"Please, no."
"Roxas, I would really appreciate it."
I was sitting across from my mom in our living room. She was perched on the edge of her seat, her lips pursed. For some reason, she kept tucking her neat, blonde hair behind her ears as if she was nervous. Maybe she was. She had to know I wouldn't readily agree to this.
"I'm sorry."
"It would be really nice to have your support. I promise it won't—"
"I haven't even been home for twenty-four hours!" Not to mention a certain red-head has sent me about 20 texts and a few phone calls. It was going to nag at me until I talked to him.
"You're been there before," she tried.
"And that's why I don't want to go!"
My father entered at that moment. As always, he was in a button-down shirt. The fabric was pulling across his stomach, just a tad too tight, probably meaning he had gained a little weight. He was still fairly skinny, however, and his height was as intimidating as ever. Standing over me, he asked, "What's the problem?"
"Oh, nothing really." My mom jumped up and scurried to his side. "I was just telling Roxas about our charity banquet."
"The holiday one?"
"Yes," she beamed.
"Oh, of course. It is tomorrow night," he addressed me. "Formal wear."
"I know," I muttered.
He gave a curt nod. "We will head over there tomorrow at five p.m. to make sure everything is in place." And with that, he left the room. My mom was ecstatic, putting her hands together as if I had agreed or something.
"It's going to be so fun! I know Sora is really excited," she gushed. "Between me and you, the caterers are going to be absolutely splendid."
"Great," I said sarcastically before bolting up to my room.
I began to unpack my bags, which took about fifteen minutes. I was throwing myself onto my bed when my phone rang. It was Axel, of course; I actually answered, even though I was unsure of what I was going to say. Was he going to bring up my weird tears?
"Hey," I said.
"Roxas!"
"Yes?" I winced at his loud volume.
"I've been trying to reach you for hours!"
"I noticed. Uh, sorry my phone has been off."
"You should keep it on," he complained.
"Sorry, I was talking with Sora and phone use bothers him," I lied.
"It's ok," he said slowly. "So, like.."
"Yeah?"
"I was just wondering, you know, if you were ok. Also," he continued a little awkwardly, "I never really got to say goodbye."
"Oh yeah," I swallowed, playing with a string hanging off my jeans. I wrapped it around my finger, released it, and then twirled it around again. "I'm fine."
"Alright. We're still gonna hang out right?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Cool." There was too long of a pause and he chuckled. "Man I am bad at talking on the phone."
"I noticed."
"I love the support, Roxie."
"Any time."
"Well, think about what you wanna do. And you'll have to text me your address so I can pick you up."
"I can drive."
"Whoa, you can?"
"Yeah, the cars are just left here."
"Well I can still pick you up if you want."
"Whatever you want."
"Helpful," he teased. "We can plan more later. Maybe we could hang out..like next week? Or whenever," he added. "I'm good with whenever."
"You sound desperate."
"Shut up," he laughed.
"Are you at your mom's?" I asked, recalling her cold demeanor.
"Uh, kinda. I bounce between there and Demyx's."
"Does he have an apartment?"
"He lives in a big house with a ton of roommates. It's kinda strange. But better than my house, that's for sure. I really wish I had an apartment."
"I know the feeling."
"So, yeah, text or message me with ideas. We can always hang out with Demyx as a default."
"Alright I will. You busy tomorrow night?"
"I'm never busy, why?"
"I'm being forced to go to a banquet."
"..Forced? But isn't there food?"
"Axel, that's not the point!" I sighed, rolling over onto my stomach and pressing my phone against my ear. "It's so boring and stupid…"
"But food!"
"You've never been to one have you?"
"Uhh, I went to a few high school ones."
"This is like a holiday charity thing."
"That still seems good, Roxas." He gave a small laugh.
"Just trust me."
"Alright, I will. Why did you bring this up again?"
"Because I'll probably be texting you a lot."
"You should just invite me."
I rolled over again, staring at the ceiling. "I would if I could."
"Aww, why can't you?"
"It's expensive. I'm only going because my family helped organize it and junk…we might get in for free, I don't really remember."
"Oh alright. You can text me though."
"Ok, I will."
"Cool. Try not to miss me too much."
His voice was teasing and heat crept into my face. "As if! Well..bye?"
"Bye Roxas!"
I hung up and crawled into bed, dreading tomorrow.
XxXxXxX
The banquet was being held in a country club. Yay, my favorite, I thought sarcastically as we pulled up. My mom, dad, and Sora were all attending as well; my mom was in a plain, black dress with some of her glittery dangling earrings in. My dad was wearing a black suit, while Sora sported a white button down with a red tie. He looked kinda dorky; the clothing didn't fit him. I pretty much matched, except my tie was blue.
"Let's go," my mom smiled. We walked up to the entrance, her high heels clanking on the sidewalk with each step.
The inside was beyond fancy. A wall filled with antique looking furniture, cream colored carpet and large paintings opened up into the reception hall. Large glass doors in the back looked out onto the golf course, although it was too dark outside to make it out. Everything was decked out; circular tables covered in thick cloth, lit up chandeliers, and name tags. Not to mention, there was an area in the back where chefs were setting up with desserts and there was a giant Christmas tree in the corner. It reached the ceiling, and was covered with lights. Just like last year. And the year before that.
"It's so pretty!" Sora exclaimed.
"Where's our table?" my mom asked.
My dad led us to a table near the glass doors. We all had to put on name tags, and soon guests began to arrive. I slumped into my chair, already bored. Somehow this whole place smelled like cinnamon, as if trying to shove the holidays down your throat.
Sora sat next to me as our parents began to mingle. I watched disdainfully as they made small talk, everyone talking about how impressed they are, and how nice it is, and all that junk.
"What charity is this for again?" I asked Sora, who was messing with the candles on our table.
"Uhh…I forget."
"Oh well," I sighed. I zoned out for a little while, half wondering why people weren't trying to begin small talk with me as well. It usually happened. They'd ask what grade I was in and mentioned how amazing my parents are and sometimes asked about girls. I'd always give my taught line—"I am too busy right now with school." You know, with all the extracurricular activities or whatever I was pretending to be doing. And of course, sometimes I would blush a bit, and they would find it adorable and would start to tease me.
And, no offense, most of these people are pretty full of themselves. They have money so they think they're better than everyone else. Not everyone is like that, of course, but it seems that that specific type of person flocks to these kinds of events.
Sighing, I rested my chin on my hand. "Isn't Olette coming?" Sora asked me.
"She bailed on me," I said dryly.
"Oh that's too bad."
"I don't blame her though."
Sora spun around in his chair to survey the growing crowd. "Don't you wanna go talk to people?"
"Not really. You can if you want."
"Hmm…" He thought for a second, then got up and disappeared.
Whatever. I sipped the water in front of me and managed to sneak a text to Axel, even though my dad warned me not to overuse my phone during this thing. It would "give the wrong impression."
So bored send help
My phone buzzed in reply pretty quickly but I took a few minutes before looking at it. The food finally arrived, and my family came back to sit with me. It was served to us out of shiny, silver platters, and I watched it come in waves and courses. A salad. Tiny amounts of food on sticks. Choice of some vegetarian thing or steak. Bread, potatoes, weird fancy vegetables. A variety of fruits, and about any dessert imaginable. The dessert, however, was self serve unlike the rest of the meal. My family got up to go get some.
"Aren't you coming?" my mom paused before leaving.
"In a bit, not hungry yet."
I took the opportunity to look at my phone. Axel had replied with: Hide in the bathroom and watch youtube.
Chuckling, I responded. Good idea but food has arrived.
I looked over towards the sweets, and of course Sora was glued to the chocolate fountain.
A speaker, some older lady, was beginning to talk. Her voice echoed throughout the silent room; I ignored it, already knowing the spiel about the good cause and the work put in, etc, etc.
I clapped along with everyone, darting over to grab some dessert myself.
"Isn't this amazing?" Sora hissed to me.
I nodded, not wanting to disrupt the big speech thing. Grabbing some chocolate strawberries for myself, we made our way back to our table.
The speech was turned over to a few other people, and then they began the auction. Which is the worst part. It's all a bunch of paintings, gift baskets, things of that nature, that the audience bids on. The funds gathered from selling tickets and auctioning off items go to the charity, the food, and the rental on this place.
"I'm going to the bathroom," I whispered to my mom before disappearing down the hallway.
The bathroom, of course, was as fancy as the rest of this place. Sadly, the bowl of chocolate mints no longer excited me; I sat on the plush chairs near the door and pulled my phone out. Axel had already replied. Food!
Now they're auctioning stuff.
I set it on my lap, trying to look like I was waiting for someone when an older gentlemen shuffled in. I waited until he left before reading Axel's text. Buy me something?
No way, I typed. It's all boring junk anyway.
"Roxas!" Sora burst into the room. "Mom was wondering why you're taking so long."
"I was about to leave," I muttered.
"It's ending soon anyway," Sora smiled at me. "Who were you texting?"
"No one." I tucked my phone out of site.
"Axel?"
"No!"
"Really?"
"Does it matter?" I began to walk away, and thankfully, thankfully my parents were gathering their things to leave.
We stepped out into the cold air and made our way to the car. "I think that went well," my mom commented.
"Yes, amazingly well," my dad agreed, kissing her on the check.
I turned away. The ride back was uneventful, and once we were back home, I shut myself in my room.
I continued to text Axel until he just suggested I go online to chat. I snuggled against my pillows, all my lights off save for my laptop. It was an old habit really.
Roxas82: Hey
HotFlames: Hey you survived?!
Roxas82: Funny
HotFlames: I didn't think you would
Roxas82: Of course
HotFlames: Did you think of what you wanna do next week?
Roxas82: Not really
HotFlames: Any ideas at all?
Roxas82: Uhh movies, mall, parks..well it's too cold to go to the park
HotFlames: Let's do something winter related!
Roxas82: Winter related sounds stupid
HotFlames: :P snowball fight?
Roxas82: Not very exciting
HotFlames: Hmm
Roxas82: Hmm
He was replying quickly enough so that this chat room was the only tab I had open. Plus, of course, a window was playing my music into my headphones.
HotFlames: Sledding?
Roxas82: How about ice skating?
HotFlames: If you want Roxie
Roxas82: I used to go a lot as a kid
HotFlames: Know any good places?
Roxas82: Yes
HotFlames: You wanna?
Roxas82: Got nothing better unless you want to hang out with Demyx all the time
HotFlames: Alright, what day?
Roxas82: Any
HotFlames: Uhh Thursday?
Roxas82: That's so far away
HotFlames: Anxious to see me? ;)
Roxas82: In your dreams
HotFlames: How about Tuesday?
Hmm, two days from now wasn't too bad. I could avoid my family for that long, and then get a brief break. Perfect!
Roxas82: Sounds good
HotFlames: I'll pick you up
Roxas82: Hopefully your flame hair doesn't melt the ice
HotFlames: :D
We talked late into the night and I fell asleep next to my computer.