Chapter 7: Warmth
"I already told you mom, Shirley and I are just a friends, close friends," Lelouch grumbled.
Marianne chuckled. "I'm just asking. Maybe your feelings have changed."
"I know myself better, mom."
"Really? Oh, by the way, I heard your sub-keyboardist was a girl."
"Her name's CC." Lelouch rolled his eyes.
"What about her? Ne?"
Lelouch flinched at her question. The hell is his mom asking? Is she so excited about a girl for him that she includes all girls that come to his life? And please, not CC. She's the only girl who didn't show any attraction to him; the reason why he became friends with her.
"Mom! She'…she's just a friend. Please."
"Earl Grey and apple pie!" Nunnaly suddenly laid down a tray of a teapot and apple pie together with three Japanese teacups on a wooden table in front of them.
Lelouch looked up at her in surprise. "Nunnaly!"
Nunnaly smiled and sat down beside her mom. They were sitting at their cottage's porch staring at their beautiful mini garden.
"Nunnaly, I never thought you could make apple pies. And, wow. Thank you for these," their mother told Nunnaly.
The brunette smiled proudly. "No problem, mom." She then stood up again and filled the teacups with the steaming tea.
"Thank you, Nunnaly," Lelouch told her.
She just gave him a smile and then sat down. She then sighed. "Just a few more days and I'll leave you, brother, mom."
Lelouch smiled. "It's okay, Nunnaly. It's not like I won't be able to visit you. If I have free time, I'll surely visit you."
Nunnaly sipped her tea. "Thank you, onii-san. But I don't have anyone to run with if…if…"
Marianne held her hand, then Lelouch's. "You'll be okay Nunnaly. We'll make sure you'll be okay and happy in there. In fact, you have Ms Sayako with you on America. And you'll be 18 soon, dear. Right time for you to go to college. It's just that your dad has decided that you should go there earlier to get used around you."
The warmth of her hand comforted Nunnaly. Mothers really have the power to comfort their children.
Lelouch smiled. "Now, would you want to go fishing, Nunnaly?"
(*^*) ~ (*^*) ~ (*^*)
"Of course! Of course! I'll come! …Umm…I don't think so. They're not available, only Rollo… By the way, I'll just tell Rollo or you'll just call him? I think it's better…okay. Hey, are you gonna fetch us or we'll just go there?...Okay. Thanks, Lulu! I'll just try to call Suzaku, but Gino, I think it's impossible. He's got a date…haha. That's funny. Bye again, Lulu! Thanks!"
Smiling, Shirley waited for the beep. She then looked at the clock, 7:49 am it says. She then hurried to her closet and chose what she'll wear. Green.
Scanning her clothes, she spotted a sleeveless, fitted-green shirt. The one she wears for exercising. Nice one. Then for her shorts…oh, it should be an earthen color. What casual shorts did she bring anyway? She tapped her chin. She then pulled out a brown, pocket shorts. She laid down the two clothes on the bed to see if they pair. After a few moments, she decided that those are what she's gonna wear.
She stormed in the bathroom and washed herself. In maybe 30 minutes, Lelouch's car might be there to fetch already. She then closed her eyes when suddenly, Lelouch's naked form in the steaming shower clouded her mind.
In an instant, she opened her eyes leaving herself flushing beet red.
The hell are you thinking, Shirley?!
(_) ~ (_) ~ (_)
"Good morning, Shirley," Lelouch greeted her at the time when she entered his car. She then remembered his naked form in the steaming shower she saw in her mind a while ago. Her face then flushed in embarrassment. "G-Good morning, L-Lulu…"
With shaky knees, she sat beside him. She dared not to look at him. Too bad, her face is too obvious.
"Is something wrong, Shirley? Do you feel sick?"
She then felt his hand on her forehead. She flinched at his touch. "You feel hot, Shirley, I think y-"
Shirley cut him off immediately. "No! I'm okay. R-Really! Maybe just because of the lack of sleep!"
Lelouch frowned. "What if it will worsen?"
A hand then rested on her shoulders. She flinched and looked at the back only to see Rollo. "R-Rollo! You surprised me!"
"Good morning, Ms Shirley. Is something wrong?"
She shook her head immediately. "O-Of course none! I already took medicine a while ago…so I'm gonna be okay. Really."
Lelouch gave her one hard look. Then sighed and smiled. "Okay, let's go."
Meanwhile…
"Oi, make sure you're not gonna bring me somewhere I don't know, or else you'll taste my fist on your face."
Kallen told the man beside her. Gino looked at her with his eyebrows raised. "What do you think of me, Kallen? Pervert?"
The red-head smirked only. "Heh. Maybe."
His car smelled of strawberries; the same scent of Kallen. His car was a red Ford car and when Kallen saw it, it made her remember her hair color.
The traffic wasn't ending. Their car wasn't even moving for the past 20 minutes. Gino then leaned to her making Kallen look at him. Their noses were just a few inches apart, that it didn't stop Kallen from blushing.
Gino smirked. "Well, maybe, I'll bring you to a place where I can show you my masculinity."
In that instant, Kallen's face turned dark red. "G-Gino!"
Gino crossed his hands for protection when Kallen raised her hands to hit him. "Hey! I'm just kidding!"
Then…
"How much is this, sir?" Suzaku asked the clerk. He came to the city's best musical store in disguise to avoid people surrounding him. He wore sunglasses and he wore his cap so that his curly, brown hair won't be exposed.
"800 Britannian dollars sir."
The guitar was beautiful. It was a shiny, white guitar with a shape like a violin. And the brand, Yamaha. Well, it suits the price.
He can afford it, anyway. He's a millionaire. He reached for his pocket and pulled out his credit card. The clerk smiled. "There's a 10 percent discount if it's cash sir."
Suzaku shook his head. "I only brought 500, sorry."
With that, he handed the man his credit card. His phone then rang. "Hey, Lelouch…" He looked at the clerk to see if he reacted, but thank God, he didn't.
"Is that so?... Okay, I'll come. Thanks. By the way, where's the place...I see. Are all of you there already? Gino's busy…Haha. I see. Okay, bye dude."
"6-month warranty, sir," the man told him. "Tom!"
A young man, maybe in his 18s came out from a room. "Yes sir?"
"Get this guitar's bag."
Suzaku then looked at his watch. "Can I just stop by later, Mr.…Grad?"
The man nodded. "Of course sir. We'll be waiting."
(o_O) ~ (o_O) ~ (o_O)
SPLASH!
The fish splashed water on Nunnaly's face as it struggled to break free from her. Everyone of them laughed.
"Nice catch, Nunnaly!" Suzaku complimented her.
Nunnaly gave him a proud smile. "Arigatou, Suzaku-nii!" she said after she dropped the fish in the bucket.
"Me! Me!" Rollo suddenly exclaimed. He tried to pull his rod but it was pulling him back. He loosened the rod. Then pulled it back again. When Shirley thought he can no longer do it, she tried to help him.
"Just what sort of fish is this?!" Shirley cried out. Suzaku jumped in. "I'll help!"
Lelouch stared back at them, oh no, the fish is too heavy. "I'll join." Suddenly, each one of them were pulling and putting all their strengths to just get the fish out.
WHOOSH!
They can't believe what they're seeing. A big, no, a very big fish was flapping right in front of them. All of them; stunned.
All of them looked at each other. Shirley chuckled. Suddenly, every one of them was laughing.
Marianne chuckled. She took pictures of them one by one silently and she even took a good shot of the big fish coming out exactly.
"So this is what we've been putting our power all this time!" Shirley said in between laughs.
"And it even caused us to pull the fishing rod altogether! That was fun!" Suzaku exclaimed.
Nunnaly ran to them. "Congratulations, everyone! That was fun! So this 12 feet fish is gonna be enough for us, isn't it?"
"More than enough, Nunnaly!" Lelouch told her.
30 minutes later…
The aroma of the fish made Suzaku's stomach growl. "Gah, it smells so good. I can't help staring at it," he mumbled as he drew a shape on the land with a stick. Shirley shot him a look.
Marianne ignored the two. She then stared at the fish left. They have cooked all the small fishes, and there was more than a half of the big fish left.
Rollo and Lelouch unfolded the table and put a table cloth on top of it. Nunnaly put the lemon juice on top of it and put her apple pie, which is covered on it too.
"Is the fish okay already, Mom?" Lelouch asked Marianne.
"Yes."
Suzaku stood up from the stone he's sitting on as if he just came back to life.
The raven-haired woman carried and put the fishes on the elongated plate. Her lips were curved on a proud smile. Shirley followed behind her and put a plate of grilled fishes on the table too.
Everyone sat around the table. "Smells good! I wonder how this tastes like. Ittadakimasu~" Suzaku seemed to stab the fish and chomped it. "Oishi!"
Shirley and Marianne chuckled.
"Of course! We cooked it! Lemme taste your incomplete sushi then," Shirley bit the neatly sliced fish and dipped it onto the soy sauce.
Suzaku smirked. "Well, it still tastes good even without its ingredients. Soy sauce and fish? Oh, it's still delicious."
Shirley smiled at him. "Yeah, it sure tastes good!"
Nunnaly served each one of them lemon juice, and also their plates and their forks. 'Thank you, Nunnaly,' was what they said to her.
The moment Lelouch put the grilled fish into his mouth, flavors spread into his tongue making him widen his eyes. Rollo made the same reaction too.
"Too delicious that you're unable to speak eh?" Shirley asked them with a smirk on her face.
That noon they ate with each other happily.
"Wow! Nunnaly! This apple pie is amazing! How did you do it?" Shirley asked her.
The brunette just smiled at the lady in front of her. "Ms. Sayako taught me. Thank you, Ms Shirley."
"Nah, no problem."
Nunnaly looked at Rollo who is beside her. "How is it, Rollo?"
"It tastes good too, Nunnaly."
"Picture!" Marianne then shouted. Everyone smiled, including Marianne, the moment she set the timer and with a flash, it was done.
The pictures taken were memories of that day. It was memorable, Lelouch thought as he drove towards the resort with Shirley beside him.
God, how he wished it would stay forever, especially the warmth… This girl beside him, she could give him warmth and light inside, the same with his mother and sister…but what about CC?
Reality hit him. What is he thinking about? Is it because of what happened last night? No. That doesn't mean anything. He mentally hit his brain. He instead tried to focus on the road rather than the hormones rushing through his brain.
_
She was exhausted. Good thing the day's finished. And all she wanted was to plop down and sleep. The memories of last night flashed before her eyes the moment she closed her eyes. She could still remember his scent and warmth…
The media was pushing her down. My God, she can't walk further anymore. And the flashes hurt her eyes that she was blindly walking away from them when suddenly, long, strong arms encircled around her.
She lifted up her head and ended seeing Lelouch protecting her from the media.
"She's a friend of mine, and she's really good; the reason why we hired her as our sub-keyboardist. But I'm afraid that's all I could say to you."
His voice mysteriously gave her a sense of protection. God, his smell was intoxicating. His smell was too masculine for her.
His band mates distracted the media by going in front of them.
Quickly, he successfully got themselves out from them. "Are you okay, CC?"
She couldn't answer, so she just tried to nod. "Th-Thank you…"
He smiled. "No problem."
Just damn…she hates feeling like this. Why the hell does she have to feel this way towards someone who is even famous around the world? She sure knows that they don't fit together. He's got too many girls around him, and it's impossible for her to get even in the last of his list. And obviously, he can make girls feel in love just by his charms only.
A/N: Hey, guess what? When I was writing this chapter, my stomach was craving. HAHA. That's all. :P
