Chapter 4: Baby Portable Rock
"So…" Brodi started off, taking a seat on Kaori's bed. He took in a breath and sighed. "I'm sorry about not taking you to the First-Aid after the race, or assisting you get to your hotel."
Kaori went to say something, but Brodi waved his hand to signal her to be quiet.
"I wasn't expecting to be signing things so long, and if Eddie hadn't reminded me of going to that interview, I would have actually missed it. I apologize, Kaori," Brodi said, smiling slightly. His hands were clasped on his lap as his legs casually hang off of the bed. Kaori noticed Brodi smelled really good.
"It is okay, Boo-dodi," Kaori laughed, sounding out his name with her thick accent. Kaori used to really call Brodi 'Boo-dodi,' but after what you could say with small 'sessions' with Elise, Kaori had gotten most of their names pronounced correctly by now. Kaori occasionally called her friends with her thick accent, making them laugh. She liked that. But she still had a slight 'sh' sound in the beginning of Seeiah's name, and a 'zh' sound at the beginning of Zoe's name, and she always messed up Marisol's, and she wasn't bothered with getting Psymon's name right in the first place.
"You're sure?" Brodi asked, looking up at Kaori, who, Brodi didn't know it, but was having a mini-heart attack inside.
"Hai, I'm poseeteeve," Kaori confidently said as her iPod shuffled from 'M.E.P' by BoA to 'Key of Heart,' also by BoA.
"Alright," Brodi said, scooting farther back on the bed and making himself more comfortable. "Alright, if you say so then, Kaori."
Kaori nodded, clapping her hands together. "Hai!" She smiled, sitting next to Brodi on the bed. "So, Boo-dodi…" Kaori started, earning a chuckle from Brodi. "How was Gal-il-baldi?" Kaori peered up at Brodi, keeping to herself of the fact that she was admiring his sharp, tan features.
"Ah, I tripped a couple times…" Brodi began, laughing a little to himself afterwards. "I accidentally tripped over Eddie, but you now, he was chill and waved it off at me. I still feel bad though."
Kaori tilted her head to the side, asking, "Brodi… What is 'chill?'" Kaori looked honestly confused to Brodi, brush his fingertips against her cheek as he smiled more.
"It's like… Relax. Like you don't care, it doesn't matter. Very… Laid back," Brodi nodded to himself that it was a good enough definition. Kaori nodded back, getting it.
"Oh! Okay," Kaori said shyly looking up at Brodi as he pulled his hand from her cheek away. So Seeiah was laid back around Kaori then? Something like that.
"How about you?" Brodi said, making Kaori's eyed widen. "The race? How was it, besides your ankle?"
"Oh, race… It was hard. It kind of hurt, but…" Kaori looked for the right words. She knew how to say them, it's just that… She didn't believe she was saying them. It's like they weren't English, or Japanese. "Psymon helped me get through it, really," Kaori said, looking up at Brodi's reaction which was slightly surprised, but he looked more so interested to hear more. "He stopped on the jump I fell at and threw me to the next one-" Brodi laughed, Kaori laughing in unison as well. "And he gave me a push along the slopes, and he… Threw me across the finish line, as you saw. And… felt." Kaori finished, still laughing a bit, but looking surprised herself. When she said it, the words sounded nice. Psymon sounded nice. Sort of. … So of course, Kaori had to add one last thing. "But it all hurt, you know! The throws, pushes, shoves!" Kaori whined and laughed at the same time at Brodi, who also laughed.
"Yes, but could you have completed the course without him?" Brodi asked Kaori.
Kaori thought for a second. Kaori knew that both she and Brodi knew the answer, but Kaori didn't want to say it. She didn't want to credit Psymon for anything.
"I… No," Kaori did in her low, whiny voice, crossing her arms and trying not to laugh. "But I'm not thanking Psymon that!" Kaori defensively said, making Brodi think.
"I think you should. Psymon might appreciate it. Maybe he'll help you out again when you break your other ankle," Brodi grinned as Kaori shot him a sarcastically hurt look since he implied she was extremely clumsy. Which she was, of course.
Kaori shrugged. "Maybe… But he'll tease me, or something…" Kaori spaced out in the area in front of her.
"But he's still human," Brodi logically said, turning to Kaori. "He'll appreciate it, even just a little. He just might not show it."
Kaori looked up. She could imagine it now…
"Psymohn?" She said, tapping him on his arm. He looked down at her and glared. "Psymohn.. Thanks, for at, Gal-il-baldi…" Psymon just stared at her, his face not moving once from its original displeased position. Kaori unsurely looked down and then Psymon smacked her on the back of the head, laughing as she fell to the ground.
"God, Kaori! You're so lame, seriously?" Psymon walked away and shook his head, grinning as he grabbed his snowboarding equipment and leaving Kaori.
"… Kaori?" Brodi waved his hand in front of Kaori's face, earning him her attention. Kaori patted the cheeks of her face. She's been spacing out a lot lately.
"Gomen…" Kaori said, blushing. Kaori went to go on, but Brodi politely cut her off.
"Perhaps we can meet up tomorrow morning? We could take a walk, even around Garibaldi Park if you wanted to, or we could go swimming downstairs," Brodi said, talking about the indoor pool that Sea to Sky had downstairs, also with a Jacuzzi. "I want to shed out of these snowboarding clothes." Brodi looked down for Kaori's answer.
"Hai!" Kaori looked up and nodded, happily accepting Brodi's offer. And also, she was tired, and she still needed to shower too. Brodi smiled and pulled Kaori in for a hug on the bed, Kaori wrapping her arms around his neck and Brodi's around her waist.
"Oyasami nasai, Brodi… See you in the morning," Kaori inhaled one more breath of Brodi's sweet aroma as they both pulled away, Brodi getting up.
"Oyasami, Kaori," Brodi stood up with Kaori still on the bed, smiling one more time before he exited through the hotel room door, waving one last time before he shut it one more time on his way out.
Kaori froze there for a few seconds, waiting for Brodi to take a few steps to his own room. She then grabbed a pillow from the head of her bed, laying it on her lap and squealing loudly into it.
"YATTAAA!" Kaori kicked her legs up in the air, squishing her pillow tightly to herself as she breathed in again, "Arigato gozaimasu!" Kaori exhaled, lifting her head up from the pillow and then suddenly just falling back on the bed, holding her pillow next to her in her arms. Brodi and her talked, and they hugged, and it was so… Almost romantic. With the lighting, and the quietness… It was only them. Kaori bit her lip, going over the situation that just happened and thinking if she said or did anything wrong, made a fool of herself… And she thought about beating herself up over asking what "chill" had meant, but then she realized it had made Brodi smiled, and it showed that she wasn't afraid to ask Brodi things like that. In fact, she was glad she asked Brodi what it had meant.
"Haru nanoni…~ Date mo shinai no?~ Baby…~ fushigi jyanai~?"
Kaori heard her cellphone ringing and crawled farther up the bed, scrambling to get it.
" Ima suguni…~ Uchi made muk-"
Kaori saw it was Mac calling. She turned off her iPod and flipped her phone open to talk. "Hedo?" Kaori said through the phone, sitting back down on the bed.
"Hey, Kaori! Are you alright?" Mac asked, and Kaori heard a lot of background noise. It sounded like he was in the hotel lobby, Kaori guessed.
"Makku!" Kaori smiled, nodding, even though Mac couldn't see. Mac laughed at Kaori's pronunciation, waiting for her to answer. "Mm, hai, I'm good. My ankle is only sprained. Mr. M said Snowdream will not be a problem for me. It already feels a little better," Kaori said, beginning to pace around her hotel room. She still had slight unbalance with the pain in her ankle, but she always paced when she was talking on the phone to anyone who spoke English instead of Japanese. It was harder to communicate with merely talking for Kaori. Sometimes she relied on hand motions or even pictures, but she couldn't do that whenever she was on the phone. Mac was the most preferred to be on the phone with though. If Mac didn't understand Kaori or if Kaori couldn't explain herself, Mac understood, and moved onto the next subject. She was hardly nervous, which was incredibly nice.
"That's great! You in your room then?" Mac asked, walking to the same elevators Kaori, Psymon, and Brodi all went up.
"Yes! All settled in and everything. Congradoolashuns on third place!" Kaori said, laying on her back and putting her Panda on her chest, playing with it and pretending to make it dance as her and Mac talked.
"Hey, thanks, Kaori. I'm just glad you're still in the game though!" Mac said, now pushing the button with the '5' on it, heading up. "It would have really sucked without you, you know? You're, like… One of the only cool riders out of the group," Mac smiled, watching the numbers in the elevator go up.
"Arigato, Makku-chan. You are cool too!" Kaori smiled, getting off of the bed and holding her cellphone to her ear with her shoulder, squatting down next to her suitcase.
"Haha, thanks Kaori. What room are you in by the way? Do you know?" Mac asked, the doors opening as he came to his stop, taking a step out.
"517," Kaori said, unpacking some shampoo, conditioner, a razor, lotion, soap… Everything that she had packed in her bathroom compartment of her suitcase for her shower. "You?"
"519," Mac smiled, turning around to find his room. "We're next to each other again!" Mac said as Kaori remembered when they were across neighbors in their last hotel, when they had snowboarded together in Alaska.
"We should hangout tomorrow!" Kaori said, getting flat back up on her feet and placing her stuff on the bathroom sink. "Me and Brodi were going to go swimming or for a walk or something. Maybe we could bring Eddie or Elise or something like that, too… It could be fun?" Kaori suggested, getting her pajamas and placing them and a towel next to her many other objects she had just unpacked.
"Yeah, totally! That sounds awesome!" Mac said, walking down the hallway.
"Sugoi!" Kaori sat down at the edge of her bed, crossing her legs. "Okay! I will text you tomorrow and we will hangout!"
"Sweet! See you then, Kaori!" Mac said
"Mm! Mata ne!" Kaori cheered, hanging up her phone. She set it on her nightstand, hopping into the bathroom afterwards. Kaori examined her face, pinching and stretching it and puffing out her cheeks. Her skin was extremely fair and smooth, the slight makeup she wore a bit smudged, but hardly noticeable. Her cheeks were now a bit flushed from Brodi's visit, but she still looked together, considering her day consisted of snowboarding, Psymon, and hugging Brodi. She ruffled her hair slightly then pulled off all her clothes, leaving them lay on the floor as she stepped into the shower, adjusting the temperature accordingly.
For a few minutes, she just let the water beat down on her back, thinking about the day… Garibaldi… Her ankle.. Psymon… Mr. M… Elise… Brodi… Mac… And tomorrow… She'd go on a walk… Maybe swimming, even… Did she bring her bathing suit…? She wasn't sure… Kaori then heard a song, almost muffled, coming from her bedroom.
"Haru nanoni…~ Date mo shinai no?~ Baby…~ fushigi jyanai~? Ima sugu ni…~ Uchi made mukae ni…~ Baby…~ Kite kurenai…~? Denwa shite sukoshi amaete-mita nowa…~ Kono koi ga honto no koi ka shiritaku natta no~!"
Kaori just listened to her ringtone, grabbing some shampoo and scrubbing it near her scalp, massaging it.
"Wild ni…~ Dokoka e drive…~ Baby…~ Sugu ikanai~? Ichiban suki na fuku amai pastel no…~ Kono koi ga honto no koi nara ii to omowanai~?"
After making herself stand still, she intently listened to see if anybody had left her a message. After more than several seconds of silence though, Kaori continued showering. She hadn't heard anything.
After the shower, Kaori dried herself off, slipped herself into her pajamas, and slowly made her way to her bed. She tied her hair up in a high, condensed bun, sliding under the covers and then grabbing her cellphone. 3 Text Messages, 1 Missed Call, 1 Voicemail.
To: Kaori
From: Elise
hey, kaori! Brodi said we should all hangout tomorrow. I'm down chica!
Kaori smiled, moving on to the next text message.
To: Kaori
From: Eddie
yooo kaori. I need to talk to you tomorrow. Can you meet me in the morning in the lobby?
Kaori looked confused, replying to Eddie's message quickly.
To: Eddie
From: Kaori
Yes, Eddie! I will be there around 10:00, if that is okay! ^^
She pressed 'Send,' then looked at the last message.
To: Kaori
From: Bakabakabakabaka
KAORIIIIIIIIIIIIIII. MAKE SURE TO KEEP A NIGHTLIGHT ONNNNN!
Kaori almost screamed at her phone, instead letting it exhale out to an extremely irritated sigh. It was Psymon. And she knew Psymon was referring to when she was talking to Elise about a scary horror movie she saw with her friends about a month ago, and Psymon had overheard and always was teasing her about it. Like now. He wouldn't let it go.
To: Bakabakabakabaka
From: Kaori
Ahondara! Baka, baka! Anata no koto daikirai! GO TO BED!
Frustrated, Kaori shut her phone and turned off all of the lights (except the one on her nightstand… Psymon's text did, of course, get the better of her.) and rolled over, closing her eyes. She had her face snuggled into her pillow, breathing in that hotel scent. After a couple minutes of her just about drifting off into a peaceful sleep, her phone buzzed again.
Hey guys! How's the story? Too fast, too slow? Think you know what's going to happen? Please review!
Also, Kaori's ringtone is the same song that plays whenever you level her up! Like Star, Champ, Sensei… All that good stuff. It's "Baby Portable Rock" by Pizzicato Five. Also the name of the chapter!
And last but not last, thank-you to Akaichou95, for the review, and the polite messages! They help! (=
