He Said She Said
by Trish ()
"It only hurts when it is love."
-Trey Lorenz
v. pictures
'Boys are such idiots'.
That was pretty much the only thought going through my head as I sat across from Tachikawa Mimi, listening to old stories about her childhood with Yama-kun.
It was unfathomable to me how Matt could not like her. She was so... Nice. And she seemed to think a lot of him. A lot more than he deserved, anyway.
We were sitting in a booth, talking. She hadn't felt comfortable doing so, at first. After all, she had just met me. But it didn't take very long for the two of us to find a connection. Pretty soon, we were laughing and joking like we were old friends.
And then I asked her about Matt and the mirth faded away.
"Oh, I don't know," she shrugged, stirring her straw in her milkshake, "I've known him since we were both eleven. Even at that age he was very mature and serious," she smiled, sadly, "But he was always so kind. I really admired him."
"Kind?" I laughed, "Are we talking about the same person?"
"I didn't use to think that way about him either," she continued, "He and Tai were always fighting over their stupid pride... And he could never admit to caring about a person. But it's only because he's been hurt so many times by his parents. He's afraid to let people in."
"Yeah?" I was being just as nosy as Yuko, but I didn't care. At least I actually knew the person whose privacy I was trying to violate. "What happened with his parents?"
"They divorced when he was very young. They split him and his brother up," she sighed, "It's so sad. TK is the most important person to him."
I instantly felt bad for Yamato. As annoying as Daisuke is, I would never be able to stand it if someone took him away from me. We argue a lot, but he's my brother, for God's sakes.
"Were you and Matt close?" It was odd that she knew all this about him. He didn't seem like the type of person to tell others his personal problems. And given the way he'd been brushing Mimi off, she was probably the last person he'd confide in. Well, maybe not the LAST person. That would probably be me.
"Oh, no," she shook her head, "Not at all. We barely spoke. But our group was close. There were no secrets between us. We knew about all the divorces, and adoptions, and close-calls with death... That's why I was hurt, but not surprised, that he didn't show up at the airport when I left for America."
"How long ago was that?"
"Three years, two months, and a day," she said, not missing a beat. I couldn't imagine being so distraught over someone that you'd remember the last time that they'd hurt you.
"And you haven't been back since?"
"Once or twice," she replied, fidgeting nervously; almost like she was keeping a secret, "But those were very short visits."
"Yama's a jerk," I said, crossing my arms over my chest, "There was a chance you two could never have seen each other ever again, and he didn't even show up to say goodbye."
"I tried not to let it bother me," Mimi took a sip from her drink, "I told myself he probably had something better to do... But he never once called or e-mailed in those three years. I kept in touch with everyone else, but not Matt. I wrote him a few times. He never wrote back."
"Oh..." I patted her arm in an effort to cheer her up. She looked so sad, "You poor thing! You really seem to like him."
She looked like a deer caught in the headlighs, "N-no!" She insisted, "He's just a friend."
A boy would have believed her. But boys are idiots. There was a tiny possibility that a really, really dumb girl would have believed her. But it wasn't likely. Girls know girls.
"Oh, come on, Mimi-chan. Don't try to sell me that 'he's just a friend' crap," I told her, "You and I both know that's not true. Now let me hear you say it."
"Wha..." She looked down at her milkshake, her cheeks on fire, "I don't know what you're talking about."
I didn't say anything else. I just gave her a stern glare.
"Okay, okay," she let out a sigh, "I might have... 'feelings' for him. Not that it matters. He obviously hates me."
My look softened, "Why would he hate you?"
"I don't know," she rested her chin on the palm of her hand, "Because I'm stupid and vain. And air headed. There are lots of reasons."
Her milkshake was on the house... Because I didn't know what to say, and I felt bad about it. I wanted to do something for her. We didn't talk about Matt anymore. What else could be said? It was better not to drag the conversation out, when the subject obviously made her feel bad. Somehow, we started to talk about pictures.
Girls like pictures, you know. We both cracked out our wallets and looked at all the frozen memories. A lot of hers were from school dances. I also saw some of the copper haired girl from the other day. Her name was Sora and she was Mimi's best friend, I remember Yuko telling me. I filed that thought under 'future reference' in my head. I recognized some of the other people in her pictures. They were the ones who'd come by that Thursday to inform Matt of her upcoming return. After flipping through a few more pictures I found one of my brother and his new friends. Whoa. Wait. Mimi knew my brother? I'd have to ask Daisuke about it later.
No pictures of Yamato, I noticed. Well, there was a group picture he was in with some other kids. He was standing right next Mimi. No surprise, he was frowning. His hair was spikier and he had his arms crossed over his chest. Everyone else in the picture was grinning these really cheesy, Colgate smiles.
"Ooh, this is a nice picture!"
"Huh?" I looked up from Matt's scowling mug to see Mimi waving my graduation picture at me. My friend, Shiori, convinced me to straighten my hair for the picture. It came to about shoulder-length and framed my face, "You think so?"
"Yeah. Can I have one?"
"Sure, if I can get one of you!"
See, I TOLD you girls like pictures. Mimi gave me one that she had done at a studio. She modeled a little bit in America and had to have professional shots taken.
At about 5 o'clock, she told me she had to leave. She had initially only planned to stay long enough to confront Yamato, but he wasn't coming in any time soon.
"It was nice meeting you, Jun-chan," she bowed, "I'll visit you again soon, okay?"
"Sure thing! Bye, Mimi-chan!"
+
Matt had started working again. He wasn't any more or any less grumpy. He didn't talk as much, though. And he worked a lot harder. He was putting all his concentration on small, menial tasks... Like he was trying to avoid thinking about something. Or someone. Or maybe that's just how I chose to see it.
Mimi and I talked on the phone a few times. She said she'd lost her nerve. She couldn't go see him. She didn't want to see him. If he wanted to hate her, it was his right to do so. At least, that's what she claimed. But Mimi purposely visited me on the days she knew he wasn't going to be there.
So basically they both avoided each other. It was avoidance². And it bothered me. Mimi was nice. Matt has the ability to be nice (so so she claimed). Mimi started being mopey and depressed. Matt continued to be detached and cold.
I couldn't stand it. I wanted to fix this. I didn't know what Matt's beef with Mimi was. Okay, so she wasn't exactly Einstein... And she was quite fond of her own appearance. But it wasn't like HE was any better! Mimi was MUCH more likable then Matt could ever be.
At least, I thought so. Matt never let me in. He never showed me just how likable he could be.
To this day, I'm still not sure what did it. Maybe it was something he said. Maybe it was something Mimi had said about him. I started to really care about him. To worry about what happened to him. It was no longer just about me having to work his shifts. It was more than that. I really wanted to see him happy.
I started to be nicer to him at work. Greeted him, asked him how he was doing, helped him out when he was busy. I still ribbed him from time to time and made sarcastic comments, but all in good nature. When he was rude or cold, I held my tongue, because I knew it was just a part of his defense mechanism.
Yamato responded to my change in behavior. At first he seemed suspicious; like I was playing mind games with him. But he must have realized I was serious, because he eased up on the insults and the sneering. Sometimes a rogue 'dumbass' would still slip out, but he seemed to be making a genuine effort to get along with me.
More than ever I wanted to see him happy. Him and Mimi. They had both become so important to me. As a friend, as an older sister-type. I wasn't sure which. It didn't really matter. I just knew I couldn't stand to see them both so miserable.
Plans started to devise in my mind. Plans of the matchmaking-variety. But I tried to suppress them. I shouldn't interfere, I told myself. If they were meant to be, then fate will push them in the right direction.
But no matter how many times I tried to ignore these plans, they kept popping into my head.
It took one small incident for me to allow these plans to formulate into the more refined schemes.
It was a really busy day at the arcade. Matt was cashiering and ran out of change. Since I was waitressing in the cafe, I shouldn't have cared. It was his responsibility to make sure there was enough change in the register before his shift started. But he wouldn't stop whining about it, so I told him he could take the change from my wallet, which I'd left in the shelf under the register.
Which he did. But it wasn't the only thing he took.
That day I had somehow, 'mysteriously', lost my picture of Mimi.
*I made Mimi a year older than she was on the show.
*Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. There's a reason for Matt's dislike of Mimi.
