"You should make up with my brother."
Guatemala nearly dropped her fork at her friend's remark. She slowly brought her gaze up to meet Jamaica's, her aura darkening. The subject of Cuba was still a touchy one even though it had been about a month since their friendship shattered.
"Mm, no, I don't think you should." Guatemala now glared mildly to her side in the direction of her other roommate. She'd prefer the Hawaiian not chime in at all, but she had to admit she was glad that she was at least on her side.
"Why aren't you sitting with Switzerland?" Guatemala muttered a little more bitterly than she intended.
Hurt flashed across Hawaii's expression so briefly that Guatemala decided she'd just imagined seeing it. "I don't even know! I went to sit with him, and he just sorta stared at the table and suggested I sit somewhere else!" Hawaii explained with a pout. She shook her head, and a smile fell onto her face. "But anyways, I disagree with you, 'Maica. I don't like Cuba at all," she added cheerfully as if commenting about sunny weather.
"Hey, I'm not too fond of him either," Jamaica indicated, pointing at Hawaii with her banana. "But see, just between us roommates…" She leaned sideways slightly so that her mouth was right up against Guatemala's ear; Guatemala immediately shifted in discomfort at their closeness. "Sometimes, when I get pretty drunk, I see things." Nodding like that explained the absolute meaning of life, Jamaica leaned back into her place.
"See things?" Guatemala repeated skeptically.
Jamaica tilted her glass of rum slightly. "Uh huh. I have these visions."
"…Visions." Well this just kept getting better and better. Maybe I should just go back to bed, Guatemala thought. Hawaii, on the other hand, was grinning knowingly, having already been informed of Jamaica's self-proclaimed gift.
"And usually, in some twisted way," Jamaica glanced around her, then lowered her voice, "they predict the future. Like one time, right before a hangover, I got a vision of me and Cuba being boxed up and sent across the ocean to a rainbow prison. A few days later, we got on a ship to this here Academy."
Guatemala had to admit that that was rather interesting… if she believed it to be true. Which she didn't. She had to try her hardest not to roll her eyes or groan when Jamaica continued speaking. "Yesterday, when I was stumbling back to the dorms from the bar, I had another vision. Long story short, you and Cuba can't stay mad at each other."
"Tell me, what was this 'vision'?" Guatemala questioned, her arms crossed lightly and eyebrow raised.
"It'd take too long to explain. Just go to him, and be besties again." Furrowing her eyebrows together, Hawaii started to protest, but Jamaica covered her mouth with her hand and whispered something in her ear. Hawaii's eyes bulged almost out of her head, and she immediately covered a deep gasp with both hands. Jamaica swallowed back a smirk.
There was a moment of silence as Guatemala bit her lip and thought this over. Yes, Cuba was a total jackass, but really, you couldn't blame him: he had a strange little sister and only 1 true friend. He'd been a perfectly decent friend to Guatemala, and what did she do in return? Put so little trust in him that she wouldn't even tell him she was in a relationship. If she'd just taken the risk of telling him she was dating someone she hated, maybe he'd have accepted it or at least shoved it aside instead of their entire friendship falling apart…
America was currently serving a lunch detention; it was now or never.
"You're right, Jamaica. I'm going to go talk to him…" Gulping, Guatemala got to her feet and headed toward Cuba's table. But then, she was struck with an idea, and redirected her course to the buffet table.
All the while, Jamaica was smirking softly at her back. It really wouldn't have taken long to describe the scenario she'd envisioned… She just didn't think it would be in her better judgment to tell Guatemala, who was happily in a relationship with America, that she'd foreseen her on a romantic rendezvous with Cuba.
~.~.~.~.~.~
Guatemala had no idea why her hands were shaking so badly as she shoveled 3 scoops of ice cream into a cone. What if Cuba didn't like vanilla? That's what it looked like he tended to eat, but there were several flavors of about that color… She could only clearly recall him eating his ice cream from a bowl; what if he didn't like cones? Now that she thought about it, how many scoops did those bowls usually have in them? What if it was only a couple, and he'd think she's implying he's fat by giving him three scoops plus the cone?
Oh, what was the point in panicking over every little thing? She'd already lost Cuba; the worst thing that could come out of screwing this up was that she'd never get him back.
The anxiety came flooding back to Guatemala 10 times harder.
She glanced at the clock, holding the ice cream cone in one hand and a napkin to catch any drips in the other. There were 10 minutes left until the period ended, yet she felt as if she had split seconds to make this work. A voice in her head reminded her that if she'd just trusted Cuba in the first place, she wouldn't have to fix anything, and she almost crushed the ice cream cone.
As usual, Cuba sat alone except for Canada at his side and a few citizens a good ways away from them at the table. The lack of noise around them made it easy for Cuba to hear Guatemala approaching. He glanced over his shoulder, and narrowed his eyebrows in a glare.
"…Hola," Guatemala began feebly. Much better at reading the atmosphere than his brother, Canada deemed it a good time to go use the bathroom.
"Where's your boyfriend." It wasn't so much a question as it was a demand.
"He has detention," Guatemala responded uncomfortably, shifting her weight and doing her best to avoid Cuba's poisonous stare.
Cuba hummed in disgust and turned away from his not-friend. "How charming."
Sighing, Guatemala heavily sat backwards on the bench next to him so that she faced the back of the room while Cuba faced the front. Eyes closed tightly, she stuck the arm holding the ice cream cone to the side, narrowly avoiding hitting Cuba in the face. "Whatcha got there?" he grumbled, eyeing the frozen treat.
"What's it looked like?" Guatemala murmured, opening her eyes ever-so-slightly but still staring at the ground.
"It looks like a half-assed attempt at an apology."
Guatemala felt like something had whapped her hard in the back of the head. "Really? I thought it looked like an ice cream cone," she managed. Everything seemed to freeze and melt at the same time as Cuba, to Guatemala's utter surprise yet relief, chuckled and took the cone out of her hand. She glanced up to see him licking at the drips making their way down the cone.
"Look, Cuba, lo siento-" Guatemala's eyes widened as Cuba clamped his free hand over her mouth.
"I don't want some stupid sappy apology, Guatemala. As long as that damn American doesn't rub off on you too much, I think this whole 'friendship' thing could work out."
A huge weight seemed to lift off of Guatemala's shoulders. It still lingered above her head, but at least it was no longer pressing down on her. "Don't worry, I don't plan on becoming anything like America."
The slight smile on Cuba's face faded into a serious expression as he gazed down at Guatemala. "That's not exactly what I meant. You can't make him your only concern, like it looks like you already have." The fact that there was truth in those words only made them sting worse. "You have to focus on other priorities too."
"…I know…" Guatemala murmured, nodding slowly. "I'll try to make time for my gal pals too." She lightly punched Cuba's arm, slightly grinning cockily. Cuba rolled his eyes and fondly gave her a little shove.
"I always did think America was a fag… I swear, you're like one of the guys."
"…I can't really have a comeback for that, 'cause you're pretty masculine yourself."
For the first time in who knew how long, Cuba smiled at Guatemala, and actually laughed. It was such a triumph that Guatemala couldn't help but laugh along with him.
"So are you going to go back to the rejects you call your friends?" Cuba asked, already halfway through the second scoop of ice cream. Guatemala swung herself so she was sitting in the same direction as Cuba.
"Hey, they aren't so horrible… But nah, I think I'll just hang with you for the rest of the period." Guatemala's breath caught in her throat. She'd never used the term "hang" like that until she met America… Maybe he was starting to rub off on her. Cuba didn't seem to notice, though.
"Fine by me."
There was a moment of awkward silence as Cuba worked away at his ice cream cone. Guatemala felt her chest turn tight. Why hadn't she seen this part coming? After all, what was there to talk about with a guy you'd pretty much betrayed and left as not your friend for a whole month or more? Just before Guatemala could come up with an excuse for having to get up and leave, Cuba took the last bite of his cone, licked his fingers, and turned to look at Guatemala with a slightly quirked eyebrow. "Well if you want to think of me as one of your girl friends, I might as well gossip like one." He glanced up at the doorway for a few seconds, then back to Guatemala. "So Canada-"
"Whoa, wait, Canada? Hold on, he's not the type to gossip about," Guatemala interrupted. She suddenly didn't care what Cuba had to say; if he was going to be talking about his best friend behind his back, she didn't want to hear it. Maybe she shouldn't have bothered to mend their friendship…
"Calm down, this is good stuff. It'll benefit him if you know." Guatemala crossed her arms skeptically, but Cuba continued anyway. "God only knows why, but Canada told me he's got a crush on… my sister." His expression turned notably darker and he instinctively reached for the pocket in which he kept his cigars. "I thought he knew better, but apparently not."
It took a moment for that to register with Guatemala; she actually took a moment to think about whether Cuba had any other sisters. Sweet, quiet little Canada, had a crush on Jamaica? "I guess love works in weird ways…" she murmured after a while, eyes wide and blinking in shock.
"She's known him as long as I have. Canada was at my house a lot when we were younger, and I fell asleep a lot, so I guess that left them with plenty of time to bond," Cuba reasoned with a shrug. It was obvious from his tone that he wasn't in any way happy about this relationship of theirs. He drew in a deep breath, shutting his eyes as if it pained him to say this. "Jamaica bothers the hell out of me. But, Canada's still a good guy and he deserves some type of happiness for once. So would you talk to Jamaica for me?"
Guatemala glanced over at the table she'd came from, where Hawaii was styling Jamaica's dreadlocks as the latter played some game on her iPod. She briefly thought about her theory on Jamaica's affection for Russia, but then decided it was worth a shot to see if she would change her mind… "…Sí. I can do that."
~Author's Note~
Now, here's a couple that isn't as cracky as a lot of the other pairings in this. The countries of Jamaica and Canada actually have really good relations…
You know it's sad when you enjoy writing about your friend's OC more than your own. Jamaica's just such a fun character to use! XD
Anyway, thanks for reading! Please review, and expect an update :)