"I'm in love with you!" He's heart can't stop beating loudly.
Zoe stepped back automatically from Takuya. "Takuya…I have…I gotta go," she grabbed her backpack and shoes and ran away from Takuya.
Her mind swirling her dizzily, full of images she couldn't' understand, and some she fought to repress. Nothing seemed clear to her.
While Takuya was walking to English Koji was sitting at the back row, nearly bouncing off his seat in agitation. He reluctantly went to sit by him.
"Tell me everything!" he commanded before Takuya was in his seat.
"What do you want to know?" Takuya hedged.
"What happened yesterday?"
"Seriously, do I have to tell you what happens to me every time?"
He glared at him, his expression stiff with skepticism. "Looks like you're not in the mood."
"She ditched me." Takuya hoped Zoe heard that.
"Was it terrible at first—did you had fun at first?"
"No…Yes—she was surprised when I confessed."
His lips puckered in disappointment at the transparent honesty in Takuya's voice.
"But does this mean you're giving up?" Koji probed.
"No—one last time, and if she doesn't feels the same, we're done," Takuya explained.
"So are you two going out again?"
"Of course not, she's mad at me—I was thinking of serenading her in front of her house," Takuya whispered.
"Oooh…this is gonna be awesome." Koji nodded.
"Well, then, after school, I'll raced her to her house."
"W-o-w." He exaggerated the word into syllables. "Can I tell—"
"No!" Takuya interrupted Koji because only Koji and he will know. "Just today, please, I'll do anything you want, just keep this between you and me, can you do that just for one day?" Takuya begged.
"Sure!" His hands flew up, palms toward Takuya like he was stopping traffic. "Have you kissed her?"
"No," Takuya mumble das he told him a lie. "Just keep this between you and me."
He looked disappointed.
"Before I forget, how are you going to…?" Koji raised his eyebrows.
"I have no idea." The discontent in Takuya's voice was poorly disguised.
"You wanna talk about it now or later?" Koji whispered. Class had started but Ms. Parker wasn't paying close attention and they weren't the only ones still talking.
"I don't know, Koji, my crazy ideas just going to come to me us usual any time now," Takuya whispered back.
"Please, Takuya," Koji begged. "How am I going to help?"
"Well…okay, I've got one just for you. Call her—if her father's there…do anything you can to get his father outta that house."
"That's a good idea," he nodded. "Was her father good?"
"Very—and probably wrestle you so be careful."
"Wrestle?! What do you mean?"
"I think when you get in his way, hard to tell. I thought you wanted to help?" Takuya sighed. "Besides, you're charisma is full!"
"I don't know how I'm going to be brave enough to face Mr. Orimoto," Koji breathed.
"Just remember my plan," Takuya said shockingly, but he didn't understand Takuya's reaction.
"I hope I know what to say to him."
"Don't worry, you're a good-looking guy," Takuya admitted.
"Oh well. I wanted this anyways." Koji shrugged as if this excused any flaws.
"Just remember my plan."
"Piece of cake."
Then, surprisingly, Ms. Parker called on Takuya for an answer. Takuya was clueless on the lesson.
"Detention, Kanbara!"
"Say what?!" Takuya was shock.
"For babbling and not paying any attention to our lesson!"
"But Ms. Parker," Koji interrupted. "We had someone to meet at the—"
"Silence! You, too, Minamoto!" Ms. Parker said angrily.
"You've got to be kidding me?!" Takuya hissed to himself.
Then, thankfully, during detention, they got a chance to escape, and as soon they got out of the building, Takuya and Koji were in action.
"Call Zoe," Takuya told Koji while they're running to Zoe's house.
"Zup, Zoe?!" Koji greeted. "Watcha doing?!"
"I'm done with my homework, I can hear your running," Zoe replied.
"Say, are you mad at my friend?"
"Nope. I wanna apologize for running away from him yesterday, which was rude."
"Good!" Koji said. "Is your father at home?"
"Nope. Not yet. He'll be home late, why?"
"Perfect." Koji ended the call as they reached the house.
Takuya jumped out into in front of Zoe's house.
Koji approached the barren, vacant face slowly. He stopped when he got to the porch stairs, because Takuya hasn't moved an inch.
"Snapped out of it, Takuya!" Koji through a small pebble to Takuya. "We're here on a mission, so focus!" He hissed.
Takuya went near Zoe's window. Zoe's window was upstairs so he hid behind the bushes to call her. The front door opened.
"Koji?" Zoe was shock. "What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?" Koji joked.
"This is my house," Zoe replied.
"Really?"
"You're wasting your time, bye!" She slammed the door. And picked up her ringing phone.
"Who's this?" Zoe said as she answered it.
Takuya breathed. "This is Takuya, uhm…hi."
"Listen, about yesterday—"
"I'm sorry," Takuya said quickly.
Zoe smirked while she's going up on her room. "What are you apologizing for? I should be the one here saying sorry. So I'm sorry."
"Now that I'm here at your place, you're gonna have to give me an answer."
"You're here, too?" Zoe widened her eyes.
"Looked outside your window," Zoe ended the call and looked outside the window.
And there he is. Standing still on the echoing grass. "Hey, Zoe," he called over, almost shouting.
Zoe smiled in relief. "Hey, Takuya." She waved.
"Sorry to disturb you but am I troubling you?" Takuya wondered.
"Nope. Not yet."
"Good. Because you're going to give me an answer today. So I won't be doing this anymore."
"Okay." Zoe laughed, a throaty sound. "Wait for me downstairs," Zoe nearly run while she went outside.
"Takuya, you're a jerk," Zoe breathed.
Takuya laughed. "I kind of get obsessive when I need answers." He shrugged.
"Wanna go for a walk?"
Takuya nodded. "So you think I'm over reacting, then?"
"Nope. It's natural, right?"
"Right."
They stopped near the park.
"My Dad doesn't know anything about this," Zoe said.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Takuya questioned.
"I'm…also…" And then her marble lips pressed very softly against Takuya.
What neither of them prepared for was his response.
Blood boiled under their skin, burned in their lips. Zoe's breath came in a wild grasp. Her fingers knotted in his hair, clutching him to her. Her lips parted as she breathed.
Immediately she felt him turn to unresponsive stone beneath her lips. His hands gently, pushed her face back.
"Oops," Zoe breathed.
"That's an understatement."
"I'm sorry. I'm just not good at telling. I'm better than showing," Zoe said shyly. "The truth is, I love you. You are the most important thing to me now. The most important thing to me ever." Zoe confessed.
Their heads were spinning at the rapid change in direction their conversation had taken.
"You already know how I feel, of course," Takuya finally said. "I'm here…which, you're also my number one." Takuya frowned. "I'm an idiot."
"You are an idiot," she agreed with the laugh. Takuya laughed, too. They laughed together at the idiocy and sheer impossibility of such a moment.
"You're stupid," Zoe sighed.
"You're sick." Takuya stared deeply into Zoe's eyes.
"Why…?" Takuya began, and then paused, not sure how to continue.
She looked at him and smiled.
"Yes?"
"Tell me why you ran from me yesterday."
Her smile faded. "You know why."
"No, I mean, exactly what I did I do wrong?"
Zoe smiled again. "You didn't do anything wrong, Takuya. It was my fault."
"Well, this day was interesting," he murmured. His voice was dark and his eyes were cautious.
"Umm," was all Zoe was able to respond.
"Shall we?" he asked, pointing his hand to the Star Bucks.
Zoe smiled. "We shall," she replied.