Today seems to be going well. For the most part. The sun's out and there isn't a single cloud in the sky. I take that as a sign our day at the beach is gonna be a good one? Maybe? Akia seems to be enjoying herself. And Mi is definitely enjoying himself (he's flirting with every cute girl he sees). So why am I the only one not having fun? Oh, I know why. It's because of Taio. I sigh heavily; my knees drawn up close to me. I sit on a towel someone let me borrow; watching the waves slowly crashing against the shore.
"Taro-kun?" Akia says, approaching me with a worried look on her face. "Are you ok? You don't look like you're having fun."
I don't? Gee, I wonder why?
"Oh..yeah I'm ok," I assure her, smiling like I actually mean it.
But I don't think I even convinced myself.
"Would you like me to sit with you?" Akia asks.
She's determined to cheer me up it seems.
"No, that's not…" I begin to say, then stop abruptly, noticing another shadow cast slightly beside me.
Akia notices too, but she sees who it belongs to before I do, because of the direction she's facing. I whip my head around. And, well… I certainly wasn't expecting to see who I see standing there.
"I must be out of my mind," he says.
"Taio-san!" I couldn't stop myself from doing that. That's my natural reaction whenever I see him somewhere unexpectedly.
"Yeah, yeah. It's me," he grumbles, "I'm only out here 'cause it's stuffy in that hotel room."
Akia scoffs.
"You are such a downer," she says, "I never did like gloomy people like you."
She leaves instantly. She doesn't like him at all. That much is obvious.
Taio gives me the most perturbed look ever.
"Move over," he growls.
I scoot over a bit, allowing Taio some room to sit on the towel; at the same time leaving enough space between us. He keeps on grumbling to himself (about what, I have no idea. he seems to just be naturally grumpy). And he's still without a shirt (ok, yeah, I know most guys take their shirts off when they go to the beach anyhow, but I don't think Taio even bothered to put one on in the first place). And of course I end up staring at him again. Curse my eyes for being drawn to him (and curse him for being so damn ridiculously hot). He glares at me again.
"Quit looking at me like that before I punch ya so hard ya won't be able to see anythin' for a month!" he yells.
I scoot just a little bit more away from him (I'm starting to believe he actually means what he says). He reaches for a pack of cigarettes in his pocket, pulls one out, then lights it. Then he just sits there; staring out at the ocean; smoking in silence. I can't stand being this close to him, and having him not say a single word. I could try for conversation again? Even if that didn't go so well last time… (at least there's no window for me to accidentally fall out of this time)
"Um..do you have anymore?" I ask, shyly pointing at Taio's cigarette.
He raises an eyebrow.
"Ya smoke?" he asks, a look of disbelief on his face.
"Uh..every once in a while…" I reply (ok, so the last time I picked up a cigarette was like 3 months ago. so? he doesn't need to know that).
Taio grumbles a bit more, then reaches back in his pocket for the cigarette pack.
"Oh, would ya look at that," he says, turning it upside-down, "Nope, none left."
He tossed the empty pack behind him.
I nervously twiddle my thumbs.
"Oh..well..we could share?" I suggest.
Taio glares daggers at me.
"Oh hell no!" he says.
Guess that's the only answer I could expect. So I just pull my knees up to my chest, and don't say another word. A few minutes go by, then I catch something out of the corner of my eye. I glance at Taio. He's holding the cigarette out to me.
"Here," he mumbles, not looking at me.
I instinctively take the cigarette from him, look it over for a moment (I don't know why. maybe 'cause I'm weird), then take one quick puff from it. I cough a bit. I wasn't expecting it to be that strong. Sheesh. Taio smirks. That's understandable though; I probably look like a total idiot right now. But he doesn't really have anything to be laughing at. I wonder if he realized what he just did?
"You know, Taio-san," I say, "Most people would consider this an indirect kiss…"
Taio snatched the cigarette out of my hand. I can't help but laugh.
"Oh, just shut the fuck up!" Taio snaps at me, punching me in the arm (which, I might add, really hurt). "Ya disgust me."
Wow. Did he really have to say that? I open my mouth to apologize, but Akia comes running up to me.
"Taro-kun!" she exclaims, sounding out of breath. "I saw two scary-looking guys near the pier! They look like those guys from the alley!"
Taio directs his attention towards the pier. Then he jumps to his feet; dropping his cigarette in the sand.
"Shit, it's Satō!" he exclaims, clenching his fists.
I glance over at the pier as well. Sure enough, there's big scary Satō, and his friend, the twig. Akia looks scared.
"What are they doing here?" she asks, "Did they follow us?!"
They probably did; I wouldn't be surprised. The question is, why? What kind of trouble is Taio in with these guys exactly? Speaking of Taio..he's gone. I hadn't noticed, but he must've take off. Of course he would. Now I probably really won't ever see him again. Guess that's how things go. I turn to Akia.
"Akia-chan, go find Mi-san," I say, "We're leaving."