Tomboy

If there was anything I had done wrong in my life, nothing could possibly compare to what was happening now. I mean, I didn't expect her to take my words so seriously. This is worse than the time I gave her a hair pin for her birthday. At least, then, she forgave me! What gives? All I called her was a -

"'Tomboy?'" asked the brunette in front of me. Only, he wasn't exactly in front of me. It was more like I was talking to the back of a Mac. This was Izzy. If you ever talk to him, you'd probably wonder what it's like to be looked at by him since he's always staring at his laptop screen, as if he were speaking some computer code language with his gaze. How is his eyesight so good even after looking at computer screens all day? Beats me. I don't even remember the last time he looked at me straight in the eye. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but in a moment like this, human contact was important to me.

"Yeah! No big deal, right? I mean, I thought she'd, like, take pride in being called that. Or something. GIRLS," I complained. I took the goggles around my neck and moved it up towards my forehead. "Plus…" I continued. "Plus! I didn't even say it in a mean way. She's the one who took it so offensively!"

"Well, why did you call her that?" Izzy asked, typing away furiously on the keyboard. No joke, that kid was typing so fast, you'd think Diaboromon came back or something.

"Oh. Well, I, er – it's complicated!" I snapped.

"Tai, you tend to say a lot of things that are pretty stupid."

At this point I was pacing back and forth in the room. Oh, and this girl we were talking about? My best friend, Sora. Well, ex-best friend now, I guess. We've known each other since we were little, and we did just about everything together, from playing soccer together as kids to walking to school to, you know, saving the world from evil digital monsters. All that good stuff. So, you can get the idea that she and I were pretty close. Though, I guess not close enough to be able to call her a "tomboy" without getting punched in the arm and yelled at in a public area. We've had fights before (well, more like I'd say something stupid and she'd ignore me for a day or two), but we've never not talked for more than a few days. This was a big deal.

"Okay… okay," I muttered. "It was last week. We were talking about how she used to play soccer with me and I was telling her we should play again sometime. See, I can say nice things, right? Well, she was, like –" at this point I put on my best Sora impersonation, high-pitched voice and all – "'I wonder if I've still got those soccer skills in me even though I play tennis now!' and I said, 'You probably can since you're such a tomboy!'"

I stopped pacing back and forth and paused, eyes fixated towards the ground as I started to realize how stupid I was. "And then she was, like, 'Oh, so you think I'm a tomboy?' and I said, 'Well, yeah, I mean sometimes I forget you're a girl now!' And then she says, 'Oh, so I'm a boy to you now?' And then she punched me and walked away! Right in front of people! Definitely NOT prodigious!"

I didn't realize it but I must have been speaking louder and louder because Izzy actually looked up at me and frowned. "Tai, you're an idiot."

Slouching down towards the ground, I mumbled, "I know."

"And please don't ever say 'prodigious' again."

I had to fight back the urge to call her when I got home from Izzy's. I swear I've called her over fifty times in the past week, and don't even ask me how many e-mails I've sent her. This whole thing was ridiculous. I mean, OF COURSE I realize that she's a girl. Okay, maybe I wasn't REALLY aware of it until high school. I admit, I'm pretty slow when it comes to girls and whatnot, but I didn't think Sora would take it so personally since I'm, well, me. I'm sure if it were any other guy who'd call her that, she wouldn't be so angry. So why me? It's just not fair!

Sora has always been something else – one of the closest friends I'll ever have, besides, like, Agumon. I mean, I was going to ask her to prom at the end of the year… even though that's months from now. We always walk to school together but this whole week she's been going to school early just to avoid me. That's saying a lot since she doesn't like waking up earlier than she needs to. As much as I hate to admit it (and I'll probably never admit this out loud to anyone unless the whole world was being threatened AGAIN and even then I'd hesitate to say it) I was really starting to miss her.

That's when I decided: I'm not going to lose my friendship with her just because of my dumb mistake.

I quickly rushed to the door, stopping in front of a mirror to see if I looked okay. Spiky hair, check. Goggles, check. Looking quite handsome, always. Here we go.

I started to run. Okay, sure I could have used my bike. Oh, and I guess I could have asked my mom for a ride. And, yeah, I could have taken the subway. But when I'm determined, I do the first thing I think of … and apparently that was to run all the way to Sora's mother's flower shop. Sometimes I really wonder why people consider me a leader. By the time I got to the front of the flower shop, I was sweating profusely and panting like I had just run a marathon (which I practically did). My heart was beating fast, but I don't think it was just because of the running. I marched right in the store, scaring a few people on the way to the counter. There she was.

Sora was fixing up a flower arrangement, looking so concentrated that she probably wouldn't notice if a bear wearing a dress was juggling in front of her. Or a heavily panting, spiky-haired kid whose determined look was giving people the creeps. She's really good with that stuff, by the way. The flower stuff. You'd think putting together some flowers and plants and other girly things would be easy but it's really not. Trust me, I've tried. Sora had to show me how to "do it properly" once (who would've thought there was a legit way to do that?). She advised me to never garden, ever, (can't say I didn't get a little offended) and then proceeded to talk about how amazed she was that flowers really bring a strange happiness to people that receive them, so making the arrangement is important as the colors you choose and what types of flowers there will be. Or something like that. Flowers don't last a long time so that's why you have to enjoy its beauty while it lasts. That's when my little flashback hit me like that time Sora punched me for throwing up in her hat. I really need to stop being stupid around her.

"SORA," I blurted out, a little –okay, a lot - louder than I intended to. At this point, everyone browsing in the flower shop was starting to back away towards the exit, nervously glancing at one another. I didn't care.

Sora paused, looking up, and letting out a little gasp when she saw me. At first, a look of confusion was the only expression that was apparent. Then, she furrowed her eyebrows and folded her arms. Uh oh, annoyed Sora. "What are you doing here, Tai? And why are you so sweaty?"

"You. You're going to forgive me."

"Oh, so you're forcing me to forgive you now?" At this point she was beginning to turn red with anger, and maybe some embarrassment. I don't blame her.

"Sora, I'm sorry," I began. "I'm really sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am because you keep avoiding me. But… but you're like this –" I looked around the room, and the first thing I saw was a rose, of all things –"You're like this flower to me. This rose. It's fragile, but –"

"Tai, stop," Sora demanded, but I interrupted,

"Fragile, but it's so… it's so beautiful. And it's, like, I want this rose to last forever. This friendship. This friendship IS this rose." I walked over to the rose and snatched it. "Everytime I screw up, it's like a petal falling off –" which I started to do, gently pulling a petal off the rose. Sora was looking more and more unimpressed, but I was determined to prove my point.

"You're going to have to pay for that, Tai."

I held the rose petal in my hand. "Sora. Seriously, my friendship with you is the most important thing to me right now. You told me flowers and all that stuff brings happiness to people. Well, you're my happiness, and I don't want to lose that. At all. Okay? The petals are fragile and I want so badly to preserve this rose, this friendship… but unlike flowers… " – at this point I tossed the rose on the counter, causing another petal to fall off – "… a friendship CAN last forever, and so can we. So will you just please forgive me?! What is there that I can do?!"

Sora unfolded her arms, bringing her hands down to her hips and letting out a soft sigh. She put her head down, and for a moment I thought she was going to cry – and geez, I would feel really bad if she did – but then she muttered, in almost a whisper, "You don't get it, do you?"

"Get what? That I've been thinking about you this whole week and worrying that you'll never forgive me? Because I get it, alright."

She tilted her head up to look at me, and I could have sworn she had formed a small, sad kind of smile before putting her head down again.

"Is that what I don't 'get'? I know. I called you a 'tomboy' and you're mad because you're not one. But that doesn't mean you weren't one, or that being one was a bad thing, or… or that I didn't notice you as a girl, or whatever. I'm sorry if it sounded ignorant or rude or totally NOT prodigious but of course I noticed you're a girl. You're…" (at this point in my head I knew I was going to turn red in embarrassment, in addition to being sweaty from running and turning pink from exhaustion. I was not in the zone when it came to the looks department right now.) "… really pretty. You know, for a girl. And it's your qualities that make you so great. You really do represent the crest of love, you know that? Sora."

I bent down to her level to look at her face, and realized she had been closing her eyes the whole time. I leaned towards her until our noses were just several inches away from touching. I could feel her breathing. "I know our relationship has been a little stormy lately…"

Suddenly, she opened her eyes and her head sprang backward in shock upon the realization of how close we were. She backed up, but her eyes never averted from mine. Her cheeks were beginning to flush into a pretty pale pink color, and I could have sworn I saw her eyes get a little watery, but then again my head was getting a little dizzy from the dehydration. It must have just been me.

I continued, "You say you love thunder showers, so—"

"'So what's a few raindrops between friends?'" She finished, smiling and reaching out to ruffle my hair. Yeah, I was definitely imagining what I said about her eyes.

"Hey, cut that out!" I joked, pulling her hand away from my hair and holding it for just a few seconds before letting go.

"You can't use that line on me again, Tai. It doesn't work like that," Sora chuckled. "Though I do give you props for comparing me to a rose. Never heard that before."

"That was genius, wasn't it? And- and, raindrops totally help roses grow and –"

"Stupid Tai. You still don't get it."

"Geez, Sora, stop being such a tomboy and call me sweet or something." I grinned as she punched me in the arm, but this time, I knew we were going to be okay, even though I wasn't quite sure what it was that I "don't get." I guess I have a lot of things to learn about girls. Or maybe just Sora. Until then, I'm just going to try not to blurt out anything stupid again.

"Wait, do I really have to pay for this rose because I took off a petal?"

"Yep."

Author's Note: Bwahaha, I just loved writing Tai's character! I really liked how this fic turned out because I had no idea how it was going to end, and it just sort of came naturally eventually (albeit it's extremely cheesy. Aw, Tai's so cute!) XD Sorry to the Taiora fans who were expecting a kiss or something :[ as tempting as it was, I thought it'd be better if we left it a little open-ended, and I'm glad I ended it that way! However, feedback is greatly appreciated - let me know what you think :) constructive criticism would be great, too! Thank you!