A/N: I'm so sorry for the huge delay! The holidays caught up with me and I became really busy. I've had a relaxing few weeks of summer break though. I hope you all had a fantastic holiday surrounded by loved ones!
I think this is going to be one of my favourite chapters so far. Hope you guys enjoy it!
I wanted to ask someone, anyone, if it was a clear indicator a guy liked you if he sent you a text saying "How has your day been?" the day after you met up with him. Well it wasn't like I was a veteran at this stuff! Maybe he was just being polite! And I was still only just getting to know him; I wasn't going to expect anything just yet.
The girls however already had plenty of hypotheses on the matter.
"I bet he fell for you from the moment he saw you," Olette said in a romantic fashion, to which I rolled my eyes and took a tray from her.
"Hurry up and finish your shift so we can talk about him!" Kairi checked her phone. "Selphie is on her way too."
"Great," I said sarcastically, knowing Kairi had already told her and that she would give me an earful. Olette just giggled as she began to pack the things away.
As I headed into the back I noticed Yuffie giving me a sly grin, and I stopped short to glare at her.
"No eavesdropping."
"Aw, you're no fun!" Yuffie exclaimed theatrically, and I ignored her pouting as I got back to cleaning. Just as Olette and I took our aprons off a certain brunette entered the café.
"Naminé you sit your butt on that couch and tell us everything right now!" All the patrons in the café turned around as Selphie made her entrance. The sentence came out in one long, loud sprawl, and she looked almost maniacal as she sat next to Kairi and ushered me over. This was how I was going to die.
I reluctantly headed over and sat as far away from Selphie as I could, allowing Olette to sit down first so she could act as a barrier if the girl decided to freak out, which was pretty much inevitable.
"Spill," She demanded excitedly.
I explained how he'd given me his number, how we decided to meet up yesterday and how our meeting went. When I told her Olette had joined in towards the end her face turned.
"No fair, Olette got to meet him first!?" She turned to Kairi in a bid to get some back-up, but the redhead just shook her head with a smile.
"If it helps Selphie, I get to give you the extra information Naminé won't," She said with a cheeky grin, and I shot her a confused look. What else could she possibly know? "Naminé would never tell you how cute he really is."
"Oh, really?" Selphie said in that suggestive tone, and I grabbed one of the nearby cushions and threw my head into it. "Aw, Naminé's all embarrassed!"
"He's really nice, too," Olette continued, and I lifted my head again, thankful Olette was the first to meet him. "He's easy to talk to. Riku and Terra seem to like him too."
"Riku and Terra got to meet him too!?" Selphie threw her hands in the air dramatically. "Naminé, if I don't get to meet this hunk next you are not allowed to date him."
"I'm not dating him!" I wanted to run away and hide right now. "We're still just getting to know each other. If I'm lucky he might like me enough to become my friend. I mean, he's really interesting and kind… he'll probably get bored of me soon enough."
"Don't say that, Nam," Kairi said with a disbelieving tone, "You are talented and beautiful and if he doesn't fall for you there is something wrong with him."
I smiled, but changed the tone of the conversation to slightly more serious. "He might already have a girlfriend, and honestly, it'd make me really happy even if we became friends. He seems really nice." Plus I had someone other than Sora or Riku to talk about video games with. "I still can't believe I met him."
"At least it'll be easy getting to know him since he goes to our uni," Olette added, but I knew she was also hinting at the fact that she and the others could always easily spy on us from afar.
"I feel really lucky," I agreed with a nod, and thought back to our conversation yesterday. "I also found out he doesn't live far from the rest of us!"
"Really? Why didn't he go to our school then?"
"You know that really low-key school about twenty minutes from here? The one you have to take an entrance exam for?"
"Oh my god Nam, you've snagged a cute guy and an intelligent one? You sure know how to pick 'em!" Kairi really should have been an actress.
"Hey, weren't you going to go there, Olette?" Selphie turned to the brunette, who immediately turned red and looked down at her lap, fidgeting.
"Y-Yeah, I was, but I really wanted to go to high school with my friends so I chose not to…" Oh Olette, ever the modest one. We all knew she had a good head on her shoulders, but she really needed to give herself more credit. But I was surprised at how small a world it was – if Olette had have gone to Roxas' school, they may have become friends!
"Anyway, girls," Kairi said in a tone of announcement, ever the leader, "It's our job to spy on our dear friend now so that we don't miss any details! I vote we skip our Friday lectures!"
"Kairi!"
"Come on, that's their time to get to know each other," Olette hushed the other two. "Naminé will tell us everything."
I smiled at how excited and supportive they were of simply making a new friend, and it made the whole thing seem even more exciting. I really did feel extremely lucky. Olette decided to betray me though by returning to their silly fantasies.
"It's so cute," The brunette gushed, "meeting like that!"
"It'll be the story you get to tell your kids!" Kairi added in for fun.
"Not to mention they'll be gorgeous babies by the sounds of it!" Selphie couldn't help herself.
I sighed, but even though these girls were causing me a world of embarrassment, I wouldn't trade their responses for anyone else's. "Thanks, you guys. It is all pretty exciting, meeting someone like that. I just hope it goes well."
"I have a good feeling it will," Olette said with a confident smile. I didn't want to jinx myself, but I did too.
…
"Wow, you guys have known each other since primary school?"
A week had flown by, and it had honestly gone by in a blur. In a flurry of texts and instant messages, Roxas offered to come in on Friday again. We caught the train in together on Wednesday, along with Olette, and she got to know him more. It amazed me how many words he actually got out of her, a feat usually only reserved for our small group of friends.
Olette had nodded happily. "Naminé, Kairi and I all went to the same school. Oh, you haven't met Kairi, have you?"
"Naminé's told me a bit about her," Roxas turned to me with a smile, and I nodded in agreement, though as far as Roxas was concerned, Kairi was simply a good friend who was not trying to match-make us or plan our wedding. He was not about to find that out.
"So you want to work in business?" Olette prodded, and I could almost see her mentally noting every answer in her mind ready to tell the others.
"Yeah, I'm interested in a lot of subjects but I seem to be naturally good at business. Hopefully I'll work for a substantial corporation one day."
"Do you miss Twilight Town? I used to live closer to there when I was little; a friend of mine still lives there."
"Really? I really liked it there, but Destiny Retreat is great too. Did you ever hear about the seven wonders of Twilight Town growing up?"
"No, what are they?"
Roxas had gone into a long story about the seven wonders of Twilight Town, something he and his friends investigated a few years back. The ride to uni wasn't considerably long, but with Roxas in tow it went in the blink of an eye. His stories were amusing and his animated way of telling them always put a smile on my face. The Wednesday train ride was one I would always look forward to from now on.
That afternoon he met up with me in the café briefly, before my lecture started and after his lecture finished. I was watching the clock diligently as he came in. After a quick chat about our day I announced I had to go, and his expression fell.
"Do you have to? You could just skip your lecture and have a longer break. I've got a break now!"
His face was so hopeful and excited, I just couldn't say no. I couldn't say no to anything really, but I had never skipped a lecture before for any reason, let alone just to chat with a friend. So I huffed and sat back down, mumbling about the fact that I never did these sorts of things. He just chuckled. "What makes me a special case?" I sent a pout his way and hoped my cheeks weren't flaring up too much.
We stayed chatting about all sorts of thing, and before we both knew it, not only had I skipped my lecture, but he had skipped his next one as well.
"I know, it was so funny! So I turned to- oh my god it's almost six!" I burst out, and the few other people in the café turned their heads to me. "When did it get so late!?"
"Wow, I missed my whole lecture," Roxas said looking just as stunned, "I guess we can call it even now, huh?"
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you miss your lecture!"
"Hey, it's fine! It was worth hanging out with you instead of going to a boring lecture anyway." He gave me that slanted grin of his and I smiled. It was only now that I was realising just how quickly and how much he wanted to go out of his way to get to know me. What was so special about me that he'd do that? I appreciated it all the same, though. We walked out of the café together ready for the chilly train trip home.
On Thursday afternoon I was working on an assignment on my laptop which, compared to my desktop computer, has a considerably sucky internet connection. All of a sudden Roxas signed in (I really had to stop it automatically signing me in while I was working) and the message "Call from Roxas" popped up on my screen. In a chaotic attempt to find my headphones the call dropped, and I sent him a hurried message;
"Sorry, internet troubles!"
"I was playing my ocarina, thought you might like to hear!"
I slumped in my chair. The internet connection had never bothered me much before, but now it was the bane of my existence. He sent another message:
"If you can get your internet to work, just hit call, 'cause I'm going to keep playing a while."
I prayed to the internet gods to allow me this chance, because I hadn't heard him play yet, but when I hit call the fates decided against it. I heard scattered noise before the call dropped.
"I'm sorry, it keeps cutting out. Why is it doing this to me?"
"Clearly it doesn't want you to hear me play!"
I sighed. I really did want to hear him play, but it wasn't going to work. I guess it was a good thing since I did have an assignment to work on.
"Don't worry, I can bring it in this Friday and play it for you in person!"
I smiled. Maybe it was a good thing – my microphone probably wouldn't have done his playing justice.
My only problem now was the sheer distraction Roxas was providing from my work. I would draw in small bursts, quickly retreating back to the window where I was messaging him, and we were talking more about ourselves. We sent each other old photos and told stories from our school years, and in amongst drawing, talking to him, gulping down dinner to come back to chat and eventually giving up on the assignment, soon it was already 11pm, and we both had uni the next day.
"You're a bad influence on me! I never stay up this late! Go sleep!"
"I'm sorry! But I want to talk to you!"
"You have to get up earlier than me!"
"Alright, alright. How about this then, if you get bored and can't sleep, send me a text, okay?"
Boy did he know how to keep a girl talking. Although I'd told the girls repeatedly he was just a friend, I was getting a stronger and stronger vibe that there was something a little bit different in the air. But that was just me being naive, right? I refused to think beyond the fact. We were two people excited to be getting to know each other – as friends.
Yet I couldn't wipe the giddy grin from my face as I typed. "Whatever gets you to bed! I will though. Have a good sleep." Being this excited and wanting to talk to one person as much as possible was a whole new dimension, but I was enjoying every second.
And now here I was again on Friday, waiting in the café for Roxas, the same smells and sounds from last week surrounding me. The memories of that week were swirling around in my head, and I felt a dizzying sort of excitement. I'd been more social in the last three days than I usually was in a month. I sunk into my scarf, basking in the warmth of the café.
His blonde, spiky hair was visible from outside and I waved to him, now quite used to greeting him. He came in and dropped his bag by the table, getting out his wallet.
"It's freezing out there. Hot chocolate?"
I immediately shook my head. "Oh no, don't shout me! I can buy my own-"
"You don't get a choice!" He smirked cheekily at me. "So, hot chocolate?"
I sunk back into my scarf. "Well, if I don't have a choice…"
He winked at me and went to stand in line. I tried to busy myself with something so I didn't just stare at him while waiting, but it was 9am in the morning and after that last lecture my brain was more asleep than it was a few hours ago. He came back with the drinks and I graciously took my hot chocolate.
"You should try a coffee sometime. It wakes you up!" He took a sip of his coffee. I screwed my nose up.
"I'll be fine, thanks. I'd take a hot chocolate over coffee any day." I took a sip and the sweetness woke me up a bit. I loved the feeling of the warmth spreading through me as I drank it. I may hate winter, but I love my hot chocolate. "By the way, did you bring your ocarina?"
"Oh, yeah," He mumbled as he ventured into his bag, fishing out a box. Inside must have been the ocarina, but I couldn't see because it was wrapped in cloth. "I don't want it to get damaged. I'm not sure where we can play though."
"I know the perfect spot! I've been playing piano in the rehearsal rooms; a lot of people play instruments there." I secretly hoped we could play a bit of piano too. I had this vision of the two of us sitting on the stool and playing melodies from our game together, and the image always made me smile.
"Sounds good." He smiled. "I'll let you have a go too. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it." My face must have been beaming from the comment, because he started chuckling. "A bit excited?"
"Ah- well, I just love the sound of them," I writhed in my seat from embarrassment, busying myself with my drink. "At least then we won't be disturbed by my friends."
"They didn't disturb us, don't worry. They seem nice. I still need to meet… Kairi, is it?"
"Yeah," I nodded, "But if you meet Kairi you'll probably meet Sora too, her boyfriend. He's a bit of a goof but I'm sure you can have a sophisticated conversation with him… actually never mind, you probably can't," I teased, and he laughed along. "No, Sora's really nice. And you saw Riku, those two are best friends. You know Olette pretty well now… You saw Terra briefly, he may take a bit more prodding to get to know, he's been so busy these days. I feel sorry for poor Aqua…"
"Aqua?"
"Oh, she's his girlfriend, but she doesn't go here," I explained, "Oh, and there's Ven! You may not be able to meet him anytime soon, we never even see him, his timetable is so close-knit." And there was Selphie, but I doubted Roxas was ready for the wrath that was that girl just yet. "It's a shame not many of your friends come here."
"Yeah, but I'm sure you'll meet them eventually. We're all pretty scattered in terms of uni, but we meet up quite often to hang out. You'll probably meet my best friend Axel first. He's a bit of a handful, but he's really nice." Roxas had looked a bit worried for a second at the mention of Axel.
We chatted more about our friends and high school days until we finished our drinks, and then I led Roxas towards the campus centre where the rehearsal rooms were. The walk wasn't too far, so we were out of the cold air and back in heated conditions.
We walked down the stairs to the basement and I had a spring to my step as I led the way, and when I turned the corner to the three rooms I noticed the lights were out. Nobody was here yet! We'd have our own private music session!
My excitement heightened as I reached for the handle to my favourite piano room-
And found it was locked.
So this was why the lights were out. I supposed it was too good to be true. I turned back to Roxas with a solemn expression. "That kind of wrecks things. Of all days for the doors to be locked!" I looked forlornly at the number on the door to call if there were any problems with the room. Maybe I could call…?
"It's okay, we can find another place." Roxas assured, and my wonderful piano playing fantasy went out the window as I followed him outside again. The chilly air hit us and we wandered around for a little while, before walking by the boob lawn.
"There's nobody here. Why don't we sit here?"
"On the boob?"
"The what?"
Curse you Sora. "Oh, the bump, it's been called the boob lawn. See, it's a- never mind, this spot is good." My cheeks felt hot against the cool air, but Roxas just laughed and we sat on the edge of the boo- er, hill.
He pulled out his ocarina. It was a beautiful colour, and shone in the sun. Shades of deep purple and blue blended in a watery texture on the clay.
"What was your favourite song from our game?"
I chose a song and he played for me, and it was honestly one of the most beautiful things I'd ever heard. Ocarinas were beautiful in their own right, but hearing a song from your childhood just sends chills down your spine. I sat in a sort of trance as I listened, and he played a few other songs with he noticed how enthralled I was.
When he stopped, I was lost for words. He gave a small chuckle and said "Liked it?"
"It was amazing." I shook my head slightly out of disbelief. "It sounds so beautiful. Um, thank you for playing it for me."
"Anytime," He said with that genuine smile of his. "Did you want a turn?"
"Oh…" I gently took the ocarina in my hands. It was a bit big for my hands and awkward to hold. I placed my fingers in the holes and looked at him, unsure. "I've always wanted to play one, but I don't know how…"
"I'll teach it to you. Go on, give it a go!"
I took a small breath and blew, but the sound that resounded was not a nice one at all. I retracted immediately.
"It takes a little getting used to. Try again, go on!"
Hesitant, I tried again, moving my fingers to make a sound, but it sounded nothing like the way he played. He leant in closer to inspect.
"I think I know what the problem is." He gently lifted one of my fingers and tapped it. "Your fingers are too small. They aren't covering the holes."
I looked down and noticed there were tiny gaps where my finger should be covering the entire hole. I tried to squish my fingers in them, but it was no use. "Aw…"
"See, look," He turned the ocarina over where the thumb holes, the largest of the holes, were. My thumbs barely covered them. I stuck one of my thumbs in just to see how big these holes were, and the hole almost reached the base of my thumb.
"I think we've established I'm a lost cause when it comes to ocarinas…" I sighed, passing it back to him.
"They do make smaller ones, but yeah, it doesn't look like you'll be able to play this one." He gave a small laugh and ruffled the top of my head. "Good try though."
"I can't help my tiny hands!" I defended, looking down at my fingers. Curse you bony skeleton.
Roxas turned to his bag and pulled out an old-looking paper book. "This is filled with songs. Pick some and I'll play them."
We spent the next half an hour or so going through the song book. There were some classic songs and some songs I'd never heard of in my life, but they were all beautiful. Finally, he put it away and we started talking instead.
"Thanks again for bringing it in. It sounds just amazing."
"I'll play for you anytime," he said with a gentle tone that made my insides flutter, "It's just a shame you can't play it."
"I'm fine with just listening," I smiled at him, and I found myself in another one of those moments where it fell silent and we just looked at each other.
The afternoon slipped away and it was time for us to go to our respective classes. I thanked him again and waved goodbye as we walked in opposite directions. My head was spinning with song.
…
The weekend went by with another shift at Aerith's café, where Olette asked fervently about Friday. Kairi and Selphie weren't here today, thank goodness, and I could calmly tell Olette what happened. She had that knowing smile plastered on her face again and said she thought it was adorable. Our conversation turned back to uni assignments and working, but thoughts of Roxas were still swirling.
Back at uni, I wouldn't be seeing him again until Wednesday, so I went about my routine as usual. I headed for the café after my studio, wondering who would be there today (we still hadn't quite memorised when our breaks were and just went to the café every break). I stepped in and saw Terra, with two other boys I didn't know, and sat next to him.
He introduced me to his engineering friends and I poked fun at their difficult looking assignment. I was just about to get my sketchbook out when a certain someone found their way to my table.
"You're bad at phones."
Sure enough, Roxas was standing before me, and I jumped a little in my seat. "Phones? Did you…"
I reached down into my bag and, sure enough, there was a message from him that said "Behind you!". He must've been sitting in here and saw me come in.
"Sorry about that…" I said meekly, and he sat down. "You remember Terra, right?"
It was from that moment on that I always put my phone in my pocket, in anticipation for Roxas. I didn't want to miss anything.
That night, as usual, I had turned on my laptop while drawing and started chatting to Roxas and, as usual, the conversation made time go by in a blur and the night ran late.
I suppose I should have expected it with his little hints at texting him if I couldn't sleep, but I was still filled with a swelling curiosity when he said "How about I call you instead?"
Without hesitation, I agreed, turned off the laptop and got ready for bed, and once I was hopped under the covers and kept my phone close. It rang shortly after.
"Hey, you! Long time no speak!" I laughed, realising how lame my attempt at a funny opener really was, but he laughed all the same.
"Oh yeah, I was beginning to think we might become strangers!" He teased back.
We were getting to know each other so well already, so now our conversations were turning more detailed. Roxas even suggested we both come up with questions we'd like to ask each other, which was what we were doing now. I was always bad at these kinds of things, but the questions seemed to flow nicely. I was quickly peeling away at Roxas' layers and finding many wonderful things underneath. His family and friends, our similar interests and beliefs, his sense of humour and his honesty. At the same time, he was learning a lot about me too, even more than Kairi probably knew.
"I really miss it, it was a great year. I remember when- oh, I'm sorry, I've just been babbling on about myself…"
A chuckle from the other end. "It's a nice change of pace from me babbling on about myself."
"Nah, I think it's your turn, you're probably sick of my voice."
"No, keep talking. I like listening to you."
My body writhed from embarrassment. There was something oddly giddy about hearing nothing but his voice, while I was sitting in my room late at night.
"Y-Your voice is nicer, so I think it's your turn… Besides, I have another question!"
"Okay, shoot."
It was lucky we were with the same phone company and got free calls, because our conversation ran into the early morning. My eyes were drooping and I knew I'd regret this at 7am tomorrow – or today – but I really enjoyed talking to Roxas. Everything he said was interesting, and one of the things I liked most was that he got me out of my shell more, and I felt I could trust him and tell him anything. Well, almost anything.
We finally decided to bed each other goodnight, begrudgingly, and even after he'd hung up his gentle voice was buzzing around my head, and I fell asleep easily.
…
Preview
"Oh my god he loves you!"
"Play something!"
"I have to warn you I'm pretty good."
"I have a surprise for you."
"Guess what song was playing on the radio again?"
…
This chapter was all about Roxas and Naminé :3 I wanted to take some time to explore their relationship and how much time they're spending together. It's all getting very exciting for Naminé, but what else will be in store for her? You'll find out in the coming chapters!
Don't forget to check out Fiction Café and to leave a review on your way out! Hope you enjoyed!
