" 'Ey! Shuichi-san! Wait up!" I called to my redheaded friend. He stopped and turned to wait for me. I caught up to him and we continued walking.
"Did you want to ask me something, Tori-chan?" My friend asked in his calm, low voice.
"Yeah, uh, I was wondering if you, uh, wanted to come over to do homework?" I replied, my voice calm though the cracking of my knuckles gave away my nervousness. Shuichi, acting on instructions from my mom, slapped my hands so that I stopped ruining my knuckles. His hand lingered on mine for a millisecond longer then was needed before he answered,
"Yeah, sure Tori-chan." He smiled at me, using my nickname from when we were little, and I ducked my head before smiling back.
"Great! Let's go." We walked up the sidewalk to my house and through the front door to my room. We left our backpacks on the floor and went downstairs again to get milk and a snack before walking outside. We stopped right outside, looked at each other for a second, and then suddenly raced for the swings in my backyard.
"I get the middle swing!" I yelled and plopped down on my chosen swing.
"Hey! No fair!" Shuichi 'whined', "You got it last time!"
"So?" I looked up at him innocently.
"Fine then." He answered and sat on the other swing, pretending to sulk.
"You'd think that after…10 years, we'd get tired of 'arguing' over swings, but it never gets boring, does it?" I said.
"Yeah, I guess, but you're right, it doesn't get boring." He laughed and I started swing back and forth.
We finished the snack and went inside to start the homework. Since we were both A students, the work was reasonably simple and we soon finished. I moved from my place on the floor to a curled up position on my bed. Suddenly, I had an idea.
"Hey! Wanna go up on the roof again?" I offered. When we were younger, he and I had climbed up onto the roof to get away from my annoying parents.
"Good idea! Do you think the vines will hold us?" He answered.
"I hope so. There's only one way to find out." I said, and smiled. We got up and rushed outside to see if it would work. Luckily for us, the vines on the side of our house had grown stronger, "I'll go first." I said and Shuichi nodded. He laced his fingers together to make a foothold for me and I put my hand on his shoulder. I put my foot in his hands and pushed myself up. My hands reached the rooftop and I pushed up and crawled onto the roof. I crouched down and reached down to help Shuichi up.
We sat quietly for a while, watching the clouds pass. After a while, I rolled onto my stomach and Shuichi did the same. We ended up with shoulders touching, his face inches from mine. I blushed and sat up quickly. An uncomfortable silence followed and I stared down at my hands. That was idiotic! I thought. I realized that my heartbeat was much faster then usual, but I wasn't sure why.
I looked over at Shuichi, he looked a little confused too. I stood up and stretched 'accidentally' making a distance of a few feet between us. I sat down again, and we talked about school for a while, then lapsed into silence.
"I should probably go home." Shuichi said, finally.
"No! I mean, yeah, I guess so. You're mom's probably getting worried." I turned red at my outburst and looked down, letting my hair fall in front of my face so he wouldn't see my blush. I couldn't see Shuichi, but I heard him get up, his feet scraping on the roof-tiles.
Suddenly, a hand cam down and brushed my hair behind my ear. I looked up in surprise and saw Shuichi standing over me.
"You shouldn't keep your hair down like that, it hides your pretty face." He said.
"Th-thanks." I stuttered, smiling at him. He helped me up and we said goodbye easily now that the tension was broken. Shuichi climbed down and I watched him leave, still able to feel his hand on my ear. At the end of my street, he stopped and turned back to look up on the roof. I waved and he waved back.