Chapter Two – Hollow Sounds
Athrun Zala grabbed his keys which lay on the counter top and wore his shoes. It was bright and sunny day that day therefore he felt fresh and relaxed despite the tiring activities the night before.
He glanced at his watch and muttered something incoherent under his breath. It was 11:30 already and he had promised Kira that he'd be at restaurant by 11:40. Hurriedly, he climbed into his black convertible, turned on the ignition and drove off.
Athrun Zala hated to be late.
In his younger years, Athrun had been well disciplined by his father, Patrick Zala, to always be punctual. His father would always get angry even if he was six seconds behind schedule, and so even though he didn't have to meet his father, it was a habit he grew to follow.
During his drive, he momentarily forgot which restaurant to go to, and only until he saw a familiar car did he remember.
He continued on his peaceful car drive until he stopped by the stoplight. He gripped the leather stirring wheel when he glanced at his watch again. 11:41. He was late.
Athrun sighed; he obviously couldn't do anything about it anymore. Looking out the window of the passenger seat, he noticed that he had stopped in front of a music store with different kinds of instruments displayed behind the thick glass. He then realized that the song playing on the radio was a familiar tune.
"'Cause all I can do is hold on…"
"And wait for you to set me free…"
The light turned green again and he continued his way to the restaurant. He remembered that shop and tune all too well. It was where they bought their first guitars. And it was her melody.
Suddenly, today didn't look so good anymore.
Athrun caught sight of the green sign where the restaurant he was supposed to meet Kira was. He took his cell phone from the passenger seat and stuffed it into his pant pocket, climbed out his car as soon as he had parked.
"Athrun!" a voice called
"Hey…" Athrun gave a wave at Kira and Shinn who were waiting for him at the restaurant entrance.
"You're late" Shinn snickered at the blue-haired man with a grin pasted on his face.
The emerald-eyed guitarist smacked him on the arm and rolled his eyes. "Whatever"
"Even Cagalli got here before you" the black-haired man continued, laughing a little afterwards.
"Quit it Shinn" Kira nudged him and entered the restaurant, followed by the other two men.
Athrun caught sight of the blonde and unconsciously smiled, he spared a wave to his other friends though he didn't mind them as much as the blonde. What happened the night before was still playing in his head, not that anything really happened but for some odd reason he found her looking even more beautiful up close.
"Just arrived Athrun?" Cagalli asked while sipping her iced tea.
"Yeah, I kind off overslept" he gave her a sheepish grin and found himself sitting beside her.
The blonde laughed, "Sure you did"
"So what do you want to have Athrun?" Lacus asked as she passed Athrun a menu and looked back at hers.
He scanned the menu after finding nothing quite appetizing, he turned to the one sitting next to him "What will you have Cagalli?" he asked quietly
Cagalli bit her lower lip, eyes still searching the menu. "I don't know" she finally answered, then looked at the seafood column again, "Sea bass I guess".
"Hm, good choice" Athrun whispered too softly for anyone to hear. "I guess I'll get the same" he mumbled before telling Kira his and Cagalli's order.
"So everyone got what they want?" Kira, who was sitting in front of Cagalli and beside Lacus asked, making sure that everyone had placed their orders before motioning for the waiter to prepare their food.
Everyone nodded and the waiter made his way towards the bar.
Almost everyone from 'the group' was there. Dearka Elthman and his fiancé, Miriallia Haww who were to be wed in three months time. Yzak Joule and his girlfriend Shiho Hahnenfuss. Kira Yamato with his girlfriend, Lacus Clyne and of course three, Athrun Zala and Cagalli Yula Attha, Shinn Asuka the only once who didn't have their significant others.
"I swear Athrun, you need to get yourself a girlfriend" Dearka commented with mock sympathy, then turned to Cagalli "You too Cagalli".
"But you two look like a couple already" Shiho smiled widely at the two.
Kira laughed "They do".
Both Athrun and Cagalli blushed. "Shut up" Cagalli said, trying to calm the color of her face while Athrun just faked a cough while looking the opposite direction of where his blonde friend sat.
Yzak burst out laughing. "Oh god Zala, if only I could get a picture of your face right now!"
"Lay off" Athrun mumbled, the color on his face was fading. He stole a quick glance at Cagalli who was now pretending to type a message on her cell phone, the color of her face only fairly visible.
Obviously she was trying to distract herself.
"Or Shinn and Cagalli…" Milly added. "If Athrun doesn't want to be Cagalli's that is…"
Shinn blushed at Milly's words. "So I'm just an extra?" he said bitterly. Not bad though, he thought.
"Yeah right…" he heard Athrun whispering, almost to himself before clearing his throat.
And he could only give Athrun a quick glare. "You lay off Zala…" he muttered under his breath.
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Lunch was pleasant overall. Everyone talked to catch up, teased each other and had fun. Soon Yzak had to leave with Shiho; it seemed that they had other plans for the rest of the afternoon.
"Meeting on Saturday Yzak" Athrun reminded before Yzak and his girlfriend left.
Dearka and Milly followed soon, saying that they still had work to do.
"See you guys" Cagalli and Lacus hugged Milly, "See you soon."
And around fifteen minuets after Dearka and his fiancé had left, Kira and Lacus stood up to leave as well.
"Can you drive Cagalli home Athrun?" the brunette asked, his hand around Lacus' shoulder.
Athrun cocked a brow, "Where you going?"
"Lacus and I are going to catch a movie, could you?"
"I can drive Cagalli back if Athrun doesn't want too" Shinn offered, giving Kira a small sheepish smile.
"Yeah, that can be good too, so what do you say Athrun?" Kira looked at his blue-haired friend who was staring rather weirdly at Shinn.
Athrun turned to look at Kira and nodded, "I don't see why not".
"Are you okay with this Cagalli?" her older brother asked and the blonde nodded.
"Well that's settled then, see you guys" Kira said before leaving with Lacus.
Shinn sighed, "I'll go too, I forgot I still have to fetch Mayu from school" the bass guitarist waved and left. "See you soon Cagalli"
"Bye Shinn!" the blonde waved at his disappearing figure.
"So are you going to do anything this afternoon?" Athrun casually asked, stuffing his hands inside his pant pockets as they made their way to his car.
He didn't know why Shinn irked him so much.
Cagalli shook her head, "Nope, you?"
Athrun opened the door for the blonde and received a soft "Thank you" from her.
"Laze around my house"
Cagalli giggled at his answer, "You're really funny Athrun".
Athrun smiled at her comment "I am?" he chuckled heartily "That's something new"
"Well, I never knew you were someone who would laze around"
"Oh?" amusement shown in his eyes as he started the ignition
"Sure, I mean you struck me as someone who always had something to do" Cagalli giggled again.
"I never knew"
Silence followed as they drove towards Kira and Cagalli's residence which was a huge white mansion.
Discreetly, Athrun turned the radio on and popped a CD into his player. He wasn't used to driving without his radio on.
"What album is this?" Cagalli softly asked
"Mixed artist" he answered
"Ah…"
The silence settled in again, a comfortable one of course. The one you have when all is good.
Minutes passed and the soft music playing on the radio lulled the blonde to sleep. As Athrun parked in front of the mansion, he realized that his companion had fallen asleep.
"We're here… Cagalli" Athrun gently shook Cagalli from sleep. The blonde mumbled something incoherent and tried to swat his hand away. He chuckled softly to himself, finding this certain attitude of hers… quite endearing.
Then Athrun tried once more, gently shaking her sleeping form again, "Cagalli… wake up". After some more shaking, he watched her amber eyes slowly open.
"Athrun!" she exclaimed and started blushing at their closeness… again. She felt color rising to her cheeks when she realized how deep and beautiful his emerald eyes were.
Athrun felt like he could stare at her eyes forever, it had a majestic shade of amber, like the embers of fire burning. Laughing, he pulled away and got out of the car with Cagalli.
"So I guess I'll leave now" he said as they reached the door step.
Cagalli bit her lip, "Uh… you can stay… since… uh, well you have nothing to do right?" then she added "If that's okay with you I mean"
Athrun chuckled "You intrigue me".
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"I'll make us some drinks" Cagalli said before disappearing to the kitchen.
Athrun looked around the house, it was sparkling clean as always and the atmosphere was warm. He silently made his way up the marble stairs. The second floor was as huge as the first one but the walls weren't all made of glass and marble, this give the impression of kids living here.
The high ceiling had a clean white color and the opaque walls had a pretty shade of yellow. There were several doors leading to several rooms. One led to the attic upstairs, the one on the left most was Cagalli's room and the one in the right corner was surely Kira's. There were guest rooms and the master bedroom at the end of the hallway connected to the main one.
Curiously, Athrun walked towards the end of the second floor, there stood an antique mahogany table. There he saw sheets of paper all over the tabletop. His eyes widened a little.
"Music sheets…?"
"Athrun!" he heard Cagalli call from below
"Coming" he yelled back and hesitantly walked back down to the living room where the blonde sat comfortably on one of the couches.
"What were you doing upstairs?" Cagalli inquired, cocking a fine brow at Athrun with eyes looking almost accusingly.
Athrun plastered a smile on his face, "Just snooping around Kira's room" he laughed, slightly nervous about her stare.
The blonde giggled at his answer, "I'll tell him that…" she taunted fondly.
Athrun found himself chuckling at her sudden childish behavior, "Sure you will" he whispered softly into her ear as he leaned slightly towards her, her blonde locks were slightly brushing against his cheeks.
He laughed softly at her flushed face when he pulled away, "You're a really an interesting girl Cagalli."
She found herself even more flustered, "You've known me for years and you say that just now!"
But a part of Athrun was still disturbed, sure those were music sheets but whom did it belong to? Kira or…
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"Oh my! Lacus look!" Milly pointed a finger at the two figures inside Kira's house. "And to think we came here since we thought Cagalli would be alone…"
Lacus gasped beside her, "What do you think they were doing?" she asked, observing the blonde's red face and Athrun's smiling one.
"They were kissing!"
Lacus found herself gasping again at Milly's conclusion. "They couldn't be!" she paused and looked at the two again. "Or could they?"
"Are they together or something?" both Milly and Lacus pondered on the thought when they felt someone else with them.
"Hey, what's up?" a voice asked.
The two ladies tensed then relaxed at the sight of Shiho.
"Yzak was babbling about something and I decided to ditch him to chat with Cagalli-"
"Look!" Milly, the first one to recover, interrupted and pulled Shiho to look into the window they were peering at.
"What? It's just Cagalli and Athrun" she raised a questioning eyebrow at the two. "And don't ever pull me like that"
"Whatever, but I think they like each other"
Shiho's eyes widened "Were they kissing? Hugging? Making out?" she paused and grinned widely "Or maybe…."
"Shiho!" Lacus looked horrified at the thought.
"Yeah you're right Lacus, they wouldn't do it since they are in the living room"
"I think they were kissing, or maybe Athrun was trying to kiss her but then Cagalli was too shy… or Athrun wasn't sure if he should do so or not" Milly furrowed her eyebrows in deep thought, answering the brunette's earlier question.
"Hey girls,"
The other two looked at the dark-haired woman who was snickering.
"You want to play matchmaker?"
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Author's Notes: So in this chapter, Athrun found some music sheets, and why is he surprised? And what did he mean her tune? All shall be revealed in the next chapter plus what are Shiho, Lacus and Milly's plan to 'get Athrun and Cagalli together'?
Thanks to those who reviewed on the first chapter!!!
And thanks so much to my super wonderful beta, meowmeowtheblackcat!! And sorry for giving you a hard time! I wrote this without checking twice and it was really rushed, sorry!!