Bakura was sitting on the couch when his father came down the stairs. He looked over the back of the couch as Mr. Ryou came over.
"Ready?" he asked his son.
Bakura nodded and stood up. They headed for the door, grabbing their jackets on the way. His father was having a bit of trouble with his, though. It was lined and he was having a hard time figuring out whether it was inside out or not. Bakura laughed and took it from him. He gave it a few shakes and handed it back to his father.
"See, I knew I had you for a reason," Mr. Ryou said, putting on the jacket. Bakura laughed as they left the house.
They got into the car and Mr. Ryou started the engine. "So, what movie are we going to see?" he asked, looking at Bakura.
Bakura shrugged. "I don't know."
"What's playing?" Mr. Ryou tried again.
"I don't know," Bakura said after a moment of thought.
"You're a teenager and you don't know what's playing in the theater?" his father asked, looking at him briefly.
"Well, the movies change just about every week," Bakura said.
"Weren't you just there with Alex?" Mr. Ryou asked.
"Um... well, yeah, but I can't remember what's there except for the one we don't want to see," Bakura laughed.
"And which one's that?"
"Cabin Fever. It was awful," he said.
"Well, we're not going to that then," Mr. Ryou said, adjusting the rearview mirror.
"There was one called Graveyard Shift. It looked interesting," Bakura said, remembering.
"What's it about?"
"Um... that's a good question. It was based on a book, though," he said, remembering what the poster outside the theater had said.
"Who's book?" his father asked.
"Stephen King, I think."
"Oh, yeah. I've read some of his books," Mr. Ryou said, pulling into the theater.
They got out and looked at the posters, just to be sure Graveyard Shift was the one they wanted to see. They agreed that it was and Mr. Ryou bought the tickets. They entered the theater and took seats near the back so they wouldn't have to strain to see the screen.
As he sat down, Bakura could feel a slight tinge of color work it's way into his cheeks as he remembered sitting in the dark theater with Alex only a few days ago. He breathed, reminding himself that Alex wasn't here now and it might be embarrassing if his father saw him blushing for no apparent reason. The movie started a few minutes later and Bakura was glad for that.
It turned out that Graveyard Shift must have been better as a book because it wasn't a very good movie. It was about an old factory that was overrun with rats and there was a mutant bat in the basement that kept eating people. There was a secret passageway in the basement that led to the mutant bat's "house" if you will. It ended by the hero killing the overgrown thing.
"Well, that wasn't as good as I expected," Mr. Ryou said as they left the theater.
Bakura nodded. "It isn't our week for movies I guess," he said.
"Maybe it's you!" his father said, making Bakura laugh.
They got into the car and Mr. Ryou looked at his son. "Where are we eating?" he asked.
Bakura thought a moment and had to fight not to blush at the idea that came to him. "Um... well, there's Victoria's..." he said, knowing he was pink.
"All right, Victoria's it is. They do have good food," Mr. Ryou said, maneuvering the car onto the road.
Bakura looked out the window to hide the grin he couldn't get off his face. Half of him hoped that Alex would be at the restaurant, but the other half was telling him to be careful what he wished for.
~ If I could say what I want to say,
~ I'd say I wanna' blow you -- away.
~ Be with you every night...
"You're rather quiet today, Bakura," his father said, glancing at his son. "What's on your mind?"
"Um... nothing..." Bakura replied, looking at Mr. Ryou. He knew his father wouldn't tease him if he told him about Alex, but it wasn't the sort of thing he felt comfortable telling people. He knew he'd never hear the end of it from the gang. Why was it that he could feel only friendship for Tea, be completely head over heels for Alex? If things made sense, wouldn't it be the other way around?
His father pulled up at Victoria's a few minutes later and they got out. As they entered the restaurant, Bakura found himself glancing around the restaurant for Alex.
"Are you looking for someone, son?"
Bakura snapped his head to his father and blushed. "No... no, I'm not."
The subject was dropped then because the hostess greeted them. She led them to a table in a different room than Bakura had been in with Alex. He suddenly remembered the waitress they had had and his stomach dropped. That would be the /last/ thing he needed; to have Sam wait on them. Silently praying Sam wasn't on that night, he sat down across from his father.
The hostess set the menus on the table and left to attend new costumers. Mr. Ryou and Bakura picked up their menus, but Bakura's eyes weren't on his menu. They were following the new costumers. He only recognized one of them, but that was all he needed. He immediately felt his face redden as Jade sat down with her male companion a few table away. She didn't notice him and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
"Something wrong?"
Bakura looked at his father, who was watching him with an odd look. "No... I just... I'm fine," he replied, quickly looking at his menu.
This was very odd for Bakura to act like this. Mr. Ryou watched his son's eyes flit over the menu so fast it was very clear he wasn't reading it. His son never usually kept things from him and he was curious about what it was that Bakura felt he had to hide.
Mr. Ryou saw his son's eyes dart quickly over to a table a few yards away, then back to his menu. When he looked where Bakura had, he saw an attractive girl in her early twenties sitting with a young man. She had deep red hair that flowed over her shoulders gently and she was smiling at the man who sat across from her.
Mr. Ryou saw Bakura glance at her a few more times and finally he set down his menu and looked at his son. "Do you know her?" he asked, making Bakura look up nervously.
He looked over at Jade sitting with who he guessed must be Rick. "Um... s-sort of," he stuttered. - It's Jade, not Alex. Get a grip on yourself! -
- Is she one of his teachers? She's attractive, I suppose he could have a crush on her. - "Who is she?" Mr. Ryou questioned lightly.
"Um... Jade. She's Alex's older sister," Bakura replied.
"Oh. Surprised to see her I take it," his father said as a waitress came over.
"Sort of," Bakura said, breathing in relief when the waitress came.
She had blonde hair that was tied back and wore slacks and a green tee shirt. "I'm so sorry it took a little while but we're kind of busy tonight," she said, apologetically.
"That's all right," Mr. Ryou said kindly.
"I'm Cindy, and I'll be your server. I'm kind of new here, so if I fall on my face, feel free to disclaim me as your waitress," she said and Bakura and his father laughed. "What'll you have to drink?"
"Um... coke," Bakura said, making his father look at him in slight surprise.
"Decaf coffee for me," Mr. Ryou said. "Could I get that with regular milk?"
"Sure," Cindy said, jotting it down in her pad. "I'll be back with that in a few minutes."
Bakura went back to his menu to look at what he wanted for his meal, while Mr. Ryou leaned on the table and looked at his son. "Since when do you drink coke?" he asked, confused.
Bakura looked up at his father. "Um... I drink coke all the time with the gang," he said, attempting to look his father in the eye, but failing.
"You're acting very weird, Bakura. What's happening? Is there something I should know?" Mr. Ryou asked.
"No, there's nothing," Bakura said, smiling innocently.
"All right," Mr. Ryou said slowly, looking down at his menu and Bakura went back to his.
Bakura was interrupted however, by someone saying his name.
"Bakura?"
He snapped his head up to see Jade standing over him. "Oh... hi!" he said.
"I didn't expect to see you! It's a shame Alex isn't here. She refused to come to dinner with me and Rick. She's going to regret that, I'm sure," Jade said with a smile.
Bakura blushed, and grinned sheepishly. "Um... yeah... uh... just tell her I said hi. I'll see her in class tomorrow."
Mr. Ryou cleared his throat to catch his son's attention. Bakura looked at him and understood. "Oh! Um... Jade, this is my dad. Dad, this is Alex's sister, Jade."
Jade shook Mr. Ryou's hand and they nodded at each other.
"Nice to meet you," Mr. Ryou said.
"You too. Well, do you want to meet Rick?" Jade asked Bakura.
"Um... sure..." Bakura said slowly, feeling rather embarrassed. He got up and followed Jade to her table.
"Rick, this is Bakura. He's a friend of Alex's," Jade said with a grin.
"Ahh, the famous Bakura. So good to finally put a face to the name," Rick said, shaking the teen's hand.
"Famous?" Bakura asked, going rather red.
"Jade's told me all about you," Rick said as Jade sat down.
"...Oh..." Bakura said, looking at her.
She laughed nervously. "Yeah well, if Alex has a good friend it's kind of big news around our house. She apparently would trust you with her life if she told you about our parents. I take that is how you found out I'm her sister."
"Um... yeah," Bakura said, flattered, but embarrassed none the less.
"Well, I'll let you get back to your father. It was good to see you and I'll be sure to rub this in Alex's face when I get home," Jade said, grinning.
"Um... just telling her I said hi would be fine," he said nervously.
Jade and Rick laughed, making Bakura blush harder. "Well, I'll do that too," she said.
"It was good to meet you," Rick said and Bakura nodded before heading back to his own table.
He sat down and didn't look at his father. Instead, he picked up his menu as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. Mr. Ryou studied him a minute, assessing his son's red face.
"Well, Jade's attractive, isn't she?" Mr. Ryou said finally, attempting to worm something out of his son.
But he surprised his father by looking over at Jade and shrugging. "I guess. But she's too old for me and too young for you," he said, going back to his menu.
- Well it obviously isn't Jade. - It was almost as if a light bulb had gone off over Mr. Ryou's head and he grinned and nodded to himself. He looked down at his menu and casually said, "Well then, it must be Alex that has you the same color as a beet."
Bakura's head snapped up to his father, color surging through his face. "N-no... I don't... I mean... what?" he stuttered, giving his father his answer.
- Bingo. - "I knew something was going on," Mr. Ryou said, looking at his son, who looked like he wanted to crawl under a rock and die. "But I think I met the wrong sister... hmmm?"
"N-no... Alex isn't... I mean I... We're just friends..." Bakura stammered. - Well, there's nothing like obvious, - he thought dryly, frustrated with himself that he couldn't even make a full sentence.
Mr. Ryou raised his hands in surrender style. "I wasn't accusing you of anything, no need to get defensive. Being obvious is always a good policy I say."
"It... I'm not like this around /her/... most of the time she's the one doing the talking..." Bakura said, bright red as Cindy came by the table with their drinks.
"Do you know what you're getting?" she asked them with a smile.
"Um... yeah... I'll have the shrimp alfredo," Bakura said, copying what he had gotten when he had been out with Alex.
"Lasagna sounds good," his father said, looking at the menu one final time.
"All right. I'll get it out as soon as possible," Cindy said as the Ryous handed her their menus.
Bakura was left with nothing to but hold a conversation with his father, something he wasn't sure he wanted to do.
"When'd it start?" Mr. Ryou asked, sipping his coffee.
"Um..." Bakura replied, trying to remember while his face burned. "I... I guess when she was sick," he said, sipping his coke to avoid looking at his father.
Mr. Ryou just chuckled.
- What does that mean? - Bakura thought.
"So, does Jade know?"
"I... don't think so," Bakura replied, wishing his dad would stop interrogating him.
Mr. Ryou grinned, knowing he was making his son uncomfortable. "I thought you were going over to Yugi's today," he said, changing the subject.
"Um... we had to cancel because he had stuff to do," Bakura lied, thankful the subject had been changed.
"Ahh... well, I'm glad. Now I can spend time with you," his father said and Bakura smiled, still slightly red.
Nothing more was said about Alex as the night went on. When they got home, Bakura had to fight with his father about the sink. Mr. Ryou wanted to continue fixing it and wasn't too happy when his son told him that he had called the plumber. But, Bakura managed to convince his father that he knew nothing about plumbing and should let an expert handle it. He reminded his father about the time he tried to fix the toilet...
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
a/n: heh heh... you're just going to have to use your imagination on that one. Well, you know the drill.
"Ready?" he asked his son.
Bakura nodded and stood up. They headed for the door, grabbing their jackets on the way. His father was having a bit of trouble with his, though. It was lined and he was having a hard time figuring out whether it was inside out or not. Bakura laughed and took it from him. He gave it a few shakes and handed it back to his father.
"See, I knew I had you for a reason," Mr. Ryou said, putting on the jacket. Bakura laughed as they left the house.
They got into the car and Mr. Ryou started the engine. "So, what movie are we going to see?" he asked, looking at Bakura.
Bakura shrugged. "I don't know."
"What's playing?" Mr. Ryou tried again.
"I don't know," Bakura said after a moment of thought.
"You're a teenager and you don't know what's playing in the theater?" his father asked, looking at him briefly.
"Well, the movies change just about every week," Bakura said.
"Weren't you just there with Alex?" Mr. Ryou asked.
"Um... well, yeah, but I can't remember what's there except for the one we don't want to see," Bakura laughed.
"And which one's that?"
"Cabin Fever. It was awful," he said.
"Well, we're not going to that then," Mr. Ryou said, adjusting the rearview mirror.
"There was one called Graveyard Shift. It looked interesting," Bakura said, remembering.
"What's it about?"
"Um... that's a good question. It was based on a book, though," he said, remembering what the poster outside the theater had said.
"Who's book?" his father asked.
"Stephen King, I think."
"Oh, yeah. I've read some of his books," Mr. Ryou said, pulling into the theater.
They got out and looked at the posters, just to be sure Graveyard Shift was the one they wanted to see. They agreed that it was and Mr. Ryou bought the tickets. They entered the theater and took seats near the back so they wouldn't have to strain to see the screen.
As he sat down, Bakura could feel a slight tinge of color work it's way into his cheeks as he remembered sitting in the dark theater with Alex only a few days ago. He breathed, reminding himself that Alex wasn't here now and it might be embarrassing if his father saw him blushing for no apparent reason. The movie started a few minutes later and Bakura was glad for that.
It turned out that Graveyard Shift must have been better as a book because it wasn't a very good movie. It was about an old factory that was overrun with rats and there was a mutant bat in the basement that kept eating people. There was a secret passageway in the basement that led to the mutant bat's "house" if you will. It ended by the hero killing the overgrown thing.
"Well, that wasn't as good as I expected," Mr. Ryou said as they left the theater.
Bakura nodded. "It isn't our week for movies I guess," he said.
"Maybe it's you!" his father said, making Bakura laugh.
They got into the car and Mr. Ryou looked at his son. "Where are we eating?" he asked.
Bakura thought a moment and had to fight not to blush at the idea that came to him. "Um... well, there's Victoria's..." he said, knowing he was pink.
"All right, Victoria's it is. They do have good food," Mr. Ryou said, maneuvering the car onto the road.
Bakura looked out the window to hide the grin he couldn't get off his face. Half of him hoped that Alex would be at the restaurant, but the other half was telling him to be careful what he wished for.
~ If I could say what I want to say,
~ I'd say I wanna' blow you -- away.
~ Be with you every night...
"You're rather quiet today, Bakura," his father said, glancing at his son. "What's on your mind?"
"Um... nothing..." Bakura replied, looking at Mr. Ryou. He knew his father wouldn't tease him if he told him about Alex, but it wasn't the sort of thing he felt comfortable telling people. He knew he'd never hear the end of it from the gang. Why was it that he could feel only friendship for Tea, be completely head over heels for Alex? If things made sense, wouldn't it be the other way around?
His father pulled up at Victoria's a few minutes later and they got out. As they entered the restaurant, Bakura found himself glancing around the restaurant for Alex.
"Are you looking for someone, son?"
Bakura snapped his head to his father and blushed. "No... no, I'm not."
The subject was dropped then because the hostess greeted them. She led them to a table in a different room than Bakura had been in with Alex. He suddenly remembered the waitress they had had and his stomach dropped. That would be the /last/ thing he needed; to have Sam wait on them. Silently praying Sam wasn't on that night, he sat down across from his father.
The hostess set the menus on the table and left to attend new costumers. Mr. Ryou and Bakura picked up their menus, but Bakura's eyes weren't on his menu. They were following the new costumers. He only recognized one of them, but that was all he needed. He immediately felt his face redden as Jade sat down with her male companion a few table away. She didn't notice him and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
"Something wrong?"
Bakura looked at his father, who was watching him with an odd look. "No... I just... I'm fine," he replied, quickly looking at his menu.
This was very odd for Bakura to act like this. Mr. Ryou watched his son's eyes flit over the menu so fast it was very clear he wasn't reading it. His son never usually kept things from him and he was curious about what it was that Bakura felt he had to hide.
Mr. Ryou saw his son's eyes dart quickly over to a table a few yards away, then back to his menu. When he looked where Bakura had, he saw an attractive girl in her early twenties sitting with a young man. She had deep red hair that flowed over her shoulders gently and she was smiling at the man who sat across from her.
Mr. Ryou saw Bakura glance at her a few more times and finally he set down his menu and looked at his son. "Do you know her?" he asked, making Bakura look up nervously.
He looked over at Jade sitting with who he guessed must be Rick. "Um... s-sort of," he stuttered. - It's Jade, not Alex. Get a grip on yourself! -
- Is she one of his teachers? She's attractive, I suppose he could have a crush on her. - "Who is she?" Mr. Ryou questioned lightly.
"Um... Jade. She's Alex's older sister," Bakura replied.
"Oh. Surprised to see her I take it," his father said as a waitress came over.
"Sort of," Bakura said, breathing in relief when the waitress came.
She had blonde hair that was tied back and wore slacks and a green tee shirt. "I'm so sorry it took a little while but we're kind of busy tonight," she said, apologetically.
"That's all right," Mr. Ryou said kindly.
"I'm Cindy, and I'll be your server. I'm kind of new here, so if I fall on my face, feel free to disclaim me as your waitress," she said and Bakura and his father laughed. "What'll you have to drink?"
"Um... coke," Bakura said, making his father look at him in slight surprise.
"Decaf coffee for me," Mr. Ryou said. "Could I get that with regular milk?"
"Sure," Cindy said, jotting it down in her pad. "I'll be back with that in a few minutes."
Bakura went back to his menu to look at what he wanted for his meal, while Mr. Ryou leaned on the table and looked at his son. "Since when do you drink coke?" he asked, confused.
Bakura looked up at his father. "Um... I drink coke all the time with the gang," he said, attempting to look his father in the eye, but failing.
"You're acting very weird, Bakura. What's happening? Is there something I should know?" Mr. Ryou asked.
"No, there's nothing," Bakura said, smiling innocently.
"All right," Mr. Ryou said slowly, looking down at his menu and Bakura went back to his.
Bakura was interrupted however, by someone saying his name.
"Bakura?"
He snapped his head up to see Jade standing over him. "Oh... hi!" he said.
"I didn't expect to see you! It's a shame Alex isn't here. She refused to come to dinner with me and Rick. She's going to regret that, I'm sure," Jade said with a smile.
Bakura blushed, and grinned sheepishly. "Um... yeah... uh... just tell her I said hi. I'll see her in class tomorrow."
Mr. Ryou cleared his throat to catch his son's attention. Bakura looked at him and understood. "Oh! Um... Jade, this is my dad. Dad, this is Alex's sister, Jade."
Jade shook Mr. Ryou's hand and they nodded at each other.
"Nice to meet you," Mr. Ryou said.
"You too. Well, do you want to meet Rick?" Jade asked Bakura.
"Um... sure..." Bakura said slowly, feeling rather embarrassed. He got up and followed Jade to her table.
"Rick, this is Bakura. He's a friend of Alex's," Jade said with a grin.
"Ahh, the famous Bakura. So good to finally put a face to the name," Rick said, shaking the teen's hand.
"Famous?" Bakura asked, going rather red.
"Jade's told me all about you," Rick said as Jade sat down.
"...Oh..." Bakura said, looking at her.
She laughed nervously. "Yeah well, if Alex has a good friend it's kind of big news around our house. She apparently would trust you with her life if she told you about our parents. I take that is how you found out I'm her sister."
"Um... yeah," Bakura said, flattered, but embarrassed none the less.
"Well, I'll let you get back to your father. It was good to see you and I'll be sure to rub this in Alex's face when I get home," Jade said, grinning.
"Um... just telling her I said hi would be fine," he said nervously.
Jade and Rick laughed, making Bakura blush harder. "Well, I'll do that too," she said.
"It was good to meet you," Rick said and Bakura nodded before heading back to his own table.
He sat down and didn't look at his father. Instead, he picked up his menu as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. Mr. Ryou studied him a minute, assessing his son's red face.
"Well, Jade's attractive, isn't she?" Mr. Ryou said finally, attempting to worm something out of his son.
But he surprised his father by looking over at Jade and shrugging. "I guess. But she's too old for me and too young for you," he said, going back to his menu.
- Well it obviously isn't Jade. - It was almost as if a light bulb had gone off over Mr. Ryou's head and he grinned and nodded to himself. He looked down at his menu and casually said, "Well then, it must be Alex that has you the same color as a beet."
Bakura's head snapped up to his father, color surging through his face. "N-no... I don't... I mean... what?" he stuttered, giving his father his answer.
- Bingo. - "I knew something was going on," Mr. Ryou said, looking at his son, who looked like he wanted to crawl under a rock and die. "But I think I met the wrong sister... hmmm?"
"N-no... Alex isn't... I mean I... We're just friends..." Bakura stammered. - Well, there's nothing like obvious, - he thought dryly, frustrated with himself that he couldn't even make a full sentence.
Mr. Ryou raised his hands in surrender style. "I wasn't accusing you of anything, no need to get defensive. Being obvious is always a good policy I say."
"It... I'm not like this around /her/... most of the time she's the one doing the talking..." Bakura said, bright red as Cindy came by the table with their drinks.
"Do you know what you're getting?" she asked them with a smile.
"Um... yeah... I'll have the shrimp alfredo," Bakura said, copying what he had gotten when he had been out with Alex.
"Lasagna sounds good," his father said, looking at the menu one final time.
"All right. I'll get it out as soon as possible," Cindy said as the Ryous handed her their menus.
Bakura was left with nothing to but hold a conversation with his father, something he wasn't sure he wanted to do.
"When'd it start?" Mr. Ryou asked, sipping his coffee.
"Um..." Bakura replied, trying to remember while his face burned. "I... I guess when she was sick," he said, sipping his coke to avoid looking at his father.
Mr. Ryou just chuckled.
- What does that mean? - Bakura thought.
"So, does Jade know?"
"I... don't think so," Bakura replied, wishing his dad would stop interrogating him.
Mr. Ryou grinned, knowing he was making his son uncomfortable. "I thought you were going over to Yugi's today," he said, changing the subject.
"Um... we had to cancel because he had stuff to do," Bakura lied, thankful the subject had been changed.
"Ahh... well, I'm glad. Now I can spend time with you," his father said and Bakura smiled, still slightly red.
Nothing more was said about Alex as the night went on. When they got home, Bakura had to fight with his father about the sink. Mr. Ryou wanted to continue fixing it and wasn't too happy when his son told him that he had called the plumber. But, Bakura managed to convince his father that he knew nothing about plumbing and should let an expert handle it. He reminded his father about the time he tried to fix the toilet...
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
a/n: heh heh... you're just going to have to use your imagination on that one. Well, you know the drill.