category: Gundam SEED
disclaimer: I don't own it.
TWENTY-THREE.
"Thank you," Even Athrun's simple acknowledgement of refilled coffee sent the waitress into a fit of pleased giggles.
"You're welcome!" she squeaked, and courageously patted his hand in response before scurrying back behind the counter.
Cagalli was not amused, and clearly expressed her irritation as soon as the waitress was out of earshot. "This needs to end," she commanded, her cup rattling in her grip.
"Hmm?" Athrun looked up from his eggs. "What are you talking about?"
"Athrun!" Cagalli struggled to keep her voice down in the crowded breakfast bar. "You need to stop being so nice all the time."
He tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "Yes, Cagalli, I'll stop maintaining all facades of civility in public. These people, you know…they don't deserve it!" He shook his head. "What's the matter with you?"
She fidgeted in her seat and fumbled for words. "Don't you realize the effect you have on people?" At his puzzled frown, she blurted out, "On girls!" Her hands fiddled with the tablecloth nervously. "They always get so giggly and touchy-feely and flirty around you."
Athrun stared at her as if he had just been told that that in fact the world was not round. "No, I haven't noticed anything of that nature."
"Well I have!" Cagalli nearly shouted. "All those girls, in the military and on the street and in shops, Lunamaria and Meyrin Hawke, our waitress and my press secretary and the one on the train yesterday. They hang off every word of yours." She scowled scornfully and stirred her coffee with enough momentum to send droplets flying onto her napkin.
"What am I supposed to do?" Athrun was at a loss before he realized that he had stumbled upon the perfect setup to get under Cagalli's skin. "Does it bother you?" he asked slowly, and surreptitiously rubbed his foot along her bare calf under the table.
Cagalli flushed instantaneously and her hand began to twitch jerkily against the wood of the table. "Yes. No! Just a little. M-maybe."
"It's okay, Cagalli," he observed the family sitting next to them nonchalantly. "You can just admit that you're jealous."
Cagalli's face darkened instantaneously and she kicked him squarely in the shin. Athrun almost doubled over to grab at his leg in pain. "Yeah, that'll teach you, Athrun Zala." She raised her chin haughtily. "Just have the decency from now on to not lead on clueless girls in front of my face."
The waitress hurried over and placed the billfold between them, and Athrun shot Cagalli a superior look before turning to the girl and squeezing her hand.
"Thanks so much," he leaned in to make out the name on her tag, "Annette." He passed her a final knee-knocking smile and Cagalli jumped out of her chair and stormed out of the restaurant in a furious huff.
notes: I've been getting a lot of anonymous reviews lately, so I just wanted to reach out to those of you I can't contact in return and say THANK YOU! I really appreciate everyone who leaves feedback for me, even if it's only a sentence - it truly means a lot to me. I only hope SPTW is living up to your expectations. Please stick around until the end if you can.
NEXT PHASE: One day, Lacus doesn't sing as she does every morning. She doesn't feel up to it for two days, three, four, a year. Lacus Clyne does not sing anymore.