Women are very difficult species to understand. I'm not a mind-reader. Even if I was, I'm not sure how much that would help me. Sometimes I think that women purposely like drive us men crazy.
Once I came home and heard a sniffling noise. I ran to the kitchen to find Maka rubbing her eyes. I felt like as if I was stuck in slow motion when she turned to look at me. Her eyes were glistening with tears forming at the sides. I remember panic immediately swell inside of me. I don't know how to deal with tears. They were my enemy.
I had swallowed hard before asking, "What's wrong?" If someone was causing her to cry, then I would hunt down that certain individual. That's simple enough, but if it's girl related than I'm doomed.
Maka wiped her eyes again before mumbling, "My eyes…burning…."
"What?" I needed her to speak more clearly.
Finally Maka shouted, "Stupid onions!"
I glanced at the counter. Yep. She was chopping onions. I sighed in relief. This woman...really is going to drive me insane and I still don't know why.
"Maka, are you ready?" Soul knocks on my door.
"Almost!" I hurriedly slide on my heels. It took me forever to find an outfit. The surprise I felt when Soul handed me his credit card was disbelief. He told me some names of stores to shop at. Then he smiled at my loss of words and pushed me into Tsubaki. "Have fun." He said as he shut the door.
I had called Tsubaki and two other friends to help me shop for a dress that day. Patty and Liz were thrilled when I called. It had been a while since we had all hunged out.
"What color do you want?" Patty had asked me. I thought about it. Soul always had that one color associated with his suits. "Red." I responded.
"Red?" Liz wasn't expecting that.
"Yep." I confirmed.
"Who is the lucky guy?" Liz asked.
"No one." I said unconvincingly. Tsubaki sent me a sympathy look.
"It's okay if you don't tell us, but we want to meet him one day." Liz said knowingly
"I never thought that you would shop at these kinds of stores. It's pretty upscale. Kid tends to order often from here." Patty points out.
"Well I was told that it was a dressy party." I hate to use money that isn't mine, but nothing in this store was in my price range. I had forced myself to not look at the tags.
"Our ride is here, Maka!" Soul yells.
I snapped out of the past and take one last look in the mirror. The dress was a ruby color with shiny beads decorating the front of it. The material was sleek and smooth. A simple bracelet glittered on my wrist. I left my neck bare and my hair down. My silver earrings dangled and sparkled in the light. Lastly I make sure to slip on a pair of long white gloves. My dress swishes against my ankles as I walk down the hall.
"Okay. I'm ready." I look at Soul. Sure enough he was wearing a black suit with a silky red tie. He had the total cool-suave look. I smile at the fact that we match perfectly. I glance at the clock on the counter. We need to leave. I notice that Soul had a dazed look on his face. It made me self-conscious.
"Soul?" I tilt my head.
"Huh? Oh yeah." He shook the look off from his face. "Let's go."
We head towards the black car waiting for us.
Maka and I have been looking out at our own door windows, not facing each other, for the past 20 minutes. I finally peered over at her and saw that her hands were clutching her dress. I intertwine one of her hands with mine and lean in, "If you keep that up, you're going to wrinkle the material."
Maka's face becomes flustered as she snatches her hand back. "I'm sorry. I'm just not use to all this." She explains.
That makes sense. She goes from struggling between bills and school to attending a social function with a fancy get-up. To me, this is just another party for people to brag or talk about different contracts, even though the whole party is originally a thank you event from a charity fundraiser months ago.
I feel the car stop and watch as Maka's eyes widen in slight panic. I murmur into her ear before the car door opened, "Just breathe and smile. You'll do fine."
I get out of the car and Soul offers me his arm with an assuring smile. I accept it and we stroll inside. As we walk further into our destination, the sounds of an orchestra and the clinks of glasses could be heard. Everyone was wearing nice attire and conversing with each other. I straighten my stance as Soul guides us into the crowd. I wanted to appear as if I belonged next to him. If my part of the deal is to play as his wife, then I'm going to do it flawlessly.
"Soul, how nice to see you." A lady wearing a shimmery black dress and glasses was talking to Soul. I had a feeling that she was a strict business woman. "Who is this young lady?" She asks.
Soul smiles and gestures with his hand. "This is my wife, Maka. Maka, this is Yumi Azusa. She specializes in far-ranged weapons." I was surprised at her business commodity, but I refused to show it. "Nice to meet you." I smile politely and shook her hand.
"What a lovely young lady you have here, Soul. How much did he pay you to be here?" She laughs jokingly. We laugh along with her. The irony of her words made Soul and I look at each other for a second.
"For some reason, you seem somewhat familiar to me." Yumi continues.
I was puzzled, not sure why was she thinks that.
"She should Azusa. Maka here is Spirit's daughter." Oh-no. I know that voice. Out of nowhere, Dr. Stein appears beside Yumi. "Dr. Stein. What a pleasant surprise." I say sweetly. Soul gives me a you-know-him-look.
"That's right! Spirit always talks about his precious Maka." Yumi sounded satisfied at the connection. "I had no idea that you were already married."
Stein raises an eyebrow, "Really? I had no idea. I thought for sure that Spirit would've told me." My eyes flashed at him in alarm. Stein smiles and twists his screw, "How interesting."
I squeeze Soul's arm in uneasiness. He understood the message. "It was nice talking to both of you, but my wife and I must excuse ourselves." Soul pulls me away and we walk towards the food table.
"How do you know them?" he says in a low voice.
"They're friends of my father. They use to all work together." I explain.
"What does-" Soul was cut off when someone shouted, "Mr. Evans!"
"I'll be at the food table." I quickly whispered to Soul before walking away leaving him to talk to the overzealous man alone. He glares at me and I laugh.
When I reach the table, I look over at all the food. "Hmm…" I pick up a small parcel. It seems tasty.
"Maka?" I turn to find Liz, Patty, and Kid beside me. "It is Maka! I was right!" Patty claps her hands happily.
"So this is why you needed a pretty dress." Liz says smiling.
Kid sighs contently when he finished organizing the food symmetrically. He always had an OCD with symmetry. He finally turns to me, "You look simple elegant tonight, Maka." Kid always was gentleman once you looked past his obsession. I blushed at the compliment, "Thank you."
"I must ask though, what brings you here? You've never attended to these types of event before." Kid asks perplex. Kid's father is a powerful, well-known judge and the head of the Criminal Justice Department for Death City. Of course Kid would be here. He wishes to replace his father one day.
I, on the other hand, always avoided these kinds of parties, because of my father. I was happy to know that my Papa was busy on a mission for Kid's father at the moment.
Kid was waiting patiently for an answer. "I…..umm…" I wasn't sure what to say. Kid has been a good friend of mine since high school. I have no idea what he would say if I he knew that I was in a fake marriage. Yes, I am married legally on paper, but this deal is the only thing keeping this "Happy Marriage" charade going. It isn't real if you think about it closely.
The pressure of an explanation was starting to weigh heavy, "Well…you…see…"
Finally I'm free. Talking to five men at once is exhausting. I had to wait for the perfect moment to escape. They don't seem to pay attention as much when they are too busy talking to each other. I look across the room for a certain flat-chest woman. There she is. Some guy was talking to her. I observe as he said something and Maka blushed.
Not cool.
The waitress next to me serving drinks jumped. I didn't realize how scary I looked at the moment. I move swiftly through the mass in the direction of Maka. She seemed distressed. Her left hand held a piece of food. I grab the wrist and directed the parcel into my mouth. She gasps, "Soul!"
I lick my lips, "Yum. Thanks for the food, Dear." I kiss her on the cheek and watch as the man across from us stares. I grin as Maka's face burns scarlet.
"You know this guy, Maka?" He had three white stripes on one side of his black hair. Also there was a woman on each side of him. Their jaws were dropped.
"Yes. Kid, this is Soul. Soul, this is-"
"I know." I cut her off and continue to stare at him. "You're Lord Death's son, right?"
He nods and replies, "Yes. Aren't you a son from the Evan's family?"
"Yep." I answer simply. We keep on glaring at each other. "How do you know Maka?" I ask.
"We went to high school together. Also, her dad works for my father." Before he could say anything else I motioned to the girls next to him, "Who are they?"
Maka intervenes, "That's Liz and Patty. They're sisters and they are Kid's partners."
Kid and I maintain our fixed glaze. The tension was tangible. I ignore Maka's annoyed look.
"What's your relationship to Maka?" Kid says to the point.
My face turns smug, "Oh I'm-"
"We're friends!" Maka jumps in. "We met one night in a group outing. That's how we know each other." She was anxious to have the question gone.
Too bad that I didn't feel like playing along.
"Aww Maka. There's no need to hide it." I say cleverly and wrap one arm over her shoulder, pulling her close. Maka whispers to me, "Soul. Please don't." Her big green eyes were pleading.
Damn it.
My face turns into a scowl. I don't see what the problem is.
"Maka, what's going on?" Kid looks at us suspiciously.
Maka gives him a put on smile, "It's nothing. Don't worry about it." She tugs my arm, "Please excuse us."
We walk briskly away. Once we were in the middle of the room, I abruptly stop and pull her close. "What was that?" I ask fuming. A slow song suddenly plays and I instantly fit my hand firmly against her white glove and rest my other hand on her waist. My upbringing was to blame for this reflex. Before Maka could protest, we start to sway. My eyes bore into her for an answer.
"Kid is smart. If you told him that we were married, he would have known that something was wrong. Plus, I would've invited my friends if I ever got married and had a wedding. In the end, you two would've resulted in causing a scene." Maka explains logically. She was probably right.
Other couples were twirling around us. We continue to float across the dance floor as her heel steps on my foot. I grimace. "Sorry! I don't know how to do this." Maka apologizes.
"Yeah, I see that now." I try to not think about my bruised foot.
As the song comes to an end, I look at Maka and ask, "Are you ready for this party to be over?"
"Definitely." She was quick to answer.
"Mr. Evans!" Another business fellow drawls our attention.
We both sigh.
I laugh to myself and Maka just smiles back. I take note on how Maka seems to glow in this particular lighting. When I first saw her dolled up, I figured out that underneath her serious book-loving self she really is an attractive woman. Especially when she smiled at me, I felt captivated.
I dip my head close to her ear. My breath was hot as I spoke in a soft voice, "By the way, you look absolutely stunning." I grin as her neck and face flamed.
It really is much more entertaining with her here.
A/N: This chapter was so far the hardest to write. Thank you everyone for all of the reviews! Now that school and college are starting again, I won't be able to update as often. Please forgive me, but don't worry. This is definitely a story that I plan to finish. Blair will hopefully appear in the next chapter. Reviews are greatly loved! ^_^