Post It Window
Chapter Five: Purple
a/n: as always, I own nothing.
By the time she was sixteen, Riku had dated and broken up with Satoshi and Takeshi (a boy from their school's photography club that liked her for brief time), and Risa and Daisuke's relationship was on its third year and going strong. They were the sickeningly sweet couple that wore matching couple shirts and sweaters on dates, and gave each other nicknames that they used even in public Riku found it all very sweet, and had no problems being the third wheel sometimes. She had said goodbye to Daisuke as her first love that day in Dark's room.
That was the day she knew she liked Dark with the fire of a thousand suns, but she kept that to herself.
She wasn't going to make the same mistakes with Dark as she did with Daisuke. She was not going to delude herself into thinking that he would change his mind and want to date her or anything while ignoring the signs that pointed otherwise. She realized her love—she of course meant 'like' since 'love' was maybe pushing it—was going nowhere, and maybe she would get over it. Riku dated boys she was attracted to in hopes that maybe that attraction would grow into love, but it never did.
Takeshi, the photographer and amateur journalist was a ball of energy and sweet, but overall, Riku could tell that nothing was going to bloom from their time together. They lasted three months before Riku nearly in tears ended things, and he ended up having to reassure her that she made the right decision (they remained friends, as he became very close to Daisuke, and by that extension, Risa). Satoshi's confession surprised her since they had been friends since the beginning of middle school, and was the complete opposite of Takeshi. When they dated, it was almost as though she was hanging out with a brother she didn't really want. Satoshi was the one to break things off at the end of their last year together, saying that he didn't want Riku to try too hard to like him in that way.
"I don't think love is supposed to be that forced," he told her when they broke up.
"Well, then what should I do?" She sighed heavily. Satoshi only shrugged,
"I don't know. We're just about to start high school. We have plenty of time, don't you think?"
He was right. Riku had the rest of her youth to try to get over her feelings for Dark.
It was this mentality that had her agree to a group blind date with some other girls in her class towards the end of spring. One of them, Mika-chan, was into some guy who was in college, and this guy had friends that would definitely want to do karaoke with three other high school girls. So Mika had gathered Riku and three others to a group outing right after school with the promise of free food and music.
She should have known that the universe liked to make fun of her.
Mika introduced them all to the boys, though one of them needed no introduction for Riku. He gave her an amused and crooked smile at her as if to say what-are-the-odds-eh-Riku and she rolled her eyes at him instead, paying no heed to her pounding heart. Her other classmates swooned immediately at him, and whispered frantically to her, "He is so hot! Is he looking at you, Harada-san?" Aside from Dark and Mika's soon to be boyfriend, there was Krad, whom she recognized (he nodded at her to say hello), and a good looking guy named Kaoru. Kaoru immediately sat himself next to Riku and this prompted Dark to sit next to her other side. Already, she felt the other girls throw daggers at her with their eyes for "snatching" two hotties from the get go.
"Long time no see. What are you doing here, Riku-chan?" Dark asked rather cheerfully.
"The girls needed one more girl to even this out, so here I am," she answered him nonchalantly, sipping on her soda. Truthfully, since he entered university, he had been working hard with projects, so they hardly saw each other. This was the first time since she entered high school.
"Harada-chan is super popular in our class," Mika, the only girl not glaring at her, praised. Riku's cheeks pinked a bit, but didn't let Dark notice her embarrassment.
"Is that so, Riku-chan?" Dark made eye contact with her, and Riku was reminded of the way he looked her that day in his room when his body was no close on top of hers.
"Are you surprised, Dark?" Kaoru jumped in, giving Riku an appraising look. "Harada-san is very cute. I wish I met her before to see if she was this cute before."
Riku surpassed the urge to scoff since it seemed all he cared about was how she looked now, and her younger self was not as appealing, but Dark spoke up first.
"Riku-chan was always cute. Even when she was little and didn't fill out her uniform as nicely as she does now." Dark's face held a very smug look, and Riku could have died.
"You. Pervert!" she hissed at him. Dark looked unperturbed and smiled pleasantly at her and Kaoru.
Kaoru frowned, eyes darting back and forth between her and Dark. "Is there something going on between you two?"
"No!" Riku answered quickly. "Nothing. There is nothing going on between Dark and me. We're just childhood friends. Nothing more. Right, Dark?"
He did not answer right away, but only looked at her like he wanted to say something more instead. She was always the first to break eye contact and when she did, whatever spell that was over him vanished.
"Right, just good, old childhood friends." He said nothing more to her and talked to Krad in hushed tones. Krad kept looking over at Riku while rolling his eyes, which only let her know that she was definitely the topic of conversation.
It was so like him, she decided. First time they see each other in months, and he decides to talk about her while simultaneously ignoring her. She tried to not let it show how bothered she was by singing along with her friends and talking animatedly to Kaoru, who at the very least was attractive and paying her attention, even though she was not sure if she even liked him or not. She was well aware of a pair of eyes scrutinizing her every move, but made no show of acknowledging it. Eventually, Dark played the game of Ignoring-Riku so well by also belting out random pop songs (Riku noticed he sounded way too good, which made her irrationally more upset) and chatting it up with other girls in her class. Though she kept telling herself that she was not in fact jealous, the desire to punch him square in the jaw told otherwise.
The night ended without much fanfare. Distractedly, she gave Kaoru her number, and was on her way home when she realized she had someone walking alongside her.
"I don't need a chaperone home," she told him, looking straight ahead.
"Riku-chan, I live right next door. We are going the same way," he replied back bemused.
"I was just letting you know," was her response, though her cheeks still flushed. She had to remind herself that she was mad at him, and there was no way she would even talk to him. At most, she would only deign him with one word responses at best.
"It's been awhile, right, Riku-chan?" he tried for conversation.
"Yep." Nailed it.
"How are you?"
"Fine." Two for two.
"And Risa-san?"
"Good." Perfectly executed.
"And school?"
"Great." Looking good…
"Don't go out with Kaoru."
"What gives you the right to tell me what I can and cannot do?" Damn, she was doing so well. In her defense, Dark caught her off guard with his very serious advice. When she spun around to glare at him, his face lacked any amusement and was gravely intent on staring her down with his fierce and alluring eyes.
"I know that you are your own person, but Kaoru should not be the first person you date, if at all. He would be a bad example."
She almost wanted to laugh, but instead opted for a small smile. He was so clueless. "Not that it's any of your business, but I didn't plan on dating. But if I wanted to, Kaoru-san would not be the first person I'd date."
If there was a statement that would render Dark speechless, she found and said it. It took a few seconds for him to recover.
"What?"
"If I were to date your friend, he wouldn't exactly be my first boyfriend," she said slowly, for once glad not to be a blushing idiot around him.
"He is not my friend, and he wouldn't?" Dark made no effort to hide his disdain for Kaoru, but his curiosity at her love life was a bit perplexing for Riku. "Who else have you gone out with?"
The tone he used made Riku irritated enough to continue walking. He was being ridiculous, and why did it even matter? Dark, who was not used to being blatantly ignored, didn't let her off the hook so easily.
"Riku-chan? Seriously, who else did you date? Are you embarrassed? Was it a lot? Riku!"
"What?" she yelled, red in the face for something other than embarrassment. "Why do you care? I dated a few people; I'm sixteen! I'm in high school! Dating is something normal!"
"I know it is something normal!" Dark scoffed. "I was just surprised."
This did nothing to appease her anger. "Why, huh? Why are you surprised that I date? You heard Mika-chan earlier; I'm not exactly a pariah—people do confess to me. Just because I am not Risa, or all the girls you used to kiss outside your house doesn't mean that there isn't someone who wants me!"
Dark stepped back, stricken. "I didn't mean that! I never meant that!"
"Just because I am not your type doesn't mean I am not someone else's!"
At that point, Riku wanted to slap herself. Maybe it was not obvious, but that was as close to saying 'I like you' without actually using the words. When she did look around, she finally noticed they were finally outside their respective houses. Dark was open mouthed for sometime before striding up to her, placing a bit of her hair behind her ear. It was such a gentle touch, that Riku was impressed she didn't melt into it. Her eyes kept on glaring at him fiercely, fearing if she didn't, she would come loose at the ends.
"I never once said you weren't my type." His voice was so low that if she were any further away from him, she might have missed his words.
She didn't respond to it. She didn't let herself. That was how one gained false hope. So Riku took a deep breath and stepped away.
"Goodnight, Dark."
Before she entered her house, she heard him clear as water, "Good night, Riku-chan."
Ultra Special Blah Blah Blah: my only real hope is that somehow, the ending will come off as natural. I want there to be growth and somewhat of a drawn to each other feeling as well, though I will admit, both Riku and Dark are idiots with poor communication skills.
Also, the first chapter Hamada has been corrected to Harada. Thanks for pointing that out, I didnt realize!
This is why I desperately need a beta.
Please review!
