Auther's Notes: Washa! Two chapters in one day! I guess I don't really have much to say (kinda already said it in last chapters notes…) After all of this- I'm putting up four total chapters –I'll be pretty wiped out. Fortunately I've got quite a few ideas simmering: two full story outlines have been written, as well as half of 3 different chapters. hoo Yesyes, lots of work for me…
As always, I hope you enjoy it. And, if this leaves you wanting more, you could take a look at the OTHER fic I'm putting up D
Coupling: Anzu x Yugi (and yet again, my favorite couple)
---
HOT SUMMER DAYS
By: NightmareDreams
---
-Chapter 5:
The Almost Perfect Meal
Ask almost any kid, and they'll promptly tell you their favorite season- Summer! And what's not to love? Long sunny days adorn the time of year, which, coupled with no school, make to offer plenty of time to do a seemingly endless number of things. For little kids, it's a time to run barefoot around the neighborhood, scraping your knees, getting dirty, climbing trees, jumping through the cold blast of water from peoples' sprinklers, drinking ice cold lemonade and eating cookies that your mother makes, riding your bike and loosing complete track of time on mindless and pointless adventures; adventures who's only end is dictated by parents calling for their kids to come home for the night. But then, the next morning, you can be sure that the kids are back out, picking right back up where they left off the day before.
As the kids get older, the summer offers the same reprieve, but takes on a different purpose. Instead of running rampant in the sunshine, most opt to sleep in, get up around noon, and then be out with friends until late. Rather then riding bikes and jumping through sprinklers they drive aimlessly around with friends, just crewsing to crews, with trips to the local pool or the beach, sometimes getting a boat and enjoying any number of extreme water sports. For them, it offers lazy afternoons of mall crawling or just lounging around at home, with late nights of movies, pizzas and parties; all of this, of course, baring a summer job.
Even for parents it can be a relaxing time. With more summer camps than could ever be counted, parents have all kinds of ways to get rid of their kids for a week or two at a time, from Boy and Girl Scout camps, to sports camps, to Church Camps, Youth Group camps and infinitely more. Unfortunately for them, though, work doesn't end like school does, leaving some to gaze longingly out at the forget-me-not blue sky and fluffy white clouds that float amidst it, both calling alluringly to people, promising fun afternoons and tranquil evenings.
Families go on picnics, spreading out the checkered blankets and munching on sandwiches, chips and cold slices of watermelon. They have big barbeques, inviting over friends; the smell of burgers, hot dogs, barbequed pork and chicken, steaks and ribs permeating the entire neighborhood with their intoxicatingly delicious smell. They go on vacations, visiting relatives in other states, or hitting expensive resorts, enjoying time off from their jobs. It can all feel like a big weekend that lasts three months- three months of beautiful weather, lazy teenagers, frantically excited kids, getting together with friends and just plain old enjoying life.
Such a day did Anzu look out into, standing beside her second-story window, the brilliant sunlight shining in, making her dazzling blue eyes sparkle. Her mind lay on the boy that she loved.. The boy she had been friends with since before kindergarten; the boy that had always been there for her; the boy that had secretly loved her, but didn't say anything for so long as not to make her uncomfortable. The boy she had liked back, but had been so blind to over a crush for someone else; the boy she had had to hurt before she realized just how much he mattered.
As she looked out at the tree that sat beside her window that he had climbed to see her countless times, she remembered the day before… She never would have guessed that Yugi, so deceptively innocent looking, could so overwhelm her body with ecstasy, leaving her shaky and weak, barely able to speak afterwards. What a way to start the morning, though.. Their little steamy shower session had been simply incredible, taking every ounce of energy they had out of them, leaving them with nothing but love for the other.
After taking a nap with each other, they spent the rest of the day hanging out, watching TV, talking, and just plain snuggling one another. It was hard for her to believe, but even after everything that had happened that day, when she went home she still wanted him… Standing here even now she couldn't help but feel a little aroused.
Turning from the window she glanced over at her bed-side table, checking the green digital readout of her clock- 1:12 P.M.
'Yeah… He'd be back at the Game Shop from lunch by now…' Anzu thought to herself.
Strolling towards the little side-table, she reached down and picked up the black cordless phone from its base beside her clock, quickly punching in the Game Shop number, then waiting. It rang only twice before she heard the line be picked up and a cheerful voice answered-
"Game Shop, this is Yugi."
Anzu smiled as she plopped down on her bed.
"Hi Yugi," she said, laying her head back on her pillow.
Yugi recognized her voice immediately and a big grin cracked out over his face. Yami, who he had just been talking to, waved goodbye to his Aibou, and went back into his own Soul Room to give Yugi some privacy.
"Oh hi Anzu," he replied happily. "How ya doin'?"
"Good. Got up at like, eleven… I had an early lunch and then watched MTV for a bit. What're you up to?" she inquired.
"Meh, I've been here since nine.. Well, except for lunch. Got back from that like twenty minutes ago… Oof… I'm full…" Yugi responded, clutching his stomach.
Anzu chuckled.
"What'd you have?" she asked.
"Nngh, I just popped down to that burger place down the street. What'd you eat?" he replied.
"I had some left over pizza," Anzu said, shrugging.
Yugi yawned largely, stretching, his eyes watering up slightly.
"Did you sleep well last night?" Anzu asked slyly, grinning mischievously.
On the other end Yugi blushed, laughing nervously.
"P-pretty good… My mom had to pound on the door for a long time just to get me to wake up… She asked me if I was feeling well, with sleeping so hard an' all…" Yugi ended, his voice giving a small waver.
Anzu smiled broadly, giggling.
"I think we had good reason to be tired…" Anzu said playfully. "I didn't think I'd be as sleepy as I was, you know, with the nap an' all, but… God, when I laid down, I was out…"
Yugi laughed too.
"Yeah.. that was awesome…" he mused out loud.
"Yeah…" Anzu agreed. "So.. when do you get off from work?"
"Well… The store doesn't close until ten tonight, but I think my Grandpa said he'd be back at seven, and I could leave. He's still at that convention thing… 'member?"
"Yeah. Isn't that why you got off work yesterday?" Anzu asked.
"Yeah.. I tried to convince him to let me off today too, since he wouldn't be back until late, but he said no…" Yugi said, sighing.
"So… umm.. wanna come over after that? Like, seven thirty?" Anzu suggested, "Maybe eat something and watch a movie?"
"Ooo, I'd love to!" Yugi replied enthusiastically.
"Good. It's a date then," Anzu, smiling.
Yugi suddenly fell silent, the last line catching him off guard and making his cheeks twinge pink.
"Umm… uhh… Cool…" Yugi stuttered.
Anzu laughed. If she didn't know him as well as she did, she might have been put off by this, but she knew it was just Yugi's shyness. She couldn't imagine a single other boy that, after everything that they'd done together, would still get embarrassed at the mention of a date, except Yugi…
But he did.
And she loved it.
Just then, Anzu heard a bell jingle on Yugi's end, followed by what sounded like kids chattering.
"Awww, we just got some customers. I have to take care of 'em, so I'll have to let you go…" Yugi said sadly.
"That's okay. See you tonight though?" Anzu replied.
Yugi laughed softly.
"Yup, seven thirty," he said cheerfully.
"Cool. Well, I'm gonna get stuff ready. Bye! Love you," Anzu said, flashing a grin even though no one could see it.
At the last two words Yugi blushed again, smiling also.
"I.. love you too. Bye."
Anzu waited a moment to hear Yugi's end be hung up before clicking the 'Talk' button, her phone giving an accepting beep and hanging up. Setting her phone back on its base she turned around, biting her lip as she thought.
Seemingly making up her mind, she started to walk from her room, catching a glimpse of herself in her mirror and realizing she had yet to change from her sleep clothes: a small, light pink t-shirt matched with very soft and fluffy darker-pink sleep pants. Taking a few quick steps she reached out and grabbed the handles of her dresser, sliding it open and inspecting the drawer's contents before picking out her favorite pair of jeans and a shirt. After carefully pulling off her sleep clothes and tossing them in a heap on the floor, she slipped into her jeans and tugged the shirt- a sky blue 'T', with two buttons near the collar that she always left open -over her head.
She ran her fingers through her hair before tucking a couple locks of it behind her ear as she walked from her room, trotting carefully down the stairs, and crossing the living room. Pulling on her sandals, Anzu opened the door and stepped out, tugging it closed behind her, then continuing towards sidewalk, strolling amidst the wonderful mid-afternoon summer atmosphere- the sun seemingly smiling at her, the trees blowing gently in the wind as if waving hello and the flowers doing nothing more then prettying-up the world.
Anzu smiled as she walked along the sidewalk, enjoying the beautiful weather. Down a couple of blocks she strode, turning once, and then continuing towards her destination. Twenty minutes or so later she crossed a busy street and walked inside a building- a movie rental place. It was a fairly big store, the whole front of which was windows looking out onto the street. A big checkout counter sat between the Entrance and Exit doors with two nerdy looking teens sitting lazily behind it, the TV's around the room flashing previews for videos and games all in unison. The place was lit well by the fluorescent lights that were embedded in the drop-down ceiling along with the speakers, the air conditioning making the air inside pleasantly cooler then that outside.
Shelves and shelves of videos stood around the room, rigid like soldiers. Glancing around, Anzu could see a few people's heads poking up here and there along with a couple kids who were chattering excitedly by the video game station.
As she approached the front desk, neither of the two nerds sitting behind it put down their magazines.
"Hi- hope you're doing good today," one of them said, his eyes only just flicking up from the article on Spyware he was reading.
As soon as he did though, he did a double take, dropping the magazine to the floor and punching his buddy.
"Ouch.. God! What was that for?" he replied.
Anzu didn't notice anything past the first guy's greeting, dropping a quick, absentminded 'Hey,' and continuing towards the 'New Releases' section. The two attendants stared at her as she walked on, checking her out, their mouths hanging open stupidly. The one who had said 'Hi' arched his eyebrows as he looked back at his friend, quickly standing up and moving from behind the counter.
Anzu approached the wall with the new releases, glancing over the different genres- comedy, action, romance, horror and whatnot. Crossing her arms for a moment, she thought on which to get.
"Can I help you?" the nerdy attendant asked, startling Anzu and causing her to jump slightly.
"No, I'm okay, thanks though," Anzu replied politely.
The guy faltered for a moment.
"Anything at all? Like, to find something? Or…?" he continued.
"No, no I'm fine," Anzu reiterated.
"Oh.. ok.. umm… yeah…" the guy stuttered. "Well.. uhh.. if you need anything, I'll be.. I'll be around. I work here…" he added quickly.
Anzu suppressed a giggle, turning to face him.
"Alright, thanks."
"Yup, uhh.. no problem…" the boy said before turning around and walking right into one of the shelves. His face flushed crimson and he practically ran the rest of the way to the counter.
Anzu laughed, shaking her head softly.
"Smooth move," the guy's buddy whispered to him.
"Shut up!"
Anzu browsed the section over a couple times more before she made her final pick- a horror and a comedy –and made her way back to the counter. The guy who had approached her was busy at the other register with another customer so his buddy rung her up.
"Did you-" his voice cracked severely, causing him to pause, cough, and then resume, "-you find everything alright?"
Anzu bit her lip, trying not to laugh as the guy blushed, and simply nodded her response. The guy hit a few more buttons on the register, staring intently at the ground, before he said anything again.
"That will be three eighteen," he said, using a little tool to take the lock off of the plastic case and then running it over a demagnetizer to disable the alarm-trigger.
Anzu reached in her pocket, pulled out a five and dropped it onto the counter. The guy opened the register, dropped the bill in, pulled out her change-
"A dollar eighty-two."
-and bagged her movies.
"Have a nice-" his voice cracked again, badly, "-day…"
Anzu scooped the change into her pocket, grabbed the bag with her movies and then started to walk out.
"You too," she said, grinning before she pushed the door open and walked out.
The first guy walked over to his buddy who was still blushing.
"Nice.."
"Screw you!"
---
Half an hour later Anzu was walking back into her room, tossing the rented DVD's on her bed. She glanced around her room, setting things up in her mind. Deciding on what to do, she turned on her heel and walked out and down the hall, stopping in front of the closet and opening it. From it she retrieved a card table and two chairs, carrying both back to her room and setting them up. After that she walked downstairs and into the living room, going to the entertainment center and disconnecting the DVD player.
On here way out of the room, DVD player tucked under her arm, she noticed the vase that sat on the coffee table in the middle of the room, which still held the two roses Yugi had given her a couple nights before. She smiled as she saw them, quickly reaching down on her way by and scooping the glass container up and taking it with her.
Anzu continued going about getting ready- getting a table cloth, plates and silverware, candles and plenty of things to get her room ready for that evening. When she had gotten it all done and set up it was still only a little after three, leaving her with plenty of time.
'Suppose I can take a really long bath and then do… something… before getting ready' Anzu thought, wondering how to occupy the fours hours she had.
Letting out a long sigh Anzu walked from her room and into bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
---
All day long, Yugi's head was in the clouds. The afternoon dragged on, made only longer by the fact that few other customers showed up past the few that had interrupted his phone call with Anzu, leaving the boy with plenty of time to think wistfully on the events that the evening did hold. His eyes would dart to the circular clock that hung behind the counter time and time again. Every time that he could have sworn that half an hour had gone by he was dismayed to see it had only been a few minutes.
He did everything he could think of: he swept the floor, vacuumed, Windex-ed the windows and squeegee-d them dry, re-arranged and restacked the displays, dusted the counters and all the shelves, re-ordered all the boxes of booster packs and cards behind the counter to be in order of release dates and still it was barely past five o'clock…
Even Yami, who had come out of his Soul Room after sensing that Yugi was done with his phone call, ran out of things to talk about with his Aibou, and had fallen silent. Yugi had told him, of course, what the call was about (even though Yami would never have asked) and Yami had been very happy for his littler half. He grinned as he felt Yugi's building excitement and thought again in vain to think of something else to talk about.
'At least now something good is on TV…' Yugi said to Yami, glancing up at the television, which, despite how much he insisted to his Grandpa should be hooked up to the Satellite, only had regular network channels.
Yugi slumped forward on the counter, resting his head on his hand as he watch the TV with only half-interest, really wanting nothing more then to leave now and surprise Anzu early…
'Hurry up, Grandpa…' Yugi thought wishfully.
---
Anzu had soaked in the tub until the water was annoyingly chilly before she had gotten out. She brushed her teeth and dried her hair before she went back into her room, clad only in her towel. The brunette girl merely put her sleep clothes back on- she didn't feel like getting dressed for that evening already –before looking her room over and still feeling everything was perfect…
With nothing else to do she sat down at the computer in her room and booted it up, watching as the screen flickered to life. There she sat, surfing the web, checking and sending e-mail, chatting with a few friends over Instant Messenger, but basically just killing time- she was really looking forward to this evening.
It was a little after six-fifteen before she heard her mom get up. Anzu heard a knock at her door and looked over to see her mother opening it and poking her brunette-head into her room.
"Mmm.. Morning sweetheart."
Anzu laughed.
"Maybe eight hours ago," Anzu replied, smiling.
Mrs. Masaki grinned back- even after working the night shift for a year she still thought it was morning whenever she woke up… She yawned broadly before scanning the room.
"Planning something tonight?" she asked her daughter.
Anzu blushed- no one else knew that she and Yugi were going out; not even her mom. Yeah, she had seen her daughter with her head on Yugi's shoulder, but they had been friends since… well, for a long time, so she hadn't thought anything of it. Never would have Mrs. Masaki imagined that those two would go out.
"Uhh… not really…" Anzu said, thinking quickly. "Jounouchi has to go to this formal dinner thing.. and he wasn't sure how to act and stuff, so.. me and Yugi said we'd teach him," she lied.
"And you… would know how to do this yourself… how?" her mom asked.
"I'm looking it up online right now. Jou wouldn't shut up about it.. so.. that's the only reason why I agreed to it," Anzu added, trying to make her last-minute cover story sound legit.
"Only two plates?" Mrs. Masaki noticed, looking questioningly at her daughter.
"He... has a date to it.." Anzu lied again.
Anzu's mom thought it all over for a sec, not entirely believing her daughter. But, she thought to herself, why would she lie? Concluding that, even if her daughter was lying, it wasn't anything she needed to worry about, Mrs. Masaki let it be.
"Well, I have to leave in like half an hour so I better get ready. You have… fun… I guess," she finished.
Anzu nodded, smiled, and waved as her mother walked out of her room, shutting the door behind her. With her mom gone, Anzu let out a small sigh of relief…
'I can't believe she bought that…' Anzu thought to herself.
There wasn't really too much of a reason to lie, Anzu thought… More then anything she just didn't want to tell her mom she was going out with Yugi. Not because she was ashamed of it or anything, more so she didn't want any stupid, intrusive questions from her mom.. Plus, she thought on, if her mom knew about them, she might not be so lenient on how much she let Yugi over and how much she let them alone with one another…
Anzu spent the time that her mother was getting ready with actually reading up on table manners stuff, just incase her mom had some pop quiz or something… A little over a half an hour later, Mrs. Masaki popped back in Anzu's room to say goodbye before leaving. Anzu bid her mother goodnight and then waited a few minutes until she was sure her mom was gone before getting offline and grabbing the phone.
Dialing the phone number of a local Chinese Delivery, Anzu quickly placed an order, giving the lady on the other end her address and asking for the food to please be delivered as close to seven-thirty as possible. When she was done, she hung up the phone and dashed into the bathroom to get ready, a smile adorning her face.
---
Yugi looked anxiously at the clock- 6:57. He could hardly wait. He watched in agony as the last three minutes crept by, torturously slow. When the hands on the clock finally told him that it was seven o'clock, he let out a whoop of joy and bolted for the backroom to get his stuff together so he could leave.
He had just thrown his coat on when the phone suddenly rang.
'God… Why does some one decide to call me now?' Yugi thought to himself, swiftly picking the up the receiver.
"Hello, Game Shop, this is Yugi."
"Hi Yugi, this is Grandpa."
Yugi was suddenly perplexed… Why was his Grandfather calling him?
"Grandpa.. how are you calling me? I didn't think you had a cell phone," Yugi said.
"No no, I don't. I'm still at the convention- I won an advanced shipment on the newest booster set of Duel Monsters! They won't be released for another month, but we're getting a full shipment and display- for free! They said they would just send them to me, but I wanted to get them right away, so I decided to stay," Yugi's Grandpa went on.
"But Grandpa.." Yugi interrupted, "That would make you still over two hours away!"
"Well… yes… That's why I'm calling. I need you to finish out the shift for me and stay 'til ten."
Yugi was appalled.
"But I already have plans with… my friends! I can't cancel!" Yugi protested.
"I'm sorry Yugi, but you're going to have to. This doesn't usually happen and I really need you to do this. I'll be back later tonight- please tell your mom so she doesn't worry."
Yugi was silent with anger towards his Grandfather, but mostly huge disappointment with his date with Anzu getting ruined...
"Bye Yugi."
"Bye Grandpa…"
With that, Yugi hung up the phone, standing in silence for a moment. In that instance, Yami appeared beside his littler half, frowning, feeling his partner's pain.
"I'm sorry, Aibou…" Yami said comfortingly…
Yugi only sighed.
"I better call Anzu…" he said, his voice sounding depressed.
Picking the phone back up he dialed Anzu's number. It rang a few times before he heard it be picked up.
"Hi! Masaki Residence!" Yugi heard Anzu say quite cheerfully.
"Hi Anzu," Yugi said, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice.
On the other end, Anzu perked up upon hearing Yugi's voice.
"Hi Yugi!" she said. "Is… something wrong?" she added, picking up on his tone.
"I-… I'm REALLY sorry Anzu… but…" Yugi began.
"What is it?" Anzu asked.
"My Grandpa.. he won some stuff for the Game Shop, but he decided to stay and pick it up… Because of that, he won't get back 'til late tonight.. and he's making me close up…"
Anzu's heart sank.
"I won't get off until ten… I'm so soo soooooo sorry…" Yugi said, feeling worse for Anzu then for himself.
"No… It's okay… I understand…" Anzu said, trying to be considerate of the fact that Yugi had no control over this.
"No… it's not okay… I swear I'll make this up to you.. I feel so bad…" Yugi continued.
"It's not your fault- you can't control your Grandpa… Just… come over when you can…" Anzu said, leaning against the wall.
Yugi was surprised… He didn't think she'd still want him to come over.
"Okay, I will. I promise," Yugi said.
---
The two had talked for only a little bit more on the phone before saying goodbye- both were really sad and didn't much feel like talking at the moment. As soon as ten o'clock hit Yugi raced out of the Game Shop and straight to Anzu's house. It wasn't but a little past ten-fifteen when Yugi was climbing the tree outside Anzu's window, gasping for breath from running the whole way.
Reaching the branch level with Anzu's room, Yugi noticed she had left the window open a crack for him. He carefully crawled to the edge of the branch and onto the windowsill, opening the glass further and entering the girl's room.
"Yugi," Yami said to his Aibou, "Take off the Millennium Puzzle… Put it on the desk there."
Yugi was about to argue back, but instead said okay, saying goodnight to Yami before removing the golden puzzle from around his neck.
Looking around the room only made Yugi feel worse- Anzu had done a terrific job setting everything up… The table was covered in a white table cloth, the crystal vase holding all three roses he had given her sitting on it.. The Chinese food sat, still in their store-supplied containers, amidst the plates and silverware. The TV was on, but silent, and he saw the DVD player connected to it, the two rented DVD's sitting on top. The room's lights were off, but the space was plenty lit, from both the flickering light of the television but more so from the candles that glowed romantically all around the room.
Finally, Yugi spotted Anzu lying asleep atop her bed; she had fallen asleep waiting for him.. She hadn't even eaten…
His heart hurt him as looked at the beautiful scene that Anzu had worked so hard to create. Walking over to her, he gently sat down on the bed, carefully brushing some of her hair out of her face, softly waking her up. Anzu's eyes flickered open and focused on Yugi.
"Oh… Hi Yugi…" she said slowly, yawning afterwards.
"Everything… looks beautiful…" Yugi said, looking intently back at her.
Anzu smiled softly.
"Thanks…" she replied.
"I am really really sorry…" Yugi started again. "I promise.. I promise I'll make this up to you…"
Anzu continued to smile up at him.
"It's alright… I forgive you… Besides, I'm glad you're here now…" she added sleepily, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him to the bed.
Yugi lay beside her and wrapped his arms back around her.
"Can I…" he whispered, "Sleep here with you?"
Anzu looked at him and grinned.
"I'd love it if you did…"
Yugi smiled back at her, pulling her a little closer. He felt as Anzu laid her head against his chest and watched her close her eyes, deciding not to say anything.
Listening to Yugi's slow, rhythmic heartbeat, it only took Anzu a few minutes to fall back asleep; hugging tightly the boy she loved. In that moment, she didn't care that she had worked hard all afternoon for nothing… That he had missed their date… All that mattered was that he loved her, and she loved him, and that she was with him now.
"I love you…" was the last thing that Anzu heard, as Yugi whispered it softly into her ear.
'I love you too…' she thought, but was already too close to sleep to say.
And with that, Anzu fell into a dreamy sleep. It wasn't long before Yugi too was dropping off.. The candle-light gave the room a warm, comfy glow.. and nothing was better, he thought, then being able to sleep with this girl.
A small breeze fluttered through the open window as Yugi's eyes closed, caressing the two lovers, and causing the candles to flicker. The night may not have turned out like either one of them planned, but it was still good. Yeah.. still good.
---
The End
---
Sorry about there being no lemon. But if you just read chapter 4… Well, I probably would have wanted one, but I don't know if anyone else could stand any more As always, PLEASE R&R. It's such a wonderful ego stroke.
--NightmareDreams