Certainties Chapter 2, a rugrats/all grown up! fanfic

Certainties

an All Grown Up fan fiction story

by Lord Akiyama

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Chapter Two

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She was the first to make a move, slowly raising her quivering right hand so that the tip of her fingers touched her lips. Her eyes broke away from his, looking down at her hand wondering if any form of visual evidence of their kiss was present. Of course, she was a girl and he was a guy and guys generally don't wear lipstick. It would be the girls. But there was no need to wear one on this night. It was supposed to be a little celebration of his getting a driver's license. She wasn't expecting anything like this. Looking back into his eyes, he apparently wasn't expecting this either.

"I..." Tommy managed to mutter. He couldn't bring himself to say anything more.

Silence once again fell upon them. Neither one daring to move a muscle, unsure if anything they did would result in some sort of offense to the other. Something eventually had to happen. Moments later, she took a chance.

"D-Did..." Kimi began to say. "Um... D-Did... I mean... D-Do you know... who, um... who..."

"Oh..." Tommy managed to say, getting a good idea where she was going. "Um... I, um... I... really dunno, actually... yeah, um... yeah."

"Yeah..." Kimi said, giving off a nervous smile just as he was. They both glanced their eyes away in different directions, not really sure if they could look at the other and speak properly. "That, um... That was... was a bit... un... un..." She didn't quite know what exactly to say as she began to feel that whatever came out of her mouth would have some sort of meaning. And she didn't want to give him the wrong impression. "That was... was a bit... a bit un... unexpected..."

"Y-Yeah..." Tommy responded. "Yeah... a bit... a bit unexpected... yeah..."

Silence returned, their eyes still averted from each other. As the moments passed, she began to tighten her hug upon the plush doggy. The feeling of her acquired possession caused her to take a good look at it. She won it because of him. He encouraged her to play, taught her how the play. And the result was this plush doggy she was increasingly holding dear to her. Very slowly, she brought her eyes to him. He was doing the same.

"Tommy?" Kimi managed to say. She took a deep breath, think about what she wanted to say next. "Do... Do you still... think of me... as a friend?"

He ran a free hand through his head, hoping that he would come up with the appropriate words to say. "I..." Tommy began to mutter. "I think... I think I think of you as... a friend... and more." His entire bodily function come to a complete halt as he awaited for her to responded for good or ill.

"Really?" Kimi replied, quite surprised at what she had just heard. She watched him sheepishly nod his head. "Oh wow..." she quietly added. She then began to wonder if he could see the blush she felt forming on her cheeks.

"It's just, well..." Tommy began to say, already beginning to stumble upon the words he was trying to say. "Um... you know. While we were playing skee ball, and stuff... you know. Um... well. If..." He stopped himself from further self embarrassment as he took a deep breath and thought about what to say next. "If you don't feel the same way, then... then I'll pull back, you know. And we'll just... well... we'll just be friends who accidentally..." His voice began to trail off.

"Yeah... I know what you're saying..." Kimi responded, her cheeks getting a lot warmer than it was before. "Um... well..." She brought her free hand up to her head and ran it through her hair. For a split second, she thought she could feel her sweating. She took another deep breath. "Boy, this is tough..." Kimi quietly said to herself, not knowing if she was audible for him to hear. "Guys tells you he likes you and you can't find something to say that you like him right back."

"Y-You feel the same?" Tommy muttered is surprise.

"Oh!" Kimi cried. If he didn't see her blushing before, it was more evident then ever. With her free hand, she covered as much of her cheeks as she could. But it was almost futile to despite that he heard her say that he liked him. She began to think for a moment for something else to say in response. Taking a deep breath, she knew what to say. "Well... I think I think of you as a friend and more, too."

"Wow..." Tommy muttered silently. "When, um... When did you start feeling the same?"

"P-Probably around the same time as you..." Kimi replied sheepishly. "Um... When you were teaching me how to play skee ball." Her blushing began to fade a little, but she knew it was still there.

He began to chuckle nervously as he threw his arm back to scratch his neck from behind. "Man, who would've thought?" Tommy spoke aloud. "Friends for fifteen years and all of a sudden we dunno how to talk to each other after a kiss."

"Yeah, really..." Kimi giggled along with just as much nervousness. "Interesting how amongst eight friends, the two of us would develop some that was more than just being friends amongst one another." As they continued to lightly laugh along, a sudden though came over her that caused her blushing to disappear completely. "But... but what if this feeling of ours suddenly fades away just as we get started?"

This took him by surprise. "You're already having doubts?" Tommy asked, unsure if that was the right thing to say.

"Oh, no, no, I didn't mean that," Kimi quickly replied. But then she stopped herself short. "Well... I guess you can say I'm a little worried. You know, our having been friends pretty much all our lives."

He took a minute to think about what she said and immediately understood. "Oh, yeah..." Tommy said. "Yeah, I can see where you're going. Because we've been friends since we were babies that maybe we're thinking that we should take the next step beyond friendship when we've really misinterpreted our feelings."

"Yeah, pretty much," Kimi sighed. "I mean, I like you very much, Tommy. But suppose this feeling we have for each other was just some sort of aberration. We could end up hurting each other's feelings because we thought we were in love when we actually weren't."

"I wouldn't wanna do that to you," Tommy said.

"Neither would I to you," Kimi responded. "But we really have to be sure of ourselves if we really wanna take that next step past friendship." She sounded very wounded and afraid, realizing that this mixture of feelings was as much for him as it was for her.

He took a deep breath as he thought about the whole situation. "Well..." Tommy began to say. "Hmmm... Well, maybe we could try something out."

"What do you mean?" Kimi asked in confusion with a raised brow.

"Well, let's see if these feelings really are an aberration," Tommy said. "Let's wait a while. No dating, no flirting. Just continue to be friends and nothing more. If we don't hold the same feelings afterward, then we know that we weren't meant to take that next step together. But if we both still have these feelings, then maybe we could give it a shot."

She looked at him strangely, unsure of what exactly he was proposing. After thinking about it, everything he said began to make sense. And she agree. "Alright," Kimi said. "I'm up for that. But how long should we wait?"

"How about a month?" Tommy suggested with a shrug.

"Hmmm..." Kimi thought aloud. "I get the feeling that's a little too long. I mean, suppose we both really do have feelings for each other, but we're only ten days into this thing. I dunno about you, but I know I'd be going stir-crazy."

"Yeah, I'd probably do the same," Tommy said. "Hmmm... if not a month, how about two weeks?"

"I figured the same," Kimi said. "Although... Oh, I dunno. This'll probably sound crazy. Well... Perhaps we could make it just a week."

"A week?" Tommy curiously repeated. "Sounds a bit short, don't you think."

"Or maybe I have a little confidence in this whole thing," Kimi responded with a smile.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Tommy asked, not sure of where exactly she was going at.

"Ask me that question again in a week and I'll tell you," Kimi replied with a gentle laugh.

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They thought about dropping her off at The Java Lava, but she said she was tired and wanted to head home. They did pass by the shop to see how everyone was doing. Sure was a packed house for a night in which it was closed to the public. So the only person who would be home was her mother.

He stopped the car next to the front lawn of the house. They each took separate deep breaths and looked at one another. They smiled before she unbuckled herself, opened the door and stepped out. After closing the door, she turned and rested her arms on the window frame to take a good look at him.

"Even though that one week thing is on," Kimi began to say, "I still wanna thank you again for letting me be part of your celebration." They each gave a light laughter.

"Hey, the least I can do for a friend," Tommy said.

After a quiet moment of just look at one another, she sighed while retaining her smile and gently pushed herself to a standing position. "Catch you later, Tommy Pickles," Kimi said, turning to make her way to the house after giving him a wave and one more wide smile.

"Night, Kimi," Tommy called back as he watched her head toward the front door. Once she was inside, he took a deep sigh and turned his attention back to the road. He turned the ignition and slowly drove off.

"One week..." Tommy quietly said to himself aloud.

She took a deep breath once she was inside, leaning against the door after closing it. So many things were swirling in her head. She really needed to lie down on her bed, maybe even take an early nap. No matter that it was 10:30 and she normally stays up beyond midnight on Saturdays. She gently pushed herself off the door and made her way to the stairs.

"Konbanwa, Kimi-chan!" Kira called. She was resting comfortably on the couch, watching some television when she heard her daughter walk through the door.

"Moshimoshi, okaasan!" Kimi responded to her mother.

"How was the celebration?" Kira asked.

"It was fun," Kimi replied without skipping a beat. She had been mentally practicing what she was going to say if anyone asked about the evening. Of course, the only thing that needed to be discarded for the moment was what happened after she won the plush doggy. Speaking of which. "Look what I won!"

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"So how'd yer celebration go, bro?" Dil asked as he peeked his head through the door, not bothering to knock.

"Pretty good," Tommy exhaled, sounding as tired as he could be. He immediately flopped onto his bed the minute he got home and said a few hellos and good nights to his parents.

"So whatcha see?" Dil pressed.

"House of Flying Daggers," Tommy replied.

"No way!" Dil cried. "You saw a Ziyi Zhang flick without the rest of the guys? Ah man, if I had known we were gonna see that for when you passed the driver's test I'd never had pulled that stunt on Angelica. I have to wait two weeks to able to watch a movie. And it might not be there then."

"Well, that's your tough lost," Tommy said, slowly closing his eyes. The brothers would usually stay up past one before hitting the sack. But after tonight, he was just plain tired and doubt he'd function past eleven. "Think I'll turn in early."

"Must've been some date with Kimi, huh?" Dil asked jokingly.

He knew it was meant as a mocking joke. He just hoped his response would come off as the older brother annoyed at his siblings attempts at making him feel embarrassed. "Dylan!" Tommy groaned with frustration.

"Kidding, kidding," Dil responded. "I'll let you get yer beauty sleep, bro. Night." The younger brother snickered before he closed the door.

He sighed as he released all his weight onto the bed. His response to the last question must've worked. But he still had to make it through tomorrow should the others press for information.

"One week..." Tommy whispered before turning off the lamp by his bed.

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After having slipped into her night clothes, she took another deep breath before gently placing herself upon her bed. She had just slipped underneath the sheets and was about to turn out the lights when a pair of knocks were heard.

"Who is it?" Kimi asked in a tired tone.

"It's your brother," the voice from behind the door said.

She sighed as she thought about whether or not she wanted to talk to him tonight. "Come on in," Kimi said, "but make it quick. I'm pretty pooped out tonight."

The door opened slowly, causing the metallic hinges to creek as her brother poked his head through with that familiar nervous smile of his. "Oh, and I supposed pulling an all-nighter for a bunch of jocks isn't as tiresome as some little celebration for someone who got his license," Chuckie said.

"Place yourself in my shoes and you'll see just how tiring it can be," Kimi responded.

"Then let's hear it," Chuckie said. How did she not know he was going to press for details. "Whatcha guys do tonight that the rest of us had to miss out?"

"Saw a movie, ate some dinner, and hung out in the arcade until the mall closed," Kimi said without skipping a beat. She then put on a smile as she picked up the plush doggy. "It may have been a celebration for Tommy, but I got myself a neat prize at the end of the day."

"Super," Chuckie laughed. "You must've played a lot of those ticket games to get that."

"Well, you guys always preferred the video games where the reward is just having a high score over the ticket games in which you can actually win something," Kimi responded with a giggle.

"You have no idea how competitive Dil and Phil are at those high score games," Chuckie continued to laugh. "Especially at skee ball. I dunno how Tommy was able to talk them into playing that game. Never was any good at it, myself." She wasn't sure if he was going to press any more until she watched him cover his mouth with one hand and yawn. "Well, I might as well turn in myself. Glad to know you had fun tonight. At least one of us did. Night, Kimi."

"Night, Chuckie," Kimi said before he closed the door.

After listening for a moment to hear if he was still hanging around, she sighed deeply and feel back onto her pillow. After staring at the ceiling for a moment, she brought the plush doggy into her view and stared at it. Regardless of what happened after one week, getting this definitely meant something. She gently brought it down so as to hug it against her chest and closed her worried eyes.

"One week..." she sighed. And then she turned out the light.

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October 6, 2005