{Two}
You're P.O.V.
"Hey, [Name]! Doing homework again? Haha, sucks for you~!"
I could recognise that voice anywhere.
Looking up from my English homework, I came face to face with one of the café's regular customers, Misa Amane. Although she was a regular customer, I hardly saw her eating the food in the café.
Then again, she's always going off about having lunch dates with her college boyfriend, Light, so I'm guessing that's why Misa's always ordering the food for take-away.
Aww, how cute…I guess.
"Oh, hi, Misa." I greeted, brushing away my English notebook. Thankfully, the café was unusually quiet today, giving me time to bust my butt finishing homework that I should've started last week, when it was first given.
I doubt I'll ever finish that assignment on time, so I guess I'll just have to copy off Matt's or Mello's tomorrow.
"Hmm, I think I'll go with a slice of chocolate cake today." Misa said, pointing at the chocolate goodness sitting on display on the counter.
"Take-away, right?" I said. Surprisingly, Misa shook her head.
"Light's studying, again. So boring~" Misa whined. "So I'm eating by myself today~!"
Nodding, I grabbed a small plate and placed Misa's order on it. She thanked me before paying for it and going off to sit on one of the tables beside the window.
"Thank you, [Name]! Oh, look, there's a cute boy looking at you right now~"
Whipping my head in the direction that Misa's finger was pointing to, I saw that she was talking about Near.
Oww, whiplash.
He was definitely looking at me, but he looked bored.
"Does he want to order or something?" Grabbing a menu, I awkwardly walked towards him.
"Umm, can I help you?" I asked.
"Can I have a glass of water?" That's it? A glass of water?
"That's it? A glass of water?" I said, repeating my head's thought.
Near's eyebrows rose slightly, so I quickly apologized. "Sorry, it's just really weird seeing you here!" I blurted out.
Damn it, damn it, damn it!
"I mean!" I quickly interjected. "It's just that, I don't usually see you anywhere else apart from school! You're usually in the library or something, somewhere that's not usually crowded. So I guess it's weird seeing you here, since this place can get pretty crowded and stuff…Not that I think you're a loner or anything! It's just that…"
Please don't complain to my boss about bad staff behaviour, Near, please don't.
"No, that's alright." Near coolly said, closing his book. I watched as he stood up from his seat, lightly brushing past me on the way out the door. "I'll go home then."
"Wait, no!" I said, quickly blocking Near's way out to freedom.
And awkward conversations.
But now that I thought about it, I have never talked to Near before. Not even a proper greeting or anything.
I didn't want to leave any grudges behind on a first proper encounter, especially one that could cost me my job if he complains to Watari.
"Please, sit down; I'll get you your glass of water! I'm sorry for saying anything!" I was pretty desperate now.
And then…A laugh.
Dear sweet Jesus, did I just hear Near…Laugh? I was expecting something else, like a "Move before I tell your boss!" or "Move before I call the cops for sexual harassment!"
I know, that's completely exaggerated.
"Seriously, it's alright, [Name]." Near said, grinning a bit.
Holy mother of God, he's grinning! Somebody call Mello!
Standing there like the idiot I was, Near quickly took his leave. And that's when I thought of something, something NOT stupid.
"How does he know my name?"
"…And then, he just walked right out!" It was already midnight, but that didn't stop me, Mello or Matt from having three-way conversations on the phone.
"Wow, never thought it'd be possible that Near could even laugh!" Matt said. I could hear the sound of his PSP in the backround. Stupid Matt and his ability to multi-task!
"What was he doing there anyway?" Mello said, sounding pretty pissed. I didn't know whether it was because he lost to Near again today on a class test, or whether it was because we were talking about Near.
Either way, it was obvious he didn't want to stay on the subject any longer.
"He was reading…And apart from asking for a glass of water and me making a fool of myself in front of him, that's all that happened." I said.
"Huh, there's a place for reading, and that's called a library. Not a café." Mello grumbled.
"Jeez, Mello, what's with the pissy attitude?" Matt teased. "I swear, it's like you're jealous or something!"
Silence.
Quickly followed by the sound of Mello hanging up.
"…You know, it's almost like Mello was born a woman with constant P.M.S."
"…Shut up, Matt."
The next morning, which was a Thursday, I woke up to the sound of rain hitting off against the roof and windows of my house like there was no tomorrow. I quickly got dressed into my school uniform, after washing up, and ran downstairs to grab some breakfast.
Why, hello there, bowl of delicious chocolate cereal. Prepare to enter my mouth!
…That's what she said.
Once I once done shovelling cereal into my mouth, I headed outside to greet the beautiful weather.
I thought it was weird that it was raining today, considering how burning hot it was yesterday. Pulling the hood of my rain coat on, I legged it down the street.
I didn't take the school bus, since the school was pretty close to my house. Matt did, the lucky game-addict, since he lived farther away. But Mello lived right around the corner, so I should be passing by him soon.
That is, if he decided to wait for me outside in the rain to come. Not likely though.
"Jeez, woman, what're you running for? It's not like you're late." Wow, life really is full of surprises. Because there, standing like a lost puppy on the side of the street, was Mello. Fully equipped with a rain coat on, and thankfully, an umbrella.
"Shelter!" I squealed, hurrying underneath the protection of the umbrella.
"Oi, you're going to get me wet too!" Mello said, slightly edging away. "Why didn't you bring your own?"
"I thought I wouldn't need it," I said, pointing at the building down the road. "Since the school is right there!"
"Tch, stupid woman." Wrapping an arm around my shoulder, Mello lead the way.
Although his grip was hard, his expression was calm, his eyes only facing ahead.
I was too shocked by his actions to do anything, and it wasn't until people from our year started pointing at us that I finally spoke up.
"Umm, Mello?"
"Just shut up and walk, [Name]."
I don't know whether I should be happy or scared.
Near and Mello are pretty much out of character in this chapter. But I guess it's pretty hard keeping their usual character going in a story where they live completely normal lives. Matt? I guess he was decent in this chapter.
But expect doses of unusual behaviour every now and again for all the Death Note characters in the following chapters!
Here, we get a little bit of MelloXYou. That's going to happen every now and again, too, throughout the story! And not only with Mello, haha. Don't worry; I'm not going to make you a Mary-Sue.
Tell me what you think, and leave a review!