Chapter Two: First Date

The sun on the island began to fade into hiding as it set. Purple darkness creeped up over the orange and yellow, making a beautiful scene for anyone who was watching the light fade away. Akemi, however, was too busy with something else to watch as the colors began to mix and slowly transform into the starry night sky.

She was making dinner for the first time.

Her mother was there to watch her, making sure she wouldn't burn down their petite island home. Akemi barely even let her do that, for she wanted to do this all by herself with no help whatsoever. It was a bold move for a girl who had not clue what she was doing with a pot or stove. She filled the pot 3/4 with water, then placed it on one of the front metal stove-top burners. She turned the knob to ignite the gas stove, and the burner on the back right ignited. She covered her mistake quickly by placing the pot of water on the already heated burner. If her mother caught that she didn't even know what knob was which, she would be out of that kitchen faster than Sora would be when he raided the refrigerator.

"Alright," she said to herself while reaching for the cookbook she borrowed. The book was already open to the recipe she was using, and she glanced at the instruction marked number 2.

STEP 2: Before placing the lobster in the pot, make sure the water is boiling. While waiting, take out two sticks of butter and 2 lemons to prepare the dipping sauce. Step 3 will instruct the chef how to prepare the sauce.

Akemi looked down at the cookbook again. This is going to be easy, she thought to herself. The "sauce"- which is actually melted butter with a few herb seasonings- was easy enough. She turned on another burner, and began to melt the butter in a small pan. As the butter started to spatter from the heat, she began to add chopped up chives into the butter. A fourth of the lemon she squeezed in as well, 'giving the sauce a citric kick' as the book put it. So the sauce was finished, and she turned off the burner so that it wouldn't burn to a crisp.

Now for the lobster.

She stuck her head over the pot, looking in at the steamy water. Then it hit her; she didn't know what boiling water looked like. She stared hard at the clear and unmoving liquid, checking for any hints that it was ready for the lobsters. Unfortunately, she didn't know what those indicators were.

"Umm, Mom?"

"What is it, Akemi?"

"When do you know the water is boiling?" Akemi asked.

"Let me take a look, honey."

"No!" Akemi screamed. Her mothers face became stern, but she did not scold her daughter.

"Fine. When you start to see it bubble rapidly is when you should place the lobsters in."

Akemi looked back at the pot of water. Just as her blue eyes focused on the liquid, two giants water bubbles popped right in front of her face just missing her by millimeters. She jolted back away from the stove, and fell backwards onto the tiled floor. Her mother came to her in a hurry, practically suffocating her child with embarrassment.

"Mom...stop!" Akemi whined.

They both heard a knock on the door. Akemi's heart could have stopped just then. She knew exactly who was going to be there. She knew that her lobster was not even finished yet. Yet what she knew the most was that she had little time to fix any mistakes that may occur tonight, because Riku was waiting on the other side of that door.

Sora bolted down the stairs from his room screaming, "I'll get it!"

Akemi could have kissed her brother at that moment. She was too nervous to even take one more step near that door. She dreaded that everything would go wrong with this date, and that Riku would dump her for being so catastrophic. Everything went in slow motion as the wooden front door opened, and she saw Riku. She took in his appearance, his bright yellow tank was replaced by a black collared dress-shirt. Akemi could have sworn she had only seen him wear it when his mother made him dress up for the holidays. She could see his normal dark navy pants covered by the bright blue. Anyone who stared into Riku's eyes would have seen his normal expression, devoid of emotion or worry. Akemi took this as a bad sign for the beginning of the date.

Time went from being bizarrely slow to lightspeed as she heard her mother yell for her in the kitchen. She hurried to see that her mother was tending to her dinner.

"Get away from there, Mom!" She nudged her mother out of the way, and looked into the pot. She blinked a few times, then turned to her mother.

"Are they done?"

Her mother gave her a sympathetic look, blue eyes showing her love for her little girl. She walked over to the pot and stared inside, then she nodded. Akemi reached for the potholders on the right side of the oven and pulled the pot off of the burner. Dinner was ready.

"Akemi," her mother whispered in her ear, "Why don't you go get dressed up nice for your first date while I set up the food and the plates?"

Time was still moving fast, and Akemi bolted up the stairs, not saying a word to her guest waiting in the living room.

Inside her room, she examined the endless amount of outfits that filled her small closet. There were dresses, shorts, and bathingsuits galore, but she couldn't find one that she thought would knock Riku out of his nonchalant demeanor. Unsatisfied with her clothes inside of the closet to examine, she proceeded to pull every one of her outfits out. T-shirts, blouses, shorts, pants, dresses, and skirts were all over her room; and she tip-toed through small areas of floor to get a decent look at all of her wardrobe. She began to wipe her sweaty palms on her jean shorts. Nothing had prepared her at all for this. Looking around for the tenth time, she decided that a black outfit would be best. After all, Riku was wearing black as well.

She dressed quickly in a black tank-top and black pair of shorts. It was the best she could do, because her house was always at a warm temperature and she didn't want to explain sweat rings to her new boyfriend. She pulled her brown hair into a black hair-tie, and proceeded to descend the stairs to her impending doom. Or at least that is what she thought as she passed the third step and fell on her butt; riding the rest of the stairs on her rear-end. The whole household heard the stuttering as she went down stair by stair.

"Ow-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w!"

She came to a halt on the end of the staircase on the hardwood floor. She could already feel the bruises forming as Riku and Sora ran up to her. Sora helped her up, laughing hysterically at his older sister. Akemi looked at Riku as he grasped her other hand. His emotionless face was now adorned with his usual smirk, and- even though she had known him for years- she couldn't tell what he was thinking. It bothered her immensely.

Riku didn't speak to her as he led her into the dining room. The lobsters were ready and waiting. They sat down in the seats, Riku taking the one across from Akemi. She averted her eyes from him, focusing on the floral centerpiece instead. Her palms were still very sweaty. Soon everyone was eating dinner and enjoying themselves, except for Akemi. Her sweaty hands made her fumble with her silverware. She kept dropping her lobster into the butter, and each time she would have trouble digging the seafood out with her fork. She was too nervous to make eye contact with Riku, and he was just as quiet as she was.

I wonder what he's thinking,she thought while stealing a quick glance at his eyes. I bet he doesn't want to be with me anymore, he's probably so mad that I dragged him into this stupid date. Maybe he doesn't even like lobster! I should've asked Sora or something. Maybe we should have ordered pizza. Ohhh, why am I so nervous about him? I've known him since I was a baby! I know all of his weird habits, and yet I can't read him tonight. There must be something I did wrong.

Akemi was so caught up in her thoughts that she ignored her sweaty hands that began to fumble with her lobster fork. She began to turn the fork faster and faster in her hands, intertwining the utensil faster and faster through her fingers. Then she lost her grip. The lobster fork went flying straight towards Riku, and he ducked just in time for the fork to imbed itself into the wall.

Her eyes grew wide as she realized what had happened. She almost killed her boyfriend!

Poor Riku!

Sora was laughing again as he looked at his sister, then back at his friend. Riku started to laugh as well. Akemi was too embarrassed to laugh, and she left the table to hide in her room.

As she entered, she kicked around her clothes on the floor in frustration and threw herself on her bed. Her face had to be more red than when she received her first sunburn at the age of 5. Wallowing in her minor misery, Akemi heard a soft knock on the door. It creaked as it opened to reveal Riku standing in the doorway. His face only showed a hint of concern, but it was enough for Akemi to run to him in tears for a hug.

He held her tight and whispered into her ear, " Why are you so emotional?"

She sniffed, "I wanted this to be good, I wanted it to be romantic."

"Here, sit down."

Riku led Akemi to her bed, and they both sat next to each other. A thoughtful look was plastered on Riku's face, as if he was contemplating something. After only moments he spoke up to Akemi, looking deep into her eyes to make her feel slightly uncomfortable. The bright aqua gaze still showed no sign of emotion to let Akemi know what he was thinking.

"Why did you plan this?" He asked her, his tone calm and soothing.

Akemi was still mentally criticizing herself for making such a mess of things. She twisted his words into more criticism as she began to cry silently. Riku's arm landed on her shoulder opposite of him, making him pull her close to his own. He waited a few more moments for Akemi to settle down, then he spoke again.

"I didn't mean to make you cry. I'm sorry. I just wanted to know why you planned a dinner of all things. It's just unlike what we usually do together."

Akemi sniffled a few times, attempting to hold back the mucus threatening to pour out of her nose. She spoke softly, her voice breaking every now and then through her cries.

"I wanted it to be special, something to remember. You are always romantic, and I wanted my turn to do something for you."

Riku used his other hand to wipe away the tears she had shed. Akemi averted her eyes from his, concentrating hard on the ugliest outfit she had ever owned lying on the floor in front of her. It was not as tormenting as staring into her boyfriend's eyes that moment. She felt idiotic for making such a fool of herself in front of him and her family.

He wasted little time to attempt to console her. His free hand lifted her chin up so that she was staring at him face-to-face, and he pressed his lips lightly against hers. Her thoughts melted away in that moment. She let her loving emotions take over as she kissed him back, letting him know that his efforts were not in vain. As their lips parted ways, Akemi smiled slightly at the silver-haired boy. He smirked back, giving her shoulder a slight squeeze.

"Just being with you is great, Akemi. I don't think it is any different than when we were friends, is it? There's just more kissing, which I like by the way." His smirk surfaced again.

"Don't you think it means more though? I don't think we were meant to be just friends."

"I don't either," he continued, "but what we have grew on friendship. We liked each other for who we were and we became closer because of it. I don't want that meaning to change into insecurity and awkward dates with each other."

Akemi laughed, finally letting go of her bitter self-ridicule. "You're right. I'm sorry about this, maybe we should stick to things that don't involve silverware."

"I was just about to say that!" He told her as she let out another giggle.

Things started to feel better between the both of them as they sat on the bed chatting. Akemi started to feel like she knew him again, and she loved every little tidbit she knew about her closest friend. The way he would defend himself with sarcasm, yet say something entirely sincere when it meant the most. His obsession with competition, yet his nobility to do what's right when the time comes. She knew that he cared about her as well. That he loved her quirky little habits and self-conscious worries.

Moments like these could not be forgotten.

Author's Note: I think I did pretty well on the length of this, let me know with some good reviews! I would like it if you guys gave me some pointers or something. I mean pointers, though.

Not like this- "I like your story, but put more RikuXOC romance!" To be perfectly honest, it irks me. That's a plot suggestion, and as I've grown in writing I believe that I know exactly what ideas I would like to use and how to tell the story. The writing aspect is what I would really like critiques on.

Thanks for reading.