"Ugh!" I fell back onto Selphie's abnormally huge bed. I ran my fingers through my hair and closed my eyes. "A week. One week... why hasn't it happened yet?"
"Aw, Namine, don't worry about it. I mean, a week isn't all that long..."
I pulled a pillow over my face and mumbled into it.
"Huh?"
"I REALLY JUST WANT IT SO BAD!" I yelled, rolling around, with my hands over my face. The other three just kind of laughed a little.
"Just tell him." Olette said.
"Pf. Don't even. Just do it." We all looked up.
"Well, Selphie... We... we all have our differences." Kairi said.
I sighed and closed my eyes again, but then they shot open, because all I saw when I closed them was him. "Is it too much to ask...for him to want what I want?"
"No, it's fine. I'm sure you'll get it eventually..."
"Who am I kidding? Roxas will never kiss me." I squished the pillow into my face again, then, my cell phone rang. I felt it vibrating, so I stood up and took it out of my back pocket. "Hello?" I answered, without much enthusiasm.
"Hey, Namine?"
"Hayner?" Olette looked up and I could tell she became interested. "What's up?"
"Roxas wanted me to tell you that–"
"HAYNER!" I heard yelling from the other line. It sounded like Roxas, but I couldn't really tell. I guess Hayner must have dropped the phone... or died, because the line went dead.
"Hayner? Hayner, are you there?" Nothing but static. I shrugged and closed my phone, but before I could put it back into my pocket, it rang again.
"Somebody's popular." Selphie said without looking up from her magazine.
"Hello?"
"Namine? What did Hayner say?"
"Nothing... why?"
"No reason. Um... are you coming to the Christmas party tonight?" His tone had changed, and he got a little quieter when he asked.
I smiled and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Yeah... I'm really looking forward to it."
He exhaled a bit and I knew that he was smiling. "Cool, me too."
"Just ask her! All you have to say is, 'Namine, do you wanna ki– AUGH!"
"SHUT UP, HAYNER!" Roxas yelled.
I smiled. Ki– Ki– ...? I doubt he would say kill... or kibble. Kiss. I think it was safe to say kiss. I fell silent, but Roxas had too. I'd kissed his cheek, he'd kissed mine. But never... we'd never kissed each other. I tucked my hair behind one ear. "So, Roxas,"
"Yeah?"
"Did you... want to be my date to the party?" I asked, even though I knew the answer. The other girls looked at me and smiled, then went back to their activities.
"Oh... yeah. Sure. Um... Earlier, when Hayner called, but before he started to LIE–" I knew he had turned and was yelling at him. "He was supposed to tell you that the party was moved up an hour. I'm assuming you're at Selphie's, so can you tell all the girls?"
"Yeah sure, and I was supposed to tell you that Kazuki can't come. He's going to a party at his girlfriend's mom's house or something like that."
"Oh, okay. Except this year... we're having a kind of a family thing on the same day... for Tasha's family to kind of get used to us all, I guess. So... there's probably gonna be a lot of crazy people there."
I smiled. "That's fine. I guess we'll be there an hour early then."
"Bye."
"Bye." I started to hang up, but I heard him say something so I put the phone back up to my ear.
"I l–" Silence, then he hung up. I was a little dazed. What was he going to say? But I snapped out of it, and turned back to the girls.
"You guys... the party has been moved up an hour." It fell silent, and then...
downstairs- not Namine's point of veiw-
"Huh?"
"What's wrong, honey?"
"Are the girls screaming?"
Selphie's dad laughed a little. "I guess they must be talking about boys."
"Moved up an hour?!?! He can't do that, can he?!"
"FAMILY?! We have to meet his family?!"
"That doesn't leave us enough time to get ready!"
"I am gonna kill him!" We were all running around like maniacs... and then, who knows why? It was a Christmas party between like... best friends. Like we needed to make a good impression...
"Hey," Kairi said, after we had all stopped being complete idiots, running around in circles with our arms up in the air screaming our heads off and blowing the problem WAY out of proportion. "Don't you have to call your mom, Namine?"
"Oh... yeah. I forgot. She was gonna come to meet Roxas's parents..." I took out my phone yet AGAIN. I sighed. "I never talk on the phone this much." Kairi smiled at me, and I dialed. When she answered, I explained to her the one hour change and she accepted it, saying that she might be there a little early anyway.
As it would turn out, we all finished our makeup and whatnot way early anyway, and time slowly passed. During said time... we didn't really do anything, or talk much. I guess we were all kind of just thinking about what would happen at the party... We all checked the clocks about every five minutes, and when it was ten minutes until the party started, we figured we would just go early. We gathered up our presents and walked down the street to Roxas's house, smiling brightly as we knocked on the door.
Roxas answered, and smiled at us, holding the door open as we entered. I walked in last, and Roxas wrapped his arms around me soon after closing the door. I just paused and let him hug me, because I was still holding the presents I had brought. "Merry Christmas, Namine."
"It's not Christmas, yet."
He let go of me and shrugged. "Close enough." I smiled, then put the presents down on the table with the rest of the ones that were there.
"Who is it?" Hayner asked, running down the stairs. "Oh... it's just them." And then he started to walk back up.
"Who were you expecting?" Kairi asked. But what she meant was, and just what are you trying to say?
He turned back and shrugged. "Nothing, nobody... I guess. Hey, did one of you guys get me for secret Santa?" And, like a selfish child, he ran to the table. He smiled and turned back. "Kairi" He said, happily.
She sighed. "I already got the gift, there's no point in kissing up, now."
"Oh. That's true." we all sighed. Hayner...
"Well!" And in ran... some lady... "Who are these lovely little children? Roxas!" She sounded excited. "Introduce me!" He sighed.
"Maybe another time. Not everybody's here yet." She huffed.
"Roxas, you're so mean!" And then she left... just like that...
In a matter of time, everyone that was going to come had finally gotten there. "So!" Sora said. "What are we gonna do first?"
"I don't know." Roxas said.
"What do you really do at a Christmas party?" Wakka asked.
"What about the one last year? Does anybody remember?"
Boredom... Just then I remembered. "Oh, Hayner, what was it that you wanted to tell me on the phone?" Hayner exchanged glances with Roxas, who looked almost mad, and then everybody except Roxas started to laugh hysterically. Well, all the boys, at least. "Huh? I... don't get it."
"Good." Roxas said, leaving the couch to come sit by me. I had been leaning against the wall by the doorway, and since the door was closed, Roxas came over and sat up against it. I smiled and turned away from him, then leaned back so my head was on his legs, but then... I saw it.
My eyes widened. Roxas looked at me, then looked up, then back at me, and we both kind of froze.
Mistletoe.
Hanging above the door, but it was closed, so we hadn't thought about it. Everyone was staring, too, so we couldn't pretend like it wasn't there.
"Oh, the mistletoe. So convenient that you happened to sit right under it Roxas..." Hayner smirked. Roxas's face turned pink and he yelled at Hayner to shut up, and that he hadn't known it was there.
"Well, it doesn't matter now," Sora said. "You're fate is sealed."
My heart was pounding. I had wanted this so badly, but I hadn't ever really imagined what it would be like the moment it came. So simple... just kiss him. Just kiss him. He was already looking down at me, and I kind of just stared at him. I moved up onto my elbows, and he started to lean down a little. Just kiss him, just kiss him, just kiss him!!!! I was screaming it in my head, but I almost couldn't do it. It almost seemed like a waste to have our first because of mistletoe... I didn't want to embarrass him, so I couldn't retreat, but... with everyone watching. I had never kissed anyone before... Shouldn't my first be... special? Just as our ips were about to connect...
"Ah!" We both fell over, as kind of a mangled little mess all twisted up. Someone had tried to open the door that Roxas was leaning against, and had thrown us both off balance. They closed the door immediately, having realized that they hit someone, and then slowly opened it again. Natasha's head peeked into the room, and she looked very sorry.
"Sorry..." She said. I smiled at her, nervously -hoping she didn't catch on-, but thankfully -having disrupted my first kiss, as awkward as that sounds. "Are you kids okay?"
"Yeah, it's fine. It's kind of our fault for sitting by the door." I said, still smiling. Roxas looked at me, but I couldn't read his expression. He pulled up onto one arm, and sat up, still staring at me. I didn't really know what it was about, but I didn't really think about it.
"Roxas..." Natasha said. "I'm... there's someone I want you to meet. Oh, and Namine, your mother is here."
"Oh, okay." Roxas and I stood up, and he told the others that they could just wait there if he wanted. We were walking down the steps and out of nowhere, Natasha started to cry. Roxas and I looked at each other, completely shocked.
"Mom, are you okay?" He asked frantically.
"Is something the matter?" I asked, trying to help Roxas along. She turned and hugged us both, still crying. We had no idea what was going on, so... we kind of just patted her back.
"I am so sorry! Roxas... I should have told you as soon as your father and I became serious, and I don't know why I haven't. And Namine," What... what could she possibly be sorry to me for...? "You're just so sweet!" Eh heh... Right...
"What... should you have told me?"
"About my daughter..."
"You have a daughter?!?!" He yelled. She had a daughter?!?! What? When did this happen? How long? Who?
"I'm so sorry... It was a horrible thing for me not to tell you, I just... well, I suppose I don't really know what I thought. I'm so sorry, sweety. Can you ever forgive me?"
"Uh... yeah, Tasha, you know I'm not mad at you. I... didn't really expect to, out of nowhere, have a... sister, though. Why did you tell me all of a sudden?" Hm... that was a good question.
She sniffled a bit. "She's here."
"What?!" Roxas yelled again, I just looked at him, and, again, I couldn't read his expression.
"She and her boyfriend came to meet the family. I'm so sorry." She wiped her tears and then put on the most convincing fake -if it even was fake- smile I had ever seen in my life. "Well! No use in being sad when you meet family, right? Now then, let's go!" She took our hands and pulled us along and we were both still genuinely confused. I mean... I only came to say hi to my mom...
"Fae! Darling!" She yelled, running over to a girl with short brown hair and bright green eyes. She had a few freckles here and there, but altogether, she was extremely pretty. She looked just a year or two older than us, and her boyfriend... no.
"Mom," She said. "This is my boyfriend," no. "Kazuki." no. Kazi was... Roxas's... sister's... boyfriend...? No. Things like that don't really happen. Those crazy, ironic... no.
"Namine?"
"Kazuki?"
"Kazuki?"
"Roxas?"
"Kazuki?"
"Roxas?"
"Namine?"
"What?"
(Little guide thing: if you were to go back and number those... number 1 was said by Kazuki, number two, Namine, number three, Roxas, number four, Kazuki, number five, Fae, number six, Natasha, number seven, Roxas, and number eight, Fae)
We all smiled, and kind of laughed a little, but things were far from solved. "Okay, so..." Kazuki started. "My girlfriend..."
"Is... Roxas's..." I tried to follow along.
"My sister..."
"And then..." Fae said. "Who are you?"
"Oh. Me?" I asked. She nodded. "I'm Roxas's girlfriend."
"And you know Kazuki?"
"She's my best friend, you know, the girl I've been telling you about." She smiled.
"Oh, thank you, then. Since he met you, Kazuki has been so much happier than he used to be. Well! I guess this is probably awkward! Let's go and meet my 'family', Kazi!"
Kazi... Just like I called him. Roxas and I laughed it off. She seemed so nice and carefree, and although she knew that things were a little off, she didn't really seem to care. This... would be a long, interesting day...
---
"Ugh!" I almost yelled, punching my pillow, and then falling face first onto it.
"Dude, chill." Hayner said. "I'm sure she doesn't really care. I mean, just ask her. It's as simple as that."
I opened my eyes, but didn't move. "This is coming from the boy who's been madly in love with his best girl friend ever since he met her, and still hasn't even tried to make it obvious."
"Hey! Shut it!"
"Well, come on! You and I both know why I can't just say it. I mean... what if she doesn't want to, or what if it just makes things worse?"
"I get that. I mean, you can't regret the words you don't say, right?"
"Wrong."
"Huh? How?"
"You can regret not saying 'I love you'."
He just froze there, and I guess he hadn't really expected me to go to deep with it, but... whatever.
He started to dial something on my house phone, but I thought nothing of it. He might just be calling Olette or something considering what I had just said and all. And then it was on speaker. "Hello?" It was Namine, but she didn't sound too excited.
"Hey, Namine?"
"Hayner?" She paused for a second. "What's up?"
He smirked, and made some weird face. "Roxas wanted me to tell you that–"
"HAYNER!" I yelled, knowing it wouldn't stop him. I looked around in a panic and picked up the first thing I could find to throw at his head.
The phone fell to the ground, disconnected. "What the heck was that?!?!" He yelled angrily, his hand up to his forehead. He looked down at the ground. "Who throws a freaking pencil box?!"
I sighed and walked over to him, pushing him out of the chair he was in. I dialed Namine's number and thought for a second about a reason to have called. I guess... it could have something to do with the party... "Hello?"
"Namine? What did Hayner say?" Just making sure she didn't catch on...
"Nothing... why?" Good. Not her lying voice.
"No reason. Um... are you coming to the Christmas party tonight?" I asked a little quieter, so Hayner wouldn't hear. I leaned against the desk, awaiting her answer.
"Yeah... I'm really looking forward to it." Good.
I smiled, and couldn't really keep it from my voice, but then, Hayner was getting up. "Cool, me too."
"Just ask her! All you have to say is, 'Namine, do you wanna ki– AUGH!" Again with the pencil box, now he was gonna be pissed.
"SHUT UP, HAYNER!" I yelled, hoping for him to... well... shut up.
Hayner made obscene faces at me, mouthing things that probably shouldn't be recorded in such a retelling. Namine didn't say anything for a while, but I didn't really notice because I was busy silently arguing with Hayner. "So, Roxas,"
"Yeah?" I said, suddenly stopping.
"Did you... want to be my date to the party?" I smiled. That was unexpectedly nice of her. After al, I couldn't go to my own party without a date.
"Oh... yeah. Sure. Um... Earlier, when Hayner called, but before he started to LIE–" I yelled, turning to him. I stuck his tongue out. Pf... mature. "He was supposed to tell you that the party was moved up an hour. I'm assuming you're at Selphie's, so can you tell all the girls?"
"Yeah sure, and I was supposed to tell you that Kazuki can't come. He's going to a party at his girlfriend's mom's house or something like that."
Score! "Oh, okay. Except this year... we're having a kind of a family thing on the same day... for Tasha's family to kind of get used to us all, I guess. So... there's probably gonna be a lot of crazy people there." It's better she knew.
"That's fine. I guess we'll be there an hour early then."
"Bye."
"Bye."
Reflex, saying I love you before I hang up when I'm the phone with... people I love."I l–" But I had the sense to shut up REAL fast. And I hung up. With any luck, she had already hung up. My cheeks turned pink, and I prayed that Hayner didn't notice.
"Wait, Roxas," Crap, did he already see it? "You moved the party up?
It became silent in my room for a moment, and then... "CRAP!" We yelled together.
"Way to go, genius!"
"Hey! This is your fault! I'll kiss her when I'm ready and you had no right to butt in!"
"Well at least just telling her wouldn't overrun us with work!"
"Don't even start that! Come on, we gotta get everything ready! You take care of that box, I'll do this one."
It was too late when I realized what I had done...
The girls... would probably kill me, and the boys... would probably flip out, realizing that the girls would be mad and they would have to deal with them. Basically, I was dead. Hayner and I ran around for an... extremely long time throwing decorations around the room, hanging holly, and wrapping lights. Aside from that, we now had to wrap our presents and call all of the guys. Needless to say... we had kind of a lot of people to call. Then, I had to go down stairs and explain to my already panicked mom, as well as about thirty-seven maids and butlers that nine of the guests would be here early and that the food would have to be early too. And again, dead. Ignoring the fact that my best friends/girlfriend now all probably wanted to shoot me, I had just angered a thirty-five+ group of vengeful house workers who had access to the kitchen knives, my bedroom, and our house... at night. This Christmas... would be a killer, and I meant that all too literally.
Finally, Hayner and I had called all the guys, decorated the crappiest acceptable party room, set up the tables, and made up our debt to the kitchen workers, and all that was left was to wrap the presents. However, we were both exhausted, trying to pawn off our remaining job on the other.
Coincidentally, we each had two presents. I had one for my secret Santa, and one for Namine. Hayner had one for his secret Santa, and... Olette? About time! I pestered him nonstop trying to make him tell me what he got for her, or why he did it, but he wouldn't say. Then, came the knock on the door.
I answered, smiling big because I knew it would be the girls, and I didn't want to die. I held the door open for them, and Namine was the last one in. While she was walking over to the table, I hugged her from behind. "Merry Christmas, Namine."
"It's not Christmas, yet."
I let go of her and shrugged. "Close enough." Actually, I just wanted an excuse to hug her, but I wouldn't say that. She smiled at me, and put her presents down on the table, she, too, had more than one.
"Who is it?" Hayner asked, running down the stairs in excitement. "Oh... it's just them." But of course, he was only messing with them. However, they probably weren't in the mood...
"Who were you expecting?" Kairi asked, meaning... that they weren't.
He shrugged, turning back to us. "Nothing, nobody... I guess. Hey, did one of you guys get me for secret Santa?"But, this... this was his way of seeing if Olette had gotten him a present. "Kairi" He did a great job covering, because Olette had only brought one gift, and it didn't look like it was for him.
She sighed. "I already got the gift, there's no point in kissing up, now."
"Oh. That's true." Then.. We all sighed. Idiot...
"Well!" I rolled my eyes. My aunt Sophie. I had just met her two hours ago, but... as far as I knew, she was eccentric, sensitive, and liable to be institutionalized. "Who are these lovely little children? Roxas! Introduce me!" No way was she meeting them.
"Maybe another time. Not everybody's here yet." Angry. She was also... bipolar?
"Roxas, you're so mean!" And with that, she stormed out of the room. Crazy lady... Natasha had... some weird family, I guess.
Not so long later, everyone was there and the presents table was FULL. "So!" Sora said. "What are we gonna do first?"
"I don't know." I responded, bored.
"What do you really do at a Christmas party?" Wakka asked.
"What about the one last year? Does anybody remember?"
I looked at Namine, she was sitting by the door. "Oh, Hayner," She said. "What was it that you wanted to tell me on the phone?" I shot Hayner a look and all the other guys -who of course somehow knew- started busting up laughing. "Huh? I... don't get it."
"Good." I said, leaving the couch to sit by Namine. I sat up against the already closed door, and smiled at Namine. She smiled too and moved over, letting her head fall restfully into my lap.
I stared don at her, she was so pretty. But then, her eyes widened. I looked at her, then followed her gaze up to the top of the door, then look back at her, and froze.
Mistletoe.
I knew I shouldn't have let Hayner help... he probably planned this all. Only two words for him as of now. DEAD MEAT.
"Oh, the mistletoe. So convenient that you happened to sit right under it Roxas..." Hayner smirked at me. I fought an overwhelming blush and yelled at him for a bit.
"Well, it doesn't matter now," Sora said. "You're fate is sealed."
I looked down at Namine, and she looked up at me. Are you kidding me?! That was all it took?! Just sit under some mistletoe?! But still, Hayner would pay for this... oh... he was screwed now. Regardless of the situation, everyone was watching, expecting me and Namine to kiss. Of course, it was awkward... considering I had never kissed anyone... and everyone was... staring... But, I had to do it, and I wanted to, but something was weird about it. I started to lean down, and Namine backed up onto her elbows. It felt like the kind of thing you'd see in a movie, where it was awkward, but so perfect... And it was. Until, that heart-throbbing moment, when our lips were about to connect and–
"Ah!" We both fell over, Namine kind of under me. At opening the door, someone had knocked both of us over. Not that I hadn't wanted to kiss Namine, I just thought that we shouldn't waste it, so... it wasn't all that bad of a thing. But then Natasha popped in, looking sorry, and I looked down at Namine, who looked... relieved?
"Sorry..." She apologized. Namine smiled at her which kind of made me worry. I could tell by her face that she didn't want to kiss me. So had she lied before? "Are you kids okay?"
"Yeah, it's fine. It's kind of our fault for sitting by the door." Namine said, still smiling. And what's worse... without her even noticing... she had just made everyone in the whole room aware that she hadn't wanted to do it. I sat up, wanting to put distance between us, and stared at her.
"Roxas..." My mom said. "I'm... there's someone I want you to meet. Oh, and Namine, your mother is here."
"Oh, okay." We both stood up, telling the others to wait in the room. I didn't know why, but halfway down the stairs, Natasha started balling her eyes out.
"Mom, are you okay?" I asked, momentarily distracted from the kiss situation.
"Is something the matter?" Namine asked, caring as usual. Her compassionate tone made me think about it again... what did I do wrong to make her not– Natasha was hugging us? Both?
"I am so sorry! Roxas... I should have told you as soon as your father and I became serious, and I don't know why I haven't. And Namine," She paused for a minute. "You're just so sweet!" Namine looked awkward as we patted her back.
"What... should you have told me?" I asked, uneasily.
"About my daughter..."
"You have a daughter?!?!" I yelled. I had a sister?!?! She had a daughter?!?! What?! Why didn't I know about this?!?!
"I'm so sorry... It was a horrible thing for me not to tell you, I just... well, I suppose I don't really know what I thought. I'm so sorry, sweety. Can you ever forgive me?"
"Uh... yeah, Tasha, you know I'm not mad at you. I... didn't really expect to, out of nowhere, have a... sister, though. Why did you tell me all of a sudden?" I might have been mad... but I was still thinking more about Namine.
She sniffled. "She's here."
"What?!"There was a point... where certain people crossed the line. Natasha... was miles past said point.
"She and her boyfriend came to meet the family. I'm so sorry." I guess she was like her sister in the way that they were both bipolar or something, because suddenly, she was ecstatic. "Well! No use in being sad when you meet family, right? Now then, let's go!" She took us by the hand and pulled us down the hall. Why she was dragging Namine into it, I had no idea.
"Fae! Darling!" She yelled. The girl had short brown hair and bright green eyes. She rushed over and stood next to her but... I was more confused looking at the boyfriend. What was...? I thought that... It all made sense but... none of it should be happening. I don't know why Natasha didn't notice but...
"Mom," My... "sister" said. "This is my boyfriend, Kazuki." No wait... oh... my... god... did this mean... that... I was jealous... of my sister's boyfriend being with my girlfriend?!?! And even worse... if they got serious... was I going to be related to him?!?!?! My life... was over... Where is the sadistic-angry-at-me-maid when you need her?
"Namine?" Kazuki said.
"Kazuki?" Namine asked.
"Kazuki?" I threw in, confused that he would come to my house and... not realize it was my house.
"Roxas?" Kazuki asked, confirming the fact that he didn't recognize the house he'd been to... many times before.
"Kazuki?" Fae said, probably confused about... everything.
"Roxas?" Natasha said, probably thinking I was being 'rude to the guests'.
"Namine?" I said, trying to get her opinion.
"What?" Fae said, ending it all.
I forced on a smile, and we all laughed it off, still confused with the situation at hand. "Okay, so..." Kazuki started. "My girlfriend..."
"Is... Roxas's..." Namine said.
"My sister..." I stated, questioningly.
"And then..." Fae said. "Who are you?" She sounded almost rude when speaking to Namine.
"Oh. Me?" Namine said. She nodded. "I'm Roxas's girlfriend."
"And you know Kazuki?"
"She's my best friend, you know, the girl I've been telling you about." He talks about her? No. She smiled.
"Oh, thank you, then. Since he met you, Kazuki has been so much happier than he used to be. Well! I guess this is probably awkward! Let's go and meet my 'family', Kazi!" since he met her...? How long had he and Fae been going out?
I watched them leave and stood by Namine, still wondering about the... kiss thing. Suppose... that wasn't the most confusing thing that would happen today? I had a long way to go with this one...