"I know I told you we weren't visiting any other people today, but if you want we could stop in at Bagel Carpentry and grab something to drink. I'll do all the talking for you if you want. It's just my uncle and cousin, I'm sure they won't try to bother you…well Luke might, he's my cousin, but other than that you'll be left alone. What do you say?"
Bo smiled down at Akari, watching her think it over. His smile slightly fell when he saw worry flash across her face. They were just rounding the corner, passing the blacksmith's shop.
"Akari," Bo stopped walking and placed his hands on Akari's shoulders, making her face him, "If you don't want to go in, we really don't have to. I hate seeing you all nervous and upset and it's just not worth going in to get some drinks if it's just going to upset you."
Akari couldn't look him in the eye. She knew she was being ridiculous. How could a few people frighten her so badly? It's not like they were mean and she was sure Bo's family wasn't that way either. She hated making a fool of herself, absolutely hated it…
"Akari…?" Bo was worried now. She could sense it in his voice…she didn't want to worry him with such a fickle matter as this.
Akari lifted her gaze from the ground and put on a big smile, obviously fake, but a smile nonetheless.
"What are you talking about?! Of course I want to go in! I'm not nervous anymore, I'm fine, REALLY! C'mon let's go!"
Akari grabbed Bo's arm and began to march toward the carpentry shop, head held high and a smile plastered across her face. Bo stumbled after her, wondering why she was suddenly acting this way.
With Bo right behind her, Akari reached for the doorknob to the Bagel Carpentry. Her heart was going a million miles a minute, but she wasn't going to let Bo know how scared she really was. She could do this. She could definitely do this.
As she opened the door, a blast of sawdust hit Akari square in the face. There were two huge gasps, only one Akari could identify as Bo's.
"Oh my Goddess I am so sorry I was finishing this chair for the mayor and a gust of wind came through the window and oh my Goddess are you ok did it get in your eyes can you see oh my goddess you could be BLIND now and IT WOULD BE ALL MY FAULT CRAP CRAP CRAP I AM SO SORRY!!!"
Akari spit out bits of sawdust and turned her head to where the voice was coming from. She squinted through the thin layer of sawdust on her face to see an outline of a tall blue haired boy. Akari felt a cloth being pressed into her hand and a small exasperated sigh that could only belong to Bo.
Akari carefully wiped the sawdust off her face and opened her eyes to find a pair of inhuman yellow-gold eyes staring directly into hers, only inches away.
"EEEEP!!!" Akari squealed and immediately covered her mouth with her hand. She had never seen such frightening eyes in her life and it had taken her a second to figure out that they didn't belong to a monster as she had originally imagined.
The blue haired boy jumped back at her sudden outburst and fell into a chair. The chair then tipped over backwards and the boy ended up in a heap on the floor, a few muffled groans audible from behind the chair.
Akari's eyes became even wider and she clamped her other hand over her mouth. She hurriedly followed Bo over to where the monster-eyed boy lay. Bo helped him into a sitting position, the boy now rubbing the back of his head with his face scrunched as if in pain.
"I-I'm so sorry…" was all Akari could mutter, now embarrassed beyond imagine. The boy looked up at her with those golden monster-like (Akari now realized they were more cat-like than monster) eyes and flashed an unexpected smile.
"It's no problem, happens all the time." The boy picked himself off the floor and dusted off some sawdust from his jeans. "Why'd you scream like that though? It's like you saw a ghost or something…scared the crap out of me!"
His eyes locked with hers and chills ran down her spine. She knew he wasn't a monster but his eyes still had a hypnotizing effect. They were so piercing…so intimidating…
Bo nudged her with his arm and she immediately came out of her trance-like state. "Oh, I…I wasn't expecting anyone to be that close to my face." She shifted her eyes to the floor so as not to be caught by those eyes. "It scared me…I'm sorry I didn't mean to scream. Are you alright?"
The boy continued to dust himself off and readjust his bandana. "Hmm…everything seems to be fine. Don't worry about it I fall all the time. That was nothing compared to normal, right Boo-bear?"
Bo glared at the blue haired boy as Akari burst out laughing. "Buh-buh-BOO-BEAR?! HAHAHAHAHHA!!! THAT'S SO ADORA-BUH-HUH-HLE!! HAHAHAHA!! BOO-BEAR!!"
"…I hate you, Luke…"
"BOOOOOO-BEARRR!!! AHAHAHA!"
Luke smiled an easy, innocent smile at Bo and shrugged his shoulders as Akari finally started to calm down. "I can't help that you've never told…uh, wow I'm sorry what's your name?"
Akari wiped a few tears of laughter from her eyes as she continued to openly smile. Bo…Boo-Bear…hahaha! "My name's Akari, the new farmer. Well, not really new, considering I've been here for a little more than a week."
Akari looked up to find Luke smiling at her, his eyes sparkling. Oh Goddess, not the eyes…
"So you're the girl Boo-Bear's been mentioning all week!" (Akari's attention was drawn away from his eyes as she went into a small fit of giggles when she heard him say "Boo-Bear" again.)
"Yessir, that'd be me. I've been so busy with my farm I haven't been able to get out and meet people. Bo's the only one who comes to visit poor little ol' me and my farm of rebellious, hateful animals."
Luke continued to smile and shook his head. "I'm sure they don't hate you!" Akari rolled her eyes and smiled. "You'd be surprised. My horse is out to make my life miserable."
Bo smiled at the fact that Akari was talking to his cousin without so much as a twitch or sign of awkward rambling. He walked into the kitchen and poured three glasses of lemonade.
He put them all on a tray and came out into the main carpentry area to find Akari in a fit of giggles and Luke laughing his booming, yet lighthearted, laugh.
When Akari saw Bo walking in, she immediately started guffawing and fell to the floor. Bo looked over to Luke and gave him a glare. "What else have you said about me?"
Akari hiccupped over a laugh. "A SQUIRREL SCARED YOU UP A TREE HAHAHAHAHA!!"
"He also got stuck in the tree because his pants got caught on a branch. Poor Boo-Bear had to slip out of them and run back home in his tighty whities. Maya saw him and started screaming bloody murder, attracting the attention of EVERYONE at the festival. It was priceless." Luke finished as Akari scrunched into a ball on the floor, holding her sides and laughing up at Bo.
Bo turned bright pink, not sure what to do with himself. Why was Luke embarrassing him like this? There were so many things Bo could say to embarrass Luke, too many to count.
"Ha. It was so funny. Here's some lemonade if you can calm down enough to drink it." Bo pushed the tray onto the counter and thrust his hands into his pockets. Why'd he always have to be the good guy?
Akari realized Bo was actually upset and got up from the floor, wiping the tears away from her eyes. "Aw, I'm sorry Bo. Don't be mad!" Akari smiled sweetly at him and threw her arms around his neck.
Bo stiffened a little and turned red at this obviously-nothing-more-than-friendly gesture. Luke took Bo's redness the wrong way and ruffled his blonde hair. "C'mon Bo, there's no need to be angry at the pretty little lady. I was just telling her stories to get her to smile. Apparently stories of you are funnier than I thought!"
Akari giggled a little and immediately covered her mouth. Luke beamed, his gold eyes twinkling. Bo frowned a little at the attention he was getting. He shook it off and smiled, shrugging his shoulders.
"Alright, alright I'm not mad! Stop messing up my hair, Luke! It doesn't need your help. And Giggles, I'd like to breathe properly now, thanks."
Akari and Luke both let go and laughed, Bo smiling at the two of them. Bo had done his job; Akari had made another friend.
