Chapter 8

Did I mind?

DID I MIND!

HE was supposed to be going to EUROPE while I was in AMERICA! Now he was standing in my hotel room, half naked, after just saving my life from a potential rapist, and asking me if I'm ok with his dripping wet, and incredibly attractive, body standing a mere ten feet in front of me?

OF COURSE I MINDED!

"... N-no," I squeaked. Then I coughed, mentally slapped myself, and demanded to know what he was in my hotel room.

He raised an eyebrow. "Umm... taking a shower after saving your life?"

It was then that I told him to put a shirt on and be happy with his remaining time on earth before I slapped the shit out of him. After he snorted, probably trying to conceal a laugh, I tossed one pillow at him, missing by half in inch, then decided to stick my head under the remaining four pillows that were spread across the bed.

It was becoming harder and harder not to turn pink while looking at Satoshi without his shirt on.

"Alright, alright," he finally said with a laugh, which was weird because he never laughed. "I have a shirt on. You can come out now."

I lifted a pillow from my line of vision to see him putting his glasses back on. For a minute in time, everything seemed to be ok. Like, he was smiling at me all nice, and I wasn't screaming my head off at him, and... it everything was just right with the world.

The he opened his mouth. "They didn't have any open rooms. Can I stay here for the rest of the night?"


"You know, Hiwatari-kun," I said, sounding annoyed. "You really should look at the more beautiful things in like. Autum isn't that bad." We had been walking home from school that day.

Satoshi snorted, not believing me. "Right."

The next morning, I saw him in the library. He was looking through a row of books, obviously, but stopped at a certain one. He didn't even have to jump for the top shelf as aneighth grader. He just stood on tip toe, took the book, glanced through a few pages, shut it, then went to go check it out.

I gasped when I saw that it was a book on flower language.


Well, of course I couldn't kick him out of the room, but I did give him a verbal beating and a talk about responsibility. I had sounded like my mother, yes, but this was Satoshi asking if he could spend the night in the same room that I was occupying. Personally, I was freaked out.

But morning soon came and I awoke to the soft sound of Satoshi's nearly silent snores. I stretched, yawned, and tried to think of what to do. There really wasn't much I could do, so I took a quick shower and got dressed. As I buttoned up my shirt, I saw that Satoshi was still asleep, and I decided to go get some breakfast from downstairs. The guy at the desk asked me if I was ok, probably because of what happened last night. I smiled sweetly at him and said yes.

Riding the elevator back up to my room, with two coffees and a bag of bagels and muffins in my hand, I tried to think of why the HELL Satoshi would come to America.

1. He followed me. But, uhh... WHY?

2. His dad changed his mind and sent him on a flight from Europe to America, and Satoshi just happened to try to rent a room in the same hotel as I did.

3. He was actually Satoshi's twin who had heard all about me from Satoshi.

I decided that all choices but number one were incredibly stupid and highly unlikely. So that left only number one. But why would Satoshi follow me all the frick to America?

"Morning," I said rather cheerfully when I entered the room and found Satoshi just waking up. He yawned and stared at me.

"What's that?" he asked groggily.

"Breakfast," I replied, setting down the bag and one of the coffees down on the coffee table. I sat down in a chair and looked at him from the corner of my eye. He was currently stuffing a piece of muffin in his mouth and trying to wake up. Not only was it funny watching his blue eyes blink a thousand times, and seeing him try to chew the muffin without having to touch it, but it was... well, it was kind of cute.

Stupidly, I forced down a mouthful of steaming hot coffee. The point of it was to get the idea out of my head, but it wasn't a very good one. My mouth burned and tears came to my eyes. I coughed, probably sounding like a dying animal, and tried to cool my mouth by breathing deeply. Satoshi smirked at me.

"Are you alright?" he asked, taking the muffin from his mouth.

Still coughing, I nodded and wiped away the tears. "Mmhmm." A few more minutes went by as we ate the food in silence. Once Satoshi was awake enough to put his glasses on, I tried to spring the question on him, but there was something wrong. Maybe it was the way his body slouched, or the way he ran a hand through his hair and sighed. Or perhaps it was the remote, dull look in his eyes. Either way, something was wrong. I shut my half open mouth and looked at the ground.

How could I ask him anything without upsetting him even further?

Why did I even care?

"I'm sorry if I frightened you," Satoshi said before I could ponder over the question more. "I didn't mean to."

I shook my head, gulping. "No... it's ok..." My voice came out really quiet, and I wasn't sure why. There was an awkward moment of silence that filled the room. I tried not to look at him, but of course I failed. Whenever I would glance in his direction, the same look would be in his eyes. It drove me nuts. I sighed, frustrated with myself.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Satoshi's asked suddenly.

I blinked. "Umm..." That was a new saying for him, but I didn't think about that much. "Well... I'm wondering why the hell you're here, in my hotel room, in America... I'm trying to think of what to do next, because I think I should spend one or two more days here rather than going home..." I sighed again, shrugging. "That's about it."

Satoshi shrugged himself. "Well... I..." He cleared his throat. "Something came up with my father at the last second, so, uhh..."

"If you could tell the truth, I'd be most grateful," I teased, flciking a crumb of bagel at him.

I saw a hint of a smile on his lips, but he wiped it away. "Well... what do you mean by that?"

I looked him straight in the eye. "Why did you follow me to America?"

He almost spit out the coffee he was taking a sip of. "What makes you think I followed you?" My ice cold look is what made him turn a slight shade of pink. He couldn't look me in the eye when he mumbled, "Well, I couldn't just leave you..."

There was a long moment where I just stared at him, too stunned to do, or say, anything. He just fiddled with his coffee cup, looking annoyed that I had asked that question. Satoshi Hiwatari couldn't have followed me to America because he actually cared about my safety... could he?

"Well... thanks," I mumured. He glanced at me. "For... you know... following me and... totally saving my ass last night."

At that, Satohi let out a 'hmph'. It was a light 'hmph' though. One of the 'hmph's you let out when you think something is funny. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, copper coin. He set it down on the table for me to take. "Here's your penny."


The dark atmosphere of the room left after that. Satoshi and I ate breakfast and drank coffee, talking and joking all the time. Can you believe that? Satoshi and me, laughing together. I never thought that something like that could happen. It was...

Nice.

There wasn't much to talk about, but even when the two of us had nothing to say, it was a content kind of silence. It wasn't awkward, and it wasn't horrid. It was just like two friends walking down a street. Which, by the way, is what we were doin when a certain sign caught my eye. I stopped walking for a moment.

Satoshi looked over his shoulder at me and stopped also. "What are you-?"

"If we're in America, don't you think we should get something to remember it by?" I asked, thinking.

He raised an eyebrow. "Umm... perhaps. Why ask?"

I pointed my finger at the sign. "Want to try it?"