He Said She Said
by Trish


"Oh Mickey, what a pity, you don't understand
You take me by the heart when you take me by the hand..."
-"Mickey" (Toni Basil)

The quote has nothing to do with the chapter. I just happen to think "Mickey" is a cute song. ^_^ Anyway, I would have written this a long time ago but when I was mapping out the parts, I confused myself. Buuut, I'm sure you don't care. Please review!! It makes me happy!


vi. jun's plan (for lack of a better title)

Okay, so it probably wasn't the *best* plan in the world. It wasn't even a *decent* plan. But it was a plan, and the only one I could think of at that.

This was the situation as I knew it: Subject A, Ishida Yamato, grew up in the same social circle as Subject B, Tachikawa Mimi. The number of conversations between subject A (the most depressing teenager imaginable) and subject B (the trendiest teenager imaginable) were few and far between. Eventually, Subject B (who held obvious attraction to the former) was relocated to America. Upon news of Subject B's return, Subject A became cold and disrespectful (moreso). Subject A is also noted to have a stealing problem.

I came up with the plan on a Monday night. I was actually supposed to be getting started on my English homework, but English is evil, and I had the entire week or so to finish it, so I worked at my leisure.

But like I was saying, I was sitting at my desk. The lamp was on. I was tapping my pencil against my blank sheet of binder paper. Several thoughts came to me.

One. How come the eraser on your pencil always runs out so quickly?

Two. Twelve years ago, when I was in Kindergarten, I had a difficult time writing creative stories. Flash forward to twelve years in the future, and I still have that problem. What gives?

Three. "Jun" rhymes with "Moon".

A wave of inspiration hit me all of a sudden. Not because of that Jun/Moon thing. I don't know *how* it happened, but it did. I leaned over my desk and started to write. My pencil moved over the paper, quickly. I knew if I stopped to think for even a second, I would forget my ideas.

Minutes later, I surveyed the text before me.

'This is the story of two people who were in love but didn't know it. They had low self-esteem and severe fear of rejection. They didn't want to admit their love. The boy treated the girl harshly. The girl pretended like she didn't care. But they were both so miserable. The charade was not to last, however, because their love was too strong. All they needed was to see each other and get their facts straightened out.'

And here's where the plan came in. As I reread the story, I began to realize how damn *familiar* it sounded.

The last line stood out. "All they needed was to see each other and get their facts straightened".

And that's how I came up with my "full-proof" plan.

+

3:46pm.

Matt came to work at 3:30, on the dot. Well, okay. Not really. I just think 'on the dot' sounds cool. It gives you the illusion that I had this whole thing synchronized. He didn't usually work the Tuesday shift, and neither did I, but I had convinced Saori and Takeshi (the usual Tuesday\Sunday people) to trade with us.

Matt knew nothing of this.

I also called Mimi the night before, complaining of a boy crisis. She wanted to talk to me about it then, bit I insisted that Tuesday at the Arcade would be a better time. She was so concerned, she didn't question it.

The instructions I gave her were: 'Show up at 3:30!' Given Mimi's history with tardiness, I was sure that would give me at *least* fifthteen or so minutes to prep for her arrival.

Business was slow. It usually was at 3:00-4:00. Kids had choir and sports and other extra curricular activities to take care of. 4:00 was when the action started. Hopefully my plan would would be successful before 4:00. I didn't want Matt ditching work to go make out with his new girlfriend when business reached it's peak.

"Hey Yama-kun?"

He looked over at me. We were both sitting at an empty table, waiting for the clock to read 4:00. Or at least, *Matt* was.

3:51.

Mimi was *awfully* late. She didn't have any extra curricular activities since she started school in the middle of the semester, and pretty much all the fun clubs were filled up by this point. So just where the *hell* was she?

"Yeah, Motomiya?" he replied.

"Would you mind waiting tables today?" I asked him.

His face scrunched up in annoyance, "Yes, I would mind," he replied, "I don't like waiting tables."

I sighed. Why did the boy have to be so *difficult* about everything? "Well who *does*? Just do it for me today, would you?"

His eyebrow arched in suspicion, "Why today of all days? Is something happening?"

I had to shove my hand in my pocket to keep from smacking him, "No. I just have this really *painful* sore on my foot. I didn't discover it until this morning. It's all red and swollen--"

"Okay, okay!" he cut me off, looking disgusted, "Spare me the details! I'll wait the freakin' tables!"

"Thanks Yama-kun!" I smiled brightly, and started to make my way over to the register. I wasn't sure if Matt was watching me or not, so I made a big production of limping over.

3:55.

The door jingled open. No, the door didn't jingle. You see, there are these bells attached to the door. It's actually a pretty clever idea. Everytime someone enters... Uh... Nevermind. You probably already know what I'm talking about.

I looked over at the door. Pink hair and Odaiba school uniform. Mimi had finally showed up. She was so mad when she found out she was confined to wearing the same outfit day in and day out for the rest of her highschool experience. She had gone to a public school in America and got to wear whatever she wanted.

"T-tachikawa?" That would be Matt, having risen from his seat, gawking at her.

"Y-yamato?" She stuttered back his name, looking confused and surprised but definitely not happy.

That's *funny*. In my story, the girl and the boy ran to each other and started kissing like it was going out of style. But Matt and Mimi were just looking at each other.

No one said anything.

It was awkward. So much so, that *I* was tempted to say something. But I didn't.

Matt's eyes narrowed, slightly, "What the *hell* are you doing here?" And of course, he had to have asked it in the snottiest voice possible.

"W-w-well I..." She was already starting to tear a little bit.

"You know Mimi, I would *really* appreciate it if you stayed as far away from me as possible," he said before storming over to the backroom and slamming the door behind him.

Crown Restaurant and Arcade was nearly empty. *Nearly*. There was still an audience, however. They kept darting their eyes between the door that led to Matt's personal moping-closet and Mimi who was trying as hard as she could not to cry.

"I... I..." She croaked the next words out, but had a difficult time doing so. Hell, I couldn't blame her. After having the guy you like publically reject you, I wouldn't know what to say either. She finally settled on, "I have to go!!", before she burst into a fit of sobs and ran out the door.

The jingling of bells punctuated her exit.

"Mimi!!" the copper haired girl followed her out, looking concerned.

Huh. That didn't go very well. How come everything is so much nicer in your head? Where was the kissing and the happiness?

Since Sora went to comfort Mimi, that left me to beat the hell out of Matt.

+

"What was *that*?"

He wasn't crying. I suspected Ishida Yamato thought he was too good for tears. He was just sitting on a chair (there aren't many things you can do on a chair), his arms folded over his chest, looking pissed.

And hurt.

"You tell me," he bit back, "Did you plan that?"

I would have been embarrassed if I weren't so angry. And who even knows who I was angry at? At Matt, at myself, at everyone. All I wanted to do was help two people out.

Didn't Matt know how great happiness felt? Why was he trying so hard to fight it?

"Why do you hate her so much?" I didn't bother answering his question. He already knew that I was the mastermind behind their 'accidental' meeting.

Matt looked away, but I was so upset that I grabbed his face and jerked it back in my direction.

"Why do you hate her?" I repeated, more firmly this time.

He stared at me and I stared back at him. Our eyes locked. It was the first time I ever got a really good look at them. They were blue, and they reminded me of the sea. Not because they were pretty or whatever else any of his fan girls might say... But because they were cold and deep and restless.

Seconds passed.

He pulled his face free from my grasp.

"I don't hate her," he mumbled quietly, burying his face in to his hands, "I couldn't hate her."

Something about the tone of his voice made the hard look on my face soften. I sat in the chair next to him, "Matt..." I had never called him 'Matt' before.

"God, I don't even know what comes over me when I'm around her or when people are talking about her," he wasn't crying. By the sound of his voice, he was right on the verge of it, "I just feel so stupid and inadequate. You know... Like... Like there's something about me that's not good enough for her because she--"

"Matt, stop, please."

I hugged him. It was weird. I didn't feel comfortable hugging him, but it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. He didn't even react to it.

"Matt, what are you talking about?"

There was a silence. I could hear his heavy breathing. He was trying to collect his thoughts.

"I think I'm in love with her."

"Matt?" It didn't sound like something Matt would say. But then again, I couldn't really claim that I knew him all that well.

"I wrote her this letter, you know..." he was ignoring me completely, just talking for the sake of talking, "I was only eleven years old. She was moving away and even though I didn't know her very well, I didn't want her to. I wanted her to stay with me. I wanted her to be mine. So I wrote her this letter and I told her to meet me. But she never showed," he shook his head, "She never showed. She just left. Today was the first time I've talked to her since."

I hugged him. It wasn't all that uncomfortable anymore.

He'd finally let himself cry.



*I was only half paying attention when I wrote this. -_- It got waaaay too dramatic at the end. Hah, hah...
*All you Sailor Moon fans might recognize the "Crown Arcade". That's where Motoki works! And Unazuki works at "Crown Fruit Parlor". Jun and Matt work at a place that's like a combination of them both.
*There's gonna be some Taiora later on. Sorry, Taiora h8rs!