BEST FRIENDS
"Oh, Xiao! I'm so in love! I dare you to name one guy who can beat Oguri Shun in looks and acting!" Miharu Hirano squealed as she waved a magazine containing a picture of her favorite Japanese actor in her best friend's face.
Xiaoyu laughed and gently pushed her friend's hand away while playfully saying, "Matsuda Shota! Have you seen him in Hana Yori Dango? He looked way cuter than Oguri Shun and although he didn't play a big role in the drama, he did a much better job!"
Miharu immediately looked offended and stuck her tongue out at the Chinese girl sitting across from her on the floor. "Oh, now that is just mean! Oguri Shun did a great job in the drama! How can you even compare them? Matsuda Shota is nowhere near Oguri Shun!"
Xiaoyu shrugged. "You dared me to. If you didn't want to hear what I thought, then say it next time!"
"Well, I didn't know you'd answer like that!" Miharu argued. "Besides, I didn't think you really paid much attention to other guys."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Xiaoyu asked, setting a bowl of corn chips between them on the floor.
Miharu shrugged and flipped a page in the magazine she was reading. "You know, Jin. I always thought you were so focused on him that you couldn't even see the other guys out there." She paused, and then said, "To be honest, you worry me sometimes."
Xiaoyu thought for a moment, and after a few seconds, asked, "How?"
Miharu picked up a corn chip from the bowl and popped it in her mouth before answering. "When he's here, you're fine. You're the same happy-go-lucky, smiling, cheerful girl I've always known. But when he leaves…you do a complete 180."
"What are you talking about? I'm still the same girl no matter what happens to Jin."
Xiaoyu stood up and sat on a stool in front of a mirror against the wall of her bedroom. She stared at her reflection before beginning to take apart her pigtails. Once the sleek, black strands fell over her shoulders, she picked up a brush resting on top of the bureau beside her and ran it through her hair.
Miharu looked up from her magazine and said, "Oh, come on! The moment you find out Jin's gone again, your whole face just darkens and you begin to close yourself off from the rest of the world. When we hang out, you barely get excited for anything, not even the amusement park! I mean, this is the first time you've talked to me so much since Jin left for the second time!"
Xiaoyu stopped brushing her hair and sighed. "I've just been…tired, okay? It has nothing to do with Jin," she said. "I promise."
Miharu gave her friend a skeptical look but decided not to press on the matter. She looked down at her magazine and continued to read an article about an upcoming television drama as Xiaoyu took a seat beside her and looked into the magazine as well.
"Can we please not talk about him?" she asked softly.
Miharu glanced at her friend and nodded. If Xiaoyu didn't want to talk about him, then they wouldn't. Miharu knew he was a difficult subject for her. Xiaoyu and Jin were close friends, although Miharu always suspected there was something more between them than friendship. She wasn't used to seeing a boy and girl form a close friendship with each other; she had a strong belief that boys and girls could never remain as just friends. One of them had to develop feelings for the other eventually.
"What about you?" Xiaoyu asked suddenly. "How's Toji?"
Toji was the boy Miharu had been crushing on since the first week of school. Miharu blushed at the mere mention of his name, but then sighed. "I found out he got a girlfriend just two days ago. He's apparently been crushing on this girl named Yoko for the past three months," Miharu said sadly.
"Oh, Mi! Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"
"You were too busy doing whatever it is that you usually do when you lock yourself up in your room! Plus, you were already going through enough as it is. I didn't want to burden you with my pathetic boy problems," Miharu replied.
A wave of guilt instantly washed over Xiaoyu. She bit her lip and wondered if she really did change whenever Jin left as her best friend said so. She didn't think it was noticeable, and she certainly didn't think she shut herself out from the world. Sure, there were days when Xiaoyu just didn't feel like leaving her bedroom, but it was on very rare occasions…or at least, that's what she thought.
Noticing the troubled look on her best friend's face, Miharu immediately put on a smile and said, "But hey! I'm totally over it; I mean, Toji was never going to look at me the way I looked at him, you know? It's fine. Besides, I hear that Yoko girl is really pretty so I'm happy for him!"
Xiaoyu looked over at her friend and tried to smile. She still couldn't shake off the guilt. She hadn't realized that while she was hurting from Jin's departure, she was also hurting her friendship with Miharu.
"I'm sorry, Miharu," Xiaoyu said. "I didn't realize that I was being so selfish."
Miharu laughed and gave her friend a push. "Don't worry about it; I understand. You miss him, don't you?"
Xiaoyu looked away. "He's my friend."
"So am I, and? That doesn't exactly answer my question, young lady!"
Xiaoyu rolled her eyes and smacked her friend over the head while grabbing a handful of corn chips and stuffing it in Miharu's mouth.
"Stop being so nosy!"
The two girls laughed and began throwing corn chips at one another. It was the first time Xiaoyu had so much fun in a long time.
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Hm, there's something about this one-shot that I just don't like...I feel a bit uneasy about posting this up, but I can't seem to figure out what it is about it that I don't like. It's certainly not my favorite story of all the ones I've written so far, and it's totally understandable if you don't like it either, but I wanted to release something. Maybe this was too long? I don't know. I wanted to write some type of friendship story, and I guess this was the best I could come up with. Toji is a fictional character (if you didn't know that already). Oh, and if you've read my other one-shots, you may have noticed something that was mentioned in this one as well as the other one, haha. I'm a big drama-addict, yes. Well, I'm just in a crappy-writing mood right now, I guess. Please point out anything you think I may need to improve on, and thanks for reading this!