Chapter 17: A Nerve Racking One On One

[The Next Day]

"Wait, are you for real right now?" Frank asked me after standing up and beginning our descent down to the classroom exit..

"Yeah...I'll meet you at home in a bit man. I shouldn't be too long...I think."

"Well actually, I was supposed to go with Kanako to run to the store before heading to the manor to hang with Aoi for a while since he was cooking tonight again."

I just raise an eye at Frank after hearing what he had said. "You two sure are getting buddy buddy huh?"

"Who? Aoi and I?" He asked.

"Yeah Aoi." I said, rolling my eyes at him. "I'm talking about Kanako dumb dumb."

"Ah. I mean...I guess you could say that? She's the one who invited me to go with her on her own accord actually."

"That's a surprise. To think, my best friend leaving me out...I'm appalled, Frank."

He just shook his head and pulled out his phone, presumably to text Kanako.

"You were invited too you know to come tonight." He said, texting whoever it was that he was texting. "Don't you remember Aoi talking to us about it after lunch?"

"Ah right...I forgot he did mention that in class earlier."

"Which brings me to the question...why didn't Hotaru just talk to you at lunch or something? Or like, one of the few times that she passed us in the hall during the day? She could have easily just grabbed Ageha's homework too one of those times."

"Honestly, I really don't know. Plus I really doubt this whole after school meet up has anything to do with the homework, since we had no idea that Ageha was gonna get sick when she initially texted me."

"I mean, was her texting you this morning about Ageha being sick and grabbing her schoolwork for her the only time she said anything to you besides what she sent last night?"

I nod my head and throw my bag over my shoulder after stuffing said homework into the big pocket.

"You aren't gonna like get in trouble for being up there when school lets out are you?" Frank asked, a bit concerned for real.

I let out a sigh and shake my head before turning in the opposite direction that all of the students had been heading, since my destination had been different from theirs at the moment.

"Nah I'm good, I asked Akari earlier and she said the school grounds are technically open til like 9, so I'm good."

Frank and I slap hands and beging walking in opposite direction.

"I'll head to Aoi's after so I'll see you in a bit." I called out from down the hall as I ran towards the stairs.

(Flashback to last night)

"H...Hotaru?"

Sure enough, my phone screen hadn't been playing tricks on me. It was definitely a message from Hotaru for sure.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I open the message to read it, sweating bullets as I had done so.

"I have a request."

Still trying to make sure I wasn't half asleep or dreaming, I held the phone in my hand, reading the message over and over again, constantly going back and forth with myself about what the hell this could possibly be before I had finally come to give a reply.

"What's up?"

A few minutes had passed and still no reply. I had almost half assed thought that she had already fallen asleep on me, so I set my phone back on the nightstand and turned back over. As soon as I had done so though, of course the phone had gone off once more, and once again before I had even opened the first one.

"Two messages?" I said to myself in question.

"Can you meet me on the school roof tomorrow before you go home after classes are over?"

"It's important. Well, to me at least. Please."

My heart had begun to beat a mile a minute after reading the second message.

"Wait...she isn't like...gonna confess to me or something is she?"

I hold the phone in my hand, still staring the screen down in awe before shaking my head.

"Nah...come on get real. As if anything like that would ever happen...she's still hella pissed anyway. Wonder...if she's gonna beat my ass or something, heheh."

I tried to lighten up my own thoughts by making myself laugh a bit, but honestly I hadn't been in the mood to do so.

I let out a heavy sigh and open up my keyboard to reply.

"Sure thing, I'll be there don't worry."

Thirty minutes had passed this time, and I could only assume that she was asleep for real now. With another hefty sigh, I set my phone down back upon my nightstand and turn over once more to go to bed, or at least try to.

(Back to present day}

I began pacing up the stairs to the roof, already sweating my ass off due to my mind going absolutely insane with theories about my current situation. It had felt like a week had passed by the time I had finally reached the top flight and the exit door had been in my view.

"I wonder...if she's even up here? Huh...I mean she could totally be pranking me right? Just to get back at me for the other day in a joking way maybe?"

I walk up to the door itself and stop in my tracks halfway to gather my thoughts, before placing my hand on it to open it.

As soon as the ray of light from the sun had cleared from my view, there had been a lone person sitting by the edge come into my view. They were leaning their head on the top of the wall that had overlooked the edge of the building, staring off into the distance.

As soon as I had gotten a good look, I could immediately tell that it was Hotaru, but something seemed off about her.

I cautiously walk over to her and as soon as I had gotten closer to her I could finally see what it was.

"H...Hotie?"

I hadn't gotten a reply, just a loud snore and her moving her arm a bit from beneath her head.

I felt taken aback by what I was seeing since I could honestly say that out of all of the situations I had been thinking could possibly happen...walking up on her napping on the roof was not one of them.

Although I could have easily sat there and let her sleep without bothering her, I gently give her a nudge on her shoulder and call her name at a light whisper in order not to startle her.

"Hoooootiiiie...come on, wake up you."

"Mmn...five more minutes..."

I try my best to hold my laughter back at how cute she was being, though I did initially let a bit of a snicker slip out from my lips.

She rubs her eyes and stretches, turning around towards me afterwards with a confused look upon her face.

"Had a good nap?" I said with a little smirk.

Finally the realization had hit her and her face had become beet red.

"Y-you...were watching me sleep?!"

My eyes had grew twice in size and I had quckly jumped up to retaliate.

"No no I swear I just got up here! But...how...how long were you up here for?"

She looks away for a moment in embarrassment before pursing her lips a bit.

"I can't believe you were watching me sleep...you lecher" She said in a surprisingly playful voice.

"I said I wasn't!"

She looks away for a moment and although I couldn't completely confirm, it had almost looked like she was actually smiling.

"Did your last class just let out?" She suddenly asked.

"Huh...oh...yeah, why?"

"Which means it's four then, right?"

I pull out my phone briefly to glance at the time before placing it back into my pocket.

"Close enough, it's 4:15 now."

"Hmm...two hours then."

I raise an eye at her since her reply had come as a surprise to me.

"Wait...you've been up here for two hours?" I asked her disbelievingly.

She just nods her head to confirm, and as soon as she had done so I had immediately felt a wave of guilt hit me.

"You mean to tell me that...you waited up here for me...for two hours? But...why?"

She stays silent for a moment before finally standing up, still facing away from me and looking off into the distance.

"And hold on a sec...do your classes let out at two or someth-"

"Hayden...a question."

"Oh...sure, go ahead."

She turns around towards me for a moment before quickly looking down at her feet, almost as if she didn't want to look me in the face.

"Uh...Hotie? You alr-"

"Did...you kiss my sister the other night when we stayed at your house?"

My mouth had instantly dropped to the floor, though not a single sound had come out. I couldn't even begin to find the words to say.

She stands there completely still, patiently awaiting my answer, although I literally had no idea how to even adress this sudden awkwardness.

"H...how do you know..."

"She told me." She simply said, still unmoving.

I let out a big sigh and shake my head.

"I'm assuming 'she', would be your loudmouth sister?"

She waits for a few seconds before finally nodding silently.

"I'm gonna kill her. Why would she just up and tell you something like t-"

"Hayden?" She said, still focusing her attention at her feet.

The way she had said my name so suddenly had somewhat sent a chill up my spine.

"Y...yes?"

"Please, just...yes or no..."

I nervously clear my throat and rub the back of my neck due to the overwhelming feeling of guilt that had hit me all of a sudden.

"I mean...I pretty much just said the answer, that's why I was asking how you knew and-"

"Yes or no...Hayden..."

"I...ahh..."

Even though I really did pretty much give it away that it had happened already, there was just something about having to say it officially that made my bite my tongue to the point where it was almost bleeding.

"Y...yeah. I did."

A solid minute had passed and still, she hadn't said another word to me. Every time that I had even begun to open my mouth to say anything, nothing would come out at all.

A sudden rumble had then struck my ears, drawing my attention up towards the sky.

A few gray clouds had begun drawing closer towards us, signaling the arrival of bad weather.

"Um...Hotie? It looks like it's about to rain."

She simply nods her head and remains silent.

"Were you going to walk home after school today?"

Once again, she just nods.

"Um...would you like me to give you a ride instead? I don't want you to get caught in the rain you know...then I'd have to take care of both you AND your goofy ass sister heheh."

She remained silent a little longer than the other times, before finally nodding again. Seems my small attempt at a mood lightening joke didn't exactly prevail.

"Well...come on, we had better get going before it really does start raining on us."

I begin walking towards the door to the stairwell, though right as I had passed by Hotaru, she had suddenly grabbed at the sleeve of my school shirt.

"Seh phom sap..." She mumbled under her breath.

"Uh...come again?" I said half jokingly.

"Cell phone...strap." She said, loud enough for me to actually catch this time.

I instantly facepalm myself and shake my head.

"Son of a bitch, I knew I forgot SOMETHING this morning. Um...you uh...don't mind stopping at my house first to get it before I drop you off at your place, do you? If not I could totally just bring it tom-"

Before I could finish, she tightens her grip on my sleeve and shakes her head just once.

"...That mean you wanna stop at my place first?"

She remains silent first before finally nodding again.

I'm not sure exactly what it was, but there was something incredibly cute about the way she had been acting all pouty and childlike at the moment.

"Heh...still totally haven't changed a bit, have you Hotie?" I thought to myself.

Her and I both head down the stairs at a bit of a speedwalk pace, as to not get caught up in the approaching storm. Both the walk to my car, and the entire ride back to my place had both been almost unnervingly quiet, and it honestly halfway drove me to the point of insanity.

The whole ride, there was literally nothing that I could think of to even try to explain to her what exactly happened. I couldn't have just up and been like 'Oh yeah Hotaru, totally made out with your sister while you were sleeping fyi, so yep! There's that!'

Once we had finally pulled up to my place and walked inside, my nerves had grown twice as bad as they were before since now, to add even further to the shit mix, Frank hadn't been home, which now meant...

Hotaru and I were completely alone for the first time ever.

Normally, I'd probably be as giddy as a small child recieving his present from santa claus that he had always wished for...though due to current event, that wasn't the case.

Instead, I could feel sweat beads forming upon pretty much every inch of my body due to how nervous I was, and not in a good way either.

Finally after standing by my front door for a solid five minutes without either of us saying a word, I had finally broken the ice.

"So uh...did Ageha tell you where she would have probably left it?"

Hotaru once again just nods and walks over towards the couch. She begins sticking her hand into some of the creases of the couch after looking under a few of the pillows, seemingly having a rough time with the process.

"Oh, hold on Hotie, the couch actually goes pretty deep." I said as I ran over towards the couch myself. "Here, let me try. Heh, can't tell you how many times I dropped my phone in here."

I stick my hand in the crack that had been adjacent to the one that she had hers in, and try myself to locate the phone strap. After fishing around a bit alongside her, I finally felt my hand touch something.

"Ah, I think I got it. Just a little further a-"

As soon as I had stuck my hand just a few inches further to grab what I had felt, my hand had come into contact with Hotaru's.

"Oh...u-uhh...we must have both found the strap at the same time! Heheh...uh...h-here." I said, nervously handing her the strap since I had actually been the one to grab it officially.

She hesitantly takes it from me and I smile at her as she does so, but for some reason as soon as she had it in her grasp, she had turned away from me almost immediately.

I cock my head to the side and look at her questionably.

"Um...Hotie? Are you-"

"Why didn't you two just tell me..." She said, almost inaudibly.

"Wait...what do you-"

Suddenly she turns back around towards me a bit faster than I would have expected, startling me a bit in the process as well.

"Why didn't you two just tell me?!"

Before I had even begun to think of what to say in return, my eyes had directed themselves towards the newfound single tear that had been falling from her cheek.

"Wait...Hotie, why are you crying? What did I, I mean if I did something wrong I'm...I'm sorry! I don't know if I did but I'm sorry!"

She wipes the stray tear away and sniffles as she tries to stifle her crying a bit.

"Do you not even want to touch me Hayden? Do you hate me or something?"

"Wait what?!"

She gestured over towards the couch before drying her eyes with her shirt sleeve.

"You...um...t-touched my hand and pulled away...like you were disgusted by touching me..."

"NO!" I yelled, putting my hands in front of me as If I had stopped an oncoming train.

She jumps back a bit from my unexpected outburst and remains quiet, staring at me almost in awe.

"It...that's not...why I pulled away...not even remotely close."

She turns her head to the side for a moment, awaiting the rest of my response.

"It...was just so sudden and...I know you're still mad at me for the other day and all and...I just didn't wan't you to get the wrong idea or like...slap me thinking that I was trying to hold your hand or like, take advantage of the situation or...I...I don't know..."

"It's because you and my sister are dating now...isn't it." She said, turning her head away from me once again.

"No! Wait hold up...did she say that too?!"

"No no!" She said, swinging her arms around, frantically shaking her head. "That's not it! I just...I thought that she kissed you because...because she liked you..."

I let out a huge sigh and finally lean back on my couch, beckoning her to come sit next to me.

Surprisingly, she actually complies and scoots over towards me, though not as close as she probably usually would have.

"Listen Hotie...I've got a big feeling that there's a huge...huuuuuggge misunderstanding going on here...so let me tell you exactly what happened, okay?"

She sniffles a bit, drying the rest of her small tears before nodding lightly.

"Okay...so first of all...just because Ageha did...kiss...me, doesn't necessarily mean we're dating."

"But, she told me that she li-"

"Likes me? Yeah...that part was true. Like you said, she kissed me, because she likes me. On top of that, she really did confess to me as well, but I...sorta turned her down."

"You...did? But, why?"

"Well...because honestly Hotie, I...uh..."

I suddenly paused mid sentence, thinking about exactly what to say here. There was no way that I could up and tell Hotaru that the reason I won't date Ageha is because her little sister is the one I'm interested in, especially when said younger sister is the one I'm telling this to in the first place.

"Because I really cherish Ageha and I's friendship."

"R-really? So...you...don't like A-chan like that then?"

"Well...she's a great person, and an even better friend...she's a beautiful girl too and any guy would be lucky to have her but...I only like her as a friend, nothing more."

As farfetched as it had sounded, I could almost definitely confirm that Hotaru had been smiling ear to ear as she had turned her head away after my explanation.

"Uh...Hotie? Are you o-"

"What...what about...me then?"

I honestly have no idea how I managed to swallow the tumor sized lump in my throat after she had asked me that question, not to mention the fact that she had looked me dead in the eye as she asked had literally made my heart almost stop beating.

"W...what do you mean?"

Her entire face had turned beet red and she began fiddling around with her fingers like she was getting nervous, which only succeeded in making me three times as nervous as she was.

"Like I mean...how...you feel..." She clears her throat and scoots closer towards me on the couch. "About...me?"

Scratch the tumor lump, because this one was the size of a basketball.

"Um...what exactly..."

Before I could even finish my sentence, Hotaru's cell phone had begun ringing rather loudly, startling the both of us effectively.

"O-oh...it's A-chan."

She brings the phone up to her ear after letting out a big sigh of disappointment for some reason.

"Hello?"

"[Where are you?]"

"[I'm with Hayden. It was about to rain so he offered to bring me home.]"

"[With..*cough* *cough* with Hayden? What's taking you two so long then?]"

"[He forgot your cell phone strap, so we had to stop here and get it first before-]"

"[You're with him at his place by yourself?]"

Hotaru suddenly pulls the phone away from her ear for a second and cringes a bit before bringing it closer to her ear once more.

"[Do you have to yell?]"

"[Uh yes! If I'm not mistaken, after speaking to Aoi earlier, he told me that Frank and Kanako were passing by over there after school for a while and guess who he said WASN'T there?]"

Hotaru looks at me for a moment before smirking a bit devilishly.

"Uh, why are you smiling like that?" I asked with an eye raised.

"[What's wrong A-chan? You aren't...upset that you didn't get to see Hayden today but I did, are you?]"

"[W-W-What? As...as if...I'm...still mad at him...you know.]"

"[Hmm...is that why you sit there staring at your phone all day, waiting for him to text you?]"

"[What? I don't sit here and...I mean...ummm.]"

"[You know I'm right A-chan. You know, I could just tell him to text you so you can make up.]"

She looks over at me and blushes a bit before getting back to the phone.

"[Because I already have.]"

"[Ah...you...just hurry and get home okay! Ugh!]"

*click*

Hotaru finally lets out a big sigh as she puts her cell phone back into her pocket.

"Uh...I heard you say A-chan a few times, so I'm assuming that was Ageha."

She nods and smiles.

"I couldn't really make out much but it sounded like she got fairly loud a few times there. She...she's still mad at me isn't she?"

Hotaru surprisingly lets out a little giggle and shakes her head.

Her newfound good mood was definitely striking me as off since it had come so suddenly.

"If you really think that Ageha was ever mad at you for longer than even an hour when that stuff happened the other day, then I promise you that you were wrong."

"Uh...do you not see how she's been acting with me this week? She's BEEN pissed at me."

"No, she isn't Hayden, she's...just very stubborn. She doesn't like to admit it either."

"But...what about you then? You've been mad at me all week too! Or are you just 'stubborn' too?"

"Well no...I actually WAS sort of mad for a bit longer, unlike A-chan...but it wasn't because of the whole misunderstanding the other day."

"Wait." I said, cocking my head almost completely sideways. "Then...what was it for?"

Hotaru giggles a bit at my statement before walking over to the front door and placing the phone strap into her book bag, donning it around her shoulder afterwards.

"You know, we probably really should head to my house before it actually does start to rain."

Although she had kept her back turned towards me and faced the door, I could almost feel her smiling.

"Wait...did you really just ignore my question?" I asked with an eye raised.

She quickly opens my front door and begins skipping giddily towards my car, humming some cheery little tune in the process.

"Annnnnd she's ignoring me." I said to myself as I unlocked my car for her.

I let out a little sigh as I look over towards my car, which she was now sitting in, before smiling afterwards.

"Well...it's at least good to know that neither of them are actually mad anymore I guess."