"NAMINÉ!"

Sora burst into the room, his suitcase flung to the floor before he pulled an alarmed Naminé into a hug. "Hi," she managed.

"I told him you were here," I half explained.

"Oh ok." She forced a smile.

He pulled away, beaming. "So where's Axel?"

"He went out somewhere," I shrugged.

"Want to play a game?"

"What kind of game?" Naminé asked politely.

"I brought the Disney version of Apples to Apples!"

"Alright," we agreed.

We situated ourselves on the floor and I got everyone a can of soda. Everything flung out of the box as Sora tipped it over eagerly; he was grinning wildly and he kept asking Naminé questions. Soon he would know more about her than I did before today. "I love Disney," he was explaining.

"What's your favorite Disney movie?" Naminé responded.

"All of them!"

She smiled, and gave me an odd look which probably meant "your brother is strange." I nodded.

We had probably played for an hour, in which Sora almost snorted soda out of his nose and Naminé collected the most cards. Her answered always managed to make us laugh, surprisingly. Then Sora suddenly announced that he was going out.

"Where are you going?" I asked as he sped around to get ready.

"To the mall!"

"Why? We can come with you."

"No! I'm gonna get you something for your birthday!"

"Sora, I don't need anything."

"Yes you do!"

"When's your birthday?" Naminé joined in.

"Next Tuesday!" Sora exclaimed before I could stop him.

"Don't make a big deal about it," I said quickly.

"Oh my gosh, why didn't you tell me?" Naminé blinked.

"It's just a birthday…"

"Bye!" And Sora was out the door.

"Sorry," I apologized. "He's always like that."

"He's nice."

"What do you wanna do now?"

"Draw?" Her eyes lit up. Of course she wanted to draw me.

I agreed and she had me sit on the bed, to "just draw my face." I tried to get comfortable, but soon I was really really bored. Then she let me turn on the TV, which was better; I watched some murder mysteries while she studied me and scribbled and erased. These shows were always so graphic and sad. If I was an artist like Naminé, I'd probably draw a bunch of creepy stuff.

Two shows ended before she was finished.

My legs rushed with relief as I stretched. "Can I see?"

"No!" She pressed her sketch pad against her chest protectively.

"Alright, alright."

Naminé scooted herself onto my bed, a strand of hair falling into her face. "TV?"

"Sure," I shrugged.

Breaking Bad was on tonight. I didn't follow it religiously, but had caught bits of it, mostly from channel surfing. It was basically about a high school chemistry teacher who gets cancer and starts making meth to pay his bills, which seemed pretty interesting to—

"This show is kinda creepy." Naminé wrinkled her nose.

"Creepy?"

"Think about it."

"…yeah?" My brain wasn't coming up with much. Maybe the violence was too much.

"Yeah!"

"I don't follow."

"Any of our teachers could be drug dealers!"

I paused, processing this, and gave a loud, surprised laugh. "Oh."

Naminé looked startled. "Sometimes my thoughts are strange, I guess."

"Nah, mine are too."

The show was flashing piercingly with guns and family drama, and Naminé had started leaning onto my shoulder, saying she was getting tired. My reasonable response was quickly deflected—she didn't want to go home yet I guess. I was pretty relaxed at least. It was already dark outside, but we were carefully tucked in my room, the light shining overhead. Sora's stuff was in the corner, the board game right on top. I still needed to tidy a bit but that could wait. Naminé's weight was pressed against my side as we leaned against my bedroom wall, the TV turned towards us so we could see it better.

Her hair was on my face. It smelled like strawberry shampoo.

I went to brush it away, and she bounced.

Well, not bounce. Naminé is much too shy to be described that way.

Rather, while my face was turned towards her, she leaned a tiny bit and planted a kiss on my lips. Before I could think anything, she said, "I really like you, Roxas. I hope you like me too…" Her cheeks were pink.

"I..like you too," I managed, my face also on fire.

An awkward second ticked by and then she abruptly turned back to the TV. I followed suit.

There was a sudden slam of the door, and, out of instinct, I jumped up. "What was that?" There was no one in the room.

"Your roommate?"

I went to the door, and upon opening it, saw a flash of red down the hallway. "Yeah, I guess he had to grab something." I came back.

We finished the episode, and she left not too long after that.

The weekend was very strange. And not in a good way. I barely saw Sora because of his numerous excuses to not be around. Something had to be wrong. I must've done something…but my brother never acted that way. We were always by each other's sides as kids. In fact, a lot of people thought we were twins, which is silly but…I can remember one day while we were at the playground. We couldn't have been more than seven years old, and we were by ourselves because this playground was right on our street. It was nice, with swings and a jungle gym and loads of other equipment, although the picnic tables were scratched with words neither of us knew. And Sora got himself hurt. He fell off the monkey bars, and scraped his knees.

"I'm dyingggggggggggggg!" he screeched. "Roxasssssss."

My little brother held onto his bloody knees, and I ran to him. He refused to go anywhere, insisting that he would die there.

"Shut up," my kid self snapped.

Sora stopped, his eyes wide. "Don't say bad words."

And I dragged him home and after he received band aids from my mom, he was all over me. Saying I had saved his life and we should get married so I could always protect him.

Of course, that was when he didn't realize that getting married involved a different relationship than what we had. And was normally between non-related, heterosexual couples.

My mom thought it was cute, at least.

I felt a pang in my chest remembering that.

It wasn't just Sora. It was Axel.

He hadn't been in our room ALL WEEKEND. All his stuff is here! Where could he have gone? I considered trying to text him, but I had never done it much. We'd had each other's numbers since the start of school, in case we got locked out or something; the last time I had used it, I was lost and he responded with "Just walk a bunch! ;)". So I didn't want any of that. I almost missed him..I mean, almost. He was a familiar presence, is all.

And I could get more advice about Naminé.

Because, the truth is, I feel more confused than ever. I had all these expectations—for kissing, I mean—but none of them have been met! Shouldn't I have felt electricity? Seen heaven? Wanted to kiss more? I now felt awkward and dreaded seeing her because she would probably want to kiss more.

Maybe I just read too many books.

I went through three this weekend while everything was weird.

Sora returned home Sunday, and that night as I was settling into bed, the door opened and Axel finally appeared. He looked worn out.

The light was off, and instead of turning it on like usual, he kept the small kitchen light on only and slipped into the bathroom. He went to bed himself without saying anything to me.

He probably thought I was asleep.

XxXxXxX

Sora told me that the family had wanted to show up and surprise me on my birthday, but my dad was busy with a new business deal. I didn't care too much; Sora and my mom would just be too cheerful and loud, and my dad would look like he didn't want to be here.

And, besides, it was a weekday, as my mother reminded me.

I wasn't sure if she said that because she wanted me to study, or because of my dad's work.

Oh well.

I woke up thinking about my age, nineteen. Not that old. And that was all I thought about it until the spam came.

I don't like attention, and birthdays always give you attention. I was glad that I hadn't told anyone about it. When Axel made no big fuss about anything, I was glad (putting aside that he had barely said two words to me lately). My classes were dull. I got a few texts from old friends, which was ok. I loved my high school friends.

The point I am getting to, the thing I wasn't too glad about: Naminé showing up out of nowhere with a giant cake. Seriously, out of nowhere. One second, I am typing on my computer and the next, a scowling Axel is leading Naminé to me. She was smiling meekly, the cake overtaking her small frame. It was covered in white frosting and small blue flowers.

"Sorry, it was the only one I could find at the store," she explained. "Happy birthday!"

We set it on the counter while Axel asked, "It's your birthday?"

"Yeah," I said flatly.

"Oh. Happy birthday."

"Thanks."

Axel, looking unpleased for whatever reason, made himself busy on the other side of the room. "You didn't have to," I told Naminé.

"I wanted to! And I would've drawn something too if I had had enough notice."

..did she just give me one of those fake dirty looks? "Sorry, not too keen on attention."

"Oh, me neither." She looked at the cake as if she wanted to regret bringing it here. But I smiled to put her mind at ease, and we both had a slice. It was a rich vanilla flavor.

As we were finishing, I asked Axel if he wanted any. He didn't. He left a few minutes later.

"So," Naminé paused.

"Yes?"

"Can I draw your roommate?"

"..Axel?"

"Yeah…"

"Oh, uhh, I dunno if he'll let you." At that moment I realized we were alone and I was already feeling awkward. Oh god. As long as I could keep her from kissing me, we could carry on like this. Maybe for forever. Or at least until we graduated. Because there's no way I was gonna…break up with her or anything. I like hanging out! I just don't like kissing.

Can you imagine if I made her cry? Those large innocent eyes filling with tears..she'd hate me forever…

"Have you planned anything special?"

"No," I shook my head. "My family couldn't make it, so I was just gonna stay in."

"We should go out somewhere," she said firmly. "You need to get your mind off things."

"Things?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, uh, you seem different, that's all."

"Oh ok…"

"Want to go swimming maybe?"

"I've been swimming a thousand times," I said, thinking of Sora. He loved the water.

"But there's a free pool on campus!"

"Oh is there?" I am not telling Sora that.

"Yeah, let's go."

"Alright," I agreed reluctantly.

I hated the floor of the locker room. And the locker room itself, really. Half the lighting was out, the tiles were slimy underneath my feet, and I was already feeling self conscious of my skinny physique. At least it was empty, the rows of lockers looking bleak. My reflection was alright in the mirror. I stared for a second, then went out to meet Naminé.

I stood there uncomfortably for a few minutes. The place was empty except for a muscular lifeguard and…god, Axel and Demyx were hanging out in the deep end, splashing each other like morons.

"Hi," Naminé greeted.

She was wearing a white bikini. The top tied around her back, and two straps also went up to tie at her neck. It had a little ruffle to it, and she was beaming at me.

"Ready?" I asked after my split second survey of her outfit.

"Yes." We stepped in and I noticed the two guys noticing us but I looked the other way.

The water tingled my body; it was too cold at first, but after it came up to my neck, I started getting used to it. We floated around the shallow end for a little while.

"Isn't that your roommate?" Naminé asked.

"Nope."

"Oh, I could've sworn—"

"ROXAS!"

I was engulfed by water. Some flew up my nose painfully, and I seized, thrashing my way back towards the light. I surfaced, coughing up a storm. My throat and nose stung. Demyx was throwing his head back, laughing; I saw Axel in the background, smirking slightly. Naminé was asking if I was ok.

"You asshole," I snarled. Demyx dove into the water like a dolphin and was back in the deep end within seconds, Axel following.

"Are you ok?" Naminé got really close to me, concerned.

"Yeah, yeah." I kicked the bottom of the pool to launch myself backwards.

"You know, I'm pretty sure that was your roommate."

"Oh, maybe."

Later, when I confronted Axel about his friend, he shrugged it off.

I haven't even been helping him with stats lately. I snuck a peek at his papers the other day and he's been getting D's on quizzes. But whenever I offer to help, he says he's fine.

I'm not so sure.

Please review. 3

~KeedaxEmry