Least favorite chapter... I really don't like this one, not because it's horribly written (which is also true), but also because of what happens at the end... but it has to be in here, so I won't complain too much... only a little at the beginning of every chapter until this whole ordeal ends... *sigh*

Anyway, it's been two weeks, so I'm going to be posting regularly again. Hope all of you guys had wonderful holidays! I know I did :) I finally got Birth By Sleep, so expect more about Ellie now that I know what the story of the time she was alive was :) Maybe...

Now then, I hope you'll all be nice and review this time, but I'm not expecting anything anymore... Please enjoy anyway!

Full chapter title: I'm not a stalker. I simply prefer to admire from afar.

One more day.

That was all the time I had left to spend with Hayner.

However, instead of doing such a thing, I was at work, chatting up Naminé.

I knew it was pissing Hayner off.

"So, you don't get along with Axel?" Naminé asked, handing me a piece of paper with a smile, "That's so strange. He's such a nice person." I rolled my eyes, grabbing the only pen anywhere near me, and signed the paper, which I wasn't even sure I should be. Where was Red when I needed him...

"Oh yeah. So nice," I muttered, handing the paper back. "That's why he makes me do all the work." It was completely true. He made me do pretty much everything that we were told to do, and I had no idea what his job actually was! Dad kept telling me that it was important, but I had never seen him do anything. It was a tad annoying.

"Axel does a lot of work. You just don't see it because he's very discreet about it." Naminé took the form from me and typed something into the computer. "Thanks. That's all I need." She smiled up at me, and I felt like my stomach just did a flip. She was so sweet.

I placed the pen on the table and waved at her. "You're welcome," I said, turning to leave. Suddenly, however, I got this strange feeling, and I felt the need to ask something. "Hey, Naminé...?" I began slowly, looking up at her. She cocked her head to one side cutely, her eyes wide as she waited patiently for me to finish my question. Feeling a burst of courage, I opened my mouth to speak, but unfortunately, nothing was able to come out as my stupid best friend decided it was time to burst into the building and yell at me.

"Dude!" Hayner exclaimed, coming up beside me with an irritated expression crossing his face. "You're taking forever! I thought you guys got done at noon today." He paused for a second, waiting for me to answer, or even acknowledge he was there, but I was too pissed off to really say anything. So, he sighed and growled, "It's twelve thirty."

I knew it was twelve thirty. Keeping track of time was one of my specialties, I can't believe he didn't know that! But he couldn't wait for one more moment, one more minute, one second while I frikin asked my question?

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Impatient," I nearly hissed, much to Naminé's amusement. She seemed to know that I wanted to ask something personal. "It's true that the office technically closes at noon today, but unfortunately, I had something to do. I'm so sorry I don't run according to your schedule," I added, trying not to scowl. Every time I had gotten the courage to ask Naminé out, someone interrupted me, whether it be Sora or Riku making fun of me, Red being his weird self, or Ellie informing me of legal crap I could really care less about. It's like the world didn't want me to go out with the adorable blond girl.

"Okay. I'll just wait for you then." Hayner leaned against Naminé's desk, giving me an amused look. It was obvious that he knew what I was thinking, and he was getting back at me for taking my time on his last day in Radiant Garden.

He's such a bastard.

Sighting, I checked to make sure I had nothing else to do, because knowing my dad, he would leave something really random for me, but luckily, there was nothing. "There. I'm done. Happy?" I gave Hayner a look of irritation, then turned to Naminé. "See you tomorrow." I waved to her, which she replied with a sweet goodbye. I could swear that girl was going to be the death of me, making me feel so happy inside and what not. However, Hayner's pissy mood ruined my good one, and I ended up stalking out of the building.

As soon as we were in the parking lot, Hayner started laughing. "Okay, you really like this girl, don't you?" He laughed at me, no doubt trying to provoke a reaction, but I ignored him. Unfortunately, he didn't catch the hint that I wanted him to shut up, and continued talking. "I have to admit, she is really good looking." Swiftly, I turned to him and punched his arm. "Oi!" He exclaimed, rubbing his arm, "Calm down. There's no way I'd go after her."

I already knew that. This guy still couldn't stop talking about Olette. So, I climbed into my car, ignoring the jeers that were coming out of my best friend; something about me being possessive, and started the engine, not caring if my friend was in the vehicle or not. We were going to hang out at the mall for the rest of the day, but if Hayner didn't get in the car in the next three seconds, I would have had no issues with just going home and sleeping. Sadly, he did get in the car, so I was stuck going to the mall.

Well, not stuck, really. Sure, I really just wanted to go home, but I heard there was this new video game out and I kinda wanted to get it, so going shopping wasn't that bad of an idea. Not to mention I needed to buy a few presents for my friends, Hayner included, and I would never go to the mall by myself...

"Look, I know you like her. A lot," Hayner said suddenly, startling me out of my little thought trance. I glanced over at him, trying very hard to keep my eyes on the road so I didn't crash.

"What?" Was he talking about Naminé? I couldn't really tell...

Hayner laughed and patted me on the shoulder. "That girl. I know you really, really, like her. So I'm going to help you get together with her." I nearly stopped short when he said that. Hayner, playing match maker? I didn't think so. That guy was so dense and love-stupid that he couldn't even get a date with the girl he's liked since forever. I wondered what made him think he could help me. However, if I said this to him, he would get really mad, so instead, I just asked;

"Why would you help me with that? I mean, you did just interrupted me when I was about to ask her out." Silence greeted me, a sure sign that Hayner had no idea I was going to do that.

"Oh," he nearly laughed, "You were? I didn't know that. Sorry." He certainly didn't sound sorry. "Anyway, I'm going to help you because you haven't liked a girl in years. I was beginning to think you were gay." This time, I did slam on the brakes, but luckily, we were in a residential area, so it didn't matter as much.

"I am not gay!" I hissed, turning to him. Riku and Sora had harassed me enough about my sexual orientation. I didn't need my best friend to question it as well, especially since he knows me well enough to figure out I like girls. Not guys. Girls. Women. Females. Members of the opposite sex.

You get the idea.

"Well obviously." Hayner rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat. "You wouldn't get all nervous and happy-go-lucky around Naminé if you were. But if something goes wrong with this girl... who knows what'll happen..." He left the sentence hanging and I started moving again, wondering what would happen if I just randomly drove the car into a ditch... No one would know I did it on purpose, and no one could connect the dots for my motive...

With a sigh, I decided not to commit murder today, and muttered, "Thanks. I guess. But how in the world are you going to 'help' me. I mean, you can't even get a date with Olette!" I got smacked for this comment. He deserved it though.

"Why do you think we're going to the mall?" He muttered, face flushed. I wanted to laugh at his reaction, but suddenly, what he said clicked in my mind and I swear I was going to murder him. He had the stupidest ideas sometimes...

"Excuse me?" I asked, speeding up slightly in order to keep myself from doing something completely and totally stupid while in the car. Well, speeding up while on a highway can be stupid, but that's not the point. I had a feeling I knew what he was planning, but I figured I should ask anyway, you know, just in case I'd misunderstood him. Sadly, I hadn't.

"You heard me," Hayner announced haughtily, sitting up, "Do you really think I would want to hang out at the mall all day?" He scoffed at the idea. "I want to go because I know that's where Naminé is going to be."

How the hell Hayner knew that... well, that's a mystery within itself, but I was too afraid to ask. "I have a bad feeling about this," I groaned.

"Why? We're just going to stalk her."

I was extremely tempted to stop the car, kick Hayner out, and go home to swim or something. But that might cause an accident, and I wasn't exactly eager to go back to jail. I was still getting over the creepy molester from a few months ago. It still sounded tempting though, and I guessed I could have pulled over and done it, but then I would feel bad (kinda) and Olette might have killed me when she got back. Angry females are not fun to mess with.

So, instead I told him, "No. No we're not. The two of us are going to go, get food, and leave so that nothing happens. Understand?" I ended up acting like a parent sometimes... man, was it annoying.

"What? Not cool dude! This is my last day here! Let me have some fun!"

"At my expense? Hell no!"

"What other fun is there?" I picked up a pen that was rolling around my car and threw it at Hayner who held up his hands and exclaimed, "Hey! I was kidding!"

"Sure you were..." I muttered, turning off the highway. Hayner pouted in the seat next to me, obviously irritated that I wasn't letting him do what ever the hell he wanted, but after a while, he realized just where we were heading.

"Um... why are we going to the mall?" He queried as we passed by the large building. It certainly took him long enough to notice, "I would have thought you didn't want to become a-" Hayner stopped speaking, and grinned, "You do want to know what she does while she's not at work, don't you?" I rolled my eyes, but said nothing, not wanting to let Hayner know he was right. Didn't work, obviously. "Heh. I've corrupted you. Mr. Goody-two-shoes is going to be a stalker. This is going to be so much fun!"

"I'm not a stalker! I just prefer to admire from afar."

I shouldn't have said that.

"Oh, I'm so looking forward to this."

I wasn't very happy with my stupid hormones. Normally, when I would think of doing something stupid, for instance, stalking someone, my conscious would tell me just how wrong it was to do something like that. However, my conscience was no longer working. I had a feeling it was being overpowered by my goddamn lower brain.

Girls have it so easy when it comes to things like that.

"We really shouldn't be doing this. It's a bad idea," I muttered as Hayner and I followed Naminé through the halls of the mall. It hadn't been easy to find her here, seeing as it's the biggest mall in the biggest city in the most populous country in the world. How Hayner managed to track her down...

"It's a bit late for that, my friend. Now shush. We have to be quiet if we don't want Naminé to know we're here," Hayner muttered in a low voice.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Unless you want to know you're here, then-"

"I thought we were supposed to be quiet."

Hayner smirked, but said nothing else.

For the next two hours, Naminé did her normal boring girl crap, and Hayner and I followed. It was very annoying how pointless the things this girl did. Going into a million and one stores, buying absolutely nothing, then going into even more stores and finding maybe one shirt.

Of course, not long after that, Naminé decided to go into a lingerie shop.

"May I help you two?"

A sales clerk came up to Hayner and me once we entered the shop, and soon, causing me to lose track of Naminé.

"Um..." Was all I could think to say when the woman had come over to us.

"How about a lovely gift for your girlfriend? We have a selection over here that was made just for bashful boys like you. I think you'll like it." The clerk herded us over to the other side of the room, despite Hayner's protests. I probably should have protested as well, but for some odd reason, I wasn't embarrassed at all. How weird is that?

I mean, I was in a woman's lingerie shop, after stalking a girl I've liked for a while, and was being dragged to a special display for guys who wanted to get something for their girlfriend, and yet, here I was, with a straight face, feeling like this was the most normal thing in the world.

What the hell?

"Now then, what do you think the lucky lady would like? We have new lace bras in, if you would like to see those."

I tried not to laugh at Hayner's face, and I had a feeling he was bright red because he was thinking about how Olette would look in one of these "lace bras." I could just imagine what was going through that tiny brain of his.

And still, I didn't feel embarrassed.

There must have been something wrong with my brain that day.

"Look. We're not here to buy anything..." Hayner tried to say, well, mumble, but he was cut off by the strange lady.

"Nonsense. Come on now. Surely there's a girl dear to your heart out there. I'm absolutely certain she would love something from here for her birthday. Or, if her birthday has already passed, Christmas." There was a strange lilt to the woman's voice that was starting to scare me, so I began to back away, leaving a stuttering Hayner to deal with the mess he had gotten himself into.

It was so horrible of me to leave him there, in the pink room filled with woman's underwear, but, I had to admit, he did observe it.

I exited the room and started laughing, attracting strange looks from everyone around me. Trying to calm down, I looked around to see if there was anywhere I wanted to go. I spotted a random store over by the edge of the mall and headed over there.

However, before I could get very far, I spotted Naminé coming out of the lingerie store, smiling to herself. So naturally, I followed her.

I have got to stop hanging out with Hayner. If it's become natural for me to follow a girl around the mall, then there is something wrong with me, I thought, shaking my head. I trailed the blond girl to the food court, and glanced at my watch, shocked that she would be going there. It was only four in the afternoon, what could Naminé be doing there?

The reason soon became clear.

"Nami! Over here!"

I saw Kairi waving frantically in Naminé's direction. Ellie was there as well, and a girl I didn't recognize.

Naminé smiled, and waved as well, trotting happily over to the other girls.

"Hey! Thanks for coming."

Kairi let out a laugh and hugged Naminé. "Anything for my cousin," she said. So, Naminé and Kairi were cousins... who knew?

"Man, it's hard to believe you two are related. I mean, you act so different from each other, though you guys do have the same taste in men." It was the girl I didn't recognize who spoke this, as she jumped up to hug the blonde as well.

"Selphie, you really need to calm down a bit. I mean, I know you're excited to see me again, but still," Naminé laughed pulling away from the strange girl.

"Excited? That's putting it lightly. Girl, I haven't seen you since like, our junior year! It's so nice to see you again."

I smiled to myself, thinking about how nice it must be to be a girl. They had such simple worries. I wished that my issues would be like that.

How long can girls talk for?

It had been an hour since Naminé had met with the other three girls, and they were just chatting away, talking about the most random things. Well, all of them but Ellie were. She was just sitting there, reading some kind of manual or something. It was interesting to see how Kairi and Ellie acted outside of work, especially since they didn't change at all.

You would think that these girls would have some kind of secret personalities, or strange quirks that they hid while at work, but no. They were the same old women I've been working with for the past three months. Nothing new. It was rather boring.

"I can't believe you ditched me back there..."

I heard Hayner's grumbling form behind me, and I turned, amused.

"Oh come on. I'm sure you had fun. Find anything for Olette?" I began laughed when I saw how red my friend had turned, and then even harder when he muttered, 'yes.'

"Are you serious? Wow. Just wow..."

"Shut up!"

"Sorry, no can do. This is payback."

"More payback? Seriously? I would have thought you would have been satisfied with leaving me alone in a frikin underwear shop!" I hadn't seen Hayner this pissed since he'd gotten suspended for trying to kill a kid that was annoying him during math class in seventh grade. Of course, he wasn't mad that he had been suspended, but because the guy had gotten away with only a few broken bones.

My friends, I swear...

I held up my hands in defense as Hayner sat down in the chair across from me. "Sorry. I had to get out of there." I didn't really have to get out of there. It was more I had to leave Hayner in there to suffer alone. Now he's gonna have interesting stories to tell his college friends. Then, when I meet them, they'll know me as the guy who ditched Hayner in an underwear store.

Crap. That'll be really annoying.

"That's Ellie, right?" Hayner suddenly asked, pointing towards the girl with short brown hair. I nodded.

"Yeah."

"And she's the one who you think has a crush on you?"

"Yep."

"But Riku likes her?"

"Uh huh."

"I don't blame him. She's kinda hot."

"Yea- Wait, what?"

Hayner sighed, closing his eyes. "Honestly. Ellie is hot. So is Kairi." I blinked. Did I just hear Hayner correctly? He was calling a girl other than Olette hot? That has never happened before. Good looking is one thing, but hot... that was just weird. "Don't you think?" He poked me in the arm, knocking me out of my little trance.

"Um... no." I shook my head. "Do you have a fever or something?" I asked, not sure if my friend was delirious, or had just plain old gone mad.

"No. I don't have a fever. Why? Is it wrong for me to think two of the girls you work with are hot? Wow man, way to keep them all to yourself." He snorted.

"Keep them all to my- What is wrong with you today? I only like Naminé. No one else, even though Riku and Sora would argue otherwise. And it is wrong of you to think Ellie and Kairi are hot, especially since you're in love with Olette."

"Well, she doesn't like me-" Hayner muttered, and I rolled my eyes, "-so I think I should just give up on her." Hayner let out a sigh and slumped in his chair. My first reaction would have been to slap Hayner over the head and tell him he's an idiot and he should just ask Olette out because she's totally infatuated with him, but seeing as it's Hayner, he never would have listened to me.

So instead, I replied with, "I think you're an idiot. Anyway, we should go now. I'm getting sick of being all stalkerish."

Hayner just nodded, and the two of us stood up, heading towards the parking garage with Hayner grumbling to himself, and me thinking rapidly.

I didn't quite get why I had agreed to come here after Hayner told me his reason. Actually, I didn't even know how he knew Naminé was going to be here, seeing as he's met her only once. Then of course there's the way he was able to find her with time to spare, but that one was more a question of Hayner's tracking abilities.

The two of us walked in silence all the way to the parking garage, where we found my car, and were about to get in when...

"Roxas! Wait!"

Hayner and I both turned to see Naminé running towards us. Hayner smirked at me, then slid into my car, leaving me alone to deal with the girl I had been stalking all day.

Great.

I laughed nervously. "Naminé, fancy seeing you here..."

"Oh cut the crap, Roxas. I know you've been following me all day." It was then my embarrassment decided to rear it's ugly head, the stupid thing. But Naminé seemed more amused than angry or freaked out. How odd...

"Uh... yeah, sorry about that..."

"Don't worry. I had a feeling your friend was the one who made you do this. Besides, I think it's kind of sweet that you want to know what I do while not at work." She smiled at me, and I once again like I was going to turn completely red.

I swear that my emotions were trying to kill me.

"Um... yeah... hehehe..." I really didn't know what to say at this point. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Hayner laughing at me as he spied on us from the rear-view-mirror and I wanted to murder him. Sadly, it's not wise to murder your best friend in front of a girl you desperately wanted to date, so I had to restrain myself.

"Roxas? Are you okay?" I jumped, not realizing that I had once again, spaced out, and looked down at Naminé who had a worried look on her face.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just thinking," I said as my hand reached up to scratch my head, something I did when I was nervous.

"Alright."

We stood there awkwardly for a moment, before I finally, finally, asked, "Hey, um... do you, you know, want to go on a date with me?"

Naminé flushed red and she looked down at her feet, and I prepared myself for rejection.

"So, how did it go?" Hayner asked me when I climbed into the car. I didn't answer him. I was too shocked.

I had a date with Naminé.

"Hello? Roxas? Did you finally snap? I knew this was going to happen someday..." Hayner grumbled, amused.

"She said yes." I managed to get out after a moment.

"What?"

"I asked her out, and she said yes."

"Seriously?"

I nodded.

"Dude! That's awesome! Roxas Strife has a date after three years of being single!"

"Yeah, it's a shame you won't be here for that."

"... you just had to remind me, didn't you."

"Yep."

"Bastard."

"Jerk."

"Why are we friends again?"

"Who knows."

We started laughing at this point. My life was finally starting to turn around, despite my best friend leaving for college. But hey, I had a date with a pretty girl, who was now my girlfriend. This was going to be awesome.

I. Hate. Namine. I don't know exactly why, but I do, which is why I don't like this chapter. I mean, seriiously? Roxas and Namine going out? That's just wrong :( I know, it's weird that I put it in my story since I hate that pairing so much... but I can't really control my characters, and this is what Roxas and Axel told me had to happen... and if I ignore them, bad things happen...

Anyway, hope you liked this chapter, and I'll see you guys next week!

~Sunechirei