"God, it's bright out!" Will exclaimed dramatically as he used his hand to block out the sun's rays from his face.
"Where!?" Grace yelled, still on a sleep deprived energy kick, as she whipped her head upwards and looked directly into the sun, "Owy!"
"Nooo! Don't look directly into the sun, it'll singe your albino skin!" he shouted while he used his toned body as a human shield against the sun. Riku continued to glare at the giddy pair of friends, trying to repress the feeling of jealousy.
After walking in silence (minus the giggling duo), they finally reached the playground. An air of competitiveness rose within the males, as they all stopped in their tracks and sized each other up quickly. Grace let out a sigh as she could see what was about to happen. Kairi, not so much. She was too busy checking out Sora.
"Let's race," Will and Riku simultaneously stated in a calm manner only to end up glaring daggers at one another.
"Fiiine, but no cheating!" Grace muttered as she pulled up her long, stripped black and white sleeves from her boat neckline shirt, adjusted her mid-thigh length, black skort, and made sure her clunky, black boots were strapped on tightly. She didn't have to worry about her messenger bag since Will made her leave it home. Kairi nodded her head in agreement with the pale teen as she walked to the side and explained that the finish line was located at the swing set, like she had down this many times before.
"Ready, set, GO!" with that, the four sped forward and Will and Riku were in the lead with Sora and Grace not far behind.
Riku and Will were running faster and faster as if consumed by the idea of manly competition. While they were neck and neck, both turned their heads to glare at one another, unaware of what was going on around them. All four were now about to tie till Grace used all her energy to boost her speed and win the race. The males all looked at her in somewhat shock as Grace stood there in silence, still taking it all in.
"I WON, BITCHES! HAHA! FINALLY! WHAT NOW, WILL!? I BEAT YOU!" she finally shouted at the top of her lungs after about a minute or two and then plopped into one of the swings, a gleeful smile plastered on her features. The teenagers that were milling around in the background all looked at her as if she had a third head and started making snide comments about her the minute Will sat next to her after ruffling her cinnamon colored hair.
It seemed in the restaurant that Will had gained the affection of many teenager girls and the envy of many males because of his model-like looks and humorous personality. He'd even been asked out on several occasions and it was only his first week at the restaurant! Of course, he rejected every single female. This did not help Grace at all since every girl automatically thought Will and Grace were going out. This caused much mocking and many rumors from begrudged teens.
Unfortunately, Grace could hear every comment coming from those lipped glossed teens and pimple faced males. She was use to these things, but the fact that she had just gotten to this sunny town had made her realize how hard her senior year would be. This train of thought caused her to fidget in the swing and stare awkwardly at the ground while thousands of terrible scenerios ran through her mind. Riku took notice of the small girl's discomfort and began to get up to tell the teens off.
"Don't," Grace voice was barely above a whisper as she begged the silver chap, still staring at the mulched ground. She then turned and shared a secret smile with Will, who began to swing higher and higher on the swing set. Both shared another glance as they both mentally heard the beginning instrumental of "Touch Me" by Spring Awakening play loudly in their mind.
"Where I go, when I go there, no more memory anymore. Only men on distant ships; the women with them, swimming with them to shore. Where I go, when I go there, no more whispering anymore. Only hymns upon your lips; a mystic wisdom, rising with them to shore," emotion ran through Will's voice as he sang out the lyrics while Grace sang the background softly. This was a song that Will had taught Lucy, Grace, and Sue. He taught song harmonies, and instruments as a way to practice for becoming a music teacher in the later future.
"Oh, my god, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, my god, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Touch me… Touch me…" they harmonized perfectly together as they both stopped swinging and traced they slender figures up and down gently with their fingertips and ran their hands through their hair in attempts to possibly creep out the people watching around them.
Riku watched in bewilderment as the teens around them began shuffling out one by one with frightened expressions permanently wielded onto their faces. He never expected those two to even be able to scare people with the power of show tunes.
"Where I go, when I go there, no more weeping anymore—only in and out your lips. The broken wishes, washing with them to shore…" just then Will gripped the left chain of Grace's swing and pulled her closer to him. Their faces were only inches apart.
"Touch me— all silent. Tell me—please – all is forgiven. Consume my wine. Consume my mind. I'll tell you how, how the winds sigh," both harmonized perfectly as they gazed into each other's eyes – no lust or passion shown in either, just the love between two best friends. Riku noticed that lack of passion, but it did not stop his jealousy. Just before the next part was vocalized, Will pushed Grace's swing to the left, now fully getting into the song. Of course with Grace not being graceful (ha ha pun intended), she jumped out of the swing and began to fall backwards only to be caught by Riku. He held her in his strong arms and took in her lavender-vanilla scent, while she took in his ocean scent. She continued singing the background, as she looked deep within his aqua eyes, knowing if she did stop, Will would notice and pull her out of Riku's arms. She wasn't ready for that just yet…
"Touch me just like that. Now we'll wonder down where the sins cry. Love me just for a bit. We'll wander down where the winds sigh," Grace's pale cheeks soon turned a bright pink as the words poured from her mouth and she realized how seemingly awkward this was turning, but she was unable to move—paralyzed by his beauty.
Sora chuckled in the background as he watched the two in each other's arms, eyes full of longing, and broad smiles across their faces. The song was of course over by now, but both didn't want to move. Will was completely oblivious of Grace since he was trying to repress the fright of the creatures he saw by the chain-link fence.
"Well, aren't you two just like Romeo and Juliet," Sora commented with a chuckle as Kairi nudged him. Grace's eyes soon became alert as she quickly vanished from Riku's arms and appeared in the swing next to Will before he could even notice. Once Will did snap out of it, he took in Sora's comment, thinking it was about him and Grace, and sighed disappointedly.
"You know Romeo and Juliet killed themselves, right?" he spoke, his voice dripping with annoyance.
"Yeah, they were pretty much dumb asses," Grace spoke quietly while staring at the ground, "I'd never want to end up like Juliet… the stupid girl."
"Hmmm… well, if it's idiocy you're speaking of then maybe your more like Juliet then I thought," Will joked as he smiled a wicked smile. Grace huffed and glared at Will. This only caused him to laugh, just then a boy on a dirt bike drove by and flipped up his middle finger at the group and rode off. Of course, Will's reaction was waving back at the tan brunette in a friendly manner as he disappeared from his sight range.
"Do you know him?" Grace asked curiously, sleep coating her voice now as her energy kick was now wearing off.
"Actually, no," this was followed by some giggles from the two, "It's weird. I think I'm always nice to people who are dicks to me."
"Wait, but you're always mean to me! What does that mean then!?" Grace asked now shouting slightly in mock anger, trying to cover up the dizziness she was feeling. Will was about to say, "It's because you're albino" as a joke but the sight of Riku's glaring gave him a brilliant idea.
"Well, it's cause I love you, Grace," he really did mean it, but he only loved her as a friend. They both knew it, but Will knew it would tear the silver-haired punk inside out.
The black-haired boy was right with his assumption since Riku felt his own heart crack slightly in sadness, expecting her to agree and confess her love… Boy, was he wrong.
"HAH! I KNEW IT! ALL THOSE TIMES YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T LOVE ME WAS A LIE! SUCK MAN!" Grace exclaimed tiredly as she hopped out of the swing and pointed her pale index finger in his face. Her body swayed slightly as she yawned. She closed her ice blue eyes, breathed in slowly, and fell right onto Will's lap.
"Tehe," he giggled as he thought of how perverse this looked to everyone else, but instead of making moaning noises like he planned, he took her bridal style in his muscular, tan arms and began to walk home.
"I-is she ok?" Riku asked, fear capturing every word as he looked over at her small form. She looked so fragile in that one moment. Will scoffed at the boy's attempt of compassion.
"She's fine. It just the three days of no sleep catching up with her," he replied in an annoyed voice and looked down at Grace's figure curling up against him and smiled.
"R-riku?" she murmured sleepily making Will's smile fall into a frown, "Don't forget 'bout tomorrow."
"You're still awake, aren't you?" Will thought to himself as he looked over to see Riku's stupid, cocky smiling face agree to his best friend's wishes. "There's no way this boy is winning her heart… at least, not while I'm here," he thought icily while he trudged home, the sun setting in the distance and the excitement from his new plan bubbling up inside him.