Disclaimer: I still do not own Digimon, or any of its characters. Nor do I own, or have permission to use any of the artists' names or songs used in this fic.
The Deep End
Chapter Two: Maybe You
Yolei lay on her bed, thinking about what had happened the previous day at the pool. In the background, Richard Ashcroft quietly sang as C'mon People (We're Making It Now) played on her clock radio. 'I still can't believe he almost...' she thought, not able to bring herself to think the word. 'What if Gatomon hadn't have seen him.' She remembered Davis floating lifelessly in the pool, and shuddered. 'We should've been there. I shouldn't have gotten so angry with him. But, Davis isn't a baby. He's not helpless. In fact, he's one of the strongest guys I know. I can't believe something like that could happen to him.'
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Who is it?" she asked, knowing it must have been one of her parents, because they were the only ones in the house who ever knocked before entering.
"Yolei, one of your friends is here to see you," her dad said through the thick wood.
"Oh, who?" she questioned.
"Um, that blue-haired kid, what's his name?" her dad inquired.
"You mean, Ken?" Yolei wondered.
"Yeah, him. He wants to talk to you. He says it's important."
"Okay. I'll be there in a minute," she responded.
'I thought he went to see his cousin in Spain,' she thought, 'I guess they must have gotten back early.'
When she answered the door, Ken was standing with his back to her, watching a wind chime flutter in the light breeze. "Hi, Ken," she said.
He turned around to face her. "Hi, Yolei," he replied.
"I thought you were on a trip."
"Oh, I was, but my cousin's fiance got severe food poisoning the day before the wedding."
"Oh, that's terrible," she said.
"I know, he will get out of the hospital in a few days, but it pretty much ruined the wedding."
Mention of the word hospital, reminded Yolei that Ken probably hadn't heard about Davis' accident. "Um, Ken, something happened to Davis yesterday..." she began.
"I know," he said.
Yolei looked surprised by this. "How?" she asked.
"Well, my parents and I got back to Japan last night. I tried to call Davis, to tell him what happened with the wedding, but I couldn't reach him. So, I called TK and he told me what happened."
"Oh," Yolei said, "have you gone to see him yet?"
"Yes, that's actually why I'm here. He wants you to come see him."
Yolei looked embarrassed and lowered her gaze. "I was planning to, but...um...I knew that everyone else would be there, and, um, I..." Suddenly, she felt extremely uncomfortable. 'You should go see him,' she told herself, 'it's just rude not to. Besides, you want to see him. But...I feel so weird about everything now,' she thought, 'every time I think about what happened, I feel really strange.'
"He could use the company." Ken said, breaking her train of thought. "When I last spoke to him, he said he was really bored; besides, he has something he wants to tell you."
The girl looked up. "He has something to tell me?" she asked.
The blue-haired boy nodded.
"What?" Yolei asked him.
"Well, for one thing, he wants to thank you."
"But, he already did," Yolei objected.
"That's not the only thing, though. He just wants to talk to you. Most people want to be near the people they care about after they've had a near-death experience, Yolei," he pointed out.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," she acknowledged.
"So, are you going to go see him? You can ride with me, if you want," he offered. "My dad was going to take me over there anyway, after I talked to you.
"Yeah, sure," Yolei said. "Just let me tell my parents where I'm going." She left the door, and disappeared into the house. A couple of minutes later, she returned, holding a cloth shopping bag.
"All set?" Ken asked.
"Yep," she said.
"What's in the bag?" he asked, after they had gotten into his dad's car.
"Well, you said he was bored, so I thought I'd bring him some stuff."
"Oh." Ken said. The ride to the hospital took about fifteen minutes, so to pass the time, Ken told Yolei a little more about his cousin, her fiance, and Spain. As they pulled up in front of the large building, Ken and his father were relating to the girl how bad the plane ride back had been.
"...and then, the pilot actually said, and I quote, 'Don't worry, the worst thing that could happen if the turbulence gets too bad is we'd crash'," said Mr. Ichijouji.
"Wow, that is a bad flight," remarked Yolei.
"Yeah, my Mom said we'll never fly with that airline again," Ken responded. He looked at his watch. "You'll pick us up in an hour and a half?" he asked his father.
"Sure," Ken's father responded.
"Thanks, dad," Ken said, getting out of the car and closing the door.
"Thanks," Yolei said.
"No problem," Mr. Ichijouji said. The two kids waved as the gray car drove off.
As they walked towards the entrance, Yolei unconsciously began biting her lip.
"Thinking about something?" Ken asked.
"Huh? Oh, just stupid stuff," she answered. Ken nodded.Once they were inside the large building, Ken led the way. They walked over to an elevator and waited for the doors to open. "His room is on the third floor," the boy explained. As soon as they got into the elevator and the doors closed, Yolei began biting her lip again. The two rode in silence as the elevator made it's way to the third floor. When the doors opened again, and they stepped out into the hall, Yolei realized why she had been so uncomfortable previously.
"He's in room 3112," Ken informed her. He noticed she had been biting her lip again and asked, "Are you nervous?"
"Um, no," she said. 'Is it that obvious?' she wondered. 'I hope I don't look nervous.'
Before they got to the door, a nurse stopped them. "You kids need any help?" she asked.
"No, we're just here to see a friend," Yolei supplied.
"Oh, you must be some more of Davis' friends," the woman said. "You know, he's one popular kid, five or six other people have already visited him today. Well, he's awake, so you can go right in."
They nodded, walked up to the door, and slowly turned the knob of Davis' hospital room. Davis was sitting up in bed playing solitaire. There was a machine against the wall that was monitoring his pulse and breathing. It was connected to a strange little red light attached to his index finger. When he heard the door open, the boy looked up to see who had come.
"Hi, Ken. Hi, Yolei," Davis said excitedly, "I'm glad you guys came." He noticed the bag Yolei was holding, and pointing towards it, he asked, "What's in that?"
"Oh, well, Ken said you were really bored, so I brought you some stuff," she said, observing his surroundings. She was surprised he looked so well, considering that he had nearly died only a day ago. He was still a bit hoarse, however.
"Cool. What?" he asked.
"See for yourself," she said, handing him the bag.
He eagerly took it and rummaged through it for a few seconds before bringing out some candy corn.
"Cool. Thanks Yolei," he said, opening the package immediately.
"I only got those for you because I know hospital food sucks." She motioned toward the bag, "There's more."
He reached in again and pulled out two CDs. "Whoa, you're gonna let me borrow your Cake CDs?" he asked in astonishment. "You never let me before, you said I'd scratch 'em up or something."
"Yeah, I know, but you really like them, and since you can't go home yet, I thought it might lift your spirits a little," she commented. "I also brought you my travel-sized Connect Four."
He looked into the bag once more and pulled the game out. "Thanks, Yolei," he said again, "you're the best."
"She's the best," Ken said with mock jealousy, "I thought I was your best friend."
Davis, looking sheepish, said, "Um, you are, but she's the best in a not-best-friend sorta way." Then, a solemn look suddenly covered his face. "Yolei," he began, "I want to thank you again for what you did. You saved my life. If you hadn't been there, I probably wouldn't be here now."
Yolei was shocked by the sudden seriousness of her usually carefree friend. "Um, it was nothing," she said quietly.
"Yeah, it was." Davis insisted, "You're a hero, Yolei."
The purple-haired girl looked embarrassed. "Don't say that. I'm not a hero," she mumbled.
Ken nodded, "It's true, Yolei. You are a hero."
"Well, I know you would have done the same for me," she said.
"Actually, I don't know CPR or any of that stuff," Davis said.
Yolei rolled her eyes. "Well, if you did, you would have saved me, right?" she asked.
"Of course," he agreed.
Just then, a knock sounded at the metal door, causing all three adolescents to turn towards it. "Come in," Davis called. The door opened only enough to allow the three to see the person's face. Yolei recognized him immediately, however.
"Lee?" she asked.
"Hi," he said, opening the door wider, "I just came to see how Davis is doing."
"He's doing great," Yolei supplied, "come on in."
"Um, Yolei, is this guy a friend of yours?" Davis asked suspiciously.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Lee apologized, "I should have introduced myself to you first." He turned towards the redhead. "I'm Lee Sakai. I was at the pool yesterday, and-"
"He was really nice," Yolei cut in. "Remember those college students that we saw when we first came in? He's one of them, but he was a whole lot nicer than his friends. They were real losers."
"That's the other reason why I came. I want to apologize for them," Lee said, turning to Yolei. "They're both sorry for the way they acted yesterday, but they're too embarrassed to come tell you themselves."
Davis sat on the bed, still looking confused at the tall blue-haired teen. "So, he's not your friend, Yolei?" he asked.
"Um, sorta," she said. "I'll explain later."
"Hey, I just remembered, the nurse said your name is Davis Motimiya." Lee remarked suddenly.
"Yeah," Davis replied, narrowing his eyes, "so?"
"I just remembered, my friend's brother knows a guy by that name," Lee said.
"Really?" the maroon-haired boy grinned proudly, "I'm famous?"
Yolei rolled her eyes.
"What's your friend's name?" Ken asked.
"Jim," Lee answered. "Jim Kido."
"You mean, Jyou's brother?" Yolei questioned.
"Think so," Lee replied. "Is the Jyou you know a smart, nervous kid, who's allergic to almost everything?"
"Yeah," Davis, Yolei, and Ken said.
"That's the one," confirmed Lee.
"Cool," Davis said, with a mouthful of candy.
"So, your Jim's friend," Yolei remarked. "It is a small world after all."
"Yeah, I guess so," Lee responded. "Well, I'm just glad to see that both of you are feeling better," he continued, this time addressing Davis. "Last time I saw you, you were barely conscious, and your girlfriend was hyperventilating."
Davis looked confused. "Girlfriend?" he asked.
"Yolei," Lee answered.
Yolei and Davis exchanged looks. "We're not going out," they said simultaneously.
"Really?" Lee asked in disbelief. "Oh well, my mistake. You guys would be cute together, though. You act like an old married couple."
Davis almost choked on a candy corn in response. Yolei blushed.
"Hey, do any of you know where the vending machines are?" Lee asked, "I'm kinda thirsty. I don't think I've had anything to drink all day."
"I can show you," Ken offered.
"Thanks," the older boy replied.
The two blue-haired boys walked out of the room, shutting the door behind them.
Yolei looked confused. "We'd be cute together?"
Davis shrugged.
She continued pondering over what the teen had said. "We look like an old married couple? I wonder why he said that."
"How should I know?" Davis said. "He's your friend. You know, these things really get stuck in your teeth," he mentioned.
"Then, why do you like them so much?" Yolei asked distractedly. She was staring out of the only window in the small, air-conditioned room. The window was large, however, and allowed Yolei to see the entirety of the hospital's courtyard from her vantage point. She could see a couple sitting by the star-shaped fountain. They were listening to Candyman by Vertical Horizon on a small boombox. 'It looks like a nice place to have a picnic,' she thought, 'except that this is a hospital.'
"Ca tha tas gah," Davis answered, picking the remains of the candy out of his molar.
"Huh?" the girl asked. When she turned around, she shot the boy a look of disgust. "Don't do that, Davis. It's disgusting."
He stopped. "Do what?" he asked.
"Pick your teeth, that's nasty," she replied.
"Oh, sorry," he apologized.
A momentary silence filled the room as Yolei walked over to the chair beside Davis' bed and sat down. She sighed, then reached into the bag of candy. "Funny, I get to share your saliva two days in a row," she remarked.
"What?" he asked.
"Yesterday, I had to give you mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and today I get to eat your spitty candy corn."
Davis gave her a look of confusion. "I didn't spit in these," he said.
"Maybe not, but you were picking your teeth just a little while ago, and you didn't wash your hands," she pointed out.
"Well, it's not like you have to eat them, you know," the boy said in an offended tone.
"I didn't mean it like that," Yolei said, realizing she had hurt his feelings. "It was a joke, okay? No offense." She sighed again. "Anyway, what exactly did you want to tell me?" she asked. "Not just that stuff about me being a hero, I hope."
Davis furrowed his brow in thought. He knew from a reliable source that Yolei found him attractive, and that she even had 'feelings' for him. He wasn't sure, however, if 'feelings' just meant a crush. For him, it didn't. A crush was more like what he had on Kari. Granted, it had been giant-sized, nevertheless, it was still a crush. And now, he was more aware of that than ever. After a moment of reflection, he spoke, his serious tone returning. "Um, well, I'm sorry for taking you for granted. I guess you just don't know how important someone is until you almost die..."
"I guess you're right." Yolei acknowledged. "You can't take nothing for granted," she said with a smile. She wanted to tell him how she felt, but somehow she couldn't think of the right words. 'What should I say?' she wondered. 'Davis, I was really upset when you almost died, and I hate it that you chase Kari around because I...no, that's stupid,' she thought. Yolei remembered the rest of the words to the ever popular song, You gotta live life today... 'I guess that's right,' she thought, taking a deep breath. "Um, Davis, I'm...I'm sorry for taking you for granted, too," she stuttered, "when I saw you in the pool like that, I was so scared. I mean, you're like one of the bravest, strongest people I know, and to see you that way...I guess it's like you said. I never realized how much I cared about you until...I...I mean...I never realized that I lov-" The words seemed to get caught in her throat.
Davis stopped eating and looked at the lavender-haired girl expectantly.
Instead of answering, Yolei just blushed profusely. 'Why is this so hard?' she wondered. 'It's not like I've ever had a hard time voicing my feelings about a guy before.'
"You never realized you...?" Davis prodded.
"Um," she said, trying to muster up courage, "I never realized, I mean, I guess I did, but I didn't want to admit it because I wasn't sure how you felt about me, 'cause you're always talking about Kari and, well, I uh, I..."
Davis was still looking at her, which made her even more uncomfortable. He leaned closer. "You...love me, Yolei?" he asked quietly, as if they were sharing classified information in front of hundreds of onlookers.
The girl's eyes widened in surprise as she sat straight up. 'How does he know?' she thought. "I, um..."
"It's okay," Davis said blushing himself, "I know. I feel the same way. That's the other thing I was going to tell you."
Yolei felt a surge of emotion run through her entire body. A million different questions flooded her mind at once. How did he know? He felt the same way? Was he joking? The first thing to come out of her mouth, however, was, "But, I thought you liked Kari!"
"I did," he said.
Yolei looked confused, "You mean to tell me that because you nearly drowned, you're completely over Kari, and realize that you're in love with me?" She didn't know why she was reacting so strangely. 'This is what I wanted, right?' she thought, 'I wanted him to feel the same way.'
"No, I always felt like this about you. The only thing that drowning did is make me want to tell you. But-"
Yolei found herself getting almost angry. "Davis, you can't just fall in love with someone overni-"
He cut her off, "I never said in love, Yolei. You think you're in love with everybody because you've never been in love before. But, when you're really in love, you'll know."
Yolei was so dumbfounded, she dismissed her frustration. Davis had said something smart. No, Davis had said something almost wise. "So, if you aren't in love with me, what are you saying exactly?" she demanded.
"I'm saying I care about you, a lot," he announced.
"You care about me," she repeated, looking somewhat disappointed.
"Yeah," he said. "I'm not saying I don't like you, Yolei, but I know you like Ken, and Izzy, and even Michael and Willis. And I do still like Kari..." He wasn't lying. Even though his feelings for Kari had diminished, especially after having talked with Gatomon, they were still there. Besides, Davis knew that his friend had a roving eye and that they both were too young to get involved in a serious relationship. He sighed, "I just don't want to be like Matt and Sora," he finished. Yolei knew exactly what he was referring to when he said that. Even though they had only been going out for a couple of weeks, Sora and Matt's relationship was already turbulent.
Silence filled the room once again. "So, where do we go from here?" Yolei asked in a small voice.
"No where," the boy replied. "I think we should just stay friends, at least for now."
"Oh. I guess...you're right," she replied reluctantly. She knew his reasoning was sound. She also was impressed by how mature he sounded. 'Most of the time he only talks about things like video games, and soccer, and food, and of course, Kari,' she thought.
Yolei had always thought of Davis as dumb, obnoxious, insensitive, and impetuous. And when she had started to develop a crush on him, she hoped it would go away as quickly as possible. He was not her type; it was irrational for her to even feel the way she did. In fact, that was one of the reasons why she had been ruder towards him lately. 'That, and the fact that he deserves it for always gushing about Kari and ignoring me completely,' she thought. 'Never once has he said, "Hey, Yolei, you look good in that," or "Have you done something different with your hair?" He's too dumb, obnoxious, and insensitive. But he did just say he cared about me a lot,' Yolei reasoned, 'maybe he's not as clueless as he seems. Could there be another side to him? Hmm.'
But he was still too impetuous for her liking. 'Well,' she continued, 'two synonyms for impetuous are spontaneous and passionate. Davis spontaneous? Definitely. Davis passionate? Yeah.' She slowly roused from her thoughts to find the redhead still looking at her. "Why are you looking at me?" she asked.
"I wanted to know what you were thinking about," he stated.
"Um, you actually," she said.
"What about me?" he asked.
"Nothing, it's not important."
"You mean you don't want to tell me."
"Well, yeah, that's true also," she admitted.
"Why not?" he asked. "Is it something bad?"
"No," Yolei said. "It's good, kind of, but it's embarrassing."
"I won't get embarrassed," he replied.
"It's embarrassing to me," she explained.
"Oh. Well, uh, you could write it down," he said, looking for a sheet of paper.
"Davis, don't be ridiculous." She glanced over at the wall clock to see that Ken's father would be back in about fifteen minutes to pick them up. 'Time sure does fly,' she thought. Frowning, she told Davis, "Ken's dad is coming to pick us up in fifteen minutes."
"Really? It doesn't seem like you've been here that long," Davis observed.
"Well, we told him to pick us up in an hour and a half. That was at four."
"Oh," he replied.
Yolei's thoughts drifted off again as she wondered how to bid her friend farewell. 'Usually, I'd just say something like, 'I'll see you in a few,' but it just doesn't seem to fit. I mean, he did drown yesterday. Besides, he just told me he likes me.' After racking her brain for more fitting things to say, and coming up dry, she just decided to say good-bye. She stood, stretched, then started towards the door. "Well, I'll see ya," she said.
"Okay," he said, fiddling with the borrowed Connect Four. "You know, you don't have to go just yet. You do still have a few minutes," he added, looking at her hopefully.
"I know," she said, "but, I need to go find Ken anyway."
"Oh, okay then. Well, bye," he said, looking back at the game.
"Well, wait a sec," she spoke, turning back towards the boy.
Davis looked up. "Yeah?" he inquired.
'I better do this before I lose my nerve,' she thought. She walked over to the bed, watching him follow her every motion with his eyes. "I just wanted to say good-bye the right way," she explained. She leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then hurried to the door.
"Hey!" Davis exclaimed. "What? Wait a second, Yolei!"
"Sorry, gotta go!" she called from the doorway. "You can call me later, 'kay?" With that, she disappeared, closing the door behind her and leaving a surprised Davis still sitting on the bed.
As Yolei walked down the walkway that overlooked the courtyard, she realized her heart was beating a mile a minute. 'I can't believe I actually did it,' she thought proudly. Her pace was a bit faster than normal, and she felt light on her feet. 'I can't believe I actually told him," she continued. "Well, I didn't actually say it, but he knew. 'Wait a second, how did he know?' she thought. 'It's not like I ever act...' She heard voices up ahead, and recognized one of them as Ken's. When she turned the corner, she saw Ken still talking to Lee, who was looking down at the fountain beneath them. They seemed to be in an animated discussion. When they saw her, they both looked up.
"Oh, Yolei, I was just going to go ask you if you were ready to leave," Ken commented.
She nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready."
"My dad will probably be here any minute," he told her. He turned to the older boy, "Lee, it was really nice talking to you."
Lee nodded. "Same here. And I guess I should be going, too. But, sometime I'd like to play you a game of one-on-one," he said, "especially if you don't mind losing."
Ken smiled. "Sure, anytime."
The taller blue-haired boy addressed Yolei, "It was nice seeing you again, and Davis. I hope he gets well soon."
"Oh he will, I'm sure," she said.
"Well, anyway, my car is parked in the back, so I'm going this way," he said, pointing to the stairs. He waved to Ken and Yolei as he started for the stairs, the opposite direction they were heading.
They waved back, and headed towards the front of the building.
"Lee's really nice, you know," Ken told Yolei.
"Yeah, I know," she agreed. "What did he mean by a game of one-on-one?"
"Well, he was the captain of his high school's soccer team for two years, but it started to interfere with his studies, so he quit. He's smart too. He's only nineteen, but he's already in his junior year of college."
"Really?" Yolei asked. "What's his major?"
"Computer-aided drafting and architectural design."
"Isn't that one of the things you said you might major in?" she asked.
"Yeah," he replied.
"Hmm. It sounds like you guys have a lot in common."
Ken nodded. "He said I reminded him of an older version of his little brother."
"Really? How old is his brother?" she inquired.
"I think Lee said he's three years younger than me."
"Oh," said Yolei. The two continued down the corridor until they reached the elevator they had taken on their way up. Yolei's thoughts were still distracted by the conversation she and Davis had previously had. She pushed the button for the first floor and leaned against the wall.
"So, did Davis tell you?" Ken asked as they waited for the elevator's doors to open.
"Tell me?" Yolei questioned.
He turned to look Yolei straight in the face. "The thing he wanted to talk you about," he explained.
At that moment, it dawned on the girl that Ken already knew about Davis' feelings for her. 'So that's why he wanted me to go see him,' she thought to herself. 'I bet they both planned this whole thing out. Well, that explains why Ken and Lee never came back after getting those sodas. But, I guess that's only fair. After all, I told Kari before I told Davis.' She realized she still hadn't answered Ken's question. "Um, yeah," she said finally.
"So what did you say?" he inquired, as they stepped into the elevator.
"Well, we decided to just be friends for now," she replied. It wasn't that she didn't trust Ken. That was not why she hadn't told him every single word they had spoken. Rather, she felt that to keep things from being blown out of proportion, it would be better to not go into minute detail of their conversation. "We both agreed that, for now, it would be best to stay platonic." 'After all, most good relationships are based on friendship,' she thought, 'I mean, it worked for Jyou and Mimi.'
As they rode down to the first level, Ken asked, "Do you like him?"
She knew that if she objected to Ken's inquiries, he wouldn't ask her any more about what she and Davis had talked about. But at that moment, she wanted the world to know how she felt. She smiled before she spoke, remembering the quick kiss she had given him. "Yes, I do," she answered plainly. She found it odd that he responded with a look of relief.
"I was hoping you did," Ken mentioned, "for Davis' sake. He doesn't take rejection well. Actually, he doesn't even really acknowledge rejection." The doors to the elevator opened, and the two Digidestined stepped out.
Yolei nodded. Reject him? The thought hadn't even crossed her mind. As she and Ken walked towards the front of the building, she let out a small sigh. She remembered the words Davis had spoken earlier, '...when you're really in love you'll know.' She eagerly awaited the day when she could say that she was in love with someone, and someone was in love with her, but she wanted it to be perfect. She wanted that someone to be that special someone, not just anyone. If that meant she had to wait, then she would do just that. 'Kind of ironic that he's been right in front of me all along,' she thought. 'Well, Davis, why not? Maybe you.'
Well, that's it. The end. And this was supposed to be a short fic. ^_^; Oh well. I hope no one got too OOC. N-Ewayz, I do appreciate the reviews I aready have, and more are welcome. They don't have to be long, just tell me if you liked the ending, or if you thought it sucked.