Chapter 14: Thanksgiving Day

I was sitting on my couch all alone. I had prepared everything for today a few days in advance, and yesterday, I had stopped caring about it altogether. I said no, and now Roxas and I probably weren't even friends. I had wanted to say yes so badly. So, so badly. But I couldn't. I couldn't let my mother down like that. And now, how does she thank me? By missing another holiday. I woke up this morning, still upset with yesterday's happenings, but I decided that I would disregard it, and have fun with my mom. I walked through the apartment, looking for her, only to find a note, in her place. I guess Cookie and Snookie kind of understood how I felt because they jumped up on my lap and just laid there. Motionless, though they never were. I sighed and pet their heads gently.

My grandma wasn't here today either, she was staying at my Aunt's house for the holiday and had left last night. Last night. I began to reflect. I felt my cheeks get hot, and my eyes watery, as I remembered the look on Roxas's face. I had never seen him look like that before. The closest I could remember was when he talked about his mom, but still... Not quite there. I couldn't help but imagine what must have been going through his head when I said no. I felt horrible. There was a little knock at the door, but I thought nothing of it. I knew who it was.

"Come in." I said, without leaving the couch. The door opened and I heard footsteps on the tile.

"Hey Namine. How's... Oh." He had found the note. I heard him set something on the table, then walk over to the couch. "Can I sit here?"

"Nobody else is." I absentmindedly pulled Cookie closer to me, giving Kazuki room to sit.

"Namine, I'm sorry. I know how excited you were for today. Do you maybe... want to talk about it?"

"There isn't much to say." I smiled at him lovingly. "Thanks for stopping by though."

"Yeah sure. I promised, right?"

"Yeah." I smiled a little, at least someone cared about me. ...Roxas cared about me. And now he thought I didn't care about him. I leaned my head on Kazuki's shoulder, and I felt him lean his head on mine. A tear fell from my eye, and he pulled his head back up.

"Namine?" He said. I moved my head away from his shoulder and wiped my eyes. "Are you okay?"

I smiled and nodded, but he knew me better.

"I didn't think you were this upset about your mom not being here." He hugged me, which I gladly returned, because I always felt better hugging Kazuki.

"I'm not." I mumbled into his shirt.

"What's up then?"

"It's Roxas." I said, moving away.

"Why, what happened?"

"He asked me out."

"That's bad? I thought you liked him."

"I do!" I cried, squeezing my knees to try and stop the pain.

"Then..."

"I said no." He was silent for a while, but I could tell he was smiling.

"Your mom?" Somehow, he just knew. I nodded. "Then that's okay. You told him you would have liked to, right?"

"He didn't believe me."

"Then forget it." I looked up at him, surprised. "If he doesn't believe when you tell him something, then you shouldn't even like him. Don't talk to him anymore."

I looked at Kazuki with a pleading look as more tears formed in my already misty eyes. "No! It's not his fault! You don't get it. I don't just like Roxas... It's better than that." My voice softened. "Why can't I talk to him?!" Although it sounds silly, I think of Kazuki, not only as my best friend, but an older brother, so I listen to what he tells me.

His eyes were in shadow, but he was smiling. "Namine,"

"No! I'm going to go out with him and I don't care what you say!" He hugged me again, and I didn't know what was happening.

"Good."

"What?!" I said, pushing him away.

"Namine, do you ever not listen to me?"

"No..." I said, turning my head a little. I couldn't tell where he was going.

"Then you're right. You really like Roxas. Think for a second. Why wouldn't I want you to have that?" I hit him in the chest, but then fell into a hug.

"You're so stupid."

"I made you think."

"Shut up."

"Love ya, too." I sniffled and he stood up. "Sorry, I can't really stay. I feel bad about it, but I promised someone I would be at their house for Thanksgiving." He paused. "You can come if it'll make you feel better."

"Who's house?"

He blushed and turned away. "Bye then."

"Wait! Who's house?"

"My... girlfriend's..."

"You didn't tell me?!" I yelled, forgetting completely about Roxas.

"I'll tell you later, but I really got to go." I laughed a little and bid him off, but soon after, I was sulking again about my mother.

There was a knock at the door. I smiled right away, and the two kittens' ears perked up. They ran to the door and scratched it a bit. I wasn't expecting anybody but Kazuki, and he had already gone. "Mom?" I got up from the couch and walked to the door. "Did you forget your key again?" I opened the door only to find myself face to face with Roxas. He had a cornucopia full of fruit and leaves. I smiled, but a little less.

"I've always wanted a cornucopia at Thanksgiving. It's stupid, so don't tell."

I told him... I almost forgot. "Well... I uh... didn't know you gave me a key... but if you have another one then..." I looked at him confused.

"What?" I asked. "Oh! No, no. Never mind that. I just... what's all this?"

"Where's your mom? I wanted to give it to you both."

"Oh... she's... not here right now."

He lowered the cornucopia a bit, confused. "So you're... alone... on Thanksgiving?"

"Just for a little... but... yeah."

"So..." He made a weird face. "You're... alone... on a holiday?"

I sighed. "Yes, Roxas."

It was quiet for a while. "So you're by yourself... with nobody else on the day of–"

"Ugh! Yes, Roxas! I'm alone on Thanksgiving, okay?!"

"Well... I was just asking." I looked at him a little frustrated, then let it go and went to go sit on my couch. "Well, we have food at our house if you want some."

"No thanks. I have food." I said. It was nice of him to offer, but they had probably already eaten, and I couldn't impose.

"You just... don't have... people?"

"No, Roxas." I sighed again. "I don't have people."

"I have... people."

"Well Roxas," I said smiling compassionately. "I'm really happy for you." I paused and made an awkward face. "And your... people."

"Namine," He stepped in and walked over to the couch. He set the cornucopia down and picked up an apple that was already partially cut. He kneeled in front of me and I smiled, what a dork. But a very cute dork. My dork. "Would you like to be my people?" He asked, breaking open the apple.

"Oh Roxas!" I said dramatically. "Wait... you mean... like... at your house... with all the–"

"Please don't start that."

"Roxas... what are you asking me?"

"Do you want to come to my house for Thanksgiving dinner? You know, you're always welcome there." I stood up, and he did, too.

"Roxas, I would love to be your people." I gave him a small peck on the cheek -he blushed-, and prepared to leave. And for the first time, I left my mother a note. I stepped out the door with Roxas, and I couldn't help but notice his smile was gone.

"Hey, Namine..."

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry." He turned to me. "About... yesterday. Can we just forget about it?"

I was going to say something but I stopped. "Yeah. Sure..."

"Are you okay?" He knew my voice.

I swallowed hard and looked up at him, trying again to fight tears. "Yeah." I choked on the words.

"Namine, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." I said, biting my lip to have an excuse for the crying. He put his hand on my shoulder.

"Seriously," He sounded really worried. "You can tell me anything I swear."

"Roxas, why did you ask me out yesterday?"

"Oh." His hand fell from my shoulder. "Never mind it. I... don't know what I was even thinking."

"So then, if it came down to it, you wouldn't ever ask me out again?"

He was quiet for a while. "Yeah... I would."

"How many times?"

"How ever many it took."

"Are you sure?"

He sighed. "Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because I like you."

"That's it?"

"No... but... I don't really want to say it."

"Roxas... would you ask me out... today?"

He looked at me. "Maybe..."

"Do it."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it."

He sighed. "I already know the answer, I don't really think we have to go through this all again."

"You already know?"

"Yeah. I do."

"Then... when are we going out?"

"We... aren't... remember?" I could hear the tone again. Sadness in his voice. He wanted it to be over with.

"So you... aren't going to ask me out?"

"Not today." He started to walk again.

"Roxas," He paused, but didn't look back. "Are you free this weekend?" He looked back at me, genuinely confused.

"Uh... are you being serious?"

"Well you don't have t–"

"Sure." I smiled.

"Good. But," I had to make it clear. "We aren't like... boyfriend girlfriend. We're just dating. Like... dates."

"Yeah," He smiled. "Okay." I caught up with him and he took my hand. We smiled, and started to walk to his house for Thanksgiving.

---

You wouldn't believe it. It's crazy I swear. I looked for like... FOREVER to find the freaking thing, and when I finally do, it cost me a ton! Then, I'm walking home with it, and I see one in a window that's like... two dollars. What a great Thanksgiving... Well, at least she'll be happy. Maybe. Considering yesterday's particular events... I wouldn't be surprised if she never talked to me again. What was I thinking, asking her out? I had a feeling she would say no. It's weird... we'd been getting along so well that... for a while I almost thought that she... Never mind. I knew it was stupid. She couldn't possibly have ever really liked me. I guess it was just her being nice to me, because that's how she is. I sighed and continued to walk. Hey wait. I stopped. Aren't these things supposed to have fruit and crap in them?

How could I have not thought of that? Oh my gosh, I'm an idiot. I turned around and started to walk back to... anywhere really. There was almost nobody out today. But then again, people should be with their family on Thanksgiving. Namine was probably with her mom today. I sighed again. I knew her grandma would be gone, but at least she had someone. I had people, too, but there were so many of them.

"Hey, Roxas!" I looked back to find Sora, running my way.

"Hey." I said, smiling. Sora and his parents were going to come to our house for Thanksgiving. Actually, pretty much our whole extended family was coming.

"What're you doing out here? Shouldn't you be at home?"

"Shouldn't you?"

"Good point. No, really, though. What are you doing?"

"Uh... last minute thing."

He smiled. "What did she say?" I swung the cornu- whatever thing a little, and started to walk again. "Hey, Roxas." He said, running a little to catch up. "What did she say?"

"Uh..." I looked up at him. "She said no." He stopped walking, but I kept at it, hoping he would kind of just leave me alone. But then, knowing Sora, I half expected him to keep along anyway. And he did.

"She did?"

"Yeah. She didn't want to. I... It doesn't matter, though. She said she would have liked to." I tried to smile at him. He was WAY to nice to let me feel bad.

"Then I'm sure she would have."

"Then why did she say no?"

"Come on, Roxas. Give her a break. It was sudden, just... relax. She'll come around."

"You sound like a cheesy movie."

He stopped. "Hey, Roxas."

I sighed and stopped, without looking back. "Yeah?"

"Cheesy movies have happy endings." It was quiet for a second. "Just give her some time. She'll say yes."

I nodded and started to walk again. He walked the other way, most likely going back to my house.

Happy endings? Those were for little kids and fairy tales. Since when do those actually happen? Nobody even believes them. You can't always have the ending you want. Things just don't turn out. Nobody really falls in love in those big romantic ways, and nobody really thinks that once you "follow your heart", the princess will fall in love with the frog.

Fairy tales just don't come true.

I walked into this holiday store nonsense. It was full of all these little turkeys and stuff. The lady at the counter smiled and walked over to me. Noticing the empty... thing... in my hand. "Can I help you with that?"

"Uh..." I looked down at it. "Yeah, sure."

"Is it for a special someone?" She asked, taking it over to the counter and taking some ribbon from a spinner.

"Kind of." She smiled sweetly at me.

"Go ahead and grab whatever you think she'll like, and I'll arrange it for you." I nodded and walked around the store, kind of just grabbing whatever. "So, this girl," I paused. "Tell me about her. It'll make it easier to arrange the cornucopia." So that was what they were called. I forgot.

"She's um...She's really nice. And pretty... and she likes soft colors, like white, and light blue. She draws a lot, and... I don't really know what to say."

"Sounds like you like her a lot." Must have been my voice.

"Yeah, I... kind of do."

"Well then," I handed her the things, and she quickly placed them perfectly in the cornucopia. "It's no charge."

"What? But I–"

"Honey, everyone needs their fairy tale every now and then. Besides, it's a holiday. Go ahead and just give it to her. She's a lucky girl."

"Thanks." She nodded. My fairy tale? That was an awkward coincidence. I was turning to leave the shop, and I paused and turned back. "Happy Holidays." She waved and smiled, and I left the store. Once upon a time...

When I got outside and I started to walk back to Namine's house, I got to thinking. What if they were right? Sora and the shopkeeper, I mean. After all, even thinking that fairy tales and stuff were kind of... out there, I was still that frog, trying so hard to get the princess to kiss me. Trying to get Namine to see who I could really be.

I smiled. I would have to remember to go back there for Christmas...

When I got to Namine's apartment building, I started running up the stairs. When I was on her floor, I passed a few people, then... Kazuki. As I walked by him, he grabbed my arm. I looked at him, but he was still looking ahead. "Don't make her cry again." I opened my mouth, but said nothing. He let go of my arm and started to walk down the stairs.

Make her cry? She was crying... about me? I didn't get it. I waited there for a while, then shook off the thought and knocked on her door, smiling big. I heard scratching on the door, it must have been the kittens. "Mom? Did you forget your key again?" Oh, God. Her mom wasn't home. She smiled a little when she opened the door, but it faded to almost nothing when she saw me.

I could tell by her face she was disappointed at who was there. I tried to lighten her mood. "Well... I uh... didn't know you gave me a key... but if you have another one then..."

"What?" She said, not catching on at first. "Oh! No, no. Never mind that. I just... what's all this?"

"Where's your mom? I wanted to give it to you both." I wanted her to tell me.

"Oh... she's... not here right now."

I acted like I didn't know. "So you're... alone... on Thanksgiving?"

"Just for a little... but... yeah."

"So..." I tried to look confused, and I think it worked. "You're... alone... on a holiday?"

She sighed. "Yes, Roxas."

It was quiet for a while. "So you're by yourself... with nobody else on the day of–"

"Ugh! Yes, Roxas! I'm alone on Thanksgiving, okay?!" Maybe I was pushing it.

"Well... I was just asking." She was a little mad, but she sighed and went to sit on the couch. "Well, we have food at our house if you want some."

"No thanks. I have food." She knew she could just say if she didn't want to come... I insisted anyway.

"You just... don't have... people?"

"No, Roxas. I don't have people."

"I have... people." She was really upset, so she wasn't quite following.

"Well Roxas," She smiled whole-heartedly. "I'm really happy for you." She stopped and looked at me weird. "And your... people."

"Namine," I walked past the table, setting down the... thing I just forgot the name of... and picked up an apple. One I knew would be easy to break open. I kneeled in front of her, almost as if I was proposing or something. "Would you like to be my people?" I asked, pulling the apple apart.

"Oh Roxas!" She said. "Wait... you mean... like... at your house... with all the–"

"Please don't start that."

"Roxas... what are you asking me?"

"Do you want to come to my house for Thanksgiving dinner? You know, you're always welcome there." She stood up, and to keep level, I did to.

"Roxas, I would love to be your people." She gave me a little kiss on the cheek, and I tried my hardest- to no avail- not to blush. We stepped out the door, but my smile faded, I couldn't just leave things how they were.

"Hey, Namine..." I said, feeling almost sad.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry. About... yesterday. Can we just forget about it?" I didn't want her to forget, I wanted her to know, but things weren't the best between us.

"Yeah. Sure..." She was upset, about something...

"Are you okay?"

She swallowed and looked up at me, her eyes reassured my suspicion that something was seriously wrong with her. "Yeah."

"Namine, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." She bit her lip and her eyes welled up with tears. I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Seriously," I didn't want her to cry. And then... what Kazuki had said... Again... "You can tell me anything I swear."

"Roxas, why did you ask me out yesterday?"

"Oh." My stomach sank and I let my hand fall. "Never mind it. I... don't know what I was even thinking."

"So then, if it came down to it, you wouldn't ever ask me out again?"

What was she thinking? I couldn't lie to her. "Yeah... I would."

"How many times?"

"How ever many it took."

"Are you sure?"

I sighed. "Yeah." Drop it. Drop it. Drop it.

"Why?"

"Because I like you."

"That's it?"

"No... but... I don't really want to say it." It was so much more than that. I wish she could know.

"Roxas... would you ask me out... today?"

I looked at her, I didn't know what to say. "Maybe..."

"Do it."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it."

I sighed. I don't think I could really have done it. I didn't want anything else to happen to us. "I already know the answer, I don't really think we have to go through this all again."

"You already know?"

"Yeah. I do."

"Then... when are we going out?" Why is she doing this? What was she trying to do to me, because...

"We... aren't... remember?" The one time I didn't want to talk to her.

"So you... aren't going to ask me out?"

"Not today." I started to walk again.

"Roxas," I stopped, but I couldn't quite face her. "Are you free this weekend?" Are you kidding me?

"Uh... are you being serious?"

"Well you don't have t–"

"Sure." I had to take the chance, regardless. She smiled.

"Good. But, we aren't like... boyfriend girlfriend. We're just dating. Like... dates." So Namine.

"Yeah," I smiled. "Okay." Better than nothing. I took her hand, and we started to walk. This was where my Happily Ever After started.

---

Aw and all was right with the world! No, seriously. I'm beginning to hate where this story is going. It's cheesy and stupid. Meh.