Longest chapter so far XD It's about 12 or 13 pages... annoying to write, and even more annoying to edit, but It's done now...
You get to learn a lot about some of the characters in this chapter, so I hope you enjoy it :)
So, I got this review from a person named alienphantom for chapter nine, and I felt the need to reply to it in this chapter, so here I go: Yes, Namine and Roxas do have many issues, but I really can't see them going out. Which is weird, because they're currently dating in my story... But, this is an AkuRoku fic, so of course that's not going to last for very long. Only about ten chapters... which has driven me insane... As for finding a good therapist; I do have one, actually XD But we haven't gotten around to the fact that my characters talk to me and make me do things. I think she's too scared to go there :P
Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, and please review :) Thankies!
Full chapter title: To maintain a healthy level of insanity
Things were going well.
I was finally getting the hang of work. I was getting over the fact that my three best friends were gone for college. The people at work didn't seem as scary anymore, and I had a beautiful girlfriend.
For the first time in over five months, I was truly happy.
Sadly, not everyone in my office had this opinion.
"I'm so bored!" Red whined one day in late September, as we were sitting in Dad's office, going through a bunch of papers. Well, I was doing the work. Red of course, was just sitting there watching me do everything as he whined about his oh so tedious life. No wonder he was bored...
"Then help me with this. It's not that hard you know," I muttered, jotting a note on a piece of paper. "Besides, you're supposed to be helping me learn this crap."
Red scoffed at my revelation, obviously annoyed by what I'd just said. "I've already done my work load for today," he said in a low, teasing growl, "You can do the rest."
And thus my irritation began to rise. It was just like Red to ruin a perfectly good day with his messed up logic, strange way of speaking, and annoying attitude. I really wished I wasn't there, and I would much rather have been on a wonderful date with Naminé, but no. I was stuck., with the red-head, trying to do work while he was being an annoying jerk, who I seriously wanted to murder at that moment. However, if I murdered him, there would be blood, and that wouldn't end well for me.
"What do you mean, 'you've already done your work load?' What do you even do for this company?" I asked, not bothering to hide the annoyance in my voice. Red smirked and leaned across the desk, placing his chin in his hand.
"That, Roxie, is for me to know, and for you to never find out," he said, his voice quiet enough to pass for a whisper. The sound caused me to shudder, probably because his tone was also quite sadistic, and my eyes turned up into a glare.
"Fine," I said, pushing him away from the desk before going back to work and ignoring the laughter that was coming from my annoying coworker.
"It's amazing how boring you've become since you started dating Miss Naminé, you know that, right?" And of course he brought up Naminé. Everyone in the building found out that I was dating the girl not long after the whole stalking incident, and each one of them had the reactions I was expecting. Well, kinda.
Kairi squealed, hugged her cousin and told us we extremely cute together.
Sora gave us a bewildered look, and a confused congratulation.
Riku rolled his eyes and muttered, "I still think you and Axel are secret lovers." (That was hard to explain to Naminé.)
Ellie just shrugged and went back to her work, much to my surprise. I would have thought that she would have gotten mad that I was dating Naminé, seeing as she likes me and what not.
And then there was Red's. He had the strangest response of them all, as he said "She's not right for you," then walked out of the room.
He seemed completely normal now, but that day was very awkward for everyone left in the room, and Red and Naminé haven't spoken at all since then. Every time the two saw each other, an awkward air would fall upon the room, and everyone evacuated it almost immediately; well; except me, because I was expected to do all the talking for the two of them. It was very, very, very annoying, and strange, and messed up, and I was starting to worry about both my co-workers, though Naminé more so than Red. If the two of them couldn't get along, bad things would happen. Even my father had noticed the uncomfortable atmosphere that surrounded him every time he had to come down to the lobby.
"Have I?" I questioned, after a moment of silence where I had contemplated every event that had occurred over the past few weeks. Red snorted at my abnormally calm reaction.
"Yep. It's really annoying," he alleged, moving closer to me again.
Rolling my eyes, I retorted, "Well I'm sorry. What do you want me to do? Break up with her?"
"Yep."
Well, that wasn't rude in anyway. My stare got harder. There was something strange going on with Red right now, and I don't think it had anything to do with boredom, but before I could ask him what the hell was going on, he leaned away from me, sprawling his arms across the back of the chair in which he sat.
"You guys are too sane here," he groaned suddenly, "It's driving me insane." Rolling my eyes, I went back to work, hoping he was going to finally give up on annoying me and either leave, or help, but when a nasty grin spread across his lips, I knew that something was about to happen. I became afraid. Very afraid. "Want to help change this?"
Day 1: Messing with the coffee machine
"I never said I was going to help you," I muttered, arms crossing as I leaned against the wall. Red and I were on the fourth floor, the place everyone hung out during their breaks, so naturally, it was the place where coffee was distributed. I never drank the coffee here, preferring to have some that didn't have any chance of being contaminated, which is a good thing. Other people, however, did drink it, including, Ellie, Kairi, and Riku. Red too, normally gulped down at least one cup a day, but for the past three weeks, Red had been refusing to, saying there was something wrong with it. I didn't know what he was talking about at first, but then he informed me of what he meant.
"I'll let you in on a little secret, Roxie dear," Red told me as he headed over to the counter where the caffeinated drink was always made. It took all of my self control to not punch Red for using that stupid nickname. "See, there's this thing about insanity; it's very important to a group of people. So, because this work area is no longer crazy, I have to do something about it.
"I don't care, I don't want to know, leave me alone," I grumbled, turning to leave, but of course, Red wasn't done.
"Now, there are ten different ways I could make a group of people go insane, and one of them happens to involve switching coffee from regular, to decaf. So, that's what I did." Red was grinning madly as he yanked open one of the cabinet doors, grabbed the bag of coffee from the cabinet, then replaced it with an identical one.
"Okay, so what are you doing now?" There was something that scared me about the look on Red's face. It seemed... distorted... creepy...
Red grinned as he turned around. "Do you know what happens to people when they're used to not having caffeine in their blood, then suddenly, it's there again?"
"Um... no?" Laughing, I began to back away again, hoping I could get away from the madness before Red really got me caught up with all these crap. I don't know how I get involved in these crazy things. First, there was the whole, "I'm going to kill my next door neighbor" thing, then there was the stalking incident, and now Red was going to mess with all the people in the office, just because he was bored. Why did this always have to happen to me?
Red smiled, heading over and grabbing my arm before I could escape. "Well, let's just say that some very, very interesting things happen. This is going to be so much fun!"
I figured that Red had done this once before, which would answer the question as to how he knew what would happen. Of course, I refused to ask, being too afraid Red would go off on some strange tangent about what happened.
In any case, things were certainly... interesting a few hours later, when the coffee had time to affect everyone who'd gotten some earlier. I had to admit, it was pretty entertaining.
The first sign that something interesting was about to happen, was when I headed up to the thirteenth floor to give a report to my father. Grinning, I nodded at Kairi as soon as I walked out of the elevator, and passed, by, but she stopped me.
"Roxas, Roxas, I need at ask you a question!" The tone of voice she used made me freeze in my tracks. It was higher than normal, pitchy, almost, and there was a slight amount of jumpiness there.
"Yes, Kairi?" I asked, tentatively, turning to face her. Wide, purple-blue eyes greeted me, and a smile was playing on Kairi's face.
"Okay, so you know how Sora and I are dating, right?" She jumped up from behind her desk as she asked this, and made her way towards me. Actually, I didn't know that Kairi and Sora were dating, though I probably should have because I believe I'd been told before, so I just nodded. "Well, I need your advice on something," she added, reaching forward and grabbing my hand. I had no idea what she was doing at that point, but it was extremely uncomfortable, and the fact that her warm hand was on mine made me think that Sora was going to come running into the room at any moment and mistake this situation for something else. Chances are, he would beat me to a pulp. "Well, you see, he's being a bit of an idiot-" oh, that was so abnormal... didn't she think that Sora was an idiot everyday?, "-and I don't know what to do about it. Do you know what I should do about it? Do you think I should do anything about it? Can you help me? Please help me! I don't know what I should do and whoa... what's wrong with me."
The woman let go of my hand and took a step back, holding her head in her hands. "Are you okay?" She asked.
Totally confused, I looked around to see if there was anyone else in the room, but there was no one, so I pointed to myself, in a questioning manner. When Kairi nodded, I shook my head slowly and replied;
"I'm perfectly fine. Why would you think I'm not?" She bit her lip, causing me to laugh internally. She was obviously confused as to what was happening, which was absolutely amusing to me. When I didn't get an answer for my question, I asked, "Are you okay?"
Kairi glanced up at me, closing her eyes as though she were thinking about something intensely. "N-No," she stuttered, "I don't think I am. Everything's spinning, and I ca-can't think straight and... and... I'm going to sit down now." The woman stumbled over to her seat before she collapsed in it. "Um... will you go give this to Ellie for me? I think I need to drink water or something." I nodded at her, trying really, really hard not to laugh as I took the paper from her hand. So much for talking to my father...
Anyway, I headed down the the twelfth floor, taking the stairs this time so it would be faster. I knew for a fact that Ellie drank the coffee, because I'd seen her get a cup this morning before work had started. I couldn't wait to see how the always calm, collected, serious, haughty, woman would be acting now that she was hyped up on caffeine. Maybe I could get something on her so she had to help me...
However, I had a shock when I got to her office, as she was, well, normal. Sitting at her desk like absolutely nothing was wrong, but that was impossible. Her cup was still steaming next to her, so I guessed it could be a little bit possible that she hadn't started to feel the effects yet, but I couldn't exactly tell.
Why am I so excited about this? I wondered all of a sudden, Maybe Hayner and Red have rubbed off on me...
"Oh, hello there Roxas. What are you doing down here?" She asked when she finally looked up from her work and noticed me. Without saying anything, I held up the document Kairi had handed me. I didn't know what it was, but it seemed important, so I asked about it. To my surprise, Ellie smiled at me. "It's just a contract that deals with my working with this company. Boy are you curious today."
Um...
Ellie's normal reaction would be something like this;
"It's a form. It has nothing to do with you. Sorry. Get out of my office."
I guessed this was the way Ellie ended up reacting to the caffeine. Not exactly what I was expecting, but it worked... kinda...
"Anyway, Roxie," Damn, she used my nickname, "have you um... seen Riku at all today?" Riku? She was looking for Riku? It was almost as if she was trying to tell me something, especially since her face was now painted a light pink. It struck me as interesting that she blushed when asking for Riku, but I kinda of ignored it because it was possible she was just flushed from heat, or something like that. Especially since she added, "I need him to help me with something."
"No. No I haven't. Why do you need him anyway?" I ventured, taking a slight step back. The smile on her face was starting to creep me out.
"Oh, no reason. Sorry to bug you." Her voice was sickly sweet at this point, and it made me shudder.
"No problem." I waved before backing out slowly, and I closed the door.
"Scary, isn't she." Jumping, I looked up to see Red standing next to me, leaning against the door frame. "She gets all sweet when she's hyper. I don't know why, but she's always been like that. It's really, really, funny." He laughed, pushing away from the door-frame.
"Always?" It was strange how he used that word. I could tell that Ellie and Red were friends, and what not, but I was suddenly curious as to when they'd first met. So, I asked, "How long have you known her?"
Red looked to the ceiling in thought. "Twenty-two or so years."
What's commonly known as 'the spit take,' would have happened had I'd been holding a cup of water. But, I wasn't. "Twenty-two years," I exclaimed, though in a hushed voice so Ellie wouldn't come out of her office. "Where did you guys meet? When did you guys meet?" Red was only twenty-five, right? That means he would have known Ellie practically all of his life. And how old was Ellie?
"Yep. I was three when the... um... authorities, found me and brought me to an orphanage. Ellie was there. She's a year older than me, and we were both adopted around the same time. Our adoptive parents knew each other so we practically grew up together." Red didn't seem hesitant at all to tell me all of this, but I didn't have any issues with that, especially because I found out both Ellie and Red were orphans. That little fact was really interesting, and I wanted to know more about it, but-
"Axel! Roxie! You guys have got to come see this!" Sora came crashing down the hallway, laughing like a maniac. "It's Riku. You've got to see this!"
I became scared. "Hey, you can go see what's up with Riku. I'm just going to go home now. This is getting a bit freaky for me." I laughed nervously, then backed away slowly.
Day 2: To check for drugs
I yawned widely as I walked into the building, tired from lack of sleep. The absolute wonderfulness of unconsciousness had decided to evade me all of last night, leaving me completely, and totally exhausted. Of course, the fact that Red had decided to call me in the middle of the night to ask some random question I don't even remember didn't help much. I swear that guy was going to be the death of me. No, not just the death of me; he was going to be the person who ended my life and then buried me in the ground with a packet of what ever the hell he was asking me about.
"Morning, Roxas. You look tired today," I heard as soon as the door closed behind me, and I looked up to see Naminé sitting in her normal spot behind the front desk, a beautiful smile on her face. Laughing lightly, I headed over to her.
"Yeah. I couldn't sleep last night," I replied, rolling my eyes. That was a complete and total understatement.
Naminé groaned. "Don't tell me that you drank the coffee yesterday...," she said, giggling in an extremely cute manner, which of course, made me abnormally happy. Have I mentioned how annoying my hormones are today?
Laughing, I replied, "What? No! I never drink the coffee. Besides, I... kinda knew about it before hand. A privilege of working with the culprit." Naminé grinned at me, leaning forward slightly as she placed her chin in her hands.
"Looks like you and Axel are finally getting along," she giggled, though there was a hint of sadness in her voice, and she looked down at her lap. "I'm happy for you."
"Nami, is there something going on between you and that red-head?" I asked suddenly, grabbing her hand gently. "You guys... well, you two have been acting strange lately." Naminé flinched, pulling back from me, and she looked to the side, like she was searching for something, even though I knew for a fact there was nothing new in the room. After a time, Naminé laughed nervously, before standing up.
"Roxas...," her laughter stopped as she looked up at me. "What do you... what do you think of Ax-"
"Roxas Strife, I swear if I don't see you in my office in the next five seconds, you're going to regret it!"
I froze as Ellie's voice resonated throughout the lobby room. She did not sound very happy. Not happy at all, but still kinda... I don't know, flirty? It was weird.
However, her threat sounded completely and totally serious, so without another seconds hesitation, I waved goodbye to Naminé, and dashed up the stairs, figuring that would be much faster. I hadn't been working with these people for very long, but I guessed getting on Ellie's bad list didn't really sound like a good idea.
The first thing I noticed when I burst into Ellie's office was how um... odd, the scene was. But that wasn't anything new. Every time I'd entered the lawyer's office, something strange was going on in there, whether it be Ellie screaming at Red about a paper I didn't know anything about, Riku acting all emo in the corner, or crazy Ellie scolding my dad for acting anti-social during a meeting (that was a weird day). Of course, there were also all the weird times I'd walked in on Riku flirting with Ellie; holding her hand, sitting on her desk and taking a sip from her coffee, or that one time Riku had his arms wrapped around the lawyer.
However, every time I'd walked into the room, Ellie would hurt Riku, push him away, and act as if absolutely nothing had happened.
This time, however, there were three people in the room;
Red, sitting in the chair in front of Ellie's desk, looking bashful.
Riku, standing behind Ellie's desk, leaning against the window sill.
And of course, Ellie, glaring angrily at Red.
I had a strange feeling that Red had done something that was a legal risk and involved money, which would be one reason why Riku was there, but what did all of this have to do with me? Oh shit... it'd be very possible that it had something to do with why Red had called me last night.
"Sit down, don't speak. Yet." Ellie's voice was quiet, icy almost. I could swear that the temperature in the room dropped a good ten degrees. Not wishing to anger the woman anymore, I sat down quickly, glancing at Red who, for once, didn't seem to be amused at all. "Now," Ellie began, "care to explain what the hell you two were thinking?"
Oh great, she's talking about the coffee thing. I knew I shouldn't have gotten involved in that. Then again, I wouldn't have thought she would really mind, and what did that have to do with Riku being here? I had become very confused.
"Um... what are you talking about?" I asked, looking between Ellie and Red.
"Oh like you don't know," Ellie hissed, standing up. Next to me, Red coughed.
"Actually, he doesn't." Everyone in the room turned to look at Red. He held up his hands defensively. "What? Just because he was involved with the coffee thing yesterday doesn't mean he knows everything about my madness. I barely know the kid! Why would I tell him all of my insanity schemes?"
Ellie turned to face me, "Roxas, you know nothing about the checks, do you?" And that would be why Riku had been there. But still...
"Checks?" Nothing made much sense.
Red snickered. "You see, Roxie," he said, "I decided it would be fun to write a check for a thousand dollars, and put in the memo," pausing dramatically, he smirked at me, "'For Marijuana.'" I froze. Not just stopped moving; actually froze, like I was in a freezer or something. Red wasn't done, though, "Now both Ellie and Riku are pissed at me. Ellie because what I did is a huge legal issue, and Riku because now he has to fix all of this in accounting. Sorry, didn't mean to get you involved in this." Red let out a laugh and patted me on the head.
After allowing the news to sink in, I practically screamed, "What the hell?" I shifted in my seat, swatting Red's hand away, "You did what?" Sometimes I wondered what the hell goes through Red's brain. This was not one of those time.
Red grinned at me. "Oh, don't worry. This is just number two on my list of ways to keep your insanity at a healthy level." I should have been expecting that...
"Axel, you have got to be joking." Ellie sighed, massaging her temples. "You have no idea how much legal shit you could be in right now! I can't just focus on your issues. I'm the lawyer of this entire company, not just you."
"Yeah yeah," Red snorted. "I've learned my lesson. Can I go now?"
Silence was never a good thing when Ellie was mad. I'd figured that out the hard way a few months ago when... you know what, I'm not even going to talk about it. "Learned your lesson?" she hissed after a moment, "Learned your- Riku, will you please explain to this guy what happens when they keep doing things like this?"
Riku smirked, crossing his arms. "Normally I would, but I don't really feel like doing you any favors right now. After all, you're not doing me any favors." Man, this guy was annoying. Everyone in the room could tell that, though especially Ellie, who stood up and half turned to face Riku.
"Real mature," she told him, eyes narrowing. The accountant bent over in a mock, sarcastic bow, all the while saying;
"Why thank you."
With a light sigh, I leaned back in my chair and muttered, "She doesn't like you..."
This sentence... well, it was supposed to just be for me, and you know, I probably shouldn't have said it aloud because Riku heard me... and he got pissed. Really, really pissed. It was like some kind of demon had possessed him, as he stood up, towering over me in an intimidating manner. Shrinking back, I wanted to laugh nervously, but my voice was caught in my throat, making me unable to make even a small noise.
"Doesn't like me?" Riku asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "What ever makes you think that?" I said nothing, too scared to speak. Tall, muscular guys are very terrifying when they're angry. "Oh, don't tell me," he continued, smirking, "you think Ellie likes you, don't you?" I had no idea how he figured that out, but the silence that followed his words, was extremely awkward, like everyone knew something I didn't. With a slight burst of courage, I glanced at Ellie and noticed her roll her eyes, muttering, "Leave me out of this."
Feeling threatened, I stood up, though I think I was shaking slightly. "Maybe," I said indignantly, "But that's not what's important here. I just don't think you should keep bugging her like this. It's really annoying to the rest of us." When Riku grinned at my words, I knew I was making a mistake by saying these things. Obviously I'd missed some kind of important memo or something.
"You know absolutely nothing, do you, Roxie." I didn't have much time to process the fact that my nickname had spread ever farther, because as soon as Riku finished his sentence, he grabbed Ellie's shoulders, spun her around, and kissed her. Right in front of me and Red.
Man that guy was desperate, if he was trying to get Ellie's attention by embarrassing her. Trying not to laugh at this, I glanced over at Red, but rather than acting shocked, he rolled his eyes, before they traveled to my face. "Surprised?" He whispered when he saw my confused expression.
I had no idea what was going on.
After a few seconds, Riku pulled away from Ellie, and smirked at me over her shoulder. Ellie just sighed.
"What ever happened to keeping our work and social lives separate," she muttered, causing me to wonder what she meant by that. Couples were usually the only ones who said that... After letting out another sigh, she added, "There, I did you a favor. Help me." It was amazing that she wasn't even phased by the fact Riku had just been making out with her in front of her technical bosses. Smiling Riku placed his arms on Ellie's shoulders, keeping her from turning around.
"Okay, fine. Axel, you'll get fired," he told the redhead bluntly. Ellie pushed Riku's arms off of her.
"Thank you. Was that so hard?"
"Yep."
"Lazy ass." Was that affection I heard?
I blinked, confused at the way the two of them had been acting.
Red let out another sigh. "Alright, I understand, can I go now." Ellie looked at Red, then reluctantly nodded and Red jumped up, clapping his hands together. "Oh good. Let's go, Roxie." Next thing I now, I'm being dragged (again) out of the room by a laughing Red.
"What the hell was that?" I hissed once we were out of the room.
"Oh, you know, I wanted to keep my self insane so I-"
"Not that! I could care less what you buy with the companies money. If you want marijuana, go ahead. I'm talking about Riku and Ellie! What the hell was that!" Again, he laughed.
"Oh. Those two? They've been dating for the past four years." He paused, gauging my reaction, which I admit was less confused and startled than I though it would be. "What, you didn't know?"
Of course, it still messed with my world view just a tad.
Day 3: In accordance with the prophecy
I wasn't looking forward to what Red had planned for the third day of his madness. He wanted to be more insane? Well, he was making everyone else in the office insane. Me included. I really hoped that today he would give up on his whole, ten days of insanity thing, but of course, he hadn't.
"Roxas, will you hand me that paper over there. In accordance to the prophecy."
That's what he'd been doing. Adding the sentence, "in accordance with the prophecy," after everything he says. It was really, really annoying. Really, really annoying.
"Fine. Now shut up about this stupid prophecy."
"Sorry, no can do. In accordance with the prophecy."
"Stop it!"
"Nope. In accordance with the prophecy."
Groaning, I grabbed the piece of paper and shoved it in Red's face. "Fine. Then stop talking."
"In accordance with the prophecy," Red muttered. That was the last straw for me. The guy would not shut up about this stupid prophecy and it didn't make any sense at all. So I did the only logical thing. I tackled the red-head.
Not smart.
We wrestled for a little while, and once again, I ended up wishing dearly that had a membership at a gym, because I ended up pinned down. This was getting old. Quickly.
"You know, I can get used to this. In accordance with the prophecy."
"Yeah? Well I can't. I have a girlfriend now. You can't just go and pin me to the ground whenever you feel like it."
"Aw, why not? Maybe it'll cause Naminé to break up with you. In accordance with the prophecy."
"You would like that, wouldn't you."
"Oh, totally. In accordance with the prophecy."
"Bastard."
Red just smirked.
Day 4: Religion at work
"And so, because of this, I propose we renovate the hotel in downtown Hallow Bastion so that it fits in with the rest of the scenery better."
Another boring day, another boring meeting. I wasn't paying much attention to the meeting at all, though I had a feeling I should. Well, at least I was awake, unlike other people in the room. Sitting next to me, or laying, more like, was Red, dozing off. Hopefully, this meant Red was done with his madness. Sadly, he wasn't.
"Mr. Lea, are you paying attention?" The red-head didn't respond, so I poked him in the side. He jumped up, and shouted something I never thought would come out of his mouth;
"Amen!"
The entire board room went silent, and Axel looked around the room, smirking. "What?" He asked.
"Mr. Lea, you know that the topic of religion is a touchy one in our company, so I can't allow you to say, 'amen,' here. Please refrain from doing so."
"Sorry." Red sat down, grinning madly. "Day four, complete."
Oh God...
Day 5: Skipping is a wonderful way to express yourself
"Riku, come on! It's been three days. Why are you still mad at me?"
Riku leaned back in his chair, pondering this question for a second. "Probably because you thought my girlfriend was flirting with you. Should I, you know, not be mad at you?"
"Yes! I didn't know you guys were dating!" I protested, slamming my hands on his desk.
Rolling his eyes, the silver-haired boy was about to reply to my plea, but froze suddenly, staring out the window of his office. Confused, I followed his gaze, and when I saw what he was looking at, I groaned.
It was Red.
Skipping down the hallway.
Smiling like a maniac.
Looks like day five has come.
I slapped my forehead.
Day 6: Diet water
It's the sixth day after Red decided to mess with the coffee, and he was still on his whole, "I need a healthy level of insanity" rant, and I was absolutely terrified he was going to do something stupid while we were at a fancy restaurant in downtown Radiant Garden. I really hoped that there was no way Red would ruin this whole deal with Leonhart Industries.
I shouldn't get my hopes up.
"You must be Roxas Strife, Cloud's son," the man sitting across the table said in a cold voice. "My name is Squall Leonhart, the owner of Leonhart industries. And you are?" He asked, turning to Red. Red smiled like he wasn't insane.
"Axel Lea, Roxas' business partner. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Leonhart."
Red was acting normal.
This could not be good. He was totally planning something.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a waitress trot over to us, a false smile on her face. "Good day, sirs, may I get you something to drink?" she asked, seeming a bit shocked by the strangeness of our little group. Squall was... different than most business men I've ever seen (other than Red, but that man is a different story) with his long mane like hair and strange scar slashed across his face.
The waitress was good at hiding her shock, however, since neither Squall nor Red noticed.
"Just water please," Squall said.
"Water." I said as well.
"Diet water, please."
Oh.
Dear.
God.
What.
The.
Hell.
Is.
He.
Doing?
He couldn't have just order "water?" He had to order "diet water." With a straight face too. There's something seriously wrong with my business partner.
"Oi! What are you doing?" I hissed at Red, but he just smiled at me.
"It's day six."
Day 7: To go
I'm not even going to tell you what happened on the seventh day of this madness. I'll just say it involved us being late, Red wanting food in a drive-through, and a very confused clerk when Red told them his order was "To go."
I'll let you use your imagination on that one.
Day 8: Going to Fiji
Okay, I never actually went to Fiji, but that's what it seemed like when I walked into work that day. The first thing I saw was Naminé, talking to Red, with a smile on her face, like absolutely everything was normal. Only there was sand scattered all over the place.
Oh to be rich.
"What's going on here?" I asked, stepping around the piles of sand and heading to the front desk. "You two aren't fighting anymore, there's sand everywhere, and why is there music playing?"
"Day eight of my wonderful insanity. I'm having a ton of fun with this," Red said, turning to face me, his sea-green eyes flashing with excitement. "Oh, I can't wait to see Mr. Boss-man's reaction when he see's what I've done to his office building."
"Um... my dad's already come in. He left two hours before I did."
Red's face fell. "Are you serious? I did this, he knows I did this, and he doesn't have any reaction? How annoying."
What's this? Red was pouting? How odd.
"I think he minds, he's just better at hiding it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to escape to the upper levels where there's a hint of sanity left." I smiled at Naminé before heading up to my dad's office. We had a date tonight, and nothing Red could do today would make me lose it.
And for the first time in the past week, I've been right about something.
Day 9: Intercoms and pages
"Last night was so much fun! Thank you so much, Roxas!" Naminé was still gushing over our date the previous night as she messed with the flowers I had bought her. "Are you planning on doing something tonight? Maybe we could go out again."
I leaned against the desk and smiled. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Where do you want to go?"
"Hm... I don't know. You should surprise me."
"Okay, I will then," I said before leaning in and kissing Naminé lightly.
"Paging Axel Lea. Axel Lea, please come to the thirteenth floor."
Both of us froze at the sound of Red's voice, wondering why he was paging himself. Then it hit me.
Day nine of his madness.
"Only one more day of this..." I muttered.
"Really? This is going to end tomorrow?" Naminé asked me, looking up at the ceiling with irritation. "I've been getting so sick of Axel recently."
Now I was confused. Yesterday, the two of them seemed to be getting along well, but today, Naminé was pissed at him.
Man, woman are bi-polar (And yes, I'm including Red in the category of women).
"Yeah... Well, I have to get to work before my dad decides to make us break up or something. See ya."
Day 10: Fries
"Axel, would you please give this to Riku? I'm kind of busy." Ellie asked. We were in her office, dealing with some kind of crap that I don't really want to explain. "This is really important."
"Would you like fries with that?" Red replied. Both Ellie and I turned to him, confused.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me, would you like fries with that?"
Right... it was the last day of this madness. Looks like Red was being a brat. Again. Poor Ellie.
"No, I would not like fries with that. What's wrong with you?"
"Oh, absolutely nothing. See ya."
"Wha-?"
"Don't ask." I waved goodbye to Ellie. "I'm going to make sure that... um... he doesn't do anything completely stupid."
"You still haven't learned his name?"
I froze. "No. I don't know why, I just can't remember it."Ellie let out a laugh.
"Oh, you will. Eventually."
I had no idea what she meant by that.
Day 11: ….
"Are you finally done?" Red looked up from his book, and over at me. Crossing my arms, I gave him an incredulous look, and said, "Every one's fucking sick of you right now, so yous should probably stop doing this.
"Oh Roxie," Red said with a sigh, "I told you there were only ten ways, didn't I?" I nodded, "So, that means there will only be ten days. Of course I'm done."
I wanted to fall to my knees, clasp my hands together and shout, "Thank God!" But instead, I ended up nodded at Red, and heading up to my dad's office, hoping that this would never happen again. Ever. In my life time.
Thankfully, it didn't.
Bet you guys weren't expecting Riku and Ellie to be dating XD If you were, then good for you, but I still find it amusing that Roxas had no idea. He's such an oblivious idiot sometimes... even more so later on when Axel- O.O Whoops. Almost gave something away there XD
So yeah, again, please review, and I'll see you next week :D
~Sunechirei