Chapter Twelve
Cagalli was beside herself with glee, an emotion that she hadn't felt in eons, to the point where her cheeks were beginning to ache with the greedy smile she had donned. Taking a half step towards Athrun, she closed the space between them, and folded herself in his arms while the party grew distant. Without a warning, Athrun stole her hand and pulled her back towards the throng of teenagers, only stopping once to grab them each a glass of punch before slipping through the locked garden doors and in to the house. Cagalli took a swig of the punch, it was so heavily laced with alcohol that she barely managed to swallow it, and inquired after where it was he was taking her.
"The den, that way I can see the party and the front lane. No surprises that way." He grinned over his shoulder at her.
The walls closer to the den were decorated with fine stencils, heavy works of art and a few random mirrors and photographs of the family and even one with Athrun as a baby being coddled by his birth mom. Athrun looked more like his Mother than his Father except for the confidence that they both seemed to exude. Cagalli made a mental note to ask about his birth mother again.
After what seemed like hours they emerged in to a room that was incredibly long and narrow and took over the last fifth of the massive house. There was no TV, just three large couches - only the finest of leather and throw pillows – and a wall of bookcases filled to the bursting point with literature of every shape, size, color and genre. Cagalli felt incredibly small standing adjacent to a collection that very well could be older than herself.
Athrun pulled her down on to the couch that ran along the opposite wall. From there they could see the party going on outside, right down to the edge of the lake, as well as the entire opening to the front lane. Inside they were invisible without any lights turned on whatsoever but the people outside were like a play acting out before their very eyes. Cagalli picked out the few she recognized and watched them until the presence of Athrun became so overwhelming that she had to look his way. He too was watching their classmates just beyond the window panes.
"How do you make friends so easily?" Cagalli stared at him dead on.
Athrun sat back for a moment and then just shrugged. "Not sure. Why are you my friend?"
"You talk to me like I'm not damaged and you leave me alone without me having to say a word, I like that."
Athrun wound an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his side. He smelled deliciously sweet, a little cologne mixed with the fruity scent of the punch. She took another sip from her cup, forcing the bitter liquid down, and smiled up at him. "Now, why are you friends with me?"
He laughed. "You're stubborn, unafraid to speak your mind and might I add, beautiful."
Her cheeks instantly heated up to the temperature of the surface of the sun and forced down another gulp of the tangy punch before looking back at him. "Good answer."
With a shrug he pulled her cup from her hand and set it on the little end table, it was the entire span on the couch and an Athrun from her, there was no way she was getting it back. "I think someone spiked it. You must have quite the tolerance for alcohol."
"You mean, you didn't spike it?"
"No," Athrun shook his head, "it tastes horrible."
"Did you actually make the punch?"
"No. Someone brought it."
"Makes sense. Teenagers have a way of finding the keys to the liquor cabinet and sharing it with the less fortunate." Cagalli smirked.
"I can see that. I myself prefer to have a clear head when my parent's house and possessions are at stake, not to mention my freedom and my ass."
"And what a fine ass it is …"
For a moment the room was filled with just the hollow sounds of white noise before Cagalli burst out laughing. "Oh no, did I really just say that out loud?"
Athrun nodded with a wild grin, but his eyes were dark. He bent his head closer to hers and stole a kiss before she could barely catch her breath from her laughing fit. Her hands played with the collar of his shirt, his stayed respectfully on her thigh. It wasn't her norm to go around kissing boys while his parents were away, it wasn't even close, but this felt good. Normal. This was what teenage girls were supposed to be doing on the weekends, not hiding in their rooms listening to loud music and drinking enough espresso to kill a person just so they won't fall asleep. Kissing Athrun felt easy, just like talking with him.
He broke the kiss and brushed his nose against hers ever so gently. "Is it weird being in here while everyone else is just outside the window?"
She shook her head. "I sure as hell wouldn't be doing it with an audience."
"Good point." He gave her a soft smile.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm regretting inviting everyone here. I should've just asked you over."
"See but then I would have been really freaked out and probably would have made some excuse as to not show."
They laughed together just as a set of headlights bounced around on all the reflective surfaces in the narrow room. "Expecting someone?" Cagalli played with a curl next to his ear.
Little goose bumps rose down his neck as he turned with a shrug and caught her up in another kiss. They were so caught up in their little hormonal/alcohol induced make out session that they almost missed the screaming coming from outside. Finally the banging on the back door brought them back to the real world and Athrun was running for the backyard pulling Cagalli along behind him. Cagalli blanched when she saw the scene just beyond the French doors that opened up on to the deck.
Yzak and his band and merry men had managed to effectively crash Athrun's party, a box of beer was ripped open and they all stood around a gasoline fueled fire shouting obscenities at the others. The refreshment table was turned on its side, all the delicious food and beverages were splayed across the ground, while cups and plates were scattered even further from the wreckage.
"What the hell do you guys think you're doing?" Athrun snarled.
Cagalli looked around and found a few girls hiding by the lake just beyond the reeds where they wouldn't be spotted. Kira and Sai were just a few of the people Yzak and Friends were yelling at. This whole scene had gotten old fast and Cagalli didn't, she never had, put up with bullies and the disrespect of other people's property. "You losers think that crashing a party makes you cool? Really? No it makes you a merry band of idiots. Take a hike."
"Or what?" Yzak swung his head around and locked his eyes on her. "You're gonna call your Daddy? Oh wait … you can't."
Cagalli felt her fist connect with a face, at first she wasn't sure who's face it was, but it felt amazing. A second later Yzak was lying in a twitching pile just a foot from her while Dearka, and some other guy she didn't care to name, stood gaping at her. Yzak spit at her and she was about to kick him where the sun don't shine when an arm wound around her waist and pulled her back. It was Kira.
"Athrun called the police."
"What? He'll get in trouble." Cagalli swayed a bit.
"Someone's hurt, Cagalli."
She glanced around real quick. "Who? You aren't talking about the lowlife are you?"
Kira shook his head and indicated towards the little group of girls that had emerged from the reeds. Tolle had a bloody nose and was lying in the circle of girls, Mirriallia had his head propped up on her knees, while Athrun and Sai stood nearby.
"How did that happen?"
Kira sighed. "Spiked punch."
"Oh."
"Did he say 'police'?" Dearka gaped at them.
"Yes. Now get lost." Kira narrowed his eyes and indicated with a rude gesture for them to leave.
"Don't have to tell me twice." Dearka bolted, the nameless guy stared after him and helped Yzak to his feet.
"You're lucky." Yzak snarled.
Cagalli's body tensed with the urge to deck him just once more but Kira had a firm grip on her arm. 'No, you're lucky.'
The next day Cagalli hovered over her cellphone from the time she woke up to when she was forced to put it away so that they could sit down and have supper together. Saturdays were usually a busy day amongst the Yamato household. There were outings, homework, sporting events, movie marathons, business trips, dancing, fancy dinners and occasionally a house full of teenagers eating Mrs. Yamato's famous dip. Today was different. Cagalli and Kira were both under house arrest for the rest of the week. The little party at Athrun's had ended up with an ambulance carting away Tolle with Mirriallia in tow and Kira and Cagalli being escorted home by a very nice police officer that didn't charge them for underage drinking.
Mr. Yamato just shook his head and sent them to bed and woke them both up at the crack of dawn when he left for his business trip in Dallas. Together they had been miserable for the entire day. No TV. No laptops. No movies. No phone calls. Cagalli had managed to hide the fact that she had been latched on to her cellphone for the entirety of the day but not the fact that she was agitated.
"So, how is it?"
"Great, Mom." Kira smiled. He was an excellent actor.
Cagalli forced a smile and swallowed the lasagna down hard. Her stomach had been unsettled the entire day, she knew exactly why, but she couldn't help it. "May I be excused?"
"Not until you finish what's on your plate." Mrs. Yamato gave her the most gentle of looks but it was like hellfire rained down. Cagalli's stomach couldn't handle the heaping pile of food that Mrs. Yamato had dished out even on a normal day. This was another form of punishment that she wasn't all that fond of. Kira on the other hand ate with reckless abandon.
"I really can't eat anymore."
"I'll eat it." Kira went for her plate but his mom smacked his hand away before he could get it.
Mrs. Yamato's eyes were hard and the line of her mouth was unforgiving. "Now Cagalli, you haven't eaten anything all day so you're going to eat what's on your plate before you leave this table. Understand?"
Cagalli nodded and forced herself to eat. She managed to work her way through half of it before the phone rang and Mrs. Yamato excused herself to answer it, at that point Kira scarfed down the rest of her food and excused himself as well. Cagalli poked at the last noodle on her plate and tried to listen to the phone conversation. She'd heard that it was Lacus calling and Mrs. Yamato explained that neither of her 'children' would be returning any calls. She had given the same speech to Sai and Mirriallia beforehand.
When she returned she glanced suspiciously at Cagalli's empty plate and then with a flick of her wrist excused her adopted daughter from the dining room. Cagalli made a beeline for her room, made a show of slamming the door and locking it, before throwing herself down on her bed and pulled out her cell from its hiding place. There were three missed texts. Her heart stopped.
In hell.
Grounded and my parents
have to escort me
everywhere for two weeks.
Zala
See you Monday?
Zala
Let me guess.
Grounded from your phone?
Mom gave me mine back.
She said it is for emergencies.
Zala
No.
I hid mine.
Sorry.
~Cagalli
Very clever.
Zala
Down right brilliant
I think
~Cagalli
You are
Zala
Is there more of that text?
~Cagalli
See you Monday?
Zala
Of course.
I'll be the one sitting next
to you in biology writing you
love notes like a thirteen year
old girl. Dotting my I s with
3s
~Cagalli
There should really be
a text for sarcasm.
Zala
Yup
~Cagalli
I like love notes though.
Zala
Too bad.
My correspondence skills
are awful.
~Cagalli
Well we are both jailbirds
so thats just how it has
to be
Zala
See you Monday,
Jailbird.
~Cagalli
Monday
Zala
Cagalli grinned down at her phone and stashed it back inside its hiding place before cranking her too loud music and debating on making some coffee. Monday would never come fast enough.
::/ Okay so that chapter flew by pretty quick … got the next one in the works … just felt rotten for taking my sweet time on the last one I will be waiting for the 'what's going to happen now?' reviews and boy am I looking forward to them!
