Hour Hand
11. Une Recommandation
"…Roxas? Marlene what do you mean?"
Marlene kept her widening smile on her face and stayed silent.
"Marlene…"
"Naminé?"
Naminé huffed and turned to answer Aunt Serah, "Coming!"
Turning back to Marlene, Naminé narrowed her eyes and muttered, "I'm not done with you."
She started towards the stairs, ignoring the giggling behind her. She made it halfway down the staircase when she realized she was still wearing her pajamas. She turned to head back up to change when her aunt called again.
"Naminé!"
"Coming!"
She made a mental note to apologize to her aunt and the guest downstairs for the earlier intrusion… and her current state of dress. Naminé turned the corner into the living room. Madame Dalmasca and Aunt Serah were sitting separately and looked like they cleaned up. She kept her gaze down and stayed standing in the doorway.
"Naminé, sit down please."
She moved over and pulled a chair out and started to apologize, "Je suis—"
"Cherie, you weren't called here for earlier. You can speak English as well, we just have a few questions for you."
Slightly intimidated, Naminé sat down and stared at the lacey tablecloth. She heard a breathy laugh and glanced up at the two adults.
"You're not in trouble, cherie."
"Then…?"
"It's about my son, Naminé."
Naminé turned her gaze over to the new voice. She hadn't heard Madame Dalmasca speak save for the one time she waited outside the house when Marlene went to speak with her. She was also surprised at the English.
Don't be silly Naminé… if Roxas grew up in the States, he had both parents, of course her English would be fine… How long did they stay there again…?
"Naminé?"
She stiffened in her chair, she would daydream now of all times. She looked over at Aunt Serah, gazing at her with a stern expression. Naminé turned her attention back to Madame Dalmasca and murmured, "I'm sorry… could you repeat what you said?"
The older woman smiled kindly at her, "I didn't say anything new, Naminé. I did not realize you had wandered into your own thoughts until Aunt Serah interrupted you."
The young blonde flushed, "I'm sorry…"
"It's quite alright. I only wanted to ask you a few things about yesterday and I'll be on my way."
Naminé nodded and stayed silent to let Madame Dalmasca continue. "Yesterday, Roxas had left the house in the morning, saying he was going to check the book store. Everything was fine. I had my own activities to attend to. It was when dinner time had passed and there was still no sign of him. I checked to backyard, in case he fell asleep after coming back, but he was not there either. I waited for a while for him to come back, but he didn't—"
Naminé's eyes widened, "I offered to see him home! I'm so sorry I didn't insist… I—"
Madame Dalmasca let a smile grow on her face, "Naminé. Please let me finish?"
She reddened and fell silent with a nod.
"Roxas didn't come back until later. He looked… raw, sadder than usual. I had fallen asleep waiting for him, so I did not get the chance to ask what had happened. I was just glad he was home… safe."
Naminé watched as the older woman paused to taking a calming breath before continuing. "I went to check on him this morning. He was asleep, but still looking a little bit troubled. I noticed that his notebook and the paper airplane his brother folded for him were missing from his nightstand. So… I came here to see if he had given them to Marlene or something of the sort. Instead, I am told by your Aunt that they were given to you."
Gulping, Naminé opened her mouth before being stopped. "Do not worry, Naminé. You are not in trouble. I merely wanted to… clear a few things up."
Naminé nodded again, "Of course."
She watched as Madame Dalmasca sighed and looked a little bit troubled. "I do not wish to pry into your business, but your Aunt has told me you were with Roxas for the entire day yesterday. Is this true?"
Naminé whipped her head towards her Aunt. Serah smiled back at her unabashedly.
"Naminé?"
She turned away from her smirking Aunt and turned back towards Madame Dalmasca. "Yes… I guess I was? I bumped into him at the bookstore after I walked into the plaza."
"Why were you there? Most shops were closed yesterday."
"I…"
"You sound a little harsh and intimidating, Ashelia… Stop scaring my poor little niece," Serah teased her friend.
The other woman pressed her mouth into a thin line, "I apologize, Naminé. I am just… anxious. Would you mind telling me what else you did yesterday?"
Naminé looked back and forth between her aunt and the guest. She nodded slowly before starting, "Well… I had woken up a bit late since both Aunt Serah and Marlene were out of the house already. Aunt Serah suggested I go explore, practice my French and whatnot… I got to the plaza where Marlene brought me through and saw all the shops were closed. Then I saw somebody going into theirs so I went over to ask… about Roxas actually."
Ashelia's eyebrows lifted, prompting Naminé to continue.
"See… he was playing this really… cryptic game with me. He wouldn't tell me his name and said that if I found him tomorrow, er, yesterday, he would tell me. Only thing was, he didn't tell me where to meet him and I didn't know how to get to your house either… I still don't. He's actually supposed to come here at 10 to show me how to get to your home… But anyway, the guy I saw dropped his keys so I went over to help. Turns out, it was Roxas."
Naminé paused to gauge Madame Dalmasca's reaction. She merely nodded and waited for the young girl to continue. Naminé took a breath and started again, "I gave him the keys and he invited me inside the store because he had to get something. He didn't tell me what so I waited. He came back and asked why I was there. I told him I was looking for him… and he started teasing me."
She noticed Madame Dalmasca's brows furrowed but didn't stop her so she went on, "I wouldn't have any of it and told him that I got lucky finding him today. He asked where Aunt Serah was or Marlene and I told him both of them were out of the house already. Then he… he um… He asked if I wanted to get coffee with him."
Naminé… you're making this more awkward than it actually was… All you did was tease him! You didn't know he would take you seriously… Okay, maybe that's only half true, but you were kidding! Unless he was half-kidding too. That doesn't make any sense. Half kidding + half kidding = Completely serious?
"Naminé?"
Naminé snapped out of her thoughts and smiled sheepishly, "Sorry… What happened after that… um. I decided to get back at him by teasing him? Because asking to get coffee is such a token way of asking someone on a date in the American French textbooks… so I teased him and asked if he was asking me on a date… but then he went along with my teasing and eventually he, uh… he took me on a date?"
"Trop mignonne!"
Both Madame Dalmasca and Naminé looked over at Aunt Serah who was smiling happily until she realized the two other people in the room were staring at her.
"Desolée, desolée. Continue."
Naminé bit her lip as both adults' attention was back on her, "Well… basically I only agreed to go on a… date because he said he'd tell me a secret. Little cheater just told me his name... Oh, desolée Madame."
Ashelia smiled, "Ça va."
"But… basically he just got some pastries from us from the shop he used to work at and then brought me to the clock tower. He was teasing me the entire way there and just—"
"He brought you to the clock tower?"
Naminé sat there stunned at Madame Dalmasca's sudden change in voice.
"I—"
"Do not get my intentions wrong, Naminé, but please. Stay away from my son."
With that, Ashelia stood up swiftly and marched towards the front door. Naminé watched as her Aunt followed quickly.
"Ashe, attends! Ça, ce n'est pas ce que nous avons convenue! Ashelia!"
Naminé sat unmoving in her chair, wondering what just transpired.
A/N: Well, I'm certainly updating more :)! The chapter was going to be longer, but I figured this was a good place to stop too. I'm pretty sure I know what I want to happen in Chapter 12, but we'll see. I'll be writing... basically right now.
Two updates in relation to Hour Hand!
1. On my profile, I have a link in my "Updates" section that leads you to a picture I drew of Namine and how I pictured her in chapter 1 of this story. Roxas will be next :).
2. I now also have a side-along story called Value. This will be mainly about Sora and Kairi and what happened before Namine and Roxas. It will also include the tiny details that were mentioned in this story but weren't expanded upon. Hour Hand is still my priority, but Value is right up there after if you want to check it out! I'll be updating it every now and then when I'm stuck over here.
Anyway, thank you for reading and reviewing if you do! Much appreciated!
xo,
Caramel
Translations:
Title (Une Recommandation): A Recommendation
Je suis: I am
Trop mignonne: too cute!
Desolée, desolée. Continue: Sorry, sorry. Continue (Feminine adjective, informal imperative)
Ça va: It's okay
Ashe, attends! Ça, ce n'est pas ce que nous avons convenue!: Ashe, wait! This, this is not what we agreed on!