-o-x-Chapter 20-x-o-
"Rise and shine, Roxie-baby!" Yuffie cried cheerfully jumping on to Roxas' bed.
He groaned, lifted the arm that was shielding his face and cracked open a bleary eye, "What's going on?"
"It's the weekend, Roxie! Super-Duper Saturday time!" she squealed, bouncing up and down excitedly, "Come on, get dressed. Here," she threw a pile of clothes at him, "We chose your outfit. Hurry up!"
Roxas rolled his eye and pulled the covers off himself.
"Ooh! Someone's been working out!" Yuffie giggled, wolf-whistling.
Roxas laughed and threw a pillow at she. She caught it and ran out of the room cackling. The blonde shook his head, smiling to himself contently and followed his friend out of the room and walked into the bathroom.
"He's up." Yuffie said as she entered the living room and flopped down onto the couch in between Naminé and Sora.
"Good," Rikku said, smirking slightly, "Let's hope he's not too long."
She nodded at Jess as she walked into the room, grinning. Jess nodded in reply and walked over to the armchair where Demyx was quietly lounging.
"Demyx, sweetie?" she said in an as motherly tone as she could muster.
"…Yes?" He answered, giving her a funny look. He knew she was going to try to persuade him to do something. He could tell. She was using The Voice.
"You're meeting some friends at the mall today, aren't you?"
"…Yeah, I am. And no, before you ask, I will not stay here and look after this lot instead."
She let a short (fake) laugh escape her, "Don't be silly! I just wondered if you would take these three girls and Roxas with you."
"Aw, do I have to?" he whined.
"Yes." She said, dropping the act and smacking him over the head.
"Hey! Yeah, fine. I'll do it.!
"Good boy," she said, patting him on the head and cheerfully skipping away.
Demyx narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the three grinning girls sitting on the couch, completely ignoring the whimpering Sora, "What are you lot up to, eh?"
"Nothing," Rikku replied, smiling innocently.
"I'm not stupid you know, " he said, tapping his forehead, "I smell the whiff of a scheme going on, and I will find out what it is, mark my words. I am going to-"
They never found out what he was going to do, he was interrupted by a chorus of wolf-whistles and giggles coming from the couch. Roxas had entered the room.
"Shut up you guys…" he mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.
"But we made you look all sexy, Roxie!" Yuffie squealed.
"Hmm… You were right, Naminé. The wife-beater does look better with the shirt undone over the top." Rikku said thoughtfully.
Demyx raised his eyebrows, "Larxene is so going to kill me for this…" he murmured under his breath before stalking into the kitchen.
"Mum," he said firmly, "You are going to make me waffles for breakfast."
"Now, now, Demyx," she said, waggling a finger at him, "You're a senior now, when I was a senior I didn't get waffles for breakfast! Neither did any of my brothers or sisters. Well, actually, we used to sneak out and buy them but, you're not clever enough to work out that you could do that, obviously. Are you, Dem Dem?"
"I won't take them."
Her face fell and she pouted, "Demyx, I'm your mother! You're supposed to do what I tell you to! Not the other way round…" she whined.
He shook his head stoically and held out his hand, "Waffles."
She scowled at him, "You better not tell anyone. I've got money riding on this…" she muttered, turning her back to him. Demyx grinned triumphantly and settled himself down at the breakfast bar. Today, it was going to be good.
-x-X-x-
Okay, he lied. Today was not going to be good. It was going to be awkward and messy.
They wasted a considerable amount of time arguing over the seating arrangements in the car until Jess came out with a heavy-looking frying pan and yelled at them to get on with it. They didn't argue.
"So, Demyx, who are you meeting?" Rikku asked from the back seat.
"Uh," he glanced at her in the rearview mirror, "just Axel, Marly and, um… Zexion. Oh, and I suppose Larxene will be there too."
He noticed Roxas' eyebrows contract slightly at the sound of Zexion's name.
"Larxene…" he heard Rikku mutter darkly under her breath. "I don't like her already."
Naminé coughed quietly and frowned at Rikku disapprovingly. Rikku just rolled her eyes and turned her head to stare resolutely out of the window. That Larxene was going down, whether she liked it or not. Nobody stood in the way of her Roxie and what he wanted. Not if she could help it.
"Oh, Roxie?" she said, tapping the blonde on the shoulder. "I forgot to tell you but you got a text from Seifer while you were cleaning your teeth."
"Oh god…" Roxas groaned, rolling his eyes in annoyance and sinking down in his seat. "What did he want?"
"Oh, nothing much," an evil smirk crept onto her face, "I told him to meet us at the mall."
There was a loud thunk as Roxas' head hit the dashboard.
Demyx frowned at him, trying to keep his eyes on the road, "What's wrong? I thought he was your boyfriend…?"
"He is," Roxas groaned, "But a whole day with him is just going to be unbearable!"
"That's not the way you should think about him!" He said, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise.
"Urg, shut up Demyx." He scowled.
"Why does everyone keep saying that?" the older boy wailed, drawing the car to a stop messily over two parking spaces.
"Maybe you should just stop thinking about it, Demyx." Naminé said, patting his shoulder sympathetically.
"I told you you should have given me some of your waffles this morning! You can't take all the sugar! It's going to your he-ad!" Yuffie giggled hysterically in a sing-song voice.
"The work 'hypocrite' springs to mind…" Rikku muttered to Roxas who chuckled appreciatively. "Now," she clapped her hands loudly and linked arms with both Roxas and Demyx, "Lead the way, Dem Dem!"
Demyx shook his head and laughed at the way Yuffie started striking gallant poses as though she was a knight in shining armor about to start a quest as he lead them towards the nearest entrance.
"I don't even know why we're here…" Roxas mumbled crossly.
"Cheer up, Roxie!" Rikku said brightly, then whispered, "You're going to get to spend a whole day in the company of the charming Axel!"
He rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on! I'm not that sad," He insisted.
Rikku chose to ignore him and continued following Demyx's lead, her arms still firmly anchoring the two boys to her sides.
"I see them!" Yuffie suddenly shrieked, pointed over at the fountain and bounding off the same direction, dragging a weary-looking Naminé behind her.
Sure enough, Roxas could see four figures waiting by the fountain. A tall boy with strangely pinkish-brown hair who was talking to a shorter boy with slivery-grey hair, a tall red-head was leaning on his shoulder laughing and poking his left cheek. And then, of course, there was the pissed off blonde girl. Marluxia, Zexion, Axel and, unfortunately, Larxene.
Roxas felt Rikku's grip tighten on his arm as though she was worried he was suddenly going to run away screaming as Demyx broke away from her and ran over to the fountain. The thought definitely crossed his mind when he caught sight of Seifer and his 'gang' standing a few feet away.
Rikku glances at him as she felt him stiffen, "What?" she followed the direction of his gaze and raised an eyebrow, "I'm guessing that's Seifer… please tell me he's the blonde one…"
"Yeah… That's him." Roxas confirmed.
"Oh thank god," Rikku said, her posture slackening in relief. "Sorry," she shot Roxas an apologetic look as he raised an eyebrow at her. "I just don't think I could bring myself to be with either of the others. They look too… silent."
"Err, right." Roxas shook his head at her and opened his mouth again but Rikku stopped him.
"Shh. Now, go greet Mr. I Bang People Behind The Bike Shed Because I'm Bloody Sexy," she glanced over to where Demyx seemed to be introducing Yuffie and Naminé to his friends, "I'll be over there. Make sure you bring him over. Otherwise this day will be a total waste of time and you will be molested for no reason. Got it?"
He nodded.
"God. Now get your ass over there, my young padowan." She hugged him quickly and skipped over to the group, leaving poor Roxas shivering in his non-existent boots.
"Heya!" she cried happily as she bounded up to the group.
"We were wondering where you'd got to," Naminé said loudly, smiling at her, then she (fake) frowned. "Where's Roxas?"
"Oh!" said Rikku, equally loud and with (fake) surprise. "He's with Seifer," she gestured over to where Roxas and Seifer were saying a thorough non-verbal hello. She noticed Axel frown slightly, "He'll come over in a bit- What's wrong Yuffie?" she frowned at the dark-haired girl who was scowling at her with her arms folded over her chest.
"You said I wasn't allowed to dye my hair."
Silence.
"…What?" Rikku said, completely bewildered. She didn't remember this being in the plan.
"Remember when I wanted to dye my hair blonde so we'd all be blonde's?"
"Yes… vaguely," she said, not seeing where this was going.
"Well you told me I couldn't because it was would silly."
"To be fair, it really would." Rikku pointed out, still not understanding where this had come from or where it was going.
"But that boy had pink hair! And he's a boy!" she whine pointing an accusing finger at Marluxia.
"Oh for goodness sake…" Naminé murmured under her breath and rolled her eyes. She was used to Rikku and Yuffie arguing over childish things, but this really was ridiculous. Especially after they'd spent several hours of the night and morning going over the finer details of their plan.
"That's not the point! His hair looks really hot pink! A blonde you would just be-Roxie!" Rikku cut across herself and latched onto the blonde boy. She jumped back and turned to look at the stranger who had his arm around Roxas' shoulders. "And you must be Seifer." She said, prodding his hard chest.
"No, I'm the Ghost of Christmas Past," he drawled sarcastically.
She raised her eyebrows in disdain, "Don't patronise me. Do you know who I am? I am Roxas Harada's Best Friend. My name is Rikku with two 'k's and you will be sorry if you insult my intelligence again because I will kick your ass. Got it?"
Seifer's cocky smirk disappeared in a flash. She smiled approvingly as Axel let a short laugh escape him.
"Rikku, calm down," Roxas said, glaring at her slightly.
Her jaw dropped. Roxas was taking the side of this wannabe hardo chav who was his (fakeFAKEFAKE) boyfriend over her? Then she remembered that he was acting.
"Sorry, Roxie!" she said, smiling sweetly at him.
"Um, this is Yuffie and Naminé…" Roxas said gesturing at the two girls who were staring at Seifer with mild interest. Seifer nodded at them politely. Rikku grimaced and turned around to face Axel.
"Hello Axel! You look annoyed about something. So does your girlfriend. Having a rocky relationship? Need to talk about it?" she asked brightly. Her lips curved into a triumphant smirk when he didn't answer. His eyes were narrowed at the couple behind her. She waved a hand in front of his face.
"Yoohoo, Axel! Anyone there?"
He blinked, shook his head slightly and brought his gaze down too her. "Uh- What? Sorry I wasn't-"
"Listening? I know. I was just saying how cute Roxas and Seifer look together, don't ya think they make a pretty hot couple?"
"I-I… I guess so?" he smiled uneasily and looked over his shoulder. "Hey, Larx, c'mere." He jerked his head and over she came, still looking exceedingly pissed off.
"This is Larxene she's my fri-"
"Girlfriend," Larxene finished for him, glaring icily at Rikku.
"Um. Yeah. Whatever," Axel said vaguely, staring at Roxas and Seifer once again, he wandered off to where Demyx and Zexion were being talked to by Yuffie.
Rikku turned to grin at the slightly forlorn looking Larxene. She would have felt sorry for her is she hadn't suddenly narrowed her eyes like a bird of prey and said what she did next.
"Don't think I don't know what you're up to. It's not going to work. Axel is my boyfriend, your pouffy little pal doesn't stand a chance."
Rikku raised her eyebrows doubtfully, "I wouldn't be so confident if I were you; I'm a professional."
"A professional what? Boyfriend stealer?" Larxene suggested, crossing her arms.
"Whatev, Trev," Rikku replied, going the 'talk to the hand' action and walking off.
-x-X-x-
Author's Note: bhahaha. I love Rikku. She's so funny. And i do actually feel sorry for Larxene, but it was - literally - her name that come out of the hat. So, what did you think? I'm sorry it's ended here... and that is was such a crappy chapter but the next one is soooo much better. I love the next chapter. Wow, i love a lot of such, don't I? Uh, yeah, i'm cool. Not. Meh. It makes me happy.
Read, Review, Party, Enjoy Life...
nirii xx