Chapter 3: Improv

"Sora, I don't know what you want me to tell you." Taichi craned his neck, twisting around to look at Sora stewing in the back seat. He stifled his laughter when he saw the girl sunken down with her arms crossed stubbornly across her chest. He caught her eye and she sat more squarely, like she was trying to appear angrier than she actually was. "What did you expect us to do, not have fun?"

"Fun!" Sora huffed sarcastically, hitting the end of the word like she'd intended to ask a question. It wasn't a question though- it was an assertion that Taichi had used the wrong word. That may have been his idea of fun, but it certainly wasn't hers.

"Yeah, fun." Taichi retorted, frowning as Sora moved to look out the window.

The boy spun around in his seat in disbelief. He thought the date went well, and he didn't even want to go! Now they were fighting, and it was all because things didn't turn out the way Sora expected them to.

Taichi felt Yamato bristle in the driver's seat next to him. He'd been silent for most of the ride home but was gripping the steering wheel like he had something to say. The blonde must have felt Taichi's eyes on him, because he turned to shoot him a warning glare.

"What?" Taichi asked in a staged whisper. "Didn't you have fun?"

Yamato turned back towards the road in front of him. He suddenly felt another set of eyes shooting daggers into the back of his neck, and he wondered why he always got dragged into the middle of Sora and Taichi's arguments. "It was alright." Yamato said, satisfying absolutely no one. "But uh..." he hesitated, "wasn't it your idea to go?" Yamato glanced into the rearview mirror in a gesture towards Sora. Taichi spun around again, but this time more expectantly.

It was true- Sora had been the one to suggest signing up for an improv class. She read on some dating blog that it made for a good date night. The idea was mentioned casually at first, but when Taichi and Yamato reacted relatively indifferent towards it, Sora pushed to go. Perhaps it was the principle of it all rather than a true desire to hone her acting skills.

The only other problem with these sorts of classes, Sora gathered, was that they were meant for people who had skills to hone. Sora quickly learned she had none while Taichi and Yamato seemed to ease into their roles. Taichi, who was always quick to learn everything, had a natural charisma that won their classmates over. Yamato was less enthusiastic about the entire thing and as much as he didn't want to be in the spotlight, it still worked for him. Sora decided she had enough of it after the first activity and became quite flustered when the boys shot down her suggestion to leave.

"Didn't you two not want to come?!" she recalled snapping at them. They had only shrugged in response- unaware of Sora's newly discovered stage-fright.

Now, twenty minutes after the class, Taichi still felt lost. He could stare at Sora as intently as he wanted but that wouldn't give him access to her thoughts. Sometimes he felt like she expected him to read her mind. Her ruby orbs flickered with the complexity of her stream of consciousness but she wouldn't give voice to any of it.

Yamato glanced fleetingly into the rearview mirror once again. Taichi knew he was also searching for Sora's problem, but he could have explained it away by claiming to check on the traffic behind them. The two boys differed in their responses this way. Yamato would often give Sora space if she closed herself off. It seemed respectful, but Taichi figured it was a clever tactic to avoid setting himself up for disappointment. Taichi, on the other hand, always attempted to meet Sora's impossible standards. He couldn't read her mind- in fact, he was particularly bad at it- but he was competitive and stubborn and loyal. If he had a 1% chance of making her feel better, he had better odds than not trying at all.

Yamato kept his eyes on the road while Taichi pondered what to say. The blonde already decided that letting the argument fizzle away was the best course of action, and to be fair, he had no reason to think otherwise. Sora often needed space and it was something Taichi struggled with. So often his insistence on talking to her made things worse. Still, Yamato wondered what would happen if the two of them began reacting in the same way. He imagined it'd be isolating.

And so, feeling especially encouraged by his recent improv lesson, Taichi trudged forward. He unbuckled his seatbelt and floundered into the backseat. Well, he more so landed on the floor and used his grip on Sora's knee to hoist himself up.

Yamato jolted around, distracted by the commotion. "What are you doing?!" He watched Taichi climb on top of the girl, hoisting a leg over her lap so both his knees held her thighs together.

Once Taichi settled, he smirked. "Improving."

Sora, stunned, opened her mouth to say something. Taichi was sure it'd be a retort to get him off her, so he took the opportunity to press his lips against hers before she could utter a single word. If she didn't want to explain herself, so be it.

Yamato, who'd remembered he was driving, jerked back around and ambitiously tried to keep tabs on the situation without crashing. He caught a glimpse of them in the mirror, looked back towards the road, and peered into the mirror again. Sora's brows were furrowed but he could see her grinning, like she was fighting herself to stay angry in spite of Taichi's antics. Her hand searched for his side and gripped his shirt so she could either pull him closer or kill him- Yamato wasn't sure which.

"Today was fun," Taichi finally leaned back and said, "I don't care if. you suck. at acting." he pecked her between words, twisting her frown into a smile no matter how hard she tried to hide it. "I'm just happy to spend time with you."

The boy's hands gripped the back of the seat on either side of Sora's head, his shoulders heaving in anticipation of something he didn't know. Sora's heartbeat sped up in tandem with him, and she decided she wouldn't mind if he stopped holding himself up. It seemed like he got the message- Taichi pulled one hand back and ran it down Sora's arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps in his wake.

"Hey, don't make me come back there!" Yamato unexpectedly interrupted from the front seat.

Taichi smirked, his eyes still locked on Sora. He winked slyly at her before muttering back. "Why would I stop you?"

The brunette watched Sora grin again, his gaze tracing the corners of her lips as they twitched upwards. Sora realized that he was reading her- he'd somehow willed her to be an open book. She felt vulnerable and expectant, an unusual rush of emotions that she was eager for more of. The girl, staring at Taichi as he lowered himself onto her again, kicked a foot up on the center console and wrapped it through Yamato's arm, pulling him back by the elbow.

"Sora!" Yamato gasped, yanking himself from her. She couldn't see him but she imagined his face reddening at the thought of joining them. Either way, she felt the car speed up ever so slightly. Taichi must have noticed too, because he stopped kissing her to laugh.

She'd have them at home soon enough, and they could improv all they wanted.

-garudamon