The next morning I woke up, and headed off to work. The night before, Yuki said he wouldn't be able to meet me at work today, because he had some school details to attend to. Shigure had some work to do, so he wasn't able to come either. I sighed and went off to attend to a table.
"Hello sir, I'm going to be your waitress for today. Here is your menu; the beverages are on the front inside cover. Is there anything you would like to drink?" I questioned, taking out my pad. He glanced up at me a couple times, being polite to look at me, although he was much more interested in a stack of papers next to him.
"Uh yeah, I'll have… a coke. … Please." He said, his orange hair and red eyes looking at me. I nodded and rushed off to get him his drinks. I returned and set it down.
"Are you ready to order?" I asked. He paused, looking at his papers. "Sir?"
"Please, don't call me sir." He said. I bowed frantically.
"Sorry, sorry." I apologized.
"Don't apologize." He said. I winced slightly as his voice reached annoyance. "Can you check this out? I can't think of anything to rhyme. Oh, and I'll have… a sandwich."
I jotted down his order and give him the sign that I'll submit his order first. I submitted it to the rack and walked over, since just about all waitresses were here, I could handle taking a slight break.
"Andrea…" Hojo warned. "Don't mingle. Work."
I sighed, irritated.
"I'm sorry, I have work. If you wait until my shifts up in the hour, then I'll be more than happy to take a look. That way I won't be a bit on the rushed side." I suggested.
"Uh… sure? I have some more things to do anyways." He said. I gave him a smile and waved before I walked off to tend to some more customers. Apparently, three of the others already either had their shift ended, or they made it end earlier than proposed.
After my shift ended, I looked over to see him still sitting there. I saw his drink empty and decided to grab him another. I still had my apron and nametag on.
"Um… here. On the house." I said happily, handing him another coke. He looked at me as I retrieved his old, empty coke and then his eyes drifted to my chest. I looked at him embarrassed.
"Uh… excuse me. My face is up here…" I said, slightly irritated. I watched him as he tensed and blushed as he looked up at me before looking away.
"I wasn't doing that. I was looking at your nametag." He said. Now it was my turn to blush. I looked down at my feet. "Well… are you going to take a look now? Is your shift done?"
I looked at him relieved when he changed the subject.
"Oh! Yeah, sorry." I said, untying my apron and setting it down on the leather seat and sat down next to it. He handed me the paper and I looked at it
It's anticipating me to reach out and grasp the light
Inside the world I'm in what I see is darker than the night
Pizzas and ice cream and beer won't make me change
'Cause
I looked at it for a moment.
"How does the tune go-" I said, but was soon cut off by my phone. I answered it, Mrs. Namiregawa being there, speaking frantically.
"You're off shift right? Can you come here quickly? There's been a bit of trouble with the rooms that it'd be better if you were here first hand." She said. I instantly grabbed my apron and stood up alert.
"Sure, Sure, I'll be right over!" I said, and hung up. I looked at the man apologetically. "I'm really sorry, but there's trouble over at my apartment. Good luck on that, sorry I wasn't able to be much help! Bye!" I flung my things into the back room, where it landed on the back of a chair and I sprinted out of the room, hearing a faint "See you later!" as I zoomed out.
I arrived at the lobby in no time, and looked to everyone sitting there.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Well, someone seems to have been smoking in one of the rooms, so the alarm went off, and the fire department actually hauled each one of us out. We don't know who smoked though." She said, irritated.
"I'm clean." I said. "Never touched one in my life."
"I believe you… but I need to go and get something at the store, now that everything's calmed down. You wouldn't mind watching the desk would you? I'll pay extra."
"What? Um… so there's no emergency?" I asked. She shook her head.
"Not right now… but desk, please?" She asked, smiling. I sighed and nodded, taking a seat behind the counter and waiting.
Mrs. Namiregawa came back two hours later with bags and sent me off to my room with a good two hundred yen. I sat in my room bored as ever, just lying on my bed, letting the stereo play.
Soon, a knock came to my door.
"Coming!" I called. I opened the door to show Mrs. Namiregawa looking very excited in a black dress. "What?"
"I want you to experience the night club here. Put on something and let's go!" She said, slightly jumping up and down in the process. I let her in and she dragged me into my closet. "You should have something, right? Let's see…"
Within a moments notice, she had me showered, dressed in a black t-shirt and pants, black leather shoes, and some of my personal favorite wrist attachments. My hair was straight, and I put on my eyeliner and mascara before I put on last minute perfume and followed Mrs. Namiregawa out the door.
"Um… Mrs. Namiregawa… how are we going to get-"
"Andrea please, call me Tsukiko." She said. I nodded and we hopped into her car, driving off to the nightclub.
I walked in. It wasn't much of a nightclub like late night neon lights and blaring music, but more of one of those coffee shops for the morbid poets. It was really, to be literal, just a club. It was called "The Muse".
We walked in and took a table with fancy chairs and I admired the cozy, yet dimmed atmosphere. We sat and chatted quietly, while some singers and stand ups went and performed.
"Ooh, he plays here weekly. You should see this. He's really good." Tsukiko said, grinning wildly. I turned slightly in my seat and watched as a drummer, bassist, and guitarist came on stage. I stared at them, as the drummer made sure his sticks were precise, and the bassist tuned up. The guitarist tuned his electric up, taking several sips of water. He looked… very familiar, his orange hair stands out.
"All right guys, this is something we've been working on for a while. It's called Holiday Satisfaction." He said.
I watched and listened intently as he sang, strumming the guitar with his pick, the bassist and drummer jamming away. He kept his face close to the mic, only rarely glancing at his guitar. …Or at me…
Embarrassed after a while of him continuously looking at me, I got up and rushed to the bathroom, where I refreshed myself with some water before taking a deep breath and walking back out into the crammed hall for the restrooms. I made my way back at my casual pace. They had the radio on as the next performers prepared. I walked over to Tsukiko and leaned over at the table.
"I'm going to get some fresh air, okay?" I said. She nodded and watched the performers up there. That one group from before wasn't up there anymore. But I kept feeling eyes on me. I casually walked out the door and hung out on a bench, folding my arms and crossing my legs. I shut my eyes and faced my head towards the now visible stars. I hummed softly.
Kyo's POV
I began performing an old piece, looking around the room to see the turn out. I finally rested my eyes on a girl that looked familiar as she looked at me, then looked away. I continued looking around the room, trying to think of where I've seen her before.
Cute girl, brown hair, American styled eyes, tinted skin… black slacks. The waitress! That's who she was. I've never realized it before, as I ordered a coke from her earlier today. Or as she overlooked my lyrics. Or as she left in a frantic hurry.
I don't remember her name. I remember taking a look at the nametag, but then she thought I was being perverted, so I never had a chance to memorize it.
I looked at her a little sadly as she walked off down the hall, but then I realized that was the way to the restrooms, and I perked up more. At least she wasn't leaving because she hated the music, but more so of… her bladder wouldn't allow her to listen until it was taken care of. … That was an odd way to describe having to go pee.
When I finished performing, the band and I walked off stage and into the room, waiting outside of the bathrooms to catch her. Unfortunately, as I leaned against the wall, I looked into the main room, to see her leaning over the table, saying something to the woman at the table. I immediately stood and walked towards her, my hands in my pockets.
I rounded the corner just as I saw her walk out and I stopped momentarily. Maybe she wasn't enjoying herself and left? Though, either way, something inside told me to go and talk to her. I tried to resist, thinking that she was probably half way home by now, but my heart contracted and it forced my feet to move forward and silently slip out, to turn and see her relaxing on the bench right outside, humming a tune.
Andrea POV
I felt a presence sit next to me and I stopped humming. I opened my eyes and looked over to see the performer. I jumped.
"Um… hi. Sorry to startle you." He said. I nodded and sat there, looking down at my hands. "I saw you in there and I couldn't help but uh… take this chance and um… have you take another look at those lyrics. I'm not performing for the rest of the night so I'm fine. Here."
He went into his jacket pocket and pulled out several sheets of folded paper. He handed them out to me with a hint of joy on his face. I smiled and took it, opening it up and reading it over.
"How does the tune go?" I asked. He shrugged.
"I decide that a bit… last." He said. I thought to myself as I searched in my brain's word bank.
" It's anticipating me to reach out and grasp the lightInside the world I'm in what I see is darker than the night
Pizzas and sex and beer won't make me change
'Cause… even though I'm told to make my brain rearrange
My heart just beats faster and its speed takes on a whole new range." I said.
I looked up at him to see his reaction, only to have him looking at me in awe. I looked at him in confusion, and he must've noticed because he grinned.
"It.. that… You're… how did you think that up in such little time?" He asked, rushed. I looked at him as if he was completely stupid.
"I… write some songs too…" I said quietly. He looked at me.
"Can I see them?" He asked. I hesitated a moment before I opened my mouth and he scowled at himself. "Oh! I'm sorry, uh… we've never been properly introduced and all that. I'm Kyo Sohma."
I smiled, "And I'm Andrea Koenig."
"Andrea K-"
"Koenig. It's German, but I'm from America. I just moved a couple of days ago for college. Um, of course for the lyrics. C'mon. My apartment is just down the road." I said. I kicked myself in the head for not remembering who he was.
I made my way to my apartment and paused at my door. I turned to look at him.
"Um… I'll be a minute." I said quickly, and rushed in, leaving the door slightly open as I dashed off, looking for the lyrics in my room.
Kyo POV
We'd talked about different things on the way home, and she seemed like a really good person. She was from America, and just moved a couple days ago. She works at the Namiregawa diner, and also is staying at their apartment building.
She's has brown hair and hazel eyes that change color. She doesn't know her blood type, but she's five foot five inches. She likes soup and rice, and hates steak, pork chops, onions, mushrooms, and peppers if they're not in omelets.
She was nice, funny, had a nice sense of humor, cute- woah. No, no, no, no, no! Don't think about her like that! For all you know, she has an American boyfriend waiting for her!
"Um… I'll be a minute." She said. Opened the door and walked in, and the door didn't shut all of the way. I slowly pushed the door open enough for me to see as much as I could. I stared in awe as I looked around the apartment. It was bigger, and way better than my small flat one.
I blushed and acted casual as she walked back with some notebooks. She locked up and handed me the notebooks, and began leading us back to "The Muse". It would be quite convenient, because my guitar was left there.
"These lyrics are really good. Do you have anything besides this up your sleeve in the line of music?" I asked. I watched her as her face light up. We entered the club and I ignored the smirk from the woman she was with as I led her backstage so that I could get my guitar.
"Well…" She began. I attached the guitar case onto my back. My drummer Hiroshi looked over and interrupted.
"Kyo, my man! You have a groupie? Or do you have a girlfriend that you never told us about?" He asked. I blushed, much to my displeasure, and glared at him.
"Shut up! It's nothing like that Hiroshi!" I snapped. Kenzi, the bassist joined in with Hiroshi as they laughed.
"Calm down Kyo. I won't tell the fan clubs that you found a girl." Kenzi said. He walked up to her and put his hand around her chin, bringing her closer. "And a cute girl at that."
"Kenzi! Not you too!" I exclaimed. I looked at Andrea, who stood there, slightly dumbfounded and completely and utterly embarrassed. I calmed down.
"It's all right Kyo… I won't kiss her. I'll let you have first dibs." He said. I gave him a warning glare and he smiled as he backed away.
"Andrea, this is Hiroshi and Kenzi. Hiroshi plays drums and Kenzi plays the Bass. Try to ignore their crack ass jokes. They bust around, but they have mush for brains." I said, giving the two guys a glare. They gave back completing glares.
We stopped out glaring contest when a soft laugh came from next to us. We turned to look at her.
"You guys are funny." She said joyously. Kenzi and Hiroshi instantly backed off from me and went back to pretending to be cool and casual. "Why don't we all hang out at the park?"
I looked to them, who looked to me. In unison, we replied with "Sure." She smiled. I smiled.
We walked to the park, Kenzi with his bass on his back, and Hiroshi banging his sticks on just about anything he could get a hold of. We chose a couple benches and I took a seat on one, Andrea sitting next to me. Hiroshi sat on the opposite one, one foot up on the bench with him. Kenzi sat on the back of it, hitting his knees with his sticks.
"So…" I began, turning a little to face her. She did so too. "As I was saying, before I was interrupted, do you have anything else up your sleeve when it comes to music?"
"Well, actually… a lot." She said. We leaned in a little.
"I taught myself some piano, oboe, recorder, I have over five years of violin, a little bit of drums…" Kenzi laughed in triumph. She smiled. "…and then, I sing."
"What?" We exclaimed in unison. She never told me this all night!
Andrea POV
"What?" They exclaimed. I nervously smiled at them.
"What do you mean? You… sing like, church sing?" Hiroshi said. I shook my head.
"I was going to be the singer in a band, sing." I said. They gawked. "My friend moved that was going to be in the band and, we never kept it together after that."
"Well, could you… sing something?" Kyo asked. I smiled and he opened a page of my lyrics in front of him and showed it to me. "Maybe… this?"
I looked down at it, and it turned out to be something I made when I was upset one time. I gave him another smile and looked down at it, skimming over the lyrics and nodded.
"What's the tempo?" Kenzi asked. "Hiroshi can tap the beat." I paused, and snapped a tempo. Hiroshi started a drumbeat. I took a deep breath.
When I finished I sat there looking down embarrassed. Hiroshi stopped his tempo after the second line of the first verse.
"Well?" I looked up, mostly to Kyo. He seemed to be red in the face. Utterly quiet.
"Daaaang." Kenzi said. "You can SING."
I smiled shyly. As if on cue, Kenzi's watch beeped and he stood up, Hiroshi with him.
"Sorry guys, we got to go. I have late night shifts, and Hiroshi is my ride later. So see you." Kenzi said. I waved.
"Bye guys. Nice to meet you." I said. They came up and each gave me a one armed hug, putting the opposite hand on my head. Then they left and I sat there quietly with Kyo.
"So… um…" Kyo began. "What… would you like to do now?"
"I don't know." I said. I absent-mindedly checked the time. "Do you want to head back now?"
"Sure." He replied. I walked down the road, alongside Kyo. I looked around the darkness, before sighing as I looked up at the stars.
I had a really nice time, even though there were awkward moments. Kyo seemed to really be into his music, and he lived on the other side of the park by himself in a small, quiet apartment. His dad disappeared when he was little, and when he was in grade school, his mother died. He was trying to get into college at the moment, majoring in music.
I don't know why, but whenever I'm around Kyo, I feel as if I know him. I know it's weird to kind of feel this way on the first day we meet, but there's nothing you can do about it if you somehow feel some way. I really want to know why I feel so enthusiastic in my chest. I also had noticed that I've been absent-mindedly giving a long, staring glance at Kyo's hand.
Kyo POV
I walked along the street, making sure every once and a while that she was following. Not that I cared if she followed or not, it's just… to be nice I guess. I couldn't help but slightly feel like I needed her to be there.
I turned slightly again, to see if she was still there, to see she was. Like every other time I checked. I looked down at her, and cleared my throat. She hastily looked up at me.
"Yeah?" She asked. I felt my face heat up and I looked away.
"Nothing, nothing." I said. We continued walking in the silence, until a slight gasp escaped her lips. I looked at her, looking up at the sky. "What?"
"It's so… beautiful." She said. I looked at her confused. She suddenly blushed and nervously looked at me. "Sorry, I spoke English there. I said that it's beautiful."
"The sky?" I asked. She nodded. "It's… always like that."
I smirked and watched her as she spun around and tripped. She caught herself and stood straight, blushing.
"I've always wondered what the sky looked like in Japan. An American sky is no where near this beautiful." She said. She smiled sweetly and looked at me before nudging her head and walking into the apartment building. I blushed, and gripped her notebooks tighter as I followed her onto the elevator.
I followed her off and she walked down the hall. Down the long hall. I stopped when we reached outside of her door. She held onto her keys and fiddled with them a bit.
"Thanks for walking me home." She said thankfully. Instantly, my face heated up and I couldn't breathe.
"I-I-eh… it.. Sure." I choked out. I looked down and handed her the notebooks. She hesitantly took them.
"Well… good night." She said softly. She turned and unlocked her door, opening it slightly. She walked inside and turned to shut the door.
"W… w-wait!" I called. She froze and opened the door further. She looked at me and I looked back. My mouth grew dry. "Would you um… like to… come to one of our practices? I mean… you don't have to if you don't want to but…"
I looked down at my shoes, putting my hands in my pockets. I didn't want her to see my face. Then again… what the hell did I just do? She'll probably never go along with it. She'll probably scoff it off and give me a flat out-
"Sure. Of course, I'd love to go." She said. I froze and looked up at her. I swear my eyes could've been bigger than saucers. "When's your next practice?"
"It… I… The second Sunday, in two months." I managed. She smiled wider.
"Great. I don't have work on Sundays." She said. Her eyes brightened as I gave her a small smirk. "Well. I'll see you then, Kyo."
I felt my face heat up more as I looked at her smile and wait for a response.
"Yeah… See ya." I said. She softly shut the door. I paused a moment. After all we've been through that night, she finally called me Kyo. I grinned at her door and happily walked to the elevator, grinning the whole time. I got strange looks from passers by, but I paid them no mind as I walked home to my apartment.
Shutting the door behind me, I left my guitar by the couch as I headed towards the phone to let Hiroshi and Kenzi know. I hit the first button and double thought it, putting the phone down and making my way to the couch, sitting down with a cookie in my mouth. I took out my lyrics and added in what she had told me to. How she had that much musical talent was beyond what I could think of. Apparently she had started teaching herself piano, but wasn't what you'd call pretty comfortable and familiar with working with her left hand and her right hand playing notes at once. That had been a big reason as to why she only had one-year clarinet experience.
Andrea POV
I softly shut my door and gave my bed one thrilled leap onto it. I put my lyrics on the kitchen table and changed into pajamas before I went to sleep. Kyo Sohma. Guitarist. Singer. Friend. Someone that somehow is starting to make my heart beat faster.
