Hi people! It's time for a new chapter! I hope you enjoy this one. Reviews are appreciated.
Chapter 4: Facing You
I had gone to school that day in a much better mood. Don't ask me why, though. I wouldn't know how to answer you. But somehow, the flowers looked brighter, as well as colors in general. I was even mumbling lyrics to a song during my way to school that Thursday when Mimi approached me with her usual cheerfulness.
"Good morning, Sora!" She threw her arms around me from behind and I smiled. I wasn't the only one in a good morning then.
"Good morning!"
"Someone is in a good mood this morning."
"I am." My smile got wider.
"Does this have something to do with Yamato?" Mimi giggled at my inability to keep my cheeks from blushing at the simple mention of his name. "I knew it! What happened between you two yesterday?"
"What? I wasn't even with him yesterday."
"Right. And you want me to believe your good mood is because of something else?"
"Yeah, but you probably wouldn't anyway, so…"
"That's right. So you better start talking."
"I'll tell you about it when we go to my house later, okay? I don't want to risk other people listening to our conversation and go tell him behind my back. He's quite famous at school because of his looks and he's in a band. Plus, I wouldn't know how to even face him if that happened."
"You have a very reasonable point here." The school bell rang and Mimi looked up, sighing a little frustrated. "Ah well, time to go. I'll wait for you outside by the time school is over, so we can walk to your house together."
"Alright. I'll see you then."
I watched Mimi disappear into the hall and then scanned the outside area of the school. Just when I thought I hadn't seen him, Yamato walked in. I could tell he was surprised to see me and was even paralyzed for some seconds. He shook his head quickly and then made his way up the stairs after he broke his gaze away from me. I frowned, refusing to believe we might have taken a step back in our friendship again. I sighed and then turned my attention to my locker. I grabbed my Math book and headed to class.
.
As the classes advanced, so did my frustration. I would often look at Yamato from the corner of my eye. He was paying fully attention to the teacher and the content he was explaining, and I couldn't help but notice how cute he looks when he's concentrated on something. It's not a surprise he's one of the best students from our class. He didn't even seem to know I was looking at him – if he did, he was hiding it pretty well – and that began to bother me. I couldn't blame him at all; we did almost kiss when we were at my house. I wasn't sure if I wanted him to though. Okay, maybe I wanted him to. I can't tell whether it was because of the adrenaline that came with our little tickling section or I actually started developing feelings for him at some point I didn't realize. If that was to be true, where would it leave us? It was only when Taichi poked me on the back rather strongly, that I came to my senses.
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah." I shook my head. "How long was I spaced out?"
"For a quarter of the class I believe."
"What?! That's fifteen minutes."
"Yeah, you lost all the explanation."
"Ugh." I took a deep breath. "So you're gonna have to explain it to me later."
"I can try." Taichi said. "But you know I'm not the best at math. You should ask Yamato though."
"I guess so." Great. Just what I needed right now.
"Did you two fight again?"
"No." I opened my month a few times to add something, but no words came out. I didn't think it was worth going over it and letting other people be brought into this so-called mess. Plus, I know for a fact Yamato would hate if people were too aware of certain things about him and our friendship.
"It's okay, I totally get it. I hope you two can work things out again."
"Thank you." I smiled at him.
.
I was collecting my belongings after my tennis class that afternoon. When I had finished it, I stood up and saw Yamato standing halfway through the path to the court. When he noticed I had seen her, he shoved his hands into his pants' pocket and turned around, walking away.
"Yamato, wait." I yelled and then started running towards him. "Are you going home?"
"Yeah." He replied uneasily.
"Can we go together like we usually do?"
"I kinda promised Akira I would go with him today."
"Oh, I see." I couldn't hide the sadness in my voice. "Well, maybe tomorrow then."
"We'll see."
"What's going on? Why are you avoiding me again?"
"Really, Sora?" He looked at me with disbelief and then sighed. "Actually, nevermind. Akira is probably waiting for me already."
"Really, Yamato?!" I threw the same question at him. "This is the second time it has happened this week and I have no idea why."
I was lying. Of course I knew why he was avoiding me, but I wanted to hear it from him to make sure. Things were surely be awkward between us considering we almost kissed the afternoon before. I hated myself for ever touching his face while being pinned under him on my living room floor. Would I want to kiss him? I don't know, just as much as I didn't know when I started looking at him differently.
"I can't do this right now."
"Sure, keep running away." I shouted. "It's what you do best, isn't it?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know exactly what I mean! So please, just go."
"Alright."
As I watched him walking away, my eyes filled with tears and I knelt down with my hands covering my face.
.
I was feeling a little better when Mimi came over later that day. We were supposed to come together, but I made up some excuse because I wasn't in the mood to tell her what had happened and I knew she was going to push me until I spilled everything out. I had managed to bake some a cake and bought some snacks from a store on my way home. It didn't take long for Mimi to come. I can't even remember when the last time she's been to my house was. Probably a little after we came back from the Digital World three years ago. She had brought some sweets, even though I told her it was fine.
"My mom always tells me you shouldn't go to someone's house empty handed." She told me with a smile. "I've been doing this for a few years and got used to it. I feel weird not taking anything to someone's house now."
"That's a sweet advice." I smiled. "But you still shouldn't have, really. I don't want you to spend your money on this."
"That's okay, I wanted to. It was no trouble at all." She watched me pass by her with a tray containing two pieces of the chocolate cake in two plates and then followed me to the living room. "So are you going to tell me what happened now?"
"What?" I raised an eyebrow at her.
"I know you're trying to hide it, but I can tell your expression is different than it was this morning." She sat down on the couch and crossed her arms across her chest, looking at me with determination. "So what's going on?"
I sighed and sat down beside her. "The strangest thing happened yesterday. Yamato and I were studying English here and we were messing around with each other. You know, things best friends do. And then he began tickling me to ground after I had dirtied his face with chocolate syrup and I ended up below him."
Mimi had a mischievous look on her face and it almost made me want to stop telling her the story. "Go on."
"And then he had a small piece of a cookie near his mouth, so I reached up and removed it. But for reasons unknown, I didn't take my hand away from his face. Then he grabbed my chin and I was sure he was going to kiss me if I didn't look away."
By the time I had finished, I saw Mimi had a huge grin on her lips and could barely keep herself together. I frowned when I looked at her. "I don't see what's so funny about this."
"Sorry." She giggled and then turned serious again. "Which one of you is the most clueless?"
"Excuse me?!"
"Just tell me… would you have kissed him back if he kissed you?"
"I don't know, Mimi. What kind of question is this?" I asked nervously. "Maybe."
"You two are so in love with other but refuse to accept it."
"We aren't in love with each other. This is insane, we're best friends. Childhood friends. Yamato is like a brother to me."
"A brother you want to kiss and a brother who wants to kiss you. There's nothing wrong with that, Sora. If you ask me, it was only a matter of time before it happened."
"No, it can't happen, Mimi! It's just can't!" Tears began to fall from my eyes. I didn't want it to be true at all, though I knew the answer was quite clear no matter how much I tried to deny. "How am I gonna look at him now?" I desperate asked. "His birthday is coming up and there's no way I can pretend nothing is happening. Especially when I yelled at him this afternoon."
"You did what?"
"I yelled at him because he was avoiding me and it pissed me off so much. I feel bad about it, and I was planning on getting him a cute gift to make up for it. Now… now I'm not so sure anymore."
"Maybe that would be a perfect opportunity for you to confess to him how you feel." Mimi suggested.
"What?! I can't just blurt it out like, Mimi. I don't even know how I feel about it him. I just know something… changed."
"Well, you have three days to reflect about everything that's been going on this week. I personally think it's cute to fall in love with a best friend."
"You're a hopeless romantic, that's why."
"You're the bearer of Love among all of us. You should know about it better than everyone I suppose."
"I'm not sure that's how it works."
"Have you never paid attention that your crests might be intertwined?"
"Are you seriously using our crests to explain why we should be together?"
"No." Mimi said firmly. "But you can't deny they are similar. And then again, so are you two in a way."
"I guess so." I shrugged. "But let's say we do actually happen to fall in love with each other and decide to see how it goes. What happens when we realize it won't work? I hardly believe we'd be able to remain best friends."
"You have a point. But at the same time it could have a negative outcome, it can also have a positive one. The amount is the same for each outcome, so why not consider the positive one?"
"I guess you have a point." I shrugged. "I just don't know how to handle this."
"Is that such a horrible thing to fall in love with Yamato?"
"No, it's the opposite actually." A smile appeared on my face. "Yamato is kind, sweet, lovely, cute and many other things."
"And he's handsome too."
"Yes, he is." I blushed a little.
"See, Sora? It's not that bad."
"No, it isn't. But it's still frightening."
"Well, obviously. Falling in love can be scary sometimes." Mimi ate a piece of the cake. "Why don't you try kissing him?"
"Are you crazy?" I shouted. "I can't just kiss him out of nowhere."
"Kiss him on the cheek, Sora." Mimi rolled her eyes. "Just to see his reaction."
"Oh… this I can do, I think."
"I feel so happy when other people are in love!" She squealed and pulled me into a hug.
"Mimi, stop it please. You're suffocating me."
"Oh sorry!"
"Thank you. Now, let's talk about Taichi's surprise party."
.
The weekend came in the blink of an eye. I kept the gift a secret from Yamato the whole time, though we didn't talk at all on that past Friday. My heart looked like it would fall from my chest due to how fast it was beating. I was really nervous and tense. I had reached for Piyomon to see if she would calm me down, but even that was in vain.
"Sora, calm down." Piyomon said for the hundredth time. "Being desperate isn't going to help you."
"I can't, Piyomon." I felt like crying. "This can't ruin our friendship!"
"I'm sure you won't let that happen, and neither will he. Besides, there's a pretty high chance your feelings are reciprocated. Yamato is a good boy, Sora."
"This is I know, but still…"
"Why don't you show me what you bought for him?"
"What?"
"You said in the beginning of our conversation that today is his birthday, so I assume you got something for him, right?"
"Right." I crawled towards a drawer near me and took out a small box. I pulled it open and held a simple black necklace with two tags: a silver one with the kanji for friendship and a dark blue one, almost the same tone as his digivice, for music. "Do you think he will like it?"
"I have no doubt about it." Piyomon said smiling. "It's beautiful, Sora! You have a great taste for presents."
"Thank you, Piyomon."
"He will be wearing it the whole time, I just can feel it. That way he will have you next to him the whole time."
I pressed my palm against my face, completely embarrassed. "Sometimes you're way too cheesy."
"What's this?"
"Someone who is overly romantic."
"Ohhh! I guess I am. I just want to see people being happy around those they love."
"I know." I let out a soft smile. "And I wouldn't want you to be any different. I love you just the way you are."
"I love you too, Sora!" Piyomon squealed. "Now go give the present to him. I want to know all about it later."
"Okay. I promise to reach you as soon as I can."
"I'll be waiting. Bye."
"Bye."
.
My heart got heavier in my chest with every step I took. I began to worry with the possibility of him not liking my present. I feared he wouldn't even open the door for me because of our fight at the end of last week and my anxiety started to attack. I stood by his door for a couple of minutes before I gathered enough courage to press the bell. It didn't take much for him to answer to it.
"Sora? What are you doing here?"
"I had to see you." I said before I realized it. "I mean, today is your birthday, so I got you a little something."
I handed him the package, still looking down. He raised his eyebrow at me and carefully grabbed my hand. I looked up at him immediately.
"That's better." He shifted his gaze to the package in his hands and let go of me to open it. The smile that appeared on his face was worth every yen I spent on the necklace. "Wow, a necklace with a tag with the kanji for my crest and another one for music. I loved it. Thank you so much, Sora!"
"You're welcome!" I couldn't help but smile. "Happy Birthday!"
"Thanks."
"So…" I hesitated and bit my lower lip. My throat was dry and my heart was beating fast, but I had to do this. "I wanted to apologize for my behavior a few days ago. I didn't mean to shut you out. I don't want to lose your friendship. And also, I miss my best friend."
"I miss you too." He said with a smile.
"So are we okay?"
"We are okay."
"Okay, good!" I said excitedly and threw my arms around his neck without realizing because I was so happy. "I was worried you'd hate me forever, but I'm glad you don't." I pulled back. "Well, I need to go now. So I'll see you tomorrow, I guess."
As I turned around to leave, I heard Yamato calling my name and grabbing my hand. He twisted me around and his right arm stopped at my back. I was so close to him I could almost hear his breathing and inhale the smell of his cologne. "What are you doing?"
He didn't answer me. Instead, his left hand was resting on my cheek and he looked intently into my eyes. My heart was pounding and I was mesmerized with his eyes, bluer and sparker than usual. I closed my eyes instinctively the moment Yamato leaned closer and touched my lips with his. I put my arms around his neck as I immediately corresponded to the kiss. We broke away after some minutes.
"Did we just kiss?"
