Nami sat down in the driver's seat of her car, and pressed her forehead against the wheel. Only around a month and a half ago her sister had moved out of the apartment, leaving her alone, then this new boy shows up and brings company and a sort of cheer to her lonely, drowsy life. Now Robin, another friend of hers was directly attacked. Even though she said she was fine, and Nami left feigning belief that she was fine, she didn't believe the girl was fine. Not to mention she had suddenly had a great sense of security with her neighbor around. There was something about him that made her feel more relaxed. She groaned as the passenger door opened.
"Sorry, do you not want me to come with you? I can call someone to pick me up." she heard that slightly deep, childlike, male voice to her right.
She turned her head against the steering wheel to look at him, disappointment etched on her face, even though it wasn't because of him, it seemed like he thought it was, and he closed the door without getting in. He walked up to the sidewalk in front of where she parked, and began searching his pockets, probably for his phone. The one he left in the car. The one that was currently ringing.
Nami looked at the phone, planning on telling him it was in the car, when she saw the caller ID. It said 'Crappy Old Gramps' and she nearly laughed, thinking that was something he'd do, but she had been intrigued by the small photo that was paired with the ID. She picked up the phone, to inspect the picture at the same time Luffy opened the door remembering his phone was in the car. She jerked, and her finger slipped, accidently answering the call.
"Ah, Nami, you found it. Can I see it?" Luffy asked.
"Oh, yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to," she glanced down at the phone after hearing a muffled voice, "Oh, your grandpa is on the phone it seems." she handed the phone over to Luffy.
"Gramps!" the boy's face fell back in terror, he grabbed the phone from her and ended the call. "Whew, got out of that one." he sighed.
"Who is your grandpa?" Nami asked, taking a chance.
"Gramps?" Luffy asked, "he's scary."
"Is he crappy, and old?"
"Yeah! How'd you know?" Luffy asked, his body still partially in the car, from retrieving his phone.
She pointed to the device in his hand, "the caller ID."
"Oh, makes sense." he backed himself out of the car and stood up, "I'm gonna call Franky to pick me up, then."
Pick him up, that meant he'd be leaving. She wouldn't have that strange comfort she felt when he was around, but worse than that, she felt like she had betrayed him. Usopp's words were haunting her, 'That's his downfall though, can't say how many times I've seen him betrayed by people he trusted.' She jumped out of her car, and stood looking over the top of it to Luffy, whose face was half obscured by the phone in his hand. He had made his way away from the car, forgetting to close the passenger door. "Wait! Luffy!" she called, he glanced over at her and grinned. It seemed like it was more of a grin that meant 'don't worry, I'll be out of your hair' then a 'hi nami!' and it hurt her. She didn't really know why, she had betrayed many people to no end, but with Luffy, his blind trust in her really hurt her, for him to think that she had betrayed him. That she had let him down. It was like being a child promised with ice cream, but once you reach the vendor, you don't get the tasty cold treat. She closed her door, and made her way over to him, he seemed to be wrapping up the conversation.
"Yeah, so Franky, if you don't mind picking me up, I'm at-" he was interrupted by Nami pulling his arm quickly down, so his phone was away from his ear. "Nami?"
She nervously laughed, now that the phone was next to her mouth, "Uh, um, don't worry, I'm his neighbor, I drove him here, I can take him back." she nearly stuttered out her sentence.
"But Nami-" Luffy began, but she grabbed the phone out of his hand.
"Hi, Franky, right?" She asked into the phone. "Luffy was calling for you to pick him up, right?" she paused waiting for his response, "yeah, so that was a misunderstanding, I can take him home, besides we're neighbors." She nervously laughed, and was about to say bye, when Franky had said something that made her cheeks and ears burn red. "No, nothing like that! We are neighbors, that's all!" She slammed her thumb down on the end call button, not noticing the sudden fall in Luffy's face, when she had turned away. She turned back to face him, "I can take you, sorry about groaning when you opened the door, it was about something else." she smiled nervously, before handing him back his phone.
"Yeah," he replied, feigning a smile, "I get it."
Great, she thought, I said something to hurt him again. Was it something about his grandpa, was it because I grabbed the phone from him. Deciding on not being able to just discern what was wrong with him by looking at him, she decided to voice her thoughts, "Hey, um, Luffy, are you alright?" He nodded.
She made her way to the car, "If you say so," she gestured to the open passenger door, "you coming?"
"Yeah, we're neighbors, right?" He sat down in the car, and pulled the door shut. Before buckling himself up.
After she pulled out of the parking lot, and she was on the road back home, she glanced over at him. "I don't mean to sound rude, or anything, but you don't seem as happy as you did before."
Luffy looked at her and smiled, "I'm happy, see!"
"Uh huh," she agreed, skeptically. "Then say something!"
"I just did."
"Say more, be all giddy, and talkative, it's weird for you being quiet."
"You're being strange." he replied, "I'm not talking because you weren't talking, it's simple."
Nami stopped screaming at him, he was right, though she wished he wasn't. "Can I turn on the radio?"
"It's your car."
After a little while, she pulled into her street, and eventually up her driveway. He had been quiet the whole way. Before he got out of the car, she decided to speak up, "Did I say something that offended you?"
"No." he replied, staring straight into her eyes, "You were just being Nami." He unbuckled himself and opened the passenger door. "I have to go, anyway." he said, pulling his phone out, and calling a number, as he disappeared into the orchard of her orange trees in the direction of his house.
I did something, Nami couldn't help but think. She must have said something that hurt him, and now he wasn't talking to her. She would make it up to him somehow, but her maps were calling to her at the moment, and she locked her car, and made her way into her house. He was a nice kid, she thought to herself as she was angling her compass. As she sketched out the curvature of a mountain, she was reminded of something Franky had said to her on the phone, and her cheeks flushed, and her pencil slipped, causing her to have to restart the map all over again. There was no way she'd do that to him, right, he wasn't that kind of person. Besides when she had fallen into his lap the first day nothing happened.
Not being able to work on the map, she decided to get herself a drink, and sit on her balcony. She had poured herself a glass of wine, and leaned against the railing looking out over her trees. She noticed him in his yard kicking, and punching, at the punching bag hung up in the giant tree in his front yard. Wishing she was able to actually see him as he worked out, she studied him from a distance. It wasn't going well for her though, as any detail that was desired to see, like the flex of his muscles, or the curvature the sweat accentuated as it fell down his sleek abs. She could only imagine things like that. Her face was heating up just thinking about his toned body, and she partially wished she could run her fingers over his scar tissue, the one on his chest, and the one under his eye. She sighed, and stared at him. He had taken off the white tank top he was wearing, and the flip flops, as he continued to fight the punching bag.
She had long finished her glass of wine, but he was still going at it. He didn't seem to have a stopping point. She sighed, even though she wanted to watch more, it was a burden straining her eyes to see such far distances, he was about a quarter mile away after all. She turned and went back inside, needing to finish those maps, and digitize them, before sending them over to that company.
After reaching a good stopping point, having finished at least three maps, and already had them sent off, she still needed to do a few more, but for now, this would do, she got up and decided to tend to her orange trees. She grabbed herself an apron, and gardening gloves, before grabbing all of the needed utensils for her favorite plants. She walked out into the yard, and glanced at the sun, it was already at least three o'clock, and she still had to cover at least three rows of trees today. She made her way down one, tending to each tree with equal care and affection. By the time she reached the end of the row, she glanced at Luffy's house, the one that used to be her best friend's but was not owned by a childish adult filled with many mysteries. She sighed, and put down her basket, deciding to rest for a little while.
Luffy wasn't outside, or at least that's what she had thought. She wasn't sure she could face him. He probably didn't even want to be her friend anymore. No, that was going too far. She shook her head at even thinking that kind-hearted manchild would not want to be her friend. She took off her glove, to wipe the sweat off her forehead. Slightly annoyed that it was summer, and she couldn't just pick as many oranges as she wanted to.
"Yo." she heard beside her, and glanced over, Luffy was sitting on the fence separating the two yards.
"Luffy!" She exclaimed, "I thought you were mad at me."
"What?" he asked, sliding over, and landing in her lawn, under her trees, "Why would I be mad at you? You're my friend."
"But, I…" Nami shook her head slightly, "I thought I offended you, and you weren't talking to me."
"Oh, the neighbor thing. I just misunderstood at first," he giggled, "I had thought you had meant that we were just people living next to each other, but you meant we were friends." he continued giggling as he sat down across from her, under another orange tree.
"Yeah," Nami smiled, though she only just now knew what had offended him.
"Besides, I knew we were friends, I just wanted my friends to know we were friends." he smiled.
"Yeah, um," Nami began, remembering him punching and kicking the bag, "Do you normally punch that bag?"
"What?" Luffy asked, straightening himself.
"The punching bag, I saw you punching and kicking it."
"Yeah, I kind of have to, daily routine, and all." he sighed, slouching, "I wish I could just eat, and that was it."
"What, why can't you? Is it a habit that's hard to break?"
"A what?"
"A habit."
"A rabbit?" Luffy was very confused.
"No, a habit, is it hard to break the habit of kicking and punching the bag."
"What's a habit?"
She stared at him blankly for a few moments, but on realizing that he genuinely didn't know, she decided to explain to him, "Sometimes when you start doing something, everyday, or when you do a certain thing, and then years later you can't stop doing it."
"Uh, so it's a mystery thing." Luffy replied, confident. Though, Nami just sighed, it seemed like he was just categorizing it as something he wouldn't understand. "No, I have to do it."
"For work?" Nami asked, trying to hide a smirk. She'd figure out where he works, and why he has such a nice house.
"Yeah!" he said, pointing at her, "for that."
"Oh, so what do you do with all that punching and kicking?"
"Punch and kick." he tilted his head, "are there other things to do with punches and kicks?"
"Uh, no." Nami frowned, "I was just wondering where you go with it. Like with all that training, where do you go?"
"No where," Luffy replied, puckering his lips and looking away again, a bead of sweat falling down his forehead.
"Okay, I won't ask you where you work anymore." Nami sighed, giving up.
"What are you doing out here, anyway?" Luffy asked, rising from his seat to look into the empty basket.
"Tending my trees." Nami replied, leaning back against the tree that she had finished tending to before Luffy showed up.
"I see." he looked up at the trees. "Aren't there supposed to be oranges?"
"Yes, but those ones aren't ripe yet."
"They aren't orange."
"They aren't ripe yet," Nami repeated herself.
"So, I can't eat them?" Luffy asked, crouching in front of her.
"No, not until they are ripe." Nami shook her head, before opening her eyes, as she had closed them, trying to relax.
"When will they be ripe?"
"You aren't eating my oranges."
"Come on! I wanna try one!" he pouted.
"Fine." Nami replied, getting up, "Carry my things." she said, handing her basket, and all of the supplies she used to tend to the trees to Luffy. He juggled them in his arms, trying not to drop them. "Follow me." she said, leading back in the direction of her house. Luffy following behind close on her heels.