B li n d D a t e
Selphie
"So... What did he say?" Kairi asked Roxas eagerly. "I know he didn't get along with Naminé, but he say anything about the sort of girl he would like? Like, what sort of hair colour he prefers? Eyes? Personality? Everybody likes girls to have personalities, right?"
Roxas rubbed the back of his head, thinking that maybe Kairi had too much of a personality on her. It wasn't like he'd prefer her to be brain-dead, but still... Kairi was the loudest, the bossiest and the bravest. Why couldn't she just be loud, bossy and brave? Why couldn't she also be the kindest or the sweetest? Or the funniest?
Why did she alwayshave to get her own way?
Roxas told her he didn't think it was a good idea pairing Sora up with any random girl who walked past, and Naminé told her she didn't think it was a good idea pairing girls up with any old random boy, or 'hobo' as she had called Sora.
And Kairi had nodded and said she'd 'think about it' and in the end she was sure she'd do what was best for everyone.
And here she was again the next day, holding a clipboard – yes, a clipboard – with a sheet of paper attached and a pen poised in one hand, ready to write down things about Sora.
So she could find him a more compatible life partner.
It was, to be blunt, utter stupidity.
"Well, er, Sora didn't really say what sort of girl he likes..." started Roxas, not bothering to tell Kairi to stop her evil plans and plots. He'd tried before and it had all ended up rather painfully. And Kairi had a pen this time, which she could stab him with if he dared question her authority. And a clipboard, which she could smack him round the head with. And a piece of paper, which she could give him a papercut with.
Best not to say anything at all, especially as Kairi had weapons.
"But, er, Sora said we should stop pairing him up with girls," finished Roxas, hoping Kairi would get the hint and stop this stupid game of 'blind date' and instead go on a proper date with Roxas.
Their relationship needed some patching-up, if it was ever going to survive.
Kairi, instead of dropping her clipboard and pen and crying 'this is stupid, let's go get an ice-cream, Roxie!', started to giggle maniacally. She grinned like a Jack-o'-Lantern, as she scribbled something down.
"So... Sora doesn't like girls, eh? Well, I guess that doesn't really matter... We can just find some eligible guys-"
"Kairi!" cried Roxas, outraged. "You can't just organise Sora's life like this! He might not even be gay!"
"Oh come on," countered his girlfriend, jotting down 'might be gay' on her paper. "You know Sora's completely hopeless! He's never going to be happy without us. And you know, I feel really bad about leaving my baby out. He just needs somebody to make him happy, that's all. Now, didn't he have that best friend from middle school? Riku...? We could try and get his number..."
"Kairi! I don't think Sora would like that! Imagine if I set you up on a date with Naminé! It'll be just like that for Sora! He won't want to kiss his old best friend!"
"Well... Maybe calling Riku is a little hasty. Maybe we should try a few more times with girls, see what happens? Make notes... If it doesn't work out then we'll need to resort to drastic measures."
Well, steering Kairi away from the dangerous subject of boys + Sora trueluffYAY was better than nothing.
"So... Who do you think Sora should meet next?" Roxas asked, not bothering to point out that the obvious answer to his question was nobody.
Kairi grinned evilly, and threw down her clipboard, where she had jotted down several names.
Roxas studied it quizzically, as Kairi took her mobile out her pocket.
"Oh God! You're not going to introduce Sora to-"
"Hello, Selphie!" Kairi cooed into her phone.
.o-O-oxx.
Aerith was out at yoga class, and Cloud was at work.
Sora had the house to himself and he was, well, bored.
Last summer he had never been at home, he had constantly been hanging out with Roxas and Kairi. They ran around in their little threesome, eating ice-cream in the park, playing volleyball on the beach, rowing their boats across the sea, building a tree-house. No matter how cheesy this sentence may be, the fun never ended. And it was true.
And before that Sora had hung around Riku, both of them sticking together like glue. They went everywhere together, to the extent that, on the first day of middle school, Sora dragged Riku to the toilet with him and forced him to wait outside. And on the weekends they were always round at each other's house.
Good times, good times.
And then Riku got a different circle of friends at high school and Sora never really saw him much any more. They still said hi when they passed in the corridors, but that was it really.
The point that is being made here is that, previously, Sora never really had the time to mope about at home listening to DDR songs on his MP3 player. He never really had the time to appreciate how truly boring his house was.
He'd much rather be playing DDR, not just listening to it.
And he'd much rather be talking to his friends about how boring his house was, not just thinking about it.
Alone.
Just as Sora was contemplating the idea of tidying his room (something he never did before, because he was too busy) the doorbell rang.
Sora ripped the wires out of his ears and chucked his MP3 player carelessly on his bed, jumping down the stairs three at a time.
He pulled the door open, plastering a smile to his face, getting ready to greet whoever what at his door (hopefully Kairi or Roxas. No, scratch that, hopefully Roxas) with a warm smile and well-rehearsed 'hello!' And then maybe he'd offer to get them a drink of papou fruit juice, and they'd go and play DDR at the arcade.
And then Sora saw who was standing behind the wooden structure he'd just flung open and he froze.
It was Selphie Tilmitt.
Selphie, the girl who'd had an uncontrollable crush on Sora ever since second grade, when Sora had to say 'excuse me' to her in the dinner line because she was in his way.
The Selphie with the bouncy brunette hair that flipped out at the sides in a way that defied both physics and common sense. The Selphie with the vibrant green eyes cats' eyes that always turned heart-shaped whenever she sensed Sora was near, a.k.a at least 1,000 yards away. The Selphie who, upon spotting Sora, latched onto him with a series of bone-crushing bear hugs and excited shrieks, claiming that they had to share a papou fruit right now!
That was usually when Roxas dragged Sora away from the open arms of the crazy girl and into the boys' bathroom where Selphie could not go because non-Sora sort of boys had 'cooties'.
Oh yeah, this was Selphie alright.
The Selphie who had been trying to force papou fruit down Sora's throat for at least six years.
So Sora would not be offering papou fruit juice to her.
"Ohmygawd! Sora!" squealed the girl, in a voice so high it could break glass. "You're so cute when you're surprised! I knew you'd be happy to see me!"
Yes, Sora was surprised. No, he was not happy. Terrified would be the best way to describe how he was feeling at the moment.
How the hell does she know where I live?
Well, duhhhhhhhhhhh, that was easy.
Kairi. I will kill you! Sora thought angrily, as Selphie hugged him enthusiastically, wrapping herself around him like a duvet. A big duvet that smothered everything in sight.
"Come on! Let's go play DDR!" squealed the excitable ball of energy, grabbing Sora's hand and pulling him away from the safe sanctuary that was his home.
Crazy girls couldn't get him there...
.o-O-oxx.
"Come on," Kairi whispered, prodding Roxas in the arm with her pen. "Let's go follow them."
"Kairi... I can't..." muttered Roxas, his clothes caught on multiple thorns, as he tried to clamber the bush in the front of Sora's garden.
"They're getting away," hissed Kairi, watching as Selphie dragged Sora down the driveway at speeds previously unknown to man (or woman). "We need to follow them and take notes!"
"But I can't, Kairi..."
"Why not?!"
"I'm stuuucccckkkkkk," moaned Roxas, wincing as Kairi nearly ripped his arm out his socket in a valiant attempt to pull him to his feet.
.o-O-oxx.
Sora winced, his arms and legs and heads aching all over.
The song that had previously been playing drew to a close in an explosion of techno-y sound effects that made all the bones in his body do the conga.
Truth be told, Sora was so exhausted what with his precious dance-a-thon that he didn't even know what song he'd been sluggishly moving his legs to for the past minute and a half.
Oh yes – Selphie and Sora had been playing DDR for four hours.
Non-stop.
And Selphie wasn't even the slightest bit exhausted.
"Sora! Sora!" cried the bubbly brunette, tugging at her 'date's' arm.
Sora collapsed onto the grimy, chewing-gum coated floor, his face a pretty strawberry-colour that glowed in the dim surroundings of the arcade. The lights were off, the only thing really lighting their way the bright flashing lights of the various games that were scattered everywhere. It was meant to give in a cool atmosphere, but really it was just giving Sora a headache.
And Sora loved the Nightlife arcade and Sora loved DDR and it was very rare for the poor, beaten-up boy to ever get headaches or to collapse on things in exhaustion.
It was all Selphie's fault.
This was even worse than that 'date' with Naminé.
"Sora! Sora!" cried the brunette again, tugging at Sora's arm like persistent little puppy.
Sora tried to bat her away, but found moving his arm (or any part of his body) was rather painful.
"Do you want to go dance some more, Sora? How's about we try Butterfly again? Or Bumblebee? Or-"
"Or how's about we go and get something to eat," panted Sora. "Look, those kids have taken over DDR, anyway."
"Oh..." Selphie said glumly. She brightened up about two seconds later, however. "Oh! I know this really cute little restaurant we can go to!" she squealed, her voice now matching the buzzes random machines were making, verses of Speed Over Beethoven attempting to drown her out.
And with that merry little statement, Sora was up on his feet again, getting dragged along by the annoying girl.
.o-O-oxx.
"This girl runs bloody fast," hissed Kairi, moving from behind the cuddly toy cranes she had Roxas had been hiding behind, making notes on how Sora acted with Selphie. "Come on, Roxas!"
Kairi grabbed her boyfriend roughly by one arm and pulled him along with her, miniature cuddly toys Roxas had been winning for Kairi over the past four hours spilling to the ground.
And, as they left, a scream went up around the arcade, as little children ran forth to snatch the free prizes up off the floor.
.o-O-oxx.
Eating with Selphie still required a lot of energy.
The girl talked a mile a minute, all the while glugging down an artificially-enhanced chocolate milkshake and hogging a plate of fries they were meant to be sharing.
"I've had a lot of fun," Selphie smiled, taking a few fries in one hand and her drink in the other. "Why don't we do this again tomorrow?"
I am not kidding. Kairi, when I get out of this nightmare I will kill you, Sora promised, the very bad 80s music drifting through the air. Every sharp note played in the song made him wince in pain.
Yes – Selphie had taken him to an '80s restaurant.
Sora didn't even know Destiny Islands had an '80s restaurant!!
Trust Selphie to be the one to find it, tucked in-between the hairdressers and the greengrocers.
"I can't tomorrow because-" Kairi will most likely be fixing me up with somebody else. "-I have to ... help my dad paint the shed in the garden," Sora lied feebly.
They didn't even have a shed.
"Oh. Well, how about some other day? We've got loads of time, it's the summer holidays after all," said the girl brightly. "How's about that?"
Now how was Sora meant to reply to that?
When people ask if you want to go on a date with them at a specific time then you can make up some excuse and you won't hurt their feelings. But if they say a vague 'why don't we see each other some time?' then you can't really respond with a 'no, I'm busy EVERY SINGLE DAY of my life' can you?
"Er... Well... I'm probably going to be very busy..." Sora muttered, looking around the restaurant, taking in his surroundings.
Kissing couple. A woman and a cat sharing some fries. And- Wait... Were those people at the back Kairi and Roxas?
Kairi, with a clipboard scribbling frantically, Roxas spotting Sora spotting him, attempting desperately to pull the menus up around him and Kairi like a wall. Hoping that Sora hadn't seen them.
You two are so dead.
"I'm sorry Selph, I've got to go-"
"But I thought we could go have a romantic walk along the beach after?" asked the girl, eyes wide, holding onto the fabric of his red top to stop him from running away. "The waves look so pretty in the moonlight."
"Selphie, it's six o'clock! No romantic moonlit waves or sugar-spun sands with dips filled with shadows and ridges rising up to salute the stars for you," Sora said weakly.
"But they still look pretty! Please, stay with me!"
"Selphie, I really have t-"
"Ditch me?"
"No, it's not like t-"
"You want to dump me. But it doesn't make any sense! Kairi told me you asked me out on a date! So why are you trying to ditch me?! Don't I mean anything to you? Was this just a GAME TO YOU, messing with head?! Making me feel truly happy, only to destroy the best day I've EVER HAD in a HEARTBEAT?!" shrieked Selphie, getting more and more worked up as each second passed. "I hate you!" she screamed, cutting over Sora's feeble protests and compliments about pretty her eyes were. "And I hope you burn in hell!"
And there Sora stood, coated from head to toe in Selphie's chocolate milkshake which had just been poured on his head courtesy a very angry Selphie, watching as the brunette stormed out of the restaurant.
"God! Girls!" Sora cried in frustration.
.o-O-oxx.
Sora'sJournal
I came home from my date with Selphie very sticky.
I know that sounds wrong, so I'll attempt to rephrase that.
I came from my date with Selphie coated head-to-toe in chocolate milkshake. And when I turned up at the door Aerith took one look at me and said: 'Aw. Sora's found himself a girlfriend'.
It's like even my MOTHER admits girls are all head-cases.
I mean, she didn't ask if I'd been out with Roxas and he'd spilt milkshake on me by accident.
She just knew I'd been out on a date because I came home sodden and dripping and looking really pissed off.
I tried to wipe it all off in the boys' toilets (in an 80s restaurant – Selphie's doing, I swear) with napkins (because some silly bugger decided to try to use the toilet paper for ceiling decorations, a.k.a it was wet and plastered to the ceiling, hanging down like bandages. And then you take one peek into the girls' toilets and they're all fragrant and rose-petal-smelling with clean floor tiles and clean sinks and clean walls and it doesn't smell of piss). But it didn't work – the napkins seemed to spread it around more.
My clothes smell funny. And they're all stained now.
And I thought Naminé was bad.
At least she didn't dump a milkshake over my head.
She just drew a picture of me burning in hell.
I found Kairi sitting at the back of the restaurant and she'd been taking notes about my disastrous date with Selphie! Whilst Roxas sat behind her and bit his nails, worrying over the sanity of his girlfriend...
Ew. I still can't get over that.
So, anyway, I yanked the clipboard from Kairi's hands (probably got chocolatety fingerprints on it, because Kairi tutted) and yelled at her about plans and plots and annoying girls and WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!
And Kairi gave me 'the look' – the look Aerith sometimes gives me when I tell her she's got face-cream in the bacon pan again – and said if I just told her what sort of girl I liked then she wouldn't have to keep setting me up with people.
So then I yelled at Kairi, telling her I didn't want a girl – any girl – and I'd find my 'true love' in my own time.
I probably sounded really stupid, everybody in the restaurant was looking at me and I think I scared this elderly couple away.
I just hope Kairi gets the hint.
Roxas should keep a leash on her.
Seriously.
x-X-oxx.
A/N: M'kay, tis another beautiful chapter of this WONDERFUL stooree. I hope you like it... Twas fun to write. Hope the restaurant part doesn't seem rushed xP
You still get to review and say what people you want Sora to be paired with! Any girls ... or boys. We'll use all suggestions.
Skitts & Lamatikah xxx