One Week
~ Day Five ~
T.K. stared sideways at the phone, half hoping that it would ring. He
really needed to talk to Kari, and explain what had happened last evening.
He had given her time to cool off, but she still hadn't called. Sighing,
he picked up the phone, and dialled her number. The phone rung in his ear,
and was finally picked up by an answering machine with a tinny voice.
"Hi, you have reached the home of Kari and Maia Kamiya. Neither of
us is in right now, so please leave a message after the tone." T.K. took
a breath to record his message, but was interrupted by a hasty continuation,
obviously a last-minute hasty addition recorded by Kari: "But if you're
T.K. Takaishi, I hate you and I never want to speak to you again. Don't
even try."
He stared, open-mouthed, at the phone. Grimly hanging it up, he sighed
again as he thought about why Kari was so mad at him. It was all a simple
misunderstanding, really. He hadn't known that she could get so jealous.
He had only just realised why she had been so angry with him for the past
few days.
During the popcorn fight, when Susan had released his arm so she could pick up more popcorn to hurl at Davis and Ken, she had unbalanced slightly, even from her kneeling position, and had grabbed his shoulder for support, at the same time that he had put an arm around her shoulders so that she wouldn't fall backwards.
Unfortunately, Kari had somehow inevitably chosen that moment to come in the door and see everything.
Same thing with the kiss that Susan had given him. It had been meaningless, just in relieved thanks to her cousin for being nice.
Nothing even close to anything he wanted to share with Kari.
If love was blind, jealousy had to be blind, deaf, but certainly not mute all in one sweep.
~~~~~
Maia held up a sweater to Kari. "This will look nice on you, don't you
think?"
"Mm," was Kari's response.
After they had paid and were walking out of the store, back into the
mall, Maia paused. "You sure that you don't want to tell me why you get
all happy about going out, then stomp back in half an hour later with a
glare that would turn a forest to desert? I know how long the ride to Yolei's
is, and you couldn't have spent more than about two minutes there before
turning right around to get back that fast last night."
Kari's glare probably could have turned a forest to desert right then,
but seemed to have little effect on her elder sister. "Nothing happened.
I just felt like coming home."
Maia's tone told Kari loud and clear that she wasn't buying a word.
"Whatever you say, Kari. Just remember, we are having that anniversary
party in a couple days, so you might want to fix up squabbles before then,
just to clear the air."
The younger girl scowled. If T.K. brought that new blonde girl that
he seemed to have fallen for with him to the anniversary celebration, she
might want to do more than just slap him. "Sure. Whatever you say."
~~~~~
T.K. scowled at the phone. If Kari was home, she would either just hang up when she heard his voice, or she would scream at him and hang up without letting him get a word in edgewise. If he got the answering machine, Kari wouldn't even listen to his message.
Jealousy could be a thousand times more stubborn than love. Or maybe that was just in females.
T.K. threw himself back in his chair. She hadn't been this stubborn when they had been kids, had she?
Or maybe love was just blind.
~~~~~
Maia: I think I need more sleep. Or at least muses that don't give me
ideas in the middle of the night and then make me turn on my computer to
write when I'm trying to sleep... Happy Holidays!