Chapter 15 (Thursday, Week 2)
"Mmph," Usagi muttered, reaching blindly for her phone. Burying her head under her pillow, she sighed and wedged the phone in underneath to reach her ear. "Hello?"
"Sleeping late today?"
"Is it late?"
"Not too late. It's only 7:00."
"Then why are you waking me, you pain in the ass?"
"You're grumpy today."
"And you're way too chipper. Call back in an hour or two."
"Come on, Buns. I was calling for a reason."
"Fiiiiiine. What?"
"Hello to you, too."
"Hello, Mamoru," she greeted with sarcasm. "It's so lovely to hear from you this morning. How can I help you today?"
"So much better, Sunshine. Is today still your baking day with Mi-chan?"
"Yes, it is."
"Give me a call when you're done. I'll be helping Motoki out at The Crown this morning and early afternoon. Come down when you're done?"
"Okay. Can I go back to sleep now?"
"Sure thing, baby. Sweet dreams." He disconnected the call.
Sitting up straight, Usagi stared at her phone in confusion. "Baby?!" Flopping back down, she shook her head and burying her head back under the pillow. "This had to be a dream."
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"Sweetheart, Miyako just called. She's getting Minako up and they're going to be over in an hour or so. You awake?" Ikuko called from the doorway.
Shifting the pillow off her face, Usagi turned to look at her mom. "Yeah, Momma, I'm up. Mamoru woke me up a while ago before he headed in to help Motoki at The Crown today."
"Everything okay, darling?"
"Yeah. He just wanted to check in with me about plans for the day. I promised to meet him later. You didn't have anything planned, did you?"
"Oh, no, darling. It's fine. Daddy and I have that dinner tonight with some people from his work. We're going out of town, so we'll be leaving mid-afternoon or so. I'm going to run to the store for a few last minute ingredients. You want to tag along?"
"Sure. Let me shower real quick. Shingo around?"
"Already at Ryu's. Make it quick, darling, and we'll get going."
Groaning, Usagi pushed herself out of bed. "Urgh, pushing it last night with my run was not a good plan," she muttered to herself as she headed to her en suite. Stiffly shedding her clothes and climbing in the shower, she rested her head on the cool tile and allowed the hot water to pound down on her. Letting her muscles loosen under the steady stream, she quickly moved on to washing her hair and body.
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"Momma, I'm ready to go," Usagi called as she pounded down the stairs in her favorite, worn jeans and a screen tee, pulling her hair up in a loose braid over her shoulder. "Have you seen my flip flops?"
"By the back door, dear," she returned. "I've got to grab my purse and the list, then I'll meet you in the car."
"Can I drive?"
"I suppose," Ikuko agreed. "Just don't tell your father."
Laughing, Usagi headed out the door and clambered into the waiting car. "I turn seventeen in about a month," she commented as her mother joined her. "You'd think Daddy would be used to the fact I can drive by now."
"He just worries, but we'll pick out your car this summer. Daddy just wanted to wait until after school was out."
"Has he decided what I'll be getting?"
"Maybe. We'll talk about it soon; I promise. However, for now, pay attention to the road instead, please," Ikuko requested.
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"Hi, gals," Ikuko greeted, climbing out of the car. "Sorry. Things took longer at the store than we expected," she explained. "But, we have all of the ingredients, now."
"No worries," Miyako assured. "We only beat you by moments. And, I'm willing to have some patience if it means not having to make an ingredient run mid-baking. I'm not so sure my daughter has been able to display the same patience." She chuckled, as she looked at Minako who looked like she was about to bounce right out of her chair.
"Hey, now!" Minako cut in. "I can too be patient. Just, not right now. How was the rest of your night, Usa?" she questioned.
"Fine," the other girl answered with a laugh. "I even managed to squeeze in a run before bed."
"Oh, sheesh. Who cares about squeezing in a run, girl? Did he kiss you goodnight?"Usagi's face flushed, causing the other three to laugh. "I, uh, that's not really, mmm….Minako!" she finally whined, hiding her face in her hands. "I can't believe you!"
"Darling," Ikuko comforted. "It's not like it would be a shock to any of us. I'm sure even Daddy wouldn't be surprised, whether he would be very happy about it or not. It's nothing to get embarrassed over."
Cheeks still bright red, she met her mother's eyes. "But, still!" she cried, stomping her foot.
Ikuko laughed again and wrapped her daughter in a hug. "It's alright, sweetheart. Relax."
"But, an answer would be nice," Miyako teased.
"Auntie! You guys are so mean to me!" she said, causing the others to chuckle.
Ushering her daughter inside, followed closely by their friends, Ikuko settled the grocery bags on the counter and began to unload them. "Why don't you girls go grab the recipes off my desk in the study and we'll get these put away?" she offered, giving the girls an out.
"I can't believe you," Usagi hissed as soon as they were out of earshot, aiming a backhanded hit to her best friend's arm. "In front of our moms!"
"Ow! Watch it!" Minako returned. "You know they had a good idea it happened anyway. Don't freak out."
"Of course, I'm going to freak out, doofus!"
Wrapping her arms around Usagi's neck, she hugged the girl and giggled. "It's okay! Smile and don't worry about it. Your mom was cool with it and your dad did not hear anything about it," she reasoned. Letting go, they entered the study and quickly searched the top of the desk. Grabbing the few recipes stacked on the corner, they headed back to the kitchen.
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"Girls!" Ikuko called, stopping Usagi and Minako mid flour throw. "If we run out of flour because of this, you're walking to the store to get more," she threatened from where she and Miyako sat cutting out sugar cookies.
"Oops!" Minako said, causing both to giggle. "Sorry, Auntie Ikuko. We'll stop and clean this up."
"Just get the worst of it and then you can help me put together the cake for the party tomorrow night."
"Auntie, if you need help with stuff for this summer, I volunteer my services. Well, I volunteer as long as I can sample a little of everything," Minako told her.
"I'll keep that in mind, darling. I have plenty of weddings and parties this summer, so I could probably use the help. Just, no eating anything that is part of the order. We usually make a little extra that you could help eat. Usagi is supposed to help with a few things already."
"Best at-home-job ever!" Minako told her. "I can't believe you make such good money off this.""It took a long way for her to get good enough for that," Miyako cautioned her daughter. "It took a lot of practice."
"I know," Minako agreed. "Now, what do you need done?" she questioned, tossing the dish rag back in the sink and making her way to the table.
"Just help us finish up these sugar cookies and then we'll get started," Ikuko directed, sliding the last of the cut cookies onto trays and grabbing the rest of the unrolled dough. "See if you can't grab the rest of the trays by the stove, darling," she ordered Usagi. "These full ones need moved onto the island until what's in the oven finishes and we can switch them out."
"Yes, Momma," Usagi agreed. "Are we icing today?"
"Just putting the cake together. It should be cooled since I got the layers baked first thing this morning. The cookies I will probably work on tomorrow morning. You girls are welcome to help if you would like."
"Okay."
"After the cake, I probably need to start on the chocolate candies and the chocolate-dipped strawberries. I want them to have plenty of time to set overnight. Last, I'll probably make the sugar letters."
"Which will say?"
"It's a girl. We're using pink, purple, and yellow for the colors for all of the stuff. The cookies are rattles, bonnets, and little feet - some decorated each color or a mixture of the three - and the strawberries will be rolled in pink and purple sugar crystal sprinkles as the set. Then, the chocolates will just be circular, but we'll do white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and mint chocolate. They'll match the polka dot style design on the cake with the pink, purple, and yellow color scheme. The mother-to-be didn't like any of the other shapes I had, but had tasted the chocolates at a wedding and didn't want to skip them."
"Wow," Minako commented.
"More work than you figured?" Miyako asked.
"Maybe a little, but not too much considering how often I've been over here as she prepared for an event. Can you teach me how to do that fondant, Auntie Ikuko?"
"Sure, darling. It shouldn't be too bad with this one," she agreed.
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"Alright," Minako said, as they walked towards The Crown. "What's up with the freak out over being teased about a simple kiss? I've known you long enough to know that a reaction like that is out of line for you." "Mi-chan..." "Don't Mi-chan me. Just spill," she said, a hand on Usagi's arm to stop her midstep. Searching her friend's gaze, Usagi dropped her head and sighed. "Mamoru tried to kiss me last night.""Tried?" "I freaked out and pushed him away at the last moment." "Oh, love, I'm sorry," Minako said, wrapping her arms around Usagi's neck in a hug. "He's not Seiya, sweetie." "That's not what I meant." "Yeah, it kind of is and you know it. Don't let one jerk hold you back. Mamoru is nothing like him and he cares a lot more for you. You can't let Seiya ruin this for you.""But.""No way, sweetie. No arguing. Let this happen. He took you on an awesome date last night and obviously he's trying really hard to do this at your pace, but you can't keep letting him think you're okay with things headed that way and then run away from him at the last moment. It's not fair to him. You have to make up your mind, even it just means telling him you're not ready to head down that road quite yet. Point is, you have to make some decisions and let him know what's going on one way or another." "Okay." "Okay?" "Yes, okay." "You're going to think about it?" "What's to think about? You're right. It's just a kiss." "Maybe not just a kiss," Minako teased. Usagi rolled her eyes, cracking a small smile, and started walking again. "I don't know you." "Sure you do. And, you love me too!" Mi-chan shouted, throwing her arms open wide and spinning in a circle. "It's because I'm fabulous, right?" she called, skipping after Usagi who had already started to walk off. M&U M&U M&U M&U M&U M&U M&U M&U M&U
"Hey, Motoki," Usagi greeted as she and Minako slid onto barstools at The Crown. "Where's Mamoru?" she questioned as Minako leaned over the counter to greet Motoki with a kiss.
"He'll be back out in a minute. Just ran to the storeroom to grab a few things. Wait, what is in your hair, guys?"
Exchanging a look, the girls had to smile. "There might have been a small incident with flour this morning," Minako admitted.
"Did you rip the bag open or something?" Motoki questioned, kind of confused.
"Uh, no," Usagi told him, a smile growing on her face. "More like little incident of throwing it at each other on purpose," she admitted, grinning even bigger as Mamoru came into view. "Hey," she greeted, sharing a look with him.
"Hey, Buns. Good morning?"
"After I got to sleep for a while longer, yeah," she said, allowing him to lean over and press a kiss to her temple.
"Something disturb your beauty sleep?" he teased. "Loud birds chirping outside your window or something?"
"Something annoying like that," she agreed with a glint in her eye. "Aren't you supposed to be helping customers?"
"I'm done here in two minutes. I figured perhaps I might just take this girl I know out for pizza with our friends, but if she's not interested…"
"Sounds like a good plan," Usagi agreed, looking at her friend for confirmation. "Of course, you better ask this girl if she's interested."
Minako laughed as Mamoru got flustered. "You have to know you asked for that one," she told him, not feeling sorry for him in the least.
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"How did I not know we had that pizza place?" Usagi questioned as she and Mamoru wandered down the sidewalk a short ways behind Motoki and Minako, holding hands. "It's amazing."
Mamoru laughed. "It's like the best kept secret among the college kids. We don't want them to get too busy with all the other people, so we try not to tell a ton of people about it." Tugging Usagi a little closer by her hand, he wrapped an arm around her waist loosely. "You know, we never did our question yesterday."
"We didn't, did we?" she realized. "Heck, I don't even remember where we are. Wow." She laughed at herself. "What would I do without you to keep me from losing my mind?"
"I think you'd be wandering the streets asking strangers if they had seen a brain pass by."
"No, I wouldn't," she laughed. "Now you're just being crazy."
"Maybe."
"Maybe? Try for sure. So, where were we?"
"What sound or noise do you hate."
"I'll go first with this one," she offered.
"If you would like," he agreed.
"Shattering glass."
"Tires sqealing."
"Of course you'd hate that sound."
"It just sends an involuntary shiver down my spine any time I hear it. I hate it and wish I could let it go, but it makes my blood run cold every single time."
Laying her head against his shoulder, she just let the quiet hold for a bit longer. Speaking softly, she started to tell him about her answer. "We actually had someone try to break in while I was in middle school. It was just me and Momma at home. Dad was on an overnight trip with Shingo's soccer team at some tournament. It was terrifying. I had developed really bad sleeping habits and was always waking up about one or so every morning. Well, when I couldn't get to sleep, I headed down to make some hot chocolate and have a small snack. For some reason or another, Momma joined me that night – I think I realize now that she just doesn't sleep as well when Daddy's not home. But, whoever it was shattered the picture window in the living room. They must have realized that someone was home and awake though and been scared away. I don't know why, but they just left. To this day, I still jump when I hear glass break."
"You're lucky."
"Yes, we were," she agreed, falling silent again.
They let the silence carry as they followed their friends, Mianko occasionally glancing back at the two. "You guys good?" she finally called back.
"Yeah," Usagi returned. "Just not in a hurry to be anywhere. If you guys have plans, go ahead."
Minako shared a look with Motoki before replying. "Yeah, we're going to head out and catch a movie. Call you tomorrow?"
"Yeah. Bye, love. Have a good night!"
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Mamoru smiled down at Usagi just inside the front door. "What do you have going on tomorrow?"
"Nothing."
"I'll call you in the morning?"
"Just not before eight tomorrow, huh?"
"I think you mean today," he teased causing her to swat at his arm. "But, I know what you mean," he assured, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. "Good night," he whispered, leaning in to kiss her on the corner of the mouth.
Turning her head slightly, she let him know it was okay to go ahead and kiss her. "Night," she agreed when he pulled back. She began to smile as he leaned in to kiss her again. Feeling brave in the entry way lit only by moonlight, she tilted her head slightly to the side and allowed his lower lip to slide between hers. Sucking lightly, she teased him until she felt his tongue trace the seam of her lips. Gasping, she allowed his tongue to slip into her mouth and slide across her own before backing off.
He pressed another closed-lip kiss to her lips and murmured, "Sweet dreams, baby." Pulling her into a tight hug, he pressed one last kiss to her temple before rounding her and opening the door to disappear into the night.
"Holy crap," she whispered, allowing her weight to fall back against the front door, her hand coming up to rest against her still tingling lips.
Thoughts?