II. Loose Lips
My ukulele lost two strings today. I thought it was completely unfair because I've had it since I was seven. Rukia said I was jammin' too hard. Which I admit was true.
I got the ukulele when I was five and went to Hawaii with my family. This large Hawaiian man picked me up and put me on his shoulder and plopped a small wooden ukulele in my arms.
Since then I got addicted to playing the ukulele, and when I became best friends with Rukia I used to sing to her.
I still do, but now there's always some weird funny feeling in my gut when I do.
There's always a smile waiting to bloom on her lips.
Rukia plays piano too. She plays all the classics though. Bach, de Falla, Debussy, Elgar, Joplin, Chopin and so on. It's what I consider boring and she considers 'fun'.
In her apartment there's this one room that she never let's me go into: "Penelope's Room".
It's what she named her ebony grand piano. Not Penelope's Room, but Penelope.
I think it's a pretty dorky name.
My ukuleles name is Dyno-mite Hooker.
Even though she barely ever lets me into Penelope's Room I can still hear her playing the piano in the apartment. Depending on how she feels, like if she's angry you can hear and feel her pounding on the keys. And if she's calm she'll play a slow, relaxing song.
It was only once, and it was where I saw Rukia in a way I hadn't seen before, except on very rare occasions, and she was sitting on the black leather bench, her eyes seemingly closed, playing softly and humming along.
I don't think there's a word that could describe what she looked like to me that day, sitting there.
The entire time she played she didn't know I was there.
So I guess you could that that's one of my favorite memories of her.
-
This morning I lay on my couch and strummed my lacking of two strings Dyno-mite Hooker solemnly.
Rukia walked out of her bedroom and leaned over me, her hair falling down and tickling my face.
Without my permission my mouth curled up and I blew air through my lips causing her to blink and frown.
"Listen sunshine, do you hear yourself playing that crap?" she asked still hovering over me, a slight smile on her face.
Her hovering over me made me stare at her face more than I normally did. Her eyes were my favorite part of her. But when it came down to her lips I didn't know what to think. It sent a horde of butterflies attacking and flying around in my stomach when I even looked at them.
"What the hell do you think?" I retorted back to her. "I'm not deaf y'know."
She leaned back up taking the ukulele out of my arms and holding it up with her. "Then why do you keep playing this junk? Just get it fixed or buy a new one."
I feigned hurt. "Do not call Dyno-mite Hooker junk, and you know exactly why I won't buy a new one."
"Yada yada yada." She rolled her eyes and dropped the ukulele on my chest and walked to the fridge grabbing the half empty gallon of orange juice and chugging it. "I'm just saying that either you fix that thing or you're never playing it again in here."
I grunted and got up from the couch and walked into her room shutting the door behind me.
"Ichigo! You come back out here and do not give me attitude!" Rukia didn't mean it. Just like how I was pretending to be childish, she was pretending to be angry and like a mother.
I walked into the bathroom and turned the shower on. Still not sure if Rukia was gonna walk in, I only took my shirt off and waited for the water to heat up.
Barely audible to me was the faint sound of the doorbell ringing and a "hold on." from Rukia.
Startling me, Rukia kicked my butt and I landed in the shower with my pants and body getting wet from warm shower water.
"Dammit Rukia!" I shouted over the shower, my eyebrows furrowing and a scowl beginning to appear on my face.
Rukia looked down at me looking superior and extremely annoyed. All signs of our humor from earlier were gone. What the heck did I do? I questioned myself. "One of your peppy stupid ass groupie girls is here." She stated briefly.
Lately Rukia had had her moods change from smiling to looking displeased and annoyed whenever a girl 'friend' of mine came over. Most of the time they were really stupid and pretty.
She said I have a 'harem' and that she quote 'is most definitely not included in it and never will be' unquote.
So to prove her wrong I told her that I didn't have one, and she stomped on my foot as hard as she could. Which I admit is pretty friggin' hard.
Before I got the chance to grab Rukia and ask her what was going on she disappeared out of the bathroom and accompanied the girl waiting outside the door.
For a moment I just sat there in the tub, letting the water fall on me like rain. My hair was beginning to sop down and stick to my head.
I didn't really know what to do.
Obviously I didn't want to leave Rukia, but I didn't know what to do about the girl waiting outside either. Hey, I never come on to a girl as an ass.
I heard the door shut and a giggly laugh from someone other than Rukia inside the apartment.
Reluctantly, I turned the shower off and walked outside in just my soaking wet shorts and no shirt.
When I walked out water dripped onto the wood floor and I saw that the girl gave me a suggestive look while Rukia rolled her eyes, looking like she wanted to shoot herself.
I don't really remember who exactly the girl was but I'm pretty sure she was from the place I went to a week ago when Rukia picked me up at whatever hell the time was, in the morning.
The girl giggled girlishly and kept eyeing me up and down.
A small cough came from Rukia and she spoke up. "Excuse me, I'll be in the other room."
I wanted to grab Rukia's wrist and make her stay with me but I didn't know what to say, so I let her walk into Penelope's Room and shut the door softly.
With a small, who-the-frig-are-you-? smile, I turned to the giggly waiting girl.
When I saw her face a bit up close it hit me like a brick to the kidney. From what I remember of the night a week ago and what Rukia told me (Rukia said that I complained to her about a girl kissing me like a monkey and how grossed out I was), she was the monkey-kissing girl.
My eyebrow twitched and I let out a "Hey."
Monkey-kissing girl giggled again. "Hi, Ichigo." She looked like she was trying her hardest not to jump on me.
"Um, so what are you doing here?" I asked, not wanting to sound rude or anything similar to that.
She was fiddling with her fingers and blushing a bright pink color. "Well you see, you gave me your number and address and I didn't get a chance to call you, so I decided to come over here." Her brown eyes peered up at me and I raised an eyebrow.
"Oh." Was all I could think of to say.
Monkey-kisser giggled again.
"Well uh, do you wanna go somewhere?" She asked shyly. Swinging her hips from side to side a bit.
I bit my lip and looked down.
"Err, um, I'd love to go with you (not), but um, you see, today was my day off and I guess you could say I wanted to spend it at my apartment and just relax."
Her face fell quite a bit and she tried to smile. "Some other time then?"
In surprise I raised my eyebrows and smiled. "Sure tuts." I tried to say coolly.
Immediately a smile came back on her pink face.
She turned around awkwardly and walked out the door. "Goodbye Ichigo." She said, turning her head back and giving me a wink.
On the inside I cringed.
I sighed, feeling relieved that she left, and went to close the door as soon as she was out of view.
When the door shut everything became silent.
The only noise was the music coming from Penelope.
Rukia was playing my favorite song.
Clair de Lune.
It made my heart beat rhythmically along with the song. Like my heart was its metronome. Whenever I hear her play the song I can always imagine her fingers flowing along the keys and playing.
I inhaled and took the song in along with me. With a bit hesitation, and very little confidence, I opened the door to Penelope's Room and made it clear that I walked in. Rukia didn't seem to notice, but I knew she knew I was there. Standing right behind her. Watching her play.
I closed my eyes and when I opened them the song ended.
Rukia sighed and put her hands on her lap and stared out the large glass window that had sunlight pouring into the room. "Is there something you need Ichigo?" She asked, not looking at me.
My lips curled up involuntarily. "Nothin,' you dweeb."
She sniffed and smiled.
"Then what are you still doing here?" She asked curiously, slightly turning to me. "Why aren't you with your lil pink girl 'friend'?"
I chuckled a bit. "Jealous are we Rukia?" I asked. Meaning what I said as a joke.
Rukia became silent. She turned her head back towards the window and stared out at it.
A small smile came up on her face. "Definitely not."
I let out a laugh and sat down next to her on the leather bench, my eyes scanning the keys as the water from my pants dripped onto the cracked leather.
From the little knowledge of piano that I had, I found the C key and pushed it three times. I looked up at Rukia and she smiled and slowly shook her head. She set her hands on a pair of keys that I didn't know and she started playing along with me.
Together, with slight smiles on our faces, we played Heart and Soul.
I woke up in the middle of the night because the phone rang. Rukia walked out of her room rubbing her eyes trying to find her way to the ringing phone in the dark.
In the dark I could tell that her hands found the phone. She picked it up with fumbling fingers and pushed the talk button with a beep.
On the other line of the phone a girl answered and asked "Is Ichigo there?"
From what I could see of Rukia, she blinked and said, "Who the fuck is this?"
Blehhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I didn't like the ending. It kinda sucked. Oh wells.
But considering how lazy and grumpy I've been this week, this is all I can do for now.
Anyways, I want Curious George for a monkey.
Reviews would be mucho appreciated.
:D