Down to Earth

Chapter One: The Irony of Attraction

...

"It's a date, okay?"

"I'll pretend I didn't hear you."

"But you already agreed to see me tonight."

"Stop, already." Riku slammed her palms on the desk. Fuji felt it shake under his elbows; his smile grew wider. Whenever he did his sadistic smile, she was tempted to throw the rule book out the window and sock him. Or even better yet, throw him out the window. "Lose the smile, Fuji."

"Whenever you lose the frown," he said. He wasn't hurt by her words.

"We can play this game all day." Thankfully, just as she said this, the teacher walked in and lunch was officially over. Riku watched as the brunette went back to his own seat and sat down. But not even three minutes into the lesson, a classmate passed a note to Riku. Opening it, she found Fuji's handwriting:

You said it yourself that we can play this game all day, so you'll be seeing me tonight at six.

Now pay attention to the teacher.

She looked at Fuji, horrified, but he was facing the chalkboard. She couldn't yell "no" in the middle of class, and the trashcan was at the back—nowhere near his view. So she tore it up into pieces and hoped that he heard.

It was going to be a long day.

...

5:40 P.M.

The Nakamuras' apartment was located in the suburbs of Tokyo; her parents were currently at the city for a 3-day business conference, which was good in this case. She had chosen to wear her uniform for his arrival, because (she figured) it showed how little she cared. She was just about to lock the doors when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey, is he there yet?" It was her friend Kumiko.

"No, but it's almost six," Riku said. She clenched the phone with her shoulder and closed the window blinds.

"Well? Are you groomed?" Kumiko asked girlishly, grinning over the phone.

"Don't get excited, Kumiko. I didn't want this to happen in the first place."

"So why didn't you just write a note saying no?"

"People already think there's something between us!" she hollered, amazed at her friend's naiveté. "I don't want to be seen passing notes with him, exchanging hellos with him, or even fighting with him."

"But you do realize that like, every girl in our school wants to date him?" Kumiko said. She added after a little pause, "Even me, I guess. But I think he's more your type."

"I think an ex-convict is more my type."

"Ha!" Kumiko laughed sarcastically. "Come on, embrace it. He's already coming over so you can't escape."

"No escape..." she echoed ominously.

They hung up after a few more minutes, but the remaining time passed very slowly. Riku sat motionlessly as if she was part of the furniture. She didn't even feel like turning the TV on. The clock said it was 6:08 now, but there was still no sign of Fuji.

Riku finally decided to eat some dinner. By "dinner," she ate salt and vinegar chips with bottled water (adding just a splash of strawberry wine—her father brought all kinds of alcohol into the house, especially strawberry wines). She ate over the counter while staring at the blank TV. When he didn't show up at 6:20, she washed the dishes. There was still no sign of him.

Half an hour and twenty dishes later, it was already 6:50. Riku moved on to vacuuming the carpet. She turned the volume up on the TV and vacuumed while watching a game show. She had the sudden urge to clean, to work the energy off.

Damn him. Where on earth is he? Was he at school, attending some last-minute tennis match?

A tennis match... As much as she didn't like him, she had to admit that there was something amazing about him. When he played, it was as if he could defy gravity. The ball looked like it was being moved by a wire. And the way his shirt and bangs flew up in midair...

She snapped back to the whirring noise of the vacuum cleaner. Even if it was a slip of her mind, she actually thought he was attractive for a moment.

This had to be the weirdest night ever: he had stood her up and somehow managed to make her think about all of his positive qualities. At 7:01 sharp, she fell into a deep sleep caused by exhaustion.

Fuji looked surprised to see her outside the clubroom the next morning.

"Can I have a word?" she said, looking around to see if anyone was looking at them.

"No one's here," he reassured.

"If you weren't gonna..." she shrugged, "y'know—come over, then why?"

He removed the towel that was draped over his neck and held it in his hands. "Riku. I was kidding. The note was something I did to..." He smiled gently. "...annoy you."

"Well, why couldn't you have told me? This is gonna come as a shock for you, but I actually waited all night." And fell asleep thinking of you, she wanted to add.

His eyes fluttered open as soon as she said this. Noticing his reaction, Riku quickly said, "Don't get me wrong. I wasn't looking forward to you coming over."

"But you waited anyway." He was evidently impressed.

"Yeah, but I wasn't—"

"That doesn't matter," he said. "The point is that you actually waited for me."

Holy crap, Riku thought desperately, her eyes widening with every word he said. The confrontation where she was supposed to guilt him was coming to a dangerous U-turn. She said hurriedly, "Alrighty, then. As long as we're clear. I have to go now."

He took the towel and draped it over her neck, making her stop in her tracks—similar to the way a dog stops when its leash is tugged.

"Hey," she barked angrily. She tried pulling it over her head. "Quit it." Maneuvering the towel, Fuji reeled her backwards; when she was close enough, he immediately dropped the towel and tightened his arms across her shoulders.

Before she knew what was going on, he released her.

"Hey...?" Riku said, unable to think of anything else that sounded appropriate. She bent over to pick the towel off the floor and handed it to him.

There was something different about that eternal smile this time. It was warmer, kinder. "I'm going to make it up to you."

"No, it's fine."

Just then, they heard the school bell in the distance. "I'd better go. You should hurry up, too." She turned around to go, this time successfully. Echizen Ryoma, a freshman at Seigaku, was walking to the clubroom when Riku passed him. He stared at her retreating back before catching sight of Fuji Syuusuke.

They greeted each other. "That girl looked red. Was she one of your fan girls?" Echizen asked.

"No." Fuji smiled, considering the question. "Thankfully, no."

A/N: So, was this uninteresting (I swear my feelings won't get hurt) or mildly good? Because he was around her all the time, when Fuji didn't show up it made her realize how she may have taken him for granted. This was originally going to be a one-shot, but I love writing so I don't want to stop here. Oh, and the "Fishing Towel" was something my ex-boyfriend did, except he used his sweatshirt.