Seven: Ferris Wheel
SYAORAN
Eriol flopped down onto my couch and raised an eyebrow, smirking at me.
"What?" I snapped, spinning around to look at him.
"You excited?" he asked in an annoying sing-song tone.
I turned around so that I was facing the wall, not wanting Eriol to see the flush on my cheeks. "Shut up! And leave, go home! I'm leaving in a little bit anyways!"
I heard him get up from the couch and sigh. "You're so mean. But I'll leave. See you later." I heard the front door open and close.
I turned around to face the door and jumped back when I saw Eriol standing by the door, smirking. "Have fun with Sakura."
"LEAVE!"
--
SAKURA
Tomoyo twirled around me, pulling on my pajamas. "What shall my pretty, pretty Sakura wear on her date with Syaoran Li?" she sang, giggling.
My cheeks exploded with heat. "I-it's not a date! We're just hanging out!" I squeaked.
"Whatever you say, dear," she replied, dragging her words. "Okay, so I picked out the perfect outfit for you! It's not too fancy, so I think you'll really like it!" She said, holding up a bag with hearts all over it.
"Um…okay. Let me see it," I said, sitting down on the bed.
Tomoyo smiled and pulled a pair of light pink denim shorts and a lacy white tank top. "And in case it gets cold," she started, rummaging through the bag and drawing out a thin grey jacket. "So! Do you like it?"
"I love it! It's simple," I said, smiling at her.
"Yay! Then go put it on! I'm gonna go; me and Eriol have an actual date," she said, winking and hugging me. "Have fun, honey!"
I blushed lightly and said, "Thanks."
"On your date!" she added as she bound down the stairs.
"It's not a date!" I said loudly.
My dad grinned at me from the bottom of the staircase. "Excited?"
"We're just hanging out!" I said hopelessly, as my dad was still grinning at me like the Mad Hatter. I blew my bangs out of my face and turned to go into my room, accidentally slamming against the door.
"Sakura?" my dad asked worriedly.
"I-I'm okay!" I said woozily, succeeding in getting into the room safely.
"She's so funny when she's nervous," I heard my dad say, chuckling.
--
"You look really pretty," Syaoran said, smiling at me.
"T-thanks," I replied shyly, playing with the lace along the hem of the tank top. I blushed and sputtered out, "Y-you look g-good, too!"
He chuckled and looked at me for a second before focusing on the road again.
"So…where are we going?" I asked quietly.
"It's a surprise," he said.
I found myself staring at him, thinking about how good he looked in profile. His messy hair was a bit tamer today, but still wild nonetheless. I smiled and his eyes caught mine.
He raised an eyebrow and smirked. I blushed and quickly looked out the window. "Oh! L-look! A…a…um…a tree. Um…wow." I said stupidly, wanting to smack myself. I got so dumb around Syaoran. "Yep. A cherry blossom tree. I can't wait until spring." I turned around to look at Syaoran again. "That's when all the sakura blossoms start blooming!"
--
SYAORAN
I laughed and it took all my strength to not stare at her while she talked about the cherry blossoms. Those eyes, those gorgeous green eyes. I shook my head and concentrated on driving; I didn't want to crash into a tree and leave us stranded.
"We're here," I said, parking the car.
"We are?" Sakura said brightly, looking out of the window. "Ah! It's a carnival!"
I got out of the car and quickly opened the door for Sakura. She blushed and murmured a soft thanks, smiling.
"Do you like carnivals?" I asked conversationally as we walked to the entrance.
"Yes! Me and my big brother always used to go to carnivals. And at the end of every night, we would go into the Ferris wheel. We always got stuck at the top!" She laughed at her memories, and I looked at the Ferris wheel towering over the carnival.
I paid for both of our tickets, ignoring Sakura's protests.
"But Syaoran, I feel so bad!" she said, looking at me with an adorable sad face.
I chuckled. "Why?"
"You paid for my ice cream that one day, and now this!" she said, pouting. Then her face lit up and she exclaimed, "I'm buying you some cotton candy!"
"What?" I asked, but she had dashed away to the cotton candy stand. I caught up with her and smiled at her cuteness.
"Okay! Do you want pink, white, or blue?" she asked me excitedly.
"White," I said automatically.
"Okay!" she said again, turning towards the man standing at the stand. "One white and one pink, please."
"Here you go, cutie," the man said.
Sakura smiled slightly and turned to me, handing me the white cotton candy. "Syaoran? What's wrong?"
I glared at the man, who was staring at Sakura, for a second before shaking my head and saying, "Nothing, nothing."
--
By the end of the night, Sakura was shivering but smiling, of course. "A-are you bored, Syaoran? We can leave if you are."
I shook my head. "No, no. Come on, there's one more ride we have to go on," I said, holding out my hand. She shyly put her hand in mine and blushed. "What?" I asked quietly, leading her away from the spot where she was standing.
"Y-your hand is warm," she said, bursting out in giggles. "Sorry, sorry! That was weird! So! Where are we going?"
"You'll see," I said. I could feel her fingers fidgeting; she wanted to know so badly. I just laughed and pointed up at the sky and the bright, blinding lights coming from a certain ride.
"The Ferris wheel!" she squealed. She ran the rest of the way to the ride, dragging me along behind her.
When we stopped at the top, she weaved her fingers through the gates keeping us from falling to the ground and smiled sadly. "Everything is so pretty, Syaoran. And so little," she said, laughing softly.
I got off the bench and stood next to her. "Yeah," I said quietly.
As we watched the people, the tiny, tiny people, Sakura's hand brushed mine. "Sorry!" she mumbled, but she didn't move her hand. Our pinky fingers laced together and she smiled, looking at me. I looked at her.
The people continued moving beneath us.
The birds kept flying above us.
That was the day I kissed Sakura Kinomoto.
--
SAKURA
"B-boy? Well, there is o-one!" I waited for a second while he responded. "No! Oh my gosh, you don't have to worry so much!" I blushed as he responded again. "That's none of your business!"
Touya yelled into the phone from his side of it and I could almost see his face turning red. "None of my business if you kissed this boy?" he said bitterly, spitting out the word 'boy' like it was toxic. "It sure as hell is my business!"
I laughed. Somebody had turned on Over-Protective-Brother-Mode. "Touya. Don't worry. He's nice, I swear."
"Whatever. Make sure I get to meet him," Touya said, his voice a bit quieter.
"W-what?" I choked out.
"I'm coming to visit this weekend," he said, obviousness dripping from his words.
"Oh my gosh! Yay! But, hey, I gotta go, Syaoran is here!" I said without thinking, and then I realized my mistake. Touya hated boys I dated even more when he knew their names.
"Syoaran? What kind of name is that?" he muttered.
"I love you! See you soon, bye!" I said, putting down the phone and grabbing my jacket.
--
SYAORAN
The phone rang just as I was about to close the door. I groaned and went back into my apartment and picked up the phone, answering it with a quick "Hello?"
"Geez, Syaoran-kun, so mean!" a familiar voice chimed on the other end of the line.
"Meiling?" I blurted out.
"The one and only!" she said, laughing.
"What do you want?" I asked rudely, but while smiling, which she would knew by my voice.
"I want you to prepare that futon for yourself because I'm coming to visit! Make sure none of your nasty Syaoran germs are on the bed. Everything must be pristine for me!" Meiling, my annoying, over-dramatic, over-the-top cousin, said. I could just picture her in an airplane, interrupting people's sleep with this call.
I laughed and said, "Okay, okay. But I have to go now. I don't want to keep Sakura waiting." As soon as her name scrambled out of my mouth, I hit myself on the head with my palm. Meiling was so nosy; she would physically hurt me if I didn't tell her about Sakura.
"Sakura?" Meiling squealed. "Who's Sakura? Tell me, tell me, tell me!"
"She's my girlfriend," I said, smiling at the thought.
"Are you blushing?" she squealed even louder.
I started to flush and quickly said, "Meiling, I'll tell you about her later, I promise."
"Wait! Promise me I'll get to meet her!" she demanded.
"Okay, okay, I promise! Good-bye, Meiling!"
"Bye, Syaoran-kun! I'll see you soon!" she said, hanging up.
I quickly put down the phone and dashed out of the door, hoping Sakura hadn't been waiting for too long.
--
Sakura plopped into my car, looked at me, and promptly started laughing.
"Is there something on my face?" I asked, smiling despite the weirdness of the situation. "A-are you okay?"
She kissed me on the cheek and said, "No and yes. It's just…my…my brother wants to meet you."
I laughed and it was her turn to ask me if I was okay. "My cousin wants to meet you."
We both laughed and looked at each other. "My brother is coming this weekend."
"I think my cousin is coming tomorrow."
"I can't wait to meet…" she trailed off, waiting for me to reveal Meiling's gender.
"Her," I said. "Meiling."
"Oh, that's a pretty name. Well, I can't wait to meet her!"
"Really?"
"Of course! I bet anyone related to you is amazing. I'm excited!" she said, her eyes shining.
I kissed her on the lips then started the car. "Me too," I said softly. She blushed and smiled.
--
I checked my watch again and shifted in the uncomfortable plastic seat for the millionth time. Damn airplane seats were so uncomfortable.
"Syaoran-kunnn!" a cheerful voice said from behind me.
I turned around and all of a sudden a blur of long black hair, bright red hair clips and flashy clothes was bounding towards me and enveloping me in a big bear hug.
"Hi, hi, hi, Syaoran-kun! I have so much to tell you! Auntie Yelan has missed you so much; you're all she can talk about!" Meiling chirped, her arm around my waist as we went to get her bags. "And your sisters! Oh my gosh, they're going crazy with matchmaking!" She laughed and looked at me. "So! How are you?"
I smiled. "Good," I said simply.
She nodded. "When do I get to meet Sakura-san?"
"Today, if you want. She's really excited about meeting you."
"Well, why wouldn't she be?" she laughed and then added, "I'm kidding, though! I really wanna meet one of your girlfriends! What's she like?"
"Really sweet. And clumsy," I laughed as I thought about it. "And she does this thing, where she gets really excited and she starts rambling; it's so adorable."
"Aww!" Meiling cried, hugging me again. "I've never heard you talk about anybody like that! Now I really, really can't wait to meet her!"
--
SAKURA
I knocked on the door to Syaoran's apartment and fixed the hem of my ruffled pink shirt, kind of nervous about meeting his cousin. I hoped that she would like me.
Syaoran opened the door and I was struck again by his pure, pure handsomeness. His eyes were so warm, like honey melting on warm toast. He kissed me quickly and put his arm around my waist, leading me inside.
"Is Sakura-san here?" a feminine voice floated through the house, stemming from Syaoran's bedroom.
"Yeah, she's here," Syaoran said back.
I didn't even see her come out of Syaoran's room, but in a flash, a beautiful girl with long, straight black hair flowing down her back and eyes with a crimson tint to them was standing in front of me, smiling with pretty light red lips. "Hello, Sakura-san! I'm Meiling Li!"
I smiled and extended a hand for her to shake. "I-I'm, Sakura Kinomoto, obviously," I said, laughing nervously. "Nice to meet you, Meiling-san."
"Call me Meiling-chan!" she chirped happily.
"Then y-you can call me Sakura-chan."
"You're so cute!"
I blushed furiously and shook my head.
Meiling-chan smiled warmly at me and took my hand, pulling me away from Syaoran. "Okay! Do you know how to bake?"
"Um…I can make pancakes. And I made cookies once, but they didn't come out too well," I laughed at the memory. Touya had literally used one of my cookies as a hockey puck.
"Well, what do you say to making a big chocolate cake for that big lug over there?" Meiling-chan said, nodding her head in Syaoran's direction, who was watching us and smiling.
I smiled and said, "Let's do it!"
Syaoran laughed and sat down in the kitchen. "I'll just watch."
Meiling-chan flicked some flour at him and turned back to me again. "Or maybe we'll just make a cake and not let him have any."
"Not fair!" Syaoran said, pouting like a little boy.
As Syaoran and Meiling-chan argued playfully, I realized that my brother was coming tomorrow. And he wanted to meet Syaoran.
I bit my lip.
Oh boy…
--
I'm so sorry for the super long wait! If I can, I'll spit out the next chapter within a week! I always feel so bad because you guys are so, so loyal! I'm grateful to all of you!
You all are amazing!