"I don't want to go." Rika folded her arms across her chest and clenched her jaws until her teeth hurt.
You have to go, because I said so. Hurry up, the party starts in three hours." Her mom stared back with an equally determined expression, only marred a bit by the amused smile.
"I don't want to. You can't force me, bribe me, blackmail me, beg me, force me, or anything else or that's called child abuse."
"I will and can and it's not child abuse. It's parents getting involved in their children's business." Her mom sighed. Maybe if she tried to reason. She glanced around the room, looking for something that comforted Rika. Her Build a Bear teddy bear? Naw, Rika would only throw it on the floor like she didn't care then later on cuddle it at night, apologizing. Her eyes landed on the big cage that took up half the floor space. She walked over and scooped up one of the guinea pigs then walked back to set it on her daughter's lap. Ew, gross, a rodent! She wiped her hands on her dress. "Give me five reasons why you shouldn't."
"I can come up with ten." Mia tickled her pet's chin, suspicious. Her mom hated the furred and fanged and only allowed Mia to keep three gentle guinea pigs, rejected pets from one her mom's friends. "One, it's formal. A dress? I'd rather go a whole week at school stark naked. Two, your friends will be there. They still think I'm a toddler and will pinch my cheeks and kiss my face. I don't know why. I'm the same age as their kids. Three, your friends' children will be there. I have no idea why you all decided to get pregnant at the same time to have kids around the same age. Those girls will try to convince me to go over to the ugly side. I will not tolerate the make-up. Have you even seen them? They look like clowns. Four, it's a day after Christmas. Can't I stay at home and play with my gifts? Besides, it's going to be like a freezer outside. Five, last time I went to that restaurant, I barfed. How could you eat that stuff? Six, I have better things to do than be bored out of my mind. Seven-"
"Okay, so you do have ten reasons. Well, one, girls are suppose to love dressing up. Two, that's what my friends do. Deal with it. Three, those girls are trying real hard to include you in their conversations. Four, I gave you a good dress for Christmas. Use it. Five, you threw up because you had the flu."
"Yeah, because even when I'm truly sick, I'm still subjected to going to parties. Why do you even make me go? I'll only end up sitting in a corner all to my lonesome." Rika lifted her guinea pig up to her face to lick its nose, something her mom really disliked because it was so dirty. Maybe that'll get rid of her, the old bat.
"Well, your friend Ryo's coming. You can play with him."
"Uh! Now I can think of a hundred more reasons why not to go!" Her mom was right on one thing. Ryo did not hang out. He played. With toys designed for little kids the age of five. "First of all, Akiyama is not a friend. A friend is…is Nutmeg or Cream or Charcoal here-" she lifted the black guinea pig up "-and that's not him. He's a slob. He's cocky, over confident, arrogant, pesky, immature, and claims his cluelessness is part of his charm. And that's the nicest thing I could say about him."
"Wow, you sure know a lot about Ryo," her mother remarked then regretted it when her daughter's eyes turned as dark as Charcoal's fur. Time to change the subject. "Well, hurry up and put on that nice dress."
"I'm not going. Not in a box, not with a fox."
"You will if that's the last thing I do!"
And two hours later, Rika found herself sitting at a table in the corner of the restaurant, muttering about the insanity of parents.
Her mom had decided compromising was the best she could do now. Mia had to wear kakis pants and a white button up shirt, tucked into the pants (both dry clean only). Her hair was washed-with shampoo and her body was clean. Her mom always had to bribe her to take a bath. The usual ten dollars for one shower a week. This time, it was twenty dollars for an extra clean shower with shampoo and Rika had to scrub. No, don't judge. Rika loved water. She loved splashing around in the plastic swimming pool as a kid, then gliding along like a deadly shark underwater at the public pool as a teen. It was just the soap and the clean issue that Rika hated. The soap stung and Rika could have sworn she went blind for a few hours after her mom had gotten shampoo in her eyes when she was a toddler. Yes, she could remember. Plus, as far as she could figure out, dirtiness and rudeness were the best ways to get rid of people.
In return for looking decent, Rika got fifty bucks and could skip the next party. She was going for two, to get rid of the Valentine party that she knew was coming up, but her mom was firm on that.
So instead of shooting down zombies on her computer, Rika was subjected to sit there and stare at the wall and it's uneven coat of paint. So far, she found a burning man, a laughing dog, a hippo eating a rhino, a lion with his paws up in the sky, and a cat on the toilet.
"Hello, Rika-chan!"
Oh yeah, she knew that cocky voice. She turned around to glare at the tall boy that was striding over the floor towards her. "Go away," Rika muttered, adverting her eyes at the ground.
Standing at six feet three and weighing about a hundred twenty five, Ryo was twenty one years old, three years older than Rika. (Figure out her age yourself.) He was wearing black pants and a white button, long sleeved shirt, similar to Rika's except not as feminine. He had rolled up his sleeves to his elbow, revealing his well muscled forearms. What a show off. So what if he had a weightlifter styled body? Rika glared at his face. He had chocolate colored brown hair and soft blue eyes.
Ryo sat down next to her and grinned cockily. "Hi! I didn't recognize you, all clean and all. What happened to the mud? To the dirt and to the glory of being a pig?"
"I am not a pig. You are." Rika glared, but self consciously swept her hair behind her ears. She hated being next to him. People kept on thinking she was younger than she was. So what if she was only five feet six and not a millimeter taller? So what if she only weighed ninety five pounds(this height weight combo is awkward), had silky, glossy hair that reached down to the middle of her back? So what if she had brown (okay, I know it's suppose to be purple but in this story, it's brown.) doe eyes that gave her a innocent look? They had no right to call her a fifteen year old.
"Yeah, sure." Ryo absent mindedly drummed his fingers on the table. "Guess what I got for Christmas."
"Oh, gosh. I don't want to know and I don't care." She looked up at the ceiling.
"A rubix cube-"
"That you will never solve once you turn it a couple of times," Rika muttered.
"Some other toys and a do you know what Santa gave me?"
Poor guy. He still believed in Santa Clause. "Lemme guess. What would Santa give a bad adult like you…coal."
Ryo laughed. "Almost! He gave me charcoal."
"Same thing!" Wow, what was the odds? His parents thought he was so annoying they actually gave his charcoal. Or maybe they thought he could use it for a barbecue. He was a university student now. Who knows what weird parties they threw.
"No, I got a rabbit. It's black and I named it Charcoal, after your guinea pig."
"A rabbit?" Rika was curious but kept it cool. He grinned, as if he was waiting for her to launch into a long harassment of questions. She changed 'cool, what's his breed?' to "I feel sorry for your bunny. Do you even know how to take care of a pet without killing it?"
"Hey, goldfish are hard to keep alive. You buy and they'll die." Wow, he was a poet! "And of course I know how to take care of a rabbit! I took care of your guinea pigs whenever you went to New York to visit your grandma."
"YOU WHAT?"
People turned to stare at her. She lowered her voice. "Liar. Mom said that your dad took care of them."
"Dad? As if! I took care of them and he played with them when I was at school. He always left the latch off so that was how I knew." Ryo laughed. "Nutmeg like to eat out of my hand and Cream is gentle but I like Charcoal best. He was so fun."
"He's my favorite too," Rika finally said after staring at him like he had grown another head.
"Yeah." Ryo smiled. "Finally! We share a thing in common!"
"Ha!" Rika snorted and turned to look at the wall. A stranded dolphin on the beach, two flea picking monkeys, and a dancing elephant later, she turned to look at Ryo who had been very quiet the last few minutes. She found the area in front of him swarming with tiny, white plastic army figures. "What the flip are you doing?"(Sorry. I don't believe in cussing. So it's flip.)
He smiled sheepishly. "Uh, playing with my army? It was one of the toys I've got. Want to play?"
So she could have ammo to throw at him if he was acting more stupid than usual, Rika shrugged and nodded. "Sure."
Pleased that she wanted to play with him, he took out another handful of little men, these ones black. "Here."
"Alright men! Shoot the giant man! Pew, pew!" Rika set them up with their guns facing him.
Ryo smiled.
"It doesn't look like it's doing him much harm!" To her surprise, she was having fun. "Take out the cannon! Hup, hup! You run like my grandma! On three! One…two…three! FIRE!"
Rika stomped on his foot from under the table.
"OW!" Ryo jumped back. "Rika, that hurts!"
"Hey, it wasn't me," she said innocently. "It was him." She pointed to one of the men in the front.
Ryo picked it up. "Off with his head!"
"You can't do that to Joe! He has a wife and ten kids!" Rika protested.
Ryo paused, staring at her. "Off with Joe's head and make sure to package and send it to his sweetheart for the funeral!"
Rika snatched up one of the men in the middle. "Guards! Feed this prisoner to the rabid rats so even if they're not hungry enough to eat him alive, he'll still die a painful death!"
"Not Roger! He has a crippled sister who relies on him to send the money I pay him for working in my army to pay for her surgery!"
"Who cares about his sister." Rika flicked the plastic man at the wall. "Oops, there he goes. A mark on the wall."
So the war began. Fifteen minute later, the waiter came by.
"Sir, I believe the couple's area is on the other side of the restaurant. This side is reserved for a party."
Couple? Rika's cheeks burned. Oh yeah. That waiter was going to go into the soup pot after she finished eating.
"No, we're in the party," Ryo assured, showing the invitation Rika's mom had given.
"Oh. In that case, would you like the menus now?"
"Sure. Give us five minutes." Ryo gave one to Rika and opened up his menu. "Hmm. All of it looks very good. Which on do you want, Rika? Does number five sound good to you?"
"Uh! I barfed the last time I ate it."
"What? Too rich and creamy for you to handle? I don't even know if you can hold down a bottle of beer." He paused, looking at her. "Can you?"
"I don't drink." Rika glared at him. "I'm underaged, remember?"(Hmm, she's and adult but underage to drink…hint, hint.)
"Aw, I was going to challenge you to see who can hold down the most. From what my buddies tell me, my best was three gallons before I threw up in the bushes and downed half a gallon more."
"You're a bad person, you know that?" Wow, who knew such an immature guy like him would actually be proud of how much beer he could drink. But of course. He was at a university, and age twenty one. "I'm going with number two."
He chuckled. "Haha! Number two. I think I'm going to go with number five for the main course, number fifteen, and eighteen for sides, number thirty seven for dessert and number forty four for drinks."
"You're such a pig." Mia smirked at him.
"Hey, I thought you were the pig."
"I'm not a pig. Pig are actually quite clean. They won't even go in their sleeping corner. People just think they're dirty because they roll in mud, but in fact, the mud is a natural sunscreen for their sensitive skin. Plus, it's cooling and refreshing."
"So…when you play-" Rika glared and he quickly changed his word –"when you sit in mud, you're actually trying to use it as a sunscreen?"
"Naw, I just do it because it doesn't harm me but people stay away. It's my un-chemical choked people and insect repellant."
"Insect…?"
"Pigs also roll in mud because bugs can't bite them through a tough layer of dried mud."
"I see." But from his perplexed expression, he didn't get it at all.
"Oh bother." Rika rolled her eyes. He was so dull!
"Are you ready to order?" The creepy waiter had been watching them and he jumped to their side when Rika closed her menu.
"Go first, pig." Rika nodded coolly at him.
"Gosh, I can't eat all of the things I wanted to order." He looked at her as a new thought dawned on him. "Want to share?"
"Fine. But you're eating number five all by yourself."
"Fine with me." Rika gave the waiter his five orders.
When the food came and Ryo had moved the toys to the side, Rika divided it up evenly and waited for him to tuck in. He did but instead of gobbling down food like a dog, he took off a small scoop and ate it as polite as a baby bird. Hmm. Maybe he wasn't as much as a slob if he tried. Rika copied at ate her food politely.
"So, what's on your mind?" Ryo observed, analyzing her frown.
"I just had a weird thought that you're not as much as a slob as you seem." Rika took another bite.
"Oh, geez wee! Thanks! I think."
Rika laughed. "Don't let it go to your pea sized brain."
"Oops, too late!" Ryo grinned back.
Rika was tempted to flick some food at him but her mom passed by at that moment and dropped a five dollar bill next to her. Mia whisked it off the table and it disappeared so fast into her pocket, a magician's rabbit act would be put to shame. Ryo wasn't even sure it had happened so he didn't dare ask what her mom just paid her for. She glared, daring him to ask. He went back to his food.
Out of nowhere, he blurted, "What's your favorite color?"
Rika stared at him, then answered. "Blue. Yours?"
"Brown."
Over the course of two hours of eating and chatting, Rika found out that he liked playing in the dog park with all the pets that didn't even belong to him, he volunteered at a bunch of different places to make the world a better place, hated the computer because it fried his brains, his favorite band was Train, his favorite type of dog was a german shepherd, his favorite animal was a cheetah, he would rather eat worms than be mean to someone, his worst fear was people he loved dying, he would take ten bullets for anyone, even a complete stranger or his worst enemy, and he did not want to buy a fancy car or even a lame car because he was afraid of running over someone.
In return, Rika told him that she liked being outside in the park and pulling pranks on people, she beat up people who littered or abused animals to make the world a better place, hated the computer because virtual punches weren't as affective as real punches, her favorite band was the Script, she liked toy rat terriers (which is pretty close to a toy fox terrier, if anyone was wondering…) and polar bears, she would rather eat worms than be nice to people, she did eat worms once to see how it was and found out it wasn't as bad, her worst fear was something she wouldn't tell because he might use it against her, she wasn't evil-she beat up people because they offended her first, she would push an enemy in front of a stranger to take the bullets, she wanted to become a tattoo artist so she could have her draws etched permanently while inflicting pain, and she would drive a Volkswagen so people would punch each other wherever she drove or a monster truck so she could run people over without a scratch.
Who knew they were completely opposites while having the basic, general opinions?
After they began eating their dessert, a group of girls came over.
"Ew, look at him talking to that trash," one of them scorned.
"Why you talking to that gender confused person?" another asked.
"Like, she's like, a bad person. She, like, beat up the waiter, like, last year," the third drawled.
Rika was about to jump up and beat their plastic surgery face but Ryo held up his hand to caution her then spoke up calmly. "She's my friend and if you have a problem with her, then you have a problem with me. I don't care what you think of her but right now, she's not bothering anyone and you bothered her first. So please leave us alone."
She half expected him to flash an FBI badge and tell them that they had the right to remain silent. But wow. He actually listened to her. It was…touching.
The girls sniffed and walked away, complaining loudly.
Rika grinned. Wow. She had finally found a friend who didn't care that she wasn't a showgirl. He had accepted her because of who she was.
Ryo turned around and poked her in the ribs, breaking her train of thoughts.
"Hey!" Rika pulled away. She was very ticklish but he didn't need to know that. "What do you want?
"I just wanna know if you're going to finish that." He pointed at her dish of ice cream.
Even though she had already begun eating it and her spit was in the ice cream, she pushed it over to him. He stuck his spoon in it as if it was fresh out of the kitchen, slurping at the melted snack quietly. (How do you slurp quietly? I don't know. I guess he slurped but did it without making a lot of noises. Or maybe he slurped, but he didn't talk.) When he was done, Ryo grinned at her. "Wanna play? My army was beating you."
"That's a load of bull spit!(You know, bull spit is just as good as the other. Just friendlier.) I was owning you! You had no prayer of even laying a scratch on my men!" Rika rolled her eyes.
"Prove it!" He challenged, then looked at the menu that was still on the table. "If I win, I'm treating my men to some booze!"
"You shouldn't be drinking that stuff! It kills your brain. And you're brain is already half dead from being dropped on your head as a little kid so you're going to need all that's remained."
"Cute." Ryo snorted, but he had only said that about the beer to tease her underage status. When he had downed the three gallons, he couldn't remember what had happened and his head hurt so much, he wondered if he had gone to the zoo and gotten an elephant mad. He did not want to reply that feeling. Once was enough experimenting. "But I said it was for my men."
"If that was so, then I'm going to buy your men ten gallons. They can drown in it and my problems will be over."
"I feel like throwing one of my men at you."
"Is that a white flag then?" She eyed his army's white coat meaningfully.
"What? No!"
And their senseless, almost sibling styled, bickering continued, but this time, Rika didn't mean any of the disguised insults she threw at him.
Later that night in the car ride back home...
"So, Rika. How'd you enjoy the party?" Her mom tried to figure out her daughter's expression but as usual, Rika had a blanked face on. She had wondered why no one got hurt tonight and she had also seen Ryo slip his jacket over Rika's shoulders when Rika waited outside for her by the car, in the cold. Hmm. Her imagination was on at full speed and there was no stopping it now.
"It's okay, I guess. When you're next one?" Rika asked casually, looking out the window. Ooh, a squirrel just fell out of his tree. Point and laugh.
"Why? Thinking of coming?"
Rika pushed the piece of paper with his phone number and email, deeper into her pocket and shrugged. "Maybe." Who knew? With a partner in combat, anything was possible.