AN: I'm still alive… exams were crazy, but I think I'm back into action. Thanks for bearing with the huge delay.
To Not Fall in Love 7
Kyoko. Satoshi mumbled to himself. He had overheard the entire phone conversation. Perhaps it was better cooperating with father's arrangements. He really wasn't up to pursuing someone else. Actually, he didn't feel like doing anything. Most importantly, it wouldn't be right Okay, so it wasn't like he and Risa were officialor anything anymore, but there was something inherently wrong with chasing after someone else so quickly.
The sound of footsteps could be heard in the hallway before they stopped right behind his door. Outside, Kei reminded himself to act as pleasant as possible. He didn't want Satoshi to reject Okami's generous offer. Satoshi opened the door before Kei could knock or ring the doorbell.
"How eager you are to see me!" Kei proclaimed enthusiastically, "well, son. I have news for you." He walked directly into a room without removing his shoes and flicked on some lights.
He kept walking until he was facing a cupboard. "But first, how have you been doing?"
"Fine." Satoshi replied in a monotone.
"Good to hear." Kei continued without much of a pause, "Okami's niece is willing to accompany you to the event. What do you say?"
From the glass pane's reflection, he could see Satoshi nodding lethargically.
Well. That was quite unexpected. Kei was expecting something a little more dramatic. But it was all good, he supposed.
"Let's go for dinner." Kei said, "Don't bother changing. It's nothing too fancy."
Satoshi was glad.
"By the way, we'll be meeting Kyoko and Okami there."
Oh damn.
(divider)
Riku looked at the clock. That was one hour of study, and she felt as if she hadn't learnt anything. She was exhausted. How could Risa be going out at a time like this? Didn't she have exams too? Riku wished for more time. There was just too much work! Her desk was a complete mess; papers, food and textbook were covering every inch of it. She wanted to sleep. But no, the exam was in two days. Two days! Was she ready? No, she was not.
Riku sighed. If only she had paid attention during lectures. If only Professor Oakley didn't have such a raspy, low voice. If only she actually liked psychology. Unconsciously, her eyes drifted towards the clock again. After staring at it for a bit, she realized that five minutes had passed since she last looked. Oh no…she just wasted five minutes pitying herself.
A flash of blue caught her eye. The fish…it really was the coolest creature she's ever seen (next to glow worms). She watched it enjoy itself in its little watery world. The last thought before Riku went back to her depressing work was, "I'll buy you some pretty colourful rocks after this."
(divider)
The screech of brakes jolted Satoshi from one of his rare moments of stupor into reality again. A large brown sign with "The Galleria" on it hung above the entrance of the restaurant. For a moment, Satoshi wondered what Kyoko looked like. Was she tall with long legs? Did she have beautiful brown hair? Doe-like eyes? Not that he cared, mind you.
Satoshi started to scan the room for signs of Okami, but she had already spotted them and was waving her bracelet-loaded arm. Beside her was a girl who must be Kyoko. She was clad in a red mini-skirt with matching high-heeled boots. It was hard to miss her. Beside her in a chair was one of those stylish purses he'd seen on the cover of a random fashion magazine. It could have been FLARE magazine. Why did women spend so much money on stuff like purses and shoes?
He shifted uncomfortably under her penetrating gaze as she leveled at him. Her hair was not brown, but jet black.
"Stop staring at my ass." Was the first thing she said to him.
"What." Satoshi instinctively replied, thoroughly confused. She was sitting down. There was no way he could even look at her ass from his angle. As if he would in the first place.
"My ass. You were looking at it."
"What. I wasn't."
"Yes you were."
He frowned and gave up on the pointless conversation. Kyoko blinked and looked a little exasperated.
Okami pretended she didn't hear the conversation. Kei either really didn't hear it or was pretending as well.
"Kyoko darling, this would be Satoshi Hiwatari, the boy I told you about. Have fun you too." She said in that drippy tone of hers.
"Nice to meet you!" Kyoko smiled.
Satoshi nodded glumly in response.
"Now, let us order our meals."
Halfway through the meal, Kyoko stood up in her seat to get a container of pepper from the middle of the table. As she was doing so, the strings that hung down from her sleeves fell into Satoshi's drink.
"Kyoko, darling. Your strings are getting wet." Okami said in a bored tone of voice.
"My…what?" the girl looked down. "Oh no!"
Kyoko shot Satoshi a vicious look like it was his fault. Satoshi glared back with equal intensity. How could anyone be so rude! The world didn't revolve around her. It probably came with hanging around Okami too much. He didn't remember Risa being annoying, or rude like that.
Just then, Kei's cell phone rang.
"Oh please excuse me for a second!" and he clambered out of his chair and off to a quiet place to answer his call.
Satoshi never realized how important his father's presence was until now. He was now the center of attention of the two females. Trying hard not to gulp, he concentrated on poking a meatball with his fork. They were still staring at him curiously. He could practically feel their eyes. What was so interesting about him? Did he get something on his shirt? It was at that moment that Satoshi realized that he wanted to see Risa again... At least she would understand if he talked to her. Oh no, he must be growing soft. Since when did he want a friend?
(divider)
Risa didn't have a lot of energy. Yes, Dark was particularly gorgeous and being a gentleman. They had dinner at a noisy restaurant, and watched some people dance. Conversation was nothing special. Everything was enough to make her feel drained. She imagined herself as a character in final fantasy with 10 HP. To make matters worse, there was a slight pain in her stomach that wouldn't go away. She hoped it was not "that time of the month" again because she forgot to bring her um… well, sanitary napkins. Risa blushed at the thought. How embarrassing.
"You alright?" Dark leaned closer to take a look at her.
Risa felt dizzy as well. She couldn't make her mind function and began to notice how close Dark was leaning towards her. She tilted her head to the side a bit and blinked in confusion.
"Um, Dark? I don't feel so well. I want to go home…" she trailed off. Actually, what she really wanted was Satoshi to carry and fly her home like how they do it in shoujo anime where they had winged bishonen.
Wait a minute. Where did Satoshi come from? They were over. Because a) he was a jerk for using her and b) she never liked him anyway. Was she lying to herself? No, no she wasn't. Because Satoshi really wasn't that great of a guy anyway. He had looks and money, but he was just a stuck-up snob who wanted to use her for his own evil purposes. She could hardly feel the moisture gather in her eyes.
"Are you alright?" Dark asked for the second time like it wasn't obvious enough.
She didn't answer, so he took that as a 'no' and led her out the restaurant after paying the bill.
"I'm really sorry." Risa said, "I ruined the evening, didn't I?"
"No, that's fine. You weren't feeling well so it's not your fault."
Risa was disappointed with his answer. The right answer was, no you didn't ruin the evening. The way he said it implied that he acknowledged that she did in fact ruin the evening, but because he was so kind that he didn't blame her. How absolutely…whatever the word for it was! Before she knew it, she was back at home and on the bed in a nightgown, feeling wistful. She took out her feather pen.
I don't know what to say. Should I be ashamed of myself? Of what? There's nothing to be ashamed of. So I had a date with some random guy who happened to know Riku. So what? Didn't I do that all the time back then? A little voice in my head is telling me that that was 'back then' and not 'now'. It scares me a little. How easy and quickly I dive into relationships. I remember the day I met Satoshi. I didn't even think when he took me up to the restaurant. All I could think of was my outfit and how I looked with him. After the date, all I could think of was the next date, of how I'd look with Satoshi to everyone else. I can understand why my sister was worried. She has always been the more mature one of the two of us. If I ever meet another person, if I get another chance, I vow to be true to myself. Yes, that was my mistake. I acted to impress. And this is what I get. Someone who wasn't right for me.
I wonder what Satoshi is doing right now. How did his little event go? Something inside of me wants him to give me a call. It's kind of weird, seeing him so much all at once, then…suddenly, he's gone. Gone like that from my life. You know what, if he doesn't call me in two days, then I'll call him.
"I shouldn't have gone out with Dark." Risa suddenly whispered to herself.
(divider)
Satoshi survived the dinner. He arrived at his house deflated. What now? What was he going to do? Well, first things first. He still had to deal with Daisuke, and Dark. That was a small problem compared to everything else. He was going to father's event whether he liked it or not with Kyoko in two days. He had to…deal with Risa.
Satoshi ran his hand through his hair roughly. This was new. Something he was unsure of. He's always been sure of what to do. For some reason, he didn't know this time. Did he want to !gasp! call her? Apologize maybe?
So why wasn't he doing it? Could he be scared? Yes. Yes it was! Satoshi Hiwatari was scared for once! What if Risa had someone else already? What if she didn't want to see him ever again in her life? Well, there was only one way to find out.
Shakily, and ignoring the voice in his head yelling, "What on earth do you think you're doing!" he picked up the receiver and dialed quickly before he could change his mind.
Oh my goodness. He was really doing it. Calling her up. Actually calling her.
After the fifth ring, a comfortably familiar voice answered, "Hi, I'm away right now. Leave me a message I'll get back to you. beep! "
He looked at the phone for a second before replacing it, feeling both disappointed and relieved at the same time. For some reason, he hoped she didn't have caller ID.
(end of chapter)
AN: phew! This chapter was difficult to write. It's one of those 'transitional' chapters where you have to pick off from a major conflict and prepare for the next… oops, I didn't mean to say that! I had a major case of writer's block after my exams. Anyway, sorry again about the delay! I hope you guys are still with me and didn't forget what happened in the last few chapters. Updating will be a lot faster from now on.
DarkAngelB: oh yes, stupid stupid girl, I do agree! But at least she realizes it. And I do agree that it would be incredibly funny if Risa proved Satoshi's annoying father wrong. In fact, I think that's a great idea... hmmmm!
Jazz7: Trying to write Risa so that's she's actually changing was a little difficult! I didn't really want to make it so that she grows too fast, or too slow so that it's not noticeable at all. Thanks a lot for the encouragement!
psychedelic aya: I've finally updated! I do really apologize for the long delay... I hope you didn't forget what happened from before! So far, Satoshi hasn't seen them together. And I do wonder what he might do... he isn't emotionally stable right now, after his encounter with those two viscous females!
AxFaTaLxiLLuSioN: Im really sorry about the lack of update! But it's here and it's all good... i hope.
SweetazKande: Thank you! Thank you very much! I appreciate the wonderful comments!
trapt-t: You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that you followed my convuluted scientific explanation! Yes, I do plan on bringing Krad into the picture...and mucking more things up, but it's more fun that way! Also, thanks for pointing out my grammatical mistakes. I really really like it when readers tell me these things.
MeDarkNeutralLight: Aaaah, I'm soosooo sorry for not updating soon! But you know what... update will be quicker from now on because I'm off school! Yaay! Glad you love drama...same here.
Cleopatra2: Thank youuu! I'll update sooner from now on. Promise!
Lemy: Yes, I don't like his father either! But he's not aall bad I suppose... Kyoko is ... well, we've seen her! Drippy, snobbish, rude... not good.
Black Mistress: I'm honoured! Yes, this is what happens when you don't know the answer in biology. You make it up! Actually, I'm quite used to it. Yes, we can't ignore Dark, can we? But we'll see what happens later when he takes a more active role in the story. rubs hands togehter heehee
chiharu-tanaka: hehe, aw! Poor Satoshi! He's emotionally unstable right now... but I'm sure he'll steal back his girl eventually. We need to give him some time.
Knight Basilisk: does crazy things with what you type! TT for Risa... TT for Satoshi...
Les Scribbles: I love insanity too. DNAngel's pretty insane, with its love square and all, in itself. That's why it's so fun to write! The possibilities are endless! But I hope I don't screw it up too too much... it'll be hard to untangle afterwards.
