Chapter FOURTEEN

Who I should befriend - cause now Selphie and Tidus hate me forever, and Naminé can't be my only friend

- Mom & Dad? Nah they're too busy. And who's actually friends with their parents? Pshh lame
- Yuna? She seems close with Tidus though
- Big bro? He's probably having way too much fun in college
- Sora? Wait we're already friends...right?

Conclusion: I have 2 friends: Naminé and Sora. Guess that's not bad...

If I had to give an award for Best Listener, I'd undoubtedly give it to Naminé.

As besties are oft to do, Naminé listens to my 1 hour 32 minute rant (according to my phone call duration) about everything and anything wrong with my life. She knows how to console me best, having helped me through a handful of stressful situations in the past few years. However, I am a little miffed she has to leave before I'm done.

"I'm really sorry, Kairi," she apologizes, "my dad's getting kinda impatient...and of course dinner with his friend is more important than my feelings."

I sniff. "No it's okay, I took up like an hour of your time. Have a good dinner."

"...don't overthink it, okay?" she murmurs. "Take care of yourself and make sure you get some rest. You deserve a break. I mean, it's Friday."

I exhale deeply, deciding to take Naminé's words to heart. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks a ton, Naminé. I don't know what I'd do without you."

She chuckles sweetly. "Complain to someone else?"

"Who else would I talk to? The only other friends I have are Tidus and Selphie, who I'm currently mad at. My mom's too busy and my dad doesn't get what's going on. I can only talk to you."

"...well, I'm always here for you. I mean, I guess when my dad isn't controlling my life - "

I laugh at Naminé's evident reluctance to go to this dinner. "It'll be fancy food, so don't complain too much. I'd go for you if I could!"

"Oh, you don't wanna sit through dinner with my dad. Like all he talks about is the economy."

"I guess that's...good to know?"

"Well, I'll see if I can get you a seat next time. Sorry, I really have to go."

"No, it's okay, go! I'll see you Monday."

"Right, we can pick this up then. Bye Kairi!"

After hanging up, I do feel marginally better. Checking the time, I realize there's no point in going to cross-country practice now. I make a mental note to prepare an excuse for Coach Tellah and Yuffie, but given all the extra training I do outside of regular practices, I think I'll be fine. I guess I just have to bring home results at the next meet to prove myself.

I take Naminé's advice and head home, deciding to take a break tonight. Which involves eating dinner and snacks while finishing Smash Doctors, cause it's nice to see that there are people suffering more than me - jokes. Kinda. Not really.

After wasting hours watching cat videos, browsing memes, and engaging in entertaining activity of the like, I decide to call it a night at 1 a.m. Not bad, considering I usually sleep around 2.

My body takes the extra hour of slumber to mean this is my chance to catch up on all the sleep debt I've accumulated since the start of school (which is probably a 3-digit number of hours by now). So I snooze through my morning alarm clock, figuring my break from life includes skipping morning conditioning practice.

However, Sora doesn't get the telepathic message.

Of course, all people ever do is let me down.

Jokes - I know I'm a little unreasonable at the wee hours in the morning.

I groan when my phone rings, contemplating how to kill said person while reaching for the buzzing device on my nightstand. "What?" I hiss as I pick up.

"...did you just wake up?"

"I can't do this now, Sora, it's - " I check the time on my phone, " - 10:15. Call me back in 3 hours."

"Wait, we were supposed to meet 10 minutes ago!"

I draw a deep breath and exhale sharply. I'm in a bad mood, but I don't wanna take it out on Sora. "Now's...not a good time, Sora. Let's cancel today."

"...okay, well, give me a heads up next time," he grumbles, yielding quickly. "I couldn't go to breakfast with my mom cause of you."

Despite the remnants of sleep fatigue clinging to my consciousness, and though people think I'm not in tune with my own feelings (courtesy of 8th grade Selphie), I do realize I'm being a bitch to Sora. What can I say? I'm becoming more self-aware. Plus, his guilt trip works a little too well.

"I'm hungry," I declare. "Are you hungry?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah, I guess. I just had a granola bar for breakfast."

"Wanna grab food?"

"...now? I thought you said it's not a good time."

Is he mocking me or actually buying my lame ass excuse? Either way, I feel a little worse. I never meant for him to sacrifice quality mother-son time for me.

"It's not a good time for practice, but it's never not a good time for food," I chuckle. "C'mon. I'll pay."

"Okay...I mean, I'm not gonna say no to free food."

"Great. Let's meet at the diner on Waver Street in 30 minutes."

"30 minutes? It takes 5 minutes to drive over from your place!"

"I need to get ready, Sora!"

"Oh, so that's why it's not a good time for practice? Cause you just woke up?"

Wow, he's gonna hold that against me when I already offered to pay? I thought the stomach is the way to a boy's heart. Uh, I meant that platonically.

"Okay, sheesh, I'll be there in 20," I return.

"I'm ordering in 15 before it gets too busy. So get here before then if you wanna have a say."

"God, fine!" Not wanting to waste another minute, I hang up on him. Rushing through my morning routine so he doesn't order a full-course meal or something, I'm actually ready to go in less than 10 minutes. New record!

From the living room couch, Dad notices my eagerness to leave the house. "You heading out?" he asks, looking up from the TV.

"Yeah, grabbing food with a friend."

"Naminé?"

"No, Sora. I don't think you know him."

"...oh. Well, have fun! I'm heading in to the office for a few hours today, but I should be back for dinner!"

I hold back a sigh and a spiteful comment about the likelihood he'll miss dinner. With a crisp, "Bye dad," I dash out of the house, more concerned with stopping Sora from ordering everything on the menu (who knows where teenage boys put all the food they can eat?).

Like Sora says, it only takes 5 minutes for me to drive over to the diner. When I step inside, the place is bustling with chitchat and brunch activity. Even so, it isn't hard to locate the absolute mess that's Sora's hair.

As I approach, I notice a server by the table with an order pad in hand. "Did you want to order now, or do you still need another few minutes?" he asks Sora.

"Actually - "

"I'm here!" I chirp, sliding smoothly into the seat across from Sora. His brows jump up on his face, and it takes him a moment to get over my surprise appearance. "Are you that shocked? What'd you order? I'm not paying for dessert."

"What! Liar, you just said you would!"

"I remember my exact words were: I'll pay. You missed the follow-up disclaimer: dessert not included."

"Wow, so you're just cheap," Sora snickers, passing the menu over. "I want pancakes and coffee."

"What he means is," I turn towards the server, glancing at the menu, "we'll get a stack of banana pancakes, an omelette with everything, and an extra side of home fries." I look up towards Sora. "No coffee. Be healthy and drink water."

"I need my coffee every morning," Sora complains.

"We'll get some at my favorite coffee shop later."

"I don't wanna wait till we go to your favorite coffee shop - I'll just pay for it myself." He turns towards the server with a smile. "I'll get an iced Americano."

"Alright! Your drink will be out shortly," the server says, grabbing our menus and heading towards the kitchen.

It's strange that we settle into a silence - I mean, you'd think Sora would be as chatty as he usually is at our morning practices. But instead, he's just intently sipping on his water, occasionally glancing towards me and then around. That in turn makes me self-conscious, so I take a sip of water too. And you can only take so many sips of water before the silence becomes glaringly obvious.

When did things get so awkward with Sora? He usually speaks his mind as freely as I do.

Maybe the better question is why I'm not speaking up.

"Where were you gonna eat breakfast with your mom?" I ask the first thing that comes to mind.

Sora blinks, taking a moment to respond. "Uhh...I think it's a restaurant downtown? I forgot the name."

"Wow. Sounds expensive."

"Probably. You know my mom likes to go all out for food."

I snicker. "I haven't been to any of her parties in awhile. What food did you guys get last time?"

"Spanish. You should've been there - I totally finished this huge flan all by myself."

My eyes widened, drinking some water to wet my suddenly dry throat. The thought of the flan alone is making me even hungrier. "And you didn't think to save me a slice? Some friend."

Sora snorts. "...sorry not sorry, I wasn't sharing something that good."

"Selfish."

"Excuse me?" Sora laughs. "Says the one who always eat my food."

"I'm paying for this meal, aren't I?"

"And I wonder why you're suddenly feeling so generous today."

As the server sets down our plates of food, I take just a moment to come up with my response. "Cause I felt bad that you missed breakfast with your mom."

"...oh." Sora's wide eyes and furrowed brow suggest he's somewhat surprised by my answer. What can I say? I try to keep people on their toes. My attention is quickly dragged to my omelette. Digging in, I savor the first bite - ohmigawd, this cheese is heavenly…

When I look up from my omelette, I notice Sora staring at me. Did he just say something? Sorry, too busy savoring the deliciousness that is brunch food. Seriously. I'm Team Brunch all day err day.

"What?" I mumble between bites.

What are we talking about? As you can probably see, my attention span for life is too short when there's food.

Sora barely stifles his chuckle, but I ignore him cause who cares how Sora amuses himself? I've got more than 99 problems but this omelette - and these home fries - ain't 1 of 'em.

"I said," Sora repeats patiently, "why'd you cancel? Did something happen?"

"Can I have one?" I interrupt when I notice how fluffy his pancakes look. As I help myself to one of them, Sora says something about asking for permission and whatnot - sounds kinda snarky - so I ignore his mostly to himself mumblings.

"You don't have to tell me," Sora quickly amends.

"What?" I narrow my eyes, trying to focus on the conversation while enjoying the pancakes melting in my mouth. Literally, just melting. This diner is the best for brunch.

"You sound like you're avoiding the question…" Sora trails off with a pointed look. "So you don't have to say why you canceled."

"Oh, that's not it. Sorry, this is too good," I say, pointing at our food. Putting my utensils down, I look at him seriously. "Okay, okay sorry. One more time: what's your question?"

Sora laughs - he looks like he's trying not to spit out any food. "What happened this morning?"

"Nothing," I say. "I woke up and I came here."

"So why'd you cancel?"

"Cancel what- oh. Right."

It falls silent, and I can tell Sora's trying to be tactful with his curious glances in my direction. I'm just trying to figure out how to explain the whole story to him.

Well, I guess I gotta start somewhere.

"Soooo...you know Selphie and Tidus, right?"

"Yeah...he's on the team," Sora says. "Your cousin. He's dating Selphie, right?"

Hearing Sora say it still makes me flinch - it's just weird, okay? I hope he doesn't notice that. Anyways, I proceed with the story-telling.

"So, they started...going out...before summer, right?" I draw a deep breath, preparing for a long rant. "They totally just dropped that bomb on me! I mean, you might not know, but me and Selphie were best friends! And then suddenly I find out she's dating my cousin? So they've been sneaking around behind my back for who knows how long? What the hell is their problem? Did they even think about my feelings at all?"

"So you're hurt that they didn't tell you?"

"Yeah! I mean, not just that. That really hurt for the first few weeks - it felt like they didn't trust me, you know? Or they were using me for more chances to see each other. Maybe it was funny to them that I had no clue they were dating when we all hung out."

"I'm sure they wouldn't do that," Sora interrupts calmly. "Tidus might be like the most stubborn person I know - besides you - but he's never mean on purpose."

I let the wayward jab slide, cause I'm all fired up about this topic. "I'm just pissed that they didn't even bother telling me! I had to find out through Naminélike days after it happened, for goodness sake! And only after I started avoiding them did they quote-quote notice something was wrong, so then they told me. Why couldn't they just tell me off the bat? Were they never gonna tell me?"

"Maybe they were still dealing with their own relationship? You know feelings are a complicated business."

"Whose side are you on?" I glare at Sora with narrowed eyes.

Biting off a chunk of pancake from his fork, he raises his hands in a surrendering position. "Ooh, I'm not taking any sides - I've learned that lesson. I'm just trying to understand."

"Okay fine, well, understand this: they betrayed me, okay? They betrayed my trust in them. I mean, I tell them everything! And they didn't think to tell me about this ginormous news!"

"I get where you're coming from," Sora says diplomatically. "It hurts when people keep things from you. But this was months ago, right? You guys are still mad?"

"Yeah! Cause they don't think they're wrong! They're walking their own holier-than-thou path with each other, and they're not gonna apologize to me - they think I'm wrong!"

"Hmm…"

"...hmm?" I repeat. "That's all you have to say?"

Sora raises a finger as he chews on another mouthful of pancakes. Watching him enjoying his meal makes me hungry, so I help myself to some more of his food. I think he glares at me, but it's hard to tell when tasty pancakes are blending with a sugary maple syrup finish in your mouth.

"I was just thinking," Sora says. "Half a year is a long time to be proud and not apologize. Why do they think you're wrong?"

"...I have no clue. I think they think I'm overreacting or something?" I drink some water, cause my throat's parched from all that talking. "So we've just been ignoring each other, which didn't help - but what was I supposed to do? Obviously they didn't want to talk to me."

"I see you hanging out with Tidus sometimes."

"Yeah, we're better now. As long as we don't bring up BB."

"What?"

"The 'Big Betrayal,'" I clarify.

Sora snorts, to which I send him a ferocious glare. This is serious business! There's no room for laughing.

"You know...this naming thing is kinda weird, kinda cute."

"What?" My first instinct is to be on the defensive, because did he just call me weird? But the 'cute' is throwing me off…

"You always give situations these funny little names like you're in a video game or something," Sora laughs.

What in the…? He lost me at the 4th word.

"Anyways," he continues, "what's that have to do with this morning?"

I roll my eyes, my mood instantly souring upon recalling yesterday's events. "We finally had The Talk."

"...I'm sensing this is Talk with a capital T."

"You sense correctly," I mumble, sighing heavily as I remember the harsh words we said. "They're still mad at me, so of course I'm upset with them. I don't even know why we had to Talk. The Talk was useless."

"Okay. So let me get this straight," Sora says, gesturing with his fork still in hand. "Tidus and Selphie start dating. You find out through Naminé, and you're upset that they didn't tell you. They think you're overreacting so they're mad at you. So the question is...why are you guys still fighting now?"

"Cause they didn't apologize!" I exclaim.

"I didn't know you hold grudges for half a year."

"I mean, when you put it like that...well, don't you think they should apologize?"

"If you're asking me...Kairi, it's their relationship. I'm sure they weren't gonna hide it forever or something - they were probably just dealing with their own business when you found out. Of course it sucks they didn't tell you, but does it really matter now?"

I place my fork down on the table. "So you think I'm overreacting?"

"No, I get why you were hurt. But to me, it sounds like you're letting the whole thing weigh you down months after the fact. Why make things harder for yourself?"

"They're being selfish. They won't even admit they hurt me!"

"Ideally they'd recognize that and apologize. But your response probably hurt them too. Since they haven't, wouldn't it be easier for you to reach out first? I know it's hard and all, but it's just a clash of egos now. You just have to get over it and talk to them maturely..."

'You just need to get over it.'

You need to get over yourself.

'Talk to them about it.'

Then maybe we can talk with you.

Then we can talk!

Seriously.

Why does it always come back to me, me, ME?

"You have no fucking idea what you're saying, Sora Hikari," I exclaim, grabbing a napkin and wiping my mouth. "So stop being a smartass and shut the fuck up."

"Excuse me? I'm just telling you what I think! If you disagree - "

"Yeah, I completely disagree. No one asked, Sora, so shut up and stop telling me I'm wrong."

"If you were actually listening, I wasn't saying that at all!" A dry chuckle escapes Sora's lips. "You know, you always have the tendency to make things about yourself - "

"This isn't about me!" I shriek, jumping to my feet. Instantly, I feel the eyes of everyone in the restaurant on me. Trying my best to keep my cool, I sink back down into my seat and try to hide myself from everyone's lines of sight. Reaching into my bag and slamming a 20-dollar bill on the table, I narrow my eyes at Sora.

"You know, everyone needs to stop blaming me for everything."

Grabbing my bag, I head out of the restaurant.

While walking, I can hear the blood rushing through my veins and feel my heartbeat right by my ears. I'm literally fuming, and I can only hope my face isn't as red as I feel. Even Sora is on their side? Why is everything in my life so wrong at this point? Why does no one believe in me? Who can I trust at this point?

Can I even trust myself?

A/N: Whoops, long time no see. Let's skip the pleasantries, shall we?

Once again, I'd like to restate my promise that I WON'T GIVE UP ON US, EVEN IF THE SKIES GET ROUGH ~

Seriously though. I have the ending blurb already written so I just have to fill in the blanks for how they get there (honestly the hardest part of writing for me). But seeeee things are progressing nicely, aren't they? A little drama never hurt anyone (except the characters, rip their poor lives).

Drop a review and let me know what you think! To those who celebrate it, happy Thanksgiving! I hope you're happily enjoying the food coma bliss.