-peers around corner- ehheh...eh...-gets sporks thrown at me- X.x meep! -slaps self- i am so sorry everyone! how long has it been since i've updated? IT'S BEEN YEARS!!! -runs around in circles- NOO! really, i'm so sorry! i've been literally thinking about updating all night but ever since high school started i've been brainwashed. X.X well, to make up for my two month delay -shot- i've decided to make this a longer chapter for you guys...is that even a good thing? -shot- ;(
i felt really bad when i got all the reviews and e-mails of people wanting me to post. i spent all day typing this up for all you guys and i hope you can forgive me!
please don't think i forgot about you guys at all, oh no. i couldn't. i could go on forever about how sorry i am but, so i hopefully don't get shot again, -hides- here's Part I of this 'dating'! heheh
...
i really am sorry. TT.TT
Chapter Twenty: It's a D.A.T.E Part I
I used to hate getting up in the morning. Actually I hated getting up, period. Because of my random thoughts, I usually spent hours awake just to keep things organized in my head...or at least, tried to. And even when I'd eventually fall asleep, I'd just have to be awake in, what, the next hour?
The fact that I didn't feel dizzy from getting up so fast was...nice. For once, that annoying, ditzy voice on the radio wasn't yelling the weather in my ear and for once Sora wasn't bouncing on my bed until I'd flop onto the floor.
Nope...nothing like that. No distractions, no headaches and no rays of sun ready to blind my vision when I woke up.
This time, it's different. Yeah, didn't I have to thank someone for giving this to me?
I was facing a pillow when I woke up that morning. At least...I thought it was a pillow. Were pillows normally tan colored? My eyes were left half way open. I couldn't open them wider than that. I actually admit that I didn't bother to leave them any other way. Not when I'm this relaxed.
I remembered the rain from last night. I actually found it weird that I could recall that it ever happened considering how distorted my senses were last night. I let off a sudden shiver at the thought of cold water touching me and tried pulling some sheets over my chest...wait, sheets?
With eyes still narrowed, I stared down at my legs which had thin, ruffled bedding draped over them. Was I really that clueless to forget that I was lying down? In this bed? With...
That's when it hit me. No wonder that pillow was tan. No wonder it was moving softly...right next to me. Axel...? He's really...he's really here?
I gasped faintly, suddenly remembering everything. All the little details were so clear. Almost too recognizable to believe. But here I was; waking up with a boy I used to deny liking. What was weirder was that he was naked. Naked!
"Uh...uhm...A-Axel?" I stuttered breathlessly. Just recalling last night sent me back into that state of obsession. Those sensations increased as I continued to stare up at his face. I mean, his hair wasn't flying all over the place and the way the lazy orange glow from the sun touched his face just made him seem mature. I didn't think it was possible for someone to look nearly perfect in the morning. Wow, did I just say 'perfect'? Heh, something really must be wrong with me.
Even his scar completed him...oh, right, the scar. So it really wasn't a dream? I guess it's true: kissing the boo-boos to make someone feel better doesn't mean it'll go away faster. But maybe the pain does.
Sadly, I gazed up at the cut on his cheek and lightly and absently began tracing it with my finger. It felt warm...and even smooth in the parts that were beginning to heal. I really couldn't believe that he was asleep. I mean, when he was awake he always gave me this feeling that he was an owl. Let's just deal with: he acts like a coffee and candy possessed child when awake. He still wasn't waking up. Geez, talk about heavy sleeper.
I probably spoke too soon. He suddenly gave off a twitch and the mattress below us shifted when he snuggled deeper into the pillow. I quickly pulled back my hand and pulled my chin closer to my chest, making sure to keep completely still. For some reason I was embarrassed! Well, I actually had every reason to be...seeing as Axel's new position was literally squeezing me. Now my face was pressed into his chest and his legs were tangled up with mine. Is this even legal?
Still, all I could do was keep quiet and motionless, hoping that somehow he'd grow uncomfortable and would turn his back on me. Then I'd probably be able to slip out of bed, change and start working on that project...damn, I wish I didn't remind myself about that stupid thing. Oh well, better to get it over with now than to cry about it the next day in class.
"Ok...just lemme...no..." I tried pulling my leg away but I was held too tightly. "Ok, fine. Maybe...ugh." Even trying to push away was hard! If I pushed too hard, he'd wake up and if I did it too lightly nothing would happen!
I decided to give up after that and let myself stay prisoner in his bed. To believe that I used to hate him...I never even thought about ending up here out of all places. A few kisses eventually leads to necking then necking eventually leads to the hand-action then that gets into bed-action. Ugh, what a thought.
With a sigh, I shut my eyes again then tried finding some comfort in my pillow. I just have to be one of those people that, when they wake up, can't get back to sleep no matter what they try.
Whenever I had sleepovers with Hayner or Pence, I always insisted on sleeping on the floor. I can't stand sleeping in someone else's bed even if I have known them for all eternity. Why did I make an exception for Axel? I was pretty sure it wasn't his mattress that changed my mind.
What was I supposed to tell Sora? Sora...pft, yeah, right. Like he'd ever listen to me. Oh, yeah, and like I would even tell him anything. Imagine it; flailing my arms out like a giddy school girl, running toward him screaming:
Hey, Sora! Guess who I just slept with!
Now that's awkward.
I started counting the days in my head. Sunday, right? Yeah, today's Sunday. Yesterday went by so fast. That's probably why I feel so rushed. I lightly shook my head to get rid of all my thoughts. Just try concentrating on calming down, Roxas. Honestly! For the love of...
I froze again when my head suddenly started bouncing. I forced my eyes open and stared up at Axel who was...laughing? Ok...who does that in their sleep?
"Hm! Quit it..." He mumbled while lightly pressing his hand against my shoulder; trying to push me off.
I quirked an eyebrow up at his face. Was he dreaming? His eyes are closed. "Axel..." But before I could push him back, his laughter started up again. This time it was hard enough for my head to start bouncing at an annoying rate when his chest moved. What is his problem?
"What's up with you?" I hissed into him.
"Haha! S-stop it!" He went on pushing at me to a point where I fell back. Still, my legs were caught. Great...they're falling asleep. There was nothing I hated worse than feeling annoying little ants crawling underneath my skin.
"Axel, let...me...go!" But no matter what I said, he kept a tight hold around my legs and waist. Oh, he's definitely awake. Either that or he's just some psychotic sleeper that attack people while they sleep. Reminds me of cartoons. But cartoons don't normally show a 'couple' just getting up in the morning after 'fooling around'. Eww! Stop thinking now, Roxas! I let off a slight shudder just thinking about it.
"Heheh...ehaha! Yeaaah..." Axel said rather drunken and fuzzily.
Seriously, is he drunk? There must have been something in the ice cream. Or something in the fumes from the cologne he sprayed last night. What about the water in the shower? That could've changed him. Then why wasn't I acting strange? What am I saying? I am acting strange...thinking about people being intoxicated and ice cream being poisoned with feel-good juice. I guess this is the new Roxas. Not sure is you'd call it new and improved, though.
Axel went on laughing to himself for what felt like hours. My legs still felt like they were being eaten by bugs and my entire face was heating up from being under sun, sheets, and a crazy body. By the time my legs started getting cold, I started going over a list of possibilities. For one thing, hitting wasn't the answer. For another thing, I was too shy to move around too much. So what was left was, what, acting all cutesy? That's usually how I forced Sora to wake up. I regret it. I really should think about rough house with him. It's only fair. Anyway...
I swallowed hard and let out a steadied breathe. It was worth a shot. Carefully (my hand was still shaking though) I reached up toward his forehead and formed my hand into a fist. Ok, before you readers get all 'oh, smooth. And you just said...' just know that I'm not heading in that direction! Even I don't change that much.
"Oh, Axel...hey, heyy...you're oversleeping." I promised myself to never speak like this again. It reminded me of the way Riku used to talk to me in that 'aren't you adorable?' voice when I was a little kid. "Hey, come on. Get up." With my hand still in a fist, I pressed down lightly onto his head and started with a little noogie.
"Hn? Ah...h-hey. Quit it...!" He still sounded fuzzy and that's how I knew he was still half asleep. I suddenly started enjoying myself and smirked when I started rubbing it in.
"Let's go! Come on. I know you're awake!"
With his eyes still closed, Axel started up laughing again, this time out loud, and finally his legs loosened up enough for me to pull free. I took a second to do a little victory motion with my free hand and, just for the heck of it, started adding a little more friction to the noogie.
"No..." Axel groaned like a little kid and turned on his other side. Lazily, he searched around for his pillow and forced it tightly over his head.
I stopped after that but even though I was pretty much free to get up, I didn't. I rested my head on my arm and, for whatever reason, started staring at Axel's back for what felt like a long time. I remembered getting up and the sun being all orange. But now it was almost so yellow that you could've mistaken the season for summer. I wished it was, really. Then again, if it was summer all the time, what were the chances that I would have met Axel? I guessed a million to one.
When my eyes wandered down at the sheets, I saw something I really didn't want to see and pulled the sheets over Axel's waist. Ok, so maybe ants under my skin weren't the worst thing in the world.
"Cover, up, please," I said, not like he could hear me, "I really don't want to see your ever-so-gorgeous butt crack."
He didn't say anything and I figured he fell back asleep. With nothing else to do, I quietly pushed the covers away from me and sat up before scooting to the edge of the bed. That's when I felt the mattress shift right after I got up. I just had this feeling...
"Damn it, Roxas."
I straightened up and glanced over my shoulder. "Hm?" I said innocently.
Axel sighed. He was staring up at the ceiling on his back with his arm across his forehead. Then he let out a tipsy sort of laugh and said, "Didn't I tell you that I can't get back to sleep after getting up in the morning?"
"So, I'm not the only one, then?" I replied sheepishly, suddenly feeling a bit sorry. But he hated it when I apologized so I didn't say anything. I still felt awkward.
He scoffed again. "You're a real idiot, you know that, Roxas?"
"Yeah? Well, idiots don't get up first thing in he morning to get a project done because their partners refuse to do the work. Think about that." I grabbed the pillow behind me and flung it across the bed at Axel's face.
"Hey! Ah, come on, do you really have to bring that dumb project up?" He said all muffled into the pillow that he squeezed over his face.
I crossed my arms and turned to face him. "Do you want to fail? Besides, we'd be able to get this..."
"Oh, stop it," He sounded like a baby when he said it, "Look, it's only 10:30 in the morning. Relax for a bit, huh?"
"Ugh, you make it sound like it's a Saturday. Now get up before I make you get up," I threatened and reached toward him to pull the pillow off. "You're gonna suffocate yourself if you keep it there, you know."
"You're the one that threw it!" Then, without me expecting a thing, Axel reached out from under the pillow and got a firm hold around my wrist. I lightly gasped and blinked once to get the thought through my head. Normally, I would have tried pulling away. Axel seemed to notice that right away.
He threw the pillow off the bed and sat up beside me, all while still clinging to me. This was probably one of the first times in ages I saw his face straight. I wasn't gonna panic or anything. I just felt like I had to ask if he was feeling ok. Catching a cold can do stupid things to people.
"Uh...are you...feeling ok?" I asked nervously.
I couldn't believe it, really. He was actually, smiling at me. Not that killer smile and not a cheesy smile either. It was just cool. And it was real. I knew it. I just had this little warm spot in my gut that told me it was real. I was almost scared to be seeing it. Something so small like that...wow.
"I was serious, Roxas." I still couldn't believe that smile was still there.
"Eh, huh? What?"
"What I said. You know, about these." He poked the top of my left eye and I ducked my head a bit. I started getting all fuzzy and babyish again. I kept trying to repeat in my head how corny it was. But the thing was, I wasn't even sure if it was all that bad. I sort of liked it.
"Oh...that. They're not all that great," I forced a laugh, "I still don't get what's so special. Heh, I mean, look, Sora and Riku have blue eyes. Why don't you go all smooshy over their's? Even Demyx has 'em the same way."
He shook his head and gave me sort of a tap on the side of the head. "You're too much, Rox. Don't you stop and look in the mirror once in a while? At least a puddle?"
I shook my head even though that wasn't true. I just felt like lying to hear what he'd say. Great, he was even bringing up nicknames. As if this could get any cuter.
"Dunno how to explain it a whole lot. Heh, you know me; never got through English with more than a D." He started petting me while talking. I just like to call it petting just because I felt like a puppy that would fall asleep. What was weird was that I just woke up and I'm really not the kind of person that falls asleep again until night. Only Axel can really do that to me. I even had to blink a couple of times just to get my head awake again.
No sleeping, no. I sort of envisioned a hand in my head and pretended to slap it against my brain.
"Ah, well...they're just this kind of color that's different. They're like ponies and butterflies. That kind of blue. Baby-like, almost." He laughed lightly.
"Baby?"
"Ever seen a little kid's eyes? Like, right when they get up, even though they can't see, their eyes just have this spark in them like you know something's on their minds. Even though they don't even know left from right, just by seeing that you can sort of tell they know something you don't."
"Uh-huh." I knew he was looking right at me but I barely remembered what he looked like. I was too busy listening to pay attention to anything else.
"So it's like you've got this little secret you're keeping from everyone else. I just keep thinking that if I keep staring at 'em I might find out whatever it is. But after the first couple of times, I guess I gave up on it. You just keep thinking about a lot of things I guess it's hard to keep up."
I felt something cold behind me and suddenly realized I was on my back again; lying down face up on the bed. Suddenly my life was becoming a broken record. But for some reason, I couldn't keep track of everything happening. Even the little things that kept repeating, the kissing and other things like it, weren't predictable. This was hard.
I looked up when my sight got clear again and I laughed.
"Huh? What?" Axel asked playfully.
"You're face. You're blushing!" Even I sounded sort of tipsy.
Uneasily, Axel touched his cheeks and his eyes widened a bit. "Huh? Am not!"
"Liar. You should see yourself! You're getting even redder than your own hair!" All of a sudden my chest started hurting and tears started forming on the corners of my eyes. I could barely even hear Axel's voice yelling at me to stop.
"Why, you...ah..."
"Hahaha! W-what's the matter? Can't...can't...ahaha!" Besides the fact that I could barely hear, I could barely see from the tears. I felt like I could do this forever.
By the time I stopped, I realized that Axel wasn't saying anything anymore and I wondered why. I steadied my breathing and, since he was still holding my arms down (I just realized that too) I couldn't dab my eyes and cheeks from the tears. My smile turned upside down at that point. "Ah...hey, was I too harsh?" I asked shyly.
"I know you, Roxas. You're just being all nice and apologetic."
"No, seriously, was I?"
"Nah. I just felt like letting you laugh everything out for a bit. Just had this feeling that you haven't done that in a long time, right?"
That did it. He knew everything I was thinking. He really did know me all too well. "Uh, well..."
"Ah-huh. I know it." He lowered his head closer to mine; just close enough for our noses to barely touch. "That's good, right? At least you've got the bad things off your head."
I could feel my own face turning all sorts of shades of red and pink. And I could have sworn that my temperature shot up a couple of notches. Why is it now that the fact that 'Axel's naked and on top of you' comes to mind? Geez, he's been like that for at least five minutes, hasn't he? Why didn't I see this?! I felt like throwing up. I just begged that he wouldn't start drooling all over my face. After all, he did look like he wanted to eat me, in a way.
"Uh, bubble?" I said uselessly. Come on, get the hint.
He scoffed and sort of rubbed our noses together all Eskimo-like. Warm-fuzzy-bunnies-Eskimos...gah. "Don't kid me with all this bubble stuff! Besides, you already melted the ice last night. Bubbles popped a long time ago."
I tried sinking further into the pillow but as far as it could get me was about two measly millimeters. "Ok, fine, but..." You just have to open your mouth, Roxas. Real smooth. Like I said: broken record. Stinkin' broken record! Axel shut me off all of a sudden like he always did; he did it at the perfect time too...at least for him. For me it felt like he just collapsed my lungs and made my heart stop beating for a second; which I can tell you isn't all too perfect timing.
"Mmh! Mm!" I squealed. It was already obvious that flailing my arms out wouldn't work this time.
Axel, again, like he always does, ignored me completely and just went on with something of a one-man tongue war. Oh, please, not right now! It's way too early and I really don't feel like overusing my tongue again. Gosh, I really had to stop thinking these sorts of things. I was beginning to sound like some sort of sexual deviant.
I felt a little better when he started slowing down on me. I was pretty thankful that I really couldn't feel anything private in between my shorts and, well, Axel. I mean, he wasn't wearing anything. I still couldn't let 'naked' seep into my brain.
Axel pulled back to stare at me eye to eye even though I insisted on occasionally wandering off at the ceiling behind him. I really was embarrassed. I kept thinking about what he had said about my eyes. It just made me feel like a pathetic writer that couldn't even begin to describe what an apple looked like. If I couldn't do that, then how was I supposed to describe Axel's eyes? Green. Ok, so there's a start! But it wasn't like I would suddenly burst out and say 'your eyes are green!' I decided to keep to myself instead.
"You know...I've been thinking..." Boy; that must have been an amazing accomplishment.
I forced his hand off of mine and started rubbing my cheek. I thought that if I tried wiping my lips he'd go on a lecture about how to kiss right. It was just a thought and I knew I wasn't ready for it to actually happen.
"I've been thinking," He said again, "you've really been overworking yourself."
I quirked an eyebrow. Overworking? "Overworking? What're you talking about?" I asked unhappily.
"Oh, come on, Roxas! Don't tell me you don't know what overworking is?"
"Ugh, I know what it is. But, since when do I overwork myself? Lemme up!" I pushed at his chest but he stubbornly said that the forces of gravity were too strong on him today. Pft, gravity my ass.
"You know, with school work and issues with relationships. You should think about loosening up one of these days..." He paused and took a second to scratch his head.
"And...?"
"Say, today?"
"What? Today? Get real! All we've done is found a topic! Doesn't it concern you even a little bit that we're not even a quarter done with this assignment? And it's due...!"
He sighed and idly twirled a couple strands of short hair that dangled over his eyebrows. "Yes; Tuesday. I know."
"Then get your naked butt out of bed and let's start working on it!" The bed started creaking when I swiveled around.
That's when he got this pathetic look painted on his face that made me want to give him another noogie, this time more painful than the last one. He sort of stuck his bottom lip out and it started wibbling every two seconds. It was so hard to see that this guy was 17.
"Axel...don't even try giving me that face!" I sounded like mom.
He went on doing it anyway. "Aw, please, Roxassss?" He even added a little kid's voice to make him sound like he was one...yup, he is one.
"Get serious! I don't need a break! Now can you please get off me?!"
"Not until you say yes...!" He was already half begging.
"No!"
"Please?"
"No!"
"It's just one day! Live a little and stop being all emo!"
"I am not emotional! Do I look emotional? You don't see me with half my face missing do you?"
"But..."
"NO!" That was it! I pulled my hands away and pulled the pillow out from under me. "That's it! I said no and I mean it!" Like Axel had done earlier, I stuffed the pillow over my head and groaned, frustrated. Knowing Axel, he'd stick around for a while or try pulling you out with misleading conversation before giving up since there wasn't anything to do. I swear, the guy had ADD.
I started hearing this annoying squeaking noise from behind me and rolled my eyes under the pillow. "You're still there?"
The sound stopped abruptly. "Uh-huh."
"Ugh...what's so great about going out today, Axel? Huh? Tell me that!" My voice was muffled but I liked it better that way. If I said something bad maybe he wouldn't be able to hear it well. Still, I could barely breathe so it wasn't like I could talk anyway.
There was a short pause before he answered me. "I've got five bucks in my wallet..." The squeaking started up again.
I blinked. "Are-you-serious?" Five whole bucks, Axel. Wow. Was I supposed to be surprised? I bet he could buy five packs of gum with that much. Ok, so maybe he wanted to go gum shopping?
"It's supposed to be a surprise! Aw, come on! It'll be fun!"
So maybe thinking that he'd leave a little later on was a stupid thought. I figured I might be stuck here all morning. Heck, maybe it'd turn out to be all day. Actually, now that I think about it, I haven't done anything fun since the middle of summer. Even summer was pretty boring. Nothing but that beach party and the festival was what went on. Up until now...no...don't say it, Roxas, don't think it. You're not that gullible, are you? Please don't tell me you're that gullible!
Finally, I sighed and lifted the pillow up a bit for one eye to look out. "Where are we going, Axel?" I said without feeling.
"Huh? Really, Roxas?!" He squealed happily. I was really starting to regret this...school-girl Axel sounded too scary for me.
I groaned to myself. "Yes..."
"Haha! Yes!" The bed started bouncing at an annoying rate.
"Hey, hey! Calm down!"
"Aw, I knew you weren't so deprived, Roxas." Axel started laughing and I felt him tightly squeeze me until I started to cough.
"Ah! A-Axel! Gah! Get-off-of-me! Don't be so excited about it!"
For once, he obeyed me and rolled off to the other side of the bed. I was about to look up before I pictured him all jumpy while naked.
"So, what're you still doing in bed?" He asked in a cutesy voice.
I snorted. "Uh, didn't you hear me when I said I didn't want to see your butt? No, thank you."
"Ha, well ok then." He started getting that wicked voice again. I heard the closet door close and something being shaken. It was probably the AXE...hooray. "I'll just go outside."
"Ugh, thank you," I whispered to myself, rolling my eyes again. What did I tell you? He was constantly wide awake.
"It's a date." He said confidently. That's when I jolted up from the bed, oblivious to the fact that I still had the pillow over my head so it went flying across the room and crashed into the mirror. A few loose pictures that were stuck on the mirror fell to the floor but Axel didn't seem to mind. All he really was paying attention to was my face.
I stared blankly at him, mouth hanging open. Date? As in, date-date? As in two people that...whoa, whoa...what? "I...uh...da...huh?" I stammered stupidly.
Axel clicked his tongue at me and stepped out into the hallway. "Told you it was a surprise." And he shut the door behind him. More photos fell from the mirror when he did it.
Surprise? I had this sense that this wasn't the only part of the surprise.
xxXXxx
I used to love it when mom made Sora and I breakfast in the morning, even if she complained half of the time that we were old enough to do it by ourselves. But when I got back into the hallway from the bathroom, fully changed, I wasn't exactly greeted by buttered toast or eggs. The whole house smelled like the furniture was on fire.
I gagged and hesitantly made way into the living room. "Axel? What's going on?" I asked. I really was hoping that I wouldn't get to see half the house bursting into flames. I heaved a relieved sigh when I turned the corner and saw that everything was still in place. What really bugged me was that I couldn't find Axel. For all I knew, he could have been on top of the roof screaming to the world that he was going out with me.
I suddenly blushed. 'Going out'? Oh, shit. This is really real.
"I'm in here, Roxas!"
I followed Axel's voice into the kitchen and was surprised to see that the place was actually white again. I didn't think of him as much of a neat freak and it sort of creeped me out beyond reason.
"Wow, you got the chance to clean up?" I asked, watching him staring down at a crusty looking white toaster on the counter. I was even more relieved to see him out of the nude. He looked pretty good in a green sports jacket. The jacket had silver zippers, one on the top of each shoulder, and the number 08 printed on the chest in yellow. He had on another pair of bagged khakis with a checkered belt and on his right wrist he had a checkered wrist band that sort of looked like my own except it had a little zipper pouch in the middle.
He looked up for a second and smiled deviously over his shoulder at me. I didn't like the looks of it. "Uh-huh. Actually, I was gonna let you do it since you were the one that started the whole fight."
"Wha?" I panicked then miserably shook my head when he laughed out loud.
"Come on. I'm not that cruel, am I?" When he finished, the toaster started ringing. A ringing toaster? That was new. "Oh, gimme a sec!"
Now I seriously felt like gagging. Up from the toaster sprang a round, charred and smoking...what ever it was. Honestly, the thing was smoking and even darker than asphalt. It sort of looked like a waffle but more like an over sized Oreo than anything else...and I don't mean the tasty looking Oreos either.
"Axel...?" I asked weakly.
"Hm?" He stuck a fork through the thing, which was amazing...it looked pretty hard, and waved it around a bit for it to cool down.
There were a couple things I wanted to ask but I stuck with one question. "What...is...that?" I pointed at it and he just smiled.
"Waffle," He said cheerfully. So cheerfully I could've sworn I saw miniature pink hearts floating out of his head.
I knew it was a waffle...sort of. "Are you...gonna eat it?" That was my next question and I asked it even more awkward than the first time.
He nodded once and stared down at the waffle. "It's usually how I eat 'em. Don't you?"
I shook my head. "You're kidding me. You'll die eating them like that all the time!"
"Got proof? Been doing it for years and I'm sill here, right?" Then, as if just dying to see my face cringe again, he bit into it rather happily. It made this rock solid sound that sounded even harder than biting into a stale cracker. I could already picture a few teeth falling out.
"Oh, that's gross!" I stuck my tongue out and quickly waved a hand across my face. The fumes from the smoke were sort of giving me a headache.
He swallowed and shrugged once. "What ever you say, Roxas. I just don't believe in death-by-waffle."
"Lemme guess, you burn the maple syrup too?" I said sarcastically.
"Only sometimes."
"But, how...?" I stopped myself and turned my back on him, leaving him to finish his lump of charcoal. I decided I really didn't need to know.
"Mm, hey, wait here for a sec, 'kay?" The tension in my shoulders eased when the crunching abruptly stopped behind me. I glanced over my shoulder at Axel while he turned toward the hallway, the waffle halfway done with.
"What for?"
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone from it. Oh, man, a Razr? And it was apple green too. I begged mom to get me that type of phone but, like I said, she insisted on giving me Sora's old one that was all scuffed up with a tacky decoration chain. "It'll only take a sec. I promised Riku I'd call him up for a check in. Oh, yeah, and I've gotta check in with Marly too. You know, Marluxia? He's..." He paused and scratched his head, "Ah...never mind."
"Oh...ok...I guess?"
"Good." Then he did this corny thing. He winked at me. "Don't miss me, 'kay?" But before I could say anything, he took off down the hallway and went into his room.
"You...did NOT just wink at me..." I seriously was starting to think that last night was getting to Axel's head. He probably was thinking that, since I...you know, did that...that meant that we were pretty much 'legit'.
I personally thought we were...even though he still creeped me out and made me feel brainless half the time.
With nothing else left to do, I strolled over to the couch and lazily flopped down on it. Speaking of calling, I felt like calling up someone from class just to see how they were doing with the project and all. A few seconds passed while I scrolled through the calling list on my cell phone. Like always, I ended up choosing Hayner. After all, Pence lost his cell phone, Sora wouldn't talk to me, Axel was calling people and I didn't know anyone else's number.
I put the phone to my ear and waited for him to pick up. I wasn't ready to go through his voicemail. He had this annoying rap song that played for about three minutes before you could really leave a decent message. It made me want to pull my hair out because he hadn't changed it in, what, a year?
"Come on...pick up, pick up..."
"Yo, it's Hayner."
"Hayner...this better be you..."
"Roxas? Hey, what's up?"
I smiled. It felt good to hear him again considering that I hadn't hung out with my best friends in ages. "Nothing much...I was just wondering how you were holding up with that Sex Ed project."
Hayner groaned. "Oh, boy, don't get me started. Lucky for me, Pence agreed to finding pictures. Chances are I would've died staring at pictures of...things I don't want to see."
I laughed. "So, reading about them is better?"
"Are you kidding me? Of course it's not better! It's even more descriptive! But...I'd rather let the book do the imagining for me rather than looking at the real deal."
"What ever you say...so what's your guy's topic?"
"Ha, lucky for us we got first pick."
I nearly froze. "What?"
"Yeah. Reproduction. It's pretty easy. I was just about to get started on writing the essay."
If mother earth would let me, I would've forced my hand right through the speaker and slapped him right there and then. "You don't know how much I hate you right now!" I yelled, sitting up in my seat.
He cackled evilly on the other line. "Ah, you know you like me, man."
"Sadly, yes."
"Yeah...how 'bout you? What's your topic?"
I rubbed the back of my neck. "Ah...um...let's just say I..."
"Come on...spit it out," He urged me.
I paused when I heard uncontrollable laughter from down the hallway. "Shut up! Ahahaha! W-wha...hahahaha!"
"Roxas? You still there, man?"
I turned back to the phone, trying to stop myself from laughing. Axel sounded like a maniac clown. "Y-yeah...pft...sorry. Spaced out for a second there."
"Oh, no, you don't. You're gonna tell me what your topic is."
I sighed and started zipping and un-zipping my jacket. Hm, I wondered if showing the belly button was a good thing or a bad thing...
"Ok. You got me. I haven't gotten around picking something out yet." I hated lying; especially to my best friend.
"Huh? Seriously? You'd better get going! Seriously! What're you calling me for?!"
As if that was making me feel any better. I left the zipper alone and instead fooled around with my collar. Let's see, popped good or popped bad?
"Calm down...I know what I'm up against here, Hayner."
"Wait, you're paired up with Axel, right?"
"Riiight?" I ended up popping the collar. Uhm, what about the pants? Pulled low or pulled up...? Hm, I kinda like them low but not really.
"Ah, man. Well, I guess both of you better get working. I'm praying for ya."
"Uh-huh, thanks..." Necklace? Is it shiny enough?
"...Oh, hey, Roxas, you still there?"
"Yeah, still here." Do I smell burnt? No...I don't think so...I wonder if I've got extra deodorant in my bag.
"Yeah, listen, I'm surfing the web and, listen to this, some scientists came up with this article about teens and dating."
"Dating? Really?" I put the silver crown charm on my necklace down and sat up straight. Dating, huh? It's a date...
"Yeah, yeah! They put my little code here too. You remember the code? Wait, I don't think I told you about that, did I?"
"D-dating has a code?" My palms were sweating all of a sudden.
"That was Pence I told...anyway! Listen. I found this code thing a while back while watching an episode of Jerry Springer."
"Jerry Springer, Hayner? You're kidding me..."
"Yeah, long story. Anyway, it turns out that the letters in 'date' have these weird meanings to 'em that someone's gotta follow if they want the date to go smoothly."
"Yeah, I'm listening, I'm listening." I was suddenly really eager about it. There're seriously rules to dating? Oh, man.
"Hm...oh, here it is. Ok, listen to this. D.A.T.E. D: Always concentrate on the lips of your date. In a recent poll, teens that were asked about kissing said there's nothing worse than if you or your partner has chapped lips. They've got to be delicious; in other words, kissable. A date also has to be full of dares. Take risks and be prepared for anything."
That was a lot of info right there. I wished I had a pen and paper to write this down. I thought about using my hand but what would people say if they saw messy dating tips scribble on my hand?
"Ok, here's A. A: Never forget about your date's personality. If they're forcing you to get on the dance floor when you don't want to or they want you to drink something you don't want to, learn to say no. Never date an asshole. Keep the date active and alive with varied actions. Don't stick with the same thing each time. You'll get bored and so will your date."
Mental note: asshole. Never date one. Sounds good.
"T: Things can and will be tricky. It's a possibility that you could be in a situation that you are unsure about such as sex or dirty dancing. Think it through and make the right choice. Thinking is key."
Great, something I'm not good at ends up being a must.
"And lastly...E: Be considerate to your partner's emotions. Don't spend all night and day talking about yourself and things that could hurt your date. On a side note, dressing fit for the occasion should show your electric side. Never be afraid to show some skin or mix and match. You don't always have to live a shell."
"Boy, lots of info there, huh?" I secretly started rehearsing everything Hayner told me in my head. It made my stomach turn.
He laughed. "You bet it is. I hate the text though. Makes it sound like a cheesy 70's infomercial. Haha."
I laughed feebly with him. It's ok. I don't think he's gotten the hint yet. "I'll be sure to check in with it."
"You should've heard Pence when he read it! Oh, man. He said he had to go, like, a second later cause he wanted to go out a buy new clothes for his 'electric' side."
"Ha, amazing what love does to people, huh?"
"Yeah. Hey, think it'll happen to us sometime? You know; love-y stuff?" He sounded like he just committed a crime.
"Come on, Hayner. It happens to everyone..." Truthfully, I had a feeling it already did for me.
"Guess so. I'm not gonna be stupid when she comes around."
"Hah, yeah, right."
"Oh, yeah? I bet you're gonna be falling all over the place by the time who-ever-she-is meets up with you. Then we'll see who's stupid."
I didn't say anything after that. I let Hayner laugh. He was still unaware of the real situation I was in and I couldn't believe I nearly forgot about it. I wondered what he would do if I told him about last night and the real reason why the project wasn't started. What would he say if I told him about the 'date'? Even if he was my best friend, even if we had known each other for years, I couldn't tell him everything and he couldn't handle everything I threw at him. For all I knew, he could drop his phone and let it die on the floor.
"I'd better go, Hayner," I said, feeling a bit sorry I had to.
"Aw, ok. Guess I'll see you tomorrow. Don't back out!"
"I won't, I won't. See ya. Bye."
I shut the phone tight and tucked it away in my pocket again. I remembered 'E' and left the chain from the phone to hang out of the pocket. I stood up and stared down at my feet. I never used to check myself this much. I sort of felt like a girl doing it. Uneasily, I walked over to the TV and used the black glass to check if my hair was still spiky enough.
"Show skin, huh?" I stared down at the zipper, which I left shut, and pulled it higher above my belly button. There, I guess that was better. Yeah, it is better! After that, I hooked my thumbs into my pockets and pulled down a bit for my pants to drop lower. Yeah, that's better!
I flipped the collar a couple times for some extra poof and took another few seconds to check in the TV. I was feeling pretty sexy...oh, crap, what the hell is happening to me?
I pulled back up and cleared my throat once. Ok, let's not get that far. It's just fake information from the internet...that's all it is. All it is.
"Whoa, fixed yourself up, did you?"
I spun around, feeling jumpy, and nearly screamed my head off. "What? Oh, uhm...n-not really. I was just..."
Axel lightly shook his head and that's when I caught his eyes staring at me from head to toe...and not just once. I heated up again and looked away. Yeah, thanks for the tips, Hayner...really appreciate it.
"Well, ready to go?"
"Go?" I asked.
"Remember? We've got a date, right? Where've you been for the past ten minutes?" Axel walked toward me, shaking a small can of AXE in his hand. I just hoped he wasn't planning on spraying right here-right now. I held my breath just in case.
"Oh, yeah. So...where exactly...?"
"It's a surprise, remember?" He slapped his hand on top of my head and started rubbing hard.
"Ow, ow, hey! That hurts, you know?!" I grabbed his hand and threw it to the side before holding the sides of my head in pain.
He put on a smug face and walked up to the front door, grabbing a tiny silver key that was dangling on the coat hanger beside him. "Had to get you back for waking me up this morning."
"Ow..."
Axel shook the can one last time and, just as I suspected, pushed down on the button and sprayed literally half the can on himself. Darn it, even if I was far away it didn't do any good! I brushed some puffs of the cologne away from my face and choked. I couldn't help but think of how good it smelled. Roxas is officially an AXE girl...
"There, just for you," Axel said sweetly and placed the can on top of the holder on the coat hanger.
"Oh, shut up." When the smell settled down a little more, I gathered myself up and followed after him. That's it, just don't lose yourself. Don't be like the AXE girls on TV that jump on the guy...you can do this. 'T' Think. Geez, and this date thing hasn't even started yet.
"Right, so..." He reached for the doorknob, turned it then opened it up a crack. "Oho, right! Almost forgot!"
I looked up at him with my eyes squinted. "What?"
He slowly took hold of my head with one hand and did that quirky little smile again. I wondered why I wasn't getting a headache from the cologne yet.
"Hn?" I asked.
I suddenly realized how much 'in the mood' I was for making out. Just for a while, I mean. It wouldn't kill to do it. Even for five minutes. I have no idea why I wanted to and it started to bug me. Axel started out just old fashioned which was ok, right? Right. Plain kissing was good. I shut my eyes for a bit and felt content. The first I've felt all morning ever since I woke up. Then, just as everything was slowing down, I felt his lips curve into a smirk and I mentally slapped myself.
With the tip of his tongue, he tentatively licked at my lips. And even if didn't open my mouth to say anything, he still found someway to get inside. But, you know, I noticed something. He was actually gentle with me.
"There, you deserved it," Axel said after moving away from me.
I opened my eyes and stared at him. "Deserved it?"
"Yeah. Had to get you back for what you did last night too." Laughing, Axel pulled the door open and ran off outside, leaving me stupefied. 'D' delicious; kissable. I considered this to just be a test run. So if this was a test run, how was the real date?
"Come on, Roxas! Quit being slow!"
"Y-yeah! Coming!" I stopped myself from running out the door for one second. I caught sight of the AXE can on the coat hanger and then looked back at Axel. He looked too busy staring up at the clouds to notice me...just this once. It won't hurt.
I snatched the can, pointed to my chest and pressed down on the button. I made sure to hold my breath when I got shot with a huge puff of it. With that done, I put the can back and sniffed once before shutting the door behind me. Not bad.
It was just for good luck on a first date...
-appears again- i hope that wasn't poop...honestly, i felt like i was rambling, i'm such an emo author...really, i feel so terrible i could crawl under a rock and live with the mushrooms...then again mushrooms aren't that bad...anyway...!
most likely people have stopped reading but i'll try keeping this going as best i can. as long as i know people are enjoying the akuroku, i'll keep writing. it's all for you guys! ;D
oh, and i apologize if there was either too much kissing or not enough and i double apologize for making axel so young in spirit. x.x i love him dearly!
anyway, happy late halloween and happy late thanksgiving to all you guys. ;) hope you all had fun eating candy and turkey-to-furky. wheee!
i've been sporked!
kokoro77