Sora twiddled his thumbs in anticipation for Kairi's arrival outside the train station. He'd invited her out to spend the day with him, and he was really nervous. Mostly because the whole ordeal was a spur of the moment decision. The day had been a 'business as usual' Friday, they were laughing and having a good time, school was out, she was heading to her mom's car, he was watching her walk away, playing scenarios in his head, and the question if she wanted to hang out bypassed his brain. Far too late to take it back, Sora winged it, and his resulting sentences where thw worst combination of words he had ever strung together. Despite his communication failure, she agreed whole heartedly.
He couldn't sleep that night. Instead, he spent all that time figuring out what he was supposed to do for his date. Well, that's what Riku called it. That was the magic word: Date. Sora had developed a crush on Kairi some two months back. They'd been friends since elementary school, and were just now Junior's in high school. He didn't understand why. Just out of the blue, that fateful day, Sora and Riku were laughing, having a good time, and Kairi walks over and gives them both a warm smile. It was nothing out of the ordinary, she chatted with them, made a few girls jealous on how easily she approached Riku, asked a few questions, made a few jokes, and went to hang out with a few friends she hadn't seen since summer. When she was out of ear shot, Riku mentioned how cute Kairi looked, and Sora corrected him to beautiful. That was when he felt his cheeks go hot, and when she flashed a smile back at him, he just blushed even more as he waved stupidly.
Now, everything mixing together, Sora felt like he dug a deep hole. What had he done… he didn't even know what he was supposed to do on a date, and despite the sixty munny he brought to handle any situation, he felt completely unprepared. Would she want lunch and dinner? Which movie would she like? Would she rather go to the arcade? Shopping? Sixty munny wouldn't cover all of that…
He ruffled his hair and kicked a chipped piece of concrete. He wasn't used to this kind of stress. All because he developed a crush on the really cute girl who he knew half his life, and started to find her really pretty in all of her outfits-
"Hey Sora!"
His knees about buckled from the sound of her voice and the spark it launched through his whole body, "H-hey!" He smiled, his mind doing internal damage control, "I was starting to worry!"
She pouted, and apologized, "I'm sorry… my mom made me stay a little bit later to help her with chores. Otherwise I would've been here earlier."
"It's alright." Was the best he could formulate with his eyes locked on her and that adorable pout she had. To try and make her feel better, Sora lied about how long he'd been there, "I got here about five minutes ago." Yeah, he'd been here for half an hour… Kairi was only five minutes late.
"Yeah… so! What're we doing today?"
"Oh… um…" Sora started to look around, trying to find something that would help him give a good plan of attack. He had still been working on his stupid plan, and right from the start, she asked for the first event of the day. "I was… uh… thinking about going to," He paused to steal a look at Kairi who had her undivided attention to him, "going to…" He quickly glanced over at the billboards, seeing a cinema picture, "I was thinking we'd see a movie!"
"Oh!" She gave him a small grin, "Are we going to see that movie you and Riku have been going on about? Birth by Sleep?"
"Sure!" That was a good suggestion! "If you're interested in it, I mean."
"Totally!" She seemed more excited than he did. "Selphie told me the love story was fantastic, despite the book not really having one."
Sora hadn't read the books, though presumably they were a hit around Destiny Islands. With a shrug, "Artistic freedom." Sora turned towards the direction of the theatre with Kairi quickly by his side. "Nothing sells more than romance."
"Yeah… sucks they have to do it that way, though. I bet it made a lot of fans upset." There was a short pause, and she laced her hands behind her back, "Hey, Sora… been meaning to ask you a question."
"Yeah?" Sora looked at her as she rocked back and forth. Crosswalk was red, and he had no escape if she asked the wrong question. If she asked who he liked, could he tell her? What if she didn't like him back? Or maybe she was dating another dude and wanted his opinion? How about Riku? Girls loved him, would Kairi be the exception?
"What do you think of Namine?"
Wait, that's it? "Well, she's kind of shy." Crosswalk turned green, "and I hear she's a pretty good artist."
"Do you… like her? As in like like her?"
"What? No!" Sora shook his head profoundly, making an 'X' with his arms, "Maybe as a friend if I got to know her, but I don't think me and shy would work together."
A wide smile crept back up on her face, and Sora swore she might have started to glow, "Well, then I have another question." Sora held the door open for her to the theatre, "Do you have somebody you like?"
The door tripped him on the way in while the question caught him off-guard. Kairi rebalanced him, and Sora saw his face was mere inches from hers. Their noses might have been just millimeters away from one another. "I… uh… it's a secret." Sora slowly pulled himself away, not sure of what to do, or how to answer her question. 'It's a secret' was the best he could do.
"Aww, come on!" She jabbed at him playfully, "I wanna know!"
"Well…" Sora looked around trying to avoid eye contact and make another nimble question dodge. "Well… how about this: if I decide to make her mine, you'll be the very first to know."
"You're no fun…" She waltzed right up to the ticket booth, "Two for Birth by Sleep!"
The movie was decent. Sora got lost on a few plot points (mostly because he had been watching Kairi during half the movie,) but Kairi loved it. The romantic subplot was more than enough to satisfy her and give it a two thumbs up. Sora might've been able to enjoy it more if Kairi hadn't nudged his hand mid movie, either.
"Wasn't that movie awesome, Sora? And the kiss scene, it was phenomenal!"
Sora shrugged, remembering that he closed his eyes during that part. "Uh… yeah… but, it's just a kiss scene. Aren't they all the same?"
Those must've been the magic words to grow a second head. "Are you kidding me? Sora, they are not all the same."
"But the end result is almost always the same… never mind." Back outside the theatre, Sora checked his watch, and then checked Kairi. Her grin still as wide as before they walked in, and she looked at him expectantly. "Well, I picked what we just did. Why don't you pick this time?" This girl was relentless! How long could he pretend he knew what he was doing?
"Hmm…" she struck a pose of mocking thought, "Well, usually after a matinée showing, you should get lunch."
Sora checked his wallet, doing a quick estimate of his lunch budget, "Well, I only have like twenty munny left. Anything… uh…" This was no good. Didn't he read somewhere that the worst thing to do on a date was limit the girl on her options? Maybe she wanted a nice dinner, but he couldn't afford it. Should he let her know his financial crisis, or just pray his best friend over the course of his life had the common courtesy to let it slide that he was probably broke. Roll of the dice, going with the latter, "Anything sound good?"
"Scrooge's Ice Cream."
Gamble paid off. Kairi was a considerate girlfriend. Well, not girlfriend yet... maybe not at all, a good friend- why was he trying to reason with himself? "Alright, let's go."
"Wait." Sora halted and peaked over his shoulder at her, her head cocked to the side and hands loosely around her hips. She had to be so cute… "We're going to race. Loser buys."
Oh yes. He would definitely have some munny left over to buy her a cool drink. Sora was the second fastest soccer player in the school. "You're on."
"Ready…" She took off in a sprint, "go!"
Sora caught a glimpse of her red hair dash past him, "H-hey! Cheater!"
The Destiny Islands plaza was located on the main island (about two islands away from the little island he used to play on,) and was pretty compact, spanning only half a mile in either direction. Aside from the major road connecting the plaza to the train station, there was very little vehicle traffic. The race to Scrooge's Ice Cream shop was less about navigating, and more about fancy footwork to avoid pedestrians. Sora was quick on his feet, capable of juking out any defender on the soccer field who was intentionally trying to stop him, and juking pedestrians trying to avoid collisions with other people was no sweat.
Kairi's red hair was only about three meters ahead of him, and she was losing velocity, trying to simply go around the people as quickly as possible. Sora knew better. Take the longer path that'll allow you to maintain the higher speed. The race would've been easy, had he decided to go all out. However, he decided to make it more interesting. He got just in front of Kairi, and turned to back pedal. "You're a cheater, you know that?"
"I know, but how else am I to beat you?" They had to be getting close to the shop by now. Sora was beaming at her, internally laughing at her attempt to beat him, but before he could give her snarky comment, her eyes went wide, "Sora!"
He didn't get to ask what she was worried about. Instead, he found out personally. His left foot came to an immediate halt. A short row of plants that were elevated as makeshift resting spots caught his heel at their corner. Sora pivoted to try and catch himself, but he was moving too fast. His left foot came down early, his other missed the timing to catch himself, and he crashed. A few gasps and murmurs rolled him on his back with the help of a groan from his lips. He had hit a little harder than he expected.
"Oh my gosh! Sora! Are you okay?"
"All systems go." Sora laid there for a minute with people watching. His face starting to burn hot with embarrassment, he slowly sat up. "I'm all good. See?"
He shot up the brightest grin Kairi had ever seen him give, even if his face was a little dirty from the impact. "You goof." She reached down to help him up, "Here, I'll buy ice cream."
He accepted her hand and took a step forward. His ankle screamed at him to take it slowly. He had no qualms with that concept. "I think I may have sprained my ankle." Kairi gave him a worried glance, and god help him, she was so cute. However, he didn't want to worry her (but it worried him a lot that he was way more focused on her cute face than his injury,) so he put her fears to rest, "Relax. I can walk it off. But no more races, please."
She gave him a small grin and nodded, "No more races. Got it."
The two of them got their ice cream, and together they walked around (in Sora's case, he hobbled,) and they shared a few laughs here, a few rumors there… they had a few nastily funny things to say about Riku, and the things he'd done to a few girls. Most of it was rumor… though there was a party with two girls… Sora shook his head, "I don't think that one ever happened, though."
"Have you any proof?"
"I wasn't at the party, I was hanging out with you while you baby-sat the twins for Tifa." Sora gave Kairi a sideways glance and she looked off towards the sky innocently, "I'll never help you do that again."
"I did you a favor. I heard that weird girl Alex was there, and you know how-"
"Yes." Sora's gag reflex artificially activated, "Believe me. I know."
"Didn't she say she'd-"
"To my face. Yes. I'd rather not get those rumors started again." They took a seat at a bench, "Do you know how long it took me to put down the rumors about Riku, me and her?"
"I never heard that one!" Kairi laughed, "How did it go?"
Sora threw his body back and draped over the bench, "I'd rather not." Sora then recalled a certain rumor, and grinned evilly. He sat reset his position and looked at Kairi, "How about the rumor where you and Yuna did-"
"I had no part in that!" Kairi crossed her arms, face fire engine red. "I just wish I could wipe that image away." Sora laughed and once Kairi's face cooled a bit, she did as well. Sora stopped laughing first, and gave Kairi a happy smile, which she returned, "So, the day is starting to wrap up… any last plans?"
Sora shook his head. Too tired to try and pretend he had a master plan. Time to let his real plan loose, "No, not really. Honestly, I was just winging it the whole way." He looked at her expectantly, and she just laughed, "What?"
"Honestly, that's so you Sora. Though winging it has so much more adventure to it."
Was it possible to love her this early into the romantic development phase? He really hoped so. It was evening, and the day was wrapping up, like Kairi had said… and Sora, being motivated by Kairi's words, had a last minute idea, "Let's go to the nearby pier."
Together they went, and the old wooden dock was empty, save for a few workers closing up shop, and a couple or two looking at the water. The bright orange was splattered over the sky, and the sun was about to touch the horizon, and Sora grinned, taking a seat next to her. The day had been almost everything he had wanted. What he had really wanted was to kiss Kairi… though he couldn't just outright tell her that, right? He gazed over at her beside him, and like magic, his face turned into a smile. She was beautiful… though he had said that a lot to himself lately. For a few minutes, the sat silently playing eye tag until Sora playfully pushed her and she returned it, though she pushed way harder. Sora teetered and started falling, "Whoa!"
"Sora!"
He caught himself last minute, and glared playfully at her for a second, but then chuckled a bit, "Like old times, right?" Sora sat back upright.
She nodded, "Old times…" Kairi was silent for a while, relaxing and staring at the sunset, "You know, I'm kind of glad you changed Sora."
"Me too." Sora scooted closer to her, but was watching the waves in the sea.
"I'm also glad you're still the stupid goof ball from second grade, too."
"Still stupid?" Sora caught her laughing with her eyes closed, the gentle breeze catching her face and the orange sun catching her just right. Sora tried his best to avert his gaze, but her perfection simply drew him in. He'd let the 'stupid' comment slide a thousand times if he could just keep looking at her like this for even just a second longer.
Sora's heart skipped a critical beat, and his mind must not have received enough blood flow, otherwise he never would've made such a crazy decision. "Hey, Kairi, turn towards me."
"Hm? What is it?" A few strands got on her face, and with a gentle hand, Sora brushed the group back behind her ear, "S-Sora?"
Another critical skip from his heart, despite the Mach 7 rate it had achieved. "You know how I told you if I had a girl I liked, you'd be the first to know?"
"Y-yes..?"
Sora cupped her check in his hand, and pulled her gently into a kiss. It was everything he dreamed it would be, and more. She leaned into the kiss, and Sora parted his mouth just a bit… but instinct told him to break. Surprisingly, he was short of breath. More so than he ever had been in a soccer game. "So, uh… now you know." Sora laughed nervously, trying to control his breathing. "Told you you'd be the first."
Her smile was radiating, "Did you wing that, too?"
"I… yes..? I think?" Sora forced a laugh, but she didn't buy it. "Yeah, I winged it completely."
"Thought so." Kairi gave him another quick kiss, and the sat watching the sun slowly disappear behind the horizon.
Whatever came over him, whatever malfunction occurred in his brain… it landed him a girlfriend. The most perfect girlfriend to ever exist. Kairi- wait… was she his girlfriend? Did the kiss signify they were an item? Sora teetered his head, and decided he'd rather not leave such an important detail up in the air, "So… are we a thing now?"
"Almost."
"Almost?"
"I need to hear the words from you."
What words? Did she- "Oh." She wanted to hear those words. Sora cleared his throat, "Kairi, will you be my girlfriend?"
"Yes." She gave him a quick peck. "You know, I was secretly hoping you'd ask me out today."
"You were?" She nodded at him, and Sora threw himself back on the pier and laughed, "And here I was stressing about if you liked me at all… guess Riku was right, this was a date." Sora bolted upright, "Crap. I owe Riku ten munny now."
Riku felt his phone vibrate next to him, and saw that Sora was calling him, "What's he want? It's like nine at night…" Maybe he wanted to play some games? "Hey Sora."
"Riku! Uh… got some news."
"Don't tell me, you and Alex-"
"Riku!" His friends distress gave Riku a slight grin. "That's not it, something else… uh… me and Kairi…"
"You and Kairi..?"
"Well, we're a thing?"
What a shocker. Sarcasm heavily implied. "No way!" Riku faked enthusiasm for his friend, trying to act surprised for him, "Congrats Sora!"
"Yeah… thanks. I'll give you all the details on Counter-Operation."
"Deal. See you online."
The phone conversation ended and Riku exited his game, and logged on to Counter-Operation. Honestly, Riku was having a hard time keeping Kairi's crush a secret from Sora. Then, that fateful day when he teased Sora about Kairi being cute, he blushed… that was proof enough for him. All it took was a few well-placed words to Sora to spark the events of the entire day. Riku patted himself on the back, a job well done.
And Sora now owed him ten munny. That'd allow him to buy those gun skins he'd been eyeing in Counter-Operation. Win-win on both sides.
Riku felt his phone vibrate again, he read the message from Sora: 'Did you know Kairi also played Counter-Operation? She wants to join us. That okay?
Riku replied a generic yes, and smiled. He was happy for his best friend, and a bit relieved that Kairi played the same game he and Sora did. Now he wouldn't have to worry about missing a reliable teammate. His phone vibrated, and when he checked it this time, it was Xion. Riku looked at his phone for a second, but didn't hesitate in checking the text. He read it, and she asked him if he was free Sunday.
He gave a short yes answer, and looked at the ceiling. Today was a great day. Tomorrow, if everything went right, it'd be the perfect weekend.
But, he had Counter-Operation to play with his best friends who had no doubt became cutest couple.
