This fic is really going places, guys. Since I wrote the very first chapter, "Only Hope" has been my pride and joy as an author. It's my favorite two characters in my favorite pairing on my favorite season of my favorite show; how could I not fall in love with it? Sora and T.K. don't have to be just a cute couple forced into soap opera roles; they—as well as any pairing in capable hands—can be an extension of the Digimon universe itself. But I've said all that before…on to the chapter. Before we get to the beach, I decided we had to straighten a few things out first. Read on, and let's see how it goes. --Sacred Dust
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CHAPTER NINE: Meetings and Partings
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"Give me my glasses back, now! I'm warning you…" Yolei threatened her younger brother.
"Or what? You'll sic Hawkmon on me?" He teased her. She lunged at him, but he quickly tossed the glasses to a younger sister. Yolei's oldest brother just leaned in the doorway, watching with mild amusement.
"Give me those!"
"Nyah nyah!" the sister yelled.
Mrs. Inoue carefully poked her head into the room, wary of possible flying objects. "Er…kids? If you could calm down for just a second…"
They all looked up at her impatiently.
"…The phone's for Yolei." Mrs. Inoue finished.
The younger brother sprang forward and grabbed the phone from his mother's hand, making an explosive farting noise into the receiver. Yolei wrestled it away from him with murder in her eyes. "You little freaks are DEAD!"
She brought the phone to her ear as she escaped upstairs. "Hello?!"
She was greeted by T.K.'s helpless laughter on the other end. "…Oh, man. Let me guess; you guys had beans for dinner?"
"Grow up, T.K.," she sighed, still fuming. "Just my disgusting little brother. What is it?"
"Well, I know you were pretty bummed about missing the party, so I wanted to make sure I called you about something we've got going tomorrow."
She smiled. "Thanks, Teeks. What is it?"
"We're going to the beach. I'm not sure if everyone will be able to make it; I guess we'll see when we get there. How does one p.m. sound?"
"Sounds good, but my dad's still looking for a new van."
"Oh, yeah…there's that. Well, I don't suppose you'd want to call a cab again…"
"No!" cried Yolei. "I mean…uh, no, I don't know if I want to do that. Bad memories."
T.K. chuckled. "I guess that makes sense. Well, then…would you like a ride?"
"Thank you! Yes. Gees, I thought you'd never ask. I mean—"
"Good," he answered, clearing his throat. "Pick you up at half past noon?"
"Perfecto! Anything to get out of this nuthouse."
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T.K. shut off his cell phone and put it back in his pocket. That took care of Yolei; as he'd predicted, she was in. For some reason, Davis and Ken had both sounded rather spaced out. Davis said he'd think about it, while Ken gave no real answer. Cody Hida wouldn't get back from his camping trip until tomorrow morning, so they would have to wait until then to call him up. Tai answered the phone at his apartment and said that he—and, of course, Mimi—were already planning to come.
"Oh, yeah…Mimi did say she'd ask everybody else, didn't she?" T.K. asked sheepishly, although he already knew this. He was actually hoping to talk to Kari, but he wanted to be discreet about it. It didn't take much for Tai to become overly concerned about his sister. T.K. had learned that from experience,
"Yep, all the older kids are into it," Tai was saying, "Did Kari tell you she would go, too?"
"Yeah…why?"
Tai sighed on the other end. "I dunno. She got a ride home from Izzy or something, and now she won't come out of her room. I don't know what's going on with her."
"…It's probably no big deal. You know how girls are."
"Ha! I wish." Tai chuckled. "See you tomorrow, then?"
"Not if I see you first."
T.K. hung up the phone. He couldn't blame Kari for wanting to be left alone. So far, he had been spared from honestly expressing how he felt about her—thanks to Matt's interruption on the balcony, then because of that middle-aged nutcase in the bad suit. But in the end, he would have to come clean. He'd started that when he silently refused to hold hands with her, but Kari could interpret that in any number of ways, and it made him uneasy. He felt sympathy for her; most of the people who knew them had predicted they would naturally end up together, and even though they had no real chemistry, it was hard for them to completely let go of that assumption.
In any case, he didn't prefer to think too much about tomorrow until he had resolved things with Kari. And the subtle choice he had made out there in the parking lot still baffled him.
How could he decide to pursue a relationship that didn't even exist? Just because he couldn't stop thinking about Sora, and she looked incredibly attractive (even more than she had been three years ago), and they'd spontaneously called each other up in the middle of the night, and just being close to her was enough to drive him crazy, and having her body pressed against his had lit every pore of his skin on fire…
…Okay, so maybe he could understand how.
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Regardless, the issue was still weighing him down. The more he thought about it, the less acceptable it seemed to leave Kari hanging like this.
T.K. twirled his car keys around his finger for a few minutes as the sunset lit his bedroom in pale orange. Finally, he cursed under his breath. If Kari wouldn't talk to Tai, it was doubtful whether she'd want to talk to him, either. But he was going to try anyway.
"Mom, I'm borrowing the car." He said, walking past Mrs. Takaishi as she brainstormed a new chapter of her book at the dining room table.
"Now?" she glanced up. "It'll be dark in an hour, T.K. Maybe less."
"We've got headlights."
"Where and when?"
"Kari's. I'll be back in…let's say two hours."
"Or you'll call?"
"Uh-huh," T.K. agreed wearily, leaving the apartment and jogging down to the parking garage.
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Finally, Kari dropped the pen and the diary back under her mattress. This had been a particularly tough day for her to write about, but now that she'd managed it, things seemed a little bit easier to deal with. Still, she didn't feel like talking to anybody else now. Hadn't T.K. made things clear enough at the mall?
Kari felt like a fool. If she'd paid enough attention to her own actions, they would have told her more about the situation than she'd even wanted to know. Her reluctance to converse with Sora and the fact that she'd worn the fanny pack were not easily explained; they were subconscious reactions, due to things she hadn't fully noticed before. But her subconscious had been repeatedly warning her—ever since that first night—that something was going on with T.K. and Sora. Sure, it was the exact same idea she'd casually dismissed that very morning, and she couldn't blame herself for doing that…but now, things seemed different.
She gazed out her window at the sun setting behind the enormous Ferris wheel at the old amusement park. It seemed that thing would never be taken down, no matter how much she grew up. It was a comforting thought. She watched the dying red-orange light silently, already in a long green nightshirt. Really, what else could she do but go to bed? She'd had enough of this crazy day, and wanted to end it as soon as possible.
She collapsed on the bed, forgetting to turn the lights off, and felt her eyes begin to close.
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There was a knock on the door. Kari's eyes fluttered open and glanced at the digital clock; nine p.m.
"Please…I want to be alone, Tai." Kari said, hoping he would understand. Her words were half muffled by the pillow.
"Kari, it's me," said a softer and more modest voice.
That surprised her. "Wh…what do you want, T.K.?"
"To talk to you! What do you think? I couldn't really do it on the phone even if I wanted to, since you won't come out of here, so…"
Kari was silent. Maybe if she kept her mouth shut long enough, he'd just give up and leave. She felt too vulnerable right now. She was afraid that if she opened the door, he would look at her and see all her weaknesses, all the insecurities she was increasingly unable to hide.
"Kari, please don't make me talk to you through a door," T.K.'s voice insisted. "You know that if we don't work this out, it'll never leave us alone. We're better off dealing with it right now. I'll be out on the balcony."
She glared at the door as his footsteps receded.
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But, after a long moment, Kari threw on a pair of sweat pants, ran her fingers through her hair, and carefully stepped out. The apartment was dark and quiet. Her parents must be in the den or their bedroom. Thank goodness; she didn't think she could stomach a beef jerky shake at a time like this.
Tai and Mimi were watching some music videos on TV. She padded into the living room and lightly tapped Tai on the shoulder. He turned in surprise, a relieved smile spreading over his face. "Kari! About time you came out of there! I mean, you get a ride home from Izzy, you disappear…"
"Are you all right?" Mimi chimed in, giving her a worried look. "Is it about the mall or something?"
Kari wasn't sure how to answer that. "I'll…tell you later." She glanced in the direction of the sliding door. "He's out there?"
"Yep," Tai nodded. "Seemed weird for him to show up this late…but, well, he is your best friend. Assuming that's all it is."
He winked at her. Even though she deeply loved her brother, part of Kari felt like slugging him. "Whatever, Tai."
She reluctantly approached the door and slid it open.
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T.K. turned to look at her. He was leaning against the railing, wearing the same green shorts from earlier, but a different shirt; this one was black. For once, he seemed to have left the fisherman's hat at home; she could see his hair now. Although it was looking more like Matt's every day, he'd still taken the time to brush it.
Kari closed the door behind her, gazing back at him silently. She hardly trusted herself to speak at this point. But T.K. had been nice enough to come here and talk to her personally; she wasn't about to shrug him off.
"…Hi," she finally whispered, swallowing hard.
He nodded. "Hi."
"So…" Kari trailed off, hoping he would just get to the point.
T.K. took a deep breath. "Are you all right?"
"I don't know," she admitted, glancing up at him. "Do you think so?"
That was an unexpected question, coming from her. "If I knew, I wouldn't be asking."
"I think you'd probably ask anyway, T.K. Being the nice guy you are." She rolled her eyes. "I kind of wish you were a little less nice, sometimes."
Well, T.K. realized, he'd gotten her out of her room…but she sure wasn't in a good mood. "What do you mean?"
"Because then you'd be able to tell me the truth, even if it hurt my feelings."
He bristled. "When did I ever lie to you, Kar?"
"I don't mean that. It's what you haven't said that's the problem. I mean…"
"If this is about you asking me out, we were interrupted. I don't—"
Kari's cheeks turned pink. "It's not just that! It's everything, T.K. You never tell me what you're thinking anymore. I don't know what you want. Hell, I don't know what I want!"
T.K. blinked. Kari swore about as often as he and his brother said "I love you."
"Just tell me!" Kari insisted. One of her hands gripped the railing hard; the other hung rigidly at her side. "Just say you don't want to go out with me. I'm not going to feel any worse about it than I do already."
"Fine," he said, brushing his blonde hair out of his eyes. "I don't. I didn't want to say it, because…well, you know. But I thought you didn't want to date, either. We both agreed that was okay a long time ago, right?"
She hesitated. "Right."
T.K. sighed, feeling some relief. He was on the right track now, it seemed. "But then there's the kiss…"
"The almost-kiss?"
"Yeah, the almost-kiss—and the fact that you asked me out again in the first place. What about that?"
She rubbed her arms. "You were about to kiss, too."
"I wasn't really thinking about it, but it seemed kind of natural at the time. I mean..."
"So I thought, maybe that meant…you would want to…"
T.K. nodded. "I'm sorry. But just because everyone thought we'd end up like that doesn't mean we have to, right?"
She almost winced. "I know. But—"
"What?"
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Could she really tell him the whole truth? That it wasn't just that?
They were both talking like the almost-kiss had been a coincidence, and T.K. seemed to believe it. But Kari wasn't sure. True, her desire to make everyone happy, to fulfill that role at his side everyone had predicted for her, had always been there. But she didn't have a crush on T.K. in the first place, so why had she acted like it? Almost kissing him, asking him out, trying to hold his hand…
As far as she could tell, it had just started yesterday night. Which was when everybody else had come back, including Sora.
Sora.
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She massaged her forehead, exasperated. That was exactly what her subconscious had been trying to tell her. She really should listen to it more often from now on…
"What's wrong, Kar?"
If you only knew, she thought, forcing herself to look at him.
Maybe if she said the words really fast, her honesty could beat her sanity to the punch. It was worth a try.
"It didn't just happen."
She'd done it. A horrible idea, probably, but she couldn't take it back now.
T.K. raised an eyebrow. "What didn't just happen?"
"The…the kiss. Everything, I guess." She closed her eyes. Suddenly she felt so weak, so powerless. She slid down against the rail into a sitting position.
He sat down next to her. "Does that mean what I think it means?"
She nodded slowly.
"So you knew what you were doing out there?"
Again, she nodded. "I think so."
He just looked more confused than ever. "Why? I thought you didn't feel that way about—"
"I don't! It was because of So—"
Oh, no. Press "rewind," somebody? Anybody!
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T.K. was still as a statue. "Sora?"
Kari hid her face in her hands. She waited for him to tell her she was nuts, that she was imagining things. But he didn't.
"…So that's why all of this is going on? Because of her?" This was the last thing he'd been expecting to hear. But the scariest part was…it made sense. T.K. did his best to avoid complete honesty, although his hands hurt from gripping the railing so hard. "Kari, Sora and I are just friends."
She looked closely at him, as if searching for some truth that was hidden deep inside of him. He found himself holding his breath, and in the next few seconds she was sitting only inches away from him, as close as she'd been last night. She was leaning towards him, lips apart, willing to stake everything on this moment.
Even if he didn't have feelings for her, it was impossible to ignore a cute girl who wanted to kiss you. T.K. breathed in as he closed his eyes; she smelled like gentle soap and hairspray. She would still be his girlfriend if he wanted her to. If he just leaned forward one more inch, they could still be together, like everybody thought they ought to be. One more inch, and life could become a whole lot simpler. T.K. smiled at the thought. He wondered what it would feel like to touch Kari, to be even closer to her, as he leaned into the kiss.
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And he remembered the look of bewilderment on the older girl's face, the sensation of her breasts pressing warmly into him, the sheer electricity of that moment—and others—that was so conspicuously absent from this one.
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T.K. turned his face away, and put his hand on Kari's shoulder. He opened his mouth to apologize, or something—but she didn't look upset. It was like she'd been expecting him not to kiss her.
"Just friends, huh?" Her caramel eyes glittered in the night.
He couldn't say anything, but it didn't matter. She was already walking back into the apartment.
"Good night, T.K."
The door slid shut behind her, and then it was over.
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"Hi, T.K.," said Mrs. Takaishi, still deep in thought at the table when he walked in. "Everything go all right?"
"Yep," he said, barely hearing her. "You have dinner yet?"
She looked up. "Actually, no. You?"
He shook his head.
She got up from the table and crossed the floor into the kitchen. "Well, I'm sure we have something halfway decent in the fridge…"
T.K. glanced at his mother's notes, and had to smile. She didn't appear to have made any progress since he left. Although he only read her work to avoid hurting her feelings most of the time, he had to admit he was interested in writing himself. But mostly he just played basketball and hung out with Kari, the same old things he'd been doing several years ago.
Matt was right; I still haven't moved on.
"Success!" announced his mother, holding up a large white container. "Leftover kino chicken."
"That sounds okay." T.K. grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and dished up some of it. He wasn't especially hungry tonight, anyway.
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He was in his room less than half an hour later, sitting at the head of his bed and trying to read a sports magazine. But it was much harder than usual to focus on the words, even though it was an article recapping this year's high school basketball tournament (he thought his team could have gone all the way, but their top scorer sprained his ankle at just the wrong time and they didn't make it out of the regional finals). His mind kept wandering to the cell phone in his pocket.
Finally, he gave up and put down the magazine. He handled the phone carefully, as if it might bite him or something, and selected her number from his list. Of course, there was no reason to feel so jittery about this; he was supposed to call her, wasn't he? About the beach and everything.
Nevertheless, there was a curious fluttering in his stomach as he waited for her to pick up.
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There weren't many people working out in the Odaiba Gymnasium this evening, although it had no shortage of members. Sora Takenouchi was usually able to find someone she could practice with on the indoor tennis courts, but no such luck tonight. So she was doing the next best thing: practicing with the wall, returning shot after shot in an endless game. After honing her skills for four or five years, she could keep doing that for quite a while without messing up a swing.
She'd taken a liking to the sport as soon as her mother suggested it. It may not be as physical or exhilarating as soccer, but it was definitely easier on her knees, both of which had been injured more than once on the field. She still played soccer once in a while with Tai, but most of her time was devoted to tennis and studying. Or, if it was summer, mostly tennis. She had to admit she wasn't much for branching out, and never had been; it was a good thing she was going to the beach tomorrow.
Of course, that made her think of T.K. She'd come here hoping to distract herself from him, the same way she distracted herself from other things she didn't understand. Usually, if she played hard enough, she could sweat it all off.
But the thoughts were still there, and they were driving her crazy. I wonder where he is right now? I kind of wish he was here with me. He's only into basketball, so I'd probably own him at this. Does he love basketball the way I love soccer and tennis?
Does he use basketball the same way I use soccer and tennis? To forget about things that bother him?
She sighed in exasperation, and caught the ball in one hand with barely a glance. This wasn't working. It always did the trick when she was frustrated about her mother, or anxious about a test (college life in a nutshell), or just feeling lonely. But, as she should have remembered, this feeling was different.
"Oh, well," she muttered. "At least I'm getting some exercise."
She tossed the ball up in the air, pulling back her racket and swatting it hard at the wall again. Her cell phone went off in her pocket, startling her. She ducked as the ball bounced back and sailed over her head.
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Irritably, she answered the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey, Sora. It's T.K."
"…T.K?" she asked, breathing hard.
"Yep. You out of breath or something?"
She walked over to the corner and picked up her towel, wiping it across her forehead. "Yeah. Practicing tennis at the gym. What are you doing?"
"Just hanging out at home. About the beach tomorrow…"
"Yeah?" What if he couldn't make it? Sora bit her lip, waiting.
"Well, Yolei's definitely going. But I'm not sure about Davis or Ken."
"Couldn't get a hold of them?" She sat down to catch her breath.
"No, that wasn't a problem. It was just…I don't know. Sounded like they might have something going on. Davis said he might be able to make it, but no promises. And Ken sounded totally spaced out. He wasn't sure at all."
She frowned. "Have those two been all right lately?"
"Somehow, I don't think so. They hardly hang out anymore, and Davis can't seem to say anything nice to him. I don't know…maybe Ken's avoiding the beach because he thinks Davis will be there."
"I hope not. I thought they were supposed to be friends."
"Me, too."
Silence.
"So…" T.K. said casually, "How much money do you think Mimi spent at the mall today?"
"A lot more than I did, that's for sure. But you know her. Shopping is her life."
"So what's your life?"
That one came out of left field. She thought for a moment, and said, "Probably…tennis. School, I guess. And being ticked off at my mom. That's pretty much my life."
He laughed. "That's all, huh?"
"Yeah. Pretty sad, isn't it?"
"Well, I didn't mean like that…"
"I know." She half-smiled. His sensitive side had definitely matured since their days in the Digital World. But then, everything about T.K. had matured since then.
She quickly decided not to board that train of thought.
"So is that how you like things?"
She blinked. "Huh?"
"Is that how you like things to be? Just tennis and school and your mom?"
This wasn't the type of conversation she would have expected out of him., but she found it to be a pleasant surprise. "Well…a few days ago, I might have said 'yes.' But now…I guess the party got me thinking."
"Me, too."
Another silence.
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"You were right. I don't deal with my problems, do I? I just try to forget about them; I guess that's the easy way out."
"…Does it work?"
"Sort of. Why? You want to try it sometime?" she joked.
"No, that's okay," T.K. chuckled, sitting upright on the bed, holding the phone firmly against his ear. "At least you've been able to let go of the Digiworld, go places, meet people…that must be fun."
"Are you sure you're not just beating yourself up? It's not because of what Matt and Kari said, is it?"
He rolled his eyes, remembering Kari's embarrassing comment at the mall. "No, not really. They're both pretty much right. Three years ago, when we had to go to the Digiworld secretly and all that, we didn't have as much time to live normal lives in the real world. So we just kind of scraped by. Problem is, I got too used to it. I don't know why I can't get past that. It's like my life's been on hold since then."
"Mine, too!" she exclaimed. "I mean, I don't know what I'm waiting for. I can't remember the last time I did something for fun. I started playing sports just to get away from my mom. I went to Matt's concerts just to see him."
"Hey, uh…how long were you guys together, anyway?"
"Probably a few months. No, wait. It was four."
"Why'd you break up?"
She hesitated. "It's just that Matt…well, you don't mind me being brutally honest about him, do you?"
"Ha! I've probably said worse things about him than anybody else, sometimes."
"All right. Well, he's nice and everything, but he's just so closed off, you know?"
T.K. nodded, even though she couldn't see him. "Believe me, I know."
"There's always this wall between him and everyone else. And it's like whenever you talk to him, you're talking to the wall. He puts his ear up against it if he really wants to hear your voice, but you can't tell if he's listening, plus he doesn't really say much, either. I liked him, but I could never tell what he was thinking, how he felt about anything—I was never even sure if he liked me."
"He's never been much of a talker." T.K. agreed.
"Do you remember those brownies I made for him three Christmases ago? Well, I'm not sure if he even ate them. He said thanks, and that was the end of it. He never mentioned them again. For all I know, they could still be under his bed or something."
T.K. stifled a raucous laugh at the thought, just barely. "Nah, June's probably taken care of them by now. If it weren't for her, his apartment would be a total disaster."
She didn't say anything.
"…Sora?"
"Yeah. I guess I'm just thinking."
"What about? June?"
"Yeah. How she can be with Matt for two years, and I only lasted four months with him. Kind of makes me wonder what I was doing wrong."
"Trust me, there is nothing wrong with you. Matt's antisocial, and June's just too crazy about him to realize it."
She laughed. "Ouch."
"It's true," he tried to think of something else to talk about. "So…wearing your new bathing suit tomorrow?"
Oh, for crying out loud. Why did he have to ask that?
"…New bathing suit?"
"Yeah. The one you bought at the mall, only you didn't want us to see it."
"Oh. I can't believe Mimi convinced me to buy that thing."
"Is it all pink, or something?"
"All? There's no 'all' about it. As far as I can tell, it's only part of a bathing suit. I think they cut the rest of it off and still charged me full price."
"Wow. It's that bad, huh?"
"To me it is. I guess I'm just not a bikini person."
Unbeknownst to Sora, T.K.'s mind was promptly overloaded with thoughts of how she would look in a bikini. Tomorrow was sounding better and better.
"T.K.?"
"Yeah…sorry."
"So what are you wearing?"
"At the beach? I'll probably go natural."
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Sora's cheeks turned red. "What?!"
T.K. snickered on the other end. "Just kidding."
"…Good one, T.K."
"Thanks."
"I guess you'll have to wait and see what my suit looks like. I bet it'll blow your mind."
"Not if mine blows yours first."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Don't flatter yourself."
"I don't have to."
T.K. grinned. "You think you look that good, huh?"
"Do you?"
"Well…yes."
She giggled, a vastly unfamiliar sound.
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Are we flirting? T.K. thought, his mind racing. I can't believe it. We're actually flirting. When was the last time I did that?
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"So how are you guys getting there? I told Yolei I'd drive her, since they still have to buy a new van."
Sora thought for a moment. "Oh. Well, Tai will probably take Mimi and Kari in his car…but maybe the others will just drive themselves." She replied. "You just got your license, didn't you?"
"Yep. A few months ago."
"Must feel pretty good. Get in any accidents yet?"
"Not to your knowledge," he said playfully. "So do you really drive like a grandma?"
She smirked. "No. They're always passing me."
"Yeah, that sounds like you."
Sora glanced at her watch. It was getting late; she should probably get home. This was usually when she would just say her goodbyes and see-you-laters before packing up her stuff and heading home, but she didn't. She talked to him while she shoved her towel, racket, and tennis balls into her bag; talked to him while she walked out of the gym; talked to him as she got into her car and sat still in the parking lot. But it felt so normal that she barely realized it.
She'd been wanting this. She knew he might remember to call her tonight. Why else would she have bothered to take her phone with her to the gym—something she never would have done otherwise? After all, she went to the gym to get away from whatever was bothering her.
But, somehow, talking to T.K. felt like getting away. She'd never realized before how similar they were, how many hang-ups they shared. He actually understood her feelings. And, on the long list of things Sora Takenouchi wasn't used to, that one was pretty high up.
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Half an hour after she'd actually gotten into the car, they finally said goodbye. Sora held the phone in her hand and stared at it for a while afterwards, wondering if all of this meant something, and what it could mean, and why she never felt quite like this after talking to anyone else.
At last she started the car, switched on the headlights, and headed for home.
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"June, it doesn't have to be like this!" Matt Ishida protested. He'd never intended for it to happen. But his girlfriend was standing by the apartment door, her arms crossed and her back stubbornly turned.
"Let it go, Matt," she said, in a much quieter voice than usual. "You know this can't work."
"Why not?" he clenched his fists.
"I already told you why not!" June answered over her shoulder. "You think I like going out with a guy who never asks me how my day was? Who never talks to me at all? Do you even know how that makes me feel? You could have at least returned my emails and stuff. But you didn't, because you know this isn't working, either. You just don't want to admit it!"
He moved to the door to stop her, but she was already leaving. "But—June! I can…I can—"
"What? Change?" she asked. "No, Matt, I don't think you could if you tried. Besides, what good is our relationship if we can't accept each other as we are? You're a great guy, but you're so closed-up that I…I just don't feel comfortable with you. Sometimes, being with you is just as bad as being away from you. And I can't handle that anymore."
"I thought you didn't mind!" he protested from the doorway. "You never used to care about any of that stuff! Now you're pulling all this 'sensitive' crap on me? Hell, you even told me you thought the mysterious type was sexy! I don't understand you."
"Two years ago, Matt!" she retorted. "Two years ago, when I was obsessed with you, I thought it was sexy. But I guess I just grew up!"
He'd been wondering what was wrong with her lately. "June…"
She shook her head, her wild red hair casting a bizarre shadow on the apartment wall. "It's over, Matt. I'm sorry."
There was nothing more to say.
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Matt stood in the doorway long after her car was gone.
It couldn't be over. He couldn't wrap his mind around the idea. This was the girl who was once his biggest fan, who he'd been with for nearly two years. He'd been so sure she was the one, had wondered how it would be to spend the rest of his life with her.
And, just like that, June Motomiya was gone.
Part of him had seen it coming, especially in the last several months. They'd been emailing each other less and less frequently, almost never visiting during breaks. But this was supposed to be a good day for them, he thought. The day they finally saw each other again—and this was how it had to end? Hell, he was even going to take her to the beach tomorrow.
He shut the door and felt a hollow, aching sensation spreading inside of him. The laughter from the cookie-cutter sitcom on the TV was the only sound or light in the living room. Robotically, he went to switch it off, then stared at the remote control for what felt like forever. Abruptly, he flung it across the room, heard it hit the wall and break into pieces.
Matt collapsed on the couch in the dark, too empty even to cry, waiting for this horrible feeling to swallow him up. He was falling, and no one was there to catch him.
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--END OF CHAPTER NINE
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Finally! Took me a while to decide how things were going to play out in this chapter. Sorry we didn't get to the beach yet, but we will in Chapter 10, I promise. I had the feeling that things weren't going all that well between Matt and June; now we'll have to see how that affects the story. Please, tell me what you think; I live for the reviews.
