I woke to a call from Ikki, a little too early in the morning.
"Alice?"
"Hmm?" I tucked the phone between my ear and my pillow and closed my eyes again.
"Did anything… happen last night?" I frowned. How would he know about that.
"Meh."
"What kind of answer is that?"
"You know them?" I avoided the question.
"Sort of. They're my fans." I grinned.
"Oh wow, you even have a fan club. I figured you were popular, but this is something else entirely."
"Mhmm." Before I could reply at all, he'd hung up.
"Alright, bye." I murmured as I shook my head, causing the phone to fall off the pillow and lay back down. A content sigh left me as I managed to catch the sleep once again.
At about eleven in the morning, my alarm went off. It was a special Sunday alarm which only went off on Sunday, at eleven o'clock exactly. My dad had given it to me, so I wouldn't be in bed all day. Just turn it off, right? No. It rings for six hours straight before finally stopping. I forced myself out of bed, grabbed my cell phone, marched out of my room and slammed the door shut. I navigated the phone to my contacts and pressed the call button when it landed on Cass's number.
"Hey, Alice, what's up?"
"Not much. Wanna do something?"
"I can't, I'm sorry."
"You can't?" That was surprising. She never had anything to do.
"Sorry, school stuff!" She hung up before I even got a chance to ask what. It was summer vacation and we'd made our homework at the start of it.
"Liar." I growled as I hurled my phone onto the bed. I let out a deep breath and looked out the window.
"It's far too hot to go out anyway." I reasoned as I opened the doors to the balcony to let some fresh air in.
"A nice day of gaming it is."
I ended up gaming for two hours, having lunch and then watching a movie for an hour and a half. Then, near the end of the movie, which had left my eyes painfully red from crying, I heard noises coming from outside. Like a crowd right in front of my house. I stood and walked over to the balcony, making sure to wipe my tears before going outside. I hung over the railing, looking down and seeing -surprise surprise- a crowd in front of my house. In the middle of the crowd, however, I found Ikki.
"What the hell?" I wondered out loud as I frowned. I recognized the group that had paid me a midnight visit and came to the conclusion that this crowd was indeed his fan club. It was when I realized this, that he noticed me.
"Alice!" He waved at me as if they weren't even there.
"What?" I asked annoyed.
"Wanna go catch a movie?" I pulled up my brow at him.
"I don't think that's going to fit." I answered casually. He looked around him and pouted.
"Ladies, would you mind? I have to give that lady up there my full attention or she won't be satisfied."
"Hey! Don't twist my words!" I yelled angrily, he ignored me completely.
"Please? I promise I'll be back to play with you afterwards." He made it sound so wrong. The girls whined for another three minutes before they started to disband.
"How about now?" He asked when they'd all left. I sighed and went back inside, closed the doors to the balcony and made my way to the front door.
"Seriously?" I asked. He took off his sunglasses.
"What?" I sighed.
"Never mind. Which movie?"
"You can choose."
"Let me get-"
"It's my treat." He smiled an innocent smile.
"Thanks... But I just wanted to get dressed." He looked me up and down, realizing only now that these were my pajamas.
"Of course. I'll wait right here."
I knew that we were being followed, I could feel their eyes on me. I looked to the side, it didn't seem to bother Ikki in the slightest.
"How does this not bother you?"
"What?"
"Your stalkers."
"They're not stalkers."
"Not? Then why are they following us?" To be honest, they weren't even doing a good job at it. He looked around.
"They are?"
"Oh my word..." I planted a hand against my face and sighed.
"Does it bother you so much?"
"No, I just can't wrap my mind around it."
"It?" I wasn't completely sure what "It' was yet. It could be one of many things, but I had yet to choose.
"I don't even know anymore. Never mind, ignore me." He snickered.
"How is that funny?" I asked as I pouted.
"You're kind of cute when you're confused." I looked away to hide the blush on my face.
"I-I'm most certainly not." I countered.
"As you wish." I had to hand it to him, he was quite the gentleman.
"What would you like?" He asked me once we were inside the theatre.
"Popcorn and a soda?"
"Coming right up." He stood in line as I looked at the list of movies. There wasn't one I had to see, so I ended up picking the one that sounded most appealing. A thriller about ghosts and demons.
"Have you decided?" He asked as he handed me the consumptions.
"Yeah, is 'deadly' okay?" He looked at the list and frowned.
"A thriller?" I nodded, then smirked. "Or are you scared?"
"Of course not. I'm just slightly surprised. It's not a very girly movie." I pulled up a brow.
"For future reference: I'm the most ungirly girl you'll ever meet." He laughed.
"Good to know."
When we were finally seated, I found it rather disturbing that all his fangirls sat a few rows behind us. They made up three full rows. The room turned dark and I started enjoying my popcorn, holding it to the side when Ikki softly elbowed me.
I was rather pleased with the movie I'd picked. Even more pleased when I heard gagging sounds from the rows behind us. During break, only half of the girls remained. They hadn't even seen the scariest part yet.
As I predicted, during that part, several girls got up and ran out of the theatre, their hands in front of their mouths to suppress screams. Looking to the side, I saw that Ikki was looking rather pale. I grinned to myself, these were definitely the best kind of movies.
"What did you think of it?" I asked afterwards as we walked outside. He shrugged and looked up to the sky, breathing in and out deeply a few times.
"It was alright. I'll be honest, though, I'm glad to be outside." I chuckled softly.
"It would be really hilarious if you wouldn't be able to sleep tonight." He turned to me and smirked as he leaned in closer.
"You're very welcome to help me fall asleep tonight." My face flushed and I quickly came up with a witty remark. I patted his shoulder.
"You're a big boy. Surely you can do as much as sleep alone." He straightened his back and nodded.
"Nicely done." He complimented me.
"Thank you very much. Not just for that, but for all of this. I really had a great time." I smiled kindly. It was the truth, despite not trusting him completely yet, I'd enjoyed going to see the movie with him.
"You're welcome. Maybe we can do this again sometime." Just as I was about to reply to that, someone randomly jumped out of the bushes and grabbed me, holding a knife at my throat as he hold out the other at Ikki.
"Your wallet, pal." The man said. Ikki quickly fumbled for the thing and gave it to the man without hesitation. Just as he took the wallet, I stamped my heel onto his foot, grabbed the hand that was holding the knife and worked him to the ground with a karate move. I placed my foot on his throat and held the knife in my hand, analyzing the weapon.
"This is a carnival prize." I laughed and increased the pressure on his throat when he tried to move.
"No, don't try to get away. Listen up. In a moment, I'm going to release you. Then you'll give the wallet back to that man and you're going to apologize for taking it. Is that understood?" He growled an insult and I sighed, pressing down harder.
"I said: "Is that understood?"." He nodded and I took my foot back, watching as he slowly got up, weighing his options, before giving the wallet back and mumbling an apology.
"Very good." I held out the knife at him. "Try to be a good boy from now on, okay?" He took the knife and slowly took off again.
"What the hell just happened?" Ikki asked amazed.
"Someone just attempted to rob you." I notified him.
"I got that. I meant the part where you worked that fully grown man to the ground so effortlessly."
"What do you mean? You've practically answered your own question." He sighed and sat down on the nearest bench.
"But I get what you mean. I've had martial arts training when I was younger. Is that a good enough answer?" He nodded, then started laughing.
"You really are the most ungirly girl I've ever met."
"I'll take that as a compliment, then." I said as I laughed along.
"It is. It proves just how special you are." I frowned at that.
"Special? You said that before, but I don't get it." He stood and walked past me.
"It's a secret."
He dropped me off and excused himself, saying we'd talk again soon.
"Ikki," I interrupted just as he turned to walk away, "thanks again, for today. I had a really good time." He nodded and smiled.
"Anytime." With that, he took off. Once inside, I fell down onto the couch and let out a deep breath. He was still a bit peculiar and I wasn't sure about how to deal with the threats his fan club had thrown at me, but I was sure about the fact that he was a nice guy.