Summer Blues
Chapter Eight: Just Don't Mix With Wheels
Saturday dawned brigt and early, seemingly the perfect summer day anyone could want. It was peaceful, but I woke up when the sun was glaring on my closed lids. I grunted, before turning and burying myself into the still-cool pillow. I got a few more minutes of much-needed rest before a loud thud rose me from my dreams, meaning the door had just opened.
"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!" Kairi sang.
Ugh, morning persons, I grumbled to myself. Out loud I said, "Kairi. Seriously. You've got to stop doing that."
"You'll thank me later," she told me, and I could hear a grin in her voice. "I just thought that since today was the day you've been bouncing all week for, you'd want to be woken up early."
"Why would I want to be woken up early any day?" I groaned, before her statement sank in. Saturday. Today was Saturday! Before Kairi could say another word, I sat up so quickly, my hair fell all over my face. I blew it out of my eyes as my redheaded friend laughed in complete amusement. I rolled my eyes and threw aside the coverlet on the bed, stretching my legs over the side of the bed experimentally. I glanced up at her with a question.
"What's for breakfast?" I asked, standing up and heading for the door.
"Sausages and hash brown," Kairi replied, following after me closely.
"Yum," I said, and headed for the kitchen.
LINE BREAK
After breakfast, I headed up again to take a shower and do something to pass the time before my and Roxas' "date". Kairi, being the supportive friend that she is (or so she says) followed me up and flopped down on my bed as went inside the bathroom to wash. When I came back out, she was still in the room, bu she'd moved from the bed to rummaging in my closet, her cheek puffed out in concentration.
"Why are you going through my clothes?" I asked, as I stood beside her and pulled out an oversized, hand-painted shirt and denim short shorts, which were usually my "work clothes", meaning what I used when I wanted to be comfortable during drawing or painting.
Kairi turned to me and clucked her tongue. "I'm looking to see what you're going to wear later, since you can't honestly be thinking of wearing that"—she motioned to my current outfit—"to your date." She frowned at my shirt like it was something non-desirable and should never be worn by a girl.
"Hey!" I said indiganantly. "I happen to like this shirt. So what if I said I was?"
She pinched the bridge off her nose, looking to the ceiling as if asking for divine assistance. With one hand she swiped several hangers off the closet, and, unfortunately, I noticed all of them were dresses. I mean, I had nothing aginst dresses; hell, I'd even owrn one when I got here, but seriously? I think the word I'm looking for here is… awkward. Or something. Kairi offered her choices with a determined expression on her face, and I couldn't help but be a little apprehensive.
"Back to the bathroom. Now," she commanded, following me in when I obeyed her, puling brushes and whatever makeover stuff from the dresser as she went. Oh no…
LINE BREAK
Four and a half hours later, I was seated at the kitchen counter, munching on an apple, because it was past lunch. Kairi had worked her "magic" on me for all of almost three hours, and I was now wearing a yellow bubble dress that was a bit too short for my liking, so there were also white knee-length leggings underneath. I was almost beat enough to debate on actually asking Kairi to call Roxas and say I was bailing because of pure exhaustion, since I'd no idea what his number was. I almost asked her what it was too, but decided against it, thinking it would be creepy if I texted him out of the blue and explained how I'd gotten hold of his number.
I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was a quarter to one, about fifteen minutes till Roxas told me he'd pick me up. Embarassingly, I had checked the wall clock about thrice in the past ten minutes, and I think it was finally getting to Kairi, who was sitting across from me, typing away on her phone. When I began to drum my fingers insistently on the tabletop, she finally spoke.
"Nam, if you're so excited, you should just go wait in the foyer or the living room or something," she told me, glancing up from her steady texting.
I immediately turned red and reached over to hit her shoulder. "Kairi!" I exclaimed, amid her laughter.
"Kidding!" she said, still chortling.
I opened my mouth to retort something when the doorbell rang. I glanced at her knowing smile before jumping off the counter footstool and walking as calmly as I could to the front door. When I opened it, I was greeted my Roxas' bright blue eyes, and shy smile as he rubbed the back of his neck, looking sheepish. He had a skateboard tucked under his arm, and kneepads, elbow guards, and all the protective gear except a helmet on him.
"Hi, Naminé," he said, smiling, just the lightest blush dusting his cheeks. "I'm sorry, I know I'm early, but I wanted to, you know… get a head start on the competition."
I thought he looked really cute, and I couldn't help my answering smile from spreading, or the blush that matched his own. "It's okay, Roxas," I told him.
"Roxas!" Kairi exclaimed, sliding past me to sling an arm over the poor boy's shoulders. He laughed. The redhead cracked a smile. "Now, you," she said. "Take care of Nami well for me, you hear? I mean, you'd better, I have Axel as my brother."
Roxas pushed her off, still laughing. "Whatever, Kai." He turned to me, still grinning. "Ready?"
"Sure," I replied, stepping outside as Kairi moved back to slink back inseide the house. I swear I could almost feel the planning vibes from as she closed the door with a "Have fun!" I shook my head and smiled, before facing Roxas and asking, "Where to?"
It really surprised me when he took my hand to give it a small tug as he stepped forward, before letting go and motioning for me to follow him. I did, thinking, his hand was so warm… I blushed from my thoughts, and tried to clear my head and concentrate on our destination.
LINE BREAK
Roxas led me to the bleachers and said, "I'll be back when I've done my turn, and we'll watch together till the winners are announced, okay? Make sure I hear you cheer for me later, alright?" He ran a hand through his hair when he told me that, and I laughed and replied a "for sure" before letting him off to practice.
The competition rolled around almost an hour later, and by then, I'd exhausted several pages in my sketchpad, and was admiring my finished sketch of a certain blond, blue-eyed boy—the drawing I'd started at the airport but never finished. I was actually quite proud of that one, since it reminded me so much of its real counterpart and I smiled to myself as someone announced the start of the skateboarding competition. I tucked the pad in the messenger bag I'd brought, and looked up to watch the show.
The first few boys were my age or just a bit younger, and I watched curiously and with an artist's eye how they did their flips and spins and how their form was during a particular stunt. In this way, I was able to predict (with just a bit of luck) if they had the wrong angle of bent knees and such, and most of the time, I was right. I clapped to the ones I thought were pretty good—I mean, I didn't know enough about skateboarding to actually know. Finally, Roxas skated front and center, and began his thing, and really, I could see he was good. I gasped as he excecuted a particularly difficult-looking flip, holding his form airborne before landing on the ground solidly. I cheered loudly when he finished, along with the other spectators, thoroughly impressed.
He came over to sit beside me a few minutes later, still a bit out of breath, in a different shirt, and his gear off, but with skateboard still with him. "I didn't hear you at all," he accused, teasing.
I put my hands up in a defensive manner. "Hey, not my fault you were so concentrated," I told him, giggling. "But you were really good!"
"Thanks," he said warmly, with a smile that did funny things to my stomach, and causing my cheeks to flush. "Look at you! You're blushing!"
"Am not!" I pouted, much like a child, which made him laugh. After a while, I joined in shortly before we both concentrated on the rest of the competition. There were only a few more skaters lined up after Roxas and after the last one, there was a converging of the judges to discuss who'd won. I noticed Roxas biting his lip while watching them, and I laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry, Roxas," I assured him. "You're going to win. I know it." Truthfully, I believed my own words because I saw no one else who was actually better than Roxas; but then again, I wasn't the skateboarding expert.
"Thanks, Naminé," he said, breathing a sigh. "Let's hope you're right."
It was a few more minutes before a judge, an athletic-looking man, who I suppose was the head, stood up and motioned for everyone to listen.
"It was a difficult choice," he told the crowd, cracking a small smile. "I speak in behalf of the others when I say that we truly appreciate all of you being her today. With much debate and deliberation, though, we have found our winner. Witout further ado… we give the honor to Roxas Hiroto!"
There was a defeaning roar as Roxas was pulled up to the judges' podium to receive his award. I laughed and clapped along, encouraging him to move forward. It seemed like some kind of surreal experience to him, judging by the slightly dazed expression that was on his face when he raised the medal amid cries of congratulations. As he bounded off the steps, he kept being intercepted by groups of people to congratulate him, and by the time he got to me, he was, again, out of breath. I laughed.
"Congratulations!" I said happily. "I told you you'd win!"
"You did," he said, grinning. "Thanks, Naminé." He tucked my hair behind my ear, looking thoughtful. As he brushed my cheek with the back of his hand, I felt them starting to heat up, signalling a blush. This seemed to bring him back to normal again, and he resumed grinning, as he took my hand. "C'mon, let's celebrate. I have your good luck to thank for this."
"Okay," I answered, still working on my furious blush.
A/N: Rushed. That's one way to describe this chapter. XP So sorry! I wanted to finish this before I have to go on a temporary hiatus for about a month. Sorry to all watchers! But please, please, leave me reviews so that when I come back, I know that I can still continue this and I haven't bored all of you out. 8D
Anyway, thanks for everything! See you when I can; I might be able to squeeze another chapter during my supposed hiatus, if the Fates consent me to be lucky. XDD Leave some love: PM, review, alert, or whatever! Thanks for reading~
-Hikari
P.S. Chapter background: "Nice Piece of Art" by FM Static. Yeah, I know, I'm a sucker for pop. XD
