A/N: *peeks out from protective armor* Heh... Hi guys... Long time no see, eh? I'M SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE! Things got crazy at school and, I'll be honest, I was lazy and procrastinating. Please don't kill me? But now, school's over! Hopefully I will have plenty of time to write again! Thank you guys so much for being really understanding and patient with me. Special thanks go to Zstar1, jazica, candoteen1, Callypso, NeverAlone3665, Rosenia, the pandypandas, Aradite, BeforexImxDead, Alice9496, and 2 for following and favoriting my story!
Zstar1: Here you go! Sorry it took so long!
loopyhutton: *blushes* Well, thank you my dear. You're so nice!
NightHunterDeath: Yes!
YuYuHakushoObsessor: Here it is! Sorry again it took so long!
Guest(reviewed on chapter 6): Awww! Thank you so much! I'm so happy you feel that way, and I'm glad you caught those references!
AHoboNamedDruggy: Hahaha, thank you so much for understanding. And it wasn't harsh to me, thanks for your patience!
Allora22701: Haha, here it is!
the pandypandas: Thanks!
Just so you guys know, I think I'll need a few days to get back into the rhythm of writing again, I doubt it will affect the next update, but just be warned! Thanks again everyone, I hope this chapter won't disappoint!
Disclaimer: I think we all got the picture here, I only own my OCs.
"The beach?" Haruhi questioned.
"Of course! The beach!" the twins exclaimed simultaneously.
"But why?" Haruhi questioned again, pausing from doing her homework and looking up from her stack of books.
"Don't you remember what you said?" Hikaru started.
"You said you'd like to go to a real beach!" Kaoru finished.
"Did I say that?"
"Yes Haruhi!" the twins droned. They displayed the many swimsuits they had set up on mannequins to her. "Here's the fun part! We brought some swimsuits for you to choose from, pretty cute don't ya think?"
Honey bounded over with excitement. "Not that one! I think this swimsuit would look much cuter on Haru-chan!" He exclaimed, holding up a mannequin with a blue one-piece swimsuit on it. The proverbial pink flowers floating around his head as he said this.
The twins chided, "I don't think you get it, Honey-sempai. Just look, this uniform barely hides the fact that Haruhi's as flat as a cutting board. A one-piece suit like that would only upset her because it draws attention to her lacking feminine physique! That's why we carefully selected this two-piece suit, see? The ruffles help hide the fact that she's so flat chested!"
Lorena pulled Haruhi away from the two devils and stroked her hair in a motherly manner. "Don't listen to them Haruhi, they're just stupid boys who don't know anything." She nodded in agreement.
"Now Rena-chan is a different story," Hikaru started again, pulling her away from Haruhi.
"She's plenty developed in her feminine physique, she could easily pull off a one-piece." Kaoru continued.
"Can you not?" Lorena asked the twins, though her question was ignored.
"Although, I think we'd all agree she'd be much cuter in a two-piece suit." They said together, revealing a dark green bikini with a small black flower design on it.
"No." was all Lorena had to say on the matter.
Tamaki swooped to the rescue, knocking the twins away with a baseball bat, as if he had hit a home run, "You punks had better stop sexually harassing my little girls! I've had enough of you!"
They hid behind the table Haruhi was at previously, "That means, we're not going to the beach?"
"Who said that we're not going?" Tamaki replied, putting the baseball bat he used to knock them away on his shoulder.
"Really? So you wanna go after all?" They asked hopefully.
"Can Usa-chan come too?" Honey asked cutely, still holding the mannequin from before.
"I have no problem with that." Kyoya interjected.
"Huh? We're really gonna go?" Haruhi and Lorena asked at the same time.
Tamaki looked at them, "Why not? Let's go to the beach!"
~Time skip brought to you by the TARDIS~
The next day was a Saturday, it was the day the Host Club decided to go to the beach, and it also happened to be Lorena's birthday. Usually, on a person's birthday, they're excited and happy because they are gonna get presents and food and make happy memories with loved ones. But not Lorena.
At the moment, Lorena was not being at all cooperative with Michael. "Come on Lorena, you have to get up! Your friends are going to be here soon to pick us up to go to the beach! I've already packed our bags and breakfast for you, all you have to do is get up! You know they're not gonna leave without you!" But it was useless. Lorena was too far in a state of depression that she couldn't find the will or energy to get out of bed or to get dressed.
Michael sighed. "Look, if you don't wanna change, fine. But I know you're gonna want to put on a shirt or hoodie over your tank top when we leave. You know if you don't come down there yourself, they're just gonna come up here to get you, right? I'm figuring you don't want them to see you like this..." She stuck a hand out of her burrow of covers. He handed her a big pull-over hoodie that used to be his in his first year of college. She pulled it over herself and slowly, but surely, made her way out of bed. She pulled the hood up and just sat at the edge, staring at the wall and covering her face with her hands that were covered by the hoodie sleeves. It was at least three sizes too big for her.
He knew that that was as far as she would be able to make herself go and walked around to her. He wrapped his arms around her torso and lifted her up, she wrapped her legs around his waist and buried her face in the crook of his neck. He could feel the tears she was silently crying, her shoulders barely shaking from the sobs. But it wasn't because she wasn't crying hard, it was the learned behavior of hiding the tears and pain.
This was one of those moment when it really struck Michael how much she trusted him. She never cried in front of anybody, even when she was the one with the most reason to. She never showed how much pain she actually was in to anybody. But she was crying in front of him. On his shoulder. Seeking comfort from him. This very fact made him want to cry, but she needed him right now, and by the Grace of God he wasn't going to fail her.
He rubbed her back in small circles, mumbling that everything was going to be okay and that he was here and she wasn't alone in her ear. When she finally stopped crying, he began to move towards the front area of her apartment.
Since the hosts weren't going to arrive until about half an hour later, Michael slid Lorena onto the countertop next to her sink. He then made a bowl of cereal for Lorena, hoping to convince her to eat something now, since she most likely wouldn't want to later. He held out the bowl to her, but she stubbornly shook her head, refusing it. He sighed, then an idea came into his mind.
He took a spoonful of cereal and moved it around as if it were a plane coming in to land, even making the engine noises. "Here comes the airplane Lorena, get ready!" She looked at him indignantly. "It's gonna crash!" He prodded. Reluctantly, she opened her mouth, allowing him to spoon-feed her. When she tried to take the spoon and bowl away from Michael, he held it out of her reach, "Uh uh, you had your chance, now I get to feed you like a baby." She wasn't happy about it, but she knew there would be no point to trying to change his mind.
Lorena ate about half of the bowl when she refused to eat another bite. Michael tried to get her to keep eating, but she just buried her face in her legs that she had drawn up to her chest on the counters. Knowing he was fortunate to get her to eat even that much, he ate the rest himself and put the dishes in the sink.
Just then, they heard a car honk from the front of the apartment building. The Host Club was here. Slinging their bags over his shoulder, Michael picked Lorena up again and made his way out of the apartment. Careful about the added weight of Lorena, he managed to lock the door and get down the steps and to the car. The only reason he could do all of this and hold Lorena was because if the army. Even if he was just an army doctor.
Takashi and Haruhi got out of the limmo to help with the bags when they saw Lorena was clinging onto Michael again. Takashi was jealous of how close they seemed to be, but that jealousy disappeared when he saw that Lorena wasn't herself. She wasn't just hitchin' a ride on Michael, she wouldn't even look up. Her face was buried in his shoulder. He also noticed she seemed to still be in her pajamas. She was wearing black shorts and a pull-over hoodie that was three sizes too big for her.
Michael made to pass Lorena over to Takashi, telling him, "She'll like you better than she likes me right now." When Michael passed her over-like you would a child Honey's size-Haruhi caught a glimpse of Lorena's face. And what she saw stunned her. Haruhi saw immense pain and sorrow in Lorena's eyes. Her expression was blank, but her eyes said it all. Haruhi had only experienced pain similar to that once, when her mother died. What could have caused Lorena to have these feelings? Had something happened? She wanted to ask, but she knew that now was not the time nor place. And she didn't want to pry into her life, she just wanted to help.
Lorena immediately wrapped her legs around Takashi's waist and buried her face in the crook of his neck. Meanwhile, Michael put their bags in the trunk with the others'.
Takashi-very carefully-managed to climb back into the limmo without letting go of Lorena. He was followed by Haruhi and Michael. The rest of the hosts looked quizzically at Lorena's back, who was now sitting on-also called straddling-Takashi because she refused to move. Michael gestured wildly with his hands for them not to ask, they complied, obviously seeing that whatever the situation was, it needed to be handled carefully. Although, Kyoya did not miss this chance to snap a few pictures to possibly receive a profit from later.
The limmo started again, and they were on their way to the beach.
A/N: So? Was it disappointing? Let me know! Have a lovely week, beautiful readers everywhere!