"L-chan! L-chan!"
You roll your eyes expressively, throwing Nagisa a quick glare before continuing on your way.
"I told you I didn't mean to hurt your feelings! Come on, L-chan!" He whines, probably making an attempt at his adorable puppy dog eyes. That's always what he did to try to escape the consequences of his words.
I refused to look back. It would be hard to stand my ground if I did.
"Nagisa, you can't keep saying things like that! L-chan will quit!" Makoto chides.
Nagisa whimpered in response. "I didn't mean it! I'm sorry!"
You grunt in response and turn around to face him. "You're so childish! Why say hurtful things if you know you're going to have to apologize and make it up to that person? Why waste you're breath saying stuff like that if you're not certain whether it would offend someone or not?!" You snap at him, rubbing your temples.
Nagisa gulps, nodding. "Okay, L. I sincerely apologize. I won't do it again; I promise."
You stare at him blankly, not believing him. This was an everyday thing, and you weren't even sure why you were bothered anymore.
"Please don't quit..." He mumbles quietly, giving you the puppy eyes.
Of course...you had no intentions of quitting. You enjoyed being the team's water girl. Besides, they needed you, and you never let personal and school life conflict with each other. "I'm not quitting, Nagisa. Don't worry."
Nagisa lets out a sigh of relief. "Good. I would never want to scare you away, L-chan," he snickers.
It got quiet.
"...So are you coming to my house for the club meeting?" Haru asks in his usual tone.
You think about it and shook your head. "No. I have something to do."
"Okay, see you tomorrow, L-san," Rei says, waving good bye as you walked off.
You walked to the locker room and grabbed your things, including the swimsuit that you were originally going to wear until hearing Nagisa's comment. Huffing once more, you leave.
The walk home was serene. You took your time, enjoying the day and letting your mind linger on the little things. Soft wind tousled your hair as you strolled down the street. You felt somewhat bad because, in all honesty, you had nothing to do. Every other day you did, but today, nothing. Maybe that was the reason you lied. It was going to be nice to get home to just relax. And more importantly, draw.
You continued to leisurely stroll until you reached your home. Walking in, you greet your father and go straight to your room.
Now was the time to forget about Nagisa's petty, mildly offensive comment and get absorbed in your art. You closed your door behind you and sat down at your desk, your sketchbook sitting beckoningly in the center of it. A rare smile plotted itself on your face and you opened it. You began drawing, your inspirations nearly controlling your pencil. You made no glances at the clock, no moves to stop drawing until you were finished. But, of course, something just had to disrupt your personal haven. Your phone was beeping, alerting you that someone was trying to reach you. You groan, pressing the accept button and putting it to your ear.
"Hello? L?"
You sigh, staying quiet for a second before mumbling a "yes?"
"Hey L-chan!" Nagisa greeted cheerily.
"Hi. What do you need?" You ask.
He takes a breath. "I was just trying to make sure you are okay," he says.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"
"I know how people like you are," he says, with all the confidence in the world.
You frown, "What the hell is that supposed to mean? People like me?"
He pauses, as if carefully fabricating his next sentence. "You're...you're suicidal, right?"
You gasp, completely taken aback by his ignorant comment. Then you begin to laugh. "Hahahahaha...you're kidding right?"
There was silence on Nagisa's end of the line. You finally heard a small "no?"
Your laughter stops. You couldn't believe he had just said that. Taking a deep breath, you try to calm yourself. "You insolent jerk! You don't just go throwing the word suicidal around lightly like it's some kind of joking matter!" Guess it didn't work.
"L, I-I didn't mean to—"
"What makes you think that anyway? Do I look suicidal to you?!" You seethe. You huff, debating on whether or not to hang up. You hear nothing. He was probably speechless. You roll your eyes and hang up, fuming. You look at the masterpiece-in-progress you were previously working on and growl, slamming your pencil down. There was no way you could finish in this mood. You hop in your bed and bury your head in your pillow, deciding to go to sleep. You did not even bother to change, eat dinner or even brush your teeth.
You woke to the bright light of the sun shining straight upon your face. Sitting up, you rub your eyes and look at the clock. 7:30. Great, you had about 20 minutes to get to school before it started. Covers flying forward, you jumped out of bed and stretched. Time to go deal with Nagisa again. Except this time it was your turn.
You threw some clothes on and got ready for school, making your way out the door.
When you arrived at school, you did what you normally did—squeeze in a few sketches before the bell rang. As expected, Nagisa interrupted your time, walking up with a feistier than usual pep in his step. "L! Good morning!" He says cheerily.
You glare, quickly closing your sketchbook and sighing. "What?"
"I said good morning! How did you sleep last night?"
You give him a look. "Why are you being so weird?"
Nagisa gives you a cheesy smile. "I'm just curious! You look happier today!"
"Happier? What the hell are you smoking? I'm in the same mood as I've been in all week."
"You've been this happy all week? I couldn't tell!" He says.
What was he up to? He was acting very strange; being all syrupy sweet and...well, fake. In all honesty, it was freaking you out and you were not falling for it. Besides, it was time to initiate your plan. "I'd be a lot happier if you'd leave me alone."
Nagisa's smile never faltered though. "What were you drawing?"
"Why are you acting so interested? All you usually do is make judgements. You barely know me."
"L, I'm sorry! I don't mean to come off like that. I just call it like I see it! I'm not trying to hurt your feelings," he says honestly.
You're glare never weakens. "Call it like you see it? So, brutally honest?"
Nagisa gulps and nods, not sure where you were going with this.
"We'll let me be brutally honest with you. I don't appreciate being judged only by what you SEE. Just because I act a certain way or look a certain way, does not mean that's who I am. So, before you make assumptions, you need to dig a little deeper." You grab your things and walk away, the bell on the brink of ringing.
"Wait, L, I—" his words were interrupted by the school bell.
You sigh and continue walking to class. You'd worry about him later. In the meantime you'd curse at yourself for offering him an opportunity to get to know you. That's something you never did.
As the day went on, you were as bored as ever. Class always did that. You just wanted to draw. You didn't care about the quadratic line of best fit, nor did you care about the location of Aristotle's Lantern on a sea urchin. Unless you were drawing it of course.
"L."
You turned towards the voice. It was Haru. "What?"
He looks around the room once before handing you an intricately folded piece of paper. You take it questioningly. "What's this?"
Haru turned in his desk. He, apparently, wasn't going to say anything.
You stared at it. It was folded into a little origami penguin. You carefully open it, cautious not to rip or tear it. After smoothing it out, you could read it. 'Let's start over. I'm Nagisa. And you are?' You smile. This sure did catch you by surprise. You had no idea he would actually...try. You wrote down a reply to him and handed it back to Haru.
By the end of the week, you two had continued passing notes. It felt like you and Nagisa had gotten a lot closer. You knew things about each other that...not really anyone else knew.
It was Friday afternoon. You were in class, trying hard to pay attention to your teacher's monotonous lecture about the use of commas and apostrophes. It was especially hard not to doze off. Too hard. You fell into a wonderful daze of unconsciousness before being struck out of it minutes later by your teacher.
"Lauren, your next."
You frantically search your mind for any hint that you may have unconsciously absorbed her question. But...there was nothing. "W-what?" You stuttered out.
Soft laughter filled the room and you got flushed with embarrassment. "Miss Lauren, if you are tired, go ahead and go to the restroom. Splash your face with water and drink something."
You stand up and nod gratefully. "Yes ma'am." You awkwardly step around all of the book bags, purses, and books in the aisles and walk out of the door. It felt nice to be up and about instead of shackled to the desk, forced to study Fitzgerald and Hemingway and the mechanics of a sentence and usage of commas. Not that there was anything wrong with any of it. You just weren't that into it. As you walked to the restrooms, you noticed Nagisa drinking from the water fountain.
He stood up straight and saw you. A grin spread across his face. "Hey, L-chan!"
"Hey." You kept your facial expressions neutral, not wanting him to know that you were actually kind of excited to see him. During the week, he realized what he was doing and stopped. And you finally realized he wasn't specifically targeting you; he did stuff like that to everyone. He didn't mean to; it was just how he was.
"What are you doing?" He asks.
"Um I fell asleep in class. Teacher told me to wake up. Sent me out. So I'm here, supposed to be splashing water on my face. Honestly, I don't even want to go back to class." You stepped in front of the water fountain next to him and pressed the side, watching the little stream of tap water spout out.
"Well, you don't have to. We can skip," he offers, a cheery smile.
The suggestion quickly flashed through your mind but you shot it down. "No. I'm not going to skip class."
He shrugs. "Alright. We can just hang out here or something. I don't want to go back to class either!" He says. He sits in a bench in front of the bathrooms and motions for you to sit down.
"This is still skipping..." You trail off, but oblige, taking a seat next to him. "What class do you have presently?" You ask curiously.
"I have Advanced Japanese History," he states. He leans back, putting his arms behind his neck, relaxing.
"Advanced? Wow, I never would have thought. No offense."
He chuckles. "It's like you said. Just cuz I look a certain way, doesn't mean that's who I am." He smiles and winks.
You laugh. "Touché. I apologize."
"So, when are you going to show me your drawings?"
"I uh don't actually have my sketchbook with me right now. It's back in class with the rest of my stuff," you admit.
He smiles. "How about this. I'll give you a piece of paper and you sketch me."
"And why would I agree to that?" You ask, smirking.
"Because, I'll stop bugging you. Please!" He says, pushing a piece of paper and pencil towards you, giving you the puppy dog eyes.
You sigh. "Fine! But it'll only be a rough sketch." You began, sketching basic shapes as he tried to stay as still as possible, obviously excited. After basic shapes, you began morphing your lines, making the shapes look more like his eyes and nose and mouth. You continued sketching, determined to prove your skill. After a few minutes, you finished, showing him your work.
He stared at the sketch, blushing, his eyes bright with awe. "Whoa..."
You smile proudly. "You like?"
"You're...amazing, L-chan." He looks into your eyes, searching them. You try to keep a straight face, not wanting a blush to reveal your feelings at the moment.
"Thanks." You break your gaze, looking down now.
"You interest me, L," Nagisa starts, using his index finger to push up your chin, "I want to know you more."
"W-we can keep passing those n-notes," you offer.
He smiles. "Orrrr..." He leans forward, pressing his lips to yours in a quick, chaste kiss. He pulls away, grinning.
You can't hold back your blush and you are speechless.
He takes your hands in his and kisses you again, this time letting passion show through. He nips at your bottom lip and in response, you open your lips slightly. He deepens the kiss with the repositioning of his hand to your upper back. You wrap your arms around his neck, one hand brushing against his soft, blonde hair. He slyly slides his tongue into your mouth and you blush, pulling away and gasping slightly, catching your breath. "N-Nagisa..."
He smiles. "Wow...you've sparked my interest even more," he says, holding your hand. "Would you...would you be my...my..."
"Girlfriend? Yeah, sure," you say, regaining your nonchalance, but smiling nonetheless.
He jumps up, cheering. "Yes! I can't wait to tell the guys!" He says
You smiled inwardly. Wow, you never would have thought you would end up...well...the girlfriend of the guy who used to annoy the hell out of you. You supposed you really couldn't make assumptions based on how things seem. You had to dig a little deeper. Sometimes, you might find treasure.