Call me if you need your car back. -Kairi
Sora pursed his lips as he ripped the yellow sticky note off his fridge.
"Fuck me." He crumpled it up and tossed it in the nearby trash can, only to miss. Questioning why the gods were making his morning so shitty, he groaned in anguish in the empty apartment and trudged over to pick it up and throw it again.
He wasn't expecting Kairi to actually come over and pick him up. He actually was planning to call Riku because the guy would come running any time, despite their fight. All the crap he threw at Kairi was supposed to be for Riku, for he wanted to apologize to him and make up with him too but for some reason, he felt that he had to make amends with Kairi first-but he didn't expect his drunken mind to actually act on this fleeting thought. He could remember his stupid self just mindlessly tapping on his phone like no tomorrow like a mad man.
"Sora, how retarded are you?" he chided himself, bonking himself on the side of the head. He then laughed.
Alcohol sure does connect people. First Kairi, now him. Ha.
He leaned over the counter, grabbed a glass, and poured himself some water at the sink. As he did so, he began to regret everything from last night-like he always did whenever he went to drink. Frustrated at almost everything (for encounters with a certain someone and his family always triggered him), he resorted to alcohol-which he questioned himself for. The last time he drank, he found himself at some random girl's party Riku invited him to.
And no, he didn't do anything weird.
Luckily, he didn't get too smashed to completely forget everything. Heck, he remembered everything a little bit too vividly. Now he had no doubts that, indeed, he was an absolute retard last night. From the clothes-wearing alligators-curse himself for even having the capability of conjuring up such a thing-to the weird look Kairi gave him when she arrived, he remembered nearly everything.
However, there was something that had been bothering him greatly ever since he woke up thirty minutes ago. Why did Kairi's disappointed face keep popping up in his mind, and where did it come from? The reason to this was the only thing he could not remember, no matter how much he concentrated.
"Am I imagining things up?" Sora glanced over at the trash can where the note was and shrugged. Remembering the way she regarded him after his flurry of texts in the form of an apology and the way she casually left a note on his fridge, he merely shrugged and dismissed the problem. "Everything seems fine now."
He couldn't have done anything to make it any worse, right?
Oh, he was so wrong.
When he called her, he was extremely irked at her responses.
"Yes?" was the first thing she said after she picked up. He blinked as pulled a chair from the kitchen table and sat on it, settling his glass of water on the table. Curt and simple, huh?
"Hey," he said awkwardly. "Sorry about yes–"
"Do you need the car now?" Whoa there. Sora nearly spat out his drink at her straightforward answer. He didn't want to assume anything but she sounded kind of rude. Looks like someone's starting off the day with a bad morning.
"Huh?" he let out dumbly. When the only thing he heard was the buzz of the phone call, he managed to stutter out a "sure" for the sake of saving himself from the silence.
"I'll be there in ten minutes," she said before abruptly ending the call, leaving him no time to voice his thanks. He pulled his phone away from his ear and stared at it with great confusion, wondering what was getting on her bad side this morning. Shrugging it off as her having another "girl" problem, he once again dismissed the possibility that he was the one behind it all and went back upstairs to wash up and get ready to greet her.
When the door bell rang, he hurriedly clambered down the stairs and swung the door open to meet the one and only. Ready to throw a sarcastic joke at her like he always did, he wasn't expecting her to throw his jumble of keys at him the moment he opened the door. Scrambling like a frantic cat, he played hot potato with his keys for a split second before securing a grasp on it.
"Here you go," she deadpanned. He frowned at her ever so slightly as he stuffed his keys into his pocket.
"What in the world has gotten you so ticked off like some grumpy grandma?" He mentally kicked himself off–why couldn't his sarcastic switch be turned off when it needed to be the most? "Starting the morning bad?"
"Yeah, it turned sour the moment I had to step inside your car." Ouch.
"Excuse me?"
"I don't ever want to be in again, so don't make me." Sora narrowed his eyes. Just when he felt her to be agreeable to some extent after knowing her for the past couple of months, the levels dropped back down to the negative region as he regarded her at this instant.
"Excuse you, but I don't think I want you to handle my baby anyway, considering the fact that you almost had me killed more than I would've liked during our slave contract." Her mouth opened slightly in annoyance as her eye twitched before she turned on her heels to leave without saying a word. He crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, ready to walk back in the house, but his inner conscious told him that doing that was not something he should be doing, especially after, he assumed, having made up with her.
Scratching the back of his head in irritation, he couldn't deal with another episode of bad blood between them anymore (even though he was totally making it worse each passing second), so he stepped out of his apartment and ran past her to stand in front of her, blocking her way.
"What?" she asked, ticked.
"I don't think you can go anywhere with no ride." Her composure faltered a little bit after realizing the daunting fact before she regained herself.
"That's why Uber exists." Sora clicked his tongue in irritation.
"Stop being stubborn and get in the car."
"I don't want to get in your lousy, stinking car." She took a side step and was determined to walk past him, but he shot an arm out to block her way.
"Look, I know the way I said it was bad yesterday," he stopped when a sudden blush tinted her cheeks. What the hell? He frowned while she looked away.
Okay, so maybe something did happen.
"I dislike you. Dude, leave me alone."
"Now you're just throwing a hissy fit." That was all it took for Kairi to call it quits. With one last look that Sora had a hard time figuring out, she opted out from saying another word to him and pushed past his arm, much to his displeasure. Having nothing much to spit out at her anymore, Sora just let her go by and watched her figure turn the corner of the street. Have it your way. He knocked the side of his head gently–but still painfully–against the wall of his apartment and heaved a huge exasperated sigh.
"Why is this girl so troublesome?" He rubbed the back of his neck before he trudged back into his apartment and closed the door with a huge slam, wondering what he did wrong this time. It's not like he insulted her that ba–
And then it suddenly clicked.
They look like Xion's.
"Holy fucking shit."
~.~.~
"Freaking insults and offends me twenty-four seven and still has the nerve to talk to me," Kairi grumbled as she stomped down the columns of the university near the library. "Just when I thought he was becoming nicer, his inner asshole just comes out and–ugh!" She kicked one of the poor streetlights that was in the way of her episode, only to hurl over in pain as she stubbed her own toe in her flurry of anguish. "Freaking moogles! Didn't even give me a proper apology. If his stupid, wild, nonsensical texts were his way of apologizing, then he better get his brain replaced for a newer and better one!"
Yes, Kairi was very angry at this, not to mention the other mishap that happened last night that loaded her grudge against the cursed spiky-haired boy. "Xion? I'm suddenly a Xion? First I'm a Kailey, then I'm a Chicken-Clutzy, and now I'm a freaking Xion? Pfft. Should've left you to fend for yourself and your stupid alligators!" She was so done. She was never ever going to talk to him again, even if her life depended on it.
"Kairi, are you okay?" Kairi turned around and met eyes with the brother who was the polar opposite from the jerk. He had a concerned look etched on his face, having witnessed her little tantrum as he carried textbooks in his arms.
"Ew," she pointed at them, "Did you get in trouble?" Roxas glanced at the textbooks in his hands and sighed grimly.
"Yeah. Didn't do physics homework for a good week because I procrastinated on English. Anyways," he signaled towards her with his eyebrows, "You seem kind of bothered." Kairi huffed a sigh and waved a hand, dismissing the subject.
"Don't even worry about it. If anything, you should get rid of those textbooks ASAP because your arms don't look like they can survive any longer." She quirked an eyebrow when he suddenly averted his eyes away from hers and stood his ground in response. Being a good sport about it, she took a few books off his hold and signaled with her body towards the library. "Library?"
"Hey, I have something to ask you, Kairi." She blinked. Roxas Hikari? The genius? Asking her for something?
"Um, I don't think I'm the best person for you to ask questions because I suck at almost–" She stopped when he suddenly shook his head, hair bouncing at the motion. He pursed his lips and suddenly blushed, freaking out Kairi even more.
"That's not it."
"Something bothering you, Roxas?" He coughed.
"Does your sister have a boyfriend or anything like that? I mean, like–whoa!" Kairi dropped all the books in her hand the moment she heard "sister" and "boyfriend" in the same sentence.
"Pardon?" Kairi entered a coughing fit when she choked on her own saliva. She could barely even spit out a single word! Roxas lit up like a firecracker before shaking his head and helping her pick everything up.
"Okay, never mind what I said. I didn't say anything." Kairi shook her head in turn.
"Oh my God, Roxas, no, it's okay–"
"No, I didn't say anything!"
"Dude, I was just surprised. No, my sister is no–"
"I said never mind!" Roxas, in a nervous mess, stood up, leaving his own books on the ground. Kairi stood up with him and grasped him by the shoulders. She shook him, not caring that she might've looked like a maniac bullying a poor boy, but that was the least of her problems.
"Are you interested in my sister? Oh my God, why else would you be asking? Do you think she's cool? Do you want to–"
"No, Kairi, I just wanted to kn–"
"Take her, Roxas, just take her!"
"Kairi!" He grasped her wrists and pulled them away from him, saving himself from the jittery terror Kairi inflicted on him. She jumped on her toes, way too excited for her own good. It was about time Namine took a snag at a boy! And a handsome, smart, and nice one too!
"Roxas, you have my blessings. I approve of everything, so you don't have to worry about me biting your butt because I approve." She nodded excitedly, getting way too ahead of herself as she bent down to pick up her books. "You know, I always thought you two looked pretty well together because, well, you two just look so cute!"
"Kairi, you're jumping the gun," he muttered, but he didn't deny anything as he calmed himself down and helped pick up the books. Kairi breathed in and out, attempting to dispel all the giddiness in her, but it barely helped.
"When did it start?" Roxas stood up, completely ignoring Kairi as he walked past her and towards the library.
"No." Kairi, with her own stack, followed him like an annoying bunny.
"When?"
"..."
"Roxas!"
"No."
"She's cute, isn't she?"
"..."
"Isn't she?"
"...Maybe." Kairi squealed animatedly, causing Roxas to wince. From the way to and from the library, Kairi couldn't stop tailing him to continue interrogate him. She needed to know every single juicy detail, even if Roxas failed to cooperate. I will squeeze everything out of you. And for the next hour, she completely forgot her anger and focused on helping her sister hook up with a guy because a chance like this comes every gazillion years!
She didn't notice how she caught the attention of Xion as they walked past her down the hall.
~.~.~
Sora fell backward, unable to withstand the force of the soccer ball as it mashed right against his face. His glasses fell off, cracked and damaged as it skidded across the cement floor.
"Shit, oops!" Sora grimaced as he propped himself up by his elbows, ignoring the obnoxious laughter that came from behind him as he cupped the side of his face with a hand. Reaching forward for his glasses with the other, he could barely contain himself to see them broken. "Didn't see you there, Hikari!"
"Can you knock it off?" Sora suddenly found himself lifted up by his elbow by none other than Roxas, who was not in a good mood as he glared daggers at Seifer and his gang. "Real mature." Sora bit the inside of his cheek hard, wanting nothing more than to pull his arm back to his side and just disappear.
He felt pathetic.
"Sorry, he's just so small!" Standing a couple inches shorter than everyone else, Sora hated his height with a deep passion, especially compared to Roxas.
Roxas merely clicked his tongue and dragged Sora towards the bleachers. He forced him to sit down, much to Sora's reluctance.
"Here, let me go get you an ice pack." Before Sora could say anything in protest, Roxas had already begun to run towards the nurse's office way across the school, leaving Sora feeling trashier than ever. The lens of his glasses finally gave way in his hold and broke off from the frame, making him throw it down onto the ground in anger–it wasn't the first time they got destroyed.
"I don't think that's a smart thing to do." He looked up with squinted eyes to regard whoever came to bother him this time. The person standing over him blocked the sun from his view, offering some relief from the burning heat that did not make him feel better in the slightest.
It was a girl with shoulder-length hair in his PE class that he never really talked to before. He uncomfortably moved away; girls approaching him never signaled anything good. Why would they anyway? Even if they did, it was only for one purpose that just made him despise the person even more. "That looks like it hurts."
He didn't say anything. The girl frowned at his lack of response and bent down to be at eye level with him. Surprised, he widened his eyes and broke eye contact.
"What do you need?" he grumbled, edging further from the girl. Out of nowhere, hands shot out to cup his face. Finding himself forced to turn his head and look at her, he had a hard time containing his instinct to just push her away.
"It's rude to not look at a person when they're talking to you," she scolded, eyebrows lightly forming a frown, but it quickly dissolved to reveal a smile. "Plus, the color of your eyes are pretty. It's a shame to hide them." Much to his relief, she let him go, but not without making sure he wasn't going to look away. She shuffled through the pockets of her sport shorts and fished out a bandage. With wary eyes, he watched as she peeled it and handed it to him.
"My name is Xion. Yours?" For the first time ever, Sora felt his heart flutter in a weird way.
"Sora. Sora Hikari." Xion cracked another huge smile as she helped him put the bandage on the scratch on his cheek.
"Nice to meet you. Couldn't just leave you alone with that huge bruise on your cheek and all!"
"Sora, I have a question to ask you."
"...Yes?"
"Why have you been a loner for the past week or so?" Sora pinched his eyebrows together while he felt pressured by the scrutinizing look of Selphie. "As your best female friend–"
"Hey, I don't think we ever established tha–"
"It doesn't make me feel good that you literally just called me out for lunch because your poor soul doesn't have anyone else, boy." Sora put up both of his hands, shaking his head at the shameful accusation.
"Whoa, you're jumping it there; I never said that. Can't a friend–"
"Best friend–"
"–invite you to lunch?"
"Wait until I poke your eyes out with this straw if you ever do this to me again. I was supposed to go shopping today, Sora, shopping!" Sora could never understand this girl's shopping addiction. It needed to be fixed because it was bad.
"Who do you like better, shopping or your best friend?"
"Oh, just shut up," Selphie swatted her hand in the air as she took a sip of her smoothie, "Anyway, we digress. What's wrong?" Sora tugged the collar of his flannel with a finger nervously; this girl was spot on.
"Whoever said anything was wro–"
"Sora Hikari does not simply invite someone out to lunch just to have lunch." Sora began to wonder how badly people thought he was because wow.
"You're hurting my feelings here." Selphie slipped the straw out of her cup and held it at knife-point, causing Sora to take a huge scoot back with his chair.
"Wait 'til I actually hurt you and gauge your eyeballs out." He sighed.
"Okay, fine, I need a second-person opinion on something–well, some things." Selphie raised an eyebrow. "Uh, friendship problems."
"Who did you fuck up with this time?" Here it was: the one-eighty degree flip of Selphie. "Is it Riku? You always fuck up with Riku." Sora let out a sound of weak laughter.
"You're good, but not good enough."
"Roxas too, am I right?" Sora licked his lips. Holy shit, she's pretty good. "And if Roxas is involved, the witch is too."
"Well, not this time, but that's besides the point because–"
"Wow, there's someone else besides those two? Sora, your social circle is growing!"
"Oh my moogles, let me finish one freaking whole complete sentence for once," Sora flung a piece of lettuce at Selphie in frustration, successfully landing it on her head and between her hair. He sniggered when she immediately shook her head to get rid of it.
He just adored Selphie. Their love-hate relationship was simply beautiful. "Anyways, I'm going to give you a hypothetical situation."
"Nothing's a hypothetical situation if you actually ask about it, but it's okay; I'll pretend it is. Go for it." Although, sometimes, he hated how she always managed to make him sound stupid. Sigh.
"Let's say that you have a friend."
"Okay."
"And let's say you got into a fight," he held up a finger when her mouth was ready to interrupt again, "But this isn't just a regular fight. It's a fight where I screwed–I mean, the person screwed up two times in a row." Okay, now his cover totally blown, but that didn't stop him from continuing to remain ambiguous, even if Selphie didn't buy a single piece of it.
"How bad is it?" Sora rubbed his cheek with a hand.
"Let's just say–let's just say," he emphasized the last part when Selphie gave him a suspicious look, "that this person, this unknown person, is a female and is dealing with, uh, heartbreak."
"Okay, and?"
"How would you, a fellow female, feel if someone took your past relationship and put it on splash?" Selphie slammed her drink onto the table and widened her eyes. Sora winced. "I'm not done yet."
"It can't get any worse than it already is."
"What if someone also kind of compares you to another girl, like, kind of-ish?" Selphie shook her head disappointedly.
"Whoever you wronged, you better say a million sorry's because you're a complete asshole." Sora laughed darkly.
Fuck me.
"Let me just remind you that this isn't about me at all, alright?"
"Sure."
~.~.~
Namine could not handle the sneaky glances Kairi was shooting her while she painted on her canvas. Kairi laid on her stomach on Namine's bed, legs swinging while she scrolled through her phone. If she thought Namine couldn't see her, then her stealth was anything but super duper.
"What are you painting there?" Namine raised an eyebrow. Her sister never asked about her drawings ever, for they were too "sophisticated" for her–she obviously had no interest in art.
"Why are you asking?" Namine asked defensively.
"Pfft, shoot me for committing a crime. I'm just asking you what you're painting." Namine narrowed her eyes at Kairi. Kairi merely returned it with an innocent look.
"I'm painting a landscape."
"Wow, how specific." Namine rolled her eyes and turned back to her canvas. A moment of silence passed between them before Kairi decided to get another knack at it.
"I saw Roxas today near the library." What Kairi thought was a pretty significant statement was just an ordinary one to Namine.
"That's cool. I saw Selphie too just this morning when I woke up before she went to go shopping or something like that," Namine deadpanned, not at all getting what Kairi was hinting at. "And I also saw Mr. Leonhart in the morning getting his coffee from the office. Pretty exciting." Kairi pouted at her sister's sarcasm and rolled to her back, holding her phone up in the air as she continued to play tapping games on it.
"Did you see any cute guys?"
"Why...?" Namine began to grow dubious. Kairi simply grinned before letting the matter drop. It's too early, Kairi, it's too early. She had to plant the seeds of love first before she could start to do anything. Slowly, but surely. Just you wait, Roxas.
Weekends were always super boring now. The two sisters' desires to do anything died down in a couple of weeks when they realized they couldn't do much as broke college students. Being cooped up in the dorms was a regular thing now too, despite it being the last thing they wanted to do.
"Why don't we have any friends?" Kairi groaned as she buried her face into the fluffy pillow. "We could be hanging out with someone right now."
"Again, Selphie went out shopping."
"Is Selphie our only friend, Nami'?"
"Well, we really haven't put any effort into evolving our nonexistent-social life, so stop complaining." Kairi laughed because it was the sad truth.
"Maybe I should join a club." Namine visibly shuddered, obviously triggered.
"Please don't. You're horrible at committing to that stuff." Kairi stuck out her tongue, although Namine wasn't facing her at all as she continued to paint.
"Says who?"
"Says the person who witnessed you join seventeen clubs in high school in one year only to flake out on all of them except the sandwich club because there were free weekly sandwiches." Kairi heaved a loud and long sigh; Namine always beat her in these types of arguments. There was no way of winning them at all.
"Why am I living a loner life in college?"
"What happened to Sora and all? I've seen you guys hang out here and now, but I haven't heard about him recently." At the mention of his name, Kairi scrunched her face up in disgust. Namine settled down her palette and paintbrush and decided to take a break. Seeing Kairi's look, she crossed her arms. "What's wrong?"
"I don't like him," Kairi complained, punching a pillow. Namine laughed.
"That's nothing new, but what happened this time? I swore you guys were the best of friends." Kairi coughed, caught off guard by Namine because she actually sounded serious. She thumped her chest to get all of it out.
"Best of friends?" she spat out. "Are you blind?" Namine frowned, as if what Kairi said actually concerned her.
"Are you guys not friends? By the way you guys sat and talked with each other from time to time, I thought all your differences were," Namine gestured with her hands, having no words to describe exactly what kind of relationship the two of them had–Kairi never really did explore about the subject. "Am I wrong?"
"Yes, you are very wrong."
"What did he do this time?" Kairi rubbed her forehead with a hand, and began to relay everything back to Namine, from the start of the whole fight to the end last night.
"And since we were already kind of bad after he suddenly pulled Vanitas into the mix out of nowhere," Kairi vented, telling Namine about the other thing, "He suddenly insults me even more with the whole Xion thing! Like seriously? My eyes are my eyes, like, they're not Xion's, jerk." And as Kairi continued to rant about all the things Sora did to piss her off since the beginning of time, she didn't notice how Namine was giving her a very, very peculiar look.
"Kairi," Namine cut in. Kairi stopped and let out a "hmm?" Namine looked Kairi up and down before signaling towards her phone. "Speaking of Vanitas, how are you feeling?" Kairi had a bizarre look on her face.
"Namine, I'm not even talking about him right now."
"Exactly."
"Pardon me?" Past the point of simple confusion, Kairi was no longer sure if Namine was on the same page as her. "I'm confused."
"Yeah, you are because you don't see it, do you?" Namine fought to keep a smile from forming on her face. "You're so adorable, Kairi." Shivers ran down her spine; this did not sound good at all.
"Namine, what are you implying?"
"Kairi...are you perhaps...interested in Sora?"
Kairi entered a super, violent coughing fit.
What the flipping flappers? And where the freaking hell did she get that from? Kairi felt her heart run a five kilometer race from the accusation.
"No! What are you saying, Namine?!" Kairi shouted, swinging her legs off the bed and standing up on the ground. Unknowingly, she began to pace the room. "Pfft! Namine!" Namine began to grow nervous.
"Kairi, you're starting to pa–"
"Where in the heck did you get that from! Ha!" Her? Falling in love? With Sora? Was her sister crazy? Was she starting to lose it too? Is college starting to take a toll on her mind? Where was she getting this unpractical gibberish from? Unimaginable!
"Kairi, you do know that you're blushing as red as a fire hydrant, right?" Kairi instantly cupped her face with her two hands, only to feel intense heat radiating from both.
"No, it's just the summer heat."
"Summer ended a good month and a half ago." Kairi fanned herself as she continued to pace, something she did not know she did whenever she grew flustered. Namine simply sat at her desk and watched in amusement, waiting for her to calm her butt down.
"I don't understand how you're confusing anger and frustration with...with attraction!" Kairi could feel herself building up the rage as she began to remember all the times he called her stupid nicknames and played stupid pranks on her and made fun of her and talked to her and listened to her and saved her from sticky situations and just everything that pissed her off!
Wait, that doesn't sound quite right.
"I was wondering what got you down the past two weeks," Namine started slowly, looking Kairi right in the eye. "I thought you were moping about Vanitas again, so I decided to leave you alone, but..."
"What?"
"You're actually bothered because of Sora the whole entire time."
"Am not." Namine clicked her tongue at Kairi's stubbornness while Kairi only returned it with an indignant look. "I dislike him so much, you don't understand."
"I mean, if you dislike him so much as you claim, I don't think you wouldn't be freaking out this much about him, and you wouldn't be as hurt and upset as you are now because of what he said two weeks ago and last night."
"I'm not!"
"Look, you're getting so mad and red just because of him! You oblivious redhead, you're literally getting upset over the fact that he declared that your eyes looked like Xion's. You wouldn't take this to heart if you didn't at least see him a little bit in that light." Kairi opened her mouth to protest, but shut it again when she a question dawned on her.
Why on earth was she getting so heated up about this? And not just that–when did she begin to...care more about what he said? From the strange feelings in her stomach to the way her heart would just randomly speed up slightly whenever he did something unexpectedly pleasant, she... she didn't know.
Oh God.
"Let's face it: Sora's actually a nice guy and a good-looking one as well. You're interested in him Kairi–or, if you can't stand that–you're starting to notice him more–"
"Namine, you're wro–"
"–to the point of caring about Vanitas less and less. Girl, you literally just mentioned his name, and I asked about him, and I expected you to go on about him since he's indirectly waging war on you on social media, but instead, it seems like another guy has been encompassing your thoughts recently. Okay, I admit I kind of threw a big one at you, but shoot me if I'm wrong about this: you're really starting to care about Sora more than just a stranger." Kairi stopped pacing and turned towards her sister. Namine offered a small smile and let out a small laugh. "And that's not bad."
"What do you mean?"
"You're still getting over a pretty nasty heartbreak, and I know that. So maybe this is it," Namine signaled for Kairi to come over, in which she did, and held both of her hands. "I think you should open your horizons and actually take a step forward and forget all that stuff. Just kidding, I don't think I have to say that because you've unconsciously started to do that already. Sora's a nice guy, I really think so. Based on what you've told me, there's no harm to just go for it, and no, I'm not telling you to go and bang him or anything or to hook up with him," Kairi faked a gag at this, "But, you know, just get to know him better. I'm sure a cool friendship would bloom between you two. It doesn't necessarily have to be love, but–okay, you get the point."
"What is this all based on again?" Kairi bit the bottom of her lip, having already calmed down from her pacing episode; now she was able to comprehend what Namine said with a little bit more of reasoning and logic.
"He didn't just leave you bleeding on the streets, did he?" Namine joked, referring all the way back from the beginning. "And I just forgot the important part of it: he saved your life. He got his wrist messed up just for you."
"I mean, if I was him, I wouldn't want someone to just die in front of me too."
"Okay, fine, but what about the time you got so smashed at a party, you couldn't even walk? Who took care of you, man?"
"That doesn't really–"
"And who listened to you and your ramblings about your crappy ex-boyfriend? Who even bought you ice cream to listen to you? And, gosh, he even got you started on the road of dumping that scumbag from your memories with that whole Facebook status! And these are only things I've heard from you. I can't imagine what else he does for you that you don't talk about. Look me in the eye and tell me that you he's truly an asshole." Kairi let go of Namine's hands and twiddled her fingers.
"Okay, he's not an asshole, but–"
"Then that's it. There's no problem. Embrace it, Kairi, just embrace it. What do you want to do right now, honestly?" Kairi felt so awkward talking to Namine about this, but it wasn't the first time they ever had this talk. She rubbed the back of her neck.
"I kind of don't like this stalemate-war between us."
"Then you should just hurry up and talk it out with him and become 'comrades' again."
~.~.~
Riku stabbed his salad nervously with a fork, eyes never leaving the spiky-haired brunet sitting across from him and the rest of the gang. From the nudging from Axel and the leg kicks from Hayner, he figured he wasn't the only one ready to crap his pants.
Noticing all the fidgeting between the three, Sora looked up from his lunch and raised a curious eyebrow.
"Are you three okay?"
"Y-yeah, totally, never been better," Riku stuttered dumbly as he continued to murder his lunch. Currently, the four of them were sitting at their usual table outside the cafeteria, eating a tension-filled lunch; it had been a while since all four of them were together like this. The chilliness of the incoming winter was anything but soothing either.
"What brings you here, Sora?" Axel blurted. Riku elbowed him sharply at the side, causing him to choke on the rest of his words. Sora looked up and frowned slightly.
"What, am I not allowed to sit here now?" Hayner shook his head quickly.
"N'aw, dude, what makes you say that?" All three of them were freaked out about Sora's sudden appearance, since he literally came out of nowhere and sat down like there was no problem at all. Riku planned to talk to him sooner or later–they possibly couldn't play this silent game forever–but he clearly was not ready for this situation. The three looked at each other and agreed with one single fact when Sora took out his phone and checked it.
Sora Hikari's silence was the scariest shit in the world to experience.
"Y'all should stop it with the silent messages. I hate to break it to you guys, but you're not slick," Sora said bluntly, looking at each of them directly in the eye. "It's kind of embarrassing and cringey, just so you know." Riku rubbed his neck, silently admitting defeat, before regaining his normal composure.
"How are you feeling?"
"Complete shit because I went drinking last night." Short and straight to the point–Sora's style whenever he didn't want to delve deeper into the subject. Riku widened his eyes and slightly slammed the table in astonishment.
"Dude, seriously?" Sora shrugged nonchalantly.
"Rough night, man. I regret everything. No, it's not because of you; don't flatter yourself too much." He said the last part when a guilty look plastered over Riku. Deciding it was the time to make amends, Sora cleared his throat. "I'm kind of over it already, so stop freaking out."
"Really?"
"Do you really think I'm that petty? Plus, it's not the first time this happened." He shot Riku the look, in which he returned with a sheepish smile. Axel and Hayner released the breath they were holding and shook themselves to rid the tension in their body.
"Dude, when you just sat down, I thought we were going to brawl or something," Hayner said, shivering slightly as he imagined the scene. "Riku's super buff, and even if you're scrawny, Sora–"
"What the heck did you just call me?–"
"–you're just as capable of beating someone into a pulp." Sora rolled his eyes at Hayner's silliness.
"Doesn't hurt my ego at all." The three laughed while Sora managed a small smile.
"But seriously, I'm sorry about, well, yeah." Sora sighed.
"Whatever. It's okay. What you said was kind of right anyways." Riku nodded, not yet understanding what Sora was admitting.
"Yup, yup, I was right–wait, the fuck? I was right?" Riku stared at Sora, who looked back unfazed. He shrugged.
"I mean, sometimes, I try to avoid her, but I'm a wimp, so," he shrugged again, unnerving his friends greatly at how easily he accepted his fate. "Doesn't work out the way I want it. Anyway, anything new?" Sora, tired of his lunch which consisted of some weird healthy muck that he got from Selphie (for eating healthy was something he wasn't going to do until swimming, so he might as well enjoy the freedom), couldn't finish the rest of it and decided to trash it along with his ice-worn soda. No one would want to eat this anyway.
"I mean, without you, we can't party, Sora," Axel whined while Sora put everything away in the brown paper bag to throw away.
"Why so?"
"Nobody can drive us home once we get super knocked out!"
"No thanks." Too lazy to stand up and throw his trash away and unable to resist, Sora aimed at the trash can a good few feet away and closed an eye so that he could pinpoint it better.
"Sora, what are we, six?" Riku joked as he watched the brunet aim.
"You know, if I wasn't a swimmer, I think I would make a pretty good pitcher in baseball," Sora quipped. "Don't you think so?" And without another word, he pitched his trash towards the garbage can.
If only his words held any truth to it.
Clatter!
"Shit!" Sora paled while his friends had their mouths wide open and dropped to the ground. Sora never wanted to jump off a cliff before, but now, the option never looked so delightful. In front of him was someone he didn't expect to see so soon–nor was he ready to face her either.
"Oh my God, Kairi, are you alright?" her blonde sister exclaimed next to her as she looked at the mess near her feet. Kairi grinded her teeth as she slowly lifted a leg up, shook it free from all the soda-mixed lunch from her shoes, and did the same with the other one before stomping it back on the ground. Sora had a weird sense of deja vu as he looked at the sight, but shook off the feeling and stood up from his table. His friends only huddled together to face the fear in the flesh.
"I did not expect it to ricochet off the garbage can," Sora said in a straightforward manner. "I swear." His trash had bounced off the edge of the garbage can, nearly making it in, only to go off the edge at an angle and splash all over Kairi's feet in a gigantic explosion. Kairi looked at Sora, and for some odd reason much to Sora's, turned slightly pink before frowning. Whoa, I didn't expect her to get this angry. Then again, when she trashed his white outfit, he hadn't been merciful either.
Karma's a bitch.
"Whatever," she muttered before shaking it off one last time. Sora quickly went over to trash everything he unsuccessful tried to pitch in. Namine looked between Sora and Kairi before giving Sora an assuring smile.
"Accidents happen," she said. Sora bit his bottom lip as he glanced at Kairi. She only huffed a breath and flung her hair over her shoulders.
"And you call me bad luck," Kairi hissed before stalking off towards the girl's bathroom to clean up her shoes. Namine was about to go after her, but Sora beat her to it as he jogged towards her. She laughed quietly to herself and, out of curiosity, looked over at where Sora's friends were, who were wondering what the hell was going on.
"Wait, Kailey–I mean Kairi." He gave himself another mental punch to the gut. He had said her name incorrectly so many times on purpose that his mouth decided to be best friends with it. Kairi looked over her shoulder grimaced.
"Hey, why are you following me? Are you a pervert?" She started to run, but unfortunately for her, he began to jog even faster. "Dude, just leave me alone!"
"Well, I will if you would just let me talk a few words or something!" he yelled back. He never realized it, but Kairi was one fast runner. Before he could reach out and stop her, she had successfully made it to the girl's outdoor bathroom and left him tipping over the borderline of the area. He let out a breath when he managed to save himself from the horror of stepping in the domain of the females, but it didn't save him from all the weird stares the girls were giving him as they stepped out. Much to his dismay, the bell decided to ring at that moment too.
"Why are you running away?" he asked when he knew Kairi was the only one in there now. He was thoroughly confused. He expected her to avoid him, but to run? Yikes. The only response she gave him was the splashing of water as she cleaned her shoes. He sighed. "You know, I'm not going to move from this spot unless you come out."
"Well, guess I'm going to stay here forever," she bit back as she scrubbed her shoes. Sora bit his cheek as he pulled up today's block schedule in his mind, and he wished he didn't.
"Well, I guess we'll be dealing with Sephiroth's punishment together, huh?" He tried not to laugh (for it was a very inappropriate time to laugh at the moment) when the sound of splashing water stopped and was replaced with only the sleek sound of running water. If he could feel the terror, she could feel it by a tenfold. "So just come out and stop hiding. Why are you even hiding?"
"Because I dislike you." And how many times have I heard that one before? Sora drummed his fingers on his thigh as he waited for her. He hoped the incentive of Sephiroth would bring her out, but it actually didn't. He even thought about actually leaving and ditching her to save his own life, but he willed himself to stay.
"Don't make me go in there."
"Pfft, you wouldn't dare. I'll forever label you a pervert to everyone I talk to. Do it." It was tempting–it really was–because no one was there to ever witness him stepping inside the girl's bathroom, but he had never stepped into it before, and today was not the day to break that. He stayed rooted against the wall of the girl's bathroom while occasionally look at his watch every ten seconds.
"Holy shit, how long does it take you to wash off shoes?" he exasperated, voice bouncing off the tiles of the bathroom. "Kairi!"
"What! I'm not telling you to stay here, jerk! Go away!"
"Stop avoiding me because it's unnerving!"
"Too bad!"
"Look, I'm sorry." Sora ruffled his own hair up in frustration as he tried to look for the right words to say without his natural sarcasm screwing everything up. "Sorry about last night." His hopes of her coming out were enlightened when the water faucet was turned off, but no footsteps sounded. He continued anyway. "I wasn't right in the head."
"Well, a no brainer can figure that one out." But it was really hard not to sound like an asshole. "It's okay; I did the same to you, so just go."
"Not until you come out and look me in the eye and tell me it's okay because right now, I'm as convinced as a rock." No response. "Besides, if you knew what I was going to say next last night before you whacked me, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be like this."
"Like what?" Sora sighed as he recalled last night.
"Excuse me?" Kairi spluttered, flabbergasted. Sora laughed giddily before squinting his eyes slightly. "Well, of course, that was the first thought that came in my head, but now," Kairi backed away when he suddenly brought his face lower to hers and stared her right in the eyes. "When I look closer, it's–"
"Get away from me," Kairi hissed, giving him a smack on the shoulder and a nice shove to put much needed space between them. She fanned herself while she regained herself, not expecting the attack on personal space. Sora, who was now in the clouds once more, looked around like a lost child before rubbing the back of his head, spikes of hair just bouncing slightly. It took all it could for her to not go into his car and drive away, leaving him stranded in this ghetto sidewalk. Kairi tried not to give him another smack before taking his arm and dragging him back into his car. The ride back home wasn't that eventful, for he knocked out before anything more unpleasant could happen.
"What is it that you want to say?" Sora frowned slightly; her voice sounded so much closer. Hesitantly, he stretched his hand past the girl's bathroom–it wasn't like he was going in or anything–and reached for the side. Much to his surprise, he had grabbed onto her hand and, not letting this chance go to waste, pulled her out. Stumbling out, she let out a small yelp before he stabilized her footing. She looked at him in surprise before he managed a small close-mouthed smile.
"Hey," he said.
"Don't 'hey' me. What the heck do you want to say so badly for you to stalk me in front of the girl's bathroom?" He only laughed before sighing. It was embarrassing as fuck to say and admit, but if it would make everything better, then he was willing to lose his dignity just by a little bit.
"Sorry I compared you to you-know-who." He figured he hit the spot when she suddenly went stiff and bit her bottom lip nervously.
"Whatever. Doesn't matter."
"It kind of does matter," he interjected. "I wouldn't want anyone comparing me to, I don't know, Axel or Riku either." And another certain someone too. "And it's not because they're just idiots." The effect he hoped for came as she laughed lightly. "It doesn't feel mighty pleasant."
"It kind of doesn't," she admitted. Sora licked his lips nervously. Here it goes.
"I don't know why I said that either because," he looked away, "they're different from hers." Kairi furrowed her eyebrows.
"What is?" Oh my fucking God. She was making it so much harder. How much of a clueless idiot is she?
"Your eyes. They're different. To be honest, at first, when I first saw you, I thought they were almost the same, with the blue shade and all, but when I look closer..." Kairi looked away when he suddenly darted his eyes towards hers again, "There's a weird–I mean, unique purple tint to it. It kind of sparkles too and–" He tried to save himself, but it failed utterly.
"Weird?" she scoffed.
"Slip of the tongue, sorry."
"So are they okay to look at then?" Sora widened his eyes slightly. He did not expect her to say that at all and stumbled with his mouth as he fought for the words to say that were neither offensive nor embarrassing and awkward to say.
Meanwhile, Kairi was seriously questioning why on Earth that came out of her mouth. Before she could scrap it off as a joke, he answered her.
"If they weren't, I don't think I would say that I liked looking at them. Okay, I'm going to go now; Sephiroth's going to kill me and–okay, you get it now. We're okay now, right? Okay, bye." Sora let her go and, having finished his business in a very cluttered manner, took a step away from her and escaped the horrible situation he put himself through.
Kairi's reaction was really slow. First, she widened her eyes. Then she frowned. Finally, she felt hot as her heart suddenly raced like a tornado. She put a hand over her chest as she watched Sora run towards the gym. No, Kairi, don't listen to what Namine says, don't listen to her, don't listen to–
"Oh, you should start running too!" He turned around and jerked a thumb towards the gym. "I don't think his hatred for me is enough to tank your tardiness either!" Kairi mutely nodded before he turned around once more. Scratch that.
She might be interested in him. Just a little bit.
Hello mah readers 3 I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! To my reviewers, thank you so much for, well, reviewing! And to my silent readers who continue to read and check this regularly, thank you very much as well! Y'all boost my spirits up to continue writing :))) TTTT_TTTT I hope this chapter wasn't too bad and ughhHHH school has been bogging down on me and making me go on writer's block because my mind has been so blank nowadays! I hope more ideas will spring on my mind because I'm hella dead HAHAHA BUT I WONT GIVE UP!
leave a review and tell me how it is!