White Day.
"So?" asked Kaori.
"So?" said Mac. He wasn't looking up.
Kaori waited a moment.
Then,
"Well?"
Mac finally met her gaze.
"Well what?"
She pouted.
"You don't remember."
"Nope." He leaned back, his chair tilting on two legs, grinning a little bit, "What'd I forget this time?"
Kaori crossed her arms.
"It's March 14."
"Ohh."
He stared.
She stared.
He blinked.
She blinked.
"So?" She asked.
"So what?" He replied.
Kaori stomped her foot.
"It's White Day!"
"What's that?" He scratched his nose, "Like a holiday or something?"
"Yes!" She stamped her foot again, "On Valentine's Day, a girl gives chocolate to a boy and on White Day, a boy gives chocolate back to that girl."
Mac blinked.
"I waited all day." She lamented tragically, flopping down in her chair, "Breakfast, lunch-o, practice…"
"Sorry?" said Mac.
Kaori glared.
"You're not."
He instinctively wanted to protest. But he couldn't deny it.
Instead, he said,
"If you wanted chocolate so bad, why didn't you just buy some?"
Which turned out to be a bad idea since Kaori shot out of her chair with all the rage of a bear in a pink skiing jacket.
"Because!" She shouted.
"Because what?" He stood up.
"I gave you chocolate on Valentine's Day!"
"So what?"
Kaori took a step back. Her mouth trembled slightly.
"Ma-chan wa…" Her whole body swelled, "You are…PUMPKIN!"
Then she stormed off.
Mac sat in stunned silence.
"Nice going, Pumpkin!" Moby called.
Mac sank angrily into his seat.
-------
Somewhere, someone conspired to apologize.
But it wasn't Mac. He was angry.
"What was her problem?"
He paced left.
"Just because she didn't get any chocolate."
He paced right.
"Women. What the hell?"
He paced left again.
Someone knocked on the door.
Mac paused.
"Who is it?"
But no one answered.
"It's prolly Kaori." He thought smugly, and opened the door. No one stood behind it, but he did find a note in her perfect handwriting:
Dear Ma-chan,
You are a super pumpkin. We are not speaking. Love, Kaori.
Mac snorted.
"She'll get over it."
----
But she didn't get over it.
She did snub him and eat with the other female borders every meal.
She did attempt to run him off the course every practice.
She did manage to place ahead of him every time they raced.
She did have the entire circuit calling him 'pumpkin'.
"Apologize already, Pumpkin." Said Elise.
----
Kaori opened the door.
"What?" she spat.
"Look," he said, "I'm sorry I forgot your stupid holiday."
Mac kicked his foot quietly.
Kaori grinned sourly.
"It's okay, Ma-chan." She said.
He looked up.
"So we're cool?" He asked.
"No."
Then she slammed the door.
----
"I don't get it." Said Mac.
"Of course you don't get it." Said Zoë, "You're a dumb kid. It's all to be expected."
Mac glared.
Zoë grinned.
"You have to make it up to her."
"No, you think?"
She smacked him in the head.
"I'm trying to help you. If you want her forgiveness, do something completely different and think for a change."
"Oh yeah? Think about what?" he asked.
Zoë smacked him in the head again.
"Her feelings, Pumpkin Brain!"
----
There came a knock at the door.
"Who is it?"
But no one answered.
Mac looked outside.
A large box of chocolate, the one he had given to Kaori, sat on the floor. A note was attached:
Dear Ma-chan,
Thank you for the chocolate. I don't want it. Love, Kaori.
Mac punched the wall.
----
"You're going about it totally wrong." Said Frenchie, whom Mac distinctly remembered not asking for advice, "You must play honest wiz her."
"Whatever." Said Mac.
"Women are funny zis way, you see? They have impeccable intuition. And as long as you are denying ze way you feel, she will know. You see?"
"Whatever." Said Mac.
"If it's love, you must tell her."
"Whate-" Mac started, "Love?"
He nodded.
Mac said, "Listen, Frenchie, it's not love, okay?"
JP clucked his tongue in a way that was very French.
"Whatever."
Then he got up and left.
Mac slouched into the seat.
"At least he's not calling me Pumpkin."
The nurse appeared in the infirmary lobby.
"Pumpkin, the doctor will see you now."
----
He thought about it as he woke up.
"Just tell her."
And at breakfast.
"No way I'm talking advice from Frenchie."
And at practice.
"I gotta do something."
And at lunch.
"I'm not doing that."
And at dinner.
"I'm going outta my head. Just do it!"
And as he was walking up the hall.
"No way. I can't. I can't."
And as he ran straight into Kaori.
"Ow!" He said.
"Itai…" She said.
Their eyes met.
Kaori frowned.
"What, Pumpkin?"
Mac grumbled to his feet, offering her a hand up which she declined.
"Listen, I'm…"
"Yes?" She asked.
"Well, I…"
"Yes?" She asked.
"I'm sorry." He sputtered out.
Kaori crossed her arms. "Is that all?"
"No…yes…no…" He said.
"Well?" She asked sharply.
"Look, I'm…I'm sorry, okay? I mean…I don't blame you for being all pissy about…"
Kaori face changed.
So did Mac's thought pattern.
"I mean, I…I'm sorry that I'm so dumb all the time and that I didn't…you know, think about your feelin's and what not."
He racked his brain for something else to say.
Kaori tapped her foot.
"Sooki daa-yo," He said quickly.
Kaori blinked.
Mac blinked back.
"Suki dayo?" She asked.
"Yeah." He said.
Kaori blushed.
Mac blushed. But he had no idea why.
She must have known because she gave him a scrutinizing look. But her voice, contrary to her expression, was soft.
"Really?"
"Yeah." He said again.
Kaori smiled a little bit and nodded a little bit too.
"Okay, Ma-chan."
He waited for her to retaliate.
She didn't.
"So," he said quietly, "we're cool?"
"Yup." She grinned chipperly, rocking back and forth on her heels.
They stood in awkward silence for a few moments.
"So…" Said Mac, "What now?"
Kaori looked at him.
Then, faster than his eye could almost trace, her fingers shot out and jabbed him in the side.
"Omph!" Said Mac.
Kaori was running down the halls.
"Pumpkin Ma-chan can't catch me!"
He scrambled after her.
"I'm gonna get you so bad!"
Disclaimer. Do you honestly think I own SSX Tricky?
Hah, so in lieu of Valentine's Day I wanted to do something a little more romantic. If I do anymore for this fiction, it probably won't be so mushy-teenage-hormony. So yeah.
-Artemis