Chapter 7

I was pretty sure I'm about to hyperventilate, palpitate and have a heart attack all at the same time. Late reaction, I know. But being kissed by your ultimate-crush-slash-love-of-your-life-who-you-decided-to-give-up-on-but-fate-seems-to-have-other-plans needs a lot of processing time. By that I mean alone time to be crazy and laugh and cry at the same time, indulging the feel of his lips so you laugh because you feel like you've conquered the whole freaking universe and cry like those beauty pageant winners who didn't really expect to win so they treasure that moment really freaking well.

Kei knocking right now isn't really much time.

I was still standing at the middle of the room about to have a cardiologist's worst nightmare when Kei strode in my apartment as if it's his own. It is his if you want to get technical. His family to be more technical. Since we've become friends he had no qualms whatsoever in invading my space. My reprimands on him entered on one of his ear and went out at the other so I stopped and just adapted to it. And how did he enter? He has a key. He uses it frequently when he knows I'm home but is not answering the door.

"I have t-shirts, jeans, a couple of belts and some shoes." He announced grandly as he sat on my sofa. "And of course, Pizza~"

He placed the large square carton on my living room table.

Then he looked at me.

I stared blankly at him, still partially in haze.

He did a body scan that ended with him grinning.

"Well, he was trying to get to your pants. I knew it!" He stated.

"What? No!" I denied. He really wasn't, wasn't he?

"Keep telling yourself that Mai-chan. Maybe it'll come true." Kei replied, starting to open the pizza box.

"Kei, he can't even remember who he is. Naru's not a slut trying to get in my pants. He wasn't even a flirt back then. And get real, he can probably stand on a side walk and he won't need to try get to anyone's pants, girls will be lining up." I shot back, because, honestly!

"I bet you'll be fighting tooth and nail to be first on that line." Kei countered. Yes, probably.

"Now that's a nice thought," Naru said from the door of my room. "Thanks for the clothing, by the way Kei-san."

"You know, it's rude to be eavesdrop." I told him, my face probably resembles a tomato right now. My elation from the kiss evaporated as we speak and is slowly replaced by irritation.

Irritation is good, irritation I can handle.

"I know." He replied simply. In a cocky way that only Naru can pull off and in a way that makes me want to wring his neck.

Since I know that any attempt to have the last line will only cause me either injury, embarrassment or a police file, I huffed and went to the kitchen.

It is my home, my sanctuary, so I am the host. I decided to fix us some drinks. I pulled out a cold beer for Kei (which he keeps in my room because even if he's 3 years older than me, his mom is still doing fridge raids on his pad, he's not allowed to keep anything with alcohol content) and lemon soda for me and Naru. Before you ask, I was never tempted to drink alcohol. Okay, not never but that's a story for another time. I didn't bother with plates.

"You keep beer here?" Naru asked, surprised I guess.

"Yup, but it's for him," I pointed to Kei. "I only keep it, I don't really drink."

"Have I told you thanks for that?" Kei asked teasingly.

"Nope, not today."

"Well, thank you very, very much." He said.

"Why do I get soda?" Naru asked. I eyed him pensively. Naru didn't strike me something who drinks anything besides tea, so oops, my mistake.

"I can get you your tea your highness." I started to get up when he caught my hand.

"No, I mean why not give me beer."

Shocker.

This quickly became a sitcom for Kei, who watched avidly.

"Do you even drink beer?" I asked.

"I don't know. I can't remember, remember?" Naru replied haughtily.

"I never saw you drink beer, or anything alcoholic for that matter." Besides the time when Bou-san and I spiked his tea. But I'm not really planning to bring that up, ever.

"I'm a man Mai, I surely drink." His brows started to draw closer together. So that what it was. Pissing contest, huh?

"How can you be so sure, Naru? You can't remember, remember?" I replied.

This is a fun game, if you think about it. Amnesiac Naru doesn't have the ammunitions I have now.

Awesome.

He was about to give a comeback when Kei butt in.

"Just give him beer Mai." The way he said it reminded me of Yasu. Really, those two can be twins.

I rolled my eyes, went to the kitchen and got the narcissist his damned beer.

"Turn the TV and player Mai, let's do movie night." Kei suggested suddenly. I looked at Naru as he finished his swig off the beer bottle. He nodded his assent.

I sat back and enjoyed the food. Kei turned the TV and the player on (with complaints of course, but hey he suggested it), we all agreed to have horror/thriller marathon. I sat between the two of them, volunteering to get refills and such every now and then.

I settled in a very comfy position in the sofa with Naru. His arm was behind my back and I was almost leaning to his chest. Kei sat on the floor, his head slumped on the table.

"You know, that girl's an idiot." Naru suddenly said by my ear then continued. "The other girl was already dead as a doornail, beyond saving. I see no reason why she should play tug-of-war with the creature to get a corpse."

"Naru," I said softly. "That was her friend, it would've been in her conscience if she didn't do anything about it. Even if the girl was already dead, to her it's still her friend. You off all people should know that there's more to things than being alive or dead, Naru. You're a ghost hunter."

"But I agree with him." Kei offered. "If she left the corpse, the creature would have been busy, she could've ran and gave herself a head start."

"The corpse would've felt betrayed and haunt the place." Naru answered him, trying to see the situation from my perspective. I tried, and failed, to hide a smile.

"What's the point? It's not like anyone would live there and complain about the ghost to you ghost hunters." Kei shot back, complete with an eye roll.

This time, it's me who answered.

"It's not all about that Kei, just think about it. How would you feel if I left your corpse and run to save my life?"

"I'll feel relieved that you finally used your brain, not your heart. You should, you know. At least some times." Kei drawled.

Naru's chest vibrated with humor.

"I love you too, bitch." I told Kei. We all went back watching.

"I'd still leave his corpse, just saying." Naru whispered in my ear. "I'll need to live to protect you."

Yeah, Naru knows the romantic things to do in the most grotesque situations.

He should write a book about things like that.

The Perks of Being a Ghost Hunter.

So, guys… There's something wrong with FF today. The Format is waaaaay of when I first updated this, so if you saw that, please ignore it.

This is the first time I'm uploading usinf 'doc' not copy-and-paste. I hope it's okay now though…

As always, review okay? Okay. Thank you my lovelies.. :D

Hearts and flowers,

ProvocativelyTactile