Her Sweetness: So sorry for the wait.
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Chapter Nine
The fact that I'm cursed with horrible luck has nothing to do with me.
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The next morning, I had woken up on the couch. Obviously I had fallen asleep there and in this instance, in most romance movies, I might have woken up with Marik by my side, me in his embrace. In some romance movies, he might have blearily opened his lavender eyes, seen me and maybe, in the haze of his sleep, he would have confessed his love to me and we would have kissed and the kiss would have been perfect and lovely even though it was morning and we both would have had horrid morning breath. But things like that don't matter in romance movies.
Everything is perfect in romance movies.
My life is not a romance movie.
Sometimes, I think my life is more along the lines of a tragedy play. Everything bad happens to the hero, which, under normal circumstances would be me. Even though I am no hero.
Safe to say that I woke up in a rather dreary mood that morning. I was on the couch, wrapped up in a jacket that had before been on the back of the couch. In my tossing and turning during the night, I must've bumped up against it and it fell on me. I looked up and was greeted with the window by the front door and outside it wasn't snowing but the snow from yesterday left patches and the grass that was showing was a dirty brown. The sky was gray.
This didn't look like the ideal day for my first real date with Marik but it would have to do. And anyway, maybe the weather would clear up later on.
I had no idea why I wasn't elated, jumping out of my skin with happiness. Maybe it was the falling barometer. I didn't have time to explore this sudden thought when I heard halting footsteps behind me. I turned and saw Marik at the foot of the steps, his torso revealed to me.
"Morning," he said.
"Oh, good morning." I was glad he kept his distance. Since this was not a romance movie, my breath was non too pleasant.
"You just fell asleep on the couch last night so I left you there."
"That's fine."
"Think of where you want to go?"
"…" I thought. Nothing. "No… maybe you could pick?"
"Okay." And with that, he went into the kitchen.
Easier than I thought. I'll need to train myself on not being so tight-lipped, I told myself. A date with Marik, a once in a lifetime opportunity, even less than! No one had gotten that before… unless he's gone out with people other than Bakura. Bakura's the lucky one.
My outlook started to perk up. If Marik asked me out, maybe that means he really wasn't with Bakura after all. Or maybe they broke up. I wondered what reason they would have for that? Bakura's very attractive, more so than me, but maybe they had a fight. If so, it never showed. But then again it never showed that they took showers together. Maybe I'm oblivious.
I ventured upstairs and went to perform my morning rituals which consisted of urinating, and showering whilst brushing my teeth. Ryou thinks I'm odd for that but I think it makes sense. I used to fight with myself over which one to do first, shower or brush my teeth? I don't want to shower with bad breath, I like pleasant showers. And I don't want to brush my teeth and perhaps be stinky while doing it.
So, I decided to do both at once. And it even saves time, not to mention water. But I really don't have a need to try and save money for bills, my sister in Egypt pays our bills, knowing full well both Marik and I are too flighty to have real jobs. I often wonder if I'm spoiled that way.
Probably.
I was in the shower with my blue toothbrush going back and forth over my somewhat pearly-whites. I had my other hand busy with a loofa sponge Ryou had given me for my birthday last year. Actually, it came in a set of purple loofas. That was very thoughtful of him. I scrubbed around my body and finally spat my toothpaste down into the drain.
I have one of the showerheads that disconnect and it's very useful for getting all of the shampoo out of my hair. I put down the loofa and kept the toothbrush hanging out of the side of my mouth as I reached for my shampoo. It's a special kind for blonds. There's a commercial that comes on sometimes with a blonde girl fighting a brunette and each one is trying to convince the audience their hair color is better. I'm blond of course but I don't want to take sides.
Humming to myself, I began to rub it in and set the disconnected showerhead down by my feet, letting the warm water run over my ankles.
"Hey, Malik!" I heard a call through the door.
This startled me and I called back, "What?"
"Your cell phone's ringing!"
"W-Well, I can't really get it now…" I fumbled with the shampoo bottle.
"What?"
"I-I said—"
"It's still going!"
"I know that but I can't—Whoa!" I slipped on a drop of shampoo and hit the showerhead with my foot, redirecting its powerful spray upwards and the hot water scalded my testicles. "AH!"
"What's wrong?"
"Hot, hot, hot! It's so hot!"
"Shut up, Malik, I don't want to hear your singing!"
I almost shouted back that I wasn't singing but didn't, too busy trying to turn off the water and jumped out of the shower with shampoo still in my hair. I look down and saw that I was tinged red. My penis looked like an undercooked lobster.
I sighed.
"I'm going to give you your phone now," Marik said, obviously right outside the door. My cell phone slipped through the crack under the door in a second, still ringing. I bent down and flipped it open.
"Hello?" I asked, exasperated already.
"Hi, Malik! What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Don't play, what's the matter?"
"Just having… ah, a rough morning. Do you think I could call you back later?" A light bulb went off then. "Oh wait… I have something to tell you."
"Does it have to do with a certain tanned god?"
"Yes, how did you know?"
"I know everything."
I laughed. "You're so creepy. Well, yeah, he invited me out on a date. Isn't that weird?"
"Weird? It's wonderful! I'm so happy for you. Where're you going?"
"I don't know. He told me I could pick but I couldn't think of anywhere so I asked him if he could pick and he said alright, that he would. It doesn't matter to me where we go, actually… I'm excited but scared too. I don't want him to think I'm a fool. Or… well, more of a fool."
"Oh, Malik. You worry so much."
"Someone's got to."
"You'll be fine," he said reassuringly. I love having Ryou as my best friend.
"Thanks. Well, listen, I'll check back with you later… after the date. I'm standing around with scorched meatballs so I have to go."
He was still laughing when I hung up.
I washed the rest of my hair out in the sink and then wrapped a towel around my waist. I exited the bathroom and was in the hallway, on the way to my room, when I heard the loud, funky music coming from Marik's closed door. His world is so weird…
Even so, I definitely wouldn't mind being let into it.
I was in my room a little bit later, looking through my closet full of clothes. Trying to look for something warm, comfortable and something he rarely sees me in but not too flashy. I found a long-sleeve white shirt with a dragon symbol on it and a light brown jacket. I decided on dark-blue jeans and my lucky socks which had never been lucky before I dubbed them so today.
I spent most of the day in my room, buying music for my iPod and doing other such things. I always try and buy music that will help lift my spirits when I'm about to go through something extremely stressful and today was a day if ever there was a day for such music-buying.
Around five thirty or so, right in the middle of a very good song, there was a knock on my door.
I opened it and, of course, Marik was standing there. As soon as he saw me, he began to head down the stairs, saying, "Let's go."
"Okay." I decided to try and give everything he said an answer today. No more tight-lipped Malik. Hopefully. I followed him down the stairs and out the front door. There was a little snow on the ground but not a lot and it wasn't too cold outside. The sun was setting over the snow-shingled trees and the sky was like sorbet. It was much better than this morning and I felt alive.
"So where are we going?" I asked, looking up at him.
"A restaurant in Central Domino."
I blinked. That wasn't what I was expecting.
"Wow," I let slip.
"What's the wow for?"
"Um, nothing, it's just that… I just thought you might pick a place more abnormal."
He grinned. "I did think of that but I figured you're so shy, if I did take you somewhere abnormal, you'd faint."
I pursed my lips and he laughed.
There were people on the street but there always were on weekend nights, lots of couples. I wondered if he and I looked like a couple. We weren't kissing or holding hands but we were walking pretty close. I saw his hand inches away from mine, swinging like mine, and I got that urge to hold it. It hit me like a ton of bricks and, afraid I would act on it, I stuff the hand in my pocket.
The restaurant was called Amandine and it was beautiful in my humble opinion. It was on the left side of the street with a few tables outside under a green canvas awning. A few lampposts that had a sweet glow stood outside and the lights inside gave it a warm look.
We came inside and the hostess showed us to a table towards the middle of the place. There were shiny glasses and funny folded napkins on the plates that I spent longer than I should have looking at. The place was so nice, I didn't think I deserved to be there. Not too many people were there, besides us maybe thirty or so. Everyone was talking quietly.
A menu was placed under each plate and I picked mine up, flipping it around.
"You have it backwards," he said.
I looked up, embarrassed, and then flipped it over. "Oh, here we go… Everything looks great… Pesto chicken carbonara…? I wonder what that is."
"It's not so good. Unless you like over-peppered things. You'd probably like the southern calzone best."
"Huh? How do you know? You've been here before?"
He nodded and set his menu aside.
I almost asked with who but bit my tongue. Instead, I said, "Wow. Didn't know you went to places like this."
"I do have a life," he said, narrowing one eye at me.
"Oh, I know that. I know," I said.
"I'm surprised you and Ryou never came here. Seems like the kind of place you'd like."
I nodded. "I do like it but, well…"
The waitress came, saving me from whatever it was that I was about to say. She looked like a typical waitress, brown hair up in a ponytail and a happy, relaxed smile. I wondered if she was rooting for the brunettes on that commercial. "Welcome to Amandine, I'm Kathy and I'll be your server tonight. Have you already decided?"
"Yeah," Marik said, "I'll have the penne arrabiata and he'll have the southern calzone."
She wrote it down on her little pad with the pencil she had behind her ear. "And to drink?"
"Mango mojito," he said.
"Um, Monte cristo coffee," I said.
"Okay, your food is on its way," she said and smiled, zipping off.
There were a few beats of silence so I said, "The waiters here are nice."
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Hey, guys."
I startled and turned seeing Bakura's big grin right behind me. It scared me half to death and I clutched my chest. He stood up and took the seat on the left, between me and Marik. "What's happening?" he asked.
"B-Bakura, what are you doing here?" I stuttered, mad as hell and confused also. He was not supposed to be here.
"I was walking around and saw you two through the window."
I looked across the table at Marik who seemed calm but a bit surprised. He obviously wasn't invited by him. I said, "Yeah, well… you know, we're kind of on a date, so—"
"Yeah, I heard! How's that going?" he raised an eyebrow at the two of us.
Marik scratched his head. "Uh…"
I sighed. Nothing ever goes right.
To be continued…
Her Sweetness: If you guys give me reviews, I PROMISE the next chapter will be out soon, you have my word.
