Chapter 8- He Said, She Said
"Happy Birthday, Kairi!" Roxas and Namine cheered simultaneously. I smiled at two of my best friends. The dinner they had wanted me to attend was for my 20th birthday.
"The others will be here soon." Namine said walking up to hug me.
"There's more coming?" I asked surprised.
"Of course, it can't be just the three of us." Roxas answered as he turned on the stereo to some party mix he had made.
"Who else will be here?" Before he could answer that question, there was a knock at the door. He walked over to see who had just arrived. Riku and Amanda, of course, walked in together with a present in each of their hands.
"We saw Cloud outside. He was parking his car." Amanda said. "He'll be here in a little bit."
"This is making me all excited." I grinned happily as the newest party guests put their gifts next to Roxas and Namine's on the coffee table.
"Josh, Blake, and Alexa are also in the car with him." Riku added. Just about a minute later, the four of them walked in. I immediately went to hug them all.
"Josh," I said wrapping my arms around him. "Feels like I haven't seen you in ages."
"Yeah," He laughed. "You look good."
"You too." I replied stepping back to get a better look at my old family friend. He probably only grew another two inches. His black hair wasn't that long and his brown eyes were still wide with awareness. I looked over to see Blake and Alexa. "Aw, it's so good to see that you two are still together."
"Yeah," Alexa grinned as she reached for Blake's arm happily. He looked down at her and smiled. There was another knock at the door.
"Who else is coming?" I asked surprised. Namine went to open the door, this time to reveal my parents, along with Alexa's parents, Uncle John and Aunt Juli.
"Hi!" I jumped over to them excitedly. I loved seeing my family. Even though I've been living with my parents for a week, it always made a difference when they came to see me somewhere else.
"Hey kiddo." Uncle John said patting my head.
"She's not a kiddo anymore, dear." Aunt Juli corrected him, smiling. "She's already twenty."
"My little girl is growing up so fast." My mom said hugging me tightly. I could already hear her voice start to quiver a little.
"Mom," I said as she hugged me tighter.
"Helen, you're suffocating our daughter." My dad said releasing her arms from me before he gently hugged me.
"Who's hungry?" Namine chimed from the kitchen. Every decided they were as we began to head into the kitchen in a line that wrapped into it from the living room. Roxas and Namine had set up a little buffet with salad, barbeque, fruits, and saved the cake for after.
"I'll get you yours." Cloud said to me. "Anything you want in specific?"
"A little bit of everything, please." I smiled softly. He smiled back and headed in line. Seeing a lot of our group from back in high school automatically brought back so many happy memories. I couldn't wait to get all of us together sometime soon. Not even a minute after the thought came to mind, there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it!" I offered since I was the only one not in line. I walked over to the front door and opened it. I was surprised to see who it was.
"Hey, Kairi." Sora said quietly. He was holding a birthday balloon, a dozen red roses, and a small, neatly wrapped present with a pink bow.
"H-hi." I said stepping back to let him in.
"Happy birthday." He said as we walked into the living room.
"Thank you." Sora handed me flowers and sat down the other things on the coffee table. He noticed the line for food and decided to wait to get something. "How are you?"
"I'm doing fine." I replied. Even though I'd seen him at work, this was the first time outside of work that I had seen him since we went on our break. It felt awkward. "How about you?"
"Same." He looked down as he put his hands into his pockets. I put the roses up to my nose and took in the refreshing scent.
"These smell so good." I smiled admiring my birthday flowers. He looked up and smiled. Namine came out of the kitchen and saw the flowers.
"Here," She smiled at me as she took them out of my hands. "I'll go put these in water for you."
"Thank you, Nam."
"So twenty, already." Sora said getting my attention again. I laughed a little before smiling at him.
"Yeah, feels kind of old in a way."
"Hey, least you just turned twenty. I'm going to be twenty-one soon." He smiled.
"Not for another eight more months." I replied with a smile plastered to my face.
"It's really nice to see you smile, you know." Sora said brushing the hair out of my eyes. This only caused me to be slightly embarrassed as I turned to look down a little since I could feel my cheeks begin to burn. There was suddenly another knock at the door.
"Now who could it be?" I said looking up toward the front door.
"I'll get it." Sora said.
"No, it's okay, I will." I quickly walked passed him to the door. When I opened it, I honestly thought my eyes were playing a mean trick on me.
"Hey." Shawn smiled holding a wrapped present. "I heard about the birthday party."
"Um, hi." I said shocked. I stepped aside to let him walk in. Roxas came out of the kitchen and stood by Sora. They both looked over to see who the newest party guest was.
"Wait, how did you know there was a party?" Roxas asked in a slightly harsh tone.
"I heard you talking to Sora about it at work. I couldn't miss out on Kairi's birthday." Shawn replied handing me my present. I walked by him to put it on the coffee table with everyone else's. Right as Shawn was closing the door, I noticed Christy standing in the doorway.
"Um," Christy said stopping the door and glaring at Shawn. "I'm standing right here." She pushed the door open with a force and walked over to hand me a small little box. "Happy birthday, Kairi."
"Um, thank you?" Okay, something was definitely not right. Shawn glared as Christy walked passed him. He was about to close the door when Christy turned around.
"My date will be here in a second." She announced to her exboyfriend.
"Who invited you?" Roxas glared. Namine walked out and was shocked. Everyone else was so busy with food, they didn't even notice the last three, soon to be four, guests arrive.
"I have my ways." Christy smiled innocently. There was a tap on the door. We all averted our attention to the partly opened front door. I slapped my forehead.
"I'm not late, am I?" Seifer asked with a smirk.
"Nope." Christy said waving him in. Seifer walked passed Shawn as if it were nothing. I noticed Shawn give him a dirty glare. This was absolutely ridiculous.
"Here Kairi, be careful not to spill anything, the plate is kind of overflowing." Cloud said walking carefully toward me with my dinner. He looked up from the plate to see three people I bet he never thought he'd have to face ever again.
"Cloud Strife," Seifer said. "Long time, no see."
"What the hell are youdoing here?" Cloud almost yelled. Since the volume of his voice wasn't exactly the quietest, everyone else at the party turned their attention toward the entryway of the apartment. Riku walked forward to join Sora, Roxas, and Cloud with this arms crossed.
"Do we need to get someone out of here?" My dad said walking forward with my uncle.
"We got it, dad." I said putting my hand up.
"I'm here for Kairi's birthday party." Seifer answered.
"Who invited you?" Riku snarled.
"Christy."
"Who invited Christy?" Amanda said as she moved forward to get a better view. Unfortunately, just as Christy was about to answer, yet again there was another knock.
"Now who?" Roxas sighed heavily. Since Shawn was closest to the door, he opened it up. A tall, blonde haired girl with aqua blue eyes stared in. I didn't recognize her at first but when I did, my mouth fell open and my eyes widened.
"Cindy?" I said shocked. Christy and Cindy had been best friends back in high school but their friendship strained toward the end. They're still friends but by the look on Christy's face, she wasn't happy to see her.
"What are youdoing here?" Christy hissed at her best friend.
"I invited her." Shawn said as Cindy stood next to him. "She's my date."
"You can go screw yourself, Shawn." Christy replied.
"Okay, you four were not invited to this birthday party so we need some explanations before this party goes completely down the drain." Namine said turning off the music.
"We know that Shawn invited Cindy and Christy invited Seifer." Riku said.
"And Shawn over heard me talking to Sora about the birthday party at work today." Roxas looked at him.
"Now we're trying to find out how Christy knew about it." Amanda added.
"Well," Christy smiled, slightly too evilly. "Sora told me about it." There were a couple gasps here and there. I couldn't believe what I had just heard. I turned to look at Sora.
"Is that true?" I questioned him. He did look ashamed and guilty.
"Yeah." He answered. Everyone who was originally invited seemed surprised that Sora would do such a thing.
"Why?" It hurt that he'd purposely ruin my party.
"Because," Christy began as she walked forward to take his hand in hers. My stomach twisted with agony. "He wanted me to come. Trying to see if we can spark the little romance we had before you came along."
"Is... is that true, Sora?" I whispered. He looked up at me for a second, his eyes were strongly met with mine. Next thing I knew, he quickly pushed Christy's hands away from him.
"This is so fucking stupid!" He yelled. I jumped a little. Sora was hardly angry and when he would yell, you knew he was more than mad. "I can't take this stupid evil plot of yours Christy!"
"Sora! What are you doing!" Christy glared. "You're going to ruin everything."
"You already made it worse than it needed to be." He glared at her. Sora turned to me and took me by the hand. "Kairi, I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking when I agreed with Christy to make you and Shawn jealous."
"Sora!" Christy yelled again.
"Shut up!" He hissed at her. "I'm trying to speak!" I was stunned by the way Sora was acting, yet, it slightly turned me on. Focus, Kairi... focus. "The day you saw Christy in my office, nothing happened. I swear on my life. She knew I was upset that you and Shawn were speaking and she wanted to make him jealous and wanted to help me make you jealous. It wasn't right. I wasn't thinking. I was being stupid and I'm sorry." He frowned before hugging me. "I'm sorry." He whispered into my ear.
"Sora," I said back. "I was about to do the same kind of jealousy thing with Shawn but we just never got around to planning anything. I'm sorry too."
"But Kairi," He pulled back. "I'm sorry about everything. I realized after you left the day I said we needed a break that it was stupid. Riku made me realize what I had and I wish I realized it before I made my choice. I know it's only been a little over a week and I said at least a month, but I want you back."
"Really?" I tried to hold down my excitement.
"More than anything."
"I've missed you." I said hugging him tightly. Without realizing it, tears were filling my eyes, of course they were happy ones.
"I've missed you too." He kissed my forehead. I lifted up my head and we had our first kiss in a week. Yeah, I know a week isn't long but after getting kisses for almost four years daily, a week can kill.
"Okay," Roxas smiled. "We got the other situation cleared." Sora and I smiled at each other before looking back at the four who weren't really intended to be here.
"I'm confused," Josh said. "Christy, why don't you want to see your best friend here?"
"Because she was sneaking around with Shawn when we were dating." Christy pointed angrily at her best friend. "That's why Shawn and I didn't last."
"What?" I was shocked. "But Shawn, you said that Christy was sneaking around with Seifer."
"She was." Shawn snarled.
"So you two were cheating on each other?" Sora asked. No one answered, just stared.
"I take that as a yes." Namine answered. We were all left in silence for what seemed like eternity before Sora, Riku, Roxas, and Cloud all moved forward. Sora took hold of Shawn, Riku took Christy, Roxas took Cindy, and Cloud took Seifer.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Shawn asked as Sora pushed him toward the front door that was being held open by Josh.
"I'm escorting you out of my girlfriend's birthday party." Sora said as he walked outside with Shawn in hand. The others followed until everyone disappeared outside. Just seconds later, Sora, Riku, Roxas, and Cloud walked back in with successful smiles.
"Now, let's get this party started!" Roxas cheered. I started laughing as everyone returned to the party as if nothing had happened. As everyone ran back into the kitchen or started dancing to the music Namine put back on, Sora walked up to me with a huge smile on his face and embraced me with both a kiss and hug.
A few days had gone by after my birthday. Work was a little nerve wrecking but Shawn, Christy, nor Cindy talked to each other or us. Everything else was back to normal. I was living back at the apartment with Sora and Riku. Everything just felt right and I was honestly happy again. Sora and I finished eating lunch at my choice, McDonalds, even though Sora wanted something else, he didn't want to argue with me. We were driving back to work together.
"So you still think you made the right choice?" I asked referring to him wanting to be with me still after his little break he decided to pull on me. I looked at Sora as we drove down the road. I was kind of nervous to hear the truth and my throat suddenly went dry as I looked back at the road.
"Yeah..." He said kind of uncertain. "But I think Jack In The Box would have been better." Sora laughed and I looked at him shocked by that remark. I started laughing and hit his arm. I looked back into my lap where my hands were closed around each other.
"You know what I mean."
"Yeah, I know. I just wanted to lighten up the mood." He smiled and looked at me out of the corner of his eye. I smiled at him shyly.
"The mood was already light."
"Well, I like it light."
"It wasn't heavy though."
"I know." We both smiled at each other. It was true. Sora was back to his normal happy self who would joke with me just because he could. I was happy and I could tell by the way he kissed me at the stoplight that he was too.
A/N: AWWW! You all know that was an AW moment lol. Okay, already finished chapter 8 on January 10, 2008.. I am on a roll people! -smiles- yes obviously it wasn't actually updated on the 10th but still, it was finished. Hope you enjoyed it! (Starting date: Jan 7, obvious ending date: Jan 10) Just so you all know, chapter 9 is done and I'm in the middle of chapter 10. Reviews definitely encourage me to update for your reading pleasure.