10-27-10

8:14pm

xoxo

Title-Are you stalking me?

Chapter 29

By-Moon Prynces

xoxo

"Dad!"

Van looked up at the girlish scream and left his room.

In the kitchen it was obvious that his mom and sister were home from grocery shopping but also, so was his father.

Hitomi had left half an hour earlier and Van wasn't sure yet if that was a good thing. He hadn't had any real girlfriends to introduce to his family before. And the thing about Hitomi was... most of his family already met her when they were just friends (or something like that).

"Honey, when did you get back?" Varie asked, fluttering around her husband happily.

Goau shrugged. "Not that long."

Then she looked to her son. "Van, you were home the entire time? You didn't even notice?" She frowned disapprovingly and raised her brows.

Merle was ignoring anyone but her father and asking him about the places he had been.

"Sorry." Van shrugged nonchalantly, hiding how excited he actually was to have his dad back home.

It didn't matter though; Goau smiled and engulfed him and Merle in a big hug anyway. Varie watched on while trying to explain Folken's absence.

"I'm home!" He sang loudly, as if they weren't already aware.

Through his smile Van wondered if the ominous undertone was his paranoia.

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He wasn't one of those "uncool" parents that did things to embarrass his kids. He and his wife raised them, and in some ways the kids raised him as well. They all learned from each other, no matter what age or role they had.

It was just one of those things you thought about while sitting around in the quiet for a few moments. The kind of thought that comes with such deep introspection but is broken as soon as someone walks in the room and says, "Hey."

Goau looked up from where he sat at the arm chair in the living room that no one ever actually occupied except him. It was his own little space.

Varie smiled as the television glowed in the background, the volume low enough to barely be heard. All the other lights in the room were off, and she had just finished cleaning up around the kitchen which was her own little space.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked, walking over to sit on his lap sideways.

It was getting late. They had already had dinner and he had gotten a call from Folken earlier as well. Merle and Van were in their rooms doing whatever teenagers did.

He smiled and shook his head, then stole a kiss before she could say something else. "Just remembering some things." He answered.

"So how long will you be sticking around for this time?" She questioned teasingly. "It wouldn't be so bad if you actually saw your kids grow up."

Goau grinned. "Oh, so you haven't replaced me at all?"

"You'd like that wouldn't you? To get out of having to ground them for getting in trouble or so you don't have to cook meals and do laundry." Varie joked.

He rolled his eyes. "I would be more than happy to cook, my dear." Goau glanced at the TV and they both sat there, watching it for a few minutes. "So how were things while I was away?" He started again.

Varie glanced over in mild surprise, though she shouldn't have been. They hadn't had the chance for an adult to adult talk because Van and Merle had buzzed around their father excitedly since his return earlier that day.

"Not too bad." She responded with a shrug, still watching the TV. "Van and Folken aren't fighting all the time."

Goau raised a brow at this, questioning.

She turned to him with a half-smile. "Well, only half the time now. And Merle is using Van's friend as her big sister to get advice from. Or so I heard accidentally while passing by as she was on the phone..." Varie trailed off sheepishly with another shrug.

"Van's friend?" He raised a brow. "Who's that?"

"Oh, it's this girl named Hitomi!" Varie started eagerly. "She's nice and pretty and perfect for him!"

"Are you match-making?" He accused with a grin.

Her lips pulled back into a similar expression.

"Is he going out with someone?" Goau asked, for real this time.

"I don't know." She responded. "He's not gonna come right out with it if he is."

"Sounds like a recipe for disaster." He commented, shifting his eyes back to the television.

Varie rolled her eyes away, toward the object as well. "Don't be so pessimistic."

They were quiet again for a few minutes as the family sitcom played on screen. It ended after another fifteen minutes of some strange antics and a happy conclusion.

She turned to her husband and smiled. "I think it's time for bed. You've had a long day, right?"

Goau looked at her blankly.

Yes. He had.

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"I hate Tuesday almost as much as I hate Monday." Hitomi muttered, scribbling in a notebook with her brows furrowed.

Dilandau lazily took a sip of his chocolate milk and didn't contribute to distracting her.

"Wasn't that homework due..." Millerna started.

"Last period? Yesterday?" Hitomi asked, looking up with a frustrated expression.

"I hate Monday through Thursday." Dilly finally spoke.

Millerna rolled her eyes while Hitomi glared. He just grinned widely.

"Think happy thoughts Hitomi." The blonde encouraged before taking a bite of her sandwich.

"If I did then I wouldn't get any work done." She replied with a pout and went back to answering another question on paper. There was a pause before Hitomi spoke again. "I'm assuming since I'm the only one who spends lunch battling assignments that you guys are doing well in class." And she glanced over at the two.

Dilandau shrugged with his favorite mischievous look. "You know what they say about assuming."

"Guess so." Millerna shrugged, agreeing with him... on some level.

"How come you're not with Celena today?" Hitomi questioned, attempting to multi-task the conversation and her homework.

"She's busy." He shrugged. "And maybe, just maybe I've missed you guys."

Here Millerna actually snorted. The other two turned to look at her strangely.

"Oh. You were being serious?" She blinked stupidly.

"Well, yeah. Isn't this our b-f-f club time?" Dilandau asked, trying to suppress a laugh.

"Right, so he wasn't being serious." Hitomi said, turning back to her book. "Hey, you aren't the only one here dating someone and yet I still find time to hang out with my friends." She said while writing quickly. "Then again, I only have you guys..." She mumbled thoughtfully.

"Shh." Dilandau said, causing Hitomi to look up again. He made some obvious motion toward Millerna, who was watching with a raised brow. "She's not dating anyone." He pretended to whisper. "You'll make her feel bad."

The blonde slapped a hand over his mouth. "You know what they say about assuming things." She said to him.

"Mmhph?"

Hitomi peeled away the hand so he could speak.

"So you're dating someone?" He looked unconvinced.

"Yes! Why does everyone give me that look?" She asked, thinking back to Allen's reaction the day before. "In fact I have a date this afternoon."

"Whatever. As long as you get homework and stuff done." Hitomi responded, going back to her assignment.

"You sound like a teacher." Dilandau said with a flat look. "Or a parent." He added thoughtfully.

Millerna smiled, remembering she did need to finish that project for Friday.

"Or the principal." He went on, this time shuddering at some... fond memories.

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"So then this is actually a date, right?" He questioned, looking at the girl walking beside him.

"I can only admit to that if your heart isn't going to explode in your chest." She responded with a quirky look. "You look kinda nervous." She leaned toward him to whisper.

He half-smiled. "Sorry, it's been a while."

Millerna raised a brow. "I hope that isn't because the last girl got a restraining order or something."

Dryden shook his head, marveling at the fact that she wasn't afraid to say anything in front of him. "I just haven't been interested in anyone in a while." And he left his words intentionally ambiguous, so she would have to ask if she wanted to know anything else. If she wanted to know... exactly what he felt about her.

The two kept up their casual pace.

It wasn't the first time they were seeing each other, if you included that day she met up with him for coffee (and maybe even dinner at her house, but she didn't like to think about that). But it was a first date. It was supposed to be a big deal.

But Millerna scoffed at anyone who thought everything was supposed to be magical and amazing. Dates don't always go like that. Life doesn't always go like that.

But... well, she kinda liked him. At least a little. And it was obvious he was interested in her. I mean, arranged marriages are one thing but they actually had a say in it. They both decided on their own to see where this whole thing could lead. There was nothing wrong if it didn't work out.

But she was hoping it would.

"Where are we going?" She asked him.

He looked sheepish. "I know, I know. You had to take a bus and walk a few blocks to meet up with me. I'm really sorry about that."

Millerna just shrugged. "What? It's not like I've never taken a bus before." Dryden opened his mouth to say something but she cut him off with a smirk. "I only look like a princess."

He closed his mouth with a grin. "Alright, well actually I need to buy a few new shirts."

Her eyes lit up. "Shopping?" The blonde questioned, somehow imagining him as a dress-up doll.

"Well, only if you can keep that manic look out of your eye." He replied, feigning a fearful expression.

"Oh, right! Of course." Millerna said, regaining some composure. "This already sounds like a fun date." She admitted. "Why are we shopping for shirts again?"

"Job interviews." He sighed.

She patted his back, though he was much taller than her. "Don't worry. Even if you totally make a moron out of yourself, at least you'll look good."

Dryden glanced up in surprise to find her smiling at him. He stared a moment before a smile broke out across his face as well.

"Alright then." There was a slight pause. "And thanks for the vote of confidence." He added.

Millerna was already rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

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"How about you Allen?" She called, causing everyone to look at him.

Said boy glanced up with a roll of his eyes and a bored look. "Why are you asking me?" He questioned back.

The teacher turned around to fully address him from where she stood at the front of the room. "I don't think it's that far of a stretch seeing as you've been present more this semester than last year."

Classmates were already losing focus and starting to chatter, possibly about him.

Allen shrugged and spit out what had to be the right answer, because she nodded once and went on with the lesson.

He sighed and leaned back into the chair once more, his head falling back to stare at the ceiling.

"If you participated in class more often then all the homework and studying you do wouldn't go to waste." She commented again, though still writing on the board.

A few students glanced in his direction in their boredom.

He shrugged again and said to whoever was watching him, "Wednesdays."

Some of them laughed, some grinned, some girls smiled at him, and finally... Allen grinned right back.

Just because he couldn't have what he may have wanted didn't mean he would end up with nothing at all.

He was Allen Schezar, and popular couldn't even begin to describe what he was through his high school years so far; he had a lot going for him.

So instead of acting like an asshole or reverting right back into a troublemaker, he decided he should just get back to enjoying life and the aspects of it that he liked. There was no need to mope around and brood like some contrived TV drama.

There was nothing to get over.

xoxo

He threw the book over his shoulder and grinned wickedly in her direction.

She just rolled her eyes and looked down to keep reading.

"Aw come on, we've done enough studying." Dilandau whined loudly.

Celena looked up again from where she sat cross-legged on the hardwood floor in Dilly's room. She blinked in thought, the open book resting in her lap.

Dilandau tilted his head and stared back at his girlfriend. He half-smirked, biting his lower lip with slightly raised brows.

She had to look down as she smiled, something she couldn't even try to suppress. Celena shook her head at him, and at herself. She picked up the book and put it to the side.

"So what do you wanna do then?" She asked him with a mockingly inquiring look. As if she didn't know.

"We could watch some TV." He replied like it was obvious.

She put her palms on the floor and moved forward slowly. "Yeah, okay." She nodded.

"Or get something to eat." He said with an unintentional yawn.

She glanced at her stomach. "That sounds better."

"Or..." He said again, but it was too late.

Celena climbed into his lap. And Dilandau let her. He grinned like he had won and leaned forward to kiss her.

She wanted to smile and shake her head again but the latter would be difficult without disturbing their current activity.

She put her hands on his shoulders and they slowly inched up the sides of his neck, and then the sides of his face where they stayed, thumbs stroking an inch of space thoughtlessly.

And he craned his neck upward because she was kneeling (painfully) over him, his legs in front of him and his hands landing carefully on her waist.

But they also slid, over and under the fabric of her shirt, unconsciously and easily pulling her body closer so he could wrap more of himself around her.

Soft skin and smooth curves.

He kissed her slowly, making each one last before he broke for less than a second to start again. And again, and again.

Open mouth. Close mouth. Eyes shut tight with feeling. Enjoying everything so much there wasn't room to smile.

Her knees hurt (hardwood wasn't as forgiving) but it was just background noise to this. This made her day. Made everything else background noise. Slow or fast, it didn't matter as long as they could be this close to each other.

His hand moved a few inches higher as their movements became more erratic, lips moving eagerly and fingers bending away from the serene posture to lightly press and scrape against skin.

Celena pulled back for a moment and before Dilandau could say something after opening his eyes, she had pulled her shirt up and over her head.

He stared with slight shock and disbelief, mouth open and panting from the exertion.

She watched him carefully, also open-mouthed and breathing heavily. Which was now even more obvious because she was... She dropped the shirt next to them and smiled, before leaning toward him again and wrapping her arms around his head lazily.

Dilandau managed to grin before her lips pressed against his own. His hands, instead of resuming their place on her now exposed skin, went up to tangle in her hair.

Pale and soft, not much of a contrast from his own except that it was longer, but also longer than when they had first met almost two months ago.

Celena had to admit, seeing as she had never been in this position before, she would probably be shaking nervously at her bold move and now vulnerable state if they weren't suddenly moving frantically and engrossed in this feeling, these actions.

It was so easy to get lost.

And if she had said this out loud then Dilandau would have agreed.

Whatever. There wasn't much thinking after that, not for a while anyway.

xoxo

"Hey!" She called, across the school grounds and over a sea of students talking while on their way out.

Of course it wasn't that hard to believe he hadn't heard her at all. Because he hadn't.

And if she wasn't such a good runner then he would have left before she could catch up to him.

"Hey." He said in surprise after turning around at the hand on his shoulder.

Hitomi smiled. "You didn't hear me." Then she looked over her shoulder at all the students. "But anyway, I haven't seen you at all except for class. What's going on?" She asked brightly.

Van grinned with a sheepish shrug. "Sorry, I was just about to head home. It's been a big week."

"What, why?" She questioned suspiciously. "Is Folken back? Did he quit college?" The brunette asked with a straight face. "Is he... taking your room?"

Dun, dun, dun.

His strange look with a raised brow said it all.

"Okay, so then what's going on?" Hitomi asked again.

"My dad's back." He said simply, stumping the girl in front of him.

There was a silence as she thought this over, her eyebrows scrunched up. "Oh."

"Yeah," Van began excitedly. "He'll probably be home for the rest of the week until he gets assigned something else."

"So he'll be leaving again?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"Oh." She said as it dawned on her.

Well, if his dad might leave at the end of the week then why would she interrupt their time together?

"Right, well I'll see you tomorrow." Hitomi smiled.

Van planted a quick kiss on her lips before saying goodbye and leaving.

She watched as he practically skipped down the block in the direction of his house, and she almost started laughing out loud.

Hitomi was kind of new at this whole relationship thing, and anyway her and Van hadn't talked about it so she couldn't be sure how serious they really were. But either way she wouldn't go into that psycho girlfriend phase and start complaining about him not spending time with her.

She had seen him just three days ago (and in class didn't really count because they were both trying to not fail). Still, she was new at this. And she may have had crushes before... but this was different.

It was the 'I miss talking to you when it's been more than a day' and 'Laughing with you about ordinary, stupid things makes me extraordinarily happy, somehow' and 'I still wanna get to know you more and more all the time'... phase.

It was hard for her to explain, so she didn't try to think about it too much. But for those people who had been there... it was just teenage hormones and growing up.

So she smiled in thought and turned away.

It was kind of cute that he wanted to hang out with his dad.

Hitomi grinned, already waiting to bring that up to tease him with.

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"I should get going. Class starts in ten."

She smiled. "Okay."

"Yeah, and I still have to walk across campus."

"Alright."

"Seriously. I should hang up."

"Go ahead." She responded lightly. No hidden meanings.

He paused and she imagined him stopping in his tracks as he realized something.

"You're doing this to me on purpose." He accused, though it sounded like he was smiling. "Reverse psychology, right? Agreeing with me is just going to make me not want to hang up."

She grinned to herself, lying on her bed with her head hanging off the side. "Well, do you want to hang up?"

Another pause.

"Of course not." And this time she knew he was smiling. "I wish I could sit here and talk all day but I really should leave."

Millerna suppressed a sigh and said, "Then go. We'll talk later. Or we could see each other this weekend."

Dryden pretended to gasp. "Why, are you asking me out on a date?"

She rolled her eyes. "One of us has to man up and do it."

"Well when you put it that way I think I'll be busy." He teased.

"It's Thursday. How could your entire weekend be filled up already?" She questioned. "Oh wait, I get it. Studying. You'll need to keep up those grades for all those scholarships, right?" She teased right back.

"Actually sweetheart, I don't have any scholarships."

She blinked in surprise. "Really? How do you..." The question trailed off as a thought came to mind.

"That's right." He said. "It's all out of pocket."

Millerna sat up suddenly, and a hand went to her head at the rush the action gave her. "How can you afford it..." She trailed off once more.

She could hear him moving around, probably gathering his bag and books before heading out the door.

"I'm not-" Dryden started, not quite sure how to say it. "I'm not struggling, if you get me. My family's just doing really well."

The blonde didn't say anything as she looked around her room in thought.

"I'll explain more later, if you'd like." He added. "You know, like this weekend."

The thoughtful expression eased into a smile. "Good."

"I'll talk to you later." He said hurriedly and then hung up after she said her goodbye.

He was probably late for class. He was probably jogging across campus from his dorm. He was probably... well, hopefully he was missing her voice already.

Millerna put the phone down on her end table and rolled around on her bed like a kid.

She couldn't quite accurately say she like liked Dryden because she didn't really know what that felt like. There were only the millions of songs, poems, stories and descriptions given by other people that she could compare her feelings to.

But she definitely liked talking to him. She was definitely interested in him. And luckily he seemed to feel the same.

Even after she convinced him to buy a bright pink shirt the other day for an interview. It kind of made her cringe so she told him not to wear it even though he looked good in it. He just laughed it off and said he bought it because she seemed so in love with it but was secretly going to return it without telling her.

So now he knew she was kind of crazy but he didn't seem turned off by some of the weird things she'd said or done. Like when she made fun of him just because he couldn't fully describe the difference between phase and faze. How that topic came about is irrelevant (and also just another weird story).

They had been talking almost every day this week.

Millerna didn't really want to talk about Dryden with anyone because... what if things didn't work out? She would have let herself get excited and when it came crashing down then everyone would look at her with pity after she had gushed happily just days before. She would look pathetic.

This whole thing... him... it gave her hope, on some level. Hope that things could work out for her. That there weren't always hurdles, and then more hurdles, to get over. That it was just a clear, easy path that still led to a happy ending. Why did there always need to be struggles for something to be worthwhile?

She grabbed the book resting on her end table and let her head hit the nearest pillow.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the blank poster board, resting against the wall next to her bedroom door.

'Right, the project. I just need to type it up and finish the board. It's due tomorrow.' Millerna thought, wondering if she should get up right that second to start on it.

Well, it was still just four in the afternoon. She had all night. It wouldn't even take long, which was kind of boring. Which also meant she would probably procrastinate until much later.

She glanced over once more before deciding it could wait until she finished a chapter, and then went on to read.

xoxo

"Where are these kids?" He asked with a disgruntled expression.

Someone walked into the room with a plate and set it on the table before taking a seat.

"Probably... at school." The newcomer said with a decisive nod and smile.

Goau stared in surprise. "Oh. Right."

"Hungry, dear?" Varie asked, holding out the plate to him.

"Good for them." He went on, still in thought. He unconsciously reached to grab half of the sandwich.

She pulled back the plate and took the other half. "Don't worry." Varie said after taking a bite and carelessly speaking around the food.

After finding that to be a bad idea (there was a really good chance she would choke and her husband probably didn't know the Heimlich Maneuver) she waited until after chewing and swallowing to continue.

"It's Friday. The weekend is here. They'll be home for two days of sleeping in and being lazy and you'll wish they did have school." She grinned at him.

One side of his lip curled up in a half-smile.

"You're right. All this traveling is too exhausting. I'm not exactly young anymore." Goau spoke with a wry expression.

"Oh come on. If you're old then I'm old." Varie argued.

He tilted his head with a look.

"I am not!" She said with wide eyes. Then she stuck a hand in her bangs and frowned like a child, the rest of her sandwich being put back on the plate.

Goau shook his head with a smile and got up from his chair to sit next to his wife on the larger sofa. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed the side of her head lightly.

"So how about I stick around to cook dinner and do laundry?" He asked. "No more traveling."

Varie scoffed at him. "You barely leave us anyway, so why are you getting so worried now? This trip just lasted longer than we thought."

He shook his head. "Yeah, but I think I'm getting bored of it. I mean, it's lonely traveling by myself. Next time it should be for a family vacation or something."

They leaned back against the couch and stared ahead at the empty, quiet room.

"Time for some changes, that's all." Goau decided, mostly to himself.

Varie was silent and she looked around in thought.

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Millerna walked into the room just as the late bell rang and moved to her seat without thinking.

Instead of immediately opening her notebook and waiting for the lesson to begin she turned to stare aimlessly out the window, anticipating a boring class period. She didn't notice as Allen took his seat behind her or the low murmur of their classmates.

She didn't really notice anything until a few seconds after the teacher started speaking.

"-a surprise I know you're all going to hate." He announced with a grin. "Instead of just letting you hand in your projects, I thought it'd be better to gauge how much each of you actually participated by... drum roll anyone? Having you present it to the class."

Groans and protests went around the room before he finished the last line. Eyes were wide, people were complaining to each other and other students went on to try and dissuade the teacher.

Millerna's eyes widened as she looked around the room.

'The project? The project!' She thought in shock.

Some classmates began pulling out reports and rolled up poster boards from their bags.

"-randomly." The teacher continued, speaking over the dissatisfied voices of his students. "Allen Schezar and Millerna Aston."

Allen started to stand up, watching the girl in front of him as she slowly did the same.

"You two can go first."

There was a sigh of relief around the room from all the other students, happy to not be picked and not be first.

But she didn't move, and since she was blocking the aisle anyway he didn't either. She looked over her shoulder and her mouth opened like she wanted to say something to him, but then she just turned back to the teacher.

"We can't." Millerna said shortly, hating herself but trying not to show it. "We don't have it with us."

Allen stared in surprise, along with the rest of the class.

She didn't have it? ...She didn't have it?

He could feel something stirring in him but couldn't tell if it was the shock or anger or embarrassment or whatever.

The teacher's brows furrowed. "You... don't have it?" He asked back in his own disbelief. There was a moment as he decided how to proceed. "And why is that?" He couldn't just leave the two unpunished.

In that moment Millerna had the flashback of grabbing her bag and books as she headed out her room that morning. The poster board and typed up report were both sitting at her desk after she had started them and finished them late last night before dragging herself into bed.

If she hadn't started it so late she wouldn't have been so tired by the end of it. And if she hadn't been so tired at the end then she would stuck them into her bag before collapsing in bed. And if she hadn't forgotten them like an idiot then they wouldn't be in this situation with... people staring... and the teacher looking ready to throw a textbook at her.

But it was her fault. No way around it.

"It was me. It was my fault."

And then Millerna looked up in surprise and horror to see Allen standing next to her, only because she had blocked his view of the teacher and it would have looked pathetic making the confession with her as a shield.

Especially since it was a false confession.

"Bu-" She started, looking at the blonde.

"I kind of forgot the report and poster at home." He went on, not glancing at her. Then he shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.

There was a silence as everyone tried to absorb the information.

"I'll have to dock ten points from whatever grade you would have gotten had you been prepared today." The teacher said after some thought. "From both of you." He shook his head. "Sit down you two."

They both did so without another word, and another group was called upon to present (at which they groaned in dismay).

Millerna was staring down at her desk in confusion. Allen slumped in his chair with a shrug at some friend's questioning look.

She glanced over her shoulder and caught his eyes but Allen shrugged at her as well. She bit her lip while turning back around.

"What the hell just happened?" Millerna asked herself as someone started speaking with an awkward cough.

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"Who are you talking to?" Merle asked.

Van just made some motion with his hand while looking anywhere else as he spoke into the receiver.

"Is it Hitomi?" She asked again, walking to his other side in an attempt to make him look up.

He turned in the opposite direction again.

"Tell her I say hi!" Merle demanded, jumping up and down a few times.

Somehow, on his way back from the kitchen en route to his bedroom with the phone pressed to his ear, Van was caught by Merle in the hallway just outside his bedroom door. He ignored her in favor of the conversation and was waiting until she left him so he could crash on his bed and keep talking.

Goau looked up from where he sat at the sofa, reading a magazine and trying to figure out what he was going to make for dinner. Varie had decided to dump the chore in his lap last minute because it was "the start of the weekend" and then added "the start of something" with an ominous undertone.

He took the chore, pretending to be grateful he could show-off the skills that had developed over the course of his trip. But really, he ate weird things and cooked strange meals so he wasn't sure he could please all the members of his family.

If only Folken were around... that boy would eat almost anything.

But then his ears perked at the mention of the unfamiliar name.

"Who's Hitomi?" Goau asked, causing both children to glance over in surprise.

After a pause where the two stared him down with blank expressions... they turned away. Van tried to open his door and slip inside but Merle reached for the phone to grab it, causing her brother to duck and move away from his treasured space.

Goau sighed as his kids ignored him completely. What happened to them showering him with love and questions and excitement?

Guess things were back to normal now.

'Hitomi... Hitomi...' He thought, staring at the pages of the magazine. 'Aha!' He remembered.

"Don't you have laundry to do?" Van asked his sister as she pestered him for five minutes on the phone.

"Yeah right. I am not going down that road again!" She replied indignantly. "Not that anything was my fault."

"Uh huh." He said with raised brows and a disbelieving expression.

Merle rolled her eyes and left for her room.

Van watched her until her door shut and then put the phone back to his ear and reached for his doorknob. "Yeah, sorry about-"

"Van, could I talk to you for a minute?"

Said boy sighed after being interrupted mid-sentence. "Hey, I'll call you back later, okay?"

After hanging up the phone he walked over to the living room where his dad was seated and flopped down on the nearest sofa.

"What's up?" Van questioned, putting the phone on the coffee table.

There was a silent moment as Goau glanced at the picture of a really impressive looking roasted chicken with a sigh. Then he shook his head and looked at his son with a smile.

"So who is Hitomi anyway?" He questioned.

Van blanched at the topic. "She's a friend... that I'm seeing." He cringed at the way this information came out of his mouth. What did that even mean?

"Well, you'd be blind not to." Pause. "Like literally blind."

The boy pretended to shrug it off with his father's attempt at a joke that only he chuckled at.

"So you know her from school then?" Was asked.

"Yeah, we have a class together." Van answered with a careful look.

"Uh huh." Goau responded, rubbing his chin in thought. "So if everyone else knows her then how come she hasn't been around this week?"

Van shrugged sheepishly. "I guess I was too busy worshipping the ground you walk on now that you're home."

"Good answer." He nodded with a grin.

There was an eerie silence that followed as neither knew what to say next. Finally, he decided to just come out with it.

"I saw her." The voice said firmly with a pleasant smile.

The hesitant expression faded into shock.

"I was home earlier than you realized because you two were busy at the moment." Goau continued. "But it would have been tactless to just interrupt you two and embarrass the hell out of you." He joked.

Van was too busy thinking back to Monday, trying to find any proof that this information was true or untrue.

"You were pretty wrapped up so it's not strange that you didn't notice. I only peeked in before I'd seen enough." Goau went on, and Van wished the conversation was over already.

He cringed as he asked, "What did you see exactly?"

His father's brows rose slightly with a mocking expression. "Nothing I haven't seen before. Nothing that requires us having 'the talk' again... unless you want to."

"No no!" Van said hurriedly. "Sex isn't going to happen. We barely know each other yet and we're still... kids." He finished lamely.

"Okay." Goau agreed with a shrug, as if it wasn't a big deal. "How come you didn't mention her at all?"

"Uh..."

"Everyone else seems to know her."

Van glanced to the side and muttered sarcastically, "Yeah, like I did that." He looked up at his dad suddenly. "We really don't need to do this. I mean I guess if things get serious and all," And he was hoping they would. "Then we could have that whole family dinner where I introduce her and everyone can make a big deal out of it. But right now things aren't serious-serious."

Goau nodded, still smiling. "That's good then. It makes what I have to say easier, I think."

The boy looked at his father curiously. "What?"

"I don't think you should be seeing her." He said plainly. "Or anyone really, for that matter."

Van stared in shock, yet again. He couldn't even muster a response.

"It's just some advice, but I don't think you're ready for this kind of thing." Goau shrugged.

There was some more silence as Van stared and Goau smiled.

"I'm not going to forbid you from seeing her or start doling out punishment for some rule that doesn't exist. It's just a suggestion and you can do whatever you want with it." When he didn't get a response, though Van's face had turned blank as he stared, he went on to say, "Okay, well I'll just leave you to think about everything."

And Goau slowly rose and headed to the kitchen, leaving his son to sit there with some inner turmoil.

Who knew things could take such a bad turn?

Van's eyes eventually landed on the phone he had put down on the coffee table. He stared at it hard for a minute, almost glaring, while in thought.

Instead of grabbing it and heading back to his room to resume his conversation with, yes, Hitomi... he stood up and left the device there without a second glance.

His dad was right. He couldn't force Van to do anything.

But he must have known that his opinion really mattered. He should have known saying that would put Van in this awkward, unsure position. He had to have known... this would ruin his weekend.

And if Hitomi happened to be waiting with the phone close by... it was just a waste of hope.

xoxo

11-18-10

10:19pm

Guys... my writing through this story, through this one chapter is like so inconsistent! Anyone else notice that and wonder 'what the hell is up with her?'

Sorry it took me about a month to write this chapter. I think just reading it is painful and you can tell it was hard to write. It's what happens when certain talents depend on your emotions, and my writing is very dependent on my own.

You know I think you all need to lay off Dryden. Seriously I don't see anything wrong with him. Some of you just want to jump up and hate him for no legitimate or rational reason whatsoever. But before any of you collapse from disbelief at what I know you might assume... remember the summary of the story (albeit as childishly written as it was)? It basically told you there would be Allen/Millerna so believe it. Just be patient, gosh.

Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, what you hated and everything in-between. And remember, I post updates about what I'm working on in my profile if you're ever wondering. You can also just send me a PM asking 'where's the next chapter already?' or something.

XD

11-19-10

2:06pm