Thinking of Lita
"I've never seen him like this. And I've known him since I
was six years old! The poor guy." Darien, and Serena were
sitting with Andrew as he moaned and swayed to the nonexisting
wind in the arcade.
"Andrew, come on. You'll find another girl."
"I won't"
"She'll be even prettier"
"She won't"
"You'll love her even more and she'll love you too."
"We won't"
"O.k Andrew, snap out of it. I happen to know that your
vocabulary expands much further than your letting on."
"Darien, I just had my heart ripped out of my chest,
thrown on the floor, stomped on, beaten with a club, stabbed...
"O.k! I'm sorry. I know that you must feel horrible right
now. But Andrew, you knew that this might happen."
"I did NOT! She promised me that she would not even
think about another guy! I know that if she would just come up
here for a little while, she would fall back in love with me and
everything would be perfect, and I would forgive her, and, and,
and that will never happen will it?" Serena decided to try her
hand at comforting their old friend.
"No, Andrew. It won't. But you know what? This is a good
thing. If this hadn't of happened you two might have realized
that you weren't made for each other after you were married,
then where would you be? Huh? Andrew take some time to heal.
Your heart may be battle worn, but it is not out of the war of
love yet. You could have any girl in this arcade, and you know
it. Rita was a great girl, but she was a fool for letting such a
wonderful guy like you get away. You're a prince and any girl
would give their right arm to have a guy like you. You're the
most caring guy I've ever met. And even I had a crush on you,
before I fell in love with Darien that is.
"Maybe you're right. You know, I did have clues to tell me
that this wasn't right. I just never listened to them."
"Like what?"
"Like when we went into a restaurant she always wanted a
table, and I always wanted a booth, we had agreed to alternate,
but every time she would blow up at me when I sat in a booth,
and then we'd have to go to the tables. I know that sounds
stupid, but shouldn't everything be equal?"
"Absolutely, Andrew. And I bet as time passes you'll find
more and more things that should have said that this girl isn't
the one for you."
"Thanks guys." Just then all the girls walked in. Serena
rushed over to warn them.
"Girls, Andrew's going threw a tough time right now, so we
shouldn't bother him." Lita got a worried look on her face.
"What's wrong with him?"
"Rita just called from Africa. She found someone new. She
dumped him. He's taking it pretty hard." Once again Lita was the
one to respond
"That's horrible! They were so in love." She looked over
at Andrew with a look of concern.
"Lita, I thought you'd be happy. After all, you do have a
major crush on him."
"Serena, yes I like Andrew. But I like him enough to not
want him to be in pain." Serena saw the sincerity in Lita's
face. All the girls walked to different spots in the arcade.
Lita went over to Andrew.
"Hi Andrew. Are you o.k?"
"I'll be fine Lita, thanks for your concern."
"O.k, but if you need to talk I'm here. I know exactly
what your going through. It's happened to me." She turned to
walk away but heard Andrew behind her say..
"When? Want to talk about it." Lita turned around and saw
pleading in Andrew's eyes. He needed someone who new the pain
that he felt. Serena and Darien (to his knowledge) didn't know
the pain at all. Darien took Lita's coming back as his cue to
leave. Lita sat down where Darien had been sitting. She told
Andrew about Freddie. And how Ken was the only one who she could
turn to.
"Sounds like you two care about each other a lot."
"Yeah, he's found the love of his life now. I'm way
jealous."
"Of her, or him?"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you love Ken?"
"As a brother, but nothing more. Ya see, I've know him
since I was in diapers, so I tend to think of him more as a
brother. I could never love my brother like that, and he really
loves his girl."
"That's a nice setup. I miss Rita so much. Even more now
that I know she won't be coming back to me, ever."
"I know it hurts. You probably feel like you just had your
heart ripped out of your chest, thrown on the floor, stomped on,
beaten with a club, stabbed..."
"Exactly. Thank you Lita. You're a great friend."
"You too Andrew. Now, if you don't mind I have to go job
searching."
"Job searching?"
"Yeah, I live on my own, my parents died. I've been able
to live off of saved money, but I really need to get a job if I
want to keep on eating, not to mention collage."
"Lita, I think I can repay your favor."
"What favor?"
"You just made me feel 65 better. And now I'm going to
offer you a job. Well, I have to talk to my boss first, but I
know the arcade needs to hire another person to work part time,
so I think I can get you in."
"Will I work with you?"
"I work full time, but I'm sure our shifts will over lap
at some point."
"Yeay! Andrew your the best!" Lita gave Andrew a big hug
then ran to tell her friends. Andrew couldn't help but notice
that she smelled of a fresh spring shower. He brushed the
thought off. Darien came over to talk to him.
"That's a really nice thing your doing for her."
"Not as nice as what she did for me. After talking to her
I feel a lot better. Must be because I don't feel like I'm the
only one who's been hurt and is now left with no one to love."
The next day when the girls came into the arcade after
school. Andrew came over seeming much more...Andrew. He smiled
and said hi to everyone. They all just said hi back and left,
not wanting to upset him by saying something wrong. Andrew went
up to Lita and started to talk about the job.
"Hey, Lita. I talked to my boss about you working here.
He's coming in to meet you today. Don't worry you're a shoe in
for sure. You'll be working the shift after school with me. So
after school you can just come in and work for about four hours
then go home. Lucky, I have to stay for eight hours."
"Andrew you're the greatest. I can't thank you enough. Now
not only do I have a great job, but I get to see my friends ever
day too. And I get to work with you."
"You'll be working at the diner section of the arcade.
That's usually where Serena is now anyways."
"Oh, so that's why their hiring, because they need someone
to work the new diner."
The diner is actually just a long counter with stools
surrounded by video games. The arcade now more than ever is
Serena's favorite place to be.
"Yup, oh, here's Mr. Lundi. (whispering) Good-luck. Sir, I
would like you to meet Lita Kino. She's been coming to the
arcade ever since she moved here."
"Hello sir."
"Well it's nice to meet you Lita. I can't talk long, so if
my best employee Andrew says your great than so do I. You can
start tomorrow." With that he took off out the door.
"Huh? Well, I hope all jobs are this easy to get." Andrew
started laughing. His boss was a very...hurried man. Andrew
showed Lita the ropes, and taught her all she needed to survive
the world that is the crown arcade. The next day Lita walked in
wearing her school uniform. She had a brown bag in her hand and
was smiling like she was on her way to the beach rather than to
work. She asked Andrew were the bathroom was so she could go
change. Andrew was talking to some girl, helping her on the ever
popular sailor V game.
"Move left, now jump, shoot." Andrew heard Lita come out
of the bathroom and turned to see her in a very form fitting
sweater and a pair of newly washed jeans. His breath caught in
his chest. 'Hey, she looks great! I've never seen her out of her
school uniform. Andrew, stop thinking like that. The only girl
for you is Rita, even if she doesn't realize it.'
"Hey Andrew. Whatcha lookin' at?"
"Huh, um, nothing. Ready for your first day?"
"Yup, I'm going over to serve at the diner now." Lita went
over and took the order of a little boy. As she was giving him
his ice cream cone Serena walked in with the other girls and
Darien.
"Here you go. Enjoy. Hey guys!"
"Hey Lita. So hows it going. How'd you get here so fast.
You must have ran the whole way."
"I..uh."
Andrew walked over holding a white apron.
"Here ya go Lita. Fraid you'll have to wear this."
"That's o.k. I'm used to wearing aprons anyway."
"That's right you're a cook. Then the diner is an even
better place for you to work. Even if it is only just serving
ice cream out of a machine, and cake from a store." Andrew and
Lita seemed to have forgotten that everyone else was around.
"The cake is from a store. What store?"
"Just the supermarket. Why?"
"That will never do. Tell me the kinds of cakes you want
and I'll make them tonight. I'll make extra to last through the
rest of the week."
"Are you sure Lita? I don't want to burden you."
"No burden at all. I'd be making something else tonight
anyway. As I've said before I live to cook, and bake."
"Great, our cake sales haven't been the greatest, now we
can put up a sign saying "home made"."
"Yup, and I'll teach you how to keep the cakes fresh all
week."
"HELLO! We're still heeeeeaaaaaaaaaar." Said Serena,
wanting her ice cream.
"Oh, hi guys I didn't see you come in." Andrew said and
Darien just gave him a strange look.
"Wonder why."
Andrew went off to the Racing games where some kid was
kicking the machine.
"Seems Andrew's getting over Rita faster than expected."
Mina said slyly.
"Poor guy's taking it very well. But you can tell he's
still hurting." Lita looked over to where Andrew was with a sad
look on her face. Then she caught everyone looking at her
looking at him and she quickly spun around and turned up the
radio. She started wiping off the cabinet while singing to
herself. It was an upbeat song so she couldn't help but swing
her hips and tap her foot. Andrew looked up from the troublesome
kid, with the iron foot, and saw Lita moving seductively to the
music. He stopped mid-sentence and stared at her with his jaw
agape. Lita's back was to Andrew, so she didn't notice the
attention she was getting. Serena and Darien, on the other hand
noticed right away. They looked from Andrew to Lita then to each
other. They nodded in agreement that Andrew was a lost puppy for
the second time in two days.
"He sure doesn't seem to be in mourning anymore."
"Ya know, Andrew once told me that out of all the girls he
thought Lita was the prettiest. I shrugged it off thinking that
he was just missing Rita and Lita does look a bit like Rita, not
to mention their names are almost identical."
Without warning Lita spun around and caught sight of
Andrew in his dazed state of mind. They looked at each other
neither knowing what to do. Then, a furious blush rose in the
both of them and they each wurrled around pretending nothing had
happened. But both of them knew that something had indeed
happened. In fact they both felt that spark of emotion, maybe
even something more had run through each of them, causing them
to shiver at the new feeling.
'What was that? I couldn't be falling for Lita. Could I?
No! I love Rita, and someday she'll come back to me. But, I
never had a feeling like that run through me when Rita and I
used to steal glances at each other. Why? This must be some kind
of recoding thing. Yeah, that's it. Hope Darien didn't see
that.'
'Lita! Don't let your crush run away from you. Andrew will
never in a million years fall for you. You're just kidding
yourself. Sigh, I can feel another heart break coming on. Only
this time I won't have even gone out with the guy. What am I
going to do?'
"Lita! Earth to Lita!"
"Huh, Oh sorry. I just got tied up thinking about..this
months rent."
"Well, I want ice cream."
"Yeah, I'm hungry too." Raye and Serena both wined.
"O.k, what can I get ya?" While The girls were deciding
over ice cream Darien decided to take a little strole over to
Andrew. He knew exactly what to do.
"So Andy, what's new?"
"Nothin', you?"
"I happened to have caught a glimpse of what just happened
back there. So, you falling for Lita?"
"What, are you crazy. The only one for me is Rita."
"Rita's gone pal. I feel really bad about it, but you have
an even better girl right in front of your face, and you can't
see her. Or can you?
"But I don't want anymore stupid little dating games. I'm
ready to find my true love."
"And who's to say Lita isn't your true love."
"DARIEN! THINK ABOUT IT!"
"Man, you don't think about love. I learned that the hard
way. You just have to follow your heart."
"That got me no where. Besides, I'm still in the healing
process."
"No your not. Don't even try to hand me that crap. When
your still in love with some one after you break up, you can't
even think of another girl. I know you've been thinking of Lita.
Besides that can you honestly tell me that even when you where
going out with Rita you didn't think of Lita at all. "
"Well, maybe I noticed that she's really nice to everyone,
and she's got a great body, and her hair smells like a spring
rain."
"You noticed her hair smelled like rain when you were
going out with Rita?"
"Well, actually I found that out yesterday."
"Man, you got it worse than I thought."
"Well, I guess Lita is a great girl."
"Yum yum. This ice cream is the best, Lita."
"Glad you like it." Mina looked up from her cake to talk
to Lita.
"So Lita, how's things going working with Andrew?"
"What do you mean? I just started, anyway."
"I just mean you're really lucky to work with your crush."
"Andrew's great. But he's still getting over Rita, and I
dont' want to make my move just yet."
"Just yet?" Amy and Raye both chimed in.
"I uh..just mean that he's hurting. I know what he's going
through, and I don't even think he should be considering ANY
other girls."
"You're a really caring person, ya know that Lita."
"Thanks."
RING
RING
RING
"I'll get it." Lita ran over to the phone. A woman's voice
greeted her.
"Hello, Crown Arcade."
"Hello, is Andrew there. This is Rita from Africa."
"Oh! Hold on a sec."
"Lita put down the phone and ran to get Andrew."
"Andrew! It's Rita!"
"Really?Hello Rita?"
"Hi Andrew. I know I'm the last person you probably want
to talk to right now, but I need to talk to someone."
"What's wrong?"
"The guy that I told you about dumped me. I don't
understand what happened. He said he met someone else. Oh,
Andrew I feel so horrible."
"Shhhhhh. It'll be o.k. I know things are rough right now.
Things will turn out for the best, just give it time Lita."
"Lita?"
"Huh? I mean Rita."
"Andrew? Have you replaced me already?"
"No! I mean, I don't know. I'm so confused."
"Lita, I know who that is. She's a nice girl, one of
Serena's friends. She's very pretty."
"Yeah, I can't stop thinking about her, and I know this is
a bad time to be saying this to you, but Darien made me realize
that I thought about her even before we broke up. I was just so
into you that I pushed the thoughts behind me. I don't know what
to do."
"Andrew, I knew you thought of Lita, and I knew she
thought of you. I saw you staring at her more than once. I don't
even think you realized it. She's always looking at you. At
times I thought I was just getting in the way of the two of you.
I guess I was right."
"No, Rita. Don't say that. I'm glad that our relationship
happened."
"Andrew, do you love Lita?"
"I hardly know her, Rita."
"Then I suggest you get to know her. And as for me, I'm
SINGLE BABY! I'm going to hit the town. Bye"
"Bye...That was weird."
Later that day Lita was about to go home when Andrew
stopped her right outside the doors.
"Hey, Lita, why don't I give you a ride home. I get off
work early today."
"Sure, if it's not out of your way."
"Nah."
Lita and Andrew rode along is silence for a good five
minutes.
'I have to get to know her. I have this weird feeling
about her, I just can't explain. Maybe I can ask her to do
something as friends'
"Hey Lita, I'm starved wanna catcha bite to eat with me?"
"Um, sure you should be going somewhere with a girl so
soon. Someone might see you and think that you ditched Rita."
"So what if they do. And besides, we're just friends
right?"
"Right."
'Was that a bit of disappointment in her voice? I can only
hope.'
"So where we heading?"
"How bout that knew It alien place?"
"Sounds great." 'O.k Lita, just calm down. So what if he's
taking you to dinner. He's just being nice. OH GAWD ANDREW'S
TAKING ME TO DINNER! I can't breath.'
"So Lita, howd you like the arcade from the working point
of view?"
'Hehe, I can still flirt!' "It was great since I got to
work with you."
'What she say? Does that mean she likes me? Well, she's
flirting that much I know. I can play that game too.' "Well I
must admit that the working atmosphere was much more pleasurable
with you there."
Lita giggled. There was an awkward silence. Andrew started
to remember some of the things Darien had said earlier about
following your heart. Something inside of Andrew was screaming
at him just to pull the car over and tell Lita about all these
strange feelings he'd been having for her. The truth was that he
had no idea why these feelings were over taking him like this.
Although he refused to admit it before, he knew that he had been
getting these feelings ever since Lita stepped foot one into the
arcade. Why were these feelings getting harder and harder to
suppress? Her presence around him was making the world spin
faster and faster and faster. He had to stop the car before he
lost all his senses. The smell of her hair intoxicated his nose
making his senses go wild. Lita reached over to look at the
keychain attached to the keys in the steering wheel. Her bare
arm brushed against Andrew's. Her skin was so smooth that it
seemed to him that she had never spent a day of her life out in
the harsh world. It was like silk. That was it. Andrew make a
sharp turn pulling into an empty parking lot. With the sudden
turn Lita was flung into Andrew. Her arms around his neck. (this
not completely accidental) Andrew took her arms from around his
neck and laced hewr fingers through his. Their only light was a
dim streetpole about twenty feet away.
"Lita, I have to tell you something. I can't hold it back
any longer. Lita..."
"Andrew, what is it?"
"Ya see Lita, I know I'm suppose to be getting over Rita
and all, and you're probably just going to laugh at me, but
please don't laugh at me."
"Andrew I would never...":
Seeing Lita's face in the dim light with that sypathetic
look on it Andrew lost all control. He grabbed her by the waiste
and pulled her as close as her seatbelt would allow. He placed
his lips on her's and stroked her hair as he had been longing to
do so badly. It was as soft as he had been dreaming it to be.
After a couple of seconds Andrew came to his sences and he
reluctantly pulled away from the one thing that he had been
craving for so long.
"Andrew...I.." With out another word Lita shook her head,
flung off her seat belt and jumped into Andrew's open arms. The
heat that they created just by the one kiss that was so long, so
open, and so reveiling, the windows started to steam. Lita felt
Andrew's lips pressing harder and harder, prying her's open. Not
that they had much convince to do. They stayed like that for a
little while, not saying anything. Then Lita broke the silence.
"Well, I'm starved. Ready for that dinner."
"Yes, my true love."
"I love you to."
Over dinner Andrew told Lita everything. She listened and
with every word her smile grew wider. The last words Andrew said
in his lengthy explanation were..
"I couldn't stop thinking of you, Lita."