Chapter 1 - Sunday

It was a peaceful Sunday afternoon, just after 1pm. I was sitting on bended knee over a pillow at the low lying table doing chemistry homework alongside with my brother Rin and his best friend Sousuke, sitting next to me on the right, in our living room. A standing fan was spinning on the fastest setting in the corner of the room while study friendly Lo-Fi music was playing from my brother's Bluetooth speaker on the table. We'd gone over thirty minutes of continued silence. Good thing too because balancing chemical equations was impossible for me without complete focus

It was hot today. At least 33 Degrees Celsius, which is why I opted to wear a sleeveless white crop top and elastic waisted black gym shorts. I refused to allow even an inch more of fabric touch my skin or I might melt into a puddle of water. You see, it was hot today.

Okay that's it. I'm going to get some ice-cream from the corner store," said Rin standing up and breaking the concentrated silence. He was clearly frustrated by the heat. "Which one do you guys want?" he asked us.

"I'll take the bubble-gum and chocolate fudge fro-yo," I replied not looking up from my workbook.

"Just the usual energy drink for me, Rin. Eating that much sugar in this heat will kill me," said Sousuke recoiling at the idea of swallowing a mountain of sweetness.

"Cool, I'll be right back" said Rin turning on his heel and leaving.

I stopped writing to look over at Sousuke next to me with a pencil still in my hand. "If you're sensitive to sugar, just sat that," I teased, smiling at him.

"I'm not sensitive to sugar; I just don't want to dehydrate faster," he said turning his head to smile back at me. "There's no way you athletes could dehydrate. Don't you all drink like 20 litres of water a day?" I exaggerated for joking effect.

"That would actually kill me too. Besides, there's not enough toilet water in the world to flush down the amount of bathroom breaks that drinking a 20L of water would trigger in someone."

We both stared at each other for a moment before bursting into a light laugh. I didn't even know what this silly conversation was about, I was just glad to get my head out of the books and relax for just a moment. I was overdue for a break anyways.

I noticed that Sousuke was still staring at me as we laughed and didn't look away afterwards. My grip on my pencil tightened slightly as I stared at his hooded pale blue eyes. Our smiles dropped slowly as our heads moved closer to each other.

I felt my magenta eyes close instinctively as our lips pressed together gently and we pulled apart immediately. It happened so suddenly that I didn't even have time to acknowledge it. Just as that peck had happened, it happened again but this time we stayed connected and didn't pull away. Finally I let go of my pencil.

My eyes close a second time as our lips met again. I could feel Sousuke's lips parting and his breath on my face. I responded with the same. We we're full on kissing. My mind was blank; all I knew in that moment was to continue the action going on between us.

Next thing I knew, I was sliding over to sit over Sousuke's legs in a straddle. I felt his large muscular arms circle up around me and rest on my shoulders, securing my control position on top of his lap. I cupped the side of his face into my hands to keep his lips glued to mine at all times. We never stopped kissing; I could feel my whole body moving to kiss him deeper, faster and more passionately.

A strong urge to move his hands from my back and slide them underneath my crop top was coming over me. Even through a blank mind I knew it was too risqué a move to make at this point; so instead I moved my own hands from his face to circle around his neck. It felt like we we're in our own world. Eyes closed. No communication, just kissing.

After what felt like an eternity, the front door opened. Outside shoes were being taken off and in-house shoes being slipped on. A plastic bag rattled as footsteps approached the living room.

"…They were all out of the chocolate fudge so I got you the blueberry instead. I hope that's okay, Gou."

I immediately pulled myself off of Sousuke and we both turned back into our own original seating. I picked up my pencil and went through my formula again like I'd never stopped studying.

Rin stepped back into the room and placed our snack and drink in front of us. "I thought it would melt before I got back, lucky right?" he said smiling at me. I smiled back at him not really taking in a word he'd just said. My mind was spinning.

For the rest of the study session afternoon, I didn't interact with Sousuke at all; we didn't even make eye contact. When it was time for him to leave, Rin escorted him out and I stayed rooted where I was, eyes squarely on the chemistry work I could no longer focus on. Sousuke didn't so much as look back or say goodbye. I was honestly glad for it.

That night I lay in bed with the bedside lamp lit and my plush pillow held tight over my chest. My mind was still trying to process kissing Sousuke. It had happened so randomly and without warning. I couldn't think about anything else.

The notification ping of my phone broke me out of my thoughts. I checked to see who had texted me and my heart gave a tiny jolt.

It was Sousuke.

Our text history was completely blank, he'd never texted me individually outside of the Iwatobi and Samezuka Swim team group chats.

"Hi Gou, do you have time to talk?" -Sousuke Y

I hadn't struck up the nerve to text him causally yet like nothing had happened, so I lied.

"I'm still kind of busy with homework. Maybe we can talk some other time?" - Me

"Alright, then how about we meet tomorrow after school?" - Sousuke Y

"Okay" - Me

I swallowed hard. What possessed me to agree on seeing him again so soon and in person? The idea of it made my heart jolt again. How would I ever be able to face him comfortably after what happened?

"Cool. There's a parking lot 2 roads down from the left of your school, it's next to a gas station and mini mart with a green signage. I'll be parked there in my car so we can talk privately with no eyes from anyone we know." - Sousuke Y.

"Alright. See you then." - Me.

"Goodnight." - Sousuke Y.

I no longer had the stamina to keep texting so I chose to reply with a "thumbs up" and "sleeping face" emoji. Hopefully he'd take the hint that I no longer wanted to continue texting back. It worked. He didn't reply again after that.

I groaned as a pang of guilt and confusion hit me and I rolled over to lie on my back. I didn't mean to be rude to him but I needed to escape and needed time to resolve talking to him in person.

Tomorrow would be a huge mission to stay calm knowing that a tide was about to turn. While I tried my best to fall asleep, I thought about Sousuke's hands resting on my shoulders. It made my stomach butterfly but, I couldn't tell if it was out of fear or excitement.