He Said, She Said
by Trish ()


"H-Hey! You can't park in the middle of the street!"*
-Ward (Final Fantasy VIII)

*I know it has nothing to do with the chapter, I just thought it was a funny quote...

Yama-kun hates my singing. He's hated it since the day I first sang with him in the same room, and to this day he still hates it. I don't think it's especially awful sounding. Daisuke's never said a word about it, and he's always finding things to insult me about.

I think he hates it because it can't compare to 'her' singing. But I don't want to get into that right now. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I sound like a cat being run over by a moving van, and the only reason Daisuke hasn't commented on it is because he's tone deaf.

Though I'd like to think it was the former, not the latter...

Late one Thursday night both he and I were working overtime. The place was nearly deserted, but still open. I was there to make extra money (please excuse the gleam in my eye. it tends to happen at the mention of cash). Yamato, I later learned, was there because he wanted to stay as far away from his visiting cousin as possible.

I was sweeping the floors, humming 'Copacabana', when I felt Matt's icy glare settle on me. He'd been giving me evil looks a lot lately -- way more than when we first met -- and I wondered if boys ever had the equivalent to PMS.

"Is there a problem?" I asked, stopping briefly from my sweeping duties.

"You're humming," he said pointedly, his arm resting on his waist. He'd stopped cleaning the tabletops.

"I was." I admitted, not giving him the satisfaction of looking ashamed. I knew that was what was annoying him now, and it was really dumb of him to let me in on that.

"Well it's distracting," He complained.

"Distracting?" I echoed, "You're wiping the tables! That's not exactly a task that requires a lot of thought."

"Well, okay, then it's just really irritating!"

I wanted to break my mop over his head. But in a titanic effort, I resisted. Instead, I let a wicked idea creep inside my brain.

I waited until he started scrubbing the rag against the table again; satisfied that he could now 'concentrate' on cleaning in silence. It was when he least expected it, that I did it...

I started to sing.

Loudly.

"His name was Yama," I used the same 'Copacabana' melody I had been humming earlier, "He was a freshman..."

Matt had stopped his task, and I could see him tense at the mention of his name. He knew where this was going, and if I was lucky, he really wouldn't like it.

"... With lots of pomade in his hair, and an ego up to there-"

"Shut up!" He barked, suddenly.

I tried to stifle a laugh, but the sight of his normally pretty boy face now bright red and screwed up with anger was more than I could bear.

Matt growled and covered his ears with his hands. He started to sing his own song, one I knew was meant just for me.

"My friend's got a girlfriend and he hates that bitch! He tells me everyday..."

I stopped laughing.

He continued singing at the top of his lungs, unbeknownst to him that a group of customers had walked through the door and were giving him weird looks.

"...Well I guess it ain't easy doin' nothin' at all, but hey man, free rides just don't come along, every-"

"Hey Matt..." One of the boys in the group had said, "Are you okay, Dude?" He had big, spikey brown hair that reminded me a little of Daisuke's.

Matt didn't realize that someone was talking to him until the boy laid a hand on his shoulder. He jumped in surprise and turned to see the group behind him; their expressions ranging from disturbed to amused.

"What are you guys doing here?" He asked, his face flushed with embarrassment. Oh, how I wished I had a camera...

"We came to see you, Matt," a pretty girl said. Her hair was copperish and it curled out slightly at the tips. She was wearing the Odaiba High uniform.

"Yeah," a boy I recognized as Sophomore, Kido Jyou, chimed in, "We're real sorry to ruin your... uh... performance, but we've got some news we thought might interest you."

Matt relaxed and reverted back to 'cool as a cucumber' mode, running his fingers through his blonde hair, as if trying to appear super casual, "Oh? What is it?" No one seemed to have noticed that I was standing right there.

Takaishi Takeru, a 'friend' of my brother's (and I use the term loosely) jumped in excitedly, "Mimi's coming back from America!" He enthused, "Her Father got transferred again and this time it's back here in Tokyo! Aren't you excited?"

Matt blinked in surprise. I could have sworn that a look of distress passed over his eyes. But it was gone so quick I assumed I imagined it.

"Tachikawa, huh? Is that so?" He said in a bored tone. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his disinterested expression seeming totally out of place amongst the excited smiles of his friends.

The mop-headed boy nodded his head, "Isn't that great? We'll be all together, like before."

"Oh yeah," Matt drawled, sarcastically, "I'm looking forward to the hours upon hours of nonstop whining and inane babbling." He shook his head, "As if that Miyako-chick wasn't bad enough?"

His friends looked surprised and uncomfortable, and no one knew quite what to say at first.

"That's mean," Takeru finally said, frowning.

Matt sighed, "Look, I'm sorry you guys. I'm just really tired. Can we talk about this some other time? I just want to finish my shift and go home."

I was tempted to remind Matt that he willingly choose to work late, but thought better of it. It wasn't really my place.

"Alright," the girl in green said, "We'll talk about it later, for sure. Just get some rest, okay?" He nodded to her, and his friends slowly retreated back outside the store.

"What a jerk," the Daisuke-look-a-like muttered under his breath, and I could tell by Matt's heavy sigh that he had heard him.


*The original opening lines from Copacabana: 'Her name was Lola/she was a showgirl/With yellow feathers in her hair/and a dress cut down to there'. Sorry for mangling your song, Manilow.
by myself (that's why it's so dumb)
*The song Matt sings is "Why Don't You Get a Job?" by Offspring