Of body and mind
It all started with a car wash. Initially he had thought she seemed familiar, but he could not figure out how to save his life. He drove by her house on his way home from class, and every Friday at 5-5:30pm, when a shadow was cast across the driveway, she washed her car. She would be armored with only a spaghetti strap shirt and shorts that left little to the imagination. Her hair was always neatly pulled up into adorable pigtails. One large blue bucket, a couple of scrubbers, and a jug of soap always sat to the right of the car. She was clockwork. So, he came to expect her. Every once in a while he would drive by and she was not washing yet, instead he would spot her entering her house in eloquent business attire. So, he assumed that she would clean her car immediately after work every Friday.
He couldn't help it. He learned to admire the brief shows he got out of her. She was incredibly slender – almost to a fault – and yet still seemed to have a profound strength to her posture. Her hair, which seemed a dull blonde in the shade, glistened like gold in the sunlight. Oh, and she was not afraid to get dirty. He once saw her laying beneath her car only to emerge nearly covered in black all the way up her arms. Instead of being disgusted as any other girl her age and size would be, she emerged with a sense of pride. Accomplishment, perhaps. She was incredibly diligent. Since he first noticed this activity, he was sure she had never missed a Friday and neither did he. He looked forward to seeing her as he passed.
Honestly it was the only reason he had such remarkable attendance in his Friday classes as opposed to the rest of the week. He was often too lazy or simply did not care enough to force himself out of the comfort of his own home into the discomfort of classes. The only thing he liked about college was the people. People were interesting, which was perhaps why he did not mind so much that she was causing him to attend a Psychology class regularly. Without ever speaking to the girl, she managed to make him a better student. He did not know whether to curse the thought of her or thank her. Even his friends thought it was strange that he was consistently present at school on those days. Every other day of the week was a complete toss up, but they could count on him to be there every Friday.
Unfortunately, this was why they so often threw parties specifically on Fridays to try and bate him to come. What they did not realize was it was not school that he came for at all. He only went to school as the excuse to drive past her house, and since he was going all that way, he might as well attend class, right? It was not like he truly paid attention to everything going on. It was a three hour long class once a week. Nothing could keep his attention that long. The only thing he could think of that had the potential to occupy his mind for so long was her. Several times he had sat through the entire class wondering what color shorts she might wear that time. He would hope and pray they weren't those black shorts she wore occasionally. They didn't suit her. She looked better in color.
The entire three hours they spent discussing Chapter Four in the textbook he was in and out of paying attention. The topic was all about our perception of people and mostly focused on behavior. At any given point in time, recognizing the actions of a subject is an indispensable first step to social perception. It is also an involuntary action all humans commit when observing one another. We do not do it purposefully. You do not just decide one day that you don't like attached ear lobes so everyone with attached ear lobes must be complete assholes. On a daily basis we make judgments based on social clues without realizing it. At that point, he stopped listening as his mind took off with the idea. He pondered the image he had created of this girl without ever actually talking to her. He had made plenty of judgments about her character simply from what he witnessed during this one activity. She wore business jackets and fancy skirts when she came home; she was professional and had a nice job, which presumably paid well. She lived in a moderate sized house with a mediocre car, despite the high-paying job; she was frugal. Every week at the same time she would wash her car; she was a hard worker with respect for what she has earned. Grime and dirt did not seem to repel her; she did not mind getting her hands dirty. She wore her hair up in pigtails when she washed her car instead of a ponytail like the rest of women her age; she clung to her innocence.
One time he managed to catch a glimpse of the most delectable sight. She had been kneeling on the hood of her car scrubbing the roof with her legs spread and butt in the air. He could only assume she was reacting to hearing his motorcycle, because as he neared, she repositioned quickly. She sat down with her legs folded and scrubbed the windshield momentarily until he passed. In his mirror he saw her lift back up to scrub the roof again. So, she may have been wearing somewhat skimpy clothes for her carwash, but she had modesty. Her clothing choices were not for the benefit of others, but merely for efficiency.
Maybe it was a bad thing that he made all of these positive judgments about her without a healthy amount of negative in the equation. Though he did notice, the fact that her breasts were smaller than the usual women he ogled did not bother him at all. In fact, he seemed to like it. Her entire tiny body was a physical depiction of her modesty. She had curves, but they were not exaggerated like other women. So, even that could not lower her score. He wondered if he would ever get the chance, or guts for that matter, to speak to her. He also wondered if he would treat her with a confirmation bias if that day ever came. He had built up this list of such beautiful traits that she appeared to have that he would probably see them in her whether they were true or not. At this point, she was more of a fantasy than a real person.
It almost put a bad taste in his mouth. He had always been a ladies man. Women flocked to him in the multitudes. This allowed him to be picky. He took pleasure in receiving so much attention and having the confidence of turning them down after a careful process of scoring their looks and personalities, but lately he could not give two shits about them. He no longer appreciated the attention. He was far too obsessed with this imaginary woman he had created from a stranger's image. None of them were her.
Nor would they ever be.
Then, there finally came the Friday that she was not there. Her car was present, but no dream girl to adore and fuel his fantasies. He wondered if perhaps she had already done it and retreated into the comfort of the house, but the driveway was not wet. There were no signs of any cleaning, not that her car looked particularly dirty. It was all incredibly disappointing. The thought crossed his mind to stop and wait for her, but he quickly scolded himself for being such a creep. It was bad enough that he practically went out of his way every day just to gaze upon the woman he had never said a word to nor knew he had been watching her for months, but to stop and wait for her? That was beyond disturbing. He might as well don a ball cap, sunglasses, and large binoculars at that point.
He scowled at how dirty it made him feel. Once he was done punishing himself for being insanely creepy, he wondered what would have possibly kept her from her routine. She had never missed a day before; she was reliable in that way. He only hoped that something bad had not happened. Something bad must have happened. It irritated him that he could not do anything about it. He did not know her. He could not just show up and ask if she's okay. How weird would that be? Answer the door only to be confronted with a stranger claiming, "Hey, I drive by every Friday and see you washing your car, why didn't you wash it today?" She would probably slam the door in his face. A creep like that did not deserve her precious time.
The following Friday, he considered staying home from school. The entire week he had wallowed in self-loathing. How could he be so bewitched by this person he had never spoken to that it turned him into practically a stalker? At least all he did was glance at her as he drove by, and he did not really go out of his way to do that either. He went to class as he was expected to as a student, and coming home afterward just happened to coincide with when she was out there. But…he had seen her this way every Friday for the past few months and enjoyed it. There was no talking himself out of how creepy that was.
"Yo, Soul!" He blinked at the voiced ringing in his ear. He had been in such a daze that he did not even realize his phone rang and his hand habitually answered it.
"Sup?" He grunted into the phone absent-mindedly. The ability to create full intelligible sentences had not returned to him yet.
"Man, you should come early today! They're giving out free food in front of the activity center. We're all getting together early today for games and grub! 'Cept Tsubaki, o' course. She's at lunch or something with Maka." Soul just barely made out what the azure-haired maniac on the phone was shouting at him. There was an overwhelming amount of noise pouring through the speaker of his cell.
"Who the hell is Maka?" The name sounded vaguely familiar, but he could not place it just yet.
"I don't know, at work or something," he bellowed back.
"What? No, not where… Who, retard!" After a short moment of random shouting, none of which sounded like Black Star was at all paying attention, Soul decided to leave the subject behind. "Nevermind. I don't know, man, I don't feel up for school today."
"What?! But, you always come on Friday. Don't be a downer! We've got babes that'll cheer you up fast!" He finished with an insane cackled that he was known for.
"But, I don't—"
"Shut UP and obey your GOD!" With that, the phone went silent. It was a relief to Soul's screaming ear that had been subjected to the racket.
Soul sighed and brushed a hand lazily through his hair. Black Star would not let him live it down if he stayed home when things seemed so lively. Especially when he demanded so adamantly . Tch. It actually bothered Soul a bit to be obeying the order when his friend had the nerve to call himself a God. He didn't want to encourage that behavior, nor did he want to give Black Star the pleasure of practically controlling him, but he also did not want to deal with upset Black star afterward. So, Soul bit back his resentment and changed to go out. Even though he had class in a few hours, he ignored his backpack and books and walked out with merely his keys, wallet and clothes on his back. All in all, it was nothing too out of the ordinary.
The raven haired beauty held her cell phone nearly a foot away from her head as a roar of sound thundered out of it. The blond sitting across from her could not hold back her snicker. This was typical Black Star. She wondered if he would ever change. How Tsubaki put up with him for so long, she could never understand. Black Star was wild, rambunctious, and full of himself. Yet… yet she never spoke badly of him. She was always so happy to be by his side as if there was something that only she knew about him. A side to the wild child that only Tsubaki was privy to.
Maka was admittedly a little jealous. She had tried dating, but she never seemed to get along with anyone the way Tsubaki managed to with Black Star. Then again, Maka was not the type to simply bend to her partner's every whim. It worked for Tsubaki, but it would never work for Maka. She was far too stubborn and independent for men. Perhaps they were intimidated by her confidence. Maybe she pushed them away unintentionally. Either way, she did not need them.
In the end, all men were the same. Even if she found someone who cared for her looks and/or personality, he would lose interest eventually just like her Papa lost interest in her mother. To this day he still cries and denies it when she accuses him of not loving her mother, but Maka was convinced he only did it to earn respect from her. He just did not realize that he was doing it wrong. Continuing to see countless frivolous women was no way to prove one's love to her or her mother.
However, Black Star may have been boisterous and occasionally made lewd comments about tits or asses, but he had always been faithful to Tsubaki. They were one of those fairy tale stories that simply do not exist. It still baffled Maka that their relationship had been so smooth. It was Maka's sophomore year and Tsubaki's senior year in high school when she first started hanging around him, and Maka was certain that something terrible was going to happen. He was going to get carried away, or break her heart by losing interest and finding physical entertainment elsewhere. But, no. Though he displayed an appreciation for the female form from time to time, it always wound up coming back to how Tsubaki defeated them all. Even when he is on a rampage, Tsubaki was the one thing he could do no harm toward. In some chaotic way, those two just fit.
"B-ut, I—" Maka could only assume Black Star was interrupting her, because she could not get finish sentence before pausing. "I promised to – Black Star… I… I can try, but I don't think she… Yes, okay… We'll see."
"WE'LL SEE!?" buzzed that familiar voice, echoing throughout the quiet café.
"What does he want?" Maka prodded, but Tsubaki was too occupied with listening to Black Star boast about how much fun they were having to answer her.
Tsubaki smiled weakly. "Okay, I will try." At long last, Black Star gave his girlfriend a break and hung up. Maka had only gotten a vague gist of what had been going on from the shrilly shouting she could make out. Black Star wanted Tsubaki to go somewhere, likely to where he was, but she was reluctant because she had promised to have lunch with her best friend. Maka was touched that Tsubaki at least tried to resist his call for her. Ultimately, she was bound to crack under the enormous pressure that was Black Star.
Maka waited patiently and nibbled on her pastry as Tsubaki stored away her phone and prepared herself for delivering an explanation. "Maka…" Maka only nodded that she was listening as she went for another bite. "Would you like to accompany me to campus? Black Star and other friends are having a sort of early party and he wants us to come."
"You mean he wants you to come."
Tsubaki frowned at Maka's negativity, but she could not deny it. They were anything but enemies, but Black Star and Maka never truly made friends. "Please, Maka. I was really looking forward to spending time with you today. It would make me happy if you would come." She seemed so sincere, it was impossible for her to say no to that face. No wonder Black Star was so faithful. Imagining pain on that beautiful face was too much to bear.
"Fine..." she grumbled quietly before forcing a smile. "I'm off early today. Why not?"
Tsubaki's smile brightened and it warmed Maka's heart like no one else could. It truly had been a while since they got to see one another.
They were fast friends after Tsubaki moved in from Japan, even though they were two years apart. Black Star was in Maka's class, but did not make many real friends to speak of for the longest time. The only person she had seen him with was the slouching white-haired boy with a toothy grin; a boy that Maka could not think of without at least a small amount of bitterness.
It was not until that fateful day when Black Star was giving the same speech he occasionally forced everyone to hear at lunch. The adults at this point had given up trying to stop him. He did not harm much. It was a storm that was best to simply wait out. Everyone pretty much just ignored him and moved on with their lives. The first time he did it after Tsubaki arrived, though, he finally got the attention he desired. He was laughing maniacally when he heard the sound of feint clapping. When he gazed upon his audience, he found her smiling sweetly and clapping softly. Maka was not far behind, hanging her head almost shamefully. She had feared what horrible things might happen from Tsubaki giving Black Star positive attention.
It is only retrospect that Maka could really be proud of Tsubaki for what she had done that day. Such an attractive girl like her showing interest in someone like Black Star made him almost instantly seem more appealing to others. Gradually his friend group expanded, but his rowdiness did not change at all. Even after he graduated and enrolled in the same college that Tsubaki attended, he remained the same boisterous caricature. Of course, Maka had graduated a year early, so she did could not account for a year of his behavior.
It was only through resisting Black Star's nonsense that Maka managed to maintain such good grades and land such a great job. She only needed a few more classes in order to graduate, which she attended on Tuesdays and Thursday afternoons. She was grateful that her job allowed her to take time away for school like that. They actually encouraged her to finish her degree while she worked, though they did not require it. They had chosen her for the outstanding recommendations they had received for her. She only worked there for five months and she had already been promoted. Part of her felt like she should regret being so busy all the time, but she liked it. If only it did not keep her from seeing her best friend.
Maka blinked out of her daydream when Tsubaki threw cash in the middle of the table and took a final sip from her drink. "We should go now. Black Star won't be happy if we show up too late."