8

It's night. The last night of summer vacations, actually. Tomorrow classes begin, but today, Misaki, Eriol and I are only interested in the movie we're watching on the living room's tv. Well, actually the only ones who are paying attention to the movie are Eriol and I. Misaki's busy doing a collage; that's the only artistic trait she picked from me: knitting, baking, or keeping a diary aren't stuff she's interested into.

Misaki just pasted a photo of a fluffy kitty, when the movie is interrupted by a commercial break, and looks at us, deadly serious.

"What?" Eriol asks, as soon as he notices her look.

"What are you doing here?" She asks back.

"Wow." Says Eriol, pretending to be hurt. "I didn't know that, as soon as I broke up with your oldest sister, I was banished from this household."

"I didn't mean that, you idiot." Misaki says. "Weekend night." She explains. "Single and ready to mingle." I want to laugh, but actually I would love to know where she learnt that expression. "Why are you wasting your last weekend before classes start, with us? Shouldn't you be trying your luck with a pretty girl?"

"Misaki!" I hurry to interrupt. Not gonna lie, I'm actually hurt my little sister doesn't consider me a girl pretty enough for Eriol to test his luck.

Eriol burst out laughing.

"I need my time to grief."

"Grief?" Misaki repeats.

"That's what you do when somebody dies." Eriol hurries to explain. "The time you spent honoring their memory is your time to grief."

"Nobody died, don't talk about that to my sister." I hurry to intervene.

"Grief." Misaki says once again. "Are you grieving Rika? Do you need time to come to term to the fact she dumped you?"

Ouch. I swear, this girl just has no manners.

Eriol just nods, and Misaki copies him. But then, she looks at me.

"What about you?" She says. "You're not grieving no one. You've never had a boyfriend, Sakura. What are you doing here, Sunday night, taking care of your little sister?"

"I like to take care of you." I reply. That and that I love to spend my time with Eriol, although obviously I'm not saying that out loud.

"You're so boring." And here we go again with her lack of manners.

Eriol bursts out laughing again.

"Misaki's right." He says, and I look at him, coldly. "Single and ready to mingle, you need to go out and test your luck with a handsome guy."

"No thanks." I hurry to reply.

"Grandma's right, Sakura." Misaki interrupts once again, as she picks up her stuff. "You need to go out and experience the real world. Have your heart broken."

Eriol keeps on laughing. I hurry to attack back.

"What about you? Don't you have any boy you like?"

Misaki puffs, as she stands up.

"None of your business." She replies, and hurries to add. "I'll keep working on this, upstairs. Good night, Eriol."

"Good night, Misaki." He replies, crying from all the laugher.

We both see her walk upstairs, and how she shuts down her bedroom door.

Now that he finally stopped laughing, Eriol asks me.

"Isn't she quite young to be into boys?"

"She's nine." I reply, as if it was obvious. "I also liked a boy when I was nine."

"Who?" Eriol hurries to ask.

I hesitate a bit.

"Well… Li Syaoran."

Eriol pretends he's about to puke.

"Are you for real, Sakura? He's such a cliché! I thought you'd like someone with a little bit more brains and personality than him." But he doesn't stop there. "Li's only charm is to be the most popular guy at school."

I can only shrug my shoulders.

"Well, he wasn't the popular type before." I try to defend myself. "I mean, yeah, he was popular, but not the 'American teen romantic comedy' you're trying to…"

"Wow…" He keeps on making fun of me.

"Well, what about you?" I hurry to change subject. "Who was your first love?"

"It was you."

He says it in such a casual tone, that I find it hard to understand what he had just said. I look at him, perplexed, I blink several times, and when I open my mouth, the only thing I can say is:

"Eh?"

"It was just when I moved to the neighborhood. I let you use my bike, remember?" I silently nod. "I loved that bike! And somehow, you managed to crash against the garbage dumpster. I have no idea how, but you flatted it a tire."

"I'm so sorry…" It's the only thing I can whisper.

"Obviously, in the mind of a twelve-year-old, I got very angry. And that's how I got over my crush on you."

I want to laugh, but I can't. Was that the only reason why I lost my chance? For being eleven and still hadn't learn to ride a bike? Was that the reason why Eriol had picked Rika instead of me?"

My heart hurts, once again. I just can't believe how something so simple can change everything so much.

Hope you had a great weekend, and hope to see you around.

Ribo~