The following day, we had more house guests. Lin and Madoka disappeared off early for their conference, giving me the peace and quiet I craved. In truth, I did not dislike Madoka, but I found her exhausting to be around.
I settled down to a morning of revision on the dining table as it was closer to the kettle for top ups of tea. Mai joined me during the course of the morning with her own work.
At lunch, she revealed to me she had invited some friends of hers for the afternoon.
"Then I shall retreat to my room," I said as I made my own lunch. "I do not want to disturb you."
"Oh, it's okay! You can meet them!"
"I do not want to disturb you," I repeated.
True to my word, I ate, washed up my plate and collected my revision together. The doorbell rang and Mai raced past me to answer it. I managed to make it to the stairs by the time her guests had entered.
"Monk! I've missed you so much!"
"You're still as short as ever!" a male voice replied.
"She's malnourished," a scolding female added. "What have you been eating?"
"Was that that boy you told me about?"
I turned at the top of the stairs and locked myself in my room. From there, I continued to work. Though my concentration was often broken by loud male laughter from below. My bubble of happiness shrunk a little. In its place, something less definable grew.
I did not like it.
I finished the chapter I had started and decided I needed another cup of tea. The sound of laughter grew as I neared the living room only for it to die as I entered.
"Oliver!" Mai squeaked. "This is Monk, I mean Houshou, and his girlfriend, Ayako."
"Nice to meet you," Monk said, standing up and holding his hand out for me to shake.
I took it and observed his piercing eyes trying to suss me out. I kept my face blank and looked back to Mai.
"I am going to make tea," I muttered. "Do you want some?"
It was a cheap way to get her attention. I could not even find an excuse.
"Uh, please. Hang on, I'll help you."
Monk sent a knowing look Mai's way before rejoining Ayako on the sofa. Mai jumped up and followed me into the kitchen area.
Perhaps something of my real thoughts showed on my face, or perhaps Mai wanted to fill the silence, but she answered the question I had wondered since these people had arrived.
"Monk was my social worker," she told me as we collected together the cups, milk and sugar. "I was his first solo case after getting qualified."
The kettle boiled.
"When I first met him, he was bald like a monk so that's where the nickname came from," Mai said, refraining from giggling. "He'd shaved it off for a dare from one of his band members."
"Are you talking about me?" Monk demanded.
"No!" Mai replied, laughing.
"I'll leave you to it," I said to Mai as I picked up my tea.
There was no threat from this man if he was only her social worker, who had a girlfriend. That put him as a father or brother figure in her life. I was not jealous. Only concerned for Mai's happiness. Not that I did not trust her judgement, but considering she was the kind of person that left the bathroom door unlocked, I could not be too careful.
Mai's guests left just as Madoka and Lin returned. Madoka offered for them to stay to dinner, but Monk and Ayako revealed they had other plans. I had come down for another cup of tea as they departed and so was forced into shaking Monk's hand again.
"It was nice to meet you," Monk said to me in a bright cheery voice, before lowering it and growling, "If you hurt Mai in anyway I will hurt you twice as much."
I let go of his hand. I thought he took his protective father role a little too far with that comment. Mai sent a frown my way, but I removed myself from the area. Lin had begun cooking in the kitchen, so I joined him.
"How was the conference?"
"Dull. Introductory talks and unnecessary amounts of social meet and greets," Lin replied. "Tomorrow's plan looks much more enjoyable."
The front door closed. Mai and Madoka swept into the room and flopped onto the sofa.
"You need a TV here," Madoka whined. "I want to watch a film."
"The cinema isn't far," Mai said. "See what's on. Or use your laptop or something."
"Eugh, effort."
"You want to watch something."
"Fine, what's on at the cinema?" Madoka asked.
Mai sighed and fiddled on her phone for a few minutes before listing various films.
Tuning out, I helped Lin with his cooking. I noticed he had made enough for all four of us, though he had not asked Mai if she wanted any.
"Ooh yeah! Let's all go and see a horror film!" Madoka cried.
Only one word of this reached my ears: all. She wanted to include me. I looked to Lin, hoping he would put an end to this nonsense. Yet Lin did not look as put off by this suggestion as I wished him to be.
"If the times are conducive with our dinner plans, then I am okay with this," Lin said.
I groaned. If I escaped to my room now, I would miss out on dinner. If I stayed downstairs, I would be bullied into going by Madoka.
I could live without food.
I started towards the door, but Madoka saw through my actions.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"My room."
"But food will be ready soon," Madoka pointed out, her voice sickly sweet. "And then we are all going to the cinema."
"We shouldn't make Oliver come if he doesn't want to," Mai said, pouting at Madoka.
Never before had I considered kissing anyone. But at that moment, I could have kissed Mai.
"See. So I will eat and then you can go out."
"And what will your mother say if she hears I abandoned you like that?"
"I am not an infant left on a door step," I retorted. "I am twenty years old and perfectly capable of remaining alone for a few hours."
"And you are also capable of coming with us," Madoka said. "Or do I have to call your mother?"
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mai's incredulous expression.
I scowled at Madoka and returned to the kitchen. Tea. I needed tea. If she was going to force me into this ridiculous social outing…
"You know why she is doing this, correct?" Lin said in a low voice so that the women could not hear.
My scowl deepened. Of course. Madoka would be acting under my mother's orders.
"I would just grin and bear it," Lin advised. "I have persuaded Madoka away from a few other ideas."
"Do I want to know?"
Lin's face reddened. A rare sight.
"No, I think not."
And so after we had eaten, we all walked to the cinema. Madoka paid for the tickets and popcorn. Two buckets of popcorn for the two 'couples' to share.
By Madoka's design, I ended up sat next to Mai and holding the bucket of popcorn that I had no interest in eating. I decided to text Gene.
Oliver: When are you coming home?
Gene: Back to uni? At the weekend, why?
Oliver: Madoka.
Gene: Mum set her up to cause you trouble?
Oliver: That is why I am sat in a cinema right now.
Gene: Sucks, what are you seeing?
Oliver: I neither know nor care.
"Who are you texting?" Mai asked, over the noise of the adverts.
"Guess."
"Gene?"
I nodded.
"You miss him, huh?" she said.
"In a manner of speaking."
"I think it's sweet. I'm glad you get on well. I know some siblings don't and it sucks."
I had nothing to say to that, so turned my phone on silent and pocketed it.
"Ooh, I should turn my phone off huh," Mai mumbled, fishing her own phone out of her coat pocket and fiddling with it for a moment. "Um, Oliver?"
"Yes?"
"Could I have your phone number? I mean I have everyone else's in the house and you never know when something might come up…"
"Okay."
"Really?"
"Why not?"
"Uh, right, yeah, just put it in."
She handed me her phone on the 'New Contact' page. I filled in my details and handed it back.
"Thanks. I'll text you if you want, so you have my number too?"
"If you want."
"Mai! Put your phone away, it's about to start!" Madoka hissed.
Mai scrambled to put her phone back in her pocket. Then she leant towards me and whispered.
"I'm not very good with scary films, I get really jumpy so I'm sorry in advance if I grab your arm or anything. I'll try not to, I promise but…"
"Does this mean you want me to hold onto the popcorn?" I asked.
"For the sake of the rows in front of us, yeah."
I smirked and pointed the popcorn bucket in her direction so she could take some. We both turned our attention to the film. I had been forced through enough 'horror' movies to understand the basic premise of cheap scare films.
Five young, cliche characters went to some isolated haunted location. The black guy died first and the busty blonde was caught in the shower by the monster. The jock died trying to do something supposedly heroic, but in reality was just plain stupid.
Poor plot and cheap gore aside, Mai was true to her word. She jumped at every little thing and then giggled afterwards as if she knew how foolish her fright had been. Once or twice, she had reached for my arm, but stopped herself.
I put the popcorn down on the seat beside me that was otherwise empty but for my coat. Then placed my left arm on the armrest between myself and Mai. Curiosity rose within me to see if she would take the bait.
Not that I cared if she did. But the social science experiment I had constructed in my head was more interesting than the film. I waited, knowing a jump scare would be just around the corner — literally, for the character.
Mai jumped. Her arms flew out and one touched my arm. I watched, curious, as Mai's attention turned to me. She looked down at my arm, then up to my face. Her eyes glistened from the screen's light. Had it been brighter in the theatre, I might have seen a blush.
She released my arm, flustered. Interesting.
At the next jump scare, Mai grabbed my arm and did not let go. She did not look at me either. Her hands, that must have been half the size of mine, remained grasped around my bicep.
Her hands stayed there for the rest of the film.
When the lights came up, she released me and began faffing with her coat and pockets to avoid my eye. Her cheeks reddened when I passed her the remaining popcorn.
"Thanks."
We trooped out of the cinema and began the walk home. Madoka and Mai began sharing opinions about the film. I half listened.
Having never had a close female friend before, I did not know if touching arms like that would be considered normal and platonic. Had Gene touched me like that, I would not have been bothered. But Gene preferred to hide behind a pillow when watching horror films. Yasuhara would hide behind Gene.
Friends touched each other, right? A lot of people sought physical comfort for a variety of ailments.
When we made it home, it was late. Though I had no reason to be up early the next day, I did not want to ruin my sleep pattern. I bid everyone goodnight and headed straight for bed.
Yet I had not been in bed more than five minutes when my phone buzzed.
Unknown number: Hi, I forgot to text you earlier so this is my number!
Unknown number: Oh, it's Mai! Sorry I forgot to say!
Unknown number: Sorry if I woke you up.
Unknown number: Goodnight Oliver!
I saved the number under Mai's name and pondered a response.
Oliver: My arm has just about recovered enough for me to sleep.
I waited.
Mai: I did not grab it that hard!
Oliver: But you certainly were not letting go…
Mai: It was a scary movie! I would have let go if you'd asked!
Oliver: That film was not scary.
Mai: Alright, just because you're all brave and stuff!
I could see her pouting in my mind's eye. But 'brave'? Hardly.
Oliver: Or able to predict the poor story line…
Mai: Oh shush and go to sleep.
Oliver: I was trying before you interrupted me.
Mai: -.-
Mai: Goodnight Oliver.
Oliver: Goodnight Mai.
I locked my phone and placed it back on my bedside table. Perhaps we would never be anything other than friends. But at that moment, I did not think I would mind that in the slightest.
Author's note: Hope you all liked this chapter! Please review :)