JUNE 15TH, 2007.
DAY THREE.
Perfectly shaded white teeth gently bit down on the water bottle cap as eyes were cast on the kitchen's marble counter. To her own request, Aerith had picked up one of the trash celebrity gossip magazines from the deli that morning. The main cover held very little to interest to her as the bright blood colored letters read 'SCANDAL! HEIRESS'S BOYFRIEND CAUGHT WITH A SCANDALOUS LADY IN THE GARDENS.' Other little snippets on the side of the cover mentioned best and worst dressed of the Charm Awards, who was expecting a little one, and how you could get in on the celebrity way to lose weight and get that 'bikini beach bod.' While celebrity gossip had never held an interest in Kairi's spectrum, it was sometimes a cheap form of entertainment to keep you busy when you had nothing else.
Finally releasing her mouth's grasp on the bottle, she took the water bottle and set it off to the side. With her left hand that she had painted last night with cheap dollar store nail polish, she flipped open the magazine to what delight it would have in store for her.
After five minutes of flipping through before/after pictures of weight loss, acne ads, complaints and praises to the editor, the scandalous pictures, Kairi was bored of other peoples' lives and about ready to call it quits with the trash. However, the red head's attention was caught as a purple area at the bottom of the page boastfully pouted 'HAS DESTINY ISLANDS SUPPLIED US A POTENTIAL 'IT' GIRL?' Of course it sparked her curiosity so it was no shock when she found herself flipping the page.
The arrow that had been teasing for her to turn the page, soon found itself revealing a two page spread of her very own self. Three pictures littered in the center of the magazine -- A paparazzi candid from her arrival at the airport, a personal photo of her, Selphie, and Yuffie which the bubbly brunette must have supplied to the magazine, and then her sophomore yearbook picture. A couple of colored boxes off on the sides of the pages also had mini paragraphs which supplied their own miniature headlines. 'Riku -- A Personal Favorite of the Ladies' and 'A Blossoming Romance Between Contestant and Star?' Feeling a little bit heated in the cheeks by that particular small snippet, Kairi zoomed her eyes off to the main article that wrapped in-between the photos of herself.
As her eyes began to take in the information that was written by somebody named Pou Pa -- obviously a pen-name to remain hidden under --, she came to learn about herself that she was very skilled in tennis, liked egg whites and cold French fries, and took a liking to Country music. Only one of the facts was true and that was the tennis one. Obviously the writer had found not so reliable resources. However, as Kairi continued to read on, a not so pleasing state of mind was coming out from the article.
At the arrival of the airport Saturday morning, our contest winner came off as very cold and distant. A plane stewardess said that ginger haired girl was rude and demanded first class seating on the plane. Sources also said that the girl was upset with her limo arrangements and angered that she was put in a separate limo and not with Sora. Hopefully she will have her act cleaned up for the Cosmos on Thursday evening. People are ancy and impatiently waiting to see if she will be a hit or miss at the Awards show -- among dress, people, and the crowd.
.. Well. Snapping her eyes shut, Kairi closed the magazine and pushed it away from her. She wasn't exactly sure how to react to that article. But it did make even more sense than before why people called such tabloids 'dirty.' It was amazing, however, what people would do and say just did get a brief mention in a magazine. Demanding first class and being rude? She had only talked to a stewardess once and it was to ask if she could please have some head phones to block out the sounds of take off.
As Kairi remained there, leaning over the kitchen counter with eyes shut and an occasional tapping of her foot, she became aware of a presence in the doorway. Ignorance was put into play and she continued with her mannerisms as if whoever was in the kitchen, wasn't. After a minute or two though of her ignoring the other being, she heard footsteps being made across to the room and to the other side of kitchen counter.
"Most of the time it's good to ignore those dirt rag magazines."
Seeing as she couldn't block out anyone now, she opened her eyelids to find Riku facing opposite of her. Standing up from her hunched posture, she offered a bit of a smile and shrugged in silence. A nod was slightly indicated from him as he took the magazine into his possession and then tossed into a garbage tin in his perimeter.
"When Sora blew up into this .. icon, it was hard for him at first to ignore the magazines and tabloids. He'd get paranoid, angered, upset, sad .. you name it. But after time he came to not care what people thought of him."
".. Yeah, that would probably be a good trait to adapt, huh?"
"Mm. Especially in this business."
".. Exactly why I didn't want to do this whole thing."
Frowning, Kairi gently folded her arms across her chest. Cocking her head slightly, she put a concrete stare onto the marble as she pointlessly studied the pattern of it. It was more or less to ignore the gaze coming from the "man" .. who was actually probably just a year or two older than herself.
".. Well, don't worry your pretty little face over it. People will come to like you. Besides, you'll knock their socks off at the award show. .. And if people still don't like you afterwards, .. to hell with them, right?"
The young girl looked up to find Riku smiling at her. The smile, however, wasn't exactly the innocent of sorts. While still comforting to a degree, it was .. well, probably what Selphie would have called 'saucy' -- like with hidden intentions. Nodding her head for more of being polite, she soon after offered a ".. Yeah, I suppose you're right."
"Good."
Riku took himself away from the counter and over to one of the corners in the large room. A fridge that blended ever so well with the rest of the cabinetry, was pulled open. After a few moments of temporary rummaging, Riku came out with a flamboyantly green apple before shutting the refrigerator device. With a mere movement of his hand, the apple went gently tossed across the room and over to her. Thanks to a catching skill developed from Selphie's chaotic and caveman-like grocery shopping pseudo personality, Kairi managed to catch the fruit with enough grace.
"Eat up, kid. You've got a long day."
".. Oh?"
"Dressing fitting #2 and #3 with Guston in an hour."
Kairi's expression fell.
Oh a long day indeed.
Turned out that this dressing had not been as horrible as the one previously. Guston was not as all over the place as he had been before and his loud voice had seemed to lessen in volume by a mass amount. Whether it was due to him knowing her exact measurements now or because his boyfriend had stopped by to say hello, she was thankful.
It turned that there was a golden rule to award shows. You could not have just one setting of attire. You had to have two at the least -- three, if presenting. While her gown was to be for the red carpet, she needed another one for when she presented with Sora and for the after party the following evening. Kairi didn't know exactly when she would be changing not only attire, but makeup and hair, during the whole fiesta of this event .. So she was hopelessly relying on Aerith, Guston, or even Sora to explain it to her.
".. Vedy Vedy lovely .. I love, love, love! 'Tis breath taking .. I can hardly stand 'eet."
As opposed to her fairy tale dress from yesterday, this was much more .. classy borderline red district-esque. Red was a fiery color to start with, but when you enhanced it with crystals -- as Guston seemed to do with every piece of clothing in his shop --, it was very vivacious. Halter styled, this dress too was very fit and precise to the bodice. With her own taste, she would have preferred it to drape to the floor but with Guston's direction and order, it was anything but. Cutting off a couple inches before the knee, it gave her legs definition .. as well as other assets of her body. The majority of the short dress was the engine red except for the back of the dress which had a couple of crystals -- or were they diamonds? -- sitting in.
"It's very .. short."
"SHOWT? SHOWT? 'Tis not showt! Vedy elegant, vedy sophisticated yet weeth edge. BOOM!"
His crumpled fists suddenly exploded into full outstretched hands to emphasize the yelling 'BOOM!' that came out of his mouth. Kairi jumped at the sudden noise and movement of his hands. It was obviously no doubt the man was very serious and .. sharp about his clothing.
"ALL DE MEN SHALL BE LOOKING AT YOU! ALL. EVEN OUR 'ITTLE PRINCE! VERY GOOD, IS 'EET NOT? GLAMOR TOWN WEEL LAVA YOU."
Laughing with just a little bit of ease, she reexamined herself in the mirror.
"With 'deese look, your hair will be vulled back, yes? How .. I do not know. But .. with a 'TUNNING 'viece of jewdadey .. a necklace perhaps, .. it shall bring out everdeding. SO .. ESCITING."
Before his .. touching speech and direction could continue on, a ringing went off in his pocket to indicate a phone call. Quickly, his hands went diving into his pockets and within seconds, the phone was flipped open. Taking the call, he stepped a few feet away from her to discuss whatever with whoever on the opposing line as him. Not one to eavesdrop too much on phone calls, Kairi continued to examine herself in the mirror.
Holding a hand to the back of her head, she gathered her hair in her fist and propped it up towards the near top of her cranium. Puckering her lips and squinting her lips slightly, she copied a common look many models did in their spreads and layouts. Then dropping her hair, she slightly widened her eyes and turned her face in near her shoulder. .. Kairi wasn't fully aware of what she was doing. Practicing? Goofing around? As if there could be an explanation.
"KOIDE."
Stopping, Kairi made her features go back to normal as she whipped around to find Guston. A peculiar look crossed his face before it was dismissed. Smiling slightly, she ignored her previous indications to the mirror.
"Mhm?"
"Soda vood like lunch with you now. So you come back tomorrow .. and we get fitting numba 'zee!"
Before she comment on this or say her good-bye, Guston grabbed her and pulled her forward. Planting a kiss on the both of her cheeks, he then whipped her around and shoved her forward. Kairi stumbled a couple of steps with slight dazement.
"GEET OUT NOW. SODA WILL HAVE MY CHAPS IF YOU ARE LATE."
No argument needed from her side, Kairi was soon swaddling out of the shop.
Thanks to Aerith, the woman had managed to snatch up the clothes worn to Guston's boutique so the teenager would be able to change in the car while on the way to meet Sora for lunch. With the divider in the limo car pulled up and Aerith's eyes gazing on the outside, Kairi had successfully managed to change out of her red number and into the shorts and sailor striped blue shirt.
Not much longer after her magical change though, was she taken to a cute yet exclusive luncheon sort of eatery on the pier. Aerith had dismissed herself to duty back at the house and Gepetto claimed of a lunch already eaten. So once successfully escorted in by the taller brunette female, she was left alone with the restaurant host. As much as she would have wished it stayed this way, it was not much longer until she was brought to Sora's table.
When Kairi was sat across from Sora, she found a virgin strawberry margarita was already awaiting her -- strangely enough, one of her favorite summer treats. For a few moments, she pretended to ignore it by smoothing out the wrinkles in her shorts. But after a sad act at trying to ignore it, she gave in and took the cold delight into her holding to sip on. Sora who appeared to be sipping on ginger ale or something that looked like it, sat in silence while gazing out the window.
Finally Sora broke the silence after finishing off a glass.
"Fitting go all right?"
"Mhm! It was fun in an odd way."
"Good. .. .. If you don't like anything Guston is giving you, just tell me and I'll have him change it up."
"Ah. .. Thanks."
With obvious tension from the night before, it was a bit odd to be sitting there together. Sora and Kairi .. they hadn't been getting too greatly along the past couple of days. Even though snappy to a certain extent, the two still somehow could manage to be polite and decently pleasant if there wasn't a sour atmosphere. For her, it was really like sitting at lunch with someone she had been friends with long ago in elementary school. Yet this person had been the one who kicked her out of the sandbox, pushed her on the playground, and stole her PB&J during snack time.
More silence progressed and even after their overlook of the menu and ordering their desired food. Sora, though, was once again credited for striking up words.
"So, I was talking to the guy who coordinates seats and everything for the Cosmos earlier .."
"Oh yeah?"
"And .. I .. Hm."
Pausing, Sora raised a hand to the nape of his neck. While someone who would do this would normally rub it or itch it, Sora just rested his hand there for a moment before taking it back and placing it in on the table. He then continued.
"I asked if there were still any open seats in the rows .. And I guess it turned out that some people are going to be out of town on Thursday night for reshoots for a movie .. So I asked if we could snub those seats."
Kairi remained silent, not aware of what he was drawing to.
"But yeah. .. We got 3 seats along with yours, mine, and Riku's. So .. uh .. you can invite three friends if you'd like .. and yeah. That's it, .. ha ha."
Sora downcast his look on the table cloth. Looking a bit uncomfortable, she was trying to find out why. Was he embarrassed still by the night before or just the fact that was he being kind? Either way, Kairi had found no fault with it and had grown ecstatic within a seconds passing of time. Her features instantly lit up and she almost bounced up in her seat.
"A-ah, are you kidding?! Really?!"
"H-ha .. Nope. Really."
".. How cool! Oh gosh, Yuffie and Selphie will be simply blown away!"
Kairi fell into her own world as she clasped both hands against her cheeks and turned off to the side. A scene began to play in her head of her and both girlfriends walking down the red carpet, presenting the award together, and then falling in love at the after parties. .. Simply amazing. Simply fascinating. Simply ..
"Oh! Sora! Thank you so much!"
Coming back into reality, she had switched back around to facing Sora from across the table. She grinned so brightly, it was probably the first time he had seen it. All of her bitterness and dislike for the boy was temporarily dismissed by the kind thing he had done for her. Obviously he must have known how much she was missing her best friends -- her life strings -- to have gone out of his way and done such a thing.
".. Don't mention it, ha ha."
"Ah, I'm so excited and much less nervous now!"
A kick of excitement and bubbly attitude had been added to her personality. Oh .. think of all the fun they were going to have! Them three getting those celebrity gift bags and eating extravagant food and meeting their favorite famous figures. Too amazing, really. It was probably the first real perk she had found in this whole ordeal of the contest.
"So .. you're going to invite your two best friends? How about for the next seat we have?"
.. Ah. That was right. There were three extra seats he had snatched up. Another person was needed. As Kairi calmed down, her mind instantly began to search for other people who she was friends with. While Yuffie and Selphie were her extreme close, there weren't too many others. While she did have many friends, she couldn't think of any to invite. .. Well .. that was until somewhat of a smile came across.
".. Think of someone?"
".. Yup!"
"Can I ask who?"
Sora tilted his head slightly and raised his eyebrows in amusement. Apparently the expression on her face must have been worth noting if he was making such a notion. Kairi finally nodded her head before saying the third seat's seater.
"My friend Roxas."
READ&REVIEW
HUGS&KISSES
TOHRUE.