At the star bucks, it smells, of course, coffee. It was peace and quiet even though there are a lot of people. Takuya and Zoe ordered two chocolate cream-chips and two pieces of cake. They sat near the glassed-window.
"This is one of my most favorite places to order," As Zoe sipped her beverage.
"Is that the only thing you want to order?" Takuya asked.
"Yeah, actually…I'm not that hungry so much."
"Oh…" Takuya paused.
"Tell me the truth, were your friends just force you to ask me out?" Takuya widened his eyes, shock.
"Technically yes but—" Zoe half stood until Takuya grabbed her elbow. "Stay. Stay with me."
Zoe sighed. "Fine," she went back from her seat. "So you're saying you never want to be here in the first place…?"
"I wanted to be here, it's cozy."
Zoe chuckled. "Me, too." She smiled widely. "Tell me something I don't know…what do you do for living?"
"School. House. Music."
"Do you play?"
"Yeah, guitar, like you. I can see we're both musical types."
She nodded and sipped at her star bucks obediently, and then drank more deeply.
"Tell me something about your mother?"
"She was murdered since I was eleven years old. I've witnessed the case on the Shibuya Subway platform, on the F Line at the 18th Avenue and McDonald Avenue elevated station. She is shot in the chest by two muggers trying to rob her," Zoe explains but the look on her face still cheerful as ever.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Zoe."
"It's okay," Zoe replied quickly.
"What about your father?"
"I live at home with my overprotective detective father, Chris."
"I thought he was an officer."
"He only acts like an officer, tough on the inside and out," she laughed. "What about you? Wanna talk about your pass?"
"My Dad left us since I was eight. It was four painful months to Mom. She snapped out of it though when my little brother and I tricked her that we're running away if she won't get over Dad. She fell for it then she was back to her own self." He explained.
"It's really amazing your mother didn't have a heart attack."
He laughed at her reaction. "This is more complicated than I planned," he murmured.
They finally touched their food. They picked up their fork and ate their chocolate cake.
"I looked like my Mom," Zoe remembered. "But I got my eyes from my Dad. Got my attitude from him except for being overprotective."
"My parents are never strict. Just don't be off the limits. They let me do anything they want, they always listen to what I want, and they let me decide."
"You're so free. Why do I have to kneel down in front of Dad to get what I want?"
He laughed. "You're lucky."
"How'd you know?"
"Because I'm always left undecided."
"What do you mean?"
"Sometimes, you have to make a choice. Well I believe that there's never a bad choice. It only comes a bad choice when you don't accept the truth."
"That's a very smart thing to share."
"To be honest, Zoe. I'm never good at anything."
"That I'm gonna laugh," she chuckled. "That's not true. All people are good at something."
"Maybe. Maybe not." He said.
"Do you really like spending time with me?" She asked, marveling.
"I'm enjoying now, very, very much. And I'll prove it. I'm failing, can I bring my schoolwork—I'm getting behind, I know I am."
"Homework might be a good idea." She made a face.
"Yes," he agreed. "Homework once a week?" he proposed.
"Maybe we'd better go with twice," she suggested.
"Why not every day?"
"That would be a better idea," she concurred. We'll start tomorrow."
"Tomorrow is Saturday, right?"
"Yep. And maybe after schoolwork, we could hang out for a while."
"Definitely." He grinned widely.
They touched their star buck's each other. Before they go home, Takuya brought Zoe to the park. Zoe sat at the swing. Shivered.
"Are you cold?" Zoe hasn't given him an answer and Takuya was shrugging out of his jacket. He was removing a light red leather jacket now; underneath he wore an ivory turtleneck sweater. It fit him snugly, emphasizing how muscular his chest was.
He handed her the jacket.
"Thanks" she said, sliding her arms into his jacket. It was hot—she stopped shivering. It smelled amazing. She inhaled, trying to identify the delicious scent. The sleeves were much too long; she shoved it back so she could free her hands.
"That color red looks lovely with your skin, he said, as he sat at the swing, watching her. She was surprised; she looked down.
"Why'd you brought me here?" Zoe asked.
"I love parks."
"So am I. I hang out here every time there are no classes. I especially love swinging!" As she moved back and forth on the swing.
"I'm sorry...and thank you very much."
"For what?"
"I'm sorry because I acted like you never existed from the first time I saw you. And thank you, for everything."
"I haven't given you anything yet."
"For still being my friend even though I've been rude around ya since the day we've met."
Zoe didn't reply instead she smiled. She looked up at the sky. Both of them watching the stars shining.
On Wednesday, Takuya ended up being one of the first ones to school. The plus side was that he got to see Zoe earlier. The downside was that he had free time on his hands but he doesn't care because he's with Zoe.
Quickly, they pulled out their calculus book. They flipped it to open to the section they would be starting today, and tried to make sense of it. Reading math was even worse than listening to it, but he was getting better at it. In the last several months, he's spent ten times the amount of time in Calculus than he'd ever spent on math before. As a result, he was managing to keep in range of a low B. He knew Mr. Cooper felt his improvement was all due to his superior teaching methods plus, Zoe's tutor. And if that made him happy, he wasn't going to burst his bubble.
And they ended up rushing to English. They were working on Animal farm, an easy subject matter. He didn't mind communism; it was welcome change from the exhaustion romances that made up most of the curriculum. He settled into his seat, pleased by the distraction of Ms. Parker.
Time moved easily at school. The bell rang all too soon. He started repacking his bag.
"Takuya?"
He recognizes Zoe's voice.
"You know, Takuya. You're brilliant, you're just lazy, that's all," she commented on how Takuya recites during class and got a perfect score at their quiz. "Are you working tomorrow?"
He looked up. She was leaning across the aisle with anxious expression.
"Tomorrow is Thursday, isn't it?" He said.
"Yeah, it is," he agreed. "See you in Biology." She waved once before turning her back.
He trudged off to Calculus with a happy expression. This was the class where she sat next to Koji.
With a sigh, he shoved the door open.
Mr. Cooper gave him a dark look—he's already started the lecture. He hurried to his seat. Koji looked up as he sat next to him. He was glad that he had fifty minutes to mentally answer Zoe.
This class flew by even faster than English. A small part of that speed was due to his goody-goody mood this morning—but mostly time sped up when he was looking forward to something unpleasant.
During lunch, Koji, Koichi and JP asked Takuya happened since there were no classes yesterday and the other day.
"We sure had a lot of in common. She's smart, kind, sweet and fun to be with," Takuya explained. "She asked me if I have any plans tomorrow."
"She was asking you out," JP corrected.
"It's all the same!" Koji said.
"Then go out with her," Koichi encouraged.
"You're right," Takuya stood and sat with Zoe.
"I can go with you tomorrow. What do you want to see?" Takuya quickly asked. Zoe surprised and confused.
"Uhm…huh?" Clueless.
"While ago, you asked me if I have worked to do tomorrow. Well, my answer is none." Still cheerful.
"That's all I asked." Takuya didn't let go of his smile, but he was embarrassed.
"Forget it. Never mind," he groaned.
"Well, if you wanna go out tomorrow night, it's totally fine by me."
"Really?" He quickly said. "I mean…wanna see The Last Song?"
Zoe grasped at the promising title. "What's that one about?"
"A rebellious teenager has to spend the summer with her estranged father, a concert pianist." He explained.
"That sounds perfect." Zoe seemed surprised by his response.
"Okay. Do you want me to pick you up after school?" he offered.
"Sure."
Zoe smiled at him tentative friendliness before she left. His answering was just a little late, but he thought that she saw it.
The rest of the day passed quickly, his thoughts focused on planning for tonight.
The thick haze that blurred his days now was sometimes confusing. He was surprised when he found himself in his room, not clearly remembering the walk home from school or even opening the front door. But that didn't matter. Losing track of time was the most he asked from life.
He didn't fight the haze as he turned to his closet. The numbness was more essential in some places than in others. He barely registered what he was looking at as he slid the door aside to reveal the pile of rubbish on the left side of his closet, under the clothes he never wore.
He yanked the old wallet he rarely used off the nail hung from, and shoved the door shut.
Just then Zoe heard a horn honking from outside of her house. She swiftly traded her wallet from her schoolbag into the purse. She was in a hurry, as if rushing would somehow make the night pass more quickly. She glanced at herself in the hall mirror before she opened the door, arranging her features carefully into a smile and trying to hold them there.
"Thanks for coming with me tonight," Takuya told Zoe as she climbed into the motorcycle, trying to infuse his tone with gratitude. It had been a while since he'd really thought. Zoe was harder. He wasn't sure which the right emotions to show were.
"Sure. I didn't know you have a motor."
"It was my Dad's. It's been a while since I haven't using this motor."
"Shotgun?"
"Hold on tight." As they drove fast down her street.
The movie was playing early, so Takuya thought they should hit the twilight showing and eat later. He was happy to go along whatever she wanted; after all, he was getting what he wanted. He got really excited when the movie started. A young couple was walking along a beach, swinging hands and discussing their mutual affection with gooey falseness.
"Popcorn?" Takuya whispered to Zoe.
"Sure," She grabbed one full hand of popcorn. She looked at him with wide eyes. "Yummy!"
Someone shushed them from behind.
"I'm getting soda. Do you want any?" Takuya whispered.
"No, thanks."
He hurried to get soda. And almost tripped at something.
"What did I miss?" He took a sip.
"Nothing at all. It's just getting started," Zoe murmured when Takuya slid back into his seat.
The rest of the movie was comprised of melodramatic scenes in music and love.
They both came out of the theater doors after the movie.
"The story's related to you," Zoe told Takuya.
"Yeah," he agreed. Zoe frowned. "Hungry?"
Zoe shrugged. "Starve."
"Where do you want to eat?" He asked.
"McDonald."
"Okay."
Zoe started talking about the female lead in the movie as they walked. He nodded.
"But your more beautiful than her," Takuya said.
"Huh?"
"Did I say anything?" Takuya excused.
"Hmmm…just making sure I hear something."
Takuya didn't watch where Zoe was leading him. He was only aware at her beauty. It took him longer than it should have to realize they were in front of the McDonald already. Zoe had stopped babbling. He looked at her apologetically.
Zoe wasn't looking at him. Her face was tense as they went inside; she stared straight ahead to the counter. As he watched, her eyes darted quickly to him, and back again.
He glanced around her again. Her eyes were fixed on her order.
"Takuya?" Zoe snapped. "What's your order?"
Some unfamiliar beat through his veins as he felt Zoe's hands near him.
"Grab your order, Takuya," Zoe interrupted his train of thought. They grabbed their tray then they sat near the window.
"Let's go eat," Takuya suggested, barely glancing at her. His mind was preoccupied. The safe, numb deadness did not come back, and he got more anxious with every minute that passed without its return.
'What are you thinking?" Zoe snapped. "Your brain is lost—find it before somebody does."
He shrugged, wishing she would stop talking to him. "I was just thinking…how…" he's heart is pounding loudly. "How…I…I'm…this burger's delicious!" As he took a big bite of his Burger McDo.
"I didn't know you could be weird sometimes, Takuya. And that's what I like about you."
He didn't know what else to say to that.