Despite it being the weekend, I still got up early the next morning for a workout, albeit regretfully. I enjoyed mornings, but I preferred sleep above all. Changing into a pair of shorts and a loose tank, I trotted out into the morning dew, habitually kicking Shade's door on the way. He was a night person, and usually didn't go to bed until 2 in the morning at the earliest, so he hated that I'd always bang on his door in what he called "the goddess-less hours of the morning." Which apparently includes 6:30 a.m. on a weekend.
After some stretches and basic exercises on the front sidewalk, I set off at a fast jog. I usually did about 6 miles around the neighborhood in the morning, which wound around enough that I didn't get bored of running down the same few streets.
Near the end of my run, I ended up taking a quick break at the park on Lanayru Lane. As I splashed some of the cool, clear water from the running fountain on my face, I looked at the houses along the street, trying to find number 231. You know, so I wouldn't be wandering around like an idiot later. I found it quickly, as it was positioned almost directly across the street.
As I watched, I saw the light come on in a room upstairs. Someone pushed aside the curtains and I saw a flash of platinum. Somehow, I knew it was Zelda and glanced down at my watch. Just after 7. She must be an early riser.
Feeling a sudden urge to show off, I pushed myself away from the fountain and started sprinting towards home. It was about a half mile run and I sometimes decided to sprint it to see how fast I could do it. As I passed Zelda's house, I turned my head towards the window with the light on. Sure enough, there was Zelda with a surprised look on her face. I gave her a short wave before pushing my speed even more and racing off towards home.
As I slowed to a stop in front of my house, I checked my watch again out of habit. 2 minutes and 9 seconds. That's got to be a record! And I'm not even that tired! I put it down to excitement, though I wasn't sure if it was because of Cremia's party tonight or my study…not a date…appointment I guess?... with Zelda later. Or maybe it was just a nice day, but that was the least likely of the three.
I walked into the kitchen to find Hunter already there eating an English muffin. He looked up from his newspaper as I filled a glass of water for myself and pulled out the eggs, meat, peppers, and milk.
"How's the air this morning? Think it'll rain for Cremia's party tonight?" Hunter asked. I'd always had an excellent sense of the weather and could often predict rain coming hours away. Just another one of my weird quirks. I managed to gulp down my water before answering.
"Nope, should be a clear night. Anything interesting in the paper?" I tossed my eggs, meat, and pepper bits in a pan to cook.
"More speculation on the environmental anomalies, otherwise not much. Some slight incident at the castle, but nothing major," Hunter said as he folded the paper up and tossed it on the table. Finishing his English muffin, he stood up and grabbed his keys. "I have to run into the office, follow up on some business about the new park by the river. The city doesn't want to break ground if the soil is unstable." Hunter was a construction contractor for the city and was having trouble with his jobs from all the minor earthquakes in the area. I finished cooking my egg mix, tossed them on a plate, and sat down at table with my milk. Grabbing the paper, I saw that there was indeed a piece on the environment. Remembering Zelda's suggestion for our project, I waved the paper in Hunter's direction.
"Mind if I take this? It might help with a school project." Hunter glanced over his shoulder and shrugged.
"Go ahead, I'm done with it and Nayru knows Sheik and Shade don't care. I'm off, have fun at the party tonight and don't do anything stupid." I waved until I heard the front door close and Hunter's car drive away. Finishing my eggs off, I washed my dishes and the pan I used. I tended to clean up the entirety of the mess I made while cooking, since Shade would get ridiculously mad if I left a mess in "his" kitchen. While my cooking skills largely consisted of tossing whatever I could find together, applying heat, and hoping it worked out, Shade was an actual cook, often taking care of dinner when Hunter had to pull a late night. I knew he was making a cake for Cremia this afternoon, so I made sure everything was back to its original state before heading upstairs for a shower.
After my shower, I still had about two hours until I had to leave to get to Zelda's. What did I do with this time, you ask? Homework. Thrilling, I know.
At about ten to ten, I poked my head into Shade's room, the occupant of which was just rolling out of bed.
"Shade, I'm heading out. I'll be home later to go over to Cremia's tonight," I half-whispered. I heard some sort of grunt that resembled acknowledgement, so I left him to his morning. I found Sheik out in the backyard practicing the kicks, punches, and flips of his Sheikah martial arts that I can never remember the name of. Seeing me grab my keys, he gave me a mock bow before springing out of sight. Business as usual.
Remembering Zelda's words from last night, I swung my bag over my shoulder and started walking towards Lanayru Lane. It really was shaping up to be a nice day. One of the houses I walked past had a massive garden that was starting to show some early blossoms. As I walked past though, I slowed to a stop. Something's off here…why is it so quiet? There was hardly a sound in the air, not even a breeze. No birds in the numerous trees, no insects in the garden, even the usually vocal dogs in the neighborhood had fallen silent. Not weird at all, probably nothing, should just keep going. And that's what I did. At a slightly faster pace.
My discomfort passed quickly though, and was replaced by nerves. Nothing to worry about Link. It's just a project, nothing else. We'll just work, no problem, easy. Holy Goddesses, I'm screwed. Suddenly, I was at Zelda's front door. No, I'm fine. Deep breath and knock. She's just a friend. Nothing else, so push that down. Suddenly, the door opened, interrupting my thoughts. There stood Zelda in skinny jeans and a black blouse. Taking a deep breath, I quieted my tumultuous mind and made myself calm down.
"Hey." Smooth. Keep it up.
"Good morning Link! Come in. I've got my stuff set up in the dining room," Zelda said as she stepped to the side. As casually as possible, I stepped into the house, barely noting the rather ornate construction of the house. There were numerous expensive looking vases and paintings decorating the walls and tables. But my attention was almost solely fixed on the pretty girl shutting the door behind me. With little to do but prevent myself from freaking out, as I followed Zelda into the house, I picked up my inner monologue again. There's no reason to be nervous. You're here to work. So chill the hell out. Yes, she's amazingly beautiful, but that doesn't matter. Stop. Now. And, with one last breath, I did.
Zelda and I spend the next three hours working on our project. Thanks to a grand lack of ideas from me, we solidified our plan to use Zelda's idea of investigating the environmental disturbances. Then at about 12:30, I put my master plan into action. I was writing out notes on my newspaper article when the doorbell rang. Zelda looked up from the web article she was reading with a confused look.
"Who could that be? I didn't invite anyone else over today." She moved to get up, but I had already gotten up and rushed towards the front door. "Link?" I heard from behind me. I returned to the dining room moments later with two medium pizzas in my arms. A hint of surprise was added to Zelda's still confused face. With a bit of a cocky grin, I plopped the pizzas down on a clear spot on the table.
"No opposition to sausage or Hawaiian pizza I hope?" Zelda's face split into a wide smile that I was surprised didn't floor me.
"Not at all! I take it that this was your grand surprise then?" I opened one of the boxes up and took a long smell before answering.
"Yep! Would you grab a few plates and napkins for this?" Zelda gave a quick nod before moving into the kitchen, which was separated from the dining room by a length of countertop. While she did that, I opened the boxes fully and removed the included containers of garlic sauce. Zelda came back with plates and napkins, pausing for a moment between the two areas before quickly pushing the dishes into my arms and practically lunging towards the sauce.
"They have garlic sauce with this?! This is officially the best pizza ever." She tore open the foil cover, grabbed a slice of sausage pizza and proceeded to drown the poor thing in sauce. Grabbing my own pizza, I watched with an amused smile on my face as the girl sank her teeth into the now mostly garlic sauced pizza with obvious relish and chewed slowly.
"I take it you're a fan of the garlic sauce then," I remarked as Zelda licked the remainder of the liquid off her fingers, which seemed to startle her slightly.
"It's my favorite actually," she shot out quickly before grabbing another piece, keeping her eyes averted from mine. She must have been embarrassed by her lack of restraint, as she showed much more while water-boarding her second slice.
"You can have it then. I don't really like it." Zelda's manic chewing stopped suddenly, drawing my attention to the girl who was now staring at me like I was the crazy one. Her look of shock turned to one of pity as she moved her hand to rest on my arm. I prepared myself for the shock that was bound to come with the contact, but it never came.
Zelda just looked me dead in the eye and slowly said, "I'm so sorry," in a tone that had me believing in her sincerity. I blinked twice before she snatched her hand away and grabbed the second container of sauce. As I watched Zelda consume the sauce with gusto, I felt oddly relieved
She's just a friend now, isn't she? Not some high being to worship. Just a girl. One with an unhealthy obsession with garlic sauce, but still just a girl.
From there, my day went startlingly better. Zelda and I got most of our presentation outlined, with only a few things left to adjust. We decided to present our report as soon as possible, which happened to be the following Wednesday, in order to get it done with and free up time for the rest of our finals. We worked easily with each other, and before I knew it, 4 o'clock had come around.
I finished typing out one of our last paragraphs before scooting my chair back and stretching with a light groan. Seeing the time, I sighed and stood up.
"I should probably get going," I said, seeing Zelda glance over at me. "I need to head home before going to Cremia's party. When are you going over?" Zelda gave it a moment of thought.
"I don't know. I hadn't figured it out just yet. When are you?"
"Probably in an hour or so. I have to head home, get changed, and do a few other things, and then I'll go over. There's probably some setting up to help with."
"Want me to come help too? I'm not doing anything else today, so I'd just be waiting anyways."
That's really thoughtful of her. I was impressed with her generosity, but again didn't feel any surge of affection for her. Maybe I really am over her.
"If you want to, I doubt Cremia will turn down extra help," I said. "You have her address, right?" Zelda gave a quick nod. "Okay then, I guess I'll see you over there soon." With a smile and a wave, I turned and opened the door.
"See you soon, Link," I heard from behind me.
"See ya, Zelda."
Tada, Chapter 4.
Not really sure what to say here, just story stuff. Shout out to everyone who is manic about garlic sauce on their pizza, I just don't get it. Pineapple though, is a must.
Thanks to Hypnotoad and Just-AWESOME-old-me for reviewing. Awesome, I know what you mean about the second-hand embarrassment. If I feel one of those moments coming in a story or movie, it's just horrible. Cringe all the way.
Thank you to everyone reading the story so far. Writers have a cool traffic graph that I love to check, and seeing high numbers makes my day. Not as much as reviews though, so think on that.
Anyway, glad you're all enjoying. I'm going to start slowing down my update speed a bit. You'll probably get another chapter Thursday or Friday, just so I have enough time to keep my number of written chapters ahead of the published ones.
Cremia's party next chapter. So many possibilities, so much potential drama. Will it be there? Does Cremia get dumped? Will Sheik implode? Who knows!? (I do...'cause I wrote it...yeah...whatever)
Cheers, guys.
-Aro