I'm sooooooooo sorry for the late update guys. My life has just been really hectic lately, and I've been run into the ground by school. Besides that, I was fighting a horrible case of writer's block, and I had a terrible time writing something that didn't suck. But I finally wrote something I thought was acceptable, and I didn't want to keep you guys waiting, so please don't hate me for the slow update. *Hides behind laptop*
Chapter 9
"This is really nice." Maya sighed as she stretched out beside me, showing off her ample…assets for the world to see. Well, that is, if there was anyone to witness it. But as far as I knew, the beach was completely empty save for the four of us, thanks to the fact that Ami's villa had come with a small private beach. I guess being an actress had its perks when it came to privacy from the world.
Being from the family that I was from, the closest thing that I had ever done to this was the time that I had visited the public pool when I was still in elementary school. Mom had taken me on her day off, and it must have been over a hundred degrees since it was in the middle of summer, but I didn't care. I only remember how much fun I had playing in the water with her, and how, even though we were really struggling at the time, it seemed that the water washed away our worries, if only for a few hours. Afterwards, Mom bought me an ice cream, and I swear that it was the best thing I had ever tasted. Or at least, it had been, until I tasted Ami's coffee on her lips…
"Ryuuji-san, are you feeling all right? You look a little red." Nanako asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts, and making me realize that it wasn't a great idea to daydream about kissing Ami in public. That would have to wait until I had some privacy, not that I was thinking about anything inappropriate. No, really, I swear that I wasn't.
"I'm fine! I think that I just need to put on some more sunscreen." I replied quickly, trying to cover up my embarrassment, somehow knowing that Ami was likely to pounce on the opportunity to force me to apply sunscreen to her back or something. Being around Ami had definitely taught me to expect certain things from her, and this was probably one of them.
"Speaking of which, Ryuuji, can you help apply my sunscreen? I can't reach my back!" Ami cooed. Bingo. Somehow, I wasn't surprised that my prediction was so shockingly close to real life. I was actually pretty good at predicting the behavior of the people that I knew closely, with the only exception being Minori, because I honestly had no idea what was going to happen on any given day with her, the eccentric and impulsive girl that she was.
Watching Ami feign weakness and helplessly flounder around in an effort to rouse my sympathy made me almost crack up. For someone who was supposedly a top notch actress, her acting degenerated at alarming levels when she was trying to be cute with me. Never mind the fact that it was working.
"All right, I got it." I said, grabbing the bottle of sunscreen and squirting out a little bit into my hand, before I rubbed them together and gingerly lowered my hands until they were hovering above Ami's skin, millimeters away. It occurred to me then that I had never really felt her skin, and it suddenly made my heart beat a million times faster.
Gulping deeply, I placed my hands on her back and I began moving my hands back and forth, trying to knead in the sunscreen while also doing my best to ignore the fact that Ami's skin was probably the smoothest thing I had ever felt. Like seriously, how does someone even get like that in the first place?
"Ryuuji, are you enjoying this?" Ami asked, a sly grin on her face. Damn it, she knew what she was doing to me, and she was going to tease me about it! She was the one who wanted me to do it in the first place! Ignoring the fact that Ami was clearly trying to tease me, I continued on with spreading out the sunscreen.
Once I felt satisfied with my work, I sat back, utterly exhausted by my mental exercise of making sure that I wasn't blatantly staring at Ami's body, as much as I wanted to. Knowing that Nanako and Maya were right there and keeping a close eye on me only helped in that endeavor.
"Come on, let's go into the water!" Ami declared, standing up with her hands held steady on her hips. At this, Maya and Nanako perked up a bit and nodded in agreement, scampering to their feet to join her.
"Definitely not." I interrupted, causing Ami to turn her head towards me with a pout that would absolutely have worked on me in most circumstances. But these definitely weren't your normal circumstances, and I could not let my emotions get in the way.
"You just applied your sunscreen. I'm not letting you get into the water until it has been twenty minutes." I said firmly, knowing that if she went out before the sunscreen was properly absorbed into the skin, it would negate the fact that she had applied it in the first place.
"Well, we'll wait for you." Nanako suggested softly as she and Maya took off, leaving me sitting alone under a large beach umbrella with Ami sitting next to me, a slightly disappointed expression on her face.
"Well, I guess it isn't all bad. I am getting to spend some extra time alone with you, Ryuuji." Ami sighed, giving a reassuring smile that let me know that she wasn't too upset about my moment of heavy handedness.
"You say that like we don't spend a lot of time together already." I chuckled, watching as Maya relentlessly splashed a squealing Nanako with water. Not that I had eyes for anyone other than Ami. I was lucky enough as is, and I definitely did not have more interest in either one of them over Ami, but come on. I'm only a man!
Ami shrugged her shoulders and shook her head slightly, "That's with our friends. That's different."
"You know, if I'm going to be honest, I never thought I'd ever hear those words." I remarked, drawing a look from Ami.
I continued, "For the first year of school, other than Kitamura, I never even talked to anyone at school, or actually, it was like everyone was too scared to talk to me. So I actually gave up on finding friends for the longest time. But then, Taiga showed up in my life, and then you transferred here, and before I knew it, I was living the high school life I had always wished for.
I would have been happy with just being friends with everyone, but now, I have a girlfriend, and I've met even more people with Maya and Nanako. It's more than I ever could have asked for."
Realizing that I had rambled on a bit, I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.
"Sorry for making things weird now." I apologized, cheeks bright red as I realized that I had freely admitted my feelings to Ami. I had never intended to share my thoughts with anyone, but in the moment, it had felt like the right thing to say. Now, I realized that I had probably only made her uncomfortable with my words.
"No, don't." Ami said, placing a hand on my own and squeezing it tightly.
"Can I take a turn to spill my secrets now too?" She asked, and I nodded, although I really didn't know what secrets she could share now with me. I suddenly realized that there really was a great deal that I didn't know about Ami, and that this was a good opportunity to listen to what she really had to say.
"When I first came here, I didn't really have any friends either. I mean, sure, there were a ton of people who invited me to hang out after school and all that, but I couldn't really call them friends. Still, being with them seemed like a much better option than being alone, so that's why I hung around them. But deep down, I knew that none of them like me for being anything more than who I was in the magazines.
And that's why I guess I hung around you and Taiga and Minori and Kitamura so much. Because all of you knew who I really was, and none of you ever treated me any differently. Especially you. Truth be told, I would have been happy just being friends with everyone, but I'm glad things didn't exactly turn out that way." She added the last bit with a small smile that was probably more honest than any other smile I had ever seen from her before.
"S-same here." I stammered, not really knowing what to say. Look, I've never been in a situation like this before. What did you expect me to say? It was the best thing that I could come up with at the moment, as clichéd of an answer as it was. Still better than nothing, I guess.
To my surprise, Ami didn't take the opportunity to poke fun and me and burst into a fit of laughter, "Man, we're such losers. We come to the beach, and all we can do is sit on a towel and talk about our problems. Come on, let's go live a little." She said, standing up and stretching out a hand to help me up.
"Hey, who are you calling a loser?" I joked, gratefully taking her hand and leaping up to my feet.
"Nice of you two to finally join us." Maya shouted as we bounded into the water. I felt the cool ocean breeze hitting me full force as the summer sun beat down on me and a chill ran down my spine at the icy water. It was strange, but even as the elements pounded me in every which way, I felt lighter than I had in a long time, like some great weight was finally off my shoulders.
It was amazing.
"I don't understand how a guy like you can cook." Maya said as she shook her head in disbelief, just as she put down her empty plate that had once been filled to the brim with seafood. Wait a minute, was that supposed to be an insult or something?
"Thank you, Ryuuji-san." Nanako chimed in sweetly from her seat next to Maya, daintily wiping off her mouth with a napkin. Well, it's nice to know that at least someone here appreciates my hard work.
"Yeah, it was great, Ryuuji!" Ami added, grabbing my arm and nearly throwing me out of my chair in the process. Well, I guess it was still nice. Especially with the look that made me reluctantly stamp out my teenage urges.
"I'm a little disappointed though," She sighed, "Nothing out of the ordinary happened today."
What, were you expecting someone to drown or something? We weren't living in a manga, you know.
"Maybe I should have made something happen." She said rather deviously, reminding me exactly how conniving Ami could be sometimes. I had no doubt that if she seriously wanted to, she could have manufactured some incident today. But I was glad that she didn't, and that I could just sit back and relax. With all of the crazy stuff going on in my life, I didn't need any extra drama.
Of course, with my kind of luck, I should have known that I wouldn't be able to avoid at least a little bit of craziness on this trip.
It started with my favorite post-dinner activity: cleaning the dishes. I vigorously scrubbed at the little bits of herbs that stuck to the plate, not feeling content until each and every piece of tableware was shining.
To my side, Ami was loading in plates into the dishwasher, occasionally looking over to inspect my work.
Ami frowned, "You know, Ryuuji, they don't have to be so clean before I put them in the dishwasher. That's kind of the point of using it in the first place."
"Oh, right." I said sheepishly, just as I handed her another sparkling white plate.
"That's weird." I muttered to myself as I grabbed the final plate in the stack of dirty tableware. It was like any other plate I had cleaned that night, only with a small strand of green that should definitely not have been there.
"What's wrong?" Ami asked as I picked up the slimy substance.
"I thought I cleaned off all of the seafood before cooking it. There shouldn't be any seaweed mixed in." I replied as I tossed it in the sink.
"You must have just missed that piece." Ami said with a shrug as I handed her the last plate.
"I guess so." I replied, drying off my hands with a small towel, not thinking much of it. I had been pretty distracted today, so I guess it was explainable that I had missed it while I was cleaning.
"Say, Ryuuji, aren't we kind of like an old couple already? I mean, how many high school couples do this kind of thing?" Ami remarked as I handed her the towel.
Well, she had a point there. When I really thought about it, we didn't really do things like most high school couples did. It was mostly my fault, since I took Ami on time sales at the supermarket, instead of to the mall, like most boyfriends would do.
"I'm sorry. I guess that I'm just weird like that." I apologized.
But to my surprise, Ami didn't seem upset at all. In fact, it was quite the opposite, "It's fine, Ryuuji. We're not normal teenagers anyways. Plus, I'm happy spending time with you anytime that I can."
At her words, I couldn't help the involuntary blush that scorched my cheeks in response. Why was it that Ami always seemed to know the perfect things to say to get me flustered?
"But since we are still teenagers, and it's summer, why don't we do something different? Let's head down to the beach for a little bit." Ami suggested, to which I nodded. Going out on the beach at night did sound nice.
"Do you want me to go tell Nanako-san and Maya-san to come along? I think they're in the living room right now." I asked, to which Ami rolled her eyes.
"Jeez, Ryuuji, learn to take a hint. They don't need to know." She said playfully, and immediately, I understood what she was trying to say.
"Oh, sorry."
"Don't apologize. I think you're adorable like this." Ami said, running her hand back and forth through my hair, as if she were petting a dog. Hey, I'm not some pet for you to play around with, you know!
"Now, come on. Let's sneak out before anyone else notices." Ami whispered in my ear before she grabbed me by the hand and led me out the back door.
Once we got to the beach, and I felt the sand beneath my toes, Ami let go of my hand, and I let my previously outstretched arm fall to my side limply, mirroring her stance. For a minute, we just stood next to each other silently, watching as small waves crashed against the beach, only to be sucked back out by the tide and repeat the cycle.
There was something extremely calming about watching the routine, but at the same time, I felt a knot form in my stomach as the silence dragged on, almost as if Ami was withholding something that she wanted to say.
"Ami, is everything all right? You're being kind of quiet." I finally said after the tension in the air had finally become unbearably heavy.
She blinked quickly and turned her head to me apologetically, "Oh, am I? Sorry, I was just thinking about things."
"What were you thinking about?" I asked.
"About what I told you earlier today. I've done a lot of thinking lately, and I've been thinking about leaving my modeling agency for good." She said.
Immediately, I arched an eyebrow. She wanted to leave her modeling agency? A part of me wanted to laugh at what must have been a joke, but as I observed her stoic face, I knew that she was being completely serious.
With a concerned tone, I pried, "And why would you do that?"
"Because I'm happy with you, Ryuuji. And you're happy with who I am. Honestly, it gets hard to keep up my act. I just want to say, 'screw you' to the world sometimes, and live my life how I feel like living it, but I can't. I don't want that pressure anymore, not when I know how it feels to live without it." Ami said in one long breath, panting as she finished with her tirade.
I nodded slowly, "Well, I can't make the decision for you. All I can do is to support you in whatever choice you make."
To my surprise, Ami suddenly stepped forward and grabbed onto me in a tight hug, burying her face in my chest.
"But I'm so scared. What if people no longer want to be around me, once I'm no longer famous? I don't know if I can live with that." She whimpered softly as I wrapped my arms around her.
"Then those people don't deserve to know the real you. Because you're the most amazing person I know, no matter whether or not you're famous. To hell with anyone who doesn't think so too." I muttered, resting my head on top of hers.
I couldn't see it, but I knew that underneath me, Ami was smiling, "Geez, Ryuuji, you really know how to make a girl feel special. Maybe I should be more scared of other girls stealing you away."
"Well, I wouldn't be too worried about that." I replied. It was true. I honestly didn't know if I could date any girl other than Ami, not when she was the first person who I had ever bared my soul to. Not when she was the most beautiful person I knew, both inside and out. Not when I couldn't think of anything else existing in the world except me holding onto her as we stood on the beach in this moment.
"Hey, Ryuuji, would you mind if I kissed you right now?" Ami asked as we continued holding each other, simply enjoying the other's warmth.
Normally, I would have stammered out some lame answer. But for some reason, I acted differently today.
Instead, I took one of the hands wrapped around Ami's waist and gently tilted her head upwards before I gently leaned down and pressed my lips to hers, feeling a tingle of electricity pass through us with the contact. Her eyes widened in surprise at my bold move, but quickly, she had them closed as she deepened the kiss by pushing back with equal force, only serving to make my body shiver with pleasure.
"Wow, Ryuuji, when did you get so bold? I might actually have to keep you away from other girls now." Ami laughed as we finally ended the kiss.
I was about to respond when an ear splitting scream interrupted the two of us. We quickly pulled apart as we realized that the source of the scream had come from the house. Taking one quick look at each other, we nodded before we began running towards the house.
"What's wrong?" I yelled as I slammed open the back door, eyes scanning for any sort of intruder.
"Takasu!"
I saw the last person who I would have expected to come running towards me, Maya dash out of the living room and into the kitchen where Ami and I had just entered the house. Shocked by the sight, I was even more confused when she ran straight at me and wrapped her arms around me. Moments later, Nanako followed her lead by running into the kitchen and grabbing onto my shirt with one hand and hugging my body tightly, only adding to my confusion.
Look, I wasn't going to lie. I wasn't exactly opposed to the situation. After all, isn't it every man's dream to have beautiful women literally throwing themselves at them? But that wasn't to say that I wasn't completely confused, because I was. And the glare that I was receiving from Ami wasn't exactly helping things.
"Um, what's going on?" I asked as I gently removed each of them from my body, aware that Ami was fuming to my side.
"There's a ghost in there!" Maya screamed, pointing a finger at the living room.
"What are you talking about?" Ami asked, skepticism in her voice.
"Nanako and I were watching TV when we saw a face in the window. I thought it was a robber at first, but it definitely wasn't any normal person. It looked like it was glowing, or something." Maya explained, moving so that she could hide behind me.
Well, Maya was the last person who I would expect to be easily rattled, so I did feel somewhat inclined to believe her. But still, a ghost? The very thought was outrageous.
With Nanak and Maya following closely behind, Ami and I led the way into the living room, which looked normal by all accounts, except for one odd thing.
"What is that?" I asked, pointing to the small mound of green in the middle of the floor. Whatever that was, it definitely wasn't in here when Ami and I had left.
Ami knelt down beside the mysterious material, and took a quick whiff.
"It smells like seaweed." She said, and instantly, my heart began beating a bit faster.
I gulped deeply, "Wait a second, didn't we find seaweed on one of the plates that we were cleaning earlier?"
"Come on, that has to be a coincidence." Ami said, although her shaky tone let me know that she was rattled as well.
"Yeah, that's right. Because there's definitely no such thing as ghosts." I laughed, just as I decided to look at the window.
That was definitely a mistake, because I suddenly noticed that a very human pair of eyes was staring at me.
"There it is again!" Maya screamed, with her and Nanako choosing to wrap their arms around me again. At this, Ami turned to see what exactly we were panicking about, and her eyes grew as wide as saucepans as she realized that there was a face outside the window.
"Ryuuji!" She screamed, joining the mass huddle of fear that already consisted of Maya, Nanako, and me.
"Don't hurt us!" I screamed as the window was lifted up by the mysterious figure, who stepped inside to reveal itself in the light to be none other than a familiar red haired girl.
"Minori?" I asked, as the four of us let our jaws drop in a mixture of surprise and confusion, "What are you doing here?"
As I asked, I saw two other figures climb inside through the window as well, revealing them to be Kitamura and Taiga.
"Hah! Stupid Chihuahua!" Taiga laughed at Ami, who looked absolutely furious and let go of my shirt to stomp over to Taiga, who was still clutching her stomach as she laughed hysterically.
"Well, Kushieda-san and I were out here for a softball tournament, and we took Taiga along. She thought that we should swing by to check up on you guys." Kitamura explained.
"By staring at us through the window?" I nearly screamed in reply. I'm sorry, but it thought it was common sense that stalking someone through the window wasn't exactly the best way to check up on them.
"Ah, that was Taiga-san's idea as well. She thought that we would liven your trip up with a good scare. The seaweed was meant to throw you off our trails until we got in position at the windows." Kitamura further elaborated.
"So, it was you." Ami growled with a fearsome tone that made even me quiver slightly in fear.
I think that everyone in the room realized that she was now out for blood because Taiga slowed her laughing and began nervously chuckling more than anything, as she began to slowly back away from Ami, who followed her every step.
"Oh, what's wrong, Taiga?" Ami said facetiously, with a fake smile on her face that barely concealed the rage underneath, "Have you had enough of ruining my vacation with Ryuuji?"
"M-maybe we can talk about this more." Taiga nervously replied, before she turned and leapt out of the window, immediately taking off towards the beach once she was outside.
"Oh no you don't!" Ami screamed, no longer bothering to hide her murderous intent as she followed behind, showing a surprising amount of speed and agility for someone who I didn't really consider to be an athlete.
"Sorry for grabbing onto you earlier." Maya said, quickly pulling her hands away and her cheeks turning a bright shade of pink.
"Yes, thank you for your help, Ryuuji-san." Nanako added, also removing her hands and turning pink with embarrassment.
Well, this vacation definitely wasn't turning out the way that I had hoped it would. But then again, it definitely wasn't boring in the slightest, I could admit that much at least.
But I guess that was the life that came with being Kawashima Ami's boyfriend. And honestly? I wouldn't trade it for the world.
So hopefully, that wasn't too terrible.
Anyways, I guess that I'll be moving on to the rest of their summer vacation, and if anyone has any suggestions for what you want to see Am iand Ryuuji do, then I'm all for it. Otherwise, I'd move on directly to the Cultural Festival, and the arc that entails.
As always, please leave any and all thoughts in the form of a PM or a review. I know I normally respond personally to each review, but at this point, I really don't have the time, so if you want to hear from me, please send me a PM and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible.
Thanks so much for sticking with me and continuing to read, those of you who did. Thanks for reading!
