My Best Friend's Brother
Written by: Jill Annette

CHAPTER THREE – ATTRACTION BEGINS

After Usagi and Rei made up, Mamoru took them for a bite of ice cream. Still tender from the biting remarks earlier today, the two girls were not speaking with abundance as they usually did. Instead the silence felt slightly awkward and had a certain weight to it that hindered easy conversation but known to eventually dissipate. Just when the trio had finished their sundaes, the bells to the ice cream shop jingled and in walked a tall, skinny brunette who caught their attention. Yuuichirou walked up to them, noticeably nervous. With his hands shoved in his pockets he asked to talk to Rei, alone. Regarding herself, Rei looked at her companions and slowly stood from the booth and followed the object of her desire to the other, less crowded, part of the room.

Mamoru whipped his head towards Usagi. "Yuuichirou?"

With a small smile on her face, Usagi nodded. "I told her all she needed was to wait."

Leaning back in the booth, Mamoru analyzed Usagi. He wondered what made her so sure of herself. "How are you always so optimistic?"

Usagi shrugged. "I'm not."

"Could have fooled me," Mamoru stated; then looked back to his sister, keeping a wary eye on her.

---

"What's this all about?" Rei asked, crossing her arms once they reached a secluded table. "Earlier today you wouldn't even look at me?"

"I had to think about some things earlier today." Yuuichirou admitted. "Right now, I need to tell you some things."

"You could have called," Rei pointed out with a bite to her words.

"Why are you so angry?"

Dropping her arms on the table in front of her, Rei sighed. "I'm not angry. I've been through somewhat of an emotional roller coaster today. I might be a little aggravated, not angry."

Yuuichirou grabbed her hands and pulled them closer to him. Rei sucked in her breath at the intimacy of the gesture and leaned in closer to hear what he had to say. Taking one hand from hers, he raked a hand through his messy mane, and started to speak, returning the hand. "Usagi let me in on a few things today."

"I know," Rei's voice hardened just a hint.

"Of course, they were things I might have been skeptical of in the fist place, just not entirely sure. Plus, I had a girlfriend." Yuuichirou sighed. "I guess you could say I had to tie some loose ends before I had this talk with you, knowing for sure that you feel the same way that I do."

Why was he making this into a speech? Rei sat impatiently in front of the brown headed god before her and urged him to get to the point. She already knew her answer and he was just blah blah blah-ing his way through the nitty-gritty. Who cared if he had a girlfriend four hours ago? Yuuichirou didn't have her now and he was about to have a new one. The best one he would ever have.

".. Go out sometime?" he finished.

"Huh?" Rei asked, snapping back into the present.

"I was wondering if we could go out sometime."

Rei nodded mutely, her royal eyes never left his.

---

It was Saturday evening and Yuuichirou was going to pick Rei up at 6:00. That way they could eat dinner before the promise of a great local band (not his) that was playing at a bar downtown. Usagi was sitting on Rei's bed – her usual spot when in Rei's room – for moral support.

She would tell Rei that what she had picked out was fine, fabulous and flattering before the dark headed fireball of a girl would huff rather loudly and tear her clothes off, slinging them across the room only to drag something else out of the closet and slip it on. Too bad her clothes were short lived.

"That!" Usagi exclaimed when Rei tugged on a red v-neck shirt with black and white flowers rising up one side. With it she wore a black skirt that flared out the smallest bit and stopped mid-calf. Her shoes were simple black sandals with white straps.

Rei twirled in the mirror to get an all around view of herself before she shrugged and looked at her friend. "Okay." Flicking a long strand of her black hair behind her shoulder, Rei sat at her desk and started to sort through her makeup bag. "What do you think about makeup?"

"You don't need it," Usagi said simply. She received a desperate look from Rei. Usagi sighed. "Oh, if you must wear some, a little mascara, maybe eye-liner and lip gloss. You don't want to go too dolled up because, honestly, when has he seen you with globs of makeup on? He knows you for you."

Rei smiled and wondered how Usagi ever became so smart when it came to dressing up. "You're right."

In truth, Rei was not much for makeup. Of course, from time to time you could catch her in the complete get-up but on a daily basis it was not her thing. Usagi walked up behind Rei and started to brush her long dark locks. Rei applied her makeup as Usagi made sure every single tangle was out of her hair.

Just as Rei dabbed the last bit of gloss on her lips the doorbell rang. A moment later there was a knock on her bedroom door and then Mamoru's head poked in through the crack, "Date's here."

Rei looked to Usagi, who quickly gave her a thumb's up and followed her down the hall to the dining room where Yuuichirou waited patiently near the door. They exchanged niceties before he escorted Rei out the door and to his car. Usagi sighed as the front door closed, relief lifting off her shoulders. It wasn't until Mamoru let out a chuckle that she even remembered he was in the dining room as well.

"What?" she demanded.

"Nothing." Mamoru shook his head. A slight hesitation, then: "It's just, with Rei gone, what do you have planned to do?"

Usagi shrugged, just now thinking about the situation herself. "I could always go home," she suggested, however, she knew she would be bored to tears if she actually did go home.

"I just rented Inside Man and Lucky # Slevin if you wanted to stay for a while," He said as he scratched his jaw. Then he shoved his hands in his pockets as he tried to suppress whatever it was he was feeling, "I mean, if you wanted to. It's just an option. Maybe by the time the movies are over Rei will be home."

Usagi nodded, "That'll be cool. I really didn't want to go home." The blond practically skipped into the kitchen and started to search the pantry for the box of kettle corn she knew was hidden in there somewhere to pop.

Mamoru kept himself from laughing out at the site. It was a little strange to watch someone he only met a couple days ago in his house as she rummaged through his stuff and knew where everything was. Then again, this was Rei's best friend and she has been around for the four years that he had been in another country.

"Are you going to get the movies ready?" Usagi asked. She glanced over her shoulder waiting for Mamoru's response.

She was in front of the microwave, waiting patiently for the popcorn to finish. Her hair tumbled down her shoulders, a gold halo. The view of her back was nervewreckingly beautiful. Her shorts were just short enough to see all of her legs, her hair hid the slim of her back as it brushed the waiste of her jeans. To keep himself from undressing her with his eyes, Mamoru nodded and walked into the living room to start a DVD. "Which movie?" he asked, pushing the thoughts of her out of his head.

Usagi shrugged, staring intently at the microwave before she realized Mamoru had gone into the other room. "Doesn't matter," she said for him to hear.

He walked back into the kitchen just as the popping of the corn was spaced into three second intervals. "Pick an arm," he demanded from right behind her.

She pressed the open button to the microwave, sending the door swinging open, random pops sounded every so often. Usagi turned around to face Mamoru her eyes focusing from one arm to another. This was when she realized just how muscular his arms were. She backed up a little bit before the counter stopped her and found herself in the heat of the popcorn. Not sure why she leaned back, Usagi continued to figure out which arm she wanted to choose to wrap around her waist pulling her closer into him and the other to . . .

"It's an easy question Usagi," he smirked as if he knew what she was thinking.

With a light blush rising on her cheeks, Usagi absentmindedly said, "Left."

Bringing the movie from behind his back, Mamoru smiled, "Inside Man, good choice."

Mamoru left her in the kitchen and for some reason Usagi was having a hard time breathing. Where had this attraction come from? It had hit so suddenly.

"You bringing the popcorn?" Mamoru asked from the living room and snapped Usagi out of her thoughts.

"Yeah," she said softly.

Quickly, she grabbed a bowl from the cabinet and poured the popcorn into it and then walked into the living room as he pressed the play button on the remote. He smiled at her as she sat down on the couch with him, with a good amount of space between them, and sat the bowl on the table in front of them.

"Perfect timing," he joked as the opening scene started.

"Thanks for waiting," she smarted.

---

They sat on a bench in the middle of Juuban's Park. Mizuno Ami sat in the middle of Usagi and Rei. Ami was another mutual friend who had been on a school trip the week before touring Germany. Even as Ami's grades sky-rocketed, she loved to sing and when the choir class opted to go compete in Germany – along with a magnificent tour of course – Ami started to prepare almost immediately.

She was a bubble of excitement the couple days before her plane was scheduled to leave and of course, now that she was back, she could not quit talking about her experience. The time she spent there and what the class did. In fact, she came home with a boyfriend: Urawa Ryo. Rei and Usagi took bits of her enthusiasm and encased it within themselves so that way they could remember it at a later time.

The girls filled Ami in on everything she missed while she was gone. Though Ami was not much of a gossiper herself, she couldn't help but listen to her friends as they rambled on. Soon Makoto joined them at the park, Raiu perched on her hip.

"What'd you end up doing Saturday night, Usagi?" Makoto asked innocently once Rei giddily told the group about her date with Yuuichirou.

Fighting a blush, she replied meekly, "Nothing."

"You did something," Ami stated simply. "Your cheeks are red."

"I didn't do anything, I waited for Rei to come back home," Usagi defended herself.

In truth, she really did not do a thing, besides sit in the same spot for a few hours watching the movies Mamoru had. She tried to keep the talking to a minimum and concentrated solely on the television screen, afraid of the attraction she had for Mamoru. Thoughts of what could happen occupied her mind most of the night: How weird would it be if we ended up hooking up? What if it didn't work out? How could Rei and I keep being friends? It would be so awkward coming around the house all the time and the chance of him being there would be humiliating! Why am I thinking this?

Usagi wasn't sure the thoughts had ever left her pretty little head.

"She watched movies with my brother," Rei answered for her. "She doesn't know how to survive without me. Everything is boring."

However, that wasn't entirely true. There were plenty of times she had fun without Rei. It was just, nine times out of ten, Rei was with her anyway. Usagi just smiled.

How was she going to keep this from Rei? If her attraction grew, Rei would pick up on it. Just like Rei picked up the static between her and Seiya Kou during their sophomore year. If Usagi didn't know any better she would have said that Rei was a psychic.

---

Three chapters down... so many more to go. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! I'm glad this story is hitting it off so well. )