I've only just noticed that I forgot to upload the actual chapter eight?! So I've taken down the previous one and that shall be chapter nine.
I'm sorry about the whole not uploading for a while thing, I've been working (I varnish metal sculptures if you were wondering) and my brother got MARRRIIIIEEEED. It was so adorable, they had the reception on a farm and had bumper cars (fantastic idea - every wedding reception should have bumper cars).
Anyway this chapter I'm listening toooooo: Cambio sun - Intuition
When Mori and I returned to the beach house, the wind had become even fiercer, the thunder even louder.
A crack of lightening darted across the sky as Mori set me down from his back; The overhanging roof above the door sheltering us from the rain.
I tried my best not to drip on the tiled flooring as we entered the house, keeping to the welcome mat.
"Summer? Takashi? Is that you?" One of the boys called from a room down the hall that I hadnt entered yet.
"Yeah," I called back, "Do you have any towels? We're drenched."
I flicked my arms out slightly, trying to keep the waterproof I still had on from clinging to my skin.
My attempts failed.
The sound that had previously been coming from the room paused and Tom emerged.
"Follow me, there's a guest bathroom you can use upstairs," he said boredly; he didn't even really look at us. Just summoned us with a hand gesture.
We followed him down the hall, and then left, and then further on until we reached a staircase which we then climbed and Tom pointed to the door we would have to go through, before he returned to where he had come from.
Mori opened the door and held it open for me as he peered inside.
I gasped as I walked in. You would have thought I'd get used used to fancy rooms by now.
Nope.
The carpet was luxuriously soft and a pretty brownish colour that complimented the olive green walls. Most of the furniture was made from what looked like stained driftwood and decorated with pretty carvings and accessories.
"It's so pretty," I whispered softly, and then blushed slightly. I didn't intend to say it aloud.
I didn't turn around to see Mori's reaction to my comment.
The door to the ensuite was beside a vanity table, I opened it to find that it matched the bedroom.
There were soft towels hanging on a heated rack to the left of me; I grabbed on and chucked it out to Mori, who had been observing silently behind me.
As per usual I suppose.
He nodded a thanks and set about ruffling his hair slightly with it, in a way that was never going to get it dry.
I laughed slightly and followed him out of the bathroom.
"Here," I said as I took the towel from his hands.
He sat down on the edge of the bed so I could reach his head.
Even sitting down as I stood, his head came up to my shoulder.
I placed the towel on his head and rubbed it around until I felt that his hair was sufficiently dry.
When I removed the towel, wisps of black hair fell against his forehead and he peered up at me through them.
His eyes were such a deep brown that they were almost black, framed by even darker lashes.
They were so expressive close up. I never usually took much notice of people's eyes, but with Mori it was as if he could communicate purely through the emotion that his eyes showed.
Had I only just noticed this? Or had he not been doing it before?
I felt my face form a quizzical expression, but only really noticed when Mori's face began to mirror my own.
I cleared my throat abruptly and stepped back, blushing, and realised that I must have been staring at him for probably longer than intended.
I turned quickly, yearning for a space where I couldn't constantly feel the heat radiating from his knees either side of me, and his breath tickling the base of my neck every time he exhaled.
I closed the door to the ensuite behind me and took a look at myself in the mirror that hung above the sink, groaning inwardly.
My hair fell in wet tendrils around my head, resembling Medusa, and the little make-up that I had on was utterly ruined.
The foundation had been washed off of my face completely - showing the scattering of freckles dotted over my nose, cheeks and towards my forehead.
The mascara I had put on earlier now formed small dark circles beneath my eyes that I attempted to wipe away with my finger.
I didn't want to mark the soft white towels.
I rubbed at my hair with the towel, drying it the best I could.
All this did was make my hair look even curlier and stand out from my head - like a mane.
I peeled off the waterproof and similarly the two layers of jumpers that I had on - leaving only my tshirt.
Mori's jumper was still dry, but the thinner jumper I had on underneath was still damp from the first burst of rain earlier. When we couldn't stop to shield ourselves from it without getting more drenched in the process.
I hung the thin jumper on the heated towel rack and opened the door, relieved that my t-shirt was still dry enough to wear.
Mori was standing up again, seemingly in the process of removing his damp jumper, revealing his black t-shirt which now clung to him like a second skin, clearly defining the muscles that lay underneath.
I tried to avoid looking directly at them. I felt as though the alternative would probably be me staring at them for too long and probably being caught drooling.
He smiled as he saw me.
I instantly became paranoid and discreetly checked the side of my mouth for drool.
"What?" I asked, a little more defensively than intended.
At this he just chuckled and shook his head.
"I think I prefer your hair curly," he said.
I raised an eyebrow.
"So you didn't like it before?" I smirked.
"I didn't say that." He looked slightly hurt and I rolled my eyes.
"Your shirt is soaked," I said, stating the obvious. "and here's your jumper." I held the jumper out and he took it, nodding thanks.
"If you keep on lending my jumpers which I, knowing my poor memory, will forget to return, then i'm going to develop quite the collection," I grinned.
He returned it before placing his dry jumper down next to his damp one before peeling his sodden t-shirt off.
This, of course, caught me completely off guard.
I'm never usually in such close proximity to a guy this good looking taking his shirt off.
I turned slightly, a blush forming over my cheeks.
Mori seemed somehow completely oblivious to my obvious embarrassment and just proceeded to dress himself calmly.
First he's the one getting embarrassed and now it's me?
I couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed with myself. I was usually so self confident when it came to things like this.
Although, of course, no one I had known prior to Mori had been this attractive.
To waste time I stared at one of the paintings on the wall, hoping to come across as equally oblivious.
"You like the painting?" Mori asked, fully dressed and now standing next to me.
I hadn't really been paying attention to the piece on the wall, but nodded anyway.
We then headed downstairs after handing up Mori's sodden t-shirt.
I was becoming increasingly aware of Mori behind me as we walked through the house.
Just his presence was forming tingles in my stomach.
I couldn't really pin point the emotion...
I jumped as Mori placed a hand on my back, steering me in a different direction to where I was heading.
"We came down this way," he muttered softly, removing his hand when I started walking in the right direction.
Seriously, my sense of direction is awful.
The room that the boys were in turned out to be a games room and the noises appeared to be coming from the large screen television that the boys were crowded around, playing some sort of Call of Duty game on the PS3.
"Hey Summer!" Hikaru called, not bothering to look up from the screen, just incase he'd be shot by one of the other boys' characters.
Tom, Michael and Kaoru occupied the other controllers as James and Edward sat behind them and watched.
"Where's Tamaki and Haruhi?" I asked.
James looked up, "She started freaking out when the thunder came and shut herself in the bathroom. Tamaki was the only one that she would allow in." He explained.
My eyes widened, "she?"
"Yeah, Haruhi's a girl. Didn't you know?" James replied.
I rolled my eyes, "Of course I know! Why do you know? I thought it was a secret?"
Kaoru and Hikaru shrugged simultaneously. "We thought they might as well know. They said they wouldn't tell people." The twins spoke in unison.
How do they do that whilst keeping their focus on the game?!
"Did you get the food then?" They continued.
I clenched my fists.
"Yes, I don't suppose any of you are going to help?" I muttered the latter part of the sentence as I walked out the door, collected the shopping bags and hauled them to the kitchen. Placing them on the island.
I huffed at the struggle and then placed my hands on my hips.
From the kitchen I could clearly see what the weather was doing. Not only was there a gigantic window above the sink, but I could also see through into the living room and out the sliding doors.
The clouds were dark still, but they no longer seemed endless and I predicted that the storm would let up in a couple of hours.
I turned to mu ingredients and set about unpacking them, after turning on the grill.
Someone cleared their throat from behind me.
I turned to see Kaoru shuffling awkwardly in the door frame.
"Are you okay?" He asked timidly, as if I were about to explode.
I laughed slightly at his expression.
"Kaoru, I'm not really mad. You kind of get used to the rudeness when you go to a school like Fickleberry."
He shrugged, "I know, but I don't want to you to feel like we don't appreciate what you've done for us over the past few days."
I cocked an eyebrow.
"I havent really done anything."
He folded his arms and scuffed his feet slightly, looking at the floor.
"You acknowledge us, and seem to be able to put up with us," He smiled, "that's no easy feat with the Host club... We don't really have many friends and Hikaru and I are still adjusting to the idea of friendship... It's just, thank you, for being a friend."
His smile was sincere, as were his words and I couldn't help but grin at him.
"Distracting me with compliments to get out of helping?" I teased.
He rolled his eyes.
"Don't be stupid woman, I'm not going to help either way," He smirked.
And with that he walked away, leaving me to my cooking.
#####
The storm didn't let up in a couple of hours and I was currently trying to coax Haruhi out of the bathroom through the oak door.
We were all planning on going home before it got dark.
We'd left at half ten this morning and it was already four o'clock.
"Haruhi, Tamaki, one you open the door please." I whined, pressing my head against the door.
I heard the familiar click of a lock being turned and pushed the door open.
I wasn't quite sure what I was expecting but it certainly wasn't this.
The usually annoyingly energetic Tamaki motioned with a finger to his lips for me to be quiet and then pointed to a sleeping Haruhi curled up beside/on top of him in the bath tub to the right of the door.
I nodded.
"We've decided to go no," I whispered.
He pursed his lips to the side.
"What shall we do with her?" He asked.
The buzzing vibration of my phone in my pocket gave me an idea.
I rummaged around in my bag and found my headphones, plugging them into my phone.
They were the kind that blocked out almost all sound if the music was at a certain level.
We nudged Haruhi awake and coaxed her into putting the headphones on and closing her eyes.
She drowsily agreed to let Tamaki carry her to the car and sit with her on the way back - a decision I'm not sure she would have made if she were entirely awake.
James offered to drop Tamaki at Michael's house as they 'might as well take advantage of having a spare seat.' So that Hikaru wouldn't have to sit in the boot.
(He drew the short straw for the way back.)
The car ride back was quiet, and Haruhi had her head tucked under Tamaki's arm.
I'm pretty sure that they were both asleep.
It was adorable.
Mori turned to look at them, his face illuminated by the street lamps flying past, and then turned to me and smiled slightly.
I returned it and fell asleep shortly after.
Urgh, why was that so long to write?!
My back hurts now, I really need a comfortable computer chair. Preferably one that swivels round and has wheels.
Happy reviewing ;)