"Why are you in running clothes?"
Yukiatsu looked up from where he was dozing off. He saw Anaru digging through her pockets with a grocery bag plopped on the ground. "I was going to go jogging when you called. Thought it was urgent so I rushed over."
She snorted, "Sure looked like you were jogging," she stuck her house key into her door, "Bring in that bag would you?"
He promptly grabbed the bag and followed his friend into the house, "I was catching up on sleep; I was up late last night and had to wake up early."
"Were you… you know?"
"No," Yukiatsu said quickly. A little too quickly. Just because that day had passed a little over a week ago meant nothing. "I was studying."
"On a Friday night?" Anaru gave him an incredulous stare and snatched the plastic bag from his hands, "You've taken being a nerd to a whole new level."
He frowned and watched her unpack the items from the bag. A few moments passed before he spoke up, "What are you making?"
"Cookies."
"For?"
"Poppo's dessert party. Remember?"
"That's today?"
"Yeah. What, did you study too hard that you forgot about it?"
He scuffed the floor with his foot, "Must've marked the wrong day on my calendar." Anaru snorted again. "Shouldn't you be doing this with Tsuruko? Don't girls normally do these kind of stuff together?"
"She couldn't come." The boy noticed she replied a little too soon. "Something… came up."
"What happened?"
"Nothing." What a terrible liar.
"Naruko tell me what-"
"Vanilla," she stated loudly, "I can't find the vanilla." She flung open her cupboards and began to search wildly.
Yukiatsu tilted his head back and looked at the ceiling, she already added vanilla to the cookie dough, "It's next to the eggs."
She looked down and weakly chuckled, "Oh right. There you are." She pretended to put in some vanilla and began to stir. "So… a dessert party huh? It's just as lame as Poppo's 'I got a C- on my history test' party."
"He's just finding any reason to make sure we don't fall apart again."
"That's Poppo for you. You know the other day at school he-"
He groaned, "Stop avoiding it, just tell me what happened to Tsuruko."
"What? Why do you think something happened to Tsuruko?"
"You're such a bad liar Anaru."
She looked down at the half mixed cookie dough. "Her dad came back this morning," she said quietly.
His gaze snapped over to her, "Is she okay? Is she coming to the party?"
"Yeah, she's fine. Said her dad left after an hour or two."
"That son of a bitch…" he murmured. "Hey you almost done? I still need to buy something for the party."
"So unfair, you just buy something for the party while I bake cookies," Anaru slid the baking pan into the oven, "Could you get me the manga that's laying on my bed?"
Without a word Yukiatsu sauntered off to her room. Anaru went over to the living room and plopped on the couch. By the time that Yukiatsu got her book and came back he found Anaru with her eyes closed and arms splayed all over the place.
He dropped the book on her stomach, "Wake up."
"I'm just resting my eyes," she said. She quickly snatched the book up before it slid off her stomach.
"No wonder you got a D on your last English paper. I found manga all over your room," Yukiatsu sat on the floor and started to stretch, "You read too much manga."
"Do not," she turned on her side and watched her close friend jog in place, "I finished watching this anime recently and now I'm reading the manga series. It's really good."
He raised an eyebrow, "What's it about?"
"15 kids that ride around in a robot and have to protect their earth," she paused for a split second before quickly adding, "It's nothing like Neon Origin Evangalion."
A comfortable silence fell as Anaru continued to watch Yukiatsu for a minute or two before she opened her book.
Then she shrieked.
"No!"
"What?"
She blushed and covered her face with the book, "Sorry. Just found out one of my favorite characters is now piloting."
"Isn't that supposed to be a good thing?"
"Not in this case."
He decided to drop the subject because she was so engrossed with the book and began to run around the living room. Though as soon as he started, he stopped. He recognized the smell of those cookies, "You made snickerdoodles?"
"Yeah. Why? Got something against them?"
"They just… bring back a lot of memories."
Anaru muttered in agreement and made her way back into the kitchen where the oven was beeping.
Yukiatsu began to jog again and tried to keep a straight face. It was hard though, knowing those were the favorite cookies of your late love.
"Hey Yukiatsu." He didn't reply. She continued anyways, "Do you think we'll ever… you know… get over them?"
The athlete stopped jogging and stood still, listening to her scrap cookies off the baking pan. He thought for a second or two, "I know you will Naruko. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I know you will for sure."
Her mouth quirked into a smile and she snapped the lid on a container, "I always thought I'd end up a crazy cat lady."
He chuckled, "Thought you hated cats."
"I do."
He smiled, "No need to worry about that then." He glanced at his watch, "Should we get going?"
"Yeah," she lifted up the Tupperware with the cookies and headed towards the door that he was holding open for her. She stopped in front of him and looked his direction, "You will too Atsumu." She flashed a grin, "Now hurry up and get your butt moving. We need enough time to stop by the store and your house so you can change out of those god awful clothes."
Yukiatsu rolled his eyes and smiled, "Whatever floats your boat."
A/N: Not exactly sure why the title is what it is, it was the first thing that popped up and I was like okay.
So I guess this is my alternate version of my Snickerdoodle chapter in From Bananas to Potatoes.
Also just one question: does it move a little too fast? Because I feel like it does.
I wonder if anyone will know the anime I mentioned...