Chapter VII
Drinks and Missed Calls
"So you stayed over and you two did it?" Meiko grinned while looking at both Gakupo and Luka who sat across from her, while Miku, who was sitting next to her, looked completely shocked.
"M-Meiko!" Luka yelled, blushing madly before shyly looking over at Gakupo.
The purple-haired man was speechless as he looked from Luka to Meiko. Meiko had a devilish grin on her face as she continued, "C'mon, give us the juicy details! Miku and I are dying to know!"
The teal-haired girl looked rather flustered, "N-No I'm not! Luka, Gakupo, you guys don't need to say anything...!"
Meiko turned her attention to the younger girl and suddenly hooked her arm around her neck, bringing Miku in close, "Aww, don't you want to get some advice for when you get a man of your own~?"
Luka stood up and slapped her hands on the table, voice rather uneven and face still red, "Meiko! You shouldn't be teaching her those kinds of things!"
"Awwww, c'mon Luka. She's gonna grow up eventually. Might as well teach her the important lessons now~"
"Meiko, stuff like that isn't that important though...!" Luka objected.
As the two of them continued their little argument, Gakupo looked at Miku and smiled weakly.
Miku smiled back and sighed, "Aha... So... Are you dating Luka-san now...?"
"Wha...?" Gakupo mumbled, caught off guard by Miku's question. Sure, they had been spending time together and had even slept over at each other's places but... were they dating...? Unsure, he looked over at Luka.
Noticing from the corner of her eye, Luka turned to him, "Hm...? Something wrong Gakupo?"
"Not really but..." he started before Meiko suddenly stood up.
"Ah, I think we should leave you two lovebirds alone or something. C'mon Miku, let's go~" With that, she dragged the younger girl out of her seat and left the lounge, leaving the two of them by themselves.
"So... what were you saying, Gakupo?" Luka asked once the two had left.
"Well, I was just wondering if we were going out... We never really talked about it but... I'd really like to think we are..."
Luka stared at his face for a few seconds before slowly opening her mouth to speak, "I'm... Not sure..."
"Not sure...?"
She nodded, "Yeah... Like, I really enjoy when we spend time together but... I'm not sure if I'm ready to have a real relationship yet..."
As she spoke, she leaned her head against Gakupo's shoulder. Her voice trembled a bit at the end and Gakupo could somehow tell that her eyes were starting to water up.
Not knowing what to do, he placed a hand on top of hers and held it tightly, "I understand..."
"Do you...?" she asked.
"Mm, yeah..."
Even without her saying so, Gakupo had a feeling that Luka was possibly hesitating because of Kaito. Even though the two of them had gotten really close recently, he was sure that he couldn't pull her away from the bastard so easily.
"Oh? What do we have here? Two lovebirds~?"
Speak of the devil, and he shall show himself.
Luka was the first to talk as she looked up at him in shock while he sat down across from the two of them, "K-Kaito...?"
"In the flesh," he replied, grinning as he glanced from Luka to Gakupo.
Damn it, why did he have to show his face...?" Gakupo thought as he himself looked from Luka to Kaito.
Breaking the silence, Kaito spoke, "Luka dear, I've missed you~"
"The feeling is by no means mutual..." she retorted quietly, looking down at the table.
"Awww, acting so cold to me again...?" he replied before smirking, "And here I thought you were warming up to me again...~"
The girl's eyes widened a bit and she looked like she wanted to hide away under a rock, unable to say anything in response to his words.
Sensing this, Gakupo stepped in, "Kaito, what do you want...?"
The blue-haired man looked over at him before returning his attention to Luka, "I just wanted to invite her out to drink tonight. I'll be at our favorite bar waiting~"
Before Gakupo or Luka could say anything, he stood up again and left, leaving the two of them alone. They sat there in silence for a while until Luka spoke up.
"I-I should get going.. I have some work to do still..."
Gakupo watched her get up, "Hey Luka..."
"Hm?"
"Um... Nothing. Nevermind. I'll see you later, I guess?"
Nodding, she smiled a bit before walking off.
By 9 PM, Gakupo was finished with work and went down to the lobby and looked around. Luka was nowhere to be found. Gakupo wasn't particularly surprised though since it was only by chance that they saw each other at the lobby the other day. Still, he wanted to at least give it a shot. Kaito's words earlier were still in his head so he wanted to see if he could get Luka to hang out with him tonight.
If only I had the courage to ask her earlier... What the hell's wrong with me? he wondered to himself as he took at seat at the waiting area near the front desk.
"Gakupo?"
Gakupo turned his head to look at the person talking to him, "Oh, hey there Meiko."
Meiko took a seat beside him, "Something wrong? You look pretty out of it."
"Ah... It's Luka. I wanted to find out if she was free tonight but I dunno where she is."
"Have you called her yet?"
"Oh, not yet," he replied before pulling out his phone, "I just wanted to see if she was down here before calling."
Tapping on his phone's screen a few times, he dialed her number and put the phone up to his ear.
Ring... Ring... Ring...
"No answer..." he said as he hit the power button on his phone and locked the screen.
Meiko thought to herself for a few moments before suggesting, "Hey, maybe she's still working or something. The girl can get pretty busy y'know."
"True," he replied back before sighing.
As the two of them talked, Miku arrived at the lobby, stepping out of the elevator and walking over to where her two coworkers were, "Oh hey, what're you doing here Gakupo?"
"Huh?"
"Shouldn't you be with Luka or something? She left a bit earlier saying she had to meet up with someone and I assumed it was you..."
Gakupo shook his head, "N-No, that's not me. I haven't even gotten a chance to ask her to hang out tonight."
"Hm, I wonder who she's meeting with..." Meiko said as she looked at Gakupo.
"I... don't know" he lied. Of course he had an idea who she was with but telling Meiko right now while they were in front of Miku probably wasn't the best idea.
The door opened slowly and the pink-haired idol walked in. The front door led immediately to the living room area and the lights were on. Sitting on the couch was Kaito, holding a glass of alcohol and smiling over at his guest.
"I'm glad you decided to show up~ I was afraid you had finally decided to throw that key of yours away~" he said before picking a second glass up and offering it to Luka.
Luka, who hadn't even taken her shoes off yet, looked at him and shook her head, "No, I'm not here to drink..."
"Oh...?"
"I just wanted to talk..."
"About what?"
Luka avoided looking into Kaito's eyes, "About... us."
"Dammit, where could Luka be?" Gakupo mumbled to himself as he sat on his couch and stared down at his phone.
He had called twice and sent three messages yet no reply yet. While he was understandably bothered by the fact that Luka just left work without a word, even when they had agreed to hang out later, he was more anxious of the fact that today was the day that Kaito had also invited Luka out. What made things even more worrisome for him was the fact that Kaito had mentioned drinking. If what Meiko had said was right, Luka and Alcohol don't mix well when it comes to Kaito...
Wait, was it right for Gakupo to get this worked up over this? Sure, he cared about Luka a lot and didn't want her mixing with scum like Kaito but... what exactly was his relationship with her now? They had talked earlier and she said that she didn't feel ready for a relationship yet. Did that mean they were only friends still? If so, he didn't have a right to have a say in her sex life ri- Wait, did he just have sex the other night with a friend?
Before he knew it, Gakupo's thoughts wandered from Luka and Kaito, to how he had apparently had casual sex with a coworker. Tonight was going to be a long night.
The following morning...
Luka shot straight up out of bed. She pulled the blanket up to cover herself, immediately feeling cold as the cool morning air hit her bare skin. She swallows hard and felt herself begin to sweat ever so slightly as she looked over to who was beside her. Please be purple, please be purple... she silently wished to herself, despite knowing that there was no way Gakupo would be the one in bed with her right now. Of course, it was blue.
She felt her head pound as she gripped the sheets tightly. Somehow, Kaito had gotten her to drink with him last night... She had come to tell him that things were over but... something happened. With a groan, she shut her eyes tightly and desperately tried to remember what happened. She couldn't remember anything. At all.
It didn't feel right at all. Sure, Luka's gotten so drunk before that the next morning, things were a bit of a blur but she could always remember bits and pieces. Here, she couldn't remember anything besides having arrived at Kaito's doorstep. Her stomach turned as she began to wonder if Kaito had put something in her drink. She looked over at the sleeping lion beside her, biting her lip as she saw the content smile on his sleeping face. Then, her stomach turned again as she realized that she had just had sex with Kaito when all she wanted to do was tell him to leave her alone. She went to him to tell him that she wanted to be with Gakupo, but somehow ended up spreading her legs for him. The pink-haired singer felt absolutely disgusted with herself. Even though she had yet to make things official with Gakupo, she had essentially cheated on him.
She turned to look at the nightstand and saw her phone. Reaching over, she grabbed her phone and quickly noticed that it had been silenced. She quickly unmuted her phone and checked her notifications. There were a handful of messages and a dozen missed calls, all from Gakupo. She opened her messages and glanced through them. The first was him just asking where she was. Then, he asked if she was alright. He had sent another message asking if anything was wrong and why she wasn't answering. Then finally, the last text was him asking if she was with Kaito. She felt goosebumps all over before her eyes began to sting a bit. Then, warm tears started to slow flow down her face.
Luka had been scared many times in her life. She had felt helpless and lost more times than she could count but never had she felt like this. She felt utterly defeated and absolutely disgusting. Even though things with Gakupo weren't overly serious yet, she really did like him and felt like he could give her the fresh start she's always wanted.
Slowly, she slipped out of bed and started gathering her clothes up off of the floor. She put her clothes back on and tried to quietly leave the room before being stopped by a voice.
"I hope you enjoyed last night as much as I did~ As always, it was a pleasure to spend the evening with you... between your legs~," Kaito said as he looked over at Luka. Even though her back was turned to him, she was sure that he was wearing a wide grin on his face.
Fighting the urge to respond, she continued out of the room and quickly left the apartment. After a short travel, she arrived back her her apartment and promptly crumpled to the ground after locking the door behind her. Pulling her phone out, she stared at all the missed calls from Gakupo and wondered what to do. Feeling as if everything was spinning out of control, she dialed Meiko's number.
Gakupo woke up to the sound of his phone ringing. Groaning, sat up straight and grabbed the phone that was sitting beside him on the couch. Without even checking the caller ID, he answered it.
"Luka...!?"
"I bet you'd like that wouldn't you?"
"Oh, Meiko..."
"Hey, no need to sound so disappointed. I just wanted to tell you that Luka had a bad fever last night. I just got here so I'll be taking care of her now."
Sighing in relief, Gakupo replied, "Ohhh, so that's what it was. I was wondering why she wasn't replying or answering my calls. I wish she did though, so I could've gone over there to take care of her. I guess I'll leave her in your hands?"
Meiko stayed silent for a moment before answering, "Y-Yeah, sure thing Gakupo. Don't worry about her. She'll be just fine after some good rest. Anyways, I have to go now. I'll talk to you later."
"Ah, alright. Talk to you later then..."
Putting the phone down, Gakupo laid back against the couch and stared at his ceiling. He had sat there all night, waiting for her to call back until he had passed out himself. Slowly, Gakupo stood up and began to stretch. To him, it seemed like all of last night's worrying had been for nothing. Admittedly, he was feeling a bit worried over the fact that Luka had been so sick that she couldn't even answer her phone but he was busy today and Meiko said she'd take care of her so he didn't have much of a choice.
"Rin, why are we out so early in the morning...?"
"Isn't it obvious? Today's our first day off in a while so I want to get the most out of it~"
With a sigh, Len submitted to her twin's will and followed along reluctantly. As much as he'd like to stay home and play games today, there wasn't much point in saying no to her sister. If Rin wanted something, she'd get it one way or another. After a short train ride, the twins got off and walked to their favorite cafe. When they got inside, they were surprised to see Kaito sitting there, enjoying some morning coffee and a bagel.
"Ah, Sir Kaito. What a pleasure to see you this fine morning." Rin said, smiling and even going as far as curtseying.
"The pleasure is all mine, princess," Kaito replied back cooly.
"If I may ask, what brings you here today? If memory serves, you only come here when something good has happened." Rin said.
Laughing softly, Kaito slowly nodded, "Something good did happen indeed. I just spent last night with a gorgeous lady~"
Len watched quietly as the two talked.
"Is that so~? Do I know this lady by any chance?" Rin said, curious as to the identity of Kaito's friend.
Kaito smirked and nodded, "Yes, you do; however, I'm quite sure this friend of mine would prefer to stay anonymous~ You know how shy princesses can be at times."
As the two continued their senseless banter, Len stared at Kaito's shoulder. With the light coming in from the window, it almost looked like there was a line of pink or something on him. Of course, that couldn't be the case at all. A pink line on a blue shirt didn't make sense.
"Anyways, I've got to get going. I'll talk to you later?"
Rin nodded, "Ah, yes. Let's talk more later."
With that, Kaito stood up from his table, threw his trash away, and left.
"You can't hide this from him forever Luka... You know that"
Luka sighed and looked at Meiko who was sitting next to her in her living room, "I... I know."
"So... do you think he really put anything in your drink?"
"I... don't know. I mean, I definitely don't remember much from last night but I can't be sure that it wasn't just because I had a little too much to drink... I'm starting to remember some stuff and I think that he wanted us to have one more drink together or something... And then he poured me something... I can't remember what though... It could've been spiked but it also could've been something I've never had before..."
Before she knew it, Luka started to feel tears run down her cheeks. She hugged herself and curled up, trying her best not to sob. Meiko pulled her close and kissed the top of her head, "Don't worry... We'll get through this Luka. Don't you worry..."
Luka wiped the tears away and looked at her friend, "Are you sure...? Gakupo's gonna hate me for sure..."
"We'll worry about that when we get there. Just... try and see if you can remember more..."
Ugh, I hate coming in on a Saturday...
With a groan, Gakupo walked into the lounge and took a seat. He pulled his phone out and unlocked it. He hasn't heard from Meiko about Luka since this morning. He was sure that Luka would be fine with Meiko there but he couldn't help but worry a bit. After taking a moment to compose a message in his head, he quickly typed the message out on his phone and sent it out to Luka.
To: Luka
From: Gakupo
Sub: You alright? D:
Message:
Hey Luka, how're you doing? Meiko told me that you had a fever and stuff… I hope you're feeling better! Maybe when you are, we can hang out again? Anyways, rest up and come back to work soon. It'll get lonely without you haha…
It wasn't until after Gakupo sent the message that he realized what he typed. I don't seem too lonely or anything, do it…!? WAIT I TYPED THAT OUT FFFF-
Before he could continue screaming at himself in his head, Gakupo heard Kaito's voice from the door. He turned to look and saw the blue-haired man grinning.
"Ah, Gakupo~" he said, "You're working on a Saturday too~?"
Gakupo stared at Kaito, eyes narrowing a bit. He swallowed hard and tried his best to keep cool, "Y-Yeah." Just being around Kaito was enough to get him on edge.
"Ah, I see. Seems like it's just us two today~ The girls seem to have today off, which is… fortunate for them."
Gakupo couldn't help but feel like Kaito was trying to imply something. The way Kaito looked at him and the way he spoke both felt like there was some kind of hidden meaning. Curious, he asked, "What do you mean by that…?"
"Well, let's just say that having a Saturday off is good for those who partied a bit too hard the night before…" Kaito replied, eyes glued on Gakupo, carefully observing his reaction.
Gakupo swallowed hard and tried to process his words. Partied hard? Did he mean…. Luka? Just as he was about to open his mouth to ask, Kaito cut him off, "I mean me of course. I had a few too many drinks last night. Of course, I'm a professional so I won't let that get in the way of my work~ Anyways, I should be off. Busy busy~"
With that, Kaito turned around and walked away, leaving Gakupo in the room alone. Gakupo laid his head down on the table and sighed. Talking to Kaito was always a bit tiring. His overly playful attitude which bordered on annoying just didn't mesh well with out straightward Gakupo was. It always felt like when he talked, there would be some kind of underlying meaning to his words. Gakupo couldn't shake the feeling that his words were hinting at something… something to do with Luka. He couldn't prove it, but it was a gut feeling.
Author Note:
It's been a while since I updated this so... I'm sorta sorry. kinda. Anyways! There's one or two errors within the last couple of chapters that contradict previous chapters and I'm legitimately sorry for that. I hope that if I ever make another multi-chapter work, that stuff like that won't happen. Hopefully it wasn't noticeable and if it was... sorry.
One last thing: This was supposed to be a romantic comedy if you can believe that. Apparently, I'm not good at writing romantic comedies because wow, this isn't really a romcom story, especially after this chapter.
