"So," Saphire plunked down next to me, laying her lunch in her lap and glancing sidelong at me, her green eyes glittering mischievously. "Where did you go afterschool yesterday?"
I spit out my rice, coughed, and turned red. She laughed. "I, ah," I muttered, "Adell-san invited me over to his house."
"Ooh!" she squealed. "I want details!!"
"Nothing happened!" I yelped, almost knocking my own lunch out of my lap as I gestured wildly with my arms. "I met his family, then we went upstairs to his room—"
"Wow!! Go you! You two were alone in his room?!"
"Nothing happened…!" I repeated, ducking my head as my blush deepened. My mind tried to linger on that single moment before his mother had entered but I shook it away. Nope. Won't think about how close he was. Won't think about it...
"You're maroon!!" she giggled gleefully and I moaned, hiding my face in my hands.
"I told you!" I spoke from behind my fingers, trying to calm myself down. "We were in the kitchen, Rozalin showed up, and then Adell dragged me to his room. I didn't ask or anything like that!"
"Something definitely happened, if you're denying it like this," she grinned at me.
"Are you even listening?" I sighed in defeat.
"Hey."
We both turned. Adell came up from the stairwell, one hand in his pocket, the other holding something wrapped in a furoshiki which was most probably his lunch. Every thought in my head blanked, and I could only stare at him as he strode closer.
"Speak of the devil," Saphire whispered with another giggle.
"Why the hell do you eat way up here?" he looked around as he came up to us.
"It's pretty up here!" Saphire smiled at him. "You're welcome to join us if you'd like, Adell-kun."
I jumped in surprise, looking over at her desperately. It's not like I wouldn't be happy if he did join us, but what would I say? What would I do? I might annoy him, or he might think I'm weird, or—
"Maybe," he shrugged, and held out the package in his hand. The furoshiki was pink and white patterned. "Hanako made it for you," he explained, and tossed it over to me. I caught it, only fumbling slightly because I wasn't sure who he had been talking to at first. Granted, there was only Saphire and myself up there, but I hadn't automatically assumed it was me.
"Is it a bento?" Saphire leaned over to look as I untied it with my shaking fingers. "Aww, how cute!"
It was a homemade bento. It was in a simple sky blue box, and when I opened it, the wave of delicious smells knocked me dizzy. It was a mix-matched assortment: staple white rice with fried egg on top and small, cute octopus sausage on the side; the other half held what appeared to be sweet and sour pork, and a steamed roll, along with two delicately made fortune rolls. I didn't know what to do, so I stared at it until Adell spoke up again.
"You don't have to eat it," he said.
"No no no!" I jumped and flailed my arms, shaking my head back and forth. "That's not it! I'm just so… It's so cute." I laughed a little bit. "I don't know where to start. And…" I looked down at my own lunch. I had only eaten a couple of bites of rice. Saphire jumped to the rescue, as always.
"Adell-kun, have you eaten?" He shook his head no. "Well then, you can have Almaz's lunch!" she beamed and snatched my lunch out from my lap, holding it out to him.
"Ah!" I started, then bit back the protest. I couldn't eat two lunches, after all. And besides, Adell said he hadn't eaten. This way, he could eat and I could eat Hanako's bento. But… What if he doesn't like my cooking…? I blinked. Where's his lunch?
"You don't mind, do you Almaz?" she looked over, her mouth twitching as she tried not to laugh at me.
"Um…" I blushed a bit. "No…"
"Here you go," she put the lunch in Adell's hand. He shrugged and left with my lunch. I stared down at Hanako's bento.
"That was…odd," I said at last.
"I wonder why he didn't have a lunch," Saphire tapped her chin with her chopsticks. "Hanako's his sister, right?" I nodded. "Why didn't she make him one too?"
"That is strange," I agreed, then looked down at the lunch again. "I should thank her, though."
"Why don't you go to his house again afterschool?" she said offhandedly, breaking her chopsticks apart. I blushed again: another visit to his house? Was it too forward, or familiar of me? "You should," Saphire grinned and gestured at the bento. "It was very sweet of her."
"Yes, it was," I nodded. I'd go thank her afterschool, walking with Adell as far as the bus stop to do so in person, then we'd go our separate ways. Simple. "Itaidakimasu," I grinned, and started to eat.
"Itaidakimasu!" Saphire called happily and dug into her own lunch. Hanako's was absolutely delicious.
I was about to break my routine.
I stood in front of Saphire and Adell's classroom door, fidgeting nervously. I'd rehearsed what I was going to say and how I was going to go about it all afternoon long, but now that I was here, I was drawing a big blank with one hand frozen on the door handle. Who was I going to approach first, again? How was I going to ask him if I could walk with him to the bus stop? I couldn't remember.
"Hey! You!!"
"Hii!" I jumped and released the door handle, looking back over my shoulder. Rozalin was there, glaring her icy glare of death at me.
"You're in the way!" she wrinkled her nose at me. "I'm going to go home with Adell!"
"Ah… Well, that makes sense, because you live together and all," I smiled weakly at her, stepping aside to let her pass. She glared at me as she pulled the classroom door open.
"Adell!" she sprang inside. I followed in after her, sighing, and almost got smacked in the face. I ducked Rozalin's flailing arms successfully. "Where is he!?" she wailed. I looked at his seat—empty. Saphire glanced up from reviewing her class notes.
"He left early," she told Rozalin, then she slid her gaze over to me. "Hey. Ready to go?"
"Uh, yeah," I said with another look at his empty desk. Disappointment filled me, making my chest tight. I had…wanted to walk home with him again. At least for a little while.
"Without me again?" Rozalin stamped her foot. "Dammit, Adell!" She rushed out of the classroom.
Saphire came over to me, smiling, her eyes told me that she knew what I felt. "Come on, Almaz. Let's go home."
"Yeah," I nodded, my lips tight so that I wouldn't frown. We walked out of the classroom together and down the stairs to the first floor. Normally, we would have been chatting about something that had happened during our afternoon classes or something else along those lines, but for some reason, no words came out of me. Saphire didn't try to break the silence either. We changed our shoes and met up again at the doors, walking outside into the falling sunshine. I caught a glimpse of Rozalin headed out the gates and in the direction of the bus stop.
"Oi," a voice called, and something dropped down next to me.
"ACK!" I leapt in surprise. Adell straightened beside me and raised an eyebrow at my reaction.
"Didn't mean to scare you," he said, and the corner of his mouth turned up in a little grin. It made my heart skip—I had never, ever seen a look so endearing before.
"Adell-kun!" Saphire clutched her chest as if she'd just had a heart attack. "I thought you left early!"
He shrugged: "I decided I needed to find a new hiding place, that's all. Besides," he looked at me with that same cute little grin, "my classroom's not really a hiding place, is it?"
"It isn't," I laughed, relaxing. It took me half a moment to realize that because I was so relieved to see him, I actually forgot to be nervous.
"Well, now you can go thank Hanako for the bento!" Saphire squeezed my arm and smiled at me. She looked happy too. She was the best best friend in the whole world.
"Sure," Adell shrugged and the three of us walked to the gate. "But," he glanced sideways at me again. Every time he looked at me that way, my heart stopped and my breath caught. "Rozalin's there now. Sure you want to come?"
"I don't mind," I laughed.
Saphire had to go the other way, so Adell and I saw her off.
"Bye bye, Adell-kun! See you in class!" She waved, then smiled cutely at me. "Call me later, okay?"
"Yeah," I rolled my eyes, grinning. She'd want details, of course.
She ran off. We turned and walked toward the bus stop in comfortable silence. I was amazed to realize that my happiness continued to keep my nervousness at bay.
"Are Taro-kun and Hanako-chan still there?" I asked him.
"Hanako might have wanted to wait," he glanced over at me.
"The bento," I smiled at him, "it was really good. Thanks for giving it to me."
"Yours wasn't too bad either," he grinned back. "You make it yourself?"
"Yeah," I nodded, blushing a tiny bit. He'd liked my cooking.
"Do you always make your own lunches?" he asked me.
"Yes," I nodded again. "My mother usually rushes out the door with just some coffee, so I end up making it myself."
"Are you always alone?" he looked directly at me. His red eyes blazed in the sunlight, and I thought I saw a hint of worry in them. It's your imagination, I told myself.
"Mom's always in her office, and Dad sleeps over at the company a lot, since he has to commute pretty far. But it's okay!" I smiled reassuringly at him. "If I ever get really lonely, I call Saphire and she comes over to keep me company."
"Are you two going steady?" he asked me and I stumbled.
"What? Me and Saphire?" I laughed a little bit. He just nodded, not looking at me. "No, we're not dating," I smiled at the thought of it. "I mean, she's really cute, but it's strictly a friend thing."
"Do you like her, then?" he glanced sideways at me. I shook my head.
"Like I said, just friends," I assured.
"Do you… have anyone you like?" he tacked on this third question and this time my feet stopped completely. My nervousness came back like a cold wave of water
"I…" I stuttered. "I, ah…"
This time, my savior came from a very unexpected source.
"THERE you are!" Rozalin hollered. I looked up at her voice. She stood with her hands on her hips, Taro close beside her. Behind them, four children (including Hanako) played on and around the bench. "Adell, where were you?!" she came up, then glared over at me. "And you brought him again."
"He's coming to dinner," he rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding both her and my equal stares of surprise.
"Adell-nii-chan!!" Hanako called from her play and broke away from the group, rushing up to greet her brother. When she saw me, however, she stopped and hid behind Rozalin instead.
"Oi! Taro! Hana-chan!" a boy from the group waved an arm to get their attention. He had vibrant blue-purple hair with twin antennae sticking out.
"See you tomorrow!!" a girl beside him with ruby-colored pigtails waved energetically. The third one—a blonde who was wearing our school uniform—waved too and the three of them began walking across the street.
"WHY is he coming to dinner?!" Rozalin pointed an accusing finger at me.
"Hello," Taro smiled.
"Because I invited him," Adell frowned at her. "I can't invite someone to my own house now?"
"Hello," I nodded to Taro.
"Um, Almaz-san…?" Hakano's timid voice came from behind Rozalin's legs. She peeked out at me, her cheeks pink. "What… would you like for dinner?"
"You cook dinner too, Hanako-chan?" I knelt to come eye-level with her. She nodded bashfully. "I eat pretty much anything," I told her. "By the way, your bento was delicious. Thank you very much."
"Huh? My bento?" she looked confused.
"Didn't you make that bento box?" I was confused myself.
"Well, I made my nii-chan a bento this morning…" she trailed off. "Did you eat it?" I nodded. She got redder. "Did you… like it?"
"Yes, I liked it very much," I smiled at her. "Everything was very delicious." Had Adell given me his lunch after all?
"Ugh, come on! Come on!" Rozalin threw up her arms and turned, stomping away.
"R-Rozalin-san! Wait for us!" Taro hurried after her. With Rozalin suddenly gone, Hanako ran to her older brother for cover. He picked her up easily.
"Are you sure?" he asked me again, his eyes amused. His mouth was turned up into that adorable little smile.
"Yes," I rose to my feet, brushing myself off. "I have to eat more of Hanako's yummy cooking, after all." I smiled at her. She ducked her head against her brother's neck and he laughed, leading the way back to his house.
