. I was staring out the window at the streetlight lit streets, but Kairi speaking up brought me back into the car.
"We totally kicked ass at Rock Band," I said in a blasé tone.
"Uh, you boys…" Kairi said with a smile. We all chucked as Sora pulled into her driveway. The lights were off in her nice two story red house. "Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow hopefully," she said as she hugged Sora and I from behind and wrapped her arms around our seats. "Call me later," she added to Naminé. She nodded, then two hugged and she finally got out and walked to her door and went inside.
"Now to Naminé's…" Sora said, looking through the back window as he reversed out. Once we were back on the street, Naminé scooted to the middle of the back seats.
"Thanks for driving me home," Naminé said in a grateful tone.
"No problem," Sora responded.
"Yeah, but Pence looked a little envious," I joked. Naminé giggled a bit.
"Well he's probably having fun back at Riku's place. Toy Story was his favorite movie as a kid I think."
"Yeah it was," I confirmed. He and I had been friends for years, along with Hayner, Olette, and Axel. "I remember he even had a toy of Buzz Lightyear."
"Didn't Seifer try stealing it once?" Sora asked, remembering the toy.
"Yeah, even back then he was a dick. Didn't stop me from getting it back though," I said, remembering the grade school bash. "Of course nowadays he wouldn't need me to do that again," I quickly added, trying to not make him look bad in front of his girlfriend. I knew to say that specifically because Naminé was one of my best friends. I knew her pretty well.
We finally reached her house. It was really similar to Kairi's house except a creamy white. Her lights were also mostly off. "I'll see you guys later," she said as she imitated Kairi and gave us backseat hugs, first Sora and then myself. She stepped out of the car and waved as she started the trek down her driveway. Sora immediately pulled out of the driveway and started driving. Just on a whim, I decided to look back at Naminés house. I could swear I saw her still on her driveway, looking our way.
"What time's our next gig again?" Sora asked, stopping my train of thought.
"Uhm…" I began. "Oh, well the show starts at five, but the managers said to expect to go on around six." Sonic Dawn was playing a show with two other local bands at a church. It wasn't anything big or serious, just fun. It was only a few days away; I really had to keep practicing.
"Cool, cool…" Sora said as we reached his house. None of us really lived far from each other. We noticed that his lights were still on. We parked on the driveway and then stepped in. "Hey, we're back!" Sora called down the hall. At the end of the hall was the kitchen and our parents popped their heads out. Sora's mom, a very pretty woman with long straight brown hair and blue eyes, and his dad, who looked like an older version of Sora except with brown eyes, were visible and waved us over. Also in the kitchen was my mother, who was also very pretty, blonde, and had blue eyes like myself. She was sitting with Sora's parents and was watching some New Year's party stuff on T.V. with them. They had guests but had since left.
"How was the party, boys?" asked Sora's dad.
"It was fun, we played video games," Sora responded, chuckling at the second part. "We were going to watch a movie but it was already late and wanted to catch you guys. Then we gave Kairi and Naminé rides home too." I instantly thought of the two girls, and zoned out as I thought about Naminé possibly having looked back at us as we left.
"That's nice boys," Sora's mom commented. "We were about to sleep ourselves."
"Did you want to stay here or go home Roxas?" my mom asked. I had been staying over about once a week for months now. It had actually become kind of a routine.
"I think I'll stay; I feel like just sleeping right now," I responded truthfully. I gave my mom a good hug as she got ready and left. The four of us still there headed upstairs and got ready for bed as usual. Instead of staying in the guest room, I went with Sora to his room.
Sora's room was pretty basic, with white walls and a few poorly organized things laying around, like cases for discs and a practicing pad for drums. On the ceiling, he had a handful of star shaped ornaments hanging. He was always interested in traveling through space.
"Can't sleep alone?" he joked. I threw him a look and he threw a pillow in retaliation, which I kept for myself as I unrolled a sleeping bag. I lay down as Sora did the same under his covers after shutting off the lights.
"Hey Sora, what do you think of Kairi?" I asked after a few minutes.
"She's really cool," he mumbled after a pause. I smiled at the thought of her. However, she always made me think of someone else too.
"What about Naminé?" I asked. There was no response. "Sora?" I asked again. He was asleep for sure. I fell asleep that night as I remembered what could've been, had it not been for one thing.
So how did you guys like it? All reviews are welcome.
