Gene had evidently had his chat with Luella regarding my feelings towards Mai. As when I arrived home for the Easter holidays, she embraced me and tiptoed around the subject.
In truth, this was to my benefit. She allowed me to sit in my room under the impression that I was 'heartbroken'. Of course, I was no such thing. By the end of the first two weeks, I was over Mai. The thought of her did not bother me in the slightest. I no longer had a crush. It was gone.
In the third week of the Easter holidays, my father, Martin, asked me to accompany two of his associates who were to be staying in our uni house as guests. I had known Lin and Madoka for a long time, so had no qualms showing them around. They were to be staying in Gene's room, as he had promised that he had cleaned it.
Lin and Madoka picked me up in their little town car early on Sunday morning. They would be visiting my university for a conference for the next few days, which would give me time to settle back into my routine before lectures began again.
We arrived just before lunchtime.
"Let's get a cup of tea before we lug the cases in," Madoka said. "I'm parched!"
I could not argue with Madoka. She would not listen to reason unless she felt so inclined. The fact that we had three small suitcases between us and that it would be more effort to collect them later was neither here nor there to Madoka.
I let us into the empty house and began down the corridor.
A heavy blow hit the side of my head, and I knew no more.
"... and Lin had gotten them completely confused and they'd been swapping t-shirts as they ran around Ikea until they finally screwed up," Madoka said, her voice full of laughter.
Another laugh reached my ears, followed by a low grunt.
"I thought that Mr and Mrs Davis were going to fire me right on the spot," Lin's voice muttered.
I frowned and stirred.
"Noll? Are you okay?"
I tried to speak, but only a low groan escaped my lips.
"He sounds about as coherent as usual," Madoka's voice said.
"My head…" I breathed.
"Yes, someone hit you over the head," Lin answered.
"Who…?"
No one answered. I opened my eyes. Light blinded me and I shut them again. Shielding my face, I reopened my eyes and glanced about. Someone had placed me on the sofa. I could see three figures at the table; Lin, Madoka and… Mai.
She refused to meet my eye.
"Why?" I demanded.
"Your friend here thought we were trying to rob the house," Madoka said, bemused by the look of shame on Mai's face.
"If it makes you feel any better, Noll," Lin went on. "I almost broke her arm in your defence."
"But we got everything straightened out."
Of course, Mai had no parents, she would have been in this house alone while everyone else had been at home with their families. A pang of guilt shot through my stomach. Had Luella known this… But no. I was over Mai.
"Sorry," Mai squeaked.
I did not respond. I could feel a bruise forming on the side of my head. It hurt. I forced myself up into a sitting position.
"We brought the cases in while you were out," Madoka said. "Mai showed us around."
I grunted.
"Do you want some tea?"
I grunted again.
Five minutes later, Mai pressed a steaming hot cup of tea into my hands before retreating behind Madoka.
"Why did you not take me to A&E?" I asked. "I lost consciousness and it is likely that I have concussion."
"Eh, you're fine," Madoka said, waving a hand. "If you start puking or something later then we'll take you."
I looked to Lin for a decent explanation, but he avoided my eye. In other words, Madoka bullied him into not taking me. I sighed.
"Do we have any frozen peas?"
"Oh it's not that bad," Madoka said with a roll of her eyes.
"Ice helps with reducing the bruising and—"
Mai scrambled off her feet and raced for the freezer, where she produced a pack of peas. She passed it over and I pressed it to my head. Guilt had written its way into every aspect of Mai's face.
"What exactly did you plan on doing after you had taken down the first intruder?" I asked her.
"Uh, well, try and hit the second one too?" she replied, staring at her fluffy sock bound feet.
"What were you using?"
"Masako's hockey stick."
"She had not been counting on one of the other's fighting back," Lin muttered. "I presume you have had no formal defence training?"
"No," Mai replied.
"Nor does she have any common sense," I said. "Had I heard intruders, I would have phoned the police."
A red tinge spread over Mai's cheeks. I had not seen her blush for weeks. But no, I was over Mai. Her shame was a natural response to the situation and her embarrassment was in no way cute or endearing.
"Okay well it long past lunch time, so who wants to go out for lunch?" Madoka asked brightly.
I glowered at her and pointed to my head.
"Mai, would you like to join Lin and I?" Madoka amended.
"Uh, no, I wouldn't want to impose, I've got food in that I need to eat anyway."
"Then will you be a dear and look after Noll for me?"
"Uh," Mai's eyes flicked to me and then back to Madoka, uncertainty clear in her expression, "Sure?"
"Great! Come on Lin."
Yes. Great. Just what I wanted.
Madoka and Lin disappeared off for lunch, leaving me and Mai alone. Mai continued to refuse to make eye contact for longer than a millisecond. She scuttled about clearing up the tea cups.
"Um, are you hungry? I can make you something?" she whispered.
"Yes."
"What would you like?"
"Whatever you're doing for yourself, without the meat or dairy."
"Okay."
From where I was sitting, I could not see Mai working in the kitchen. I shifted the peas around on my head and felt a drop of condensation roll down my neck.
Mai appeared a moment later with a sandwich on a plate, I took it from her and lifted the edge of the bread to see what was inside.
"This is just lettuce between bread," I pointed out.
"Well I can hardly make you a cheese, ham and lettuce sandwich, can I?" she replied. "And my margarine isn't dairy free so…"
I gave her a deadpan stare and kept her gaze as I bit into my lettuce 'sandwich'.
After finishing my lunch, if you can call it that, I returned the slightly defrosted peas to the freezer and headed up to my room. Perhaps something of my annoyance showed on my face, as Mai giggled as I walked past. Evidently, she was pleased with herself.
Once in my room, I unpacked my clothing and then flopped on my bed to read.
Mai disturbed me half an hour later with a knock on the door.
"Come in," I muttered.
"I brought you tea," she said as she entered.
"Thank you."
"I figured we're even now."
"Excuse me?"
"Well, you tricked me into a date and I hit you over the head with a hockey stick. So I think we're even now," Mai said from the doorway.
"It was not my idea," I replied. "That was Gene and Yasuhara's idea."
"Ah, yeah, um… Gene mentioned that before the holidays…" Mai mumbled. "But you were kind of avoiding me at that point and…"
I did not deny it.
"So, um, can we be friends again?" Mai asked. "I did make you tea after all."
The look of hope in her eyes infected my body. It crashed into the barrier that held back my feelings towards her and forced the floodgates open.
I could not bring myself to speak, so I merely nodded.
"Good, I don't want it to be awkward between us like it was before the holidays," Mai went on. "And the beginning of the holidays were lonely and…"
She trailed off rather pathetically. Then it struck me. She wanted to 'hang out'. I wondered how much of her attempts at reconciliation were due to loneliness. Though perhaps the time had given her chance to reconsider her reactions.
"If you want to sit in here and read," I offered, not bothering to finish my sentence as I saw recognition her eyes.
"Oh, no, I don't want to bother you!"
"If it was going to bother me, I would not have suggested it."
She smiled a little at my bluntness.
"Well, I'll leave you to it," she mumbled.
She closed the door behind her when she left, leaving me to return to my book. My eyes refocused on the page but the words were foreign to me. Something about the fact that Mai wanted to be friends distracted me from all else.
Drat.
I forced myself to read a sentence. I then reread it. On the third attempt the meaning went in, a bit.
I sighed. Ready to give up, I noted my page number and put the book down beside me. Perhaps after drinking a cup of tea I would be in a better state of mind to concentrate.
But no sooner had I taken the first sip when I heard another knock on my door.
"Come—"
But Mai had already walked in. Her hands were full of books and notepads. She clocked where I had sat on the bed and then dumped her stuff beside me and clambered into the empty space.
Without saying a word, she smiled at me, leant back against the wall and pulled one of the books towards her. She opened it to a bookmarked page and began making notes.
I watched her for a few minutes. She chewed her lip in concentrate and mumbled under her breath. Every now and then, she would hook her hair behind her ears only for it to fall forward again.
"What?"
She caught me staring.
"Your pen is running out," I said.
I fished an unused biro out of the pack on my desk and handed it over.
"Thanks."
I smiled at her.
Double drat.
Any notion of being 'over' Mai had been completely shattered. I was not 'over' her in the slightest. The bubble of happiness I had been so accustomed to a few weeks back had returned in full force at the sight of Mai, sat on my bed and studying.
I finished my tea and returned with ease to my book.
Madoka and Lin came back about an hour later with armfuls of shopping. Lin, like me, ate majorly vegan food. This meant that he would cook and I could reap the benefits of his superior cooking.
"What have you two kids been up to this afternoon then?" Madoka asked as Mai made a pot of tea for us all.
"Mai made me a lettuce sandwich," I said.
Mai's cheeks flared red and she pouted at me with her hands on her hips.
"You asked for whatever I was having without meat or dairy!" she protested.
I smirked back before noticing the way Madoka's eyes flicked between myself and Mai.
"How was your meal?" Mai asked Madoka, trying to direct the attention away from her burning cheeks.
"It was lovely, we found this lovely little Italian place about ten or fifteen minutes from here," Madoka said.
"Really?"
"Yeah, the garlic bread was the best I've ever had."
I tuned out to the conversation. I had only come downstairs at Madoka's insistence. The problem with Madoka is that I have to listen to enough of her requests so that she does not complain to my mother, who would make life infinitely more difficult.
I felt a vibration in my pocket.
Gene: How's it going?
Oliver: Mai is here. She hit me with a hockey stick thinking I was an intruder. Otherwise all fine.
Gene: Oh, Mai's there is she? What a coincidence!
I glared at my phone.
Oliver: You knew.
Gene: Me? No! Never…
Gene: But Mum's email account might have been left open on her computer. And she might have had an email from Mai asking if it was okay for her to remain in the house for the Holidays…
Oliver: So you and Luella schemed behind my back.
Oliver: Remember the last time that happened?
I pocketed my phone, too frustrated to care about any potential response Gene might have sent me.
"What's up with you, grumpy?" Madoka asked.
"Nothing."
"Then why are you scowling, you'll get wrinkles."
"What? Like yours?"
"No, worse than mine. Because mine are from laughing at you being stubborn," Madoka said.
I could see Lin and Mai trying not to laugh. Having no wish to share my thoughts, I chose to leave the room. It was only as I sat down on my bed and picked up my book again that I realised that the tea had not been made and I did not have a cup.
But I would not return downstairs.
Besides, if Mai wanted us to be friends, she would bring it up.
And bring it up, she did.
"I've got your tea," she said upon entry to my room. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Was it Gene?" she asked.
"Why do you say that?"
"He seems to be the only person that can rile you up like that," she mumbled, not making eye contact.
"Yes, it was Gene."
"What's he done this time?"
"He knew you were here and did not tell me or you. Therefore allowing you to think that this house was being robbed and causing me to be hit over the head by a hockey stick. If he had told either one of us, I would be in a lot less pain right now."
"Oh, um, yeah, sorry about that."
"Not only that, but my mother knew too."
"And she didn't tell you either?"
"No."
"But why?"
I could not answer this in all honestly. At least, not out loud and not to Mai.
"Thank you for the tea."
Author's note: Couldn't let it stay angsty for too long! Please review :)
