Chapter 10: Sketch for Summer ((youtube: watch?v=2sJIdj7Xz94))
Memo: NOBUCHIKA ERI SONG! GO EDUCATE YOURSELVES IN HER WONDERFUL VOICE! :D (in other words, use the link above!^^)
after the party
roxas's pov
"Well, thank you for coming," Yuffie says, sticking out her tongue to the side in her usual fashion.
"You're welcome, but it was no big deal," you say, imitating her.
"Hah, that's what you think now," Aerith says, hi-fiving Yuffie. They both grin at you, then Kenzie, who grins back. Was she in on this...?
"Well, see you," you say gruffly, pulling Kenzie away.
"Later!"
As you head out into the cold, night air, Kenzie is still laughing.
"That was the most fun I've ever had," she says, smiling brightly at you.
"Yeah," you agree half-heartedly. Were you seriously tricked into this...all of them knew...? "I'm tired, though."
"Yeah...I am a little, but I've got this serious adrenaline rush going on right now. I can't wait to get home."
"Why?"
"Um, so I can relax it off, of course. Duh."
"Hmph."
Glancing at your phone, you see that it's past midnight. Why is she so hyper...? It's past when she normally goes to bed.
"Did you drink a lot of caffeine or something?" you ask her.
"Nope. I told you, it's an adrenaline rush." She skips a little. "I can't tell you why, though." She winks a little, still grinning.
"Haha, very funny," you grumble as she laughs.
She never struck you as being related to Axel until now. With her hyped-up disposition, she's acting just like him. It's...somewhat irritating. Thankfully, your front door is in plain sight.
"Besides, I have to distract myself somehow," she continues.
"Why's that? Can you tell me that?" you ask.
"Well, when I was abducted, I was walking alone at night. So now, I hate walking alone anywhere, but I have to do it, I guess. I just have to get over it."
"Aren't you the bounce-back champ," you say, unlocking the front door.
your pov
"You bet I am," you say, trying not to scream in sheer delight. If there were some way you could keep him distracted until he turns on the lights and turns around...
"Well, we're home," he says, hand on the light switch.
"Agh, crap. Hey, Roxas, do you see anything in my eye?" you try, your heart racing.
"Hold on," he says, flicking on the light switch without turning around. OMG IT LOOKS AMAZING IN THERE! "...No, I don't..."
"Ah, it's okay, I'll get it eventually," you say. *Turn around, walk inside.*
"Yeah, now that we're home," he says, backing into the house. Finally, he turns around, and you watch in amusement as his keys fall out of his hand and onto the new flooring.
"Oh my..." he murmurs, walking more inside. You shut the door behind you, grinning. Hehe, you're so good. "What...who...?" He looks over at a note on the new mirror. "'Thanks for your business! HB Renovators.'...There are new keys here, too..."
Immediately his head whips around to you, and you stand there, looking as innocent as possible.
"You did this?" he practically screams.
"Guilty," you admit, raising a hand timidly.
"You-but how? I thought-"
"Turns out I had a savings account, and I had so much excess, I couldn't think of what to use it for, so, tada?" you explain, smiling.
"You...did all this for me?" He seems to still disbelieve you.
"Of course. If it weren't for you, I would've never made it out of that hospital. I had to thank you somehow."
"...I-"
"No, no, come on! I haven't seen your reaction to the best part yet!" you insist, grabbing his arm and dragging him toward the old "shed" next to his house. "Close your eyes, and don't cheat!"
"I won't, I promise," he says, obviously still in severe shock.
When you reach the shed-turned-garage, you cry, "Open them!"
You can't even imagine what must be going through his head when he sees the little red sport car in his garage. Obviously, quite a bit of emotion, because he literally collapses to his knees.
"Is this...?"
"No, I got it for me," you say sarcastically, pulling him up. "Of course it's for you. It was free if I bought so much stuff."
"You...no way. I don't believe you," he says, breathless.
"You had better. I paid for it all by myself."
"How much...?"
"400,000."
Roxas's eyes widen and look at you in total and complete disbelief.
"No."
"Yes, I swear, I did it."
Completely to your surprise, Roxas practically tackles you in a hug.
"Thank you. No one has ever done anything like this for me before," he whispers into your ear.
"Oh, I don't believe that," you say, hugging him back. "Surely-"
"No, you don't understand..." He pulls away, leaving his hands on your shoulders. "I lived almost all of my life, and not just as a Nobody, serving other people and caring for other people. This is the first time anyone has ever thought to give back..."
"Do you think nobody cares about you?" you ask him, placing your hands on his shoulders. "You've got great friends who really do care about you, you know. Do you really expect me to believe you?"
"Yes," he insists.
"And why's that?"
"They have lives too. And they don't trust...well, they trust me, but they don't understand why I won't open up to them, and that makes them wary of me."
"Well, I'm not 'wary' of you at all."
"I can tell now," he says, smiling a genuine smile. "That's why I'm so grateful. Do you understand?"
Hesitantly, you nod. You do get what he's saying. But why? Why is there so much tension inside him... what could he possibly be hiding?
"C'mon, I want to see the rest of the house," he says suddenly, pulling you along.
"I'm tired now," you admit. "I think I'll go see what they did to my room."
The next morning
roxas's pov
"I'll see you later," you say to Kenzie as she yawns. Giving you a thumbs-up, she nods slowly.
"Okay, but not for long. I work today, too," she reminds you, stretching a little.
"Yeah, that's right. Well, see you anyway."
Grabbing your new black key off of the hall dresser-thing, you head outside into the cool morning air.
And then it hits you. You have a car now.
"Back already?" Kenzie says sarcastically as you walk back inside.
"I'm driving," you say cheerfully.
"Okay, I'll be sure to warn the authorities."
Whatever. You don't care, even if she were being serious. You're actually happy. This never happens anymore.
It's a good feeling as the car starts up. You learned how to drive over a year ago, and it's a great freedom. Being able to drive to work...hehehe, everyone's gonna be jealous. (:3)
The trip to work is shorter, too, you realize when you pull into the employee parking. This is the first time you've ever used employee parking, too.
"Well, look what the cat dragged in," Cid's unmistakable country drawl calls out.
"Roxas, I see you drove today," Hayner says, coming up and flopping an arm around your shoulders.
"Yep," you reply.
"So...how was it?"
"Driving?"
"No, stupid. Your house."
"You know about that?"
"Of course. That's why we were all set on you getting out of the house yesterday."
"I thought it was to set me up with a date," you say.
"That too. How was that? Heh, you don't even need to answer that. Bet you had a great time, huh, Doctor Love?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb with me; you know it doesn't work." Hayner punches your arm. "We saw you last night at the dance."
"Seriously, what are you TALKING about?"
"Quit the dumb blonde act, Roxas. You kissed her."
"...What? When did you see that?" Hayner is your best friend, but you're not gonna deny he's a total idiot.
"During the slow dance, duh."
"I wasn't kissing her, duh."
"You weren't?"
"No."
"That's definitely what it looked like, dude. You were leaning into her neck and everything."
"I was telling her something, you perverted freak," you snap, shrugging his arm off of you.
"Aha, whispering sweet nothings into her ear, eh?"
"No, I was telling her something that I didn't want anyone around to hear, or else they'd think we were BOTH crazy, judging by the rest of our conversation."
"Oh really? What d'ja tell her?" Hayner asks.
You sigh, knowing you've finally found a way out of this completely awkward conversation.
"If I tell you, will you stop hounding me and not make me answer any more of your questions?"
"Sure thing!"
"Okay." You grin. "I told her not to tell anyone else about what we talked about."
Hayner growls.
"So what were you talking about?" he asks.
"Nice try, but you promised."
"Grrrrrrrrrr..."
Stalking away, he walks over to the counter where Olette is sitting and starts talking to her instead. Heh.
Later that afternoon
your pov
It's very different in here, you've realized. They really did a nice job with replacing most everything. But you're beginning to wonder...did they go upstairs at all? If they did...is the door unlocked?
Your mind has been battling at it all afternoon. To check, or not to check. What could it hurt?
...Let's not answer that question. Is it really worth it?
...Let's not answer that question, either.
"Oh, shoot, why not?" you finally say, bolting out of the living room and down the hall and up the stairs. With a shaking hand, you attempt to open the door, and it does. It opens.
Your heart starts racing like it did last night, only worse, because this is a no-no. But it's too late now. You're already here.
To your surprise, everything is still pretty dusty. There are boxes everywhere, and most are filled with junk. But a few have letters and photos in them. That's what you're really interested in.
"I wonder..." You walk toward the closest picture box. The photos on top are hardly dusty at all, but they're not recent. Roxas looks younger in them, and there's this girl.
"Namine," you mouth, looking at her closely. "She's...really pretty." Her long blonde hair is shiny and cascading down her shoulders in all of the pictures. But...
But she's sitting next to Roxas, and while he looks really happy, she doesn't look that way at all. In fact, you'd say she's FAKING her smiles in each picture, especially the one where he's kissing her cheek.
A garage door opening causes you to drop the pictures back into the box and sprint downstairs, slamming the door behind you.
"Hey, I'm home," Roxas says as you are settled into the living room couch again.
"Hey," you sigh. "I have to leave in a few, I guess."
"I could drive you," he offers.
"Hmmm... does the top come down on your car?"
"I don't know, probably."
"I'll ride if it does."
"Why does that matter?"
"Because it does."
Chuckling, he walks around to the other side of the couch with you. "What are you listening to?"
"Huh?" You had forgotten...you left the radio on. "Well, I'm not sure."
Listening harder, you both realize at the same time that it's in another language.
"It's pretty. Too bad we can't understand it," Roxas says, sitting down. "...Are you seriously still working on this puzzle?"
"Uh-huh..."
"...I couldn't ever figure this one out. I just kept giving up on it," he says, laughing.
"I'm definitely considering it," you admit, grinning. "But I've come a ways, and you helped, so eventually it'll-"
"This goes here," he says, putting a piece in its proper place. "Yes!"
"Haha, we're so desperate."
"Pretty much, if we get excited for putting one piece in place."
"Yeah, but at least we're GETTING somewhere."
"Speaking of getting somewhere...you have to be somewhere." Roxas stands. "C'mon, let's go. I'll drive you over there."
"Okay."
Grabbing your hat off the back of the couch, you follow Roxas out to the garage. It's a bit colder than in the house, but you can still feel the heat of the car from running not too long ago.
*Did you use to drive Namine around?* you wonder, glancing at him. *Why was she not happy...?*