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Puzzle Pieces
[Chapter 10]
all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put her back together again
*.*.*.*
Yamato Ishida.
Blood rushed to her head and she couldn't hear anything but the steady thumping of her heartbeat.
Yamato Ishida is here.
A lump formed in the back of her throat and she forcibly swallowed past it, trying to think of something to say.
Yamato Ishida is here, staring right at me.
Her mouth still agape, she tore her eyes away from his piercing blue ones and fled into the kitchen without a word. Breathless, she leaned up against one of the counters and attempted to compose herself. She vaguely heard someone call her name and she looked up to see Taichi, his brows furrowed in concern.
"Sora…"
"You didn't tell me he was going to be here," she said in a flat tone.
"Koushiro only told me earlier today. I didn't know how to tell you."
She stared at him, demanding more of an explanation. When he failed to give her one, she shook in anger.
"Anything would have been better than this!"
Face flushed, she felt a familiar pressure building behind her eyes and she tried to keep her frustration at bay. Do. Not. Cry.
"Sora, I'm so sorry. I didn't know if I should tell your or not, please for—"
"I'm going to the bathroom," she cut in, swearing she saw a glimpse of blonde hair nearing towards them.
Sora hastily snuck out of the doorway, making a beeline for the restroom. Seeing a line of people in wait, she slipped into Taichi's room instead, knowing he had an en suite bathroom that was off-limits to general party-goers. She moved herself in front of the cabinet mirror, gripped the edges of the sink, and looked intently at her own reflection.
Get a grip, Takenouchi.
Taichi barreled in soon after, hastily slamming the door to keep out nosy onlookers. He gravitated toward the light of the bathroom and hovered over the threshold, apparently deciding whether he should move closer or not.
"Sora, please forgive me. I'm an idiot."
She breathed out slowly before responding.
"What am I supposed to do now?"
I can't believe I ran away like that.
"What do you mean?" he responded quietly.
"I can't go back out there!" Sora cried. She could feel Taichi inching closer to her, but she remained posted at the sink. "I'm so mortified; I'm supposed to be more mature than this!" Attempting to fix her hair in the mirror, she let out an exasperated sigh before giving up.
God, I'm pathetic.
Spinning around, she found herself almost nose-to-nose with Taichi. His eyes widened in surprise, but they relaxed almost instantly and he lifted his hands to her shoulders.
"Stop worrying so much, everyone else is too drunk to notice anything." He paused slightly to gather his thoughts. "Let's just go out there are pretend nothing happened."
Sora's eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
"Are you actually serious?" she questioned skeptically.
"Of course I'm serious. This is a party, I bet people thought you just came in here to puke or something. Plus, Yamato's probably looking for you this very instant and –"
"But Taichi—"
"Stop thinking so much. Just trust me, let's get back out there no one will notice anything different, I promise."
"Fine," she grumbled, smoothing out her dress and exhaling loudly again. Raising a finger, she attempted to wipe away the excess eyeliner that was trickling down her face. She lifted up her head shyly and asked in a small voice, "Do I look okay?"
Even with his face hidden in the shadows, she could make out the faintest of smiles etched on his face.
"You always do."
She blushed, thankful for the low lighting.
"Alright, let's get this over with."
She swung the door open and subconsciously leaned into Taichi as they exited the room together. To her dismay, just past the hallway she spotted Yamato's form stealing glances in their direction while chatting mildly with Koushiro and Mimi. The two slowly made their way to the group and Sora could feel her heart beat faster with every step.
Mimi was the first to notice their arrival.
"Sora!" she shrieked. "Oh my gosh, are you okay? You look atrocious! Why is your face so pale? What did you do to her Taichi?" Without warning, she smacked the brunette on his upper arm and Sora tried her best to not look so affronted by her friend's comments
"I didn't do anything Meems," Taichi assured her. "She felt a little sick so I followed and went to take care of her." Taichi drew Sora in little closer, lowering his hand from her shoulder to her waist. "She's fine now, right Sor?"
"Yeah," Sora added, looking up at him warmly. "I think we may have played one too many games of beer pong…"
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Yamato's eyes flickered between the two of them, her cheeks reddeneding inexplicably.
"Yeah, you guys had a really good run there. How many games did you win, total?" Koushiro inquired.
"Five!" Taichi bragged. "And we only stopped because we had better things to do like socialize with you wonderful people." He grinned before turning to address Yamato.
"Anyway, enough about how great I am at everything I do, I can't believe you're actually back!" He stepped forward and hooked Yamato into a one-armed hug. "I missed you, man! You don't know what it's been like here without your brooding and sulking, this place has been too damn cheery!"
"Three years and you still haven't changed a bit, have you, Taichi?" Yamato mused, shoving his old friend off of him in jest. "I guess I missed you too," he added with a half-smirk.
"Not enough to spare a few phone calls though, huh?" Taichi pouted.
Four pairs of eyes regarded him curiously.
"What, dudes can't pick up the phone and talk to each other?" he challenged. "You stopped calling like six months into your hotshot superstar life! You can't blame a guy for wanting to hear your sweet, dulcet tones—"
"I think I'm going to cut in before this escalates into another one of your lovers' spats," Sora interjected, carefully masking her nerves with sarcasm. "Hey, Yamato, it's nice to see you." She greeted him with a light hug, taking extreme caution to not let it go any longer than necessary. When she pulled back, she flashed him what she thought was a convincing smile.
"Hey, Sora," he said quietly. He looked like he was going to say something else to her, but then seemingly decided against it. "So where are the drinks at?" he ended up asking nobody in particular. "I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do after talking with you four."
Koushiro chuckled nervously. "Is it really that obvious?"
"Well, Mimi's been shouting ever since I walked in, Taichi gets extra conceited when he's—"
"Don't hate me 'cause you ain't me."
"—when he's drunk, I assume Sora didn't willingly empty the contents of her stomach, and well, Koushiro, I think you've talked more in the last fifteen minutes than I've heard you talk in the last 11 years."
"Maybe I've just gotten really social while you were away," he shrugged. The tips of his ears burned red betraying his feigned indifference.
Mimi tugged at Koushiro's arm forcefully and batted her eyelashes. "Oh, he's definitely much more social. He says the funniest things now, don't you, Kou? I think he's funnier than Taichi," she simpered, suddenly glaring daggers at the brunette.
"Excuse me?" Taichi scoffed.
"Sora told me about Kou's burn in the kitchen—"
"You traitor!"
"—and just a moment ago he was telling us this really hilarious story about that one time when Jyou—"
"Please don't tell me you're talking about me again," Jyou balked as he approached the group. "Sorry for the interruption, I just wanted to come by and say hi." He clasped a hand onto Yamato's back and smiled, "Great to see you, man, it's been too long! How are you adjusting to being around us normal-folk? Miss all the glitz and the glam?"
"You know, it gets a bit old, to tell you the truth," Yamato confessed, thankful for the interruption. "I'm really grateful for the whole experience, but I don't know how much longer it's going to last."
Sora looked over at him curiously.
"What?" Mimi shrieked, her earlier agitation forgotten. "You're not gonna do music anymore?"
"I was supposed to mooch off of your riches and popularity once I graduated!" Taichi exclaimed.
"Does that mean you're here for good?" Koushiro asked, taking the words right out of Sora's mouth.
Yamato shoved his hands in his pockets and made a noncommittal grunt. "Dunno, I'm still weighing my options," he said vaguely. Diverting the attention away from him, he addressed the eldest in the group. "So what are you up to nowadays, Jyou? You were pre-med last I remember, did you end up going to med school?"
Jyou's eyes widened in surprise at being directly addressed.
"Yeah," he choked out. "I somehow got accepted into a few programs and now I'm attending a school about an hour or two away from here." He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose before continuing. "This first semester was a train wreck, though. Sometimes I find myself wondering whether I can handle all of this. My brother—"
Oh boy, here he goes again.
Sora had been on the other end of Jyou's tirades many times before and she wouldn't put it past him to unleash three years' worth of anxiety on a poor, unsuspecting Yamato. As Jyou droned on about his med school insecurities, Sora let her mind wander and found herself studying the blonde before her.
As much as she hated to admit it, the years had been kind to Yamato. The first thing she noticed was that he seemed to be slightly bigger than she remembered. His chest was broader and although by no means was he the athletic type, his body seemed to have filled out in all the right places. He must have finally started going to the gym, which was something he had been hard-pressed to do in high school.
She was also surprised that his mannerisms still felt familiar to her after all this time. A glint in his eye whenever he found something amusing. A twitch of his left hand when he became frustrated. The tugging of his sleeves when he was flustered… wait, why was he so flustered?
"—and you'd think by now everyone would know to cover their mouths when they're coughing in class. I mean, come on, we're going to be doctors one day. Don't they know to keep their germs to themselves?
"Oh my god," Taichi groaned, interrupting Jyou's monologue. Startled out of her stupor, Sora realized she wasn't the only one removed from the conversation. Mimi had her head lowered on Koushiro's shoulder and Koushiro was staring off into the crowd, eyes glazed over.
"What?" Jyou responded, a deer caught in the headlights. Yamato merely raised an eyebrow at the interruption.
"As much as I love talking about school right after I've finished finals, I think we're gonna go get another drink and maybe hit the dance floor," Taichi proclaimed. He unexpectedly took Sora's hand, laced their fingers together, and pulled her towards the kitchen. "I'm almost losing my buzz and that's just unacceptable. We'll meet up with you guys later," he added with a wave.
Thankful for the excuse to leave, she beamed at her friends and allowed herself to be dragged away by Taichi, just missing Yamato's face morph into a scowl.
That wasn't so bad, right?
*.*.*.*
