"Yo, wake up...wake up…helloooooo? Up and at 'em...WAKE THE FUCK UP!"
"Gah!" My eyes shot open, followed by a my head feeling as if it had been hit with a mallet while I was asleep. Rubbing my eyes I saw Kyu standing in front of me, arms crossed and tapping her foot impatiently.
"Nice of you to finally wake up."
"Well cock a doodle doo to you too," I muttered leaning my head back to try and dull the pain, only for me to notice that I wasn't in my bed but rather sitting in a chair; looking around I saw that we were currently in my kitchen, which was a complete mess, "the hell happened here?"
"How should I know? You're the one who told me to come here," she shrugged pulling out her phone.
"I did?"
She opened her inbox and showed me a text from my number.
Hey I know you are pissed but I want to talk. Meet me in the kitchen in the morning.
"Oh yeah, I did write that," I said, everything coming back to me, "it's been a looong night and I think I only got about an hour of sleep."
"Jesus, how drunk were you last night?"
"Actually, not that much," I stretched myself before getting off the chair and checking my phone, "thought I think the same can't be said about my friends. Look at this, 32 pictures from Gus and most of them are him in the bathroom."
"Mmmhm," Kyu leaned on the counter unimpressed, "so? Why did you call me here? Gonna brag about how you managed to get in some tail without my help AND while acting like a complete dickhead?"
"No that's not—"
"I get it, you are already much better at this than I am, even though less than a year ago you were just some looser weirdo who could barely talk to a girl without looking like an idiot."
"If you would just let me—"
"Go ahead, say it, I know you're just dying too; I'm a shit love fairy—"
"Will you shut up for a second?!" I snapped irritably, causing her to stop talking, Realizing how that came out, I sighed and calmed down before talking again, "look, I just want to talk. I'm not here to brag about anything, and I'm don't want to be a dick—"
"Great job so far..."
"The point is," I continued ignoring that last jab, "I just want to talk about what happened last night; and how it was probably uncalled for me to treat you the way I did."
"Probably?"
"Don't push it."
"...all right, I'm listening."
I paused for a while, collecting my thoughts before I continued, "okay look. Last night I was still angry. I was angry that you tricked me, I was angry that you lied to me, and I was angry that you generally screwed me over; it did not help that I was currently in a very loud place that I absolutely hated and did not want to be in. So, when you showed up I just decided to take out all of my frustrations on you simply because you were there, and that...that wasn't right."
Kyu didn't say anything.
"I guess...no, I KNOW that I still had a lot of unresolved anger towards you that I kept to myself. That was not a smart idea, seeing how it all just kept piling on until it just came out all at once; but that's no excuse for what I did, or at least I don't want it to be. I...I don't like being an asshole."
She raised her eyebrow.
"Okay fine, I DO like being a snarky, sarcastic asshole, I just don't like being...what I was last night. I was just...mean and unpleasant; and I don't like that."
"I don't know, seemed to work out for you in the end," she muttered looking down.
"I didn't get the girl at first Kyu; hell, she completely blew me off and I was ready to call it quits and just get back to the apartment."
"Wait, then how did you get her number?"
"Honestly? Pure luck. I forgot my phone at the bar and when I went to get it she came up and started talking to me. Since I had basically given up and wasn't really looking to get her number anymore I just talked to her normally and held off from acting like an asshole; and it worked."
"What did you talk about?"
"Video games, mostly."
She groaned, "dude, really?"
"Hey I said I had given up on getting her number; and anyway, it worked out in the end didn't it?"
"I guess."
"The point is, the only reason I got her number was because I stopped acting like a colossal ass for about 5 minutes, which was enough to not send her away while flipping the bird. In other words, you were right."
She didn't say anything.
"I'm not saying this so that you'll forgive me, and then I forgive you for everything, and then we have a nice cry while we hug it out. I'm saying this because I realized that treating you like dog shit is not going to help either of us. You want me to succeed in this program of yours, and I want to ensure that I keep my dick functioning; I think it would be best for the both of us, especially me, if we at least tried to be on each other's good side."
"Wait, are you apologizing?"
"I'm trying."
"No offense, but you're not very good at it," she smirked.
"Look who's talking."
"I'm a love fairy; what's your excuse?"
"I'm an asshole."
She snorted out a laugh before shaking her head, "okay, that was good, I'll give you that much."
"...I'm sorry."
She stopped laughing and looked at me again.
"About last night. I shouldn't have taken it out on you the way I did. I'm still mad that you lied to me, and I'm still mad about the mess you put me in, but treating you like crap isn't going to fix anything. I want this contract done with, less because I want you gone my life and more simply because I don't like the idea of being impotent for the rest of my life. I still need your help Kyu; and, more importantly, I still want your help."
She didn't respond, her eyes moving around the room as if she was trying to think of what to say next. I simply waited patiently for her to say something, though I could feel the awkwardness starting to build around us.
Eventually she let out a long sigh before talking, "not gonna lie, some of that stuff you said last night really hurt. I may not be the most in tune with other people's feelings, but that doesn't mean I'm an emotionless block of ice; that being said...I'm also not deluded enough to say that some of it wasn't well deserved. Like I said, if I had known the circumstances around you, I would have tried to approach this whole thing another way."
"So what do you say? Wanna try and move this forward?"
"Depends. Am I going to have to put up with you being an ass like last night again in the future?"
"I promise I won't go beyond the level of snark and bark I usually give off," I responded sincerely.
"Fair enough, I can live with that," she shrugged before smiling at me.
"Good," I smiled back.
"Now is there any reason this lovely conversation couldn't be done in your comfortable room after you took a much needed shower; because you smell of booze and fading cologne," she wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"There is one more thing," I got up and opened the oven, pulling out the surprise I had been working on up until an hour ago.
"Oh...my god...you can't be serious," Kyu buried her face in her hand, trying her best not to laugh.
In front of me I was holding a plate with a small, round red velvet cake in the middle. It was barely bigger than a cupcake, with store bought pink frosting on top and a "Sorry" and sad face clumsily written in blue frosting.
"You were saying about me sucking at apologies?" I grinned.
"This...this is the corniest shit I have ever seen," she said in between laughs.
"Don't push it or I might just cut this into a heart shape," I teased.
"Oh god please don't; pretty sure that alone will give me diabetes."
"Well whenever you feel like killing that figure of yours, it's right here," I placed the plate on the counter, "now if you will excuse me I need to take a long shower, followed by and even longer nap."
"Wait, one question: what would you have done with the cake if I didn't accept your apology?" Kyu asked.
"What else? Eat it. Either way, I still end up winning one way or another," I stuck out my tongue playfully.
"All right wise guy, just go to bed," she began pushing me out of the kitchen, "we still got a lot of work to do and as you are right now you aren't going to make it any easier. We have to plan our next move, and we need to plan it carefully; I doubt you're going to have the same luck twice in a row."
"I don't know, I seem to be on a hot streak lately; I think my luck is finally turning around."
She stopped pushing me for a moment though her hands still pressed on my back. Before I could ask her what was wrong, she wrapped her arms around my chest and squeezed hard.
"Thanks..."
I smiled, "no problem; but just so we're clear, you are still not off the hook."
"Yeah, yeah, I know."
"…you smell nice."
"And you ruined it," she let go and gave me one last push out the kitchen, "go clean up and take the rest of the day off; we continue tomorrow."
Good, because I could really use a break, I sighed internally before going in my room.
Author's note: Well this is a pleasant surprise.
Yes sir, we are back with another chapter of "Love is a Game" and for once it's not some sort of angry, bitter entry. After two chapters of bickering, insults, and general unpleasantness, our hero and Kyu have finally buried the hatchet between them. Sort of. In any case they are back in good terms with each other, meaning that the rest of this love quest should go smoothly for our protagonist. Right? Right?
But yeah, relatively short chapter this time, hence the fast update since my last post. Don't get too used to it though, because next up is "To Change the Past" and boy oh boy is it a doozy.
As always leave any comments and critiques below. Until next time. Byeeeee!