Deneve left her door unlocked. Lying on her stomach on the king-sized bed, she laid there staring at the door unblinkingly, unable to stop smiling. If Watari had delivered her message, Ryuzaki would be on guard if he decided to grace her with his presence. She still hadn't decided whether she would kiss him for coming, punch him for leaving her in the room alone for hours, or both.
However, if Ryuzaki came in before nine, Deneve would have to keep her promise with herself and kiss him on the lips. If he came after, it would be on the cheek. Part of her hoped he would arrive before nine. The blonde had never kissed anyone outside family, much less any guy on the lips. To her male friends, she was one of the guys. Then again, Deneve hoped Ryuzaki would come after nine because she'd never kissed a guy, so she wasn't sure how good of a kisser she was.
Either way, nine approached and she laid in wait on the bed, butterflies in her stomach.
Her heart leapt as the door opened, and in came Ryuzaki holding strawberry shortcake balanced in one hand. Deneve's cheeks began to ache from smiling so hard, and she felt more restless with energy now than she had been for the past few hours.
Seeing her smiling and staring at him with a look that screamed trouble, Ryuzaki looked understandably nervous as he frowned, cautiously heading toward the table. When he placed the cake down, Deneve sat up on the bed and slid off, feeling oddly energized as though she had a sugar rush. She practically ran to Ryuzaki and bowled him over when she hugged him, squealing with happiness; he staggered, grunting at the impact, his arms wrapped around her waist.
"You came before nine!" she squealed, giving him a gentle squeeze.
Ryuzaki made an "oomph" grunt as she squeezed him. "I thought you had to leave at ten." His flat voice sounded a little strained, probably due to the lack of oxygen.
"I do." She arched her back a little to smile up at her newest friend. He regarded her with surprised eyes, his lips together in a bemused frown, and it occurred to Deneve that, up close, Ryuzaki looked cute, even handsome. With that revelation, the blonde also realized they were in a rather intimate position—her leaning on him, embracing, with their bodies pressed together. Before she lost her nerve, Deneve quickly stood on her tiptoes and pecked Ryuzaki on the lips, too nervous and embarrassed to give him a long, soft one as she'd planned. She leaned back, redder than licorice.
"That's for coming before nine," she told him. Ryuzaki's mouth drooped open a little and one of his arms moved from holding her waist to touch his lips, stunned. Deneve guessed that was his first kiss too. "If you had come after nine, I would have kissed your cheek." Noticing his cheeks beginning to red, she laughed. "Wow, that was a late reaction, Ryuzaki."
"Why would you kiss me just because of a certain time?" he asked, the cherry Jolly-Rancher-red glaringly obvious on his pasty white face.
"A way to pass the time, and look forward to your arrival," she muttered, feeling her cheeks flare again and hurriedly changed the subject. "Um, how about that strawberry shortcake?" Feeling jittery as if she still had a sugar high, Deneve quickly stepped away from Ryuzaki and sat in a chair by the table where the cake was. After staring at her for a few moments, the black-haired young man joined her and cut the cake in half. They ate in the awkward quiet.
"Why did you tell Watari you were as liable to kiss me as you were to punch me?" Ryuzaki asked. He held his fork between his thumb and index finger as if his fingers would contaminate the piece of cake on the other end.
Deneve smiled, spearing her own rectangle of strawberry shortcake. "I wanted you to know I was annoyed at being left in a room alone for hours, but I looked forward to you coming. I didn't want to scare you away, just have you on guard for the unexpected; men often complain women are too unpredictable. However, I gave you fair warning."
"Hmm…"
"How often do you sleep in one day?" she asked impulsively.
Ryuzaki's black eyes darted up from the cake, fork in his mouth. "Two to three hours a day if I'm lucky."
The cake Deneve had just put her mouth fell onto her plate. "Holy shit," she blurted out, astonished, wiping her mouth. Her cheeks reddened a little. "How do you pull that off?"
"Watari says I was born without a biological clock or sense of time," Ryuzaki told her, smiling faintly.
Deneve scooped the fallen piece of cake into her mouth. "So that's why you eat so much sugar," she mused.
By ten minutes before nine thirty, both had finished their portions of half the strawberry shortcake and Deneve was glad she had had the foresight to eat a very light dinner. She sighed with content. "So…what do you want to do?" she asked.
"What do you want to do?"
"I don't know," the blonde admitted. "I've been doing what I wanted to do for five hours and I'm a little tired of doing what I want to do."
"What did you do?"
Deneve's grin inched up. Their conversation sounded like a riddle. "Let's see. I stared at the ceiling, listened to the radio, sang, danced, bounced on the bed, took a shower, raided the fridge…" She tapped her bottom lip gently with her fork. "Hmm…paced, took off my bandages, did my hair, and iced my eye for a while."
"That doesn't sound so bad."
"It is when you know you're running out of time and you're biting your nails while waiting for someone," the blonde pointed out, standing from her chair. Deneve stretched leisurely, rolling her shoulders. Just for the fun of it, she ran and jumped on the bed again. "I'll never tire of doing that," she grinned, bouncing once before settling on the surface.
Setting the fork on his empty plate, Ryuzaki placed his thumb on his bottom lip as he slowly stood from his chair, shuffling toward the bed. Crawling on carefully, crouching in his usual position, the rumpled young man stared at Deneve, who lay on her back, smiling up at him. Reaching up, the blonde quickly mussed up Ryuzaki's hair more than it already was. His hair was soft.
He looked confused again. "If you had wanted to touch my hair, why not ask?"
"You're too smart," she smiled.
"Then why not touch my hair like this?" That said, Ryuzaki reached down and gently tangled his fingers in her yellow curls, because running fingers through small curls was impossible. Deneve felt breathless. He rubbed her hair between his index finger and thumb, as if to test its quality.
She blushed. "I didn't know if you liked your hair being touched."
"I wouldn't mind if you touched my hair."
Sitting up, Deneve rested left arm on Ryuzaki's knees and reached up to stroke his wild black licorice hair. As her hands neared, he flinched and her hand paused. So he didn't like being touched...
"I won't hurt you," she promised softly. Slowly, delicately, the blonde patted his head, ignoring Ryuzaki's slight flinch, and caressed his scalp. They spent a few minutes handling each other's hair until Deneve heard voices, disembodied voices. She frowned, eyebrows furrowing and Ryuzaki stopped.
The blonde glanced over at the table beside the bed. "Oops, I left the radio on. Wait, I recognize this song." Leaning over, she turned up the dial.
"And I'd give up forever to touch you…"
"Yes! We caught the beginning!" she whispered, cranking the volume further before she sat back. Unintentionally, her right eye glimpsed at the clock. Nine forty-five.
"'Cause I know that you feel me somehow…You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be and I don't want to go home right now. And all I can taste is this moment and all I can breathe is your life 'cause sooner or later it's over…I just don't want to miss you tonight…"
Deneve wondered how something could be ironic and coincidental before it became creepy. The song –Iris by Goo Goo Dolls—perfectly described her feelings toward Ryuzaki and their remaining time.
"And I don't want the world to see me 'cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am…"
Trying to smile convincingly without giving away her growing sadness, Deneve whispered during the short musical interlude, "Good song, huh?" Ryuzaki seemed hypnotized by the radio, staring keenly at it.
"And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming…"
I think I might cry, the blonde mentally wailed.
"Or the moment of truth in your lies…When everything feels like the movies, yeah, you bleed just to know you're alive. And I don't want the world to see me 'cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am…"
Trying to block out the music that currently yanked her heart strings, Deneve grappled with her emotions, No, no I will not cry! What the hell? Why am I so emotional today? She partially recovered during the next longer musical interlude, distracting herself by staring at Ryuzaki.
"And I don't want the world to see me 'cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am…"
I'll miss him…No, it's not ten o'clock yet! Blink, woman, blink! You will not cry! She took deep, soft breaths.
"And I don't want the world to see me 'cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am…"
First the answering-the-door-thing, and now this! I don't want to go home though. I want to get to know Ryuzaki and be friends with him…Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid…
"I just want you to know who I am, I just want you to know who I am, I just want you to know who I am…"
Oblivious to Deneve struggling to handle her rampaging emotions, Ryuzaki seemed to be broken from his enchantment by the DJ's voice. He leaned over and switched off the radio. "I like that song. What's it called?" he asked.
Deneve stared at the bed comforter, taking in measured breaths, and fought not to cry. However, with Ryuzaki speaking, his monotone voice only reminded her that she had less than ten minutes before she had to go home. Underneath the gauze, her left eye had already begun watering but the patch concealed the tears.
Ryuzaki's hand touched her shoulder lightly, causing Deneve to inhale sharply. "Is something wrong?" She nearly lost it then. The light concern in his voice was evident.
"Iris." She swallowed the lump in her throat. "The song's called Iris b-by the Goo Goo Dolls."
"You didn't answer my second question." Now the blonde could hear the frown in his tone, but kept silent. Speaking with a lump choking her throat would be too difficult.
"Does your left eye hurt?" Ryuzaki asked, gently touching her left cheek. Just like he had touched her cheek so many hours ago. The blonde shook her head, a sob stuck in her throat.
"Deneve?"
It was the first time he'd said her name; and it made her lose the little control she had left. Hugging Ryuzaki's knees, she buried her eye sockets on his knee caps as her chest heaved painfully. Strangled, alien noises escaped her mouth. Deneve hated herself for being so emotional, so weak.
A hand comfortingly patted her head, consoling the distraught young woman a little. "I have to agree with what you said earlier. Women are unpredictable, no, you are nearly unpredictable."
Stuffing down her sadness –she could cry at home in bed, feigning exhaustion—Deneve sat up and hurriedly wiped her watery eyes with an unsteady chuckle. She lightly punched Ryuzaki's shin. "Yeah, I guess I'm a little unpredictable," she admitted, "but I don't want to leave. You're too fun for your own good, Ryuzaki."
Cupping her face in his hands, he smiled, his face lighting up softly again, and he leaned in, whispering, "You're too sweet for your own good, Deneve." As she'd expected he kissed her, minding her split bottom lip. The blonde, on the other hand, pushed forward, giving the chaste kiss a little more ferocity. Her earlier words echoed in her mind.
"Oops! Um, you're not tasty. I mean, I wouldn't know that or anything because—I'm shutting up now."
Ryuzaki was tasty. Better, he was sweet. Some of the strawberry shortcake lingered on his lips from their earlier snack. Unsure what defined a good kisser from a bad one, all Deneve could think was 'yummy' and 'wow'.
Pulling their faces apart, actually moving hers back, Ryuzaki's cheeks were flushed and his lips had traces of red on them. Her blood from her split lip. "That was a goodbye kiss," he explained.
"Uh huh." She grinned goofily. "I feel like I'm on a sugar high."
Ryuzaki mimicked her smile. "Me too."
"What do I taste like, if you don't mind my asking, Ryuzaki?" Deneve asked.
"Blood, salt, and strawberry shortcake—bittersweet."
"Hm, you taste like the strawberry shortcake too. Very sweet," she giggled. "We're rubbing off on each other."
"It's ten fifteen," Ryuzaki reminded her, releasing her face. "You are going to be late."
"My parents won't mind…too much…I hope," Deneve said sheepishly.
I'll leave the rest to your imaginations, dirty or not.
