CHAPTER SEVEN: Details, Details
"I demand details" Lavi sets a can of beer in front of Allen, he props himself on the sofa, right next to the Englishman. Opening his own can of beer he adds "Of the date, which you claim WASN'T with your lovely next door neighbor Kanda Yuu"
"FOR THE LAST TIME LAVI, we came back together cause he just got out of Starbucks, and Rhode and I parted ways IN FRONT of Starbucks. The front door is transparent Lavi where the hell were you looking? You should have seen it all" though of course, Allen is kind of glad Lavi saw nothing of what happened out there earlier that night
"Dude, you forget I'm the day doorman. So anyway who's this Rhode person?" the doorman decides to set aside the other topic for later
Allen's beer opens with a clink "Co-worker, she mans the cashier when it's my shift at work."
"Oh! That means she's the "Earl's" niece" Lavi lets out a low whistle "So WHY did you go on a date with her? I didn't know you were into the petite type"
"Well... I don't really have a TYPE, and she asked for a date in return for her telling the "Earl" to give me an early pay check"
"And why would you need an early pay check?"
"You should know that Lavi" Allen rolls his eyes
"Oh right! THAT! Well then you should thank your step-dad" he laughs "He inadvertently got you a date!"
"But it wasn't a REAL date..." the Englishman's gazes at the floor "...Technically"
"A date is a date Allen, no matter what terms it was made on" Lavi grin "But whether or not you think it's a real date is irrelevant, I. WANT. DETAILS."
The Englishman rolls his eyes again "FINE, I'll give you details, but you have to SWEAR to secrecy! You can't tell ANYONE! Even Lenalee!"
And though Lavi seems absolutely appalled that he cannot tell even LENALEE of all people, he decides to concede because right now the dominating feeling is curiosity. "I swear" he says, sincerely, but reluctantly
"Ok, so the date was great but also horrible in a sense, but not because of her, no, it was because of that stupid almost roommate of mine and all his pissy glory..."
Lavi raises an eyebrow at the presence of Kanda's name there, but decides to hear Allen out.
"So this is what happened, she asked me to explain why I needed an early pay check right?"
...
"...So this almost roommate of mine, he just won't shut up about the door right? Then one day I decided to buy the door already, cause his nagging was annoying me like hell. AND HE DECIDES TO COME WITH ME, so here we are, at the department store, and he keeps on pointing at shit expensive doors, then I DID end up buying him something expensive, and to top it all off, we walked all the way home carrying that damn door." Allen then grunts in frustration
"This is the same almost roommate who buys Vanilla Frappe all the time" Rhode looks absolutely amused, and when Allen nods she adds "...And the same almost roommate whom you presumably, so graciously, brought home some Vanilla Frappe for."
The Englishman recalls that night, which also happened to be the night before his step-father visited, and tries not to sound defensive when he says "Hey, that was paid for!", idiotically he's being defensive for the wrong matter
Rhode grins "Oh I saw YOU pay for it, what about that almost roommate of yours?"
"He didn't need to..." and of course it was then that Allen realized just what he was saying "...pay for... it..."
"Sounds like you have a crush on your lovely almost roommate..."
"Wh- A CRUSH? On THAT guy? NO WAY" Allen looks VERY taken aback, but tries to be a bit more nonchalant when he realizes that he seems defensive, Rhode raises an eyebrow "NO, you think I? NO... I swear, he is the LAST person on earth who I'd ever look at that way."
Rhode laughs, tauntingly "Don't be so defensive Walker... If I didn't know any better I'd say you like him more than you let us on..."
"Just how much do you think you know me?" and Allen is decidedly saying this to be teasing, because he raises an eyebrow and grins cheekily
"Well I know you enough to know that you have a THING for Vanilla Frappe boy..." she replies "... and if anyone just listened to our entire conversation right there they'd think the same..."
The Englishman furrows his eyebrows "...Why do you think that?"
"Well you were all mild-mannered before I asked about why you needed an early pay check, you seem to be pretty fired up when you're talking about him, and you didn't sound annoyed at all either, you sounded more amused than anything actually..."
"Ok, let me just say one thing..." Allen takes a deep breath "... I don't know how I could possibly be amused by having to buy someone I barely know an expensive door..."
"Oh no, I KNOW that annoys you, it would annoy anyone!" and before Allen can even begin to look triumphant she adds "... but Vanilla Frappe boy DOESN'T does he?"
"He doesn't what?" when all else fails, play stupid
There's only one way playing stupid would fail, and that's if the other person—"Annoy you" Rhode says –plays along.
The Englishman takes a brief moment to think about what he should say next "Well I guess it IS true that he as a person doesn't really annoy me, and ok, he might even amuse me, but that doesn't mean I have a CRUSH on him"
"But you DO have a crush on him..." she shrugs, and then grins "...whether or not you believe me is up to you, but you'll soon see that I'm right..."
...
"She just kept on insisting that I like Kanda!" Allen covers his face with his hands "It was humiliating..."
But Lavi makes no attempt to comfort him; he merely begins to laugh his ass off.
Allen is choosing to ignore the laughter "...And that's not the worst part..."
"Oh really?" Lavi looks like he can't breathe anymore "Is it still Kanda's fault?"
"You bet your ass it is..." and the Englishman grunts in frustration "...see, I was wearing that Rolex watch, and Rhode just happened to see it, so she asked..."
...
"If you have the money to buy a Rolex, why work in Starbucks?" they're eating at a fast food restaurant, Rhode's eating a burger while Allen munches on chicken fingers.
"I DON'T have the money to buy a Rolex, it was a..." there's a strange pause "...gift... My apartment building has this New Years exchange gift tradition..."
"Who the hell would be rich enough to give you a Rolex?" and she looks just SO intrigued
"Ah..." Allen looks to one side "...Well..."
"Well what?" silence follows that question, and Rhode stares at Allen all the while, the Englishman feels somewhat violated. "NO WAY" Rhode exclaims suddenly "It's from Vanilla Frappe boy isn't it?"
"Well... he didn't exactly WANT to buy me a gif—"
"But it's a freaking Rolex, it's not just a GIFT"
"Well... He's rich..." he shrugs "...and a watch is an all around good gift for guys isn't it?"
"OH MAN, things just got WAY more interesting..." she grins, and right away Allen's feeling nervous "...He like-likes you BACK"
"WHAT"
"No, seriously..." she slurps some of her soda "... that's what it's looking like"
"Rhode, that's just not possible! In the first place, there is no 'it' between us anyway, we're just casually acquainted semi-enemies slash unwilling almost roommates"
"Casually acquainted is all you need to get a crush..." and she slurps her soda loudly, as if trying to magnify her presence
"That's true..." Allen inches forward "...but not in this case..."
"You say that now but..." Rhode sighs "Just give it a thought... Preferably when Vanilla Frappe boy is around..."
"I just don't think it's possible..." the Englishman sighs
"I wish that were true Allen, I wish that were true..." she says "I think you're a FINE man..." and she smiles this smile, half flirtatious, but half just a plain smile. Allen blushes, realizing that this was a confession of sorts, and it was also probably the reason for this 'thank you date'.
...
"No fuck way" Lavi says, sounding like a gossiping girl (but Allen was sure he was being sarcastic "What'd you say?"
For a moment, Allen looks slightly guilty "...Nothing..."
Surprisingly the doorman laughs "That's mean Allen..." he says
"I didn't know WHAT to say, I couldn't exactly say I fancied her back did I?"
The doorman snorts "Well no, but you could have said 'thank you' better than nothing you know..."
"A thank you is worse Lavi..."
"Ok then, 'I'm flattered' would have been acceptable and completely safe"
Allen ignores the fact that he has a point there "Anyway, you interrupted me, that wasn't the worse damn part..."
"Really now?" and Lavi's grinning, totally into this
Allen rolls his eyes "REALLY" he sighs "See, she kept making the topic pop up in our conversations, and because of what she'd said about me being a 'fine man' I was starting to feel sorta awkward... But regardless, the date went fine... UNTIL IT WAS TIME TO SAY GOODBYE... So we walk toward Starbucks, and guess who we see leaving the place..."
...
"Oh my goodness, what have we here, it's Vanilla Frappe boy!" Rhode exclaims, and Allen looks at her in horror
"Shh! He might hear you! YOU don't have to deal with his anger butIdo" and to that Rhode snorts in response
"This is where we part" she says to the Englishman, and then she mouths 'He's just standing there'
Allen sighs inwardly, then smiles "It was fun today Rhode"
Rhode laughs, quite loudly in fact "Oh please, don't force yourself"
"Who's forcing himself? Really, it was fun" and really, he wasn't forcing himself, it was fun, but it did get a bit awkward
"Oh well I had fun too..." and then she leans in for a quick peck on the lips, and then mouths 'He's still there'. Allen, despite himself, spares him a glance "I'll see you Saturday!" Rhode pats him on the back 'Talk to him' she mouths
"Yeah..." he says after he mouths a 'No' "...you too..."
She sniggers, and then heads of, waving. Allen looked towards Kanda, huffed, and then strode to stand beside him. Not that he was following Rhode's advice, but then he decides to talk to Kanda anyway "You've been standing there for a while now" he says.
"Fucking cars won't stop" the Japanese says, and Allen's inner voice is saying 'See Rhode? See? Why did you try to imply he was just standing there cause he likes me? Not possible, he's standing there cause of the fucking cars that's all'
"Then we make them stop" this, Allen says for the fun of it, he holds out his hand, and the incoming vehicle stops
...
"And how exactly is that the worst part?" it is a fact, that the doorman genuinely doesn't know the answer to this question.
"Don't you see Lavi!" Allen exclaims
And after some thought Lavi answers "No, I DON'T see"
...
(Original A/N:This chapter's ending is weird, haha! But I wanted to end it like that. Anyway, This is late (I usually update on the earlier part of the week right?) partly because I've been busy, and mostly because for some reason, fan wouldn't work properly D: it was horrible! I wanted to log in and reply to some nice reviews, but the D: ANYWAY. Hope you like this chapter. I like doing stories where you see two points of views of a single event. I think the fact that people can be thinking two entirely different things is interesting, haha! I'd like to think this is edited, but it isn't... I'm sorry, I'm just so tired, I'll do it later, haha! I hope you enjoyed it despite the typos and such, haha.)
A/N after edit: If you don't see how that was the worst part like Lavi did, it's totally fine because it's not supposed to make any sense, or maybe you can read into it. In any case, I won't put any meaning into it so you guys can think of it as whatever you want.