Ichiro's part
Haruka called at eight that night. Mom wasn't worried yet, though it was always only a matter of time after seeing her blaze off in that convertible until she started to look panicked and distressed and debating on whether she should call the hospital or not. So Haruka called, it was very responsible of her. But Mom didn't have to put the call on speakerphone so I could listen too.
I didn't want to hear that, I didn't want to know that they were calling from bed, or as was later revealed, from a blanket on the floor in front of a fire. And they were sated, I could tell because my ex-fiancée was making my sister giggle as she tried to speak. Giggle! I have never heard Haruka giggle in her life! I could not imagine it, my perfect, calm, poised ex-fiancée was making my strong, hurt, angry sister giggle. Even thinking of my beautiful ex-fiancée wrapped in a blanket- well, that was the problem, I couldn't think of her like that. I had only ever seen her perfectly in control except for the few minutes this morning when she totally lost control. But thinking of her as natural, not perfect, not breaking down, and touching my sister… I just can't see her like that.
She said that she was moving in with Michiru in her house on the peninsula and there was only a bare scattering of furniture and things now, but they had called for take-out, built a fire and located a blanket, and now they were going to live happily ever after. I have never hated my sister this much.
She's always had an easier time of attracting women than me, but she never, ever went after a woman I was dating. I didn't know she could. Her type of women and my type of women were different? Weren't they? How could Michiru…? How could she lead me on like that! Did she know she…? She slept with my sister while she was engaged to me!
Mom shut off the speakerphone and hugged me. I had missed the last few minutes.
"They're coming over for dinner on Monday. It was terribly rude of Michiru to flee before lunch, wasn't it?" I winced. She hugged me tighter. "I knew she wasn't right for you, darling, the moment I met her. She's too guarded, you're not a guarded person and you shouldn't have to deal with that. You need someone who's more open. She's just a young girl who's been hurt. Haruka-chan… that's what the music meant, Haruka-chan can touch that hurt and maybe make it better."
"But mom, how could she do this to me? How could she get engaged to me if she knew she was… like that."
"Ichiro-kun, it's not that easy. You don't always know. And sometimes people spend their whole lives pretending to be something they're not. Michiru is a child who was told that it was impossible to feel that way forever; that she had to become normal sometime. And some people do, some girls have crushes on their friends and then grow up to fall in love with a young handsome man like you. But you never thought Haruka would grow out of it, did you?"
"You can grow out of it?"
"Or into it, people change, feelings change. And Michiru might have been happy with you, if she hadn't found exactly what she was looking for."
"So you're saying that Haruka is Michiru's… soulmate?"
"Oh don't be silly and old fashioned, they just fit, that's all, they're the right fit."
"But what about me?"
My mom swatted my head. "Michiru liked you, but you should have known that she wasn't crazy about you. She never confided in you; she never flirted with you."
"What are you talking about? She flirted-"
"Not in the blatantly sexual way she did with Haruka-chan. You should have heard them at tea; it was hilarious. There was this delicious riff on violins and hickies. And then you should have seen Michiru put lip-gloss on Haruka. It was … sexual." She grinned; I winced.
I still couldn't deal with the way everything had turned on its head. I had been happy that everyone was telling me how well my fiancée was getting along with my sister, but I hadn't seen it. they were always bickering, except when Haruka had been so angry at dinner. I had never seen her angry like that. But they weren't in love. Wouldn't I have been able to tell?
………..
Monday night came far too quickly. I didn't know what to expect. I couldn't see them together. She was so relaxed and poised, and Haruka, how could someone so perfect be with her? She wasn't ever very good at being a girl and when she was a boy she was wild, tough, always proving her self.
Mom called to me when the doorbell rang. She was busy getting dinner together and told me to go get the door. It was an informal dinner. I was in my khaki shorts and a polo shirt. I didn't know what to expect when I opened the door, but it wasn't what I saw.
Haruka wasn't dressed as a boy or a girl. She was wearing pants and a short-sleeved dress shirt open over a black tube top. Her hair was clipped back and there was a definite hint of lip-gloss around. Her head was bent and she was teasing Michiru who was on her arm. Michiru was a shock. She was wearing a sun hat, a green t-shirt with 'wanton squirrel' printed on it, canvas Capri's and funky black sandals. And she was laughing. I was dumbfounded, she was beautiful and she was laughing. I thought I had seen her laugh, made her laugh, but she hadn't laughed like this. She hadn't looked as utterly happy as she did now. And it hit me, it hurt. I didn't want to believe that she could actually love my sister.
She looked at me with that smile, and then it fell, and she looked at me, and I could see the guilt in her eyes and I finally believed what my mom had told me, I finally believed she hadn't meant to hurt me. And I loved her.
I looked at Haruka and she was scared. She had never been scared of me. She was still defiant, but that jutted chin and wide open frown just showed how easy it would be for me to hurt her. And I loved her too.
I stepped forward and hugged them both. I could see what my mom had said, how they just fit, but they both fit in my arms.
