Title: Just a Friend (part 4 of 6)
Author: the Black Rose
Pairing: Athrun x Lacus
Fandom: Gundam Seed
Theme: #17, kHz
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed. This fanfiction has no commercial value and I am not making any kind of profit or income off of this story, or the use of characters owned by Sunrise and Bandai.
AN: Sorry, I think this addition seems a little short even though the word count is the same as the last few parts. And yes, this story does keep getting longer... It will be a total of 6 parts + epilogue. I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to write a "side story" (aka "lemon").
Thanks so much for reading! Love, Rose
Just a Friend
Part 4
I closed my eyes. I didn't have to glance that way to see her.
She would be wearing jeans. With her hair down to her waist. Light makeup over her natural beauty, and in the sunlight streaming in the classroom windows, I'd just be able to make out the tiny freckles on her nose and under her eyes (the ones she always tried to hide). Her smile was perfect with teeth that weren't exactly perfectly aligned in the center. I was probably the only one to notice…
-
"Were…" Lacus's fingers untangled themselves and she placed her hands flat – one over the other. "Were you going to leave without saying goodbye?"
She asked the question simply, as if she was interested in what I had for breakfast this morning (cocoa puffs. I know, it's junk food, but my mom wouldn't let me have them when I was a kid. She doesn't have to know…).
She asked it simply, but it wasn't a simple question.
And it wasn't a simple answer. What could I say? The truth? The truth would have been 'yes'. And yet…It's not like I wanted it to be this way.
"Athrun, I—" She began, but was cut off by our Humanities professor and his loud, sarcastic voice bellowing throughout the classroom.
"All right. I know you're all excited to be here, taking the last test of the semester. Try to hold yourselves back as I pass out the exams." The man had a biting wit and a really bad comb-over. Smart, but so incredibly boring.
I guess it could have been the subject matter.
A collective groan rose from my classmates, but it didn't have the heart it usually did.
I glanced up when I heard the test paper slide onto the table.
"Mr. Zala." Professor Azrael sounded like he was sneering. "I think you should be awake for the test."
I nodded. "Yes, sir."
I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. Lacus sat straight in her chair (but only to her neck) with her hands clasped in her lap. Her head was bowed, and her knuckles looked a sickly yellow-white.
I frowned. "Lacus?"
"All right." The professor's voice really could grate on my last nerve.
"Usual rules. No talking. No chewing. If you need a new writing instrument, raise your hand and one will be brought to you. If you leave your chair for any reason, you forfeit any remaining time you have together with your test paper. And it will be sad."
I couldn't hold it in any longer. I muttered under my breath where only she could hear me: "Smart ass."
Professor Azreal said the magic word to start the test: "Begin."
She didn't move.
Her hair had fallen down on her left side – preventing me from seeing her face. "Lacus?" I gently pushed the curtain of hair back over her shoulder.
She looked pale. And she wasn't wearing hermakeup. Dark circles marred the skin under her eyes. "I…I couldn't study."
I had to stop myself from groaning aloud. No talking during tests. Talking equaled cheating as far as professors were concerned. Instead, I breathed. And then the only words that came to mind were: Oh. Shit.
"Is your gra—"
She turned her head just enough to where I couldn't see her face. "I haven't been studying for any of my classes."
I glanced around the room. Professor Smartass was engrossed in something on his desk.
I whispered back and grabbed her left shoulder – to try to turn her back towards me. "You could have called. I—"
"I haven't seen him since that night."
The air in the room froze. I think I stopped breathing. And just somehow didn't die...
-
Only she could twirl around in the moonlight and it seem perfectly natural. Her head tilted up towards the stars and she plopped down on the wooden swing beside me. I finished off the beer in my hand, picked up the next one from the ground, and mentally cursed my damn luck. 'BASTARD.'
"I'm not in love with him." Her voice seemed to float into my ear – and gave me that irrational feeling of hope. Or maybe it was the alcohol…
"It's just…not that kind of passion I imagined when it was love." She sounded wistful. Maybe because I wanted her to sound that way.
"Do you know?"
I shook my head. The buzzing sound outside fluctuated with the movement. I opened my mouth to reply and became a total fucking idiot. "I don't know if anyone feels that kind of passion. My parents have been married for years, but it's not like the way it is in movies."
The wind howled underneath the overhang of the back porch on Dearka's duplex. She moved closer. "Have you ever been in love with someone, Athrun?"
"I…I think so. Yeah. I have."
"Really?"
I glanced down at the beer in my hand.
"What was it like?"
It was like waking up to hell on Earth, every day.
"Come on." She grabbed my arm and scooted closer – probably to keep warm. It was damn cold outside.
"Tell me… What was it like, and when…when did you know?"
"Know what?"
"That you were in love."
I scowled and wondered if I could just drown myself in the beer keg inside. Not drink it, just put my head in the liquid until I could no longer breathe... To end it all right then. "I don't know why it's such a big deal."
"Love is a big deal." Her voice rose and her grip on my arm tightened. When I looked at her, she was glowing in the moonlight – I swear, she was. Silver touched her eyelashes, her cheeks, and if it could have, it would have kissed her lips…The way they shone….
"It's really special." The wind blew her hair up, around her face. I raised a hand to hold it in place.
"I don't think people fall in love that many times in their life."
She glanced up at me, and I realized, then, that my left hand had tucked several pieces of hair behind her ear – and my fingers had continued to trace along the curve of her ear. I thought she might ask me to stop…
"My father only loved my mother." One of us moved towards the other.
"And she's been gone since I was fourteen." Her voice wavered whenever she spoke of her mother. I moved my hand to cup her cheek and wondered what sort of new torture this was to watch her lean in to my touch…
I said the only thing that came to mind: "I'm sorry."