Away From the Sun
by. Poisoned Scarlett
Dix
"You need to leave, Soul!" Maka hisses, looking apprehensively over her shoulder toward the double doors that lead to the kitchen. She knows that Ox is behind those doors, down the small hall that leads to his office. In the kitchens, she hears Jackie getting to work with baking as usual; better, now that she got over her cold.
The only reason Jackie was allowed to leave for such an extensive period of time was because of Kim. Everything Kim said, Ox was more than ninety percent likely to do. She bet that if Kim told him to be nicer to her, he would, but the thought of a nice Ox sent shivers down her spine. That was just plain creepy.
"How come? It's seven, Maka, you get off in like an hour. Can't I just hang out here til then?" Soul whines, leaning against the glass panel that gave view to various types of breads and pastries. "I got off early today – I'm bored!"
"Then go find something to do elsewhere!" Maka grits through her teeth. It was a brilliant idea, to drop by here even after all the horror stories she told him about Ox. He has a death wish, Maka decides. "If Ox finds out that you're distracting me at work, he'll blow a gasket!"
"That sounds fun to watch." Soul perks up.
She groans. "Go away—!"
"Maka." A voice sharply says from behind, freezing her up. "Are you being disrespectful to our customers?"
"Ah, no, sir. He's not even a customer – he's just a friend of mine who won't leave me alone." She narrows her eyes at Soul, who smirks tauntingly at her.
"A customer is a customer regardless if they buy or not and you'll do best not to disrespect them, if you know what's good for you." The threat laced in his words is more than clear and she watches frustratingly as he politely asks Soul if he wishes to buy anything, to which Soul replies with a no with that same shit-eating grin on his face.
It pisses her off something nasty, knowing he was enjoying her being scolded. Maka steps back and sends him a look worthy enough to kill, making sure to compose her face something normal when Ox eyes her again. After getting another lecture on manners, and holding herself back from smacking that grin off Soul's face, Ox leaves to the back to check on Jackie, and Maka hisses dangerously:
"Just wait until I get off – you're going to know the true meaning of pain!"
"I can hardly wait." He drawls, unfazed.
And he does get a lesson in pain. By the time they're in the subway station, Soul is holding a possibly bleeding nose and a bump on his head courtesy of her Calculus textbook. After he decides his nose isn't going to gush blood from her well-placed punch and he stops furiously rubbing the bump on his head, he grumbles: "I did not deserve that punch."
"I think you did."
"A punch and a chop on the head? Cut me some slack." He mutters, rubbing his aching head again. He tenses when he feels her own hand cover his on his head tentatively. He looks at her, her half-smile of apology, and sighs and lets her gently rub away the pain from her chop. "You gotta' mean right hook, though."
"Thanks." She smiles, satisfied with his own apology.
When the train comes rushing into the station with an exhale of air that tousles their hair, Soul gestures her to the yellow caution mat with a nod of his head. As the train slows, finally halting, and the doors chime open as they usually did, he walks her inside and nearly stumbles when he realizes whose sitting in the seat before them.
It's Liz Thompson in a gray pencil skirt with a daring slit up the side and a black blazer thrown over her shoulder, button shirt buttoned down almost indecently. She looks like a secretary, honey blonde hair styled in a bun and all, and Soul wouldn't be surprised if that's what she ended up doing in life. She was never one to focus in school and she was always so high maintenance. She probably got herself some rich boy and this was just something for her to kill time with. She's certainly beautiful enough for such a future: it's something Liz and Patty were famously known for, as well as being all-around party girls and rather sleazy at times.
"Soul, is something wrong?" Maka asks, curious.
"Uh, no." He coughs. He takes her wrist. "C'mon, let's go."
Liz looks up at that moment, slitting her eyes at him. She's recognized him but he pretends like he doesn't know her, tightening his grip on Maka's hand. If Maka and Liz began talking, it'd be hell. He'd be put through a long, drawn out, painfully sugar-coated reunion. That is certainly not his thing. He hopes to at least make it to the back, then he'd tell Maka of Liz. That way, he doesn't have to accompany her. So he hastens to the back when Liz suddenly calls Maka's name and effectively ruins a peaceful night.
"Liz? Liz, is that really you?" Maka gasps.
"Crap," Soul groans, unheard by both women.
"Oh, my god! Maka! I can't believe it's really you!" Liz squeals, as Maka drags a reluctant Soul to the nearby seats that surround Liz. "I can't believe it! I never thought I'd see you again! Oh, my God! I missed you so much!" She hugs her again, both girls quickly delving into a conversation of what the other has missed during the others absence.
It goes just as Soul envisioned it'd go. He's sliding into the background, forced to pay attention to their airy conversation. Something only women were talented in doing, he sagely tells himself. He has the urge to place his headphones over his ears but he knows that if he does that, he'll get it later for being rude. Next time, Soul silently tells himself, he'll be two feet away from Maka so she doesn't have enough time to grab him and force him into this...
"So, are you two dating now or something?" Liz asks after the pleasantries.
"What? No!" Maka laughs, shaking her head furiously. "No, we're just friends!"
Soul rolls his eyes down to their hands and clears his throat, trying to tug his hand out of Maka's tight grip.
Liz raises her brows at their linked hands and Maka hastily removes it from his, pulling on a meek smile that Liz clearly sees through. A sly smirk slithers onto the elder Thompson's lips, but she doesn't call her out on it. Instead, she opens their conversation to involve Soul, although he hardly adds his own input because the conversation is so terribly boring that he can't stand it. He just watches as Liz sneakily manages to get ahold of Maka's cellphone number. He pities Maka: Liz will have a field day interrogating her, he's sure.
"Well, this is my stop!" Liz announces, as the train decelerates.
"Thank God." Soul says, earning himself an amused look from Liz. He shrugs. "You talk too much."
"Shut up, Soul." Maka scowls but he just grunts.
"Anyway!" Liz rolls her eyes at him before turning back to Maka. "I'll call you, okay, Maka? Patty misses you so much – I can't wait to tell her that I saw you today! Later, Soul, it was nice meeting you again, too." Liz grins at him, a grin that says a lot but he merely waves and drawls his own goodbye.
"Finally," Soul sighs, sinking back into his seat. "I forgot how many words Liz can cram into ten seconds..."
"Well, I'm glad I'm in contact with her now! I never thought I'd get to meet Liz again! When she left to Los Angeles with Patty, I was sure I'd never see them again!" Maka happily laughs, swinging her legs as she sits. She reminds him so much of a child that he has to chuckle, listening to her go on about calling Tsubaki the instant she got home.
"You do that, pigtails." Soul teases, standing up as the train slows. At her confused look, because this isn't his usual stop, Soul explains: "Meanwhile, I gotta' go pick up my bike from the shop!"
Her eyes widen with horror. "You mean you actually got it repaired? You told me you wouldn't be using one for months!" She accuses and he rubs his neck sheepishly.
"I know... but that was before I got my paycheck this month." At her open-mouthed response, Soul adds: "My manager said my album was selling or something. Point is, it's enough for me to pay for the repairs completely." He takes out a yellow receipt from the inside of his leather jacket, grinning smugly.
"Wait, album?" Maka gawks. "You never told me you had an album out! When did this happen?"
Soul is slow to understand her shock until he remembers he had never told her. "Oh, yeah. I got it out a few months ago, actually. My bad. I forgot to tell you."
"Oh..." Maka whispers, a little disappointed she hadn't been able to listen to it yet. She wants to hear just what type of music Soul plays. Just what he sings about. "Wow, I can't wait to hear it!"
He grins. "And I can finally kiss this shitty train goodbye!"
Her admiration is quickly shattered. The plunge of her stomach, weight in her chest: she doesn't even bother looking happy at the thought of him leaving her alone in an overcrowded train. It's a little infuriating he'd forgotten to tell her such a thing but she has bigger issues to deal with than his forgetfulness, she tells herself.
She'll deal with that later – if there's even a later, Maka thinks concernedly.
She's gotten used to having someone to talk to every Thursday night, sitting beside someone every morning she goes to her rigorous college classes. It's almost pitiful how much she hates the idea of riding the train alone again. It makes her stomach knot up just thinking about it. "I guess I won't be seeing you anymore…"
That successfully kills his buzz and before he can come up with a decent reply, the automated doors chime open. She stands and guides him out by his shoulder, prolonging her own goodbye as much as possible.
"Uh, Maka, listen..." He begins, but he has no idea what to say. He hadn't really thought about being unable to accompany her every morning on the train after he got his motorcycle repaired. He didn't work every day but it had become habit to see her off every morning. Now he wouldn't have a decent reason to do so anymore. He'd be leaving her all alone again, he thinks guiltily.
"Bye, Soul!" She waves goodbye at him. "Be careful on the road, okay? I don't want you to die – that wouldn't be cool at all!" She sternly tells him, softening her eyes soon after. The doors shut. He still has nothing to say. "Good luck with your music career!"
"Wait - !"
The train departs before she can hear what he has to say.