A/N: Thanks for all the nice reviews and favorites and stuff! Enjoy!
Disclaimer:Yeah I think you get it by now… I don't own… God I hate having to repeat myself…
Chapter 8 Accidents Happen.
(Normal PoV)
Neither of them dares say as much as a word before, during and after breakfast, both trying their best not to meet the others eyes. After washing the dishes there isn't really anything left for them to do but sit around and stare at… anything but each other.
The incessant ticking of the clock sitting on the table starts getting to Mikan, to the point that she twitches every second when she hears the annoying tic-tock. Oh how she wishes to shoot that damn thing and smash it with a hammer. Natsume is pretty much the same, though he taps his finger on his lap every second.
And so it goes on for a long time… well until almost midday when she decides she can't take it anymore. (A/N: It sure took a long time to reach her limit… I wonder how much longer Natsume could hold though…)
"Okay this is getting ridiculous!" she says standing up still unconsciously twitching. "So we kissed big deal! It's not like it meant anything!"
Natsume doesn't answer; he just sits there but looks at her from the corner of his eyes, not wanting to face her. Had it really meant nothing? Of course it should have, it was just a meaningless kiss but… He shakes his head trying to get rid of those thoughts.
"I'm not gonna take this annoying silence anymore!" she says raising her voice. Once again she gets no response and the ticking continues. "AHHH! MOU ENOUGH!" she says kicking the clock off the table and stomping on it repeatedly.
Natsume covers his mouth with his hands trying to hold back a chuckle. She glares at him and he can't help but laughing out loud.
"WHAT?" Mikan shouts at him.
"Nothing…" he says still laughing. "I just… I think I sort of understand that poor clock's feelings…"
Mikan looks at him confused until she remembers what she did to him a while ago… a small smile forms on her lips "Yeah… sorry about that... it was an accident…" she says sheepishly.
"Yeah I guess anyone's foot can ACCIDENTALLY slip and step on someone else's HARD when they are both standing completely still…" he answers sarcastically.
"You can't just say apology accepted, can you? You always have to make it harder for me when I try to apologize…" she tries to pretend to be angry, but he sees right through her disguise.
"You should know by now that I'm immune to your acting skills…"
"Yeah… but it can't hurt to try." she smiles. He doesn't know why but every time she really smiles he can't help but smile along. They stay silent like that for a second or so, but Natsume knows he can't take anymore silence, so he says the first thing that crosses his mind.
"Anyway… about this party thing…" So it wasn't the best topic to talk about 'She's gonna start saying I need to learn how to dance and that stuff… but it's a hell lot better than the silence…' he thinks comforting himself.
"Oh… I'd completely forgotten about that…"
"Seriously how can you forget about such an important matter? My first public appearance, Mochu's parent-free-party?" he says mocking the tone she had used earlier.
"Oh shut up…" she answers coldly "I think it'll be alright… I mean you really won't be dancing, and handling complete strangers doesn't seem to be something you can't do… As long as you refrain from doing anything stupid then there's nothing else to worry about."
"Aw so no jumping on the tables and acting like a monkey then?" he asks smiling.
"Can't you stop being so sarcastic all the time?"
"Hmm… sorry no can do, it's my trademark! I mean think about it! Tsubasa-senpai has the gay star tattoo on his cheek; Ruka-pyon has the girly face, and You-chan has the spoiled brat attitude… I was thinking I-." she cuts him off mid-sentence already knowing where this whole conversation is going.
"Nobody likes a smartass, you know?" she retorts.
"Well right back at you…"
She's decides not to answer anymore 'This discussion could continue forever…'she sighs and sits on the couch. He looks at her very confused as she turns on the TV and switches to some fashion channel…
"What a classy way to end a conversation…" he says while he sits next to her, well not exactly next to, he makes sure to leave some space between them.
Without taking her eyes off the TV she answers "If I kept answering to you this discussion would never end now would it?" she sighs and switches the channel again "Arguing with you is really exhausting… Just like with Hotaru." She adds.
He could retort to that and continue the pointless argument, but he decides to just lie back and watch TV, for peace's sake. After watching some weird girl show Natsume starts feeling sleepy, eventually his eyes close and he falls to the side, landing on Mikan's lap.
She's startled and is about to yell at him when she notices he's sound asleep. Somehow seeing him like that makes her feel a little tired too and decides to indulge herself with a quick nap, there's still a lot of time before the party anyway… She closes her eyes and dozes off to sleep.
The minutes quickly turn into hours, and Mikan and Natsume are still sleeping. Night falls, but neither of them notices.
-Pick up baka it's me- Mikan's cell phone sounds. She yawns and picks it up. Still half asleep she answers.
"Hello?" she yawns once again. "Ah Hotaru… What's up?" she asks rubbing her eyes. (A/N: Remember the "pause"thing from the previous chapter? Well same situation…)
"Yeah I sort of fell asleep on the couch hehe…" pause
"EH RIGHT NOW? But it's still…" pause
"What time is it now?" pause
"WHAT HALF PAST TEN!" pause
"Sorry Hotaru I gotta hang up now, I'll explain later. Ja!" -Click- she hangs up.
"HEY! HEYY! WAKE UP! WE GOTTA GO!" she shouts getting up and throwing Natsume to the floor on the process.
"What the-?" he says holding his head watching Mikan running into her room and slamming the door shut with an extremely loud -BANG-"What do you mean we gotta go? It's still early right I only slept for like two hours tops…" he says while standing up and dusting his clothes.
Mikan comes rushing out of the room minutes later, make up perfectly applied on her face and with a completely different outfit from the one she was wearing before. (A/N: Okay I hate describing clothes, honestly, don't ask me why… I'm sorry I know it's an important thing but… -sigh- Fine I'll do it, sorry if it's not any good…)
Natsume stares at her for a while; she's wearing a simple black miniskirt, a strapless white top and a pair of black high-heeled boots… Oh wait; make that designer's miniskirt, designer's white top and designer'sblack boots. Her hair was let down, she probably didn't want to waste time tying it.
"I thought most girls took like hours to get ready for events like parties and stuff…" Natsume says not hiding the amazement in his voice.
"Well I'm not "most girls"…" she says grabbing his wrist and pulling him over to the exit.
"Wait, what about me? Didn't you buy a special "party outfit" yesterday?" she looks at him for a second and stops to think. She walks over to the seven remaining bags picks them up and walks to the car dragging him with her.
She opens the back door and throws the bags and Natsume into the car. She gets on the front seat and drives away.
"Change before we get there, you have like ten or fifteen minutes…" she says
"What? I'm not changing here!"
"Oh please we've already been through this remember? Besides I'm driving it's not like I can watch or anything… Even if I wanted to, which I don't!"
"You could've left me five minutes to change before we left!"
"No… The first time I told you to change you took like an hour inside the bathroom… We're already running late as it is..."
"Well I'm not changing then… There's nothing wrong with these clothes anyway"
"Do what you want, but don't blame me if-."
"I hate it when people play the 'don't-blame-me-if' card" he says and starts unbuttoning his shirt.
"Well you should just cooperate from the start, and then I wouldn't have to…"
Ten minutes later they arrive at a Mochu's place. Mikan parks the car a bit farther away from the house and checks Natsume before letting him out of the car. After making sure his hair is in place, she checks his clothes. He's wearing a light-blue t-shirt with a dark-blue open shirt on top of it, dark jeans and black converse shoes.
"Are you ready?" she asks him before ringing the doorbell.
He sighs and nods "Let's get over with this already…" as soon as he finishes his sentence she rings and almost immediately the door bursts open.
"You're late…" Hotaru says staring at Mikan.
She smiles sheepishly "Yeah sorry we sort of fell asleep and-." Natsume elbows her discretely.
"Do I know you from somewhere?" Hotaru suddenly asks turning to Natsume. He gasps and tries to answer.
"Ac- actually I- I'm umm…" he stammers and isn't able to finish, fortunately Mikan completes the phrase for him
"This is the guy I was talking to you about… He's Natsume… the friend I wanted you to meet…" she says pointing at him, he just nods.
"Natsume, as in… Hyuuga Natsume?" she asks incredulously.
"Yes… It's nice to finally meet you Imai-san…" he says finally finding his voice so to speak.
Looking at him from head to toe, up and down, she finally speaks "We've already met; we're in the same class baka…" she says coldly.
Natsume sweat drops; he doesn't know what to say.
"Anyway, I'll introduce him to the rest of the group and then maybe you can get to know each other." Mikan interrupts and pulls him into the house and winks.
When they enter the music suddenly stops and everyone turns around to look at Mikan who smiles brightly and says in a loud voice for everyone to hear "Hi everyone! I'm sorry to interrupt the music but this'll take just a second." All around whispers can be heard from girls gossiping saying things like:
"Who's that guy?"
"Is he her new boyfriend?"
"I hope he isn't!"
"Ah he's really hot!"
And stuff like that… Natsume who's obviously not used to being the center of attention starts becoming really nervous and literally hot (as in temperature). Mikan just ignores the comments and carries on with her speech.
"THIS" she says pointing at him "Is OUR new friend… Hyuuga Natsume-kun!" she says smiling even more as she hears a loud "EHHHHH!" coming from the crowd. "I take it that you all know him... And I hope you can forget about the past and give him a warm welcome!"
Silence takes over the room for a second, until from the back of the room Tsubasa shouts "How about a round of applause for our new fellow Natsume?" everyone starts clapping, shouting and whistling creating a huge commotion.
The music starts once again and the party continues as if nothing had happened. Mikan pats Natsume on the shoulder and whispers to him "Well, you're on your own from now. Remember don't do anything stupid and be nice." And she walks away into the crowd.
Completely clueless of what to do next he just starts wandering around avoiding big masses of people, dealing with one or two (probably drunk) teens on the way.
He spots Youichi sitting on a couch with his usual poker face; surrounded by noisy, annoying (fan) girls. He laughs at the scene 'I wonder if he'll tape their mouths…'he thinks and laughs some more. When they grey-haired teen notices him he stands up and walks over to him, followed by the (fan) girls who look at him like hungry lions looking at their next prey.
"Ah! Youichi-kun and Natsume-kun know each other?" asks one of the girls when she notices how both of them exchange smirks. Youichi's smirk widens and he nods. Suddenly all of the (fan) girls surround Natsume and start introducing themselves to him.
Youichi takes the chance to run away. Natsume glares at him and shouts "Youichi you little, I'm gonna get you for this!"
Mikan who's silently looking at the turn of events smiles glad that things are working out for the best. She grabs a small bottle of beer from a little fridge and starts drinking it. (A/N: And so it begins -insert evil laughter-)
Natsume tries to escape but the girls follow him everywhere. He could try to find Ruka or someone else to attach them to but he couldn't really see anyone with all of them blocking his sight. And then he gets an idea…
He raises a hand and points his index finger to the side and gasps faking surprise, all of the girls turn their heads to look in that direction. Obviously when they turn back to look at him he isn't there anymore.
He finds himself in the garden after aimlessly wandering around the house. He starts to wonder why there's nobody back there, but then again, better for him… He walks over to a sakura tree and sits down, gazing at the stars. (A/N: The sakura tree, just like the polka-dots is a MUST HAVE in any Gakuen Alice fic, don't you agree?)
He sighs, this sort of thing really didn't go with him, he wasn't the party type of guy, yet here he was, all dolled up to impress a girl he couldn't even talk to without feeling the need to rush to a bathroom and throw up.
"Why did you let her do this to you?" he hears a voice asking.
"To be honest with you I don't really know myself… I thought I had nothing to lose and…"
"And you had something to win?" the owner of the voice sits down next to him.
"Well… maybe I do, although I'm not so sure anymore…" he doesn't even mind to check who the voice belongs to, he really doesn't care.
"Is it a girl? Is that why you're mounting this whole show?"
"At first it was…"
"Isn't it anymore?"
"I guess it still is I mean I haven't really ever talked her other than today, and that went awfully bad… but I can't help but feel like I know exactly the type of person she is…"
"So why don't you talk to her?"
He shrugs "Perhaps it's because I'm scared that she's not what I imagine her to be…"
"Or maybe you're just scared…"
"I'M JUST GONNA GET SOME FRESH AIR I'LL BE RIGHT BACK!"Mikan shouts while walking out of the house.
The person sitting next to Natsume stands up and starts walking away when Natsume turns to see who it is and says "Wait I don't even know who you-." He cuts himself off when he realizes he'd been talking to Hotaru all along. He starts blushing madly and buries his face on his hands.
"AH! There you are! I was wondering where you'd run off to!" Mikan shouts at Natsume walking over to him, laughing all the way.
When she reaches him he looks at her, she laughs a little and trips, luckily he grabs her before she hits the ground and helps her sit down.
"Are you drunk or something?" he asks looking at the bottle she's holding.
"NO! There's no possible way Sakura Mikan gets drunkkk! I just trippedddh; it was an accident it can happen to anyone!" She answers pretending to be outraged by his supposition.
"How many of these have you had?" Natsume asks taking the small bottle of beer from Mikan's hand and carefully inspecting it. She suddenly breaks down into uncontrollable laughter and starts hitting the ground with her fist.
"Hehe not many… Like maybe 2…" she says rolling her eyes and burst out laughing once again.
"You're lying…" he says with a serious face.
"Okay, so maybe it was more like 6… I lost count after that… theehee" his expression doesn't waver.
Discarding the aforementioned bottle he sighs and grabs her by the shoulders and looks at her intently. "Mikan, you should really stop acting like this and pull yourself together…" her eyes start sparkling and she blushes. She looks at him with longing eyes.
"Ano…" she mumbles as she approaches her face to his, her eyelids starting to close, but not completely "Ano ne… Natsume …" his eyes widen and his mouth gapes at the sound of his real name coming from her mouth "I think I might have…" she tilts her head slightly to the side "I might have accidentally… fallen for you…" She says the last part in a lower voice. He doesn't really catch the last thing she says, and is about to ask her to repeat it when she prevents any sound from escaping his mouth by crashing her lips against his.
He quickly pulls her away, not really sure as to what to tell her (A/N: Remember he didn't hear the "fallen for you" part…) She starts giggling and he looks at her very confused. After recovering from the shock Natsume decides to speak up.
"Mikan… I don't think there's a gentle way to say this but…" He picks up the bottle of beer and hands it back to her "You've been drinking beer all night haven't you?" he asks concerned.
"Well yah! But I'm not druu-hunk!" she says laughing.
"I know...I know there's no possible way you could be…" he says "Because Mikan…" he continues "That beer… is alcohol-free…" he finally adds pointing at the empty bottle.
A/N:SHOCK! Oh my god… So she really wasn't drunk after all! And she said those things, and he didn't hear! Why did he have to miss the best part!
So what's gonna happen next? What is she gonna say now?
To be continued…