Chapter 9: Because you like me

Rukawa was sitting in a classy but cosy café built like a dome covered with glass panes all around except for the top; its interior lit by warm orange lighting. He was sitting in a booth by the window enjoying the view of busy people below him rushing of to work at 8 in the morning. He had a cup of coffee on the table to his right, and in front of him was the day's paper, open to the sports column. The day was perfect, the atmosphere was perfect. Everything was, to him, perfect, except for the company that he had sitting calmly opposite him, sipping delicately on her cup of cappuccino.

Catching Rukawa's gaze on her, she grinned and clasped her hands together. "Kaede-chan! Thanks for asking me out today. This is such a wonderful place to be spending my off day!" Mia gushed, and you could almost see the glazed over look on her eyes which reminded Rukawa of glazed jelly doughnuts. Speaking of doughnuts, I'm kinda hungry... Rukawa ignored Mia's innocuous chatter and looked to the counter behind him, hoping to catch the attention of a waitress. There was not a person in sight, though, and he stood abruptly, leaving Mia with her mouth open like a goldfish. "Hey!" she sputtered.

Rukawa rolled his eyes. "I'm just going to get something to eat. I'm hungry. Aren't you?"

"I guess so," she twisted her hands together. "But I'd rather not eat, I have got to fit in my bikini this Saturday-"

"Whatever," he made his way to the glass-fronted counter of goodies displayed before him. The cakes and pastries were all gleaming back at him, as if screaming 'eat me!' Wanting something more substantial though, he looked to the top where the boards of the menu decorated in coloured chalk were, and ordered a standard breakfast set which included bacon, eggs, toast and sausages. Feeling a little generous, he ordered a chicken salad for Mia. They had just gotten off work that morning at 5 and headed straight for this café since it opened pretty early, and they haven't had anything to eat since supper which was at 10 last night.

"I ordered a chicken salad for you," he told her, settling back into his seat and took the paper in his hands.

"Oh! Thanks Kaede," Mia blushed demurely. "By the way, what are you going to do for the rest of the day? Not going back to sleep, are you? Your shift tomorrow doesn't start til 7 in the evening." She paused, gauging Rukawa's reaction, which was not much of one. "Um, do you think we could go to this carnival just a few streets away from here?" She looked at Rukawa hopefully.

Rukawa took a gulp of coffee, not used to staying up the whole night without sleeping. If she knew what he was really like, she wouldn't be surprised if he had sprawled out on the table snoring away. "Eh?" he uttered blearily.

"The carnival, Kaede," she reiterated exasperatedly. "I. Want. To. Go. To. The. Carnival."

"Sure." Rukawa replied, barely listening, the words on the paper blurring into a grey mess. The waitress came with their food soon after, and he ordered another latte with an extra shot of espresso. Mia picked at her salad while Rukawa dug into his meal with ferocity.

"Hungry, huh?"

"Mff." Came the muffled reply as he chewed on a mouthful of eggs and bacon.

"The carnival's awfully good, or so I've heard from Keiko. She went with her boyfriend and sat on all the rollercoaster rides. She was all green around the gills when she was talking about them!" she jumped in her seat excitedly. "I want to sit that ride called 'The Tempest' I think. It turns round and round and round..."

"We'll go after this then," Rukawa told her, earning a brilliant smile in return. He had just wanted to shut her up without making much a scene, and that seemed to do the trick. Mia concentrated on finishing her salad and Rukawa polished off the last of his meal and drink, sitting back contentedly. "Are you done?" he gestured at Mia who had just placed her fork by the side of her empty plate. She nodded. "'Kay, let's go," they paid the bill and left for the carnival.

They were greeted by a crowd of middle school kids at the entrance as a 30 something year old woman was shouting something over the pandemonium that was the children. Mia's eyes lighted up as she saw them and squealed in excitement. "Oh look! Kids!" she ran up to the teacher, and grabbed the megaphone from her. "Listen up guys! Please follow instructions and line up in twos right now or you won't be able to go in and play!" When that didn't work, she continued, "I'll buy whoever who listens to me cotton candy if they shut up and line up in 2 seconds! 1!" Before she even uttered '2', the rambunctious students sprang into line with a finger to their lips, a sweet silence setting over them.

Rukawa looked on with his jaw slack, then at Mia, who gave him a wink. As the children filtered in through the gates, the teacher went up to Mia, giving her a most distasteful look. "Bribing the children with candy! Honestly!" the woman shook her head, her large heavy curls swinging about her heavily made up face. Everything about her oozed smuttiness, and Mia scowled.

"Well, I got them to behave, didn't I? And I'm the one buying the candy! It's coming out of my pocket! So piss off already!" Mia waved her aside, and hurried after the children. Rukawa was left behind with the woman, whose eye was twitching. He stepped back as she hurled her head towards him, hissing. "Is that your girlfriend, young man?"

"No." Rukawa said, trying to remain as emotionless as he could, though warning bells were going off like firecrackers in his head. "She's just a colleague from work,"

"That girl is bad news I tell you," her expression changed from disgust as she spoke haughtily to one of a sultry half-lidded look. Her painted full and pouty red lips came near his ear, and he shuddered. "You deserve someone much better," she used a finger to draw a line from his jaw to his chin, eyes twinkling with lust. "Like me," she whispered, gently biting his earlobe.

Rukawa felt himself spontaneously combust as Mia came to the rescue, dragging him after her, his face glowing a bright red. "How could you let her seduce you? I'd thought you had more sense than that!" Mia chided, bopping him on the head.

"I wasn't seduced, do'ahou," Rukawa's eyes slanted into slits, his hands at her throat. "I was just about to lash out at her for touching me when you came along and saved her from what would be her fatal fate!"

"Oh, so I saved her, huh? I was saving you, you idiot! And don't call me do'ahou! Or touch me! Hmph!" she pulled his hands off her neck and stormed away from him in quick, angry strides towards the Ferris wheel. Rukawa sighed haplessly and followed after her, realising that he wasn't acting the gentleman, and took her arm gently.

"Listen. I was wrong. Let's go sit the rollercoaster ok? Ferris wheels are for old fogeys like her," Rukawa said, pointing at the slutty teacher who was busy throwing herself at another unfortunate young man whose eyes were as big as dinner plates, fending her off with a Pooh bear plushie.

Mia cheered up a little and smiled back at him. "Is that the best you could do? I didn't hear a 'sorry'."

Rukawa's lips clamped itself shut in a thin line. "Now you're testing my patience," he joked in a deadpan voice. "Let's just go, alright?"

Mia pouted, but her eyes sparkled nonetheless. "Ok."

They rode on 'The Tempest' which had tons of turns and loops leaving them dizzy and breathless as they gulped in lungfuls of air like it was going out of style, and sat on it 5 more times. On the fifth time though, Mia's face was tinged with green and her hair was sticking out in 20 different directions. Rukawa was not looking much better than her, his hair was as messy as usual, but his face had paled even further than his normally vampirish complexion, his eyes laced with red, giving him a look of a heroin addict.

"I-I can't do this anymore," Mia panted, clutching to the railings as she came down the stairs which were leading to the ride, bonelessly slumping herself against it, throwing up violently in the bushes. Rukawa laughed weakly.

"Wimp," he called her before clutching his hand to his mouth and leaning over the railing the same way she did, throwing up his breakfast in a yellowish mess.

"Ew," Mia giggled, handing over a piece of tissue which he grabbed gratefully and wiped his mouth before crushing it into a ball and throwing it with dead accuracy into the bin on his far right. "Wow. I keep forgetting that you are a basketball player," she mused, looking at him thoughtfully. He squirmed slightly under her rather lazy but thorough appreciative perlustration of him.

"Don't look at me like that. You're just like the other girls," Rukawa muttered, looking away. Only she's not. She makes you uneasy when she stares at you. Not like the fangirls, who just disgust you. Rukawa cursed his inner voice and squelched it like a bug. He glanced to his right, and did a double take as he saw Shizue walking arm in arm with Skye towards them, their faces turned towards each other's as they conversed in hushed tones, interspersed with bouts of giggling by Shizue.

"Mia," Rukawa said, not looking at her, his gaze set on the couple who was just a few meters from them.

"What?" Mia turned to look at Rukawa and spotted Shizue with Skye. "Oh! I messaged them to come earlier this morning! Aren't they the cutest couple?" she grinned up at Rukawa, who looked as impassive as always.

"Couple?" he repeated dumbly.

"Yeah! Skye's been going after her for months. They didn't get together until recently. Actually, they're still not together officially, but who cares! They look happy, and that's all that matters." Mia called out to Shizue, who looked up in surprise, and waved back. Her eyes met Rukawa's cold glare and her smile wavered as she stopped in front of him.

"Hi Kaede," she smiled pleasantly, and looked over at Mia. "She said she was with a date, but I didn't think it'll be you," she said, the fake smile plastered on her face.

"Yeah, well." Rukawa said noncommittally, not wanting to explain further. It was too tedious. He glanced over at Skye, who was wearing the same silly smile as Mia, and nodded at him. "Skye," he greeted, and they shook hands courteously.

"Hey man. So how's 'The Tempest'?" he grinned, looking at Mia and Rukawa's green faces. "That good huh. Wanna sit on it again?" his smile turned impish and he broke into laughter at Mia's excited look.

"Yeah! I could go on for another ten rounds!" she cried, letting go of her grip on Rukawa and latching onto Skye's arm.

Shizue shook her head, and said that she had a headache from the lack of sleep. Rukawa said something along the lines of not wanting to sit on the damned thing ever again, and opted to keep Shizue company. The gregarious duo skipped towards the ride, chattering and laughing along the way.

Rukawa and Shizue walked in silence for a while, before coming to a smoothie stall. "You want a drink?" she asked, taking out her wallet. Rukawa shook his head, his stomach churning as he thought about the milky drinks. Shizue grinned and told him to wait as she joined the queue. She came back with drink in hand and they strode to the nearest bench and sat, looking at the rollercoaster as screams and laughter emitted from it.

"Enjoying yourself so far?" Shizue spoke, tucking an errant strand of sky blue hair behind her ears, looking at him with her piercing violet-blue eyes.

"Was it Skye's place that you went to?" was the first thing that came out of Rukawa's mouth, and he berated himself mentally yet again. "I mean..."

Shizue raised her eyebrow, and shrugged. "Yeah. I went to his place that night. Hadn't anywhere else to go, anyway," she muttered, playing with the straw in her drink. As she twisted it back and forth, she continued, "Besides, this is not the first time I've been going to his place that late at night." She paused, waiting for Rukawa to say something.

Rukawa chose to stay silent, not wanting his mouth to betray his feelings. He wasn't too sure how he should be reacting too. He wasn't even sure if he liked her enough to voice his thoughts against it. Instead he chose to say, "Whatever you think works for you,"

He felt Shizue tense a little, and took a peep at her through the corner of his eye. She looked a little miffed, her lips drawn in a thin line, eyebrows knitted together in a slight frown. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it, then opened it again; and Rukawa commented, "You look like a goldfish doing that," he smiled a little, causing Shizue to look up at him in shock. "Just say it already," he suggested, his smile (however small it is) never leaving his face.

"I-You-uh. That is, you actually think it's alright for me to go to Skye's place that late at night?" Shizue looked somewhat disgruntled.

"Well, he is your boyfriend, is he not?"

"Yeah, I mean, no. Well, he's not. I wasn't even planning on going to his place, but..."

"But?" he prompted.

"But I had no where else to go," she sighed her deep blue eyes looking dull. "My room's been taken by some French chick 'cause I didn't pay rent for the last 3 months. The landlords here aren't as forgiving or understanding."

"So you decided to look for Skye instead of Mia?"

"No! The first person I went to was Mia, but she was living with her parents, and it wasn't nice to impose. Yuka-san and Ryoko-san are living with their boyfriends, so that was out of the option. Skye was my last resort. It's not like he's a bad guy or anything." Shizue looked pained trying to speak up for her workmates. "I'm just not attracted to him romantically."

"You guys seemed pretty chummy, though." Rukawa couldn't help but think that a little jealousy crept out in his tone, and he frowned, hoping that Shizue did not catch that. Oh, but she did.

"You think?" Shizue's lips lifted into a genuine smile, a look that suited her very much, or so Rukawa thought. "Well, now you have it. We're not a couple." She kept her gaze low.

"So where are you staying now?"

"I'm staying with my brother and his girlfriend. He knocked her up and now he's trying to ditch her, but I wouldn't let him. All my money has been going to his girlfriend and him for more than half a year already. He has a drug problem," the girl let out a long breath, and took a cigarette out of her pocket into her mouth, but it was intercepted by Rukawa. She scowled at him. "Don't take away my only source of relief." She snapped, grabbing the stick back from Rukawa and lighting it before he could say anything. "Before you ask why I haven't reported my brother, I only found out that he has been spending my money on Ketamine and Coke a month back. And the girl's baby is due next month," she told him between puffs.

"So that boy who was assaulting you the other day was your brother?" Shizue nodded. "Well, since you haven't got a decent place to stay and all, I was thinking you could stay at my place. With my sister." Rukawa cleared his throat awkwardly and pretended to inspect his nails.

"Live with you?" Shizue nearly snorted out her smoothie. "What makes you think I'll stay with you if I didn't even take up on Skye's offer? I barely know you," she scoffed.

"Because you like me," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world; and Shizue could barely keep herself from punching his lights out with that air of smugness about him.

"I do not like you," she argued half heartedly, her fists still twitching.

"Sure you don't. So when are you moving in?"

"Tomorrow," Shizue replied without thinking, and she could hear Skye's and Mia's voices coming from a mile away. She stood up, trying to muster all the hate she could for the raven haired boy beside her, but failed miserably.