Chapter 65
"So you guys are the reason huh? Why didn't you invite me?"
"Uh- well I mean I thought maybe you were busy, since you didn't talk about coming over with me and Falco to play games." Fox had to explain to Slippy on Monday, after the past Friday's antics.
"Aw well I guess that's okay. Still, maybe next time you guys could at least invite me?" Fox sighed and put his hands on his hips when he looked back the frog.
"You're right, next time I'll make sure to. After all we're a…team" Fox looked around at his three friends as they all smiled to each other.
The dismissal bell rang and everyone embarked for their first class for the day. Fox sat down next to Wolf as usual. "Heard about the mess in some of the bathrooms?" The lupine turned over towards Fox as he sat down. Fox grinned, "Yeah, I've definitely heard about it. As a matter of fact, I had a hand in that."
Wolf laughed, "I didn't know you had it in you McCloud." Fox shook his head while laughing, "I'll tell you about it at lunch, how's that sound?" Wolf nodded in return as they started with their schoolwork for the day.
"So it was both of you?" Wolf rolled his eyes at lunch. "Somehow that isn't surprising."
"You should've seen it, it was incredible how it worked out. Crawling through air ducts, sneaking around dark hallways, hiding from janitors, it was like something straight out of a movie." Krystal nodded after taking a bit of her sandwich.
"It was fun, even more fun than I thought it might be. I would say we should do it again, but that would be a little risky." Fox laughed at his girlfriend's observation, knowing that she's right.
"I guess it was nice for a one time deal." Fox returned to his lunch after telling Wolf about it all.
"Hey Fox!"
He turned his head to see Falco running down the hall towards him. "Hey Falco, what's up?"
"Just wanted to say something that I thought of earlier. After last Friday, I was thinking…if you haven't thought of it by now, she'd be perfect. You know that right?"
Fox shook his head in response. "Well, maybe. But thing is that I don't know if I can ask her that. I mean, that's a serious commitment. I mean, what if she has something she really wants to do?" Falco put his hands behind his head and looked up in thought as they walked towards the exit.
"Yeah, I thought about that but…dude, if you don't at least try…you know that she may…" Fox sighed again.
"Yeah, I thought about that. Maybe I haven't asked because I'm afraid of what she'll say." He felt hand on his shoulder.
"Dude, I'm just telling you. Yeah, you know her better than me. But I just really think that…this one's a winner." Fox scratched his chin a little at the thought.
"But she's never even showed remote interest in anything of the sort, she's hardly even asked me. Maybe she doesn't care, maybe she doesn't think about it." Falco could only facepalm at Fox's choice of words.
"Dude, not this again. Fox, you ever seen the way she looks at you? The way she talks to you, about you? She just doesn't think about it. She's just making sure to spend time with you. Not to mention it sure sounded like she was ready to go a few months ago, then you talked to her and everything was easy peasy." The bird took his hand off the vulpine's shoulder. "Look, just…ask her. Doesn't have to be detailed and all, but ask her. We're halfway through January, school's over at the beginning of April, this could not be a more perfect range of time."
"You're right."
Falco took a step back and looked around, looking unsure. "Wait, what? Say it ain't so! Fox McCloud, of all people, admitting that me, Falco Lombardi, is right? The end is surely upon us!" Fox shook his head with a gentle laugh.
"If the end's nearby then luckily I won't have to deal with you for much longer." Falco laughed in return.
"Good to see we're making progress, just know that me and Slippy are here to help if you want any." Fox embraced the parting fist bump that his friend invited him to as he headed for the front of the school, eager to see the blue vixen he was eager to see.
'I wonder how I should do this?' He questioned himself on the particular parts, this would be no small offer to make.
"Hey."
She snapped him out of his thoughts as he looked up to see the blue seraphim that he awaited every day.
"Hey."
He reached out and grabbed her hand without saying much, still not saying much on the car ride back to her house. "So…is it okay if I come over for a bit today?"
No context, just a question.
"I'm sure that's fine, we just might have to take care of Marty some. Unless mom's taken him somewhere with her."
"Great, that sounds great."
Uncharacteristically quiet, Krystal didn't want to probe his mind any. She respected him, they had a small talk about it in the past and she didn't want to cross what she said.
"Mom! We're home!"
Now it was Fox's turn to laugh at what she said.
'We're home' He thought with a small laugh.'Wonder if she remembers me saying that last week when we went back home… I mean my house.'
"Mom?" She looked around the house, no car in the garage. "Looks like she took Marty, wherever she went. So it's just us." She smiled at the vulpine as he smiled back.
"Dang, I was really hoping they'd be here, haven't gotten to talk to them all that much."
"You can always stay for dinner. I know they'd love to have you over."
"Maybe, I do remember liking how you and your mom cook." She had a somewhat embarrassed smile on her face when he told her that. "It's been a while, I hope it's all as good as I remember it being."
"Guess you'll just have to stay tonight and find out." She said cutely as she tapped his nose.
'She's so…great.' He thought as she removed her finger from his nose and smiled.
"So what do you wanna do until dinner?"
Fox put his hand on his chin as he thought. "Hm, you're a girl, I'm a boy, and we have a few hours to ourselves. Gee I'm not sure." Krystal turned a little red, and so did Fox.
'Did I just say that?'
"Well aren't you bold?" Another embarrassed smile came across the vulpine's face, "Yeah well I try to be instinctive."
She laughed a little as she walked up to him and threw her arms around his neck. "Pick me up and carry me to the couch." Fox grinned,
'Phew' was all that came to his mind.
He picked her up like she was his bride and began walking over towards the couch. "You know I don't need to be a telepath to know what you just thought?" He laughed at her comment, she knew him well enough to indeed know the truth. He sat down on the end of the couch with her sitting in his lap, making sure to position a pillow between her head and the armrest of the couch.
"Trying to make me take a nap again?"She looked at him as she leaned her head gently on the pillow.
"It's not hard to do that. I just want you to stay comfy."
"I'm always comfy if I'm with you."
"I dunno, this armrest feels pretty solid without much padding." She just laughed as she grabbed his hand.
"Way to spoil the mood." He grinned as he leaned in to kiss her. Once, twice, it ended up being way more than twice.
"I ruined the mood, huh?" She only mumbled in response as she leaned closer to him while they were seated on the couch.
"So um…I think I have something I wanna ask you?"
She giggled a little, "You think?" He let out a nervous laugh in return.
"Yeah…so what do you think you'll do after high school?" She leaned back a little, this kind of question was something unexpected. Not only was it unexpected, she didn't have much of an answer to give.
"Well… I'm not entirely sure. I mean I know I wanna go to college, I just don't know exactly what I would do. Something medical, I know I've always liked to help people, show kindness, and if I can help people get through physical pain then I would really be happy with that. Why do you ask?"
'She's…'
Fox had to snap out of the trance her answer threw him into. "It's just something I thought of today. I realized I had never asked you anything like that, something about your future."
"What about you? What do you think you'll do after high school?" Fox laughed a little as an initial response.
"I just wanna be a pilot. I like flying so much." Krystal's face had a look of recognition and remembrance.
"Oh that's right, I remember last year when you would go with your dad to go flying. And the other day when you mentioned that.. air thing?" Fox laughed in response to the last part.
"Arwing."
"Right, that. I remember that now, so why not go with Bill to the Cornerian academy early? Since he left a few weeks ago? Was it only for one person?" Fox shook his head and tapped his fingers on Krystal's stomach as he thought.
"I'm not gonna rea-"
He gave her stomach a light thump. "I know you're not. I trust you." He smiled at her as he went back to tapping.
"I just knew Bill wanted to go into the Cornerian academy because he wanted to establish contacts. So he thought it was silly for all of us to go."
"All of you?"
"Yeah, Falco wants to be a pilot too. And Slippy wants to be a mechanic." Krystal's eyes beamed at hearing all of this.
"Well that's perfect for all of you! You could all be a team, Slippy could work on aircrafts and you and Falco could test them!" Fox laughed at her discovery.
"What's so funny?" She asked as she couldn't help but laugh with him.
"Nothing. I just love you." He leaned in to kiss her cheek.
"So have you guys discussed something like that?" He had to hold back another laugh.
"Something like that."
"Is there something you're not telling me?" She asked with a grin, still trying to hold back a laugh herself.
"Yeah, sort of."
"Do you want to tell me about it?" Fox put his hand on her face as he had done before.
"More than anything."
Krystal reached and held that hand with her own.
"Then tell me."
He missed those eyes. Those caring, loving, understanding eyes. She was right, she doesn't need to be a telepath to know what he's thinking.
"I will, but first it's my turn to ask you something. What…" His thoughts trailed as he thought about how to ask this, and to make sure he was asking the right question.
"What about…us? Where do…we…fit in to your plan?"
She scooted back up to him and laid her head on his shoulder as she held her arms around his neck.
"I…didn't think about that. It's just…again my life has been flipped upside down again within the last week. I mean that in a good way."
Fox laughed a little, unintentionally interrupting her.
"Sorry."
"Never be sorry for laughing."
She put her hand on his cheek and rubbed it a little. "It's just…now I do have something else to think about. I…hope that doesn't um…" Now it was Fox's turn to take her hand off his cheek and hold it.
"Don't you worry, not one bit."
He squeezed her hand a little as he pulled her closer. She had a small giggle make its way out as he did so, earning a minute smile from both of them.
"So if I hear it right, you don't wanna break up? Again?" He won both a laugh as well as an eye roll from her.
"I don't wanna go through all of that was all so…dark. That whole time."
"Shh, you don't have to say anything." He pulled her close and planted one more kiss on her lips.
"What do you say we do our homework, then maybe we can take a nap? Or get outta here?"
"Aren't you a romantic?" They laughed as Fox slipped his arms behind her back and under her legs as he picked her up.
"Oh, look!"
She pointed over towards the kitchen counter as he carried her. He changed his direction and walked towards the counter so she could look at what piqued her interest.
"Mom took Marty to a little parenting group, makes sense considering it's been a while since they raised a baby. And she says dad's gonna be there too. So the afternoon and dinner is on our own." Fox sighed a little, his hopes of talking to her parents tonight seemed to fade.
"Don't worry, there's always later this week."
"You sure you aren't reading my mind." A sheepish grin came across Krystal's face as she leaned in to kiss Fox's cheek one more time. He walked into her room and sat her down on her bed.
"I'm gonna go drive my car back home and put some stuff away. I'll be back." He kissed her on her nose as he walked out back towards his car.
"DAD!"
He nearly screamed as he flung the front door open. James almost launched his sunglasses off his head when Fox bolted through the door yelling so loud.
"What!? What's wrong?!" This didn't keep him from launching off the couch, as alert as possible.
"She's PERFECT!"
"What?"
"You heard me, she's perfect!"
"Who's perfect for-oh you mean Krystal?" Fox nodded his head as he stood across from his dad.
"What do you mean?" Fox couldn't stand still, he was so excited to share this news.
"She wants to go into the medical field. She said either a doctor or a nurse. This is so unreal, SHE'S PERFECT."
Now James understood what his son was talking about. "You're…kidding right?" Fox shook his head. "Son that's incredible! Fox, do you know what this means? I mean sure she doesn't hit every check box, but someone who has an interest in medicine?"
"Yeah, I can't believe it. It's so perfect."
"So what did she say?" Fox's face now had excited confusion, rather than just excitement.
"What do you mean?"
"Did she say yes?"
"Oh."
"Oh? What does 'oh?' mean? You did ask, right?" Fox assumed his usual nervous stance, his voice a bit shaken, hands behind his head.
"Well, no. It's just, I didn't know everything for sure so I didn't wanna get her excited. But…she can get medical training too right? A full course? Along with everything else?"
James slowly nodded his head in as full a motion as he could.
'This is so much more than a dream come true.'
