Chapter 4: Give Her Mouth to Mouth!
I'm back! Well, sort of. I just had the random urge to come back to this story because I remembered how fun the purpose of this story was when I started it way back. Truth be told, half of the stuff was written shortly after the last chapter, but I never did get around the second half. In case you're a returning a reader, I should inform you that the first three chapters were redone with a full explanation in the first chapter. Now enjoy the rest of the story!
Genre: Romance/Parody
Kairi returns home, closing the door to her house. "I'm home!" she shouts, but then whispers, "Not like anyone cares. I'm leaving for beach anyway." She removes her shoes from her feet and leaves it by door with the rest of the family's footwear and notices some are missing. She takes herself and her handbag upstairs and then to her room, running for the bed. "My bed! How I missed you when I was gone!" She ruffles through her blanket and pillows feels the cold underneath it all. "My life is now complete." Just then, she hears someone clear their throat. She jumps and see it's her cousin Aerith. "Aerith! Don't scare me like that."
"Sorry, but it's too fun to watch you act like a puppy rolling around in fresh laundry," she informs her, laughing and takes a seat on her bed.
"Shut up. I'm weird like that," Kairi replies, getting up and fixing her hair. "I just got from school. You?"
"Went with Tifa to the zoo, but she got tired. Now she's sleeping."
"Still playing tourist?" Kairi asks.
"I am and she is. She's never been here before and you know it's different in the mainland. I don't see what's so fun about our small zoo when it's bigger over there."
"Why? Did she wait a long time for the lion?" Aerith nods and Kairi giggles. "I don't blame her. I still haven't seen one at the zoo either since I was a kid. Makes me wanna jump, so I can get a shot with it."
"Aren't you going somewhere today?" her cousins asks.
"Yeah. The beach, but we don't know which one."
"Funny. I went to the beach yesterday with Zack and Tifa."
"Oh. I'm sure it was fun having Mr. Fair dragged you into shallow waters," Kairi smirks, giggling inside, and gets a playful slap from her cousin. "Yes, he told me at school today. Your friends talk too much about your social lives, but it's entertaining to listen to. It's been fun to be an adult."
"No. It's not. You're gonna be wishing to be young again."
"Sucks to be you." Kairi bursts out laughing while Aerith grabs one of her pillows and hits her with it. "I'm kidding! Now leave, so I can get ready for the rest of the day." Aerith leaves the room, but Kairi stops with a question. "Aerith, what happened with you and Cloud?" The question made her cousin stop in her tracks. "I know it's not my place, but I've noticed the cold atmosphere whenever you two are in the same room." No one says anything. "Why?! Why did I ask that out of nowhere?! What came over me?!"
"That's for me to know and for you to find out," her cousin answers and leaves the room. Kairi falls back on her bed and screams in her pillow of her stupidity. Her iPhone vibrates by her side and turns on the screen to check the text message. It's from Olette and it says: Sorry guys. I can't come to the beach. I have to babysit my neighbor's kids. Ugh, but next time I will! :).
"So it's gonna just be us four?" Kairi wonders. "I should tell Namine about this," she talks to herself, pulling up her messages and texts Namine the news. Is there anybody else they can invite, but she isn't close to anybody else other than Namine. After finishing her text, she looks around her room and looks at her teardrop necklace. She feels like wearing it today, so goes up to her dresser and takes it, putting it around her neck. She looks at herself in the mirror, lightly holding it in her fingers, smiling. She doesn't remember when she got this except the fact that she had the necklace since she was a little kid. Her phone starts to ring and she quickly answers it. "Hello?"
"Guess what I managed to get us?!" Namine happily shouts, causing Kairi to cringe in pain from her voice. "I signed us up for some surfing lessons!"
"What the? And why would you do that? None of us can surf!" Kairi screams.
"I know, which is why I did this to make things exciting! We can have a hilarious montage of us falling off the board," she said, dreaming of it right now.
"You know, I worry for that mind of yours that I would be scared to jump into it," Kairi tells her.
"But you're already in it," she pouts. "Everything in my head comes to life. I mean, we all got our 'bump into future soulmate' moment, so let's keep it up!"
"I question on how I'm still friends with you." Kairi laughs at the thought, but Namine's craziness is what she loves about her. The blonde is always upbeat and thrilling to be around with, so she loves hanging out with her because of her fun, optimistic personality.
"Who knows? Maybe you'll drown or something and I'll tell Sora to rescue you. You know, like in one of those movies where the main lead drowns and the love of her life recuses her." Kairi gasps, wishing Namine was with her, so she can hit her constantly with pillows for just saying those words.
"If that happens, I'm going to kill you for setting up it up without you really trying," the auburn redhead warns her best friend. "Then again, you kind of did already with that surfing lesson."
"Don't worry. It takes a one in a million chance for that to happen. I'm coming over now, so get ready." With that, the phone line ends and Kairi starts to pack up for the beach.
• Unwritten •
Aerith walks on down to the kitchen with Kairi and notices how quiet it is in the house. The older adults are currently at work, leaving the house to the only three females: Kairi, Aerith, and Tifa. The long hair brunette opens up the fridge and grabs a can of Pepsi since she is thirsty from her adventures with Tifa. She takes a long sip of the drink and stops when she hears her phone ringing. She walks on over to it to see Zack's contact picture and answers. "Hello? Thank you for calling the Destiny Islands Sperm Bank where we gladly take in your sperm and help to those in need of a baby. How can I help you?" she asks with a polite voice, but bursts out laughing in the end.
"Yeah, I would like to donate for your bat cave of a vagi—"
"Ohkay! I think that's good enough," Aerith interrupts, knowing where he was going with it. "What is it?"
"Since I heard your cousin is going out for the rest of the day, I'm coming over. I know you're stressed, so I'm gonna bring something special for you," he says on the other line.
"If it's not food then I'm kicking you to the curve." The house doorbell rings. "Are you at my doorstep?"
"Yep." Aerith scoffs and hangs up on her phone while walking to the front and opens to the door to see Zack with a bunch of grocery bags in his hands. "You do know that my parents are coming home tonight."
"Called and they said they're all going to eat out tonight and have some fun."
"I see you guys got close when I was gone," she says, as he comes in. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"What? Can't a friend come on over on a Friday to have some fun?" Zack asks her. "I'm hurt Aerith. You should be a shame of yourself," he says, being all dramatic. "But no, you'll keep one I tell you I'm making my famous—" Zack digs through one of the grocery bags and pulls out a box. "Brownies!" Aerith's eyes shine in joy and grasps the box. "Judging from your face, I know I'm definitely staying for a while."
Right above the two, Kairi closes her beach bag, wearing a tank top, pale pink high short shorts, and has a hair tied in a ponytail on the left side of her head. Her phone rings once again, expecting it to be Namine, but it was Sora with no contact photo. Kairi sighs and realizes she wants a default picture of him for her list of contacts because he is the only one without a picture. "Hey Sora. Where are you?"
"I'm kind of lost," he says, looking around his surroundings of houses that look similar to one another.
Kairi looks out her window, but can't see him in either direction. "Where are you exactly? My house is uh…" Kairi peeks through her blinds to find anything unique about her house. "Damn, I had to live in a housing area where most of the houses look alike. Damn my parents!" She then notices Aerith's silver rental car. "Oh! My house is the one with a silver car!"
"That doesn't really help…" he trails off, noticing other silver cars in the area, and hears Kairi whine on his phone.
"What is up with this place?" she pouts, heading on downstairs to head on out to find him while staying on the line with him. "Do you see me? I'm wearing my beach wear right now…" After saying that, she immediately feels expose and awkward again with him. "Uh yeah… do you see me? I probably stand out in this neighborhood."
"I see you now," he answers since she is the only person outside in the area. "Bye."
The two hang up and Kairi decides to stay where she is for Sora. "I don't know why, but I feel odd wearing my beach clothes now. But plenty of boys have seen me at the beach before. Oh wait, I always wore a shirt and shorts underneath my bikini… in front of them. I wonder how Sora will react to my outfit. Ugh, what am I thinking? I'm pretty sure he's seen a lot of girls wear a bikni. We are on an island!" She snaps of her thoughts to see Sora getting closer to her. "Today should be an interesting day."
"I swear. Your house needs to stand out more," he says to her.
"Should I paint it to Barbie's dream house then," she jokes around, laughing at herself, but Sora has no reaction. She slowly ends her laugh and scratches the back of her head. "Since you're already here, let's go in to have a snack." The two enter inside the house and she tells Sora, "Why don't you head up to my room and I'll get the snacks?" He simply nods and goes up while she goes to the kitchen to see her cousin and her teacher. "Mr. Fair, what are you doing here? It's weird enough to have a teacher in my house. The last time was an exception, but not like this."
"Now it's that any way to talk to your teacher Kairi?" he sternly replied.
"School's over, so the formalities can drop," she says, grabbing a couple of soda cans and looks at him "Now if you must Zack, have fun with my cousins when my friends and I are gone later on today." She closes the fridge door with her feet and walks away while saying, "Better not do anything to my cousin or I will hunt you down."
"Yikes. She's just like you when you were a teenager in high school," Zack informs Aerith and gets a slap at the his head from her head. "What?! She is!"
Kairi reaches the final step of the second floor and stares at the open doorway to her room and sees Sora looking at her wall of photos once again. She slowly walks in and softly knocks on her door, making him turn towards. "Hi. I'm back." He doesn't say anything and takes a seat on her bed. "This was all we had, so I hope you enjoy it." She hands out the drink and he gladly takes it with another awkward silence. "Yay to awkward silence again! Is it ever going to end? I need to think of a solution." Kairi scans her room, but nothing is really coming to her mind except her white polaroid camera that she got for birthday last year from Namine. "Hey, wanna take a picture?"
"H-huh?" Sora startles at her question. "Now?"
"Ahm," she says, getting a her polaroid and holds it up in front of her and Sora. "One. Two. Three." Without really preparing anything, she just blindly takes the picture and a polaroid comes out from the top. "Let's see." Kairi takes a look at it and notices Sora isn't looking at the lens, but hiding behind her. "Hey, at least be in the picture."
"I'm not a big fan on pictures," he answers. "Actually, I don't really like taking pictures in general."
"Aw come on. Pictures preserve memories. Don't you think that's nice?" she asked. "It's a way for you to look back on things. I mean, take a look at my wall of photos." She takes a look at them with Sora turning his head in the same direction. "Each picture is a memory and each one tells a story of a moment in our lives. Don't you have something like that?" Sora didn't respond to her question and instead ignores it by looking away. Kairi feels like she is being a bother and obviously there is something personal along those lines. It is a feeling she has, but can't figure out why. Luckily, someone knocks on the door. It is Namine with her sunglasses, her big hat from before, and her bags.
"Hey Kairi!" She removes her shades to see Sora by her. "And hi Sora! I see you are already here! Now where's Roxas?"
"Probably getting ready. He's only next door Namine, so it's not like he's going anywhere," Kairi tells her. "Is your brother here?"
"Yeah. I dragged him inside your house to bond with the others," Namine tells her and suddenly thought of an idea. "Hey! We need to spy on them! I almost forgot about our ridiculous ploy to get some dirt about the story behind the book." Namine drops her bags in the room and rushes out. Kairi follows her blond friend, curious of what she might do. She sees her taking small steps on the stairs as tries to stare at the kitchen. "Heyyy… where is he?"
"Namine, get back here. Sora is in my room," Kairi whispers, but no response. "I have vital information." Namine swiftly turns and rushes toward her, making Kairi jump. "Wow. You should really join the track team, but then again, we are graduating in May so that's out of the question…" she trails off.
"Tell me!" Namine shoves Kairi inside the room and closes it while quickly asking, "What do you have? Did she say something? Does it have anything to relate to my brother? Tell me woman!"
"Whoa! Calm down! Sora…" Kairi looks to see him sleeping in her bed. "Damn, my bed always does this to people. Is my mattress that good?"
Namine smirks at her and says, "Yes. Yes it is. Now tell me!"
"Being the stupid person I am, I flat out asked her about her and Cloud."
"And? And?! What did you she said?!" Namine interjects.
"She said: That's for me to know and for you to find out." Namine blankly stares at her, trying to analyze the phrase. "Weird huh? Let's just brush it off and move on then."
"W-wait! Hold up!" Namine yanks Kairi's arm to face her again. "That's for me to know and for you to find out? Did you ever think about what she meant?"
"No. I was too busy thinking how stupid I was for asking her the question."
"Does she want us to find out about it? Couldn't she tell you herself."
"Okay, so what if she does? Once you found out the truth about this whole story, what does that mean for you and your brother?"
"I never really thought about that." Namine stops to think about it. How would she react to him? Would it change her view on her brother? Would she be able to understand him? Listen to him? There is too many possibilities. "I mean, if it is, then I will try to understand him. I am his sister, so I need to be supportive of his decisions and actions."
"No wonder he's protective of you. You are just too sweet," Kairi compliments.
What the girls didn't know is that Tifa is outside and heard the conversation, so she decides to tell Aerith about it. She goes downstairs, assuming she is there, and sees her at the kitchen with Zack. She continues to walk towards and gets a surprise. Cloud is in the kitchen and he is sitting next to Aerith. "Hello Cloud," she greets and sees an empty space between him and her best friend, so squeezes herself between to two. Of course, Cloud looks at her strangely while she mouths to Aerith, "You're welcome", and got a smile in return. "So what's up?"
"Zack is making his famous brownies!" Aerith cheers, watching him make it.
"Nice!"
"Wait a minute. Your special brownies?" Cloud says, trying to remember something about them. "Doesn't that—"
"Uh no, no, no, no. There is nothing special about them," Zack interrupts, giving his best friend a sign to not to say anything and Cloud just smiles, laughing softly at himself. "Since the kids will be gone soon and we get the home to ourselves we should do something."
"Hmph. Once Namine leaves, I'm leaving," Cloud adds.
"Good. Make sure the door hits you," Aerith snares.
Cloud glares at her and smirks at her. "On second thought, maybe staying here will be just as sane than avoiding each other most of the time. Not like my little sister and the others know about our situation. Mine as well act like nothing happen."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Tifa announces with a sense of doubt in her voice, which makes the three adults look at her. "You see, they are already on about it. I heard them talking about you guys and thought I outta tell you about it."
"Don't know about it huh?" Aerith harshly says. "I did sort of tell my cousin since she asked about us." Cloud is about to respond to her, but the doorbell rings. "Saved by the bell." She gets up from her seat and goes to answer the door. Once she does, she sees Roxas already wearing a black and white checkered shorts with a gray shirt, and a bag. "Hello Roxas. They are upstairs."
"Thank you Aerith." Roxas comes inside and heads up the stairs while Aerith walks back into the kitchen. "Guess they are leaving soon."
Roxas reaches the second floor and sees the girls talking while Sora sleeps through it all. "I see you guys are almost ready. Is Sora awake?" he says, trying to look at him. "I got his shorts with me right now."
"Why is this bed so comfortable?" Sora awes, cuddling Kairi's pillow. "And it smells so nice." Kairi immediately blushes a bright red because it is her bed and it has her scent on it. Namine and Roxas giggle silently giggle at the situation. Sora's eyes open wide and sits up, thinking about what he just said. "U-uh…" He scratches his head nervously, trying to hide his shame and blush. "That must've been awkward for you to hear."
"Here you go man." Roxas hands out the bag to him, Sora takes it, and heads into the bathroom to change. "So many awkward moments, so little time. Shall we go after Sora's done changing?"
"Hold on. Let me go internet browsing." Namine rushes to Kairi's desk to get on her laptop. "I need to check my Facebook, my Tumblr, and my Fanfiction accounts. Oh, and I need to check the latest info on my favorite K-pop artists, namely Girls' Generation or the hot boy band Super Junior! I wish Siwon was mines…" Kairi and Roxas blankly stares at the blond, who happens to be dreaming. "What? If I leave it for a while, I'll come back and think I missed so much."
"You can't live your life on the internet."
"Pssh, obviously you don't have a Tumblr. Did you finish that book yet or do I have throw it to you again?"
"Yeah and it was sad. I almost cried!" Roxas admits.
"I know right! That is why we need answers!" Minutes later, Sora comes in the same clothes, but with different shorts. "And FYI to all of you, I signed us up for some surfing lessons. Kairi knows, but I thought I tell you boys about it."
"Did I forget to mention that Olette can't make it today? She has to babysit and can't get out of it." Namine frowns at the news, logs out her Facebook, and closes Kairi's laptop. "So it's gonna be us four instead. Yay?"
"That sucks. I was looking forward to it. Well, let's go now!" Namine dashes out of the room, but comes back. "I almost forgot." She grabs her belonging on the ground, throws it to Roxas, and starts to frisk him.
"W-what are you doing?!" Roxas exclaims, feeling uncomfortable at the situation.
"Trying to find your car keys," Namine answers while searching him. "We've been in this house too much and we need to get into the action. We need to pick things up." She feels metal jingling in one of his pockets and wastes no time in diving for it. She grabs it and bolts out.
• Unwritten •
The teenagers are in the car and drive off with the adults, waving goodbye. "Bye guys! Have fun!" Tifa yells. "I know I did before!"
"I'm gonna get the brownies ready!" Aerith excitingly leaves the porch and heads back inside to get the delicious chocolate dessert.
"So when are you going to tell her?" Cloud asks Zack, turning his attention to him. "You've been giving those brownies to her since high school and you never mentioned what's in them." Zack just smirks at him and Tifa wonders what they are talking about.
"Why? What's in them?" Tifa asks the boys.
"As you know by now, Aerith can get stressed very easily, so I would make my special brownies for her to relieve herself from it all," Zack explains. "It has the usual: eggs, milk, brownie mix… and a little weed. Bwahaha!" The men just laugh at the situation and Tifa went along because it is funny. "It's gonna be interesting night, so please try not to go at each other's throat Cloud. I know it is hard, but if you guys can try to be mature about the situation, then maybe things will get better. Now go check on her before she devours it all." Cloud rolls his eyes and goes back into the house with Tifa looking at him "What?"
"What are you trying to do?" she asks, crossing her arms.
"I'm trying to fix their broken relationship cuz I'm both their best friend. Wouldn't it be nice for a sequel to her book?" he happily asks. "Maybe even get Cloud to develop feelings for her and have hers come back…?"
"Love… it can cause so much pain to others and effect you the longest… " Tifa slowly trails off, not looking at Zack, and starts to feel a little remorse.
"Is something wrong?"
"N-no." Tifa returns back to her normal self. "I think it's time we go back in before a disaster ensues in there." Zack brushes off the odd aura around her and goes back inside the house to see Aerith digging for two pieces of the brownies. He is just happy that she and Cloud are putting up a mature wall between for tonight and plans to continue to fix their relationship.
On the nice road to beach, Roxas drives the car with Namine in the front with Sora and Kairi in the back. The three of them are dead silent except for Namine, who happens to be having the time of her life by singing in the car. Roxas regrets asking her to plug in her iPod to his car. "Gee, gee, gee, gee, baby, baby, baby. Gee, gee, gee, gee, baby, baby, baby!"
"When is it gonna end?" Roxas asks, feeling brainwashed by the song. "This catchy song is gonna be stuck in my head."
"Yay! Raising K-pop awareness around to people!" Namine throws her in the arm and hugs Roxas, making him swerve on the road.
"Hey! I'm driving here!" Roxas forces her off him and focuses back on the road. "If one of us gets into some kind of accident, I'm getting you back." Namine gasps and crosses her arms, looking out the window, feeling the wind breeze through her hair and looks at the rearview mirror to see Kairi and Sora not making eye contact. They are looking out their own windows and staring off in the distance.
Kairi is admiring the views of the island as they pass by in her eyes. She checks her phone to check the time and it reads: 2:29 p.m. She stays in the same position and diverts her eyes on Sora who happens to be looking out the window with his chin resting in his hand, his elbow on the door, and his free arm just laying on the empty space between them. Kairi sneakily takes her phone and takes a photo of him with her Instagram and takes a look at it. She never seen such a good photo of him and the second time was a great one with his current pose, the open window, and the wind passing by him with his hair still intact. It is fine without the need of a filter. She actually loves the photo as it is, so she posts it without telling him by captioning it: A Stare in the Distance. "So what beach are we going to? North Shore is out of the question cuz that's far and expensive for gas."
"Don't worry," Namine assures everyone. "I picked the perfect place!"
Moments later…
The four place their parcels on the warm sandy beaches of Lucid Beach, a beach near the hometown of where they all live. Kairi pulls out a chair and sits on it while grabbing a water bottle. "How nice to see the rest of our school mates around the beach on this grateful day. Now it's time to stalk them and make fun of those dumb heads like Riku over there—oh shoot—Riku is here. He better not come."
"Maybe you should take a picture and photoshop him with some guy. That would please the fangirls," Namine suggests. "Yaoi is all the rage with some people. Even the things involving two men having sex in some graphic art work." The area around the four becomes silent and the boys show their faces, disgust of what she just said.
"I could've lived my whole life without knowing that," Kairi replies to her, breaking the silence. "I play the game, so please don't completely ruin my image of them, no matter how many times you complained and actually showed me it. I had to erase my history and cache because of you." Suddenly, a beach ball lands on Kairi and cringes to who is coming to get it, so she immediately throws it to Riku.
"Hey Kairi! Whoa! Nice body!" Riku lauds, checking her out, and Kairi rolls her eyes and closes it to relax in the sun.
"Look above me." Kairi opens her eyes because she realizes of what she just said. "Not at my boobs!" Riku stops to look at her breasts and right above her to see Namine, Sora, and Roxas, staring at him. "Roxas, you remember Riku? The hothead, conceited, cocky bastard."
"Aww… why do you have to be like that Kairi? You know I like you," Riku playfully whines.
"Okay," Kairi stands up, leaves her chair, and says, "I'm going to get some sea salt ice cream. Roxas and Namine, watch our stuff. Sora…" She pauses and looks at him and then at Riku. "You're coming with me. Let's go." She grabs Sora's hand and walks away. "God, I wanna run him over with a steam roller."
"That's quite harsh to say," Sora comments, following behind her.
"It's not like I wanna kill the guy. I just wanna hurt him in a terrible way where I can bash his dead body," she narcissistically says as the two reach the beach bar that sells numerous treats to beach goers. "But of course, that would leave evidence," she quips and looks at the worker. "Three sea salt ice cream please and a royalberry for me." She then turns to Sora while the order comes. "Riku… needs to change. He probably is a sweet guy if another girl came into the picture that played hard to get."
"Aren't you doing that now?" Sora asks her, noticing the situation between the two. Soon enough, she turns back at the man working.
"How much is all that?" she asks, trying to ignore Sora's question. The idea of her being that girl to Riku horrifies her, making her puke inside.
Back at the house, the adults are consuming the incredible, delicious pot brownies down their throats. Too bad Aerith doesn't know about the secret ingredient. Zack started making the brownies for her when got a real bad case of anxiety during freshmen year when finals came around. "You should slow down Aerith," Zacks warns her and takes a seat on the counter. "It's already your third brownie."
"But I love your brownies! They're totally delicious! The more I eat, the hungrier I get from them," she says, consuming her glass of milk. "And thank you for making one of my favorites. I needed it." Zack, Cloud, and Tifa slightly giggles at her. "What? What's so funny guys?" she asks and takes another bite of her third piece.
"You know how I always gave you these when you were stressed out in high school?"
"Yeah, and?" she spoke with her mouth full, drinking her glass of milk.
"And remember how I always say my special brownies?"
"Of course. You said it was some Fair family ingredient that you couldn't reveal to anybody."
"There's a reason for that," Tifa informs her, smiling and giggling a little to her.
Aerith stares at her friends and slowly stops chewing her chocolate treat. She stares at them long enough to see them smiling and Cloud trying to contain his laughter. Her face drops when it hits her. "Pot!" Everyone in the kitchen busts out laughing except Aerith. "I have to go throw up!" Aerith bolts out of her seat, but Tifa holds her back.
"Sorry Aerith, but it's gonna hit you anyway," Zack informs her, laughing.
"All those years! All those years you and Cloud were getting me high!" Aerith points her finger at Zack and blames everything on him. "I can't believe I was actually a stoner girl without realizing it."
"Well, we never gave you the full on recipe till now," he replies.
Aerith looks at her brownie and glares at Zack. "I'm gonna get you for this!"
"Don't worry. I'll make it up to you. I always do."
"Yeah, well, I already had two and I don't feel anything," Aerith claims, taking another bite of her third one.
At the beach, Kairi and Sora carry the ice cream treats to their spot and see Roxas putting sunblock and Namine's back. "How sweet of Roxas," Kairi sweetly claims, stoping and staring at the situation. "She probably forced him anyway." She reverts back to self and continues on walking to the two "love birds". "Here you go guys," she says, hanging over the sea salt ice cream.
"Sea salt ice cream!" Roxas cheers, taking it quickly from Kairi.
"Yeah, yeah. One piece of ice cream I don't have take by force."
"Don't forget guys! Our special surfing lesson is gonna be after this!" Namine seems to be in joy at the thought of it.
"Surfing lesson?" Sora tilted his head with the cold treat in his mouth as he feels clueless what the female blonde is taking about this time.
Later on…
"I hope Namine is paying for all of this," Roxas pleads. The four teens are laying on surfing boards on the sand while getting instructions from the instructor on how to properly surf is in front of them. He gave out the basic knowledge to the beginners on catching a wave, paddling, duck diving, and how to properly stand when actually riding a wave. Although Kairi isn't really paying much attention because once again, her mind drifts into another world.
"Why are we doing this? Is there any point to this at all?" she pondered, getting rather a bit bored now. "All I want to do is sit, lay down, bathe in the warm sun and forget about everything. Then there's camera shy Sora. What's so bad about taking pictures? I guess he's just too shy. He's practically an onion. It's like I have to slowly peel each layer of him to get to the center. Ok, that sounded very sexual. Ugh, I want this to be over." She looks on her left to see Namine and Roxas being attentive to the guy and on her right to see Sora not paying attention, but simply sitting on his board with his legs crossed. "Having fun?" She forces out her a small laugh noting how ridiculous they should be taking this lesson because Namine said so.
"To be honest, not really," he admits. "I think I rather just lay on the beach and watch the other people play."
"You've read my mind. We should just leave—"
"Oh no you're not!" Namine interrupts.
"On second thought, we are being forced against our wills," Kairi continues. "At least she's paying for this."
"How did the two of you girls become friends?" Sora kindly asks.
"Hmm…" Kairi thinks about it and looks up to the sky and back at him. "Heh, it's been a long time since I recalled meeting Namine. It was around middle school in science class we met each other and we are assigned to the same table. Of course, she was reading a book and I was just being myself by talking to her and she would complain that I was interrupting her reading. She was actually a bit shy now that I think about it."
"Namine, shy?"
"Yeah, it's hard to believe, but I guess I opened her a bit since then when we started to hang out more."
"Even though we only met this week, I think it's a bit funny how we met," Sora recalls.
"You mean how I bumped into you," Kairi giggles. "I guess it is a bit funny." For a small moment, they exchange looks and say nothing and Kairi asks a question she's been wondering about. "You know, how come I never noticed you before? And it's not because you sit all the way in the back."
"I never did like any form of attention to myself," he replies with an honestly. "Or draw any either."
"Huh, I guess he makes a valid point," Kairi thinks.
"Can I ask you something?" Sora asks.
"Sure."
"Where did you get that necklace?"
"Hm?" Kairi looks down on her chest to see what he is talking about. "This old thing? I… actually… I don't remember now that I think about it. I must've been a little girl when I got this, but my mom said she never gave it to me. I guess I found it at some park or something."
"Oh, I see." Unaware to Sora, Kairi senses a small hint of disappointment in his sentence, but she isn't sure if he was aware of it himself. And it did seem odd to her that he asked about her necklace out of all things, but she assume it stands out on her besides her hair. "It looks pretty on you," he adds, snapping her out of her thoughts.
"T-thanks. No one has told me that before," she hesitates, blushing a bit.
"And that's it for the lesson!" the instructor shouts with enthusiasm. Kairi turns her head to him in surprise to see the lesson is over. "Now you guys should be ready! Just don't go out too far now."
She turns towards Sora again, and says, "Phew, it's over. I guess we can—"
"Let's go Kairi! We're going!" Namine eagerly says, pulling her up quickly. "And take your board with you!"
"Namine! I don't wanna go!"
"You too Sora!"
• Unwritten •
The four adults sit on the couch in the living room, watching some television while Aerith has the remote in her hands. The others continue to eat their brownies while Aerith appears to be in a daze and changes the channel that shows some soap opera. She stops and quickly says, "These on are still on the air? You think people just love watching over the top dramas with crazy story lines? And if so, there is something wrong with society. This stuff doesn't happen in real life. And the acting is so fake!"
"That didn't take very long," Zack giggles at looks at Tifa "What about you?"
"That creepy cat statue is looking at me," she answers, referring to one Maneki-neko
holding a pillow close to her, and tries to cover her face.
"Ok, Aerith gets chatty and you get paranoid. Cloud and I barely feel the side effects."
"Heh, weaklings," Cloud scoffs.
"Now Cloud, don't be mean," Zack tells him.
"Don't be mean? You're the mean one! After what you did me! Life without you has been such… an awesome life!" Aerith shouts, pointing at him. Cloud isn't taking her serious though because it is the pot talking. "I should be looking for some love to get over you!"
"I thought you were over me?" Cloud asks. "Stop bringing up the past."
"I would love to you weren't here!" Aerith stands up, putting her hands on her hip while giving the blonde man she loath a glare.
"Then I guess I should leave!" Cloud follows suit in the same way and gives her an angry look.
"Ohkay!" Zack shouts out, getting in between the two. "This is the pot is talking people! You are… in a delirious mood right now and you'll probably forget all of this tomorrow." In order for the repair of a broken friendship to happen, Zack needs to step in, in case someone loses an eye or things will get very personal. "Now before this turns into some show where we are throwing things at each other… more brownies?" He happily ends pulling up a plate of his treat, trying to make it some form of piece offering. The two simply glare at each other while calmly taking another brownie and eat them in sync. "Ok, now let's continue to just relax for once."
At Lucid Beach, the four teens are paddling out to sea, but not too far. "I can't complain I was dragged out here. I didn't even pay attention!" Kairi complains, paddling behind Namine and Roxas. "If something does happen Namine, you're gonna be in debt with me for the rest of your life," she warns, recalling what she said earlier today.
"No need to get over dramatic Kairi," Namine assures her. "You're a smart girl. You can pick up things pretty fast."
"If I at least I had to gist of things I do. This? Not the case. I was having a nice talk with Sora till that lesson was over."
"Aww… how nice. Why did I even bother signing us up for these lesson anyway then?"
"I've been wondering since this whole thing started," Roxas tells her, and makes a stop. "I'd say this is how far we should go. Now we just wait for some kind of wave to appear behind us." The three stop as well and talk a bit.
"Maybe I'll get lucky and successful surf a wave without falling?" Namine wonders.
"Then I'll make sure you fall," Kairi smirks. "Oh the possibilities I can think and do to you."
"Some friend you are," Namine spats.
"You know I love you." Soon enough, a wave behind them starts to rise. "This must be it guys." Namine and Roxas lay on their boards and start paddling. "Okay… I'll just follow what you guys do. I guess I should try once. Let's go Sora!"
"W-what?" Sora gets bewildered and starts to copy what Kairi is doing. As the wave beings to get a big high, Namine and Roxas get up on their boards, making Kairi do the same. "I don't know about this."
"It's a small wave. No one is getting wiped out," Namine calmly replies.
"But that's the thing. This wave seems to be getting bigger." Sora notices they were getting a bit higher than they appear to be.
"Uh… Namine…" Kairi starts to struggle to stand up on her board, shaking back and forth to keep herself from falling while feeling the rush of water on her feet. "I. Aah! Don't. Whoa! Know. How long I can keep this up?" And to add more bad luck, the wave went above all their heads. "What kind of wave is this?! Namine!"
"Uh, just keep going!" Namine stammers as she bends her knees and spreads her arm a bit to stay balance.
"I don't think this is beginner's luck!" Roxas shouts, looking behind him.
"Namine! You're gonna be in debt with me!" The tip on the wave starts to come crashing down on all of the teenagers, making them scream in terror as it engulfs them and makes a big splash. All four fall deep in the beach waters and do their best to get back up to the surface. Namine, Roxas, and Sora come back up to catch their breathe.
"Oh my god! I can't believe that just happen!" Namine shouts, trying to stay afloat. She looks to see the boys, but not her best friend. "Kairi?" She looks in all directions, but she is nowhere to be found. "Kairi? Kairi? Kairi?! Where is she?!" Sora dives down into the water to find her and sees her body, falling down slowly to the bottom. He assumes her board probably hit her, rendering her unconscious. He does his best to swim towards and tries to grab her hand as fast as possible to bring her back up to get air. When she touches the bottom, bits of sand flying. Sora takes her hand and starts to swim up despite the extra weight he is pulling. Once he gets up the surface, he gasps for air and starts to pull in Kairi to shore.
"Kairi!" Namine and Roxas both shout.
"Oh my god! This is my fault! I did this!" Namine starts to talk down on herself seeing how she mention a scene like this earlier today. "She can't die on me! I need my best friend!"
"Calm down!" Roxas screams at her. "No one is dying today alright! Sora, is she okay?"
"She's not breathing. We need to get her to shore," the brunette tells him, dragging her body. The floor starts beneath Sora starts to rise and he starts to get up, draping Kairi's arms over his shoulder to bring her to the sandy shores. He can feel people already staring at the two, but he could care less at the moment as he puts her body on the sand facing up. Namine and Roxas come out of the waters run to two's sides.
"Kairi!" Namine screams, looking at her unconscious body, and bends down to her. "I'm sorry. We'll save you! Sora, do you know CPR?"
"A little."
"Give her mouth to mouth!" she shouts.
"W-what?"
"You must save her cuz I don't know how. I'm pretty sure Roxas doesn't either." Sora looks at Roxas and shakes his head to show he doesn't know how. "See."
"A lifegu–"
"Sora! I'm telling you! Now please!" Obviously he can sense the fear and desperation in her tone of voice, so he does as he told and applies CPR to Kairi. He is a bit hesitant to do such thing, but must carry on because her life depends on it. He does the natural steps to prepare for the procedure and start to blow in her mouth and make her beat. He does over and over till she starts to breathe again. People at the beach watch have gather around the pair as he tries to save her life. Thankfully, one more try and Kairi coughs out water and breathes. The crowd cheers and take pictures of Sora's rescue in saving her life.
"Kairi! You're okay!" Namine immediately hugs her and continues, "I'm sorry I set up that stupid surf lesson that made you end up here!"
"H-huh? What happend?" she stutters, trying to recall what happened earlier. "Did I drown?" Namine pulls back and nods at her and hugs her again.
"We were so scared and worried about you! Sora saved you!" Namine tells her to give all the credit to their friend.
"H-he did?" Kairi turns to Sora to see him looking at her as well. "Thank you…" Roxas comes over to her and drapes her own towel around her. "I can't believe what just happened."
"You're okay and that's all that matters," Sora assures, flashing a small smile at her. Of course, Kairi can't help, but smile back at him. Especially for his heroic effort. She tries to pick herself up by getting up, but falls down until Sora's catches her before she actually hit the ground. "Take it easy."
"It's best we head back now," Roxas informs the three.
"I agree," Namine adds. "Come on."
Kairi gets up and lays her head on Sora's shoulder, leaning on him as the two walk to their spot. "Thanks again. I don't know what would've happen if you weren't there to save me. I'm forever in your debt," she softly tells him.
"No, you don't have to be in debt with me," he replies. "I'm just glad to see you safe. That's all."
"You actually have warm skin," she compliments, feeling the skin on skin contact between the two, which made him blush red, but she never sees it. "It's comforting."
"T-thanks…" he stammers.
"When you think about it Kairi, Sora's your first kiss," Namine says out of nowhere.
"W-what?! Why would say something like that out and the open?!" Kairi broke out of her little weak mood once Namine mentioned that, taking her head off Sora's shoulder, and blushes a large red. "I can't believe you said that!"
"It's true though. And I can tell it was Sora's first kiss too!" Namine adds, making Sora look in a different direction and blush a large red too. "I knew it! Sure it was CPR, but a kiss is a kiss when two lips meet. I see something nice how out of this disaster."
"Now you're really gonna get it!" Kairi screams, running towards her like a monster.
"Eep!" Namine shrieks and starts to run herself from her best friend.
"Since I nearly drowned, you're FOREVER in debt to me!"
"I didn't think that would actually happen!"
"I don't care. You're still gonna get punished for that!"
Roxas comes to Sora's side and laughs as he watches the two girls. "Those two sure are something. One minute they were all loving and now Kairi wants to kill Namine. But tell me Sora, was that really your first kiss?" He looks at him and Sora nods at him while looking away from his direction. "Heh, you sure are one lucky guy." Then Roxas smirks as he says, "The way I see it, I'm sure great things are bound to happen for you two."
I never thought that this chapter would be longer than the others, but I'd say it turned out well. Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter!