Jenny.
"How far is the lake from here?" I ask Pein.
"A couple more minutes."
I rest my head against the seat and close my eyes. I still cannot believe that I'm on a date with a guy who I've only known for a few days.
"Don't fall asleep now. We're here."
The car stopped and I opened my eyes. The lake was beautiful. A wooden rowboat floated next to the small wooden dock that had a large apple tree overshadowing it. The sun was setting below the lake, making its colorful rays reflect on the sparkling water.
"You don't get seasick easily right?" Pein walked by my side as we headed towards the dock.
"Nope, you're lucky."
"Good, cause I wasn't planning to clean up puke."
We both laugh at his joke.
The boat shakes as I step in and sit down. Pein sits in front of me and begins to row the boat.
"Jenny," he licks his lips, "Jenny. I like the sound of that. It feels nice to say."
I nearly fell off the boat.
Must he be perfect?
"But it's a common name. Nothing too special."
"True but what's important is the soul that holds the name."
I rest my hand on my heart.
"That's so poetic."
Why did I just do that I feel like some fan girl.
The boat stops moving.
"Here we are."
I gasp at the scenery before me.
Another tree with drooping leaves rests on a grassy plain that's covered with small flowers. The smell of winter fills the air and dandelions float around. It's like being on cloud nine.
"It's…magnificent."
"I always bring Konan here."
I felt my heart stop.
He has a girlfriend!
"Who's Konan?"
"A friend. She's like my sister. Always was there for me."
Phew.
"She lives with us now."
"I've never seen her around."
"A quiet type. She's usually in her room."
I get out of the boat and throw myself into the waves of grass.
"Join me Pein."
He shakes his head and lies down next to me.
…..
7:30 PM.
The house.
Alex.
My love by Justin Timberlake plays while I drink some hot cocoa and read a magazine.
Love. It's such a big word. I wonder how people handle such a difficult subject?
Itachi's face appears in my mind. I've been so busy getting used to my new home that I completely forgot about him. Kisame pops in my fantasy too.
I miss those guys.
Getting bored from the magazine, I put it away and leave me room. The house is really quiet.
"Anybody home?"
No one answers.
"Guess I'll leave too."
I put my empty cup in the kitchen and then return to the living room. I'm about to leave when something bizarre happens.
"MAXIMUM MADNESS!" An older boy yells while running towards me with his arms open.
I scream and kick him in the face and knee his stomach. He falls on the ground unconscious.
First neighbors and now robbers? What's next a circus?
Angel.
What's going on?
I take out my iPod earphones and jolt downstairs. I gasp when I see Max on the floor and Alex standing above him.
"Angel!" she says seeing me, "call 911. This perv broke into the house. I knocked him out but he'll be waking up soon."
"Alex. He isn't a burglar, his name is Max and he's my cousin's new friend."
Alex had an "oops I screwed up didn't I?" look.
"So….he's not a bad guy."
"No! Ali surprised me a few hours ago and he asked if Max could stay with us." I explain as I drag Max to the couch.
"I don't get it, you're shy as heck around Zetsu, get butterflies around Deidara, but you're ok with having two guys living with four girls."
"First of all, Ali is my cousin and he's twenty seven. And I'm pretty sure that Max isn't harmful if my very protective relative chose him."
Alex picks up Max's feet and helps me to put him on the couch.
"I don't know Ang, we'll have to discuss this with the others."
As we study Max, a flushing noise comes from the guest bathroom and Ali appears shortly after. His eyes land on Alex.
"Is she your friend?"
"Yeah, one of my many roommates."
"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Alex and you must be Ali, did I say it right? For the record, I never bring guys home, I don't stay out late and I take great care of Angel." Alex smiles innocently.
As if bad luck wanted to torture us, Kisame barged into the living room.
"Alex, where have you been? I miss you."
"Why now Kisame?" Alex whines quietly.
Ali frownes at our neighbor.
"Who is he?"
"…..our mailman?" Alex whimpers.
My eyes are falling out of their sockets and I want to curse Kisame a hundred times.
"Alex, who is this guy?" Kisame gives the same look to my cousin.
"He's my cousin Kisame." I defend my friend who looks like she's gonna faint.
Thankfully, shark man grins.
"Ali, it's nice to meet you."
But my cousin doesn't stop frowning.
"Your name was….Kisame right?"
"Last time I checked it was." Kisame tries to break the ice.
Ali finally loosens up. That was close.
"Doost pesareshe?" (Is he her boyfriend?) He motions to Alex and Kisame.
"Nah! Faghat dooste mamoolian." (No! They're just normal friends.)
I hear someone groan from behind me. I turn around and see Max getting up.
"Owww, feel like someone's stabbed my intestines." He holds his head.
"Do you want some ice?" I ask.
"Thanks but I'll be fine." He gets up.
Alex smiles nervously as she watches Max walk past her.
"Next time, let me know we have guest so I don't beat the crud out of them."
We all laugh.
…..
Jenny.
"So do you have a boyfriend?" Pein suddenly asks me.
I sit up puzzled. Does this mean I have a chance then?
"No, never had one."
"I see…." He starts drawing circles in the grass.
I lie down again.
"Jenny?"
"Yes?" I turn on my side to face him.
Pein doesn't say anything, all he does he stare. I shiver under his gaze and turn my head away.
"Your eyes…..someone could get lost in them." His breath hits my lips as he talks.
Can he just kiss me and get this over with?
"Yours…..are the same." I mumble.
Then the magical moment happened. He closes his eyes and tilts his head a bit. I do the same and hope for the best. Our lips are almost touching, getting closer, closer…
Ring, ring.
DID HIS STUPID PHONE HAVE TO RING NOW!
"Sorry." He whispers and takes his phone out of his pocket.
I scoot away and start running my hands through my hair.
"Hello? Oh hey Konan. Yeah I'm out. When I'll be back? In an hour or two. Don't let Tobi eat everything ok? Thanks see you later." He hangs up.
"…I think we should go." I say, secretly disappointed that my first kiss didn't happen.
We get up and head to the boat.
…
9 pm.
Angel.
"Goodnight, see you in the morning." I said and close my room door.
I feel so sorry for Max. I invite him into our home and he gets beaten up. From now on, I shall warn my protective friends before bringing someone over.
"Hey Angel, hm."
I half scream half gasp. I turn towards my bed and see Deidara sitting on it.
"How did you get into my room!" I keep my voice low so no one can hear us.
"Your window was open."
Another thing I should consider fixing.
"You could have just called."
"It's more fun this way." He pats the bed, wanting me to sit down.
I try to tame my pulse and sit next to him.
"How's Snow?" Might as well ask how his girlfriend is.
"She's fine thanks."
We just sat there, doing nothing. What are you supposed to say to your crush?
"Angel, can I ask you something."
"Go ahead." I glance at him from under my bangs.
"If….If you had someone to love and care for but…..there was….um….someone else, how would you…break it off with that person?"
My hands were drenched with sweat.
"You could….talk to the person and sweetly explain; however, girls never take this lightly."
Deidara chuckles and pats my shoulder. Jolts of excitement went through me.
"That might work."
"Glad to be of service." I reservedly smile.
"I almost forgot," he unzips his mini bag that's attached to his belt; "I made this for you."
He gives me a small clay bird that has small blue beads as eyes.
"Deidara, it's amazing. Thanks." I hold the little masterpiece in my hands.
"You wanted to see my works so I said why not make you one?"
"I don't have anything to give in return."
"There's no need to." He closes my hands with his.
Heat spreads all over my complexion.
"I would love to stay and chat but I must go, hm." He gets up.
"Can you get down?" I follow him to the window.
"Angel, if I can climb up, surely I can get down."
We laugh.
"Goodnight." He says softly.
"Goodnight, sleep well."
Before leaving, he moves some strands of my hair out of my eyes and places it behind my ear. Letting it go slowly, he jumps down into the yard.
I close my window and lock it.
The next thing I did?
I fainted. And I didn't wake up until morning.
….
11 am.
Alex.
I roll onto my side in bed and look at the clock.
"Eleven? I must have been tired."
I sit up and stretch my arms and get out of bed. Then I comb my hair and go to the living room. Angel's cousin is sitting on the couch watching TV.
"Good morning Alex." He sees me and grins.
"Good morning sir."
Angel appears at the stair case with a red face.
"Hun, are you ok?" I ask her.
She nods and motions me with her finger to follow her. We go into the kitchen.
"I saw Deidara last night. He was in my room." Said quietly.
"Woot!" I wiggle my eyebrows.
"Oh please, all we did was talk...but he did give me a present." She pulls out a small bird from her robe.
"He made this?" I hold the clay figure in my hands.
"He's great at sculpting. Did I mention that he asked me about how to break up with someone?"
"He did? Girl that's a good sign."
"It's not all good, what if he wants to break it off with Snow? She'll be hurt." Angel opens the fridge and takes out some toast.
Although she felt bad, I could tell that Angel was sort of happy that her crush would be available soon.
"It'll work out. There's always a way." I pat her back and sit at the dining table.
Jenny enters. She looks like she was in a tornado. Her hair is sticking all over the place and her eyes have circles underneath them.
"Someone get me a coffee pronto."
"Is it your happy time?" Angel asks.
"If only it were that." She sits across from me and straightens out her hair.
"The date didn't go well?" I look at her.
"It did but the kiss went wrong."
"You guys kissed!" Angel dashes up to Jenny and grins crazily.
"Almost. His phone rang."
"Drats." I snap my fingers.
"Think of this as a sign Jen, maybe you weren't ready for it." Angel smoothens out Jenny's tangles.
"Maybe you're right. I was nervous."
"Angel, is breakfast ready?" Ali calls.
"Are." (Yes.)
Ali and Max are in the kitchen in seconds. They each grab a chair and surround the toast that Angel made.
…..
Normal pov.
The Akatsuki household.
"Darn it Kakuzu, you always beat me." A very ticked off Hidan says to an older man.
"I'm just better than you." Kakuzu sticks his nose up proudly.
Pein enters the game room where the two men are playing and falls down onto one of the couches.
"If only I could have kissed her…" he mutters against the cushions.
"Kissed who?" Hidan asks.
"Dang he heard me."
"Nothing. I'm talking nonsense." Pein changes to a siting position.
"Dude, I'm the oldest one here and I've had more experience than you guys have had, what's up?" Kakuzu sits next to him.
"Date went wrong yesterday."
Knowing that he couldn't be in peace here, Pein got off the couch and went upstairs.
"Didn't know he was so sensitive." Hidan slightly snickered.
"Least he's got a heart." Kakuzu mumbled.
"Oi, I'm kicking your old butt this time. Let's go."
Hidan restarted Modern Warfare on the Xbox.
….
Back with the neighbors.
Normal pov.
"Any idea what we should do today?" Bridgette wondered.
"Beats me, I just wanna sleep." Jenny said lazily.
"Jen, you've been like this ever since you came back yesterday from your outing with Pein, snap out of it. One ruined moment isn't the end." Angel shook her.
"Fine."
"If you ladies are bored," Max spoke up, "I know a fun place we can go to."
"Where Max?" Alex asked.
"The Karaoke house."
The girls stared at him. Who knew boys were into karaoke.
"Guess that would be fun." Angel agreed.
"It's better than lying around here like a bunch of snails." Bridgette piped up.
"We're going to go crazy tonight!" Max pretended to play a guitar.
Jenny sighed and buried her face in her pillow.
….
Ironically, a certain hyper neighbor wasp planning the exact same thing with his family.
