The grilled cheese sandwiches were in the frying pan and Nathan was slicing up a tomato when he sensed someone behind him.
"So, how are things?" Nathan asked.
"Pretty good." She smiled. "My badminton team won all four games."
"Wow, you know, you reminded me of your mother."
"Mom was actually really good at playing sports," Zoe said.
"And, you were you teaming with?"
"Um…Koji Minamoto," she told him reluctantly.
"Oh yeah—nice family." He mused for a minute.
"How about you?"
"Yep." He smiled as well. Finally, dinner was finished. "C'mon, we'll eat while we watch." Nathan and Zoe carried their food out to the sofa.
It was a long night. She had a lot of homework that was going undone, but she wanted to finish the horror movie. Finally, the movie ended.
"Is Takuya coming back here soon?" Nathan asked.
Zoe hesitated, searching for details she could safely share. "You—"
"No need to keep it from me, I ran over me while ago from our house,"
"Oh," she said, trying to sound indifferent. "I'm not sure," she hedged.
"That was fun, Zoe," Nathan said.
"Tell me when there's another movie," Zoe encouraged.
"Sure, sure," Nathan said. "Good night." He smiled.
"Thanks," she muttered. She headed for the stairs while Nathan waved from the living room.
Nathan smiled. His crinkly-eyes smile. "It's good she's going out with Takuya…she reminds me so much of her mother—she's too much like her." He told himself.
Takuya slept better on the last day of weekend, too tired to dream. When he woke to the pearl gray morning, his mood was blissful. The fun day with Zoe seemed harmless enough now; he can't forget it completely. He caught himself whistling while he walked down the stairs. Shinya noticed.
"You're cheerful this morning," he commented over breakfast.
He shrugged. "It's Friday." He read the note that was post at the refrigerator.
I've gone to L.A. I'll be back in one week. Take care.
"What's she doing in Los Angeles?" Takuya questioned.
"I don't know. Maybe be find a job or something."
Takuya and Shinya hurried so they would be ready to go. They had their bag ready, shoes on, teeth brushed.
"Are you going to Zoe's?" Shinya asked.
"Yep."
"Can I come?"
"Whatever."
"I'll take that as a yes!"
Takuya and Shinya were waiting outside. Zoe didn't hesitate this time, walking quickly to the boys, the sooner to see Takuya's face. Both of them grinned their crooked smile at Zoe. She couldn't imagine Takuya could be Shinya's younger version.
"What's up Zoe?" Shinya asked. He wondered if he had any idea how appealing his voice was.
"Nothing new. How are you today?"
"Mom left as home alone." His smiled was amused; she felt like she was missing an inside joke. "Are you going to be my sister someday?"
Takuya and Zoe chuckled.
"Maybe." Zoe grinned.
"Okay, okay, let's not bring that topic there, Shinya," Takuya said.
While walking to English class, Takuya wanted to know about people today: more about Zoe's mother, her hobbies, what they'd done in their free time together. And then the one grandmother she'd known, her few school friends—embarrassing her when he asked about boys she'd dated. She was relieved that she'd never really dated anyone, so that particular conversation couldn't last long. He seemed surprise by her lack of romantic history.
"So you never met anyone you wanted?" he asked in serious tone that made her wonder what he was thinking about.
She was grudgingly honest. "Not until we went out."
His lips pressed together into a hard line.
They were in cafeteria at this point. The day had sped by in the blur that was rapidly becoming routine. She took advantage of his brief pause take a bite of her bagel.
"I'm worried about Mom," he announced, apropos of nothing, while she chewed.
"Why?" she demanded.
"I don't know. I feel like something bad is going to happen to her."
"Oh." She blinked, bewildered and disappointed. "She'll be okay. I know she has a guardian angel by her side today."
Takuya frowned at her impatiently. "I hope."
Zoe went to class, feeling dutiful. She couldn't be honestly say what happened in Biology; her mind was too preoccupied with thoughts of Takuya. In Gym, Koji spoke to her about Takuya.
"I hate it when Takuya's worried," he said, suddenly sulky.
"Tell me about it, it's gonna take forever to calm him down."
"What are you doing, then?" he asked, too interested.
"Laundry, and then I have to study for the Trig test of I'm going to fail."
"Are you helping Takuya study?"
"Yep."
"Oh." He perked up. "I've been looking forward on our Christmas Ball, are you going to the dance?"
"Well…"
"Oh c'mon Zoe, our Trig test is before our Valentine's Day Dance," he pouted.
"Fine." She sulked.
"Promise?"
"Promise!" Koji gave Zoe a high five. "The Christmas Ball is on December, what are you so excited about…it's still December."
"You'll never notice anyway that's it's already December."
When the school day had finally ended, she walked home with Takuya without enthusiasm. Zoe wanted to walk home with Takuya today, but she couldn't see why. Then again, Zoe was starting to get worried as Takuya is. Zoe shook her head, incredulous, as she stopped in front of her house.
"Be safe." Takuya said elegantly. And seconds later he was gone.
Inside, Zoe went straight to her room. Zoe called Takuya, asking him if is everything alright, she said goodbye quickly after that.
Nathan was absentminded at dinner, worried over something at work, she guessed, or maybe a basketball game, or maybe he was just really enjoying the lasagna—it was hard to tell Nathan.
"Dad…," she began, breaking into his reverie.
"What's that, Zoe?"
"Can I sleepover to Takuya's? I think he needs a supporter because he's pretty having trouble with his Mom."
"Oh," he said, surprised. "Oh, okay. So, when?"
"I'll ask him tomorrow. Don't worry I'll do my homework, laundry…"
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely, Dad. Besides, I'm in control."
"You're sure easy to live with now, Zoe." He smiled.
"I could say the same thing about you," she said, laughing. The sound of her laughter was off, but he didn't seem to notice. She felt so guilty for deceiving him.
After dinner, she folded her clothes and moved another load of dryer. Unfortunately it was kind of job that only keep hands busy. Her mind definitely had too much free time, and it was getting out of control. She fluctuated between anticipation so intense that it was very nearly pain, and an insidious fear that picked at her resolve. She had to keep reminding herself that she made her choice, and she wasn't going back on it. She would just hold on to the faith that, in the end, that desire would win out over that others. And what was her other choice—to cut Takuya out of her life? Intolerable. Besides, since she went out with Takuya, it really seemed like her life was about him.
But a tiny voice in the back of her wind worried, wondering if it would hurt very much…if it ended badly.
She was relieved when it was late enough to be acceptable for bedtime. She knew she was far too stressed to sleep, so she did something she'd never done before. She deliberately took unnecessary cold medicine—the kind that knocked me out for good eight hours. She normally wouldn't condone that type of behavior in herself, but tomorrow would be complicated enough without being loopy from sleep deprivation on top of everything else. While she waited for the drugs to kick in, she dried her clean hair till it was impeccably straight, and fussed over what she would wear tomorrow.
With everything ready for the morning, she finally lay in her bed. She felt hyper; she couldn't stop twitching. She got up and took her mp3. She out her headphones on quietly and then lay down again, concentrating on relaxing individual parts of her body. Somewhere in the middle of that exercise, the cold pills took effect, and she gladly sank into unconsciousness.
She woke early, having slept soundly and dreamlessly thanks to her gratuitous drug use. Though she was well rested, she slipped tight back into the same hectic frenzy from the night before. She dressed in rush, smoothing her collar against her neck, fidgeting with the tan sweater till it hung right over her jeans. She sneaked a swift look out the window to see that Nathan was already gone. A thin, cottony layer of clouds veiled the sky. They didn't look very lasting.
She ate breakfast without tasting the food, hurrying to clean up when she was done. She peeked out the window again, but nothing had changed. She had just finished brushing her teeth and was heading back downstairs when a quiet knock sent her heat and thudding against her rub cage.
She flew to the door; she had a little trouble with the simple dead bolt, but she yanked the door open at last, and there he was. All the agitation dissolved as soon as she looked at his face, calm taking its place. She breathed a sigh of relief—yesterday's fears seemed very foolish with him here.
He wasn't smiling at first—his face was somber. But then his expression lightened as he looked her over, and he laughed.
"Good morning," he chuckled.
"Looks like your back to your old self." She glanced down to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything important, like shoes, or pants.
"We match." He laughed again. She realized he had a long, light tan sweater on, with a white collar showing underneath, and blue jeans. She laughed with him, hiding a secret of twinge of regret.
She locked the door behind her.
"How did you sleep?" he asked while they walked down the street to their school.
"Fine. How was your night?"
"Pleasant." He smiled. "Let me guess, you drank sleeping pills."
"How'd you guess?"
"Probably you were so worried about me. You can't sleep because of me so you drank cold medicines," he explained.
Zoe punched Takuya playfully. "That is so—"
"True!" Takuya interrupted. "Admit it, you're nothing without me!"
"Oh please," she snorted.
"What are you going to do if I say I am your life?"
"Guess I could show you better than I can tell you," she said as she pinched Takuya's hot cheek.
"Okay…ow!" He rubbed his cheek.
Right before Takuya take Zoe home, Shinya jumped between them.
"Can Zoe sleep over to our house today?" Shinya asked.
"I'm not sure…" Takuya tried to think quickly.
"Another time then…" Zoe quickly said.
"Why not now?" Shinya pouted.
"I haven't asked permission exactly to my Dad," Zoe explained.
"Oh c'mon Zoe, Shinya's been dying to have you at our house," Takuya also pouted.
"Well…"
"Are you going to say yes if I've already told Mr. Nathan that you're going to sleep at our house?" Shinya smiled widely.
Zoe's eyes widened. "How close are you to my Dad?"
"I can turn anybody's heads upside down."
Zoe smiled. "Solve!"
"Alright!" Shinya jumped up.
"I'm really glad you're staying over tonight, our dinner is pretty yummy tonight!" Takuya added.
They walked well, when they kept the speed reasonable, Zoe had to admit. Like so many things, it seemed to be effortless to the Kanbara brothers. Takuya was holding Zoe's hand while they were walking to the Kanbara household. Sometimes Takuya and Shinya gazed into the setting sun, sometimes Shinya glanced at Zoe—her face, her hair blowing out the air, Takuya and Zoe's hands twined together.
Takuya and Shinya began singing along with a song she'd never heard. They knew every line.
"You like soft rock?" she asked.
"Soft rocks were good. Much better than alternative, or the mellow, ugh!" Takuya shuddered. "Green Day rocks!"
"Are you ever going to tell me how you and Takuya got together?" Shinya asked tentative, not wanting to upset Takuya's buoyant humor.
"Does it matter much?" Takuya's smile, to their relief, remained unclouded.
"No, but I still wonder…" Shinya grimaced. There's nothing like an unsolved mystery to shut me up."
"I wonder if it will upset you," he reflected to himself. He gazed into the sun; the minutes passed.
"Try me," Shinya finally said.
"C'mon, telling him won't hurt. He is your little brother," Zoe reminded.
He sighed, and then looked into Zoe's eyes, seeming to forget the road completely for a time. Whatever he saw there must be encouraged him. He looked into the sun—and spoke.
"You're too young to understand." He paused and glanced at Shinya from the corner of his eyes. Shinya and Zoe's faces were carefully unsurprised, patient for the rest. He smiled a tiny smile and continued. "We'll you two stop looking at me like that it's creeping me out."
He heard Zoe's intake of breath, though it was barely audible to her own ears. He looked down to her eyes again.
"Why not asked Zoe to tell you the romantic story of ours?" He was lost in his thoughts for a short time before he went on.