We could all go down to Malibu and make some noise
Coca Cola doesn't do the justice she enjoys
We could all come up with something new to be destroyed
We could all go down
I love the feeling when it falls apart
I'm slow to finish but quick to start
And beneath the heather lies the meadowlark
And I'm
(Slow to finish but I'm quick to start)
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Desecration Smile
"Ryou, are you okay?" He looked up at Reiko with a forced smile. He must have thought he was doing a good job because he seemed shocked when she frowned at him. Her eyes betrayed her sadness and concern was etched into every feature of her face.
"I'm fine Rei, really love." He continued to shuffle his papers, adding random punctuation marks at even more random intervals. She narrowed her brown eyes at him, brushing her bangs out of her face. "Ryou Bakura, don't you lie to me. I can tell something is wrong with you."
He sighed, but didn't look up to meet her gaze and her heart clenched in her chest. Had she done something wrong? What could it have possibly been? She racked her brain for an answer while glancing at the standard issue school clock that hung above the whiteboard. There were still eighteen minutes before school ended and then she would be able to talk to Ryou.
She went through and listed the strange changes in him over the past three weeks. For starters, the day after their first sexual encounter, he had seemed flustered and overall one thousand times less confident than he had the night before. He was all blushes and fumbling hands when she had kissed him goodbye in his car that afternoon.
Then there was the case of him avoiding her after school, even after she had been ungrounded. He didn't want to come over and correct papers unless her parents were home. He didn't want to go out to the park or to the movies unless his or her friends were coming. He was basically avoiding any alone time that they could have had; any alone time that they could have used to … well, to relive their hormone-induced adventures of the night three weeks ago.
And then there were times when he looked at her and she could have sworn that it was another man's eyes in her beloved boyfriend's face. But that was just crazy talk.
She gave a frustrated sigh as she corrected the seventh spelling error on the article she was working on. Didn't anyone know how to use spell-check? Or know the difference between "weather" and "whether"?
Her gaze shifted over to Ryou again. He was still shuffling through the papers. Not actually writing or annotating or correcting, or anything that he was supposed to be doing in their sixth period journalism class. His face looked paler than usual, or maybe it was the fact that the circles under his eyes were looking darker and darker by the day. It looked like he hadn't slept in a long time.
That's when Reiko lost it and the insecurities started scraping at the back of her mind. What if Ryou really hadn't liked how she had … performed orally? She had tried her best; it was her first time doing anything of that nature with anyone. He hadn't seemed offended during the act (or after). Maybe he thought it was all a mistake. Maybe he was going to break up with her? Oh God, her first boyfriend and she was going to lose him in a matter of a few months. It was all enough to make her cry.
The car ride had been silent and straining, just like every car ride had been for the past three weeks. Ryou stared straight ahead at the road and did not reach over to hold her hand like he had done for what seemed like the entirety of their relationship. God, he was going to end it. She could feel it.
"Rei." Her name floated in the air and she jumped in her seat when he whispered it at the last street light before her neighborhood. Oh no, it's coming.
"Yeah, Ryou?"
"I had something I wanted to ask you," he said, stealing his first sideways glance at her in an eternity. She smiled, trying to encourage him to say whatever it was he wanted to say. No matter how much it would change her life.
He pulled up to the curb in front of her house and reached out to grab her hand after putting the car in park. "I know that I've been really out of it lately," he began. She nodded and leaned towards him, listening intently.
"Well, it's really not fair to you or to our relationship. I want you to know that I've not been doing this on purpose. I just have a lot of things on my mind lately." He was making direct eye contact with her and she could not look away. He saw the anxiety and the tightness of her eyes. He was making her unhappy; he could have killed himself.
"Look, I guess what I'm trying to say is …"
His words died on his lips when he saw the tears glistening in her eyes. When he went to speak again, one imperfect drop squiggled down her face and got caught at the bottom of her chin. Her lip was trembling and her eyes were turning red.
"I know, you don't want to be with me anymore."
"What? Reiko, no – that's not true at all love – " he stopped again to wipe away a tear from her cheek, noting for a moment that she was not a pretty crier and deciding in the same moment that it made her all the more beautiful that she wasn't.
She looked up at him, her eyes swimming in saline tears. Her pouted lips parted in confusion, "Then what do you mean?" Ryou leaned toward her in the passenger's seat, closing the large gap between them and planting a kiss on her lips.
It was the first kiss that he had given her so whole-heartedly in a long time.
"I just wanted to say that this should all be over in a few weeks," he searched her eyes. "I've got a few projects for other classes that I've been working on and I've still got some college applications to finish."
He gripped her hands tighter when he felt her grip waning. "I know that I've been neglecting you, but I wanted to thank you for being so supportive and being so concerned for me. And I wanted to ask you if you would go to Winter Formal with me?"
She was gaping at him now, her eyes less teary and her mouth was slowly turning into a smile, "Winter Formal?"
He cracked a sincere smile for the first time in weeks. "Yeah, you know. The dance that is hosted at the end of fall semester - you know, it's one of those things with dancing and dressing up."
She laughed at his sarcasm and the sound was like music to his ears. She hadn't laughed with him in days. "Yes, Ryou, I would love to go to Winter Formal with you!"
He reached across the center console of his car to embrace her tightly. He felt her relieved sigh on his neck as she melted into his arms. He felt so right in this moment; this was exactly the kind of thing that he wanted in his life now. He wanted to be done with worrying, done with causing harm to the people who cared for him. To the one girl who cared for him. The only one who seemed to care for him now anyway.
That was why he had agreed to Bakura's plan and in a couple weeks everything would be set into motion. He would sacrifice a few days of school. He had worked ahead and finished all of his final projects. He would go with Bakura to Egypt so that this would all be over. He would make sure that everything ended and he would come back home and enjoy his time with his girlfriend and he would have his life back.
"Oh, Ryou," Rei couldn't help moaning at his kisses and caresses. It had been so long since he had held her this way. It had been a week since Ryou had asked her to Winter Formal and she was so happy that everything had returned to normal between them. For the most part.
Ryou tried to be around more, and while the circles under his eyes seemed to be increasing in darkness and his skin seemed to be growing paler, he was overall a lot more cheerful than he had been in a long while. And Rei was taking full advantage of the fact.
The couple was laying in Reiko's bed tangled up in one another. Her shirt was hanging precariously on the edge of the bed and his hand was sneaking its way up under her bra. Rei's fingers had finished unbuttoning her boyfriend's school shirt and now her hand was caressing his exposed abdomen, her other hand reaching around Ryou's neck to bring him closer.
Ryou was trying to retain some self control; he didn't want to make Rei uncomfortable. He pulled her closer to him, removing his hand from her breast and forcing himself into just holding her. She pressed herself against him and noticed the bulge in his pants. Her eyes glowed as she reached down farther than his stomach. At the same moment Ryou pulled her into a kiss and rolled back on top of her.
She shot him a questioning glance, "Ryou?" He kissed her nose and shook his head, nestling himself closer to her and catching his breath. She tightened her arms around him, "I love you-ow!" Ryou faltered, the pain on her face making him scramble to get up.
There was blood on her stomach. There was blood on two of the points of the Millennium Ring. He gripped the rope chord that kept the ring around his neck as Rei's fingers prodded at the small, shallow cuts. "I'm so sorry Rei, are you okay?"
"Uh, yeah let me just go clean this up. I'll be right back." She pulled her shirt on and walked out of her bedroom. Out of the corner of her eye she could have sworn she saw the necklace around Ryou's neck glow.
When she returned to her room with fresh bandages on her stomach, Ryou was fully dressed and had all of his school supplies in his backpack. "Oh, are you leaving already?" She tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice, but he just nodded and stood up.
"I have some things I have to do," his voice was gruff and Rei simply followed him to the front door where he pulled his shoes on quickly. "Well, we're still going to the movies this weekend, right?"
He narrowed his gaze at her, but then it went away and he muttered, "Sure Reiko." He opened the door and she reached out for his hand, "I'll see you Saturday then?"
He nodded and leaned down to press his lips to hers. They were cold. But she smiled anyway and waved to him as he pulled out of the driveway. She shrugged off his strange behavior and went to call her friends. They were doing some group shopping for Winter Formal tomorrow and she wanted to solidify the plans.
There you have it. Thanks for reading … please review? And super-special thanks to Crafty Lion for her reviews and support!
