:3 I hope you like. And Lady Amazon, you didn't get study hall?! You poor thing! I feel for you. And sorry about The Lonely Island references…I figured gotta fill the silence somehow.
xxx
"You are," she slaps my arm, "you remind me of my older brother."
"Your older brother?" I tilt my head to the side. I didn't expect her to bring him up.
"Yeah, Killian? He never made fun of me the way Avel does," she giggles, "actually, he stood up to my father because of the way he was treating me. Personally, I don't think he would have married if he could've had his own babies. I don't think he likes women."
"I don't think so either," I shake my head in agreement. After it leaves my lips, I wish I hadn't said it. That kind of statement is the sole reason people lose friends.
"Yeah," she says softly, her head tilting to the ground.
"Say, I want to meet your brother," I state, trying to lighten the mood. I already know how she will react, scared and shy.
"Oh, well, um," she fidgets, playing with her fingers. Just as I expected.
"Hm?" my inquiry and my gaze makes her look away from me, again.
"He's not at home anymore," she says softly, returning her gaze to me.
"Really? Is he in college?" I just want to know more about her, but how to approach?
"Yeah, back in Pennsylvania," she nods, her eyes glued to the ground.
"Does he visit?"
"Few and far between. He can't stand my father, so he stays away," she answers.
"Oh," I say, I can tell that the way she talks about him, he was her only escape from home life. I don't push anymore, her body language tells me that there's a war conflicting inside her.
"Uhm. Abe," she says softly.
"Yes?" I question, returning my gaze upon her.
"Killian is in the country, right now," she says, "if you'd like to meet him."
"I would, if it's okay with you," I shrug.
"How about the three of us go to Rokkakudo," Lexi suggests.
"Sure. I'll pay," I offer.
"Oh no! We can all pay!" Lexi nearly freaks out.
I give her a condescending look, "I'll pay."
Lexi sighs, "fine," she pouts. I smirk, nudging her with my shoulder. She tries to nudge me back, but to little use. I don't move, "ugh!" she heaves on my shoulder, making me stumble a little to my left. I laugh as Lexi laughs.
"Lemme give my mom a call, kay?" I pull my phone from my pants.
"Yeah, I gotta call Killian anyways," she smiles up at me, moving to the left, leaning against a light pole. I turn my back to her.
"Hello?" Mom answers the phone on the first ring.
"Hey Mom, it's me," I speak into the receiver.
"Hello Taka, what's the matter?" she inquires.
"Oh, nothing's the matter, Lexi, her brother and I are going to Rokkakudo. So you don't have to make me supper," I inform.
"Honey, do you need money?"
"Nope, I'm good. I still have forty dollars from my birthday," I pull out my money from my pocket, counting to make sure I have the forty dollars.
"Okay, honey, have fun," I hear a smile in her voice.
"Thanks, Mom, I'll be home in a couple hours," I turn back to a smiling Lexi.
"Alright, Taka, see you then," the smile is still there.
"See you, Mom," I hang up, smirking at Lexi, "what?"
"The way you talk to your mom is adorable," she gushes. I blush.
"Uhm…thank you?" I don't really know how to answer that.
"Oh, you're welcome," she giggles, "so shall we continue to Rokkakudo?"
"We shall," I lean forward, taking steps in the direction of the restaurant. Lexi scurries to my side, looking at the scenery the way I've noticed her do. She doesn't look at the sky, like I've seen some girls do; she looks more toward the ground. The outskirts, the vegetation.
"So, is Killian meeting us there?" I glace at her from the side of my eye.
"Yeah, most likely we'll get there before he will," she says.
"Okay, I can reserve our table," I offer.
"I think I should, he doesn't know your last name," she shrugs.
"Better idea," I point at her, "then I'll reserve our table under your last name."
"Good, because I don't like talking to strangers," she scratches her head.
"You don't?" I question. Considering all of the friends she has and the way she approached me, I would think she likes to meet new people.
"Nah," she shakes her head, "All of my friends? Yeah most of them introduced themselves to me and I started to act like myself and everyone wanted to be my friend," she shrugs.
"That's because you're awesome," I laugh.
"Right," she shakes her head, "I beg to differ."
"Well your opinion is not needed in this argument," I sneer playfully at her. She makes a face to me.
"My opinion is beast," she wrinkles her nose, scrutinizing my features. I smirk at her.
"Like a boss," I refrain from smiling.
"On a boat," she crosses her arms over her chest.
"I just had"
"We're here!" Lexi cuts in. We have stopped in front a small restaurant.
I hold the door for her. The small place looks empty, I would guess because it's really out of the way for a restaurant. Probably not a lot of people know about it.
"Hello, welcome to Rokkakudo, how may I help you?" the boy behind the counter asks as we reach earshot.
"A table for three please," I request, "we have one on the way."
"Last name please?" I inquires, his soft blue eyes travel from me to Lexi.
"Mendrick," I call his attention back to me. He scribbles it down, smiling up at me. His eyes are sparkling, like I just said something worth his time.
"Your table will be ready in a few minutes," he says, looking at Lexi again, he speaks hesitantly. As if he is unsure of his next words, "Alexandria?"
"Hm?" she looks up from her feet. I'm guessing she thought I said her name, for she looked to me first, then at the waitor.
"It's Dallas! Dallas Angel," he points to himself. Lexi still looks confused. She stares at him, her eyes growing smaller in suspicion, "we were in the first grade together," he smiles. Lexi snaps her fingers.
"Dallas! It's been a while, how are you?" she inquires, "Why are you here? You should be my age."
"Well when I graduated to high school, my parents died in a car crash. A drunk driver blindsided them, killing them on impact. So I moved in with my grandparents, and they live here. Although, I work in the Nishiura Prefect I actually live in the Gunma Prefect, going to Mihoshi Academy," he explains with a shrug.
"Oh, Dallas, I'm sorry," Lexi apologized.
"No it's fine," he smiles, "I'm doing well," he nods, his eyes innocent. Well, looks like I won't be saying anything is this conversation. I don't have a problem with it, I'd rather be silent anyways.
"That's good," she giggles.
"So is this your famous older brother I heard all about in the first grade?" he analyzes me.
"Uhm, no," she shakes her head.
"Funny, because he looks like you," he leans over the counter to get a better look at me, "actually, he looks a lot like you, although," he moves his eyes downward, possibly looking at my skin and my height. I am tanner than Lexi and a bit taller, but I hardly think I look any older than seventeen. Her brother has got to be in his twenties, "he is tanner than you, and he doesn't look like a college student, also, he reserved the table in your name."
"Yes, well, this is Takaya Abe," she says, grabbing my arm, "I didn't know you worked here, and I don't like talking to strangers, so he reserved the table for me. But you will meet my brother," she smiles wide at him. Dallas returns it as a young girl walks in.
"Dallas, the table is ready," she clutches the menus in her hands.
"Alright, please, follow Millie to your table," he waves us along behind the girl.
"Pleas—Abe?" the girl blinks.
"Hey, Millie," I'm embarrassed. Great, now I have to talk about my old school.
"Abe, where'd you go? We've missed you," she backs up, knowing we need to get to our table. Lexi is eerily silent.
"I left because of Haruna," I shrug, "I wasn't going to deal with him anymore."
"Haruna has changed," she lays the menus in front of the three chairs at the table, "here's your table."
"Thank you," I nod, stopping the whole conversation about Haruna. Just his name sets me on edge. She gets the hint.
"I'll be right back with your water," she mutters, silently walking away. Lexi looks at me.
"Who was that?" she nearly demands, "by the looks of it she made you upset."
"Well, that was Millie," I shrug, "she was a friend of mine when we went to the same school."
"And Haruna?" she asks. My ears ring at his name, my vision becomes red. That name pisses me off.
"He was my old pitcher," I grind out, "can we please not talk about it?" I ask in a small voice, "it's a tender subject."
"Yeah," she whispers, "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," I give her a reassuring smile. Lexi smiles shyly back, "some other day I'll tell you all about him. I promise."
"Okay, and Millie too," she insists, her eyes wide. I laugh.
"And Millie too," I agree. Lexi smiles at me.
"Little Lexi!" a tall kid walks in the room. He has similar hair to Lexi, but his eyes are bright blue. His hair is cropped short and he's bulky. But not fat, more muscle. He has similar shoulders to Lexi, baseball player? Maybe a thrower in track, not sure. Lexi gasps.
"Big brother!" she gasps, standing up and hugging him, "thank you for coming!" the boy spins her in a circle then gently placed her on her feet.
"Anything for my little sis," he chuckles, plopping down in the chair across from me, placed next to Lexi, "and who might this be?" he smiles at me.
"My name is Takaya Abe," I offer my hand. He shakes his head standing up. Slowly I follow his lead. He makes his way around the table and he hugs me. Right out. You would think, a guy that looks like Killian would have punched you in the face for an "initiation" type thing, but I guess he's just as nice on the outside as he is on the inside.
"Ah! Any friend of Lexi's is a friend of mine," he smirks at me.
"Eh, same," I try to smile back.
"So, Abe, huh?" he asks as he sits back down.
"Yes, and you must be Killian," I smirk.
"I am," he laughs, "so are you two dating or something?"
Lexi blushes a deep red. She punches Killian in the shoulder, hard, "for once in your life can you not say whatever comes to your mind?"
"Um, no," he shakes his head, rubbing his shoulder absentmindedly. He turns his gaze to me, "so are you?"
"No," I smirk unfazed. Killian places his elbows on the table, entwining his hands together. His face is serious.
"If you ever date my sister, be sure to be seeing me, a lot," he smiles at me, all to make the scene more terrifying. My heart hammers in my ears.
"I'll keep that in mind," I will my voice not to crack out of fear. Killian starts to laugh.
"You're terrified!" he exclaims, throwing his head back.
"Am not!" I argue out of spite. I am terrified. I mean he's bigger than me and older.
Killian quiets down, swiping at his eyes. Millie has finally returned with our water, "Well hello," Killian's voice deepens.
"Hello, Sir," Millie says softly, placing the water in front of us. She seems unfazed. Good thing I didn't tell Lexi that this girl had a crush on me. I noticed as she walked to our table all of her attention was on me. Maybe she still likes me.
"What might your name be?" he's persistent, I'll give him that.
"Millie," she bows to him.
"Millie, that's a pretty name," he smiles up at her. She smiles back down to him.
"Are you all ready to order?" she pulls out a note pad. Wow, either her feelings for me are strong, or she's just not in to the 'Killian' type.
xxx
"Killian would it kill you not to hit on young girls?" demands Lexi as we walk home.
"Yes it would," he answers calmly, laying his gaze upon his sister. Lexi rolls her eyes and shakes her head, "you two should date," smiles Killian at me. I nearly choke on the air I am breathing.
"Uhm," my voice shakes.
"Killian," groans Lexi. Killian chuckles.
"Fine, I'll be quiet," he surrenders. We walk in silence for a bit before Killian fires off questions.
"So Abe, what kind of music do you like?" he asks.
"Um, metal and pop," I answer immediately.
"What's your favorite movie?"
"The Lion King 2."
"What sports do you play?"
"Baseball."
"Me too! What do you do in your free time?"
"Baseball," I shrug.
"What's your favorite color?"
"Light blue."
"What's your favorite animal?"
"Dog."
"What kind of dog?"
"Akita."
"Do you have any siblings?"
"One."
"What's their name?"
"Shun."
"How old is he?"
"Eleven."
"So he's our little brother's age," he turns to Lexi.
"He's the boy that Avel's been picking on," Lexi says softly.
"Oh, man, I'm so sorry," Killian apologizes, "it's all our dad's fault, he eggs the kid on. I promise if our family life wasn't so horrible, he wouldn't be so bad."
"It's fine, Killian," Lexi touches his arm, "we put a stop to it today."
Killian breathes a sigh of relief, "good."
I smirk, turning my gaze in front of me again, good thing too. A pole is a couple inches from my face, I stop immediately, gasping.
"Abe?" Lexi turns around and I'm guessing she sees my stare down with that damn pole, "Abe, what are you doing?"
"Can't you see?" I counter, "the pole jumped me."
"It jumped you?" she gives me a condescending look, "and how would it do that?"
"Well I have bad luck with poles, they all hate me," I shrug, sidestepping from the pole's vengeance.
Lexi has this look in her eyes, devious, up to something. But it leaves as quickly as it had come. She waves me along and I follow reluctantly. It was about an hour into our walk home when Lexi screams.
"Abe! Pole!" she gasps, pointing in front of her. Now, knowing me, before I look, I stop in my tracks, narrowing any margin of pole attacks. I turn my gaze slowly in front of me, so not to hit my nose, but when I find nothing in my path, I look over to Lexi, only finding her laughing so hard she's doubled over.
"What the hell?" I demand. Looks like Lexi can't breathe, she's laughing so hard. Killian seems just as confused.
"Damn!" she chokes out, "your face, Abe!"
My…face? What about it?
"Yeah?" I inquire, shrugging my shoulders.
"T'was hilarious!" she finally loses her footing, falling to the ground in front of us. She rolls, like seriously, the abbreviation 'ROFL' does nothing to explain this.
I laugh nervously, was it really that funny? Killian smiles at his little sister.
"C'mon, Little Lexi, let's get you home," he hoists her to her feet, her laughter finally dying out. She pants for a bit, as if she had just run ten miles.
Lexi smiles up at me, "Abe, did I ever tell you, I love you?" she inquires, swiping tears falling from her eyes.
"Nope," I answer coolly but really my heart hammers hard in my ears.
"Well, I do," she smiles at me wider, then starts off in the same direction, "say, d'you think you could drop me off at Mihashi's? I think I'm going to sleep over tonight," she turns to Killian.
"I don't—"
"I could take her," I offer, since I know Killian was going to say he didn't know where Mihashi's house was.
"You will?" he asks, about to turn right.
"Yeah, I live just down the street from him anyways," I shrug.
"You take care of her," he points a finger at me, his eyes betraying nothing.
"I promise," I cross my heart. Killian gasps.
"You still do that, too?" he barely reigns in his voice below a shout.
"Yeah," I laugh, "I do it with my little brother all the time, even the pinky promise too."
"Me too! Although, not much with Avel though, more with my college buddies," laughs Killian.
"Your college buddies do that? But you guys are like older than teenagers," I say incredulously.
"Yeah," smiles Killian, then he shrugs, "I better be getting home. You take care Abe, and keep my little sis safe!"
"I promise," I cross my heart once more, then leave with Lexi, "c'mon," I start for Mihashi's house.
"Thanks for taking me home," smiles Lexi. Home? She considers Mihashi's house, home? Lucky kid.
"Oh you're welcome," I nod, willing the jealously from my voice. We walk a few yards when there's a sharp pain in my knee, "son of a—" I lean over, grabbing my knee, "damn," I clench my teeth against the pain.
"Abe?" Lexi stops a few feet in front of me. She tilts her head to the side, her short bangs falling in her beautiful eyes, "Abe, are you okay?"
"Yeah," I sigh, standing back up, looking at the sky, "the temperature is changing," I say, glaring at the sky. I wasn't ready for the pain, usually I know.
"How do you know?" she inquires, moving closer to my frame.
"My knee," I glace from the sky, down to Lexi, a slow smirk spreading throughout my face.
"What?" she tilts her head to the side, then she grabs her right arm, "ow," her hand sooths her arm, then slowly moves to the shoulder. She crouches down after that, grabbing at her nose, "son of bitch that freaking hurts!"
"You okay?" I help her stand back up.
"Yeah, now I know how you feel. It's been a while since I've felt that kind of pain," she laughs, fully restored after her little pain session.
"You've broken bones? Or just sprained them?" I inquire, placing my hands on my hips.
"Broken," she shrugs, wincing slightly. I guess her shoulder still hurts a little, "three of them actually."
"Let me guess, your right arm, your right collarbone and your nose," I rack off all that I saw her grab.
"Yeah," she nods, "let me guess, you sprained your knee."
"Yeah, how'd you gather that?"
"Well when you asked if I broke bones or sprained them, I thought, there's got to be a reason you asked for the sprain one too. I, personally, never knew you feel pain after a sprain, but I decided to take a shot in the dark and guess for a sprain in your knee, seeing as if you would have broken it, it would have taken you years to get back into baseball. But even then you probably would never catch again, depending on the break anyways," she deduces right there, on the side of the street, "and I saw you grab it."
I'm speechless. Man she's smart. All the more reason to like her. I want her as mine, right here, right now, but I know that if I ask her out now, there is a possibility of her saying 'no' and then our friendship is over as well. Gah! This is so fucking frustrating.
"Abe? You look upset," she leans in, looking up into my face. I swallow my blush and put on a sarcastic face.
"Just a little jealous of your deducing skills," I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm. Lexi sneers at me.
"Good, there's a lot more where that came from!" she smiles at me, starting for Mihashi's again. I chuckle.
xxx
We're about halfway to Mihashi's, when Lexi turns her head my way, "Abe."
"Yes?" I look at her.
"Is the temperature going up or down?"
"I would believe down, it is already the middle of September and we're still in the warm season, so I would guess the temperature will go down, but I could be wrong," I shrug, looking in front of me again. Lexi nods, watching in front of her again. We reach Mihashi's house and instantly, Lexi knocks on the door. Naoe opens it slowly, I'm guessing she isn't expecting company.
"Oh hello, Lex," smiles the woman, "what's up."
"I was wondering if I could sleep over tonight?" she asks innocently, a small smile highlighting her features.
"Oh, hun, I'm sorry, but Ren is sick and I don't want him to get you sick," she says sincerely. I see Lexi's shoulders drop a bit.
"Oh, that's okay, Mom," Lexi smiles up at her. This smile is hiding something, "thanks anyways," she waves over her shoulder, moving down the driveway, quickly.
"Uhm," I glace between Naoe and Lexi, "Thank you, Naoe, tell Mihashi that I hope he feels better. Oh and could you tell him not to throw? I need to see how he warms up tomorrow in practice."
"Yeah, not a problem, Abe, I'll tell him," smiles Naoe.
"Thanks, I'll see you later," I call over my shoulder, sprinting to catch up to Lexi who is halfway down the street in the opposite direction of my house.
"I'm so stupid," I hear her mumble.
"Hey," I grab her shoulder, then look behind me, to make sure Naoe is back inside her house. She is, and I confront her about what happened.
"What?" she snaps at me, her eyebrows turned down in annoyance. I back away a little, not used to this side of Lexi. I fold my arms across my chest, waiting for her to calm down. Her breathing slows a bit, but she still looks a bit annoyed.
"What happened back there?" I inquire in a soft, soothing voice. I mean, even if she's mad at me, I could never stay mad at her.
"Nothing," she says stubbornly, although her eyes show more than what she's saying. I raise my eyebrows at her, "it's just I have to go home now. Where Killian and Dad are fighting, no doubt," she sighs, completely defeated.
"Well…why don't you come to…my house."
