Author's Note: Yeah I know I just updated but I was so into writing the other day that I nearly finished this chapter as soon as the other one was posted and I have the next one started, lol. This one is a little bit shorter than usual. My break ended today so I'm gonna try to stay ahead on writing. I suppose I could have waited to post this chapter to even things out but…NAH.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy characters. Or any name brands/restaurants/retail places used.
Chapter 16: Nothing Breaks Like a Heart
If there was one thing Kairi had learned from her parents' failed marriage, it was that she never wanted to be like them. She never wanted to have a relationship spiral out of control so poorly, never wanted to experience the screaming matches, the violent outbursts, the lawyer mediated arguments over money and child custody. She vowed to herself as a teenager that she would never embody that.
She failed.
She broke her vow, for this thing between her and Sora—this relationship that had once made others jealous; this relationship that Sora's mother went around bragging about because they were soulmates who had found each other young and carried no baggage—had turned ugly fast.
Sora had intended to make a soft, clean break between them, one that could be easily mended with time and work. She had to go and ruin it when she chose to sink her teeth into him and say the most hurtful things she could think of. She had taken some time to cool off and regretted the things she said to him, but it was too late. The damage had been done and she was as good as dead to him.
When she resurfaced from their room later that evening, she found him working on packing up all of his music things with Roxas, but he refused to speak to her or even so much as spare a glance her direction. This made her angry again and she started spewing hostile comments at him, which he only tolerated for so long before he started to yell back at her. When he was tired and done packing for the night, he left to go sleep at Roxas's old apartment.
Heidi showed up the next day to help them pack. She was nothing short of kind and motherly to Kairi, trying her best not to take sides.
"I believe you two were meant for each other," she said as she folded up Sora's clothing and carefully packed it into a box. "This is just a bump in the road. Take the time apart, let distance make the heart grow fonder. He'll forgive you, and you'll forgive him."
Kairi wasn't so sure that was true. The tone of his voice he spoke to her in, the cold, scathing looks he shot at her when they passed each other in the house—she didn't think this was the kind of "bump in the road" that would be mended easily.
Her dad welcomed her back to his house with open arms. Since she'd been away from his home for nearly three years, he'd turned her old bedroom into a storage space, but he told her to set herself up in his guest bedroom. He listened to her vent about Sora, offered his shoulder for her to cry on, and became more supportive of her than she'd ever known him to be.
The first week without Sora was beyond difficult. Since they weren't even on speaking terms, she had no idea what he was doing, if he had spoken to Nate again or heard anything from Chris. Dozens of times per day she just wanted to send him a text, but she knew it wouldn't be well received. When they were packing the house up, they hadn't even been able to have a civil conversation when they were deciding how to split the things they had purchased together, such as their TV. In the end, Sora ended up winning a new iPad through a raffle at work and he offered Kairi the old one in exchange for letting him keep the TV. She almost mistook the gesture as friendly at the time, but he went right back to his cold demeanor afterward.
Heidi texted or called Kairi almost every day, trying to help keep her spirits up. She didn't betray Sora's trust by telling Kairi all of his business, but she said enough to let Kairi know that yes, he was okay, and yes, he was as miserable as she was.
At the start of the second week post-breakup, Kairi made plans to hang out with Naminé. She really needed some girl-time with someone besides her ex boyfriend's mother.
She got on the highway and set her cruise control, blasting her favorite love song playlist, and found herself consumed by thoughts of Sora during her drive. Although she had accepted that maybe he was telling the truth about the hookup website, she still had no explanation for the mysterious messages with the girl on Facebook. She wished she would have asked him about it when she had the chance, but now he would just view it as her attacking him.
She snapped out of her deep thinking just in time to realize she was passing her exit. "Shit," she muttered to herself. It wasn't a big deal—there was another exit a mile away that would take her to Naminé's house as well. She found herself catching up quickly to a white Buick and slid into the left lane to go around it. As she prepared to merge back into the right lane in time to catch the next exit, she realized the Buick had increased its speed and was now trying to prevent her from getting back over in front of it.
"Oh, fuck you, you asshole," She yelled into the air, and she stomped on her gas pedal to speed ahead of the car. Confident that she had now successfully overtaken the other car, she did a shoulder check to make sure the right lane was clear for her to merge.
She wasn't exactly sure how it happened—maybe there was something in the road that caught the tire on her car, maybe she accidentally turned her wheel while she was looking over her shoulder—but the next thing Kairi knew, her car was off the road, speeding along through the ditch in the median. She quickly took her foot off the pedal, but because her cruise control was still set, the car continued to drive. She panicked, unable to think logically enough to tap the brake pedal and could do nothing but grip the steering wheel and scream as her car wove its way through the grass. Eventually, it came up on a guard rail and smashed into it, and Kairi felt herself violently whip forward in her seat as the car came to a dead stop.
"Oh god, oh god, oh god," she chanted to herself as she shakily released her grip from the car's wheel. She unbuckled her seat belt and checked herself—everything seemed to be intact. She knew she would have bruising from the seatbelt and probably whiplash too, but nothing seemed to be broken. She grabbed her phone and sent a text to Naminé letting her know she wouldn't be making it and deciding her next call would be to her father.
As she was dialing her father, a police car pulled up on the side of the road near her with its lights on. She hung up, deciding the call to her father could wait until after she'd spoken with the officer.
She explained what happened to the officer, making sure to emphasize the part where the jackass Buick had blocked her from merging. The cop didn't seem to have any sympathy for her, though.
"You weren't texting and driving?" He asked.
"No sir, I can show you my messages to prove it."
"You know I could write you a ticket for reckless driving? Do you know how many points that is on your license?"
Kairi's hands grew clammy. "Uh…no, I don't."
The officer finally softened. "I'm not going to do that, though. I think you've learned your lesson; you weren't hurt and no one else was involved."
Kairi sighed with relief. "Thank you, sir."
"You're welcome. Go have a seat in my car and call your dad, I'll call a tow truck for you."
Kairi looked at her little car sadly. The left side of the front end was mangled and smashed in so badly that the entire wheel, rim and all, had come disconnected. From the sight she knew she'd been lucky to walk away uninjured.
She called her dad and explained what happened, and he came to pick her up and drive her home, leading the tow truck to his house.
"I've got to get a car by next week," Kairi groaned. "School starts back up."
"Maybe you'll think about that next time you decide to fiddle with your radio or whatever the fuck you were doing while you were driving," her dad replied gruffly.
Kairi scowled, knowing it wasn't worth it arguing with him what had actually happened.
"You might be in luck, though," her dad continued. "Your aunt recently traded in her old car to your grandparents in exchange for their minivan. They were just going to put it on Craigslist, but I'm sure they'll gladly sell it to you."
Kairi mouthed a silent thanks up to the heavens that something in her life wouldn't absolutely suck this week. She wished more than anything she could just call Sora and have him comfort her.
When they were back at her dad's house and her poor totaled car was unloaded into the yard, she took photos of it to post on Facebook. If Sora found out she'd been in an accident, maybe he would reach out to her. He'd already defriended her, but Heidi hadn't, and she knew Heidi would waste no time letting Sora know.
She was in her room, sulking about her crappy day, when there was a gentle knock at her door. "What's up, Dad?" she called out.
"It's not your dad," Sora's timid voice came from the other side.
Kairi shot up out of bed and flung the door open. "Sora?"
He looked nervous. "Hey."
"Hi." She just stared at him, waiting for what he was going to say next.
He rubbed the back of his neck, not meeting her gaze. "My mom saw you crashed your car on Facebook, so she called me. I just…wanted to check in and see if you were okay."
Kairi smiled at him. "Thanks. I'm okay. Just a little sore, and I'm sure that will be worse tomorrow."
Sora looked relieved. "Um…have you eaten?"
"No, why?" Kairi eyed him with suspicion.
"Because I…I can take you to get something to eat, if you want."
She tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach that were doing a dance of joy. This was it—her big moment to fix everything she'd messed up the last couple of weeks and draw Sora back into her arms. "That sounds nice."
He took her through a drive thru and they sat in the parking lot in the car, quietly eating together.
She couldn't deny it felt awkward—but sitting in silence with Sora was much better than arguing with him.
"How's work?" she finally broke the silence.
"It's okay," Sora shrugged. "The money is good. Turns out I'm fire at selling instruments so I'm making pretty decent commission. My boss said I have a real chance at running my own store in the future…if I go to college."
"So…you gonna do it?" Kairi asked.
"I've been considering it." Sora started the car and began driving back to Kairi's house, much to her disappointment. "I mean, it's not like I was never going to go, you know? I just got a little sidetracked the past few years." He offered her a half smile.
"I didn't mean to throw you off course," Kairi said quickly.
He chuckled. "I'm not blaming you. You've still been in school this whole time. I could have been, too. I just didn't feel like it."
The drive was a short 10 minutes, and then they were back in the driveway. Kairi didn't want him to leave. The short time she'd spent with him was the happiest she'd felt since before their breakup, and she knew she was in for a melt down the second he was gone.
"I'm really glad you're okay," Sora said quietly. "I was worried."
"Yeah, I won't go out that easily," Kairi joked nervously.
Sora reached over and pulled her into a hug, and she melted into his arms, burying her face into his neck and trying to absorb as much of his scent and his warmth as she could.
He held her for a couple of minutes, and she fought a disappointed groan when she felt him pulling away. "I need to go," he said. "I'm supposed to go get groceries with Roxas tonight."
"Oh, well, tell him I said hi," Kairi said awkwardly, and she opened her door to get out of his car.
"Kairi," Sora stopped her. "I have Saturday off. Do you maybe wanna…hang out?"
She couldn't stop the stupid grin that made its way to her face if she wanted to. "Yeah, I'd like that."
"I'll text you." Sora winked at her. "Good night, Kairi."
She watched as he drove away, and instead of breaking down into tears she danced all the way to her bedroom. Somehow, it felt just like when they had first met.
XXXXXX
Sora stayed true to his word and texted her Saturday morning to ask if she still wanted to hang out. She made record time getting ready, just as she always had when he used to pick her up for dates when they first met, and she found herself sitting around waiting eagerly for his arrival.
When she got into his car, she took in the sight of him, noticing he looked more handsome than ever. Whether that was due to the fact that she missed him or whether he had put extra effort into his appearance for the day, she didn't know. She did notice a strong scent of cologne wafting off of him, though. It made her want to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him.
He seemed nervous, like he wasn't sure what to do. "We could maybe go to a movie? I'm not really sure what's playing, though," he said with a small laugh.
"I'm okay with that," Kairi gave him her best coy smile, knowing he was a sucker for when she acted cute. She planned on really hamming it up on this date—her goal was to make him regret their separation. If she did it right, he'd be begging her back in no time.
"I gotta stop at my apartment though," Sora said. "I forgot something."
Kairi was intrigued. What could he have forgotten that was so important he had to grab it? Images of him getting down on one knee and proposing flashed through her mind, and she quickly shook them off. Sora may not have been a genius, but he certainly wasn't a fool, and she knew proposing to her was probably something he hadn't considered at all. But wait! There was still her promise ring. Maybe he wanted to give it back to her.
She was so busy daydreaming about the possibilities that the car ride to Sora's apartment ended up being silent save for the music he played through the radio. He whipped into a parking spot and got out of the car, leaving it running.
"Be right back," he said.
Kairi gave a dazed nod in response, her stomach swimming with butterflies. She was trying not to get her hopes up, knowing in her mind that whatever Sora had forgotten was probably nothing for her. She couldn't help but wonder, though, since he thought he needed it for their time together.
His phone lit up in the cupholder beside her with a new message. She eyed the screen through her peripheral vision, not wanting to appear as though she were trying to look in case Sora came back. It was enough for her to see the message was from someone named Rikku. It read: tmrw 1:30 right? She turned her head a little to get a closer peek at the profile picture that popped up beside it. It was a selfie of a very pretty girl with blonde hair and bright green eyes. Kairi's blood ran cold and a sour taste filled her mouth. The nerve of him! He was taking her out and making her feel like he wanted to reconcile, but he had another date set up for tomorrow?
She heard him outside of the car door and she whirled on him as soon as he opened it, ready to give him a piece of her mind. "Who the fuck is Rikku?"
He just blinked at her. "What?"
Kairi picked up his phone and unlocked the screen, shaking it in his face. "I thought you asked me to hang out today because you wanted to try to get back together. But now I see you're just pulling some bullshit. She wants to make sure she knows what time your date is tomorrow."
Sora glared at her. "Jesus Christ, I don't have a date tomorrow, Kairi!"
"Why are you gonna lie to my face when the evidence is literally right here?"
"I'm not lying!" Sora barked at her. "Fuck, Kairi, if you'd stop looking through my shit and assuming I'm trying to do something wrong, I could explain things to you. Maybe if you actually fucking asked me, instead of accusing me, we wouldn't keep ending up like this!" He slung himself into the driver's seat of the car and put his seatbelt back on. "I am not going on a date with Rikku. I just hired her. She fucking works for me. Her orientation is tomorrow. That is what she's asking about."
"Oh." Kairi stared into her lap, an embarrassed flush growing across her cheeks. Like always, her snooping had gotten her into trouble, and now she had ruined her day with Sora.
"I'm taking you home," Sora muttered. "I did want to try and work things out. Even after all that stuff you said to me, I thought, 'hey, I still love her, so I won't stop trying'."
Kairi's eyes welled up with tears. She turned her face toward the window so he couldn't see, using her hand to stifle her sniffles.
"If this is just how it's gonna be all the time though, I can't do it," Sora continued. "I just feel sick to my stomach now."
Kairi slowly nodded in return, still facing the window, her throat so stiff from the sobs she was trying to hold back that she couldn't speak. Her heart was breaking all over again. This time, she had no desire to say anything mean to him, though. She just wanted the car ride to be over so she could go cry in private. She had started the day out so hopeful—with the knowledge that she hadn't burned the bridge with Sora, and everything was going to be okay. Now she was stuck at square one, scared that this was it. She might get out of Sora's car and never hear from him again.
When he pulled into the driveway of her dad's house, she let herself out of the car and he left again without saying so much as a goodbye to her. She slowly trudged toward the house, feeling like her body wasn't her own. While she was gone, her father had come home from work and was working in the garage. He saw Kairi in her state of shocked depression and approached her, wiping the car grime from his hands with a towel.
"Thought you were spending the day with him? What happened?"
Kairi couldn't hold back anymore and she collapsed into her father's arms, allowing herself to finally break down. She cried harder than she could ever remember crying in her life.
