Chapter 5
She drove back through the early afternoon after having finished another race, she was already heading back home with Jim as he needed to talk to her about something. They made it to his home, the two stepped out and walked into his home.
"Thanks for the lift kid." He said as grabbed two beers from his fridge, handing one to her and the other for himself.
"So what was important?" she asked.
"Look kid, I know we still have a few more races here but I just got a call telling me they want you for another big race back in America. They are betting really big money, and if you win, we both could get over four hundred grand each!"
"That big?" she furrowed her brow, "I don't know… that seems fishy." She took a swig.
"I know and that's what worries me. I mean if its true how can we pass up that money! But if it isn't…" He shook his head, "Okay say we win, what's to stop them from coming after us, now THAT is what bothers me."
"My thoughts exactly."
He sighed, "What do you think kid? Should we do it?"
She crossed her arms, "We can go check it out and if it feels off then we leave."
"Alright sounds good, best to check out what kind of people they have and who is betting before we even decide on anything."
He took a big gulp from his beer, "Besides, it won't be for nothing, you can bring that girl you like with us to do a bit of sightseeing." He smirked.
"What!? How do you know about her?"
He chuckled, "What, don't you think I hear things." He laughed, "I think its rather good for you," He sighed, "I hate to get all morose on you and shit, but I think you need this kid. And I really hate to say this but after what happened with Amy, you need to start living a bit more. You've spent so much time dead half the time and this is honestly the first time I've seen you look… well, alive."
"I don't know."
"Look, Amy was a good kid, I really liked her. she had that fire in her and whenever she was around you I can see how full of life you were but after what happened, you had this look in your eyes that was just dead. You've spent two, close to three years like that, and now when I see you with this other girl…" he smiled, "It's like getting the real you back."
She smiled, "I know, she's amazing but… it isn't as easy as you make it sound."
"Oh believe me, I know its not but you have to at least try. Do you want to spend the rest of your life alone like I have? Come on kid you don't want to hit fifty…ish and be alone do you?"
She was silent for a while, letting those words swirl around in her head and Jim waited patiently for her answer.
"… No, I don't."
He nodded, "You gotta go tell that girl how ya feel about her. Who knows, she may be what you actually need in your life again."
"You may be right." She finished up her beer, "So when we heading out?"
"We'll be leaving in three days, so go ask your girly if she wants to come with us."
"I'll do that." she looked at the clock, "She should be done with class right about now."
"Oh by the way, here, your share from the race." He handed her twenty grand.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it." He took another beer from his fridge, "Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll relax for a bit." He turned on his television and tuned it to the sports channel to watch the game.
She chuckled, "Fifty bucks on those guys in orange."
"Yer on!"
She left his home and back to her car, got in and drove off to Astraea Hill to meet up with Chikaru and pay her a surprise visit.
She made it to the Astraea hill with no problem and began to make her way up the steps, seeing many girls walking down while others were still playing a few games.
Most of the girls from Lulim immediately recognized her, and began to cheer and woo her knowing that Chikaru's 'girlfriend' was here to visit.
One girl with the Lulim uniform ran up to her, -"Chikaru is in her room if you're looking for her."
She smiled at her, "Thank you." Then walked towards the dorms and made her way inside, up the steps then towards the Lulim section of the dorms.
She stopped at Chikaru's dorm door and knocked.
-"It's open."- she heard her cute muffled voice from behind the door and she opened it, then stepped inside.
Chikaru was to distracted as she kept drawing something on her sketchbook, which made Emi smile, "Hey Chikaru."
She immediately stopped what she was doing to look at her, -"Emi!"- she threw her things on the bed and ran up to hug her, its been almost four days that the two hadn't seen each other, mostly because Chikaru had tests to do and Emi had a few races to do so they both gave each other time apart to focus and get those out of the way.
"It's been a while."
-"Four days too long!"- Chikaru ran her hands all over Emi's back, her short blonde hair, -"I didn't think I'd see you today!"-
"I'm here now."
-"I…I missed you."-
"I did too."
-"Come on have a seat."- she led Emi to the bed and the two sat down, -"I'm glad to see you came by."-
"I am too, I also wanted to ask you something."
-"Of course."-
"I'm going to America for a few days… and I wanted to ask if you wanted to come with me?"
Chikaru's face lit up, -"I would love too!"- she held her hands, -"We have two weeks off from school and I'd be able to go with you right now."-
"That's great," she replied, "I'll have your ticket ready by tomorrow and we can head out."
-"I'll start packing!"- Chikaru stood up and began to pack.
"There is something else, I want to introduce to you my… manager who's also coming with us."
-"Your race manager?"-
"Yeah, We're going to see something for a race back at America and if we like it, we'll do it then come back."
-"Sounds like fun, is it okay if I go?"-
Emi was stunned, maybe she shouldn't have said anything about it, "Well its not a certain thing, so It'd be a waste of time if I took you and nothing happened."
-"Oh… I see."-
"But the real reason I want you to come is because I want to spend more time with you, and show you around." She said in that soft tone that Chikaru so loved.
-"That's so sweet Emi."-
Though she said that to recover from disappointing Chikaru, those words were in fact true… she wanted to spend more time with Chikaru, away from here for a moment.
The two then spent time talking and passing time till She looked out the window, the sun was already setting and soon enough it would be night time.
"Well… I should get going."
Chikaru stopped what she was doing and looked at her, -"Huh? Why?"- Emi gestured to the window and when Chikaru saw the moon rising, she only chuckled, -"Silly, you can sleep here with me tonight if you want too."-
"I don't want to bother."
-"Its no bother at all Emi, you know that. not when its you."- she said as she placed her hand on her cheek, a sensation that Emi loved dearly.
She closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth against her face and finally said, "Alright."
-"Though…"- she giggled, -"I don't know you if you'd mind this to wear?"- she showed her the blouse and silk shorts that Chikaru would wear to sleep, most of her sleeping clothes consisted of that type of material.
"Uh…"
Chikaru laughed, -"I'm only kidding."- she reached into her closet and pulled out a set of pajama pants with a pink t-shirt and handed them to Emi.
Even though Emi didn't really like to wear pink, she was grateful that Chikaru had clothes to sleep in for her.
"Thank you."
They spent the next few hours, talking or watching a movie on Chikaru's laptop and even after they continued to talk.
The door opened up, -"Chikaru-oneechan I was going to ask—"- It was none other then Kizune who immediately noticed Emi in the room with her, she let out a very high pitched squeak, -"Gomenasai! Have fun Chikaru-oneechan!"- she then closed the door, they both could hear her footsteps leave in such a hurry, no doubt to tell the rest of their friends.
Chikaru laughed, -"Well she's going to tell everyone now."-
"You wont get in trouble will you?"
She shook her head, -"No, but they'll tease me about it for another week."-
"I guess I'm happy that I don't go to school here."
-"Oh you're going to start that again are you?"- she looked at her with a glare that playfully said 'I hate you'.
"Maybe."
Chikaru smirked, -"Don't make me angry Emi."- she said playfully.
"Or you'll what?" she teased back.
-"Or I'll… I'll…"- Chikaru actually didn't think that far ahead.
"I thought so." She grinned.
-"Oh no you're not,"- Not wanting for Emi to get the last word, Chikaru jumped her, pinning her hands to the soft carpeted floor and straddled herself on top of Emi, -"See what happens when you make me mad."-
"This is what you call mad?" she laughed softly, -"I'd hate to see when you're furious."
-"I mean it!"-
"Sure, that big smile on your face says otherwise."
Chikaru only sighed as she gave in and laughed with Emi.
-"Fine, you win."- Chikaru slowly got up but when she did, her left arm felt rubbery and she slipped, just barely catching herself.
"Careful."
When Chikaru opened her eyes, they were so close to each other… They stared into each other's eyes for what felt like an eternity, their hearts began to beat faster that's when Chikaru lowered her head slowly, and Emi closed her eyes as did Chikaru.
They came only mere centimeters from kissing, something Chikaru has wanted to do for a long time now but before she could… she stopped.
She rose herself on her knees, she looked at Emi's face and she could see she wanted to kiss her too but at the same time there was still a look of betrayal in her eyes… no doubt for the feelings she still carried for Amy, and it made her feel awful for what she was about to do to her but she couldn't help it.
She pulled Emi towards her and embraced her, -"Gomenasai."-
"For what?" Emi however was a little clueless for what happened, "Did Chikaru… have second thoughts?" she thought, but why?
She returned the embrace and held her close.
-"We can share my bed if you'd like."- Chikaru replied and turned off the lights, then crawled into bed.
"Chikaru?"
-"Yes?"-
Emi sat on the bed, "Did I… did I do something wrong?"
-"No, it wasn't you."- Chikaru said, hiding the pain of wanting to feel this girl's lips against hers.
Without another word, Emi laid down on the bed and shortly joined Chikaru in a restful sleep.
Morning arrived and Chikaru slowly stirred in her sleep, but what surprised her was that she had her head resting near Emi's collarbone and had her arm wrapped around her waist. She had to admit, this was the most comfortable she'd ever been in bed and she didn't want to leave it.
Shortly enough Emi began to open her eyes and looked over to Chikaru, "Morning."
-"Ohayo Emi."- she smiled, -"Sleep well?"-
"Heck yeah."
Chikaru was a bit surprised, she'd never heard her say that before and Emi didn't even realize she did.
She rose up and began to get change as Chikaru slowly made her way to the edge of the bed to get up, the two began to get dressed.
Just as Emi slipped on her leather jacket, her phone began to go off which she quickly answered, "Hello?" Pause, "Hey Jim, what's up?"
Chikaru heard a bit of mumbling, "Oh okay, thanks. We'll see you at the airport then."
-"Your friend?"-
"Yeah, he got our tickets ready."
Chikaru was confused, -"How did he know?"-
"He assumed I'd spend the night with you and not do it," She chuckled, "He knows me well."
-"How thoughtful."
"Yeah, well lets go." Emi grabbed Chikaru's suitcase for her, and the two left the room then walked down the hall. Surprisingly there weren't that many people roaming the halls, besides a few girls from Miator who knew Chikaru and wooed her.
They left the dorms and made their way towards their car which didn't take long, besides walking down the long flight of steps. She loaded the case in the back and the two got in the car then drove to the airport, it was a quiet drive over since Chikaru still had those thoughts from last night… the thought of wanting to kiss her.
They drove around to a different section of the airport where they loaded her car in a container which they would take overseas, after paying the amount they walked into the airport.
"Ah there ya are!"
They both saw a man approach them, "Hey Jim." She shook her hand.
"Ya sure took your time." He said.
"Sorry." He waved his hand to dismiss it.
"Nah don't worry bout it." He replied as he looked at the girl next to her, "So this is the famous girl." He chuckled as he extended his hand to her, "Pleasure to meet ya little lady, I'm Jim."
Chikaru shook his hand, "Chikaru, pleased to meet you." Jim smiled in return.
"Well here you two go, we better get going." He handed them the tickets and boarded the plane. Once in the plane they passed the time with small talk and eating their breakfast that was being served in the plane followed by a movie they began to play.
"You're kidding!?" Chikaru was in awe at the story.
"I kid you not!" Jim replied as he laughed, "So there she is, her car facing the wrong way and she decides, 'let me finish the race like this' so she drives as fast as she can, in reverse!" The two laughed, "And that was how her very first race went, all because she hit a tiny rock."
Chikaru giggled as she looked at Emi who was hiding her smile with her hand.
"Did you win?" Chikaru asked.
"Impressively enough, she came in second." Jim answered for her.
"Wow, that is amazing."
"It was no big deal."
Jim laughed, "Oh trust me Chikaru, she's like that. very modest! But deep down she's probably going 'oh hell yeah I'm that good!'."
"No doubt," Chikaru smiled, "So have you managed her career long?"
He nodded, "Since the very beginning, we've been on the tracks ever since she became a driver. You must have been what? Seventeen?"
"That young?" Chikaru was truly surprised, even more so when Emi nodded.
"Yup, and this gal has been racking all sorts of wins under her belt."
Chikaru was amazed, she was very talented and skilled at racing and hearing those stories made it even more believable.
"That really is amazing Emi." She smiled at her.
The plane eventually landed after a few hours, they exited the plane and found her car already there waiting for them since she paid extra to get it there quicker. Though it was a tight fit in the back, Jim managed to squeeze in the back seat and the three drove over to drop Jim off at his home since they weren't going to check out the race till tomorrow. As for Chikaru and Emi, they were going to do a bit of sightseeing and just have fun.
They made it to Jim's home and stopped, "Thanks for the lift kid." He got out of the car, after bidding farewell to Chikaru he resumed walking to his home, "Oh by the way, would you mind stopping by my place tomorrow, something's wrong with my truck and I need a bit of help."
"Sure." Emi replied.
"Thanks, cya tomorrow." He said, with a nod Emi took off to the city to show Chikaru around.
They drove to various places, a few places that had games and drove all around the area to see everything there was to see, eventually getting a bite to eat at a restaurant then stopping by a bar to get something to drink or rather Emi did, Chikaru had a club soda.
That's when something began to happen, Emi couldn't quite place it but the more time she spent with Chikaru the more she felt more for her, more than just friendship and the more she thought about it the more it brought a smile to her face. Was she really in love?
Though Chikaru worried about her, she knew she drank but did Emi always drink?
"Alright lets go."
-"Just one?"-
Emi chuckled, "I don't drink to get drunk Chikaru, I always have one and I'm done."
Chikaru smiled, -"Oh look!"- she pointed, -"I'm curious to see how different the clothes are here!"- she grabbed Emi and rushed across the street to a high class clothing store.
Emi waited as Chikaru looked at the various dresses and other articles of clothing, she was convinced that the style was definitely different then back home. As she looked through the rack she stopped when she saw another leather jacket, it was almost a neon blue color.
-"Emi look at this! I think this would suit you!"-
She walked on over as Chikaru handed her the jacket, "Whoa… this is totally rad!"
Chikaru stopped, she looked at Emi… her voice, it all of a sudden changed and not in a bad way either, the way she said those words, they sounded like they were full of life. She'd never even heard her use the word 'rad' before, was this how she sounded like when Amy was still around? If so, she loved it.
She looked it over, "Okay I gotta admit, its really super cool!"
There it was again, her voice, it was so happy… Chikaru was loving it, and she wasn't so sure what was going on. She wasn't going to question it, at least not yet but none the less she was loving it, and as long as she was happy then she would have no complaints.
-"Try it on."- She giggled.
Emi took off her white jacket and handed it to Chikaru, then tried the blue one. She walked over to a mirror and looked herself over.
"Its freakin cool but… I think its too vibrant for me. it'd probably be too blinding under the sun."
-"You could use it at night?"-
"It's a good idea. But I'll leave it here for now." She hung it on the rack, then wore her white jacket again, "Did you see anything good?"
-"Are you kidding!? So many cute things here!"-
"Anything you want to buy?"
-"No, not right now. I mostly just wanted to see."- Emi nodded and the two walked back to the car and began to drive back home. Chikaru still couldn't get over it, hearing Emi's voice so happy and full of life, it was so different and part of her hoped that she was the cause of Emi's happiness, -"So where we going?"-
"To my home. My actual one." She said and her voice still carried that same tone, but it was still as soft as ever.
They drove for at least half an hour till her home finally came into view, it was a two floor house and it looked exactly as Emi had described in her story.
They parked the car in the garage and stepped out, Chikaru looked around and immediately spotted the door that said 'Photo Room' which was Amy's dark room. She followed behind Emi towards the living room and her home was amazing, a little dusty since she wasn't here but it was a beautiful home.
"Make yourself at home." Emi began to dust off a few chairs and the sofa, causing her to sneeze.
Chikaru laughed softly, -"Careful. Long time I take it."-
"Yeah almost three years since I haven't been here." Emi looked around, "Uh… which reminds me, I don't have food in the fridge."
-"We can go pick some up tomorrow, no big deal."-
She nodded, "Sounds good." She led Chikaru to her feet, "Don't sit down, come on let me show you around." She led Chikaru by her hand and showed her around her home.
Finally they ended up in her bedroom which… is where it happened, but they didn't stay long and moved on over to a guest room which was just as nice.
"Well that was my home! Wha'chu think?"
Chikaru giggled, -" 'Wha'chu', I don't think I've heard you say that before."-
Emi laughed as she ran her hand down her head, "Well… its just strange you know, I just feel… happy, you know."
-"What do you mean?"- Chikaru really wanted to hear Emi say those words, her heart was dying for it.
Emi smiled tenderly and held Chikaru's hands, "Chikaru… I… I don't really know how to say it, I don't know what you did to me," she began, "But ever since you came into my life, everything began to change and you've shown me so many things and helped me move on with my life. If it weren't for you I don't know how I'd be, I could've been a wreck but you've been helping me pick up the pieces of my life and putting me back together, I don't know how but you did, Chikaru," a tear began to fall from her lavender colored eye, "You've made me smile and laugh like I haven't done in years."
Chikaru felt her own eyes began to water hearing so many wonderful things and that she was the cause of all of Emi's happiness.
She stayed silent to allow Emi to continue, "Chikaru… I… I love you."
That was it, the final nail in the coffin as Chikaru began to cry, tears of joy that is as she reached up and placed her hands on Emi's face, whisking away the lone tear.
Emi felt herself melting as she felt Chikaru's hands on her, her touch alone was enough to make her feel good.
-"I love you too Emi. More than I ever thought I would."-
They pressed their foreheads together, or at least till Chikaru led her to the bed since she was much too tall which made the two laugh softly.
-"Why did you have to be so tall?"-
"I'm not that tall."
-"Sure you're not."- Chikaru said.
They looked into each other's eyes, Chikaru leaned in closer, a gesture that Emi mimicked and the two closed their eyes, then the sweet sensation as their lips finally connected and shared a loving kiss.
They were completely in love, Emi loved this sensation and how she missed it. Chikaru took off Emi's jacket and placed it on the bed because she wanted to feel her body. Of course she wasn't going to push it, she didn't want to do anything else unless Emi was ready but she really wanted to feel her even if it was with their clothes on.
Emi kissed her lovingly but stopped half way, she looked at the door.
-"Something wrong?"-
Emi looked at her, "Nothing is wrong." She smiled at her, then stood up, dimmed the lights and locked the door just to be safe.
She crawled back to Chikaru, and began to kiss her as Chikaru roamed her hands all over Emi's back. That's when she surprised her blonde haired beauty, she gripped her shoulders and reversed their positions and now Chikaru was on top of her and laid on top of her as they kept kissing.
Neither one wanting to stop as they were lost in each other's loving embrace and for the first time in a long while, Emi was finally happy… they were both happy, beyond words.
End Chapter 5