Lonely No More
by Cyberchao X
Chapter 44
Disclaimer: As always, less than 100%.
*July*
"How'd you manage to not get in trouble?" Suki asked.
"I managed to convince my parents that they were going overboard. They stopped watching super-close just in time to not notice the bikini," Natsume answered. "How'd you manage to keep the boys' attention?"
"Simple," Arisa replied. "I explained the truth—that I wasn't really her girlfriend, and that her real girlfriend was the one with the overbearing parents who don't know she's bi."
"The magic word." Suki smiled. "I don't understand why…oh, wait, yes I totally do."
"You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"You shouldn't be thinking about that, Natsu-chan."
"I'm not a little girl anymore. Um…blame Kasumi-chan; she was the one who brought one to school in her bag. It intrigued me, and I borrowed it, and…please don't tell my parents about my new hobby."
"They grow up so fast."
"She's at the right age to start seeing boys in a romantic fashion. But, yeah, who'd have thought she'd be reading yaoi manga? But back to today; how are you still to be trusted in my room?"
"Simple. We sold it well enough as a ploy rather than being genuine."
"…So my parents think you faked an attraction to girls today?"
"The fact that I very nearly blew our cover helped. Ignorance is bliss, I suppose. Now, then, let's see this budding yaoi collection."
"…Suki at her finest," Arisa deadpanned.
"Hey, I've never claimed to be a prude. I'm comfortable in my sexual identity."
"Which is?"
"In favor of it."
By now, the tension had spilled over into the main room. "Could the two of you please stop that?" asked the oldest cousin, Mike.
"You know all of that 'bad energy in the environment affects the baby' shit is a load of hooey, right?" asked his younger brother, Steven. "Just make out already, you two!"
"You're just impatient because if they take until after 4:00 PM, you won't win the pool," the youngest brother of the three said.
"What can I say, Phil? I really didn't expect it to take very long at all." (A/N: Originally I was going to give Mike, Steven, and Phillip the last name Keith as well, but then I realized that since Dylan's father is a "Jr.", he's probably the first son, so unless he started really late and his younger brother started really early, it makes more sense to have the oldest cousins be Keiths on their mother's side. It actually went girl, boy, boy, girl—Katie and Kyle's mother is the youngest, but stopped at two kids—Kyle being only a year older than Dylan and Katie being a year older than the twins.)
"They took bets on how long it would take?" Suzuka asked incredulously.
"Yeah. I'm hoping they can get through today's gathering; my money's on Thanksgiving. You a friend of cousin Dyl?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah…a friend."
"Girlfriend," Dylan corrected.
"Right. Girlfriend." Suzuka tried not to blush. "I mean, you don't just bring a friend home with you, right? Even if it's only for a visit?"
"Of course. Forgive me, where are my manners. I'm Thomas Keith, Jr. Everyone here calls me Tommy, though, and most of my friends at school call me Tom."
"Ah…my name's Suzuka Tsukimura. Sorry it's so long…"
"It's fine, Suzuka. Are you enjoying America so far?"
"Well, I haven't been here very long; we just arrived yesterday. But…so far, it seems enjoyable." "Hold it together, Suzuka; now's not the time to be looking!"
"How have things been back here, Tommy?" Dylan asked. "Still seeing that girl from your math class?"
"It was biology, not math…and, no, sadly, I'm not. Do you not get Facebook in that part of the world?"
"I don't pay attention to people who complain about their relationship problems on Facebook," Dylan shot back. "But that is a shame; you really had a good one there. Smart, good-looking…"
"…Sweet as can be," Tommy continued.
"Well, I wouldn't be able to speak for that, having never actually met her in person. I'll take your word for it." He put an arm around Suzuka. "Actually, now that I say it aloud, it kind of sounds like Suzuka."
"Maybe so. You certainly seem nice enough, though I've only just met you, and you're certainly not a bad-looking girl…though I still prefer Stephanie…" He cleared his throat. "But she's in the past now."
"No comment on 'smart'? You're the first person who hasn't shown any surprise at my proficiency with English."
"My apologies, then. I guess the fact that I heard your voice before I saw your face kind of derailed that. It's odd, though; I detect a hint of an accent other than 'Japanese speaking a secondary language' in there. Certain words sound different from what I'd expect to be taught in an ESL class."
"ESL?"
"English as a Second Language."
"Well, my best friend back in Japan has an American father and a Japanese mother; spending time with her has helped my English quite a bit. I guess maybe I picked up some of her accent."
"Yeah, that would probably do it."
"Huh. I hadn't really noticed because it's not that pronounced, but yeah, I hear it now. And it definitely is Arisa's influence."
"You're close with the best friend, too?"
"Well, it's nice to have someone who speaks both English and Japanese fluently. Every so often, there's a word that I don't know how to say in Japanese and Suzuka doesn't know how to say in English."
"Case in point today, when I tried to note that the rest of the family was picking up some incestuous vibes from Jackson and Katie. Although there's nothing vibes about that."
"Ha ha! I win!" Steven cried out.
"That doesn't count!" Phillip returned.
"Does so. So what if they skipped a step?"
"It was an accident. Geez, even I don't think he did that on purpose, though I'm still mad at him for trailing me closely enough for it to happen."
"No concern for me?" Jackson asked.
"You're fine. I'm more worried about Hairball."
"That cat tripped me!"
"Yeah, but your head landed on something soft. Namely, me."
"I'm sorry."
"…I forgive you. Just don't let it happen again."
"…and just like that, they're not fighting."
"Now you see why we think there's something more between them. For all of their bickering, in the end, they're pretty close."
"We are not. Katie's a bully, which is why none of the boys want to get close to her in spite of her ample physical assets."
"Only to you, because you're an annoying little prick."
"I feel two little pricks in this hug, and I'm pretty sure neither of them belongs to me."
Katie threw him to the ground. "You disgusting…"
"Calm down, Katie." Suzuka put an arm around her and tried to lead her off—as well as potentially cop a feel, having become intrigued by what Jackson had suggested. Not that she'd be able to surreptitiously get at the nipples to see if they were as hard as he'd implied.
"Grr…that IDIOT!" Katie let herself be led away.
"Something bothering you?"
"He does those things to me and then has the nerve to call me on my body reacting in a natural way?"
"It didn't look like he did that much…"
"Yeah. Just enough to get me…well…hard. I'm going to be in the bathroom for a bit. Stand guard to make sure nobody tries to get in there."
"So he wasn't lying about that?"
"Suzuka, what's with that perverted look?"
"Hey, I understand how wildly teenage hormones run. Truth be told…and don't tell anyone about this…if Dylan hadn't offered to take me to America, I might not even still be with him right now. I'm at a particularly 'curious' phase, and wouldn't you know it, I hooked up with a total prude who actually wants to wait to have sex. What kind of guy is like that?!"
"You'll have to calm down if you want to keep this secret. Although I doubt they'd be able to get the context from what they'd heard. So, cousin Dylan's not putting out enough for you? …Damn it I didn't need to know that about my cousin."
"That's pretty much the size of it."
"And by 'curious' you mean…"
"Whether I've been deluding myself all this time labeling myself as 'bi'."
"That's…what I was afraid of. So then this is really turning you on right now?"
"Like you wouldn't believe. I may be putting on a calm façade at the moment, but inside, I kind of want to join in—be it by taking over for you or just getting to work myself."
"Awkward. Does Dylan know you're bi?"
"Yeah. Not many do know that for a fact, though I generally try to keep people guessing. My parents still think I'm straight, though, as does Dylan's family. Immediate family; you're family, too, after all. Come to think of it, why aren't you freaking out more?"
"Because you're still a good enough person to restrain yourself. And because kicking you out now would mean having to unlock and open the door and I really don't want to have to do that at this point."
"I'll just…turn around."
"Uh, well…I guess four hands would be better than two…it'd get it over with quicker."
"Have I stumbled into a harem anime? I really feel like I've stumbled into a harem anime. No, no; might as well, if you're offering," Suzuka stopped Katie before she could cover her breasts again. "Hm…yeah, you and I are about the same size."
"We should totally come out in each other's clothes, just to fuck with their heads."
"Nah, I don't think so. …it's just not the same. I don't think I've ever just used my hands before, without there being any passion in it."
"Is that what the problem was? And here I was thinking that your technique on girls still needed more work."
"I'm sure Arisa and Suki would find that notion hilarious."
"Girlfriends?"
"…Something like that. There had been a love triangle at one point, but it seems to have more or less worked itself out."
"…I think this is as far as this goes. Not even a little wet."
"Still hard, though."
Katie blushed. "Yeah, still hard. Maybe it's just because they've been exposed to the air."
"…Shall I warm them up for you?"
"Ah, fancy running into you, Kuwata-san…this must be what they call serendipity."
"Is it really, or were you waiting for a chance to approach me?"
"I would never do something so duplicitous. I just got lucky. I mean, I can't do anything that would arouse my father's suspicions."
"…Oh, right. You're no better off than Katsura-san, except you only have one overprotective parent hovering over you. Your parents separated?"
"…My mother died 10 years ago. She got caught up with some bad people and ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. …That's the short story, which is all I'm willing to give at the moment." Sakura sighed. "…Not that I'd be able to give you the full story if I wanted to."
"Because your father won't let you?"
"Because he and oneesan won't tell me. I know that something else happened, something that both of them know that I don't. Oneesan's not exactly subtle, after all. And I'm pretty sure that she's been seeing the shrink that treated my father after my mom's death. Oneesan talked to her back then, too, in addition to seeing the child psychiatrist that we were both sent to. But, I can tell that whatever it is, they don't want me to know. And I trust them. So, I don't ask about it."
"10 years ago…you would've been, what, 3?" Sakura nodded. "Damn…that's rough. Ichirei-san…"
"Y-You can call me Sakura-chan, if you want. Or if that's a little too familiar for your tastes, I'd be fine with Sakura-san as well."
Kuwata put an arm around her. "Sakura-san…"
"Yes?"
Kuwata didn't reply. They just stood like that for awhile.
"I've got to admit, that's not bad. Exactly the titles I'd have recommended for someone your age with a budding interest in yaoi."
"Yeah, well, I guess I'm a traditionalist," Natsume giggled.
"Not that yaoi isn't fun and all…but right now I think I'd prefer some yuri," Katsura interjected.
"This is my bedroom. Get your naked body off of my bed, oneechan."
Katsura stuck her tongue out, but got dressed anyway. "Okay, okay."
"All warmed up?"
"You know, it's a warm day outside. You didn't need to do that."
"You weren't protesting."
"No, you're right. I wasn't."
"You are unbelievable, Suzuka-chan. Also, be glad that someone was guarding the door from the outside too, and that I was the only guy to hear."
"Dylan…how much did you hear?"
"Well, I heard you two going at it. Julia, too; I had to tell her that you go both ways. But, Katie, I'm a bit surprised…"
"I trust her. I'm a good judge of people, and Suzuka is a good person. So fight a little harder to keep her."
"You mean…"
"Yes. Suck up whatever moral doubts you have and give this girl the love she so desperately desires."
"'Moral doubts'? Tomorrow is the second birthday of my best friend's son, and the mother of his child is pregnant with another man's child even now. I have every reason to be afraid of what could happen if I had sex."
"I'm starting to reconsider your suggestion," Suzuka said, hand creeping under Katie's top towards her stomach.
"Which suggestion was that?"
"The one where we screw with your family's heads by coming back out there in each other's outfits."
"Right. That one. No, I don't think so." "And I rescind my earlier doubts about your ability to take care of a woman," she thought, trying not to blush at Suzuka's gentle touch.
"Okay, then…back to you, Dylan. {If it's the social stigma you're worried about, remember that we're in a country where no one knows me and will be for at least a couple of weeks. And it's not like I'd start showing right away.}"
"{And once you do?}"
"{I wouldn't let it get that far.}"
"{…You'd, um…} abort?"
Suzuka nodded. "{Though if we take the right precautions, the chances of that even being necessary are fairly slim.}"
"{…Fine. I saw you flirting with Tommy earlier, after all; you're completely demonic.}"
"{I'm a perfect little angel. A great judge of character has said I'm a good person.}"
"{You're a horny little succubus.}"
"Oh, I'll suck you, alright…"
"Hey, has anyone seen Kaburagi since we left the beach?"
"Kabu-who?"
"That's not funny." Arisa dialed up Kaburagi's cell phone. It was turned off. "That's strange…"
"Maybe she met someone today and they're having wild sex somewhere," Suki suggested.
"Kaburagi's not a 'first-date lay'. When I first met her, she was crushing on a guy named Jugo Marumoro, but she got over him pretty quickly when she found out he was a pig who wouldn't go on a second date with a girl if the first one ended anywhere short of third base."
"Strange line. Most pigs would want it all the way, and most others would settle for lesser hits."
"Yeah, well, I guess he was probably trying to sound 'reasonable'."
"Well, I'm sure she's fine. You're probably worrying about nothing."
"Yeah, you're right. I'm going to head out now; you have fun with Kitty, okay?"
"Sure thing."
"…Kitty?"
A/N: So drowsy…I'd make it longer if I weren't, but I'm really not up for what happens next. And believe me, it's going to be a whirlwind tour. Thanks to Asakami for getting me back in the right frame of mind for writing; next chapter I hope to put what I learned to good use. Until then, this is Cyberchao X, signing off.