Chapter Two
By the end of the day Roxas was mentally exhausted, mostly because he was looking over his shoulder ever two minutes to see if Axel was following him again. Seriously, he barely knew the guy and that only added to the suspense building inside him every time he turned a corner in the corridor. It was like he was just expecting to bump into him again.
He didn't want to tell the gang about their little incidence, either. That would just give them all another reason to call him gay again, and being accused once was already too many times in a lifetime for him. Still, the thought of not telling them was just as equally bad, because he knew he'd only get grief for it if he didn't.
For now he decided not to say anything. Chances are that Axel was just playing around with him, probably because he assumed that he was gay just like everyone else. He clenched his fists at his sides as he strode out of the entrance doors, barring his teeth - he was certainly not gay.
Not gay at all.
Idiots. Ah, speaking of which, Hayner, Pence and Olette were stood by the wall in their usual spot, waiting for him. They waved him over when they saw him and he grinned, immediately relived. But there was still that ebbing thought of telling them about the strange transfer students.
"Ready to go?" Olette asked, pushing herself off the wall.
"Where's Sora?" Roxas asked, glancing around in search of the energetic boy in question.
Pence's eyes widened for a moment. "Oh, he's-"
There was a sudden hard impact on his back, like ten huge sandbags hand been launched onto him, weighing him down. He toppled over, wobbling on his legs as he struggled to uphold the newly applied weight.
"-right on top of you," Pence finished lamely.
As if on cue, Sora burst into a large fit of giggles, wrapping his hands around Roxas' neck as he held onto his legs circling around his waist. "Hey there, Rox! I missed you at dinner."
Strained under his twin's elephant-equivalent weight, he managed to say, "I don't know how I missed your fat ass. Now get off."
Obliging, Sora hopped off, reappearing in front of him with a huge grin on his face. Roxas straightened up and he was sure he heard his back cracking as he bent it back into shape, stretching a little. Riku chuckled at him.
"Where'd you go?" Sora asked, still grinning like an idiot.
"Library," Roxas shrugged.
"Bookworm," Riku teased.
"Ignoramus," he shot back, irritated. Riku opened his mouth to say something, but he got their first. "Don't even say it!"
Riku just laughed at him, knowing full well what he meant. Most likely he would've accused him of being a 'Nancy-boy' again and Roxas would've proven exactly just how much of a 'Nancy-boy' he wasn't.
"Say what?"
His expression hardened and Riku just smiled. "Shut up."
Kairi's hands suddenly shot between them, acting as a wall. "Guys, cool it."
Roxas glared coldly at Riku's smirking face for a few moments before turning his gaze towards the horde of students filing out of the school. He scanned the area, smiling at a few familiar faces for the sake of being polite, but there was a taut underlining edge to his gesture, a result of knowing that they all probably thought the same as his so-called friends. Yeah, they all probably thought he was gay. Eugh, the thought of it made his stomach churn.
"Anyway, we all know the real reason Roxas' is always up in the library," Hayner said playfully, nudging Roxas' shoulder.
He shot him a funny look. "Oh and what's that?"
"Lets just say it involves a certain cute blonde girl," Hayner answered, waggling his brows roguishly.
Oh no, please don't look at me like that. It's bad enough as it is. Even though some of it might be a little true, but -
He felt his cheeks growing hot and held his hands out in defence. "Hold it right there! You got it all wrong - she's-"
"Namine!" Sora cut in, surprised. He turned to look at his brother, eyebrows rose. "Namine."
- too much of a friend.
"Well - yeah, but it's not like Hayner's saying. She's a friend."
Sora didn't look convinced and neither did anyone else, who were all looking at him with a mixture of surprised and knowing expressions. He just wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole, right there and then. Instead, Olette gave his cheeks a little pinch, grinning.
"Roxas, you sly dog! How could you not tell me?" Her green eyes were really tantalising up close, sparkling like pretty green gems, almost hypnotising you. But presently he was really annoyed with her right now, so he turned his head away.
"There's nothing to tell!" he snapped with great irritation, rubbing his victim cheek.
"That's why you kept going up there," Olette, continued, assaulting his cheek again.
"But didn't she go off to Art School or something?" Pence asked, stuffing his face with a chocolate bar.
Roxas nodded. "Last year."
Hayner shook his head, laughing. "And you still go up there? Dude, you got it bad!"
His jaw dropped. "Like hell I do!"
"You're right," Kairi answered seriously. Then she leaned closer to him, with a strange gleam in her eyes that made Roxas really uncomfortable. She looked… evil. "Namine's not man enough for you, is she?"
A loud barrel of laughter erupted from the gang and he just scowled at the whole lot of them, seemingly adding to their joy. Why did they insist on making out as though he was gay all the time? Eugh! He'd had it up to here with all this bull and he was tired of it.
"Ha. Ha," he drawled dryly, folding his arms across his chest.
"Awe, c'mon, Rox," Sora cooed, slinging an arm around his shoulders. Roxas shrugged it off, but Sora just did it again. "It's just a joke."
"Sure. Whatever," Roxas said coldly, still looking away like a grumpy five-year-old kid not getting his own way.
"You wanna ask Cloud for a ride?" Sora asked suddenly, sparking Roxas' attention.
He looked at him briefly, with a look that clearly said 'are you stupid, or what?'. "No thank you, I'd rather not make my life more miserable than it already is."
"Oh gee, thanks," Hayner said with mock bitterness, folding his arms over his camouflage top.
Roxas rolled his eyes, looking away again. He suddenly wished he hadn't, because the moment he did, he was faced with a pair of very, very green eyes. He hadn't done it deliberately; though he thought the fates were somehow messing with him. Axel seemed pretty pleased about it, because he offered a small wave before hopping into the passenger seat of What-His-Face's car. Demitri… Demer… Demyx. That was it. That confident smirk was enough to want to make Roxas run fast in the opposite direction, to put as much distance between them as possible.
One the other hand, even if he did somehow manage to do that, the feeling of success wouldn't last for very long. Axel would probably stalk him sooner or later. Ass.
"Erm," he said somewhat nervously. "Yeah, let's go and get a ride off Cloud."
Confused, Sora frowned. "But you just said-"
"I know," he interjected rudely, sparing an anxious glance at the red-head. "But I suddenly feel really sick."
"Okay…"
…
Hitching a ride from Cloud was the best possible decision Roxas had made all day. For one, he managed to escape the teasing claws of his 'friends', allowing him time to regain the small amount of sanity he had left - which was pretty small, considering that days went by exactly like that everyday. Not that it bothered him, he loved his friends - ripping him to shreds was how they showed him their undying affection.
Two, it had started to rain. And Roxas hated rain. He hated the way it felt, sliding down his skin, making his clothes stick to him like another layer of flesh (and a heavy one at that).
And last, but certainly not least, he had escaped his new stalker. Of course he had only just met him today, but he had made a huge impact on him. He had stained his boring, bland existence with his rather - eh - colourful personality. If the world was made of many Axel's he bet there'd never be a dull moment.
Oh dear, and here he was already fixated on someone he barely knew. He couldn't even consider him an acquaintance, yet all throughout the day since their 'meeting', he'd been stuck on his mind. He wasn't sure whether it was his outlandish looks, or his downright bizarre personality, but the fact was he just couldn't get him out of his head for one second to even think straight.
He groaned, flopping like a dead fish onto his bed, gripping the bed sheets with his fists. He bet it had something to do with his friends constant accusations, baffling his head. He was probably trying to ignore their taunts so much that he was concentrating on something else pretty hard in order to forget, but he could still hear their joyous voices echoing in his mind. True, it was all in good nature, but no-one really likes being accused of something they're not.
Rolling over, he rested his arms behind his head. The phone was ringing downstairs and he heard Cloud yelling that 'he'd get it'. Cloud had been living with them for about three months now and already he acted like he owned the place. That pissed him off; he could live life perfectly fine without him disrupting his house, because in fact, it was his house. He had always been the 'man of the house' - mostly due to the fact that Sora was too incompetent to take on that role - and he always would be, no matter who or what walked into it.
"Roxas!" Cloud called out from downstairs. "A young lady is on the phone for you."
He winced at the sickeningly sweet tone in his voice as he mentioned the words 'young lady'. What did he know?
"Got it!" he yelled back, rolling onto his side and grabbing the phone off his bedside table.
"Hello?" he said in a bored tone.
"Your dad is pretty funny," the all-too-familiar voice of Namine answered. "He seems to think that I'm you girlfriend no matter what I tell him."
Groaning again, he threw his arm over his eyes. "I'm sorry."
She laughed, a tinkling sound that made his smile. "I don't mind. It's not exactly ridiculous, is it. I mean, we are close."
"That's exactly why I'm avoiding bringing you over here," Roxas said, imagining Jane's reaction to seeing her. Most likely she'd bring out her wedding planner and baby photo's. "It's a recipe for a disaster, I just know it."
"Don't be silly," came her reply. He could almost see the smile on her face. "It's not that bad. Besides, I wouldn't mind meeting your family. And your Dad - I mean - Cloud seems nice, too-"
"He's not," he cut in, frowning into his arm.
"I'm not going to pressure you, though," Namine continued, ignoring his comment. "You must be under a lot of stress as it is and I know that you don't really like Cloud, but you'll get used to him. He's not there to replace anyone."
He sighed, his voice suddenly gentle and soft. "I don't think I can, you know. Dad's gone forever now… and I know that he's not replacing him…" He paused, pulling himself into a sitting position, eyes gazing up at the ceiling.
The mere thought of his Dad cut him like a knife. He missed he him so much sometimes that it hurt, mostly because he was always the one that he'd go to every time he had a problem. They did everything together. And obviously it affected Sora, too, but he was always a Mummies boy from the start. Jane was a little depressed about it, but she and his dad had split when he was just a three, so any lingering feeling she had of him were only measurable to friendship. When he died, she never spoke of him.
It was like he didn't exist anymore… Then Cloud came along and - his fists clenched - started getting all chummy with her and -
"It'll be okay," Namine assured him softly. "Things always work out. Especially when there are times when you feel like nothing else could go wrong."
A small smile tweaked at his lips, and he pressed his ear closer to the phone. "Hey, I love you, you know."
There was no pause on the other line, but for a moment he could just hear her breathing steadily. "I know," she admitted brightly. "I love you, too. But you know that already."
"I still like hearing it, though."
She sighed slightly and Roxas could hear the sound of a bed springs clanging as she sat on her bed. "And I'm always going to be here for you because I've always promised you I would. I've kept that promise, though, right? I still phone you every night even though I'm at Art School."
"I'm sorry," Roxas said, cringing slightly. "I'm going to have to pay half of your phone bill."
She laughed again. "Silly, you're worth it."
He was grinning now. "I went to the library again today." He paused, just to see whether she'd scold him again. When she didn't, he continued, "It's strange without you there. Sometimes I forget you're gone, you know."
"You're going to make yourself sick if you carry on like that."
He chuckled. "I just miss your company, I guess."
"You know I miss you, too. And - oh - we're on a break next week. I can come and stop by…"
His heart did a little flip-flop. He hadn't seem Namine in little less that six months because she had too much coursework to catch up on and she lived in London with her parents, who had to move to allow her to go there. That was like a three hour journey from where he lived. Finally, he had the chance to see her, but…
"You want to stay here?" he asked. "In this mad house?"
"If you're there, I'm sure that I'll be fine. Besides, it'll be nice to see everyone again. Don't worry about the money, either; mum and dad will pay for everything."
"Hmm," he ground out, laying down again, one hand behind his head. "How long?"
"A week?" she wondered aloud, her voice a little hopeful. "I have two weeks off, so…"
Roxas scratched his head. "Er…"
"Sure you can come, Namine!" A sudden unexpected voice sounded from another line. Sora had picked up the phone. "You can even sleep in my room. I'll sleep with Roxas, unless you'd rather-"
"Sora! Shut the hell up!" Roxas snapped, blushing furiously.
Namine was laughing. "Thanks, Sora."
"See, Roxas? All sorted. I've even asked mum," Sora was saying.
Roxas clenched his fist. "Get off the phone before I come down there and beat your ass into next week!"
That only made Namine laugh even harder and Sora joined her, but Roxas was too annoyed to take notice of that. It just made him angrier.
"It's okay, Roxas," Namine laughed. "I don't mind, really."
"Yeah, Roxas," Sora chimed, a playful tone in his voice. "Don't you want to see your girlfriend again?"
"Oh, that's rich coming from someone who can't even ask the girl he likes to go out with him!" Roxas shot back irritably.
That shut Sora up. "Ass!" he said, before hanging up.
All he could hear now was the sound of Namine still giggling at their behaviour. It calmed him down a little bit, but he could hear Sora whining to Jane below, who would most likely just drink up anything he said.
"You two are so funny," she announced, muffling her laugh. "But I guess he still hasn't told Kairi yet."
"Not even close," Roxas sighed, settling down into his covers. His eyes closed.
"Maybe they just need a little push," she told him with hidden amusement.
He couldn't help the grin that slid onto his lips. "You mean a big push. Sora's too dumb to see that even she likes him. They're both so stupid."
He could almost see Namine rolling her eyes at him. "Some people need a little help."
"What are you planning?"
"Nothing yet. I'll see what happens when I get there."
He opened his eyes. "When are you coming?"
"Next week, I suppose, seeing as Sora's already asked. You better make sure, though." The sound of a door opening, followed by loud, abrupt giggling. "Ah, Selphie!"
His brows furrowed - Selphie? Was that her roommate?
"Well, I have to go now, Roxas," she said suddenly. "My roommates just walked in. I'll call you tomorrow to go over details about next week."
He sighed wistfully. "Okay, then."
"See you, Roxas."
"Bye."
"Take care."
"I love you."
There was a pause, followed by a small sigh. "I love you, too."
He waited for her to hang up first and then placed the phone back on his bedside table, a little relived. So Namine would be coming to stay over next week for a whole week. He smiled to himself, mulling over all the things that they could do whilst she was staying over. And then it hit him: staying over meant that she'd be meeting his parents, who thought she was his girlfriend.
He was screwed.
