Soul and Cody watched in horror as Maka scribble all four of our names on small slips of paper and toss them in one of my old beanie hats, and me retrieve two boxes of strawberry pocky from the snack cabinet. Smiling, we sat back down in front of them. I reassured them one box was purely for snacking, and the other was for the game. Maka mixed up the papers, held the hat out to them. They each looked inside, peeking a little, grabbed a slip, and nervously read it over. They showed each other the papers, and seemed a little happy.

"Maka, you have to play the Pocky Game, round one," Soul announced.

"And playing the Pocky Game with you is Hiiro," Cody added.

My stomach tensed up. And of course that's why they were so smiley. Two girls, kind of kissing. Guys are so perverted. Maka got out a piece of the candy from the box, and held it up. I took one end in my mouth, and she took the other. We held each other's elbows. The boys watched with anticipation. One bite. Another bite. And then another. Last bite. Only an inch of space remained. One. More. Bite.

Her lips were soft against mine, and I felt a tingle go down my spine. I'm still not sure if it was good or bad. I wanted to pull away, but I didn't. I was very competitive and there was no way I would lose. A few seconds passed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cody drooling, and Soul's nose gushing. He better clean that up, I thought to myself. Finally, I pulled away just as Maka did. I wiped my mouth gently and glared at the boys. Maka did the same and snatched the papers from their hands. She dropped them back in the hat and shuffled them around. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. But I'd never do it again. Voluntarily.

The Next Day

A note lay on the bodiless air mattress where Maka should have been. 'Morning, Hiiro! I went out to find the library and get some books. I'll meet you at your shop later. –Maka.' I smiled. You can take the girl out of the nerd, but you can't take the nerd out of the girl. The alarm clock on my nightstand read 10:13. Cody would be at work by now, so that left Soul and I alone. Good thing he was a heavy sleeper!

I took my radio out to the kitchen and plugged it in on the counter. A CD that I made for myself was already in its slot. It had all my favorite songs on it. I cranked up the volume, and the bass was pulsing through my tiny apartment. I got out the ingredients for an omelet and a nonstick pan. "Tangled Up in Me" by Skye Sweetnum played next, and I sang along to the lyrics. I was so glad Soul was heavy sleeper right now, because I'm basically tone-deaf. It didn't really even matter if he heard me; the whole complex probably could, and let's be honest, I'm not trying to impress anyone.

When my cheesy omelet was done, I let my radio continue to play, but turned it down a little. As I ate, I nodded along to "Renegade" by Paramore. Soul appeared, leaning against the doorway to Cody's room. I smiled, swallowing a bite of egg. "Morning, Soul! Did I wake you up?"

"Kinda… you know, for a twenty-something year old, you have the energy of the same fourteen year old you used to be."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Mmmmmnn!"

"Real mature, Hiiro," he told me with a roll of his eyes.

"I tend to do that a lot, and I can be as immature as I want. Like you said, I'm a twenty-something year old and I can take care of myself."

I finished my breakfast and dropped my plate and fork in the sink. Soul watched as I went to my room to get dressed. When I came out, we was sitting at the table. I hurriedly tied my jacket around my hips, and went to brush my hair and teeth. Afterwards, I slipped on my Converse and bent down over myself. My hands slid over my hair, smoothing it out, before they wrapped a hair tie around the brunette locks. I pulled up and ran my fingers through the choppy ponytail. I cocked my hip and placed a hand on it. "Hey, unless you wanna stay here all day by yourself, I suggest you get dressed. I still have work to go to."

Soul got up and quickly got dressed. When he came out of Cody's room, he was still buttoning up his shirt. Then we left on foot. He may have been playing around, but Soul's motorcycle was actually needing to be fixed up a little. It was a good thing my shop wasn't too far. I dug my hands into the top pockets of my cargo capris. There was a little coffee shop on the way that I always went to before work, called Latte Love. I was considered a regular customer, on account of my everyday appearance and kind of friendship with the manager.

Soul's POV

The bell over the door jingled as Hiiro and I walked into the coffee shop. She sat on a stool at the counter and called for someone named Lucas. A man appeared, maybe twenty-seven, with longer dusty brown hair, and shining blue eyes. He smiled at Hiiro, and for some reason I felt my gut twist.

"Hiiro! Nice to see you again," Lucas said to her.

"Hey, you too. Lucas, this is my good friend, Soul. Soul, this is my friend Lucas. He runs the place," she introduced us.

I nodded and shook his hand. Something about him made me not want to trust this guy. "You want your regular?" he asked politely.

"Of course! Soul, you want anything?"

"Huh? Oh, no. I'm good."

Lucas left and came back a second later with a to-go coffee cup. It was marked with Hiiro's name in loopy letters. My gut twisted up even more. She smiled sweetly at him. "One mocha latte for my favorite customer," Lucas told her with a sweep of his hand.

"Why, thank you, sir."

I couldn't help but notice how their fingers touched when Hiiro took the cup. My heart thumped loudly a couple times. As we were about to leave, Lucas called her back. She grinned and turned to him. "Um… I was wondering," he swept a casual hand through his hair. "Would you—do you wanna… I dunno; maybe go on a—a date? With me…?"

A lump formed in my throat, and it felt like I had a cat clawing and shredding my heart and stomach. And it got worse when her purple eyes lit up and her smile widened, and then even more once she told him, "Yeah. I'd like that."

We left the shop and headed to her work. Hiiro was silent, but smiling widely still, as she sipped her stupid mocha latte. Suddenly she stopped, and looked at me. I stopped and looked at her. "Something wrong, Soul?"

"N-no. Why would something be wrong?"

"Well, you kinda look a little angry." I kept my mouth shut, and started walking again. Hiiro grabbed my arm and jogged up to my side. "I know something's wrong. Just tell me."

I sighed. "Well, it's just… Lucas… you're really going on a date with that guy?"

Her eyebrows knitted together. "Yeah. It's no big deal."

"I… I know but…"

Unexpectedly, she smirked at me. "Soul Evans. Are you jealous of Lucas?"

A shocked expression crossed my face. Why would I be jealous? I had absolutely no reason to be. She kissed me once, yeah. But that was nine years ago. And she's bound to have had boyfriends since then. And I've had a girlfriend or two. Hell, even Maka and I went out for a month before we realized it wasn't quite right. She and Cody probably dated for a little. Maybe. "No! I'm not jealous of him. It's just that; how well do you know this guy?"

She sipped her coffee and crossed her arms. "Pretty well, actually. God, you're acting like my father."

I crossed my arms, now. "I am not. You go on a date with Lucas, have fun with him. Why should I care who you date? I don't! You could even sleep with him, for all I care!"

Her jaw dropped, and I knew I hadn't chosen my words correctly. For a second I thought she'd slap me or hit me with her wrench. "Sleep with him? Holy shit, Soul. You think I'm that kind of girl?"

"No! I-"

"Whatever. I don't even care right now. Just go away. I have work to do. Go back to the apartments or something."

And she turned and walked away.