I'm tired. I still want cheddar popcorn dammit! Instead I shall vent frustration by bringing the next installment of this story. Also I've been convinced to go to the Literary Criticism thingy.
I hereby dedicate this chapter to Curdled Milk who has probably just realized what this chapter is about and skipped reading the rest of the sentence.
Sushifishie: Guilty as charged.
Disclaimer: I don't own Hana Yori Dango.
Warnings: (falls out of her chair laughing) Oh I'm sorry. What to say…without giving too much about the chapter away…cussing and some sexual content (nothing really bad.)
Never Quite As It Seems
Chapter Thirteen
I straightened my outfit a little as we started to let partygoers into the house. I had made the place pretty nice even though I knew I was just going to have to clean it when it was all over with. Akira and Soujirou were slapping high fives with just about everybody that came in. I think they knew everybody. Which was odd considering how much of their day consisted of playing video games. In fact most of the time they were at the house.
Most people were hanging out as music came from one of the large stereos. I felt like kind of melting into the background because I didn't really know anyone. I saw Sakurako trying to drape herself all over Doumyouji and turned away from that. It was just a little annoying to watch, that was all.
"Hey Tsukushi." Shigeru greeted me. "Nice party."
"Thanks." I replied. "Where's Tsubaki?" I couldn't see the pretty dark haired girl anywhere.
"Dunno. Maybe Akira found her." Shigeru grinned as if she knew some secret. "But of course I could be wrong."
"Shigeru! Tsukushi!" Tsubaki ran up with a cup of punch in her hand. I had yet to try any of the punch, as I was a little afraid of anything that Soujirou and Akira had made. They're not exactly the greatest chefs alive. I won't even get into the time they decided to make pancakes. It was messy.
"Hi Tsubaki." I greeted her. "How have you been?"
"I've been fine. Looks like Sakurako could use a little reminding about who is whose girlfriend." Tsubaki nudged me with her elbow. I sighed slightly. I didn't really want to approach the situation but knew I should try.
"Tsukushi, do you want some punch?" Soujirou handed me a cup even though he was rolling a video camera at the same time. I took the cup and took a drink. There was something about the taste that I wasn't sure about.
"This tastes kind of funny." I complained.
"Hey! You know people just keep complaining about this punch! It took me and Akira lots of work and no one appreciates it!" Soujirou complained. "But while I'm here, how's the party so far? Just for the tape you know?"
"It's cool." I decided I should just drink one cup to be polite. After a little bit, the punch did not taste quite so bad though.
"This punch isn't too bad." Shigeru gulped down a whole cup. "Though it is hot in here isn't it?"
"Yeah, could there be anymore people?" Tsubaki gestured towards the myriads of people all over the place. Most moving to the music. I was tapping my foot to the beat.
"Trust your little brother not to limit down the number of people." Shigeru rolled her eyes. I finished off my punch; it wasn't so bad at all. In fact, I wanted more. Partly because it was so hot in here.
"I'm going to go talk to Doumyouji." I told them both before making my way over to the place where Doumyouji was. Doumyouji was holding a cup for punch too. Sakurako saw me and began to edge away uneasily.
"Hey Tsukushi. This punch sucks." Doumyouji told me.
"I doesn't taste that bad to me." I shrugged. It had sucked at first. Maybe you just had to get use to the flavor. "Drink all of it. I thought it wasn't good either until I finished a whole cup off."
"Really?" Doumyouji asked before drinking the whole cup down really fast.
"Soujirou!" I waved him down. He came up with his video camera permanently attached to his face. "I want more punch!"
"Oh go ask Akira, he's serving right now." Soujirou gestured towards the kitchen. I had to go and get in line. (Doumyouji had been coming with me but a plethora of people separated us in the crush.)
The line was really long. It seemed as though Akira and Soujirou's punch was a hit. I couldn't figure out why though. It wasn't that good.
"Back for more Tsukushi?" Akira asked me. I nodded holding up my cup. I started to drink it again and thought that my punch was getting better. Maybe if you drank lots and lots of it, it started to taste good.
"Hey Tsukushi…" Shigeru's grin seemed a little lopsided. "I can't stop drinking this stuff. This is like my fourth cup."
"I'll stop soon, enough punch will probably make me throw up." I told her. "No big deal. It's just hot in here though."
"No doubt about that." Shigeru murmured.
"I feel a little dizzy." Yuuki popped up next to me. "I'm going to need to sit down for awhile."
"Here let me keep you company." I sat down next to her. "I lost Doumyouji in the crowd I think."
"He's bound to turn up though." Yuuki told me. "Just you wait." She sipped her punch.
"You know what? I'm starting to feel a little dizzy too." I shook my head a little. "Maybe it's this heat."
* * *
I'm not sure what time it was. It could have been anywhere between 8:00 P.M. to 4:00 A.M. The party was still in full swing. I felt a little weird though. Of course I wasn't sure why. I was dizzy and I kept falling over a lot. Everyone was dancing weird as if they were just a little bit off of the music.
It was a rather funny spectacle. I took a sip from my punch. I stared at my cup and tried to recall just how many I had had that night but I couldn't really remember. That was odd too.
This is weird…
I bobbed my head to the beat of the music. Someone had taken over the stereo system as the official DJ and seemed to have a thing for techno music. Which for some reason struck me as horrendously funny. I was sitting there giggling a lot while Soujirou came up to me, still with his video camera.
"Hey Tsukushi, how are we feeling tonight?" Soujirou asked me.
"…I am fine…" My voice sounded strange as if it weren't really mine.
"How much punch do you think you've had?" Soujirou was grinning from behind the camera.
"Two." I started giggling again. I had no clue what was so funny. It just was. Soujirou shook his head as he walked away from me.
I watched various people around the crowd do things. Tsubaki and Shigeru ran straight into each other, knocking the other to the floor. They got back up laughing at the whole thing. I saw Sakurako sitting in a corner by herself looking rather depressed as she sipped her punch. In fact I was about to join her when I saw Kazuya go and sit down next to her.
I was really just scanning the crowd though. I was looking for someone though I couldn't think of who it was. That's when a pair of arms went over my own from behind.
"Doumyouji…" I giggled a little more. Maybe they had added a bunch of sugar to the punch.
"Guess who." Doumyouji said. This made me laugh a little more.
"I already did!" I insisted still feeling that odd sense that I was somewhat off. I wasn't reacting like I normally would. It was if someone else had control of my brain.
"Oh yeah." Doumyouji slurred slightly. "Let's go dance." He pointed with one hand to a group of people who were really cutting loose to the music.
"I suck at dancing…" I whined feeling really dizzy when he pulled me off my stool. "Woah…"
"I want to dance." Doumyouji insisted. "I want to dance with you."
"I want to dance with you too." The words just seemed to be coming out of my mouth and the odd thing was, I wasn't stammering or blushing at all. My body didn't seem to car nor did my mind.
We walked in among the dancers as the beat started to get to my head. I started to just sort of move my body along with Doumyouji's. I was kind of losing myself in the moment. The music was so loud nearer to the speakers that I couldn't really hear anything besides the thumping beat. I seemed to have lost any inhibitions by that time. I was dancing against Doumyouji so closely that even I was surprised. Our hips were grinding together in some sort of unspoken urgency. I felt dizzy still. Then a thought came to me.
I'm not drunk, am I?
There was no way I could possibly be drunk. All I had to drink was punch. I had never had one sip of alcohol in all nineteen years of my life. But then again, the way I was behaving told me I was drunk. I couldn't really think straight which wasn't really helping. I was sort of just doing everything on autopilot.
Oh…I don't feel so good…
"Doumyouji…" I whimpered. Doumyouji made a puzzled face at me because he couldn't hear me at all. Even in my stupor I realized that. I pulled him out of the crowd, away from the music. "I don't…feel that good." My speech was really slurred.
"Neither do me." Doumyouji agreed causing me to giggle a little.
"Your drunk!" I exclaimed gleefully.
"Could be…" Doumyouji shrugged. "At New Year's they got me drunk."
"I'm going to throw up." I informed him. He took me by the hand and we started to go upstairs.
"Me too." Doumyouji slurred impressively as we tripped on almost every step on the way up the stairs.
"Look…" I pointed over the banister at everyone. I saw now that most of us were drunk. Shigeru had started a conga line that was way out of beat with the music playing and kept falling in on it's self like dominoes. Doumyouji started to laugh really hard before went on because I was sure by now that I was going to puke any moment. For some reason we decided to use Doumyouji's bathroom. I stumbled in there first, shutting the door.
"Hey! I get to go first!" Doumyouji protested. I don't hear him that well because I did in fact start throwing up. When I finished, I wiped my mouth with a towel then flushed the toilet.
"I beat…you…" I managed to say as I stepped out the door. I knocked right into Doumyouji and would have fallen over if he hadn't put his arms around my waist to keep me from falling.
"I don't feel that sick…" Doumyouji told me.
"I bet my breath smells like puke." I giggled. Doumyouji leaned his head down, kissing me for a few moments.
"Doesn't taste like puke." Doumyouji had a slightly seductive light in his eyes. For some reason I thought the whole thing was a challenge. Well, I would show Doumyouji. I kissed him. When I broke away, I was smiling like a triumphant idiot.
"Ha! I win!" I told him.
"Not uh!" Doumyouji dove in for another kiss. It seemed to last longer then the first two did.
"Oh yeah?" I raised an eyebrow before kissing him again. Doumyouji sort of walked backwards until we both tripped and fell on his bed.
"Tsukushi?" Doumyouji was covering my throat in kisses.
"Mmm?" I felt a little flushed.
"I'm going to win." Doumyouji told me. I was not going to let this happen and before I really knew it, we were kissing each other frantically, pulling the other's clothes off. I really couldn't decide who had won or why. Maybe Doumyouji knew.
* * *
How do you like those apples? I had a bit of a wrestling match with my grammar check on some of my drunken sentences. I know, I really need to pay homage here to Teresa, the Queen of Drunken Sex. (That's just one of the best ways to get it done!) Never fear! Things happen in the next chapter! (As opposed to other chapters?) I must say though, I'm pretty proud of my chapter. I've never been drunk so it was a little hard to write it but then I would just think back to my mom's last wedding in which there was drunken dancing! Plus after reading many a drunken scene from Teresa. (i.e. We are attractive young people with lots to offer but does anyone want us?) So thank you Teresa for showing us all how it is done.
Favorite Line From This Chapter: "Ha! I win!" (Sign me up for that game anytime with Doumyouji!)
