The Perfect Girl

Chapter 25: Dinner was Nice

"My name is Chelsea Mathieson, I'm learning to be an architect."

The camera's angle went twisting every which way, the zoom going in and out. The brown haired woman frowned a bit, but was laughing a moment later.

"Kyou, be careful with that camera- I'm borrowing it from Samantha."

A man's face came into view- his old glasses shining from the light,"Aha, sorry Chelsea..."

"Kodomo, where are the breadcrumbs?"

I fumbled with the remote for the tape, hitting the TV button to turn the screen back to what had previously been on. I quickly pushed one of my bangs back, cursing it for slipping out of my ponytail. My brown eyes flew over to my grandfather as I laughed nervously,"Um, let me just get them sofu."

I stood up and walked over to him in the kitchen. I fixed my plaid, green pajama shorts, which ended just above my knee, and opened the cabinet above the sink, pulling down the bag with my fingertips. It landed in my palms and I turned back to my grandfather, who was now looking at me with a slightly worried look. I shrugged mentally, figuring he was glancing at my shoulder. I was currently wearing a tanktop- but it was all in safety... My father was going to be home late. I handed him the bag and was about to walk back to the living room when a loud bang sounded from the backyard. I hurried over to the open back door, but suddenly I was tackled down.

"AH!"

My shoulder had a sharp pain resound through it and I wanted to toss whatever had tackled me against the wall. I stopped myself when a wet tongue met my face. I began to laugh at Kyon and rushed my hands over his fur and sit up, happy to see the animal.

"Kyon! Get back here!"

I looked up at the boy now in my doorway. His dark hair was unruly, no longer at a length to be tamed at. I smirked up at him, remembering our "apologies" two days before. It was Thursday afternoon- a nice heat setting onto everything in July. Kyon jumped off of my when Salmon tackled him down, the two now playing(I hope). The boy looked down at me, and I immeaditely took notice of his eyes set on my bandaged shoulder. I quickly shot up and yanked the jacket off of the couch, sliding my arms into each sleeve.

"Hello, Shishido- no tennis today?"

He shook his head, not replying. My mind went everywhere- what are we supposed to talk about? It was not every day that he would come flying into myself- even after his dog. We both stood in front of the other, just staring. Right up to the point that my grandfather walked in.

"Ah, if it isn't Shishido-kun. Why don't you join us for dinner? We're having some sort of western food that I found a recipe for in Kyou's old stuff."

I would have protested, as I guess Shishido also would have, but my relative was already ushering us both to the couch. We both were forced to oblige and sat with the tv playing some sort of weather report.

"You may want to put those tapes away, Kodomo..."

My face immeaditely turned red as I fumbled to grab the remote. My father would be very worried for me if he saw me watching the tapes of my dead mother. I knew my grandfather- since he just made it clear he knew what they were- was already worried, but my dad may break down crying. I turned the tv back to the tapes and rewound them. I could feel Shishido shift, but I did not look at him as I stared intently at the screen, watching my brown-haired mother move backwards and such through different moments. When the screen went blue I stood up to put the tapes away.

"So, who was that?"

I clicked the box of tapes shut and began to roll up the cords for the camera as I responded,"My mother."

There was no response back to me, which made the air a bit heavy. I looked up to the couch when I was done folding the cords and we both kind of sat there in the silence. At that moment I really began to notice how different Shishido looked with short hair. I picked up a bit of my own and looked at it, wondering what I would look like with shorter hair.

"Don't even think about it."

I looked up to him quickly, a bit shocked that he somehow read my mind. I was about to ask him why I should not think about it when a crash came from the kitchen,"Kodomo Can you go to the convenience store?"

"Thanks for coming with me Shishido."

"No problem, Ryuuka."

I sighed and picked up a head of lettuce, staring intently at it. I was feeling a bit more in the mood for salad now. A tan hand suddenly took the lettuce out of my hand and put it back down. I felt my face heat up- whether it be in embarrassment from him touching me or because I was angry now- and looked up to him.

"You didn't come for that."

I pointed at him and shut my eyes,"Well maybe I want lettuce!"

"...You're causing a scene."

I sighed roughly and tossed the lettuce into my basket before dragging him along. We had left the house after my grandfather broke a few of the cans in our cupboard. Most of them were going to be the sidedishes and he decided we would be the best candidates to head out to the store since he 'walks like a snail'. I picked up a few of the cans needed before walking to the front of the store for checkout. The woman waved lightly and smiled as she finished up with the people ahead of us. A moment later she was setting everything into the bags and we were out the doors.

"Here, take a bag."

"Ugh."

"Hey, don't complain you!" I shouted as I handed him the bag with the cans. He was obviously being a baby if he could not handle it. We walked down the sidewalk in silence- the sky darkening slowly. I was a bit angry that it was getting dark so early, but it could not be helped. I twisted my lips and watched the lines on the sidewalk. I would wear my summer uniform tomorrow since it was finally washed out now. I had been getting in slight trouble by not wearing the jacket the past few days and not wearing the summer clothing.

"What happened to your shoulder?"

I continued walking at a regular pace as I formulated something in my head. I did not want to tell him since that could make him think that it is his fault- even if it is. I began to hum a bit as I thought. Changing the subject would be best.

"When's your next tennis match, Shishido-san?" Yes, the best way to distract is 1) show interest in something I could care less about, and 2) use a suffix.

"The thirteenth, it'll be the first matches of the Kantou tournament."

Success!

"Is that a big deal?"

He snapped at me and shouted,"Of course it's a big deal!"

I sighed at him and walked a bit faster,"Loud mouth."

"So, do you think my long hair is nice? It does get in the way sometimes..."

Shishido looked over to me in shock at the question. I glared at him quickly,"I just want the opinion of someone who doesn't really care... I guess."

"That made no sense. Your hair is fine."

I tried my best to not look at him in the silence that had engulfed the room. Sofu had decided to take forever with making dinner and chichi had yet to return from his day out. Kyon had been brought home after our return from grocery shopping and my friend had bored me with talk about his tennis. When I realized I had been staring at him for an elongated amount of time it turned out to be too late to act casual since he had been staring back. I turned my head quickly, hoping that someo-

"Ahh, what is that smell?"

My face broke out into a large smile,"Chichi!"

My father took off his creme jacket off of his well-dressed shirt before undoing his tie in an exasperated manner,"Today took forever. Oh," suprise took over his face,"you're staying for dinner, Ryou-kun?"

I had tried to forget that the boy was there, but once again my eyes were analyzing him as if he was some foreigner. He nodded,"Hai."

"Brilliant!" Father shouted as he slipped into his house shoes and went to check on my grandfather. I bit my lip and turned back to Shishido. He was looking right back at me and for some reason worry shot through me when he opened his mouth to speak.

"You're dad's really happy."

I nodded in a relieved manner and moved my legs so that they were criss-crossed,"Yeah, he acts like that a lot... It's refreshing."

"Refreshing?"

I gave him a sly look as I nodded,"Yeah, a nice refreshing end to my day after dealing with your sour attitude."

"Ryuuka, watch your mouth!"

I laughed at his slightly flustered face as he must have been contemplating whether or not to push me. Before he could even decide that though my father came out with some plates and told us to join him at the table. My face lit up when I sat down when I noticed that my grandfather had made porkchops with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. Shishido looked a bit preplexed at the food, but I handed him a fork and smiled again at my father.

"Ah, my favorite! Mom always used to make this when you were coming home late!"

My father laughed with me and we both knew that the other felt a pang of sadness in our hearts. Our tears were dried up at the moment and we probably would have slipped out a drop or two from our eyes if Shishido had not been seated at the table with us. I picked up the whole porkchop like I had always done and took a very unlady-like bit from one end before ripping it off. As I chewed I noticed Shishido moving the mashed potatoes around in some confusion.

"It's just a mashed up potato. Try some, it's good. Stop acting so wierd towards awesome food."

Awesome. Yes, that word did not have a great translation from English to Japanese, but it made sense to me and only that mattered. The short-haired boy took a bite of the mashed up poatoes and it was obvious that he decided they were safe for him to eat. Dinner went on with all of us eating in delight and some comments about the day and such jokes being passed and forth.

"Jeram called me."

I looked up from the last bit of potato on my plate,"Really? He didn't call me."

As he ruffled my long hair Ryuuka, Kyou continued his sentence,"Apparently he has a girlfriend."

Silence fell over the table for a moment. Shishido had no say in the matter and he really did not care, but sofu and I both let out giggles that turned into boisterous laughs. My father sat in a bit of confusion,"What's so funny?"

When I found myself able to respond I did,"Jeram having a girlfriend just sounds funny. Remember back when he got one in his second year of high school?" Father did not get it but Sofu nodded quickly, I continued. "He brought her over and it was disastrous from that moment on. She..." I could not seem to finish my sentence from laughing and I ended it at that.

"Well, um, this girl is apparently a different major, but they have the same art class. They supposedly met when she tripped him in the classroom." He chuckled at the thought.

I nodded in approval as I stood to gather the dishes,"I approve already."

Some minutes later when everything was cleared I looked over to my silent male friend. He had not spoken much at dinner and it made me wonder if he was like that at his own house at meals. I pushed his shoulder a bit and after getting his attention I smiled,"You always this serious when eating?"

He shrugged and I was shocked that he began to give me a response. "You guys are just lively, at my house we don't usually have very long conversations. If anything there is some sort of stupid argument about something stupid."

I stared with my caramel eyes in a bit of wonder. Shishido noticed this and pulled back a bit,"What?"

"That was some of the worst description I have ever heard."

He glared at me again,"Ugh, stupid Ryuuka."

Shishido stayed for another ten minutes before he had to leave to head back home. I waved goodbye to him, knowing that I would see him the next day. When I closed the door, relief came over me as I was yearning to run up the stairs and strip myself of this jacket that was heating me up.

"Hm, looks like someone else might be getting someone."

I snapped my head towards my sneaky grandfather sitting on the couch. While watching him intently I slowly back myself up the stairs. Mischevious old man.

AH! Sorry for not updating! I had about 3/4's of this typed, but I had no idea how to continue it. I need to think of more ideas to get Simone and Shishido to bond more since I have other ideas that I don't want to skip to yet since they don't involve too much of Shishido. If anyone has any good ideas I would love to know them :D.

~[Apologies to All...] Tai.