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A Partridge in a Pear Tree
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"Go on a what?"
"A picnic."
Kunthan's silvery-green eyes darted in the direction of the window to ensure that yes, indeed, snow rested on every exposed surface, from the tree boughs to the mailbox. His gaze then returned to look uncertainly at his best friend. He was up for giving Zane the benefit of the doubt, but had this Ami business driven him completely...
"I'm not crazy, Kunthan. Unless crazy in love counts."
His friend blinked. "That was obscenely corny, if you don't mind my saying."
Kunthan would never discover if Zane did mind, because the blonde pointedly ignored the comment. "You didn't answer my question."
"Go on a picnic?"
"That's what I said."
"Mm. I hoped it was my imagination. When you say picnic, do you mean outside?"
"In a sense."
Cautiously, Kunthan asked: "When?"
"Monday afternoon at around one."
Kunthan frowned. "Who else is going?"
"Me, Mamoru, Usagi, and..."
"Ami."
"Possibly."
"Don't give me that. This is about her."
"Possibly."
Kunthan sighed. "Alright. So you need me to do something."
"Possibly."
"Do you have some elaborate plan?"
"Well..."
Kunthan raised his eyebrows. "Not yet? Well that's a surprise."
"I'm working on it."
"Famous last words, my friend. Where is this doomed Christmas picnic taking place?"
Zane grinned. "That's where you come in."
---
Ami stared at the floor hard, hoping for it to swallow her up so she wouldn't have to meet the hurt, confused look on her roommate's face.
"Ami, you're not serious?"
She tilted her chin up a little defiantly. "I'd been planning to do it in the summer, but with my mother gone out of the country on her Doctors Without Borders project for the next few
months, I think it would be better to do it this semester."
"But Ami, study abroad? For five months?"
She nodded.
"Isn't it too late to apply for all that? Housing and whatnot?" Usagi asked hopefully. Ami was the only one of their "inseparable" group of five attending University with Usagi, their other
friends having gone out of town for their college educations. And although she had plenty of friends remaining, to lose Ami for a whole semester without warning was upsetting, to say the least.
Ami shook her head. "They had a girl drop out of the program, so it was actually the University that approached me about it last week."
"And you said yes?"
She nodded again. "I gave it a lot of thought, of course." And she had. "But yes, it's all confirmed."
"But..." A marked crease had appeared between Usagi's brows. In a softer voice, she said: "Ami, you can't run away from this."
Her friend's lips pursed up. "I know. I'm not running away, but I feel like I need to get away and do things that are important to me. Regain perspective, you know?"
The blonde nodded slowly. She then squeezed the small hand that rested on her desk top. "Your friends are important, too."
"Of course they are," Ami asserted. "You and the other girls mean everything to me, Usagi. And I'm so sorry to spring this on you. But though it was a kind of rash thing to do, I think it's best," she said in a vague tone meant to comfort herself more than it was meant to comfort Usagi.
Usagi lowered her gaze and they were both quiet for a few minutes. Finally, she said: "I'll miss you a lot." She hugged her roommate close and Ami smiled slightly, sadly.
"I'll miss you, too, Usagi."
The blonde pulled away and asked the question remaining. "When do you leave?"
"January sixth."
---
"I hope you realize just how much trouble I could get in for this."
"Kunthan, I'm doing you a favor. You need some excitement in your life."
"Breaking and entering is not my idea of excitement."
Zane shook his head. "You closeted, sheltered man. But what do you mean breaking and entering? I thought you had the key."
"Which I had to steal, thank you very much. Here you go." He lay it in Zane's palm grudgingly.
"Thanks. Well, let's get to it. Merry Christmas!" Zane cheerfully said in greeting to Mamoru and Usagi. Mamoru responded in kind, but Usagi only smiled wanly. The two had just pulled into one of the University's parking lots. "Ready for our Christmas picnic?"
Mamoru blinked several times. "You were serious?"
"Dead serious. Where's Ami?" he asked pseudo-nonchalantly.
"She's on her way," Mamoru assured him. "But, uh, there's something I need to talk to you about, Zane..." He steeled his shoulders as if preparing to inform Zane of the untimely passing of his beloved pet cat.
He drew his friend aside, leaving Usagi and Kunthan alone. The two fidgeted somewhat uncomfortably, both knowing very well what Zane was about to learn, Usagi having told Mamoru while Kunthan was present.
The projected response came quickly.
"WHAT?" Usagi and Kunthan winced and saw that Mamoru had leapt back a few feet. "Are you joking?"
As if she'd timed it, Ami pulled up in her gleaming blue car just then, to be met with the scene of Zane frantically waving his arms like a lunatic. She stepped out of the car carefully only to have Zane rush over. "Is it true?"
It was the first time they'd met since the failed kiss, but clearly he had gotten over the awkwardness. She, however, had not. "I..."
"Ami, are you seriously going to Australia for the whole semester? I thought you were going in the summer!"
"I-I was. But I'm not anymore," was her wordy response. Without further ado, Zane grabbed her by the elbow and began forcibly dragging her away. She was so shocked by this treatment that she didn't even occur to her to resist. She would have been grateful to see Usagi, who was preparing to practically tackle Zane, but Mamoru restrained her. "Hold on, Usako."
"Zane, what are you doing?"
"Come with me."
"I don't really have a choice," Ami murmured to herself.
He wound his way through brick and stone buildings, made even more imposing in their cloaks of snow and ice. The grey-tinted sunshine illuminated their final destination, which stood in marked contrast to its surroundings.
"The greenhouse?"
"The greenhouse."
"But I thought no one was allowed..."
"For matters like these, I find ways," he said shortly. He pulled the key out of his pocket and Ami stared. "This is where we're having our picnic." He rounded on her. "Ami, is there no way for you to back out of this study abroad thing?"
"I...well it's confirmed already...besides," she said, bristling, "why would I? It's good timing, and I see no reason NOT to go."
Zane closed his eyes to regain his patience. "Ami, is there any way to back out of it?"
"I...I don't know, maybe," she admitted, her honesty getting the best of her.
"Will you?"
She couldn't help frowning icily. "Excuse me? Why?"
"Because..."
She refused to allow herself to look up with wide, expectant eyes. What was there to be expectant of anyway?
"Come with me." He took hold of her gloved hand again just as forcefully as before.
But some stubborn impulse in her caused her to immediately slip her hand right out of the grasp. Zane paused for a second, met her eyes, then looked away.
"I guess I deserved that," he said under his breath so that she wasn't sure she'd heard correctly. He continued moving forward and her curiosity and half-shame pushed her to follow him.
The university's greenhouse was home to over 100 different plant varieties. Though snow and ice painted its glass walls, inside orange and green warmth was fused into every space. Birches, tulips, sage, grapes, it was a veritable Garden of Eden.
Zane had wanted so much to share it with her, but it didn't feel as if that were happening. She stood a little away from him, waiting impassively for this big reveal, this surprise that, he thought depressedly, would probably do nothing but confuse her.
Still, he beckoned her towards one tree in particular and whatever bitterness she may have been feeling, she complied and followed him to the pear tree.
"This is your first present." He indicated something on one of the bright green tree's lower branches.
Ami slowly reached a hand up, as if frightened the gift would bite her hand off. She pulled it down finally and in her hand lay a carved wooden bird.
"Merry Christmas," Zane quipped with a small smile.
She returned the smile, but truth be told, her thoughts were probably not quite what Zane had hoped for.
What the hell...?
.