Okay, I thought, three more people and I'm going in.
It was lunchtime at Konoha Prep. Usually, I would be already in the lunch line with my best friend, not waiting for him to be as far away from me as possible. I've been doing this for two weeks. Two weeks since the incident.
Kankuro and I, we've been having some issues lately. I like him and he told me that he liked me too, at the same time asking me to the dance – an invitation I had gladly accepted. We were at the dance and this girl I hate, Cassandra, and him kissed, so I stormed out. He told me that it was an accident that he and her kissed, that she kissed him, and he was all romantic with me as he apologized – it made me smile.
I believe him, I do. Kankuro has never lied to me before – that I'm aware of, at least – and I trust him completely. My only problem is that every time I see him I want to burst into waves of dramatic tears. I can't help it, it just sort of happens. I don't want to be anywhere near him now because I don't want to become a blubbery mess in from of him. It's tragic, really.
As I exit the lunch line, I glance around the room in search of him. Spotting him, I smile. He's sitting at our usual table with our eighteen – Alyssa, Gaara, Hinata, Naruto, Karin, Lee, Sakura, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Temari, Chouji, Kin, Tenten, Neji, Ino, Kiba, Shino, and Tayuya. (Since there are so many of us, we pull together two tables, sometimes three, to fit us all.) I frown when I see his discontent. Why is he sad? I gasp, a thought hitting me.
Could it be…me?
I shake my head and, dismissing the thought, I look for a place to sit. Kankuro wouldn't get depressed over me. Though, he did say he likes me a lot. So, I guess it could be me that's the reason for his sadness.
"Hey, Mikkay! Come sit with us!"
I turned, seeing Kankuro with hope in his eyes. I can tell that he wants badly for me to come and take the vacant seat right beside him. I yearn to take that seat, I really do, but I can't. My stomach churns and emotions overwhelm my being. I can feel my eyes begin to water as I bite my lip and turn away, sitting down at the table with my honor student, smart, student council friends.
"Hi," I greet them. "How are you guys doing?"
The majority of them answer me with 'good' or 'fine,' though my friend Leiko stays silent as she passes me her apple. I sat right next to her because she makes me feel calm and peaceful – something I really need right now.
"Thank you." I start to nibble on the delicious red apple, my favorite of all the apples.
"You're welcome," she says. "You're still ignoring that Kankuro guy, aren't you?"
I droop my head, ashamed. "Yes," I whisper. "I am."
"You seem sadder now," she tells me. "Is it because of what happened at the dance?" I nod. "He means that much to you?"
Leiko and Kankuro aren't friends. It's not that they hate each other with a burning passion, or anything. They just don't care for the other much. They don't interact.
I smile weakly. "He does. He means the world to me, maybe even more than that."
"Then stop ignoring him and get together, or whatever," she advises me. "If he really means that much, you should go get him."
"I would," I say, "but every time I see him I think of the dace and it makes me cry." I sigh. "How can I face him like that? I would just end up embarrassing both him and myself."
"If he likes you as much as you say he says he does, then he can get over it. If not – I'm sorry to say, but – you should just leave him and find someone else."
I nod. Leiko always gives me sound advice, so I know I should just trust her. The thing is that I really like Kankuro. I'm not sure I would be able to let him go.
"Look," she continues, "you know I don't think people should date in high school, so I'm pretty sure you know what I think you should do."
I nod again, and say, "Let him go."
"Exactly. Though, I see you hurting without him. So if you want to," she says, "keep him. Two things, though: don't whine to me if he hurts you and good luck."
"Thanks."
She smiles for a second before her face pales as she looks over my shoulder. "Oh, god."
Before I can even ask her what it is, I hear him call my name and say, "We need to talk."
I turn to see Cassandra hanging all over him, purring, "Hey, Kankuro-kun. What's up?"
My eyes start to water. Why does this always happen to me? I don't need this.
"That idiot," Leiko growls. "How stupid of him."
"I got to go," I say quickly as I grab my purse. "Bye."
I run out of the cafeteria and down the hallway in tears. Now I know that I must be completely and totally stupid. How else could I have ended up in this situation? I stop running and just stand in the middle of the hallway. Quickly, I wipe my eyes of any access water and I sniffle softly.
"My life sucks," I say to myself. "I hate men."
I begin walking down the hall again. My eyes feel all swollen. They are in desperate need of a touch up, I conclude. I'll go to the bathroom, fix it, and then go get my stuff out of my locker for the next bell. There was no way I was going back to lunch, not with Kankuro and Cassandra in there.
Suddenly I feel a pair of arms wrap around my waist. I gasp, my voice screeches down the hallway. My eyes narrow as I turn, not liking who's there.
"Get away from me," I growl at him. How dare he? He should be back with Cassandra, not me.
I pull out of his grasp and try to storm off, only to be caught again by the wrist. Way to ruin my exit, I though. Turning, I look him in the eye and ask him the only question on my mind.
"What do you want, Kankuro? What could you possibly want—"
I was cut off by the crashing of his lips to my own. My eyebrows rise in surprise. I started to kiss him back softly, and I was dumbfounded on how good the kiss felt. It was hard and rough, but gentle and soft all at the same time. What a very nice way of telling me to shut up.
Kankuro pulled back, leaving me breathless as he spoke to me.
"What I want is for you to talk to me again. Nicely," he adds as if I didn't already know what he meant. "You don't know just how much I miss your laugh, the sweet sound of your voice. It's driving me insane! So please, please talk to me."
His words made my heart melt. I never knew he was such a romantic, or that he liked me that much. It was flattering and it meant a lot to me. I looked up, placing my hand oh his cheek.
"Oh, Kankuro," I whispered softly. Standing of my tippy-toes, I placed a kiss on his lips, a sweet and tender kiss. I pulled back this time, smiling as I did.
Kankuro looked so cute grinning the way that his was. He was grinning so hard that I thought that his face might break. "Are we okay now?" he asked me, hope and happiness in his eyes.
I nod, smiling brilliantly at him. "Yes, yes we are." I can't help it; my free hand moves to his other cheek and I pull him down for another kiss. His mouth feels so good against mine; I love it.
Kankuro breaks our kiss, smirking as he did. "Now where was that three weeks ago?"
I tilt my head to the side a little, hating the fact that I don't even have the slightest idea as to what he is talking about. "Why? What happened three weeks ago?"
"You got that new chocolate lip gloss three weeks ago," he tells me. "It smelt so good, and you have no idea how badly I wanted to kiss you just then."
Oh, I remember that. "Probably the same amount that I wanted you to kiss me."
His eyebrow rose, as if he was surprised. "You wanted me to?"
"No," I tease, "I'm lying to you. Yes, half-wit, I did." I felt my face warm. I must be blushing. "I've liked you for quite a while, Kankuro."
"So have I, you," he tells me. It's his way of saying he likes me too.
"Um, Kankuro?" My face feels like it's caught fire. I'm probably as red as a lobster right now.
"Yes?" he answers.
"You know that chocolate lip gloss? No, wait." I mentally slap myself. "That was a stupid question."
"Go on." He looks at me patiently. For a guy who hate to wait, he seems cuts me a lot of slack.
"Well—I, uh, have it with me." I nervously search through my purse, looking for the tube. Before my nerves come crashing down, I apply the gloss and pout my lips at him. "Wanna taste?"
As my chin is tilted up I see the smile on Kankuro's face. He looks like I just made his day. Whatever doubt I may have had that told me he didn't like me disappeared as his lips press gently to my glossy ones. My world is swirling as Kankuro pulls back and says, "Yum," before going back down to continue the kiss. I kiss him passionately; wrapping my arms around his neck – something I always wanted to do – as he simultaneously moves his hands to grip my hips.
Our bodies shmush together and I knot my fingers in his hair. I can barely tell where I end and he begins. I can feel the fast beating of a heart, but I'm not sure whose I'm hearing – his, mine, or ours combined. His tongue slicks gently onto my bottom lip and I let out a soft moan, opening my mouth for him. He greedily dives in, massaging his muscle against mine. I never thought kissing could feel this good. Kankuro's tongue is magical on mine.
I hear a voice as someone taps on my shoulder. Ignoring it, I continue kissing him as passionately as I can. Suddenly, we are pushed apart, his tongue leaving my mouth. Now I feel empty inside a little, which is weird.
"I did not need to see that," I hear a female voice chime. I turn to see that one of my closest friends, Alyssa, was the one who pulled Kankuro and me apart.
I blush in utter embarrassment. "Sorry about it."
"No worries, sweet pea," she kindly excuses. "Let's go back to lunch so we can eat."
I smile. "Oky doky." I no longer had the need to go get my stuff and go to class since we kissed and made up. Well, made out, but whatever.
"Oh, and Kankuro?"
"What?" he asked.
The moment Alyssa smirked I knew Kankuro wasn't going to like what she has to say. "You got some lip gloss right around here." Her hand waved all over her face.
I had to stifle a giggle as he blushed and wiped his face off. Embarrassed, he mumbled, "Shut up," to her.
Gaara, chuckled, earning himself a glare from his brother. Grabbing his girlfriend's hand, he led her back to the cafeteria, leaving his brother and me by ourselves again. All I got to say is three words: thank you, Gaara.
Though I was happy as I could be, my nerves were starting to catch up with me. Before doubt and whole other mess of emotions could stop me, I took his hand lacing my fingers with his.
Masking my nervousness, I purred, "Come on, Kanky-kun. I'm hungry."
I smile as Kankuro chuckles and gives my hand a squeeze. "You're always hungry."
Absentmindedly, I wipe my mouth, too. There was probably lip-gloss there. "You say that like it's a bad thing." I scoff.
"That's because it is, you dummy," he teases.
Now we're acting like how we were before he asked me to the dance. Has anything changed between us? Or are we just going back to the way it was before and just forgetting all this happened? I think about what I want and I realize something.
I don't want to go back to normal. It's not that I didn't like the way we were before—because I do. I just want to be able to snuggle, and hold hands—and kiss, though I wasn't about to admit it. Basically, I wanted us to date.
I guess I'd better tell him.
"Kankuro?"
He turned to me. "Yeah?"
"Is this—" Wait, I should just come out and say it. "Are we dating now?"
I hear a low grumble come from his throat. Realizing it was a laugh I glare at him. How dare he laugh at me?
"What part of that was funny?" I growl. "That was a freakin' serious question, Kankuro."
"I'm sorry." He leaned towards me, softly kissing my temple. I blushed. "I didn't mean it like that at all." He held up our woven together hands. "And yes, we are dating. If you want to, I mean." He sounded so bashful; I wanted to give him a hug. "Do you want to?"
"That's a stupid question, Kanky-kun," I tell him. "Of course I want to. Why would I not?"
He smiled at me, giving me the most brilliant smile I've ever seen.
"Good. I want to, too."