Vanilla! CH5
Weeell, I'm not updating as soon as I had hoped to, as I have been le tired and have had mountains of artwork to do for college. Plus I FINALLY finished KHII, but it came at the price of suffering extensive brain damage at the hands of Luxord, whom for the life of me I could not beat. I was throwing a right wobbler and my (12 YR OLD) brother comes in like 'ohh I'll do it for you' and then goes and totally PWNS him.
I got 87 percent on Jiminy's journal, how lame is that? I suck at life. I'll have to go back later and unlock the secret ending, 'cause I've only seen pictures of it and got in the biggest hype ever. Do you have to beat Sephiroth to get the ending? God help me.
I thought the game was pretty easy over all – easier than the first one at least. I kept myself amused by finishing all of Leon's sentences with '…because I'm going to have sex with Cloud', and all of Cloud's with '…because I'm going to have sex with Leon'. Even with out that though you could tell they were blatantly in love with each other. XP
Anyway, I'm done.
TRON IS SEXY!
…Okay, now I'm done.
XD
I haven't decided whether this is the last chapter or not. I have a really big epic-saga-storyline planned out in my noggin, but I'd really like to write some other stories without the worry of updating this one hanging over my head. This chapter would make a jolly nice ending, but I could carry it on if I wanted to, if ya know what I mean? It makes me sad though, because I absolutely adore writing it.
Major thanks to: Lunarkitty15 (as always! I'm glad you enjoyed it!), NocturnalWriter (never lose hope, my dear!), simplicity1love (wow, thanks! I read on your profile that you don't normally review, so it means a lot), Zimm (your reviews make me happy. I'm so glad you like my characters) and finally scarlettHuntress (why thank you, I do what I can! –blush- XP).
It's a shame that I had to wake up to Cloud prodding me tentatively in the face. It's a shame that I had to wake up at all, really, what with my life being over and everything. I opened a lazy eye and was met with the most charming sight of the blonde-haired buffoon in nothing but a t-shirt and nautically-themed boxer shorts; I curled up tighter into my blanket, hoping it was just some terrible mirage that would go away if I squeezed my eyes shut and counted to ten, but he unfortunately noticed I was awake, ceased prodding and clapped his hands happily.
"What do you want?" I croaked. "No, in fact, what fool let you into my house?"Cloud drew a deep breath, grinning and looking altogether too pleased with himself for me to have a good feeling about what was coming. "Leon took me here after the dance! He is such the gentleman, you know Sora! We got back, and he made me a pizza, before carrying me up to his room, where we–"
"Cloud," I interrupted, rubbing where my right eyebrow used to be as it was feeling rather irritated.
"Oh! You're right," he mercifully broke off, gazing off into the distance and coming over all glassy-eyed. "It's probably not the right time for that."
"It is never the time for that."
He looked quite affronted, as though shocked at my unwillingness to hear of his sexcapades – honestly, I've known him for four years now and he still doesn't know me from beans. If I drew a face on a spud and gave it a giant wig I bet he couldn't tell the difference. He brushed his bed-head from his face, stood and walked over to the door, turning before he left.
"Kairi's coming over."
The door was closed before I could reply. I cannot believe the outrageousness of some. Does he even know what she's done vis a vis the metaphorical ending of my life? Is there anyone that doesn't? I bet it spread like wildfire, what with all that alcohol around after I'd dragged her half dead from the premises; I relived the whole incident in my head – the crowds, the shouting, the Vincent, the laughing, the Riku's face…
She's ruined everything. Stupid, stupid ruiner of things. I curled up even further into my blanket and pulled it up so it completely covered my head, fat hair et al. If she was going to come, and God knows nothing would stop her, I didn't want to see her face lest I turn into the Incredible Hulk and go on some sort of rampage. I don't know how she's going to try and talk her way out of this one, if indeed she remembers what she did at all. I'll give her credit for coming over through what must be a murderous hangover, but I don't see myself forgiving her in the foreseeable future. Even though she is my best buddy and all of that, she has crossed several rhetorical lines with this one.
All too soon it seemed, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs, heard her stumble once or twice, heard her open the door to my room, and heard her come to a halt next to my bed. I seemed to be radiating hate through my duvet, as she didn't speak for a few moments, which was a refreshing change. Evidently she knew what she'd done – normally she wouldn't hesitate to dive on top of my bed and molest me till I pushed her off. Part of me wished she would do that – pretend that nothing had happened, never speak of it again. But it's never that easy, I suppose.
"S… Sora?" she asked, her voice cracked and dry. I started for a moment – it wasn't very often that I heard her like that, and it wasn't what I expected at all. Truthfully, I expected her to handle the situation in true Kairi style, to ramble through an explanation, present me with some sweets and tag a rushed apology on the end.
"What?" I grumbled resignedly, realising too late that I could have feigned sleep and not had to face her at all.
"I… brought you some milk and… honey," her voice growing quieter with each word, as though she was afraid to speak them.
Even through all my anger I realised I couldn't stand her being upset; it reminds me of all of the things she's been through, and believe me when I say that's no small statement to make, and how she never lets them get her down; the last thing I wanted was to be the cause of another one, but then again, I had to at least wait for some sort of an apology.
"Are we expecting Moses?" I mumbled through the blanket, trying in vain to alleviate the situation, failing miserably as per usual. There was a silence, where I heard a slight rattling that I presumed to be the glass of milk on a tray.
"No…" she sighed, and I heard her setting down whatever it was she was holding next to my alarm clock on the bedside table.
Silence.
I don't know how long we stayed there, each waiting for the other to talk – I still couldn't bear to look at her, though not because of anger anymore. The way she was acting held resonance with the seriousness of the situation – seeing her upset would make it seem ten times worse. She hadn't even sat down, like she felt she was a stranger in my house or something. I was about to tell her she didn't have to stay any longer if she didn't want to, when she finally spoke.
"I'll fix it, Sora," came in nothing more than a whisper. "I'll definitely fix it for you."
I remained quiet for a moment, thinking about what that could have meant.
"Fix… what?" I asked slowly.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so, so, so sorry. I should have listened to you Sora, I shouldn't have… have drank, I should have stayed… wi-with you all night," came out in a tangle, her voice wavering desperately.
It was only then that I realised that there was nothing that to fix. I didn't have a chance in hell with Riku whichever way I looked at it, I got laughed at in college anyway for some reason or another, but it never really mattered as long as I had her by my side, no matter how much trouble she got us into. This was just another stupid teenage drama, and I suddenly felt ridiculous for treating it like some sort of tragedy.
"Kairi… it's all right, really. It was just a stupid mistake," I muttered, finding a lump in my throat.
"But… I let you down, Sora, you told me not to… to drink but I did, and then everything just went wrong and, and I never, ever want to… to let you down… again –" she broke off, evidently having reached her limit before falling to her knees with a soft thump and dissolving into hysterics.
Without really thinking about what I was doing, I flung the duvet off from around me and tumbled out of bed frantically, making my way over to her, inexplicable tears falling down my own cheeks.
The rest of the weekend passed in a flurry of dread for Monday morning, permeated by Leon finding a spider in a bunch of bananas and Cloud's (many, many) visits. Apparently he and Leon are some sort of 'item' now; Leon won't admit it, even though Cloud was busy telling anything with a pulse of the 'joyous' news. You'd think they were engaged the way he was prattling on about it.
I had to use my special zoning out ability whenever he tried to talk to me about it, due to his inability to keep anything to himself, from relatively innocent things such as what they'd talked about to horrendous things like the size… of certain articles.
I strongly considered staying home to grow my eyebrow for a week, as it seemed to be taking its sweet-ass time, but I was foiled by Kairi knocking for me in the morning; even though we'd agreed to not talk about Friday night (the thought of which still makes me shudder), she was still laden with all kinds of sweeties and was being super-duper nice to me even though I was going to make us both late and hadn't even got round to taming my hair yet.
She went and sat on the couch, striking up a random conversation with Leon and Cloud, who was perpetually glued to Leon's side.
I shall call them… 'CLEON'.
Apparently Cleon are taking the day off, but I didn't have the heart (or the stomach) to enquire as to the reason. I got ready hastily, not wanting to arrive at our English class late and attract even more attention than I was bound to receive over the course of the day. I shall have to grit my pearly whites and get on with it; Sora Connolly does not shy away from confrontation! Except perhaps from people bigger than he.
Eventually I was ready, Kairi having drawn on my absent eyebrow with a pencil she'd bought that matched my hair colour exactly, (clearly trying to buy the Sora-love), and with anxiety growing with every step I took, she and I ventured forth into the blazing sunlight across the beach towards college.
Everything felt so eerily… normal. Kai chatted about how proud she was about getting Cloud and Leon together (I didn't get any cred of course, even though I was quite clearly the mastermind behind the scheme), and how she got a fork stuck in her DVD player; I was not one to be fooled though as I knew it was just God, or Buddha, or some other omnipotent entity trying to lead me into a false sense of security before laying a figurative smack-down on my day. The calm before the storm, if you will.
The cast-iron gates loomed into view as we rounded a corner onto the path leading up to the building, and my legs turned rather jelly-like as I saw the people standing outside chatting, many of which I recognised from the dance.
"Don't worry Sora," Kairi said suddenly. I turned to look at her, and she smiled reassuringly. "Just say the word and I'll kick some ass!" she went on, making a fist and punching her other palm with it, the calming smile becoming a maniacal grin.
"That… won't be necessary," I replied resignedly, although I thought I'd keep that in mind. She grabbed my hand anyway, swinging our arms happily as we neared the college, dragging me forward when I tried to make stupid excuses to go back home with the promise of even more sweeties, though I couldn't tell where exactly it was she was keeping them and talking inanely to take my mind off it.
I attempted to keep my head down, until I realised that my ever-conspicuous hair still rose high above everyone else's; we strode quickly past the first group of girls met with only a few whispers and a very audible 'OH, you didn't hear what happened did you Fuu?!'
"See! It's not that bad after all," Kairi said, beaming – she evidently didn't see Tidus attempting to strut his way over to us from over her shoulder, the smarmiest of smarmy looks on his faux-tanned face, coming to a halt in front of myself for a change, his back to Kairi.
"Sup fag-boy!" he yelled, slapping a hand on my shoulder and bringing his big, orange, ugly mug right up to mine – I swear, if he wasn't a renowned gym-a-holic I would have slapped him right in the chops, but I had to content myself with the filthiest look I could manage as he went on. "Seeing your boyfriend today then?!"
A little hand made its way over Tidus' shoulder, tapping him lightly on it - his laughter subsiding slightly as he turned to be greeted by Kairi's fist colliding forcefully with his cheek, sending him reeling some feet away before tripping over his own feet and falling backwards. Several girls squealed in horror, whilst a few guys snorted in disbelief, a 'Duuude!' popping randomly from someone behind where we were standing.
"Get bent, Tidus."
Kairi looked about to spontaneously combust as she glared down at Tidus making his way clumsily to his feet, rubbing the offended area where an angry red patch was already forming; he turned to look at her, a look of complete shock making him appear even more idiotic than usual – a fate I had not deemed previously possible. And then it happened. After almost an entire year of worshipping the ground Kairi walked on, his rose-tinted glasses snapped and he finally saw the demented, psycho-bitch Kairi that every one else knew and loved her to be.
Backing away slowly, still looking relatively glove-slapped, he took one last glance at the tyrannical beast before turning and fleeing. I looked at Kai myself, who had calmed down and was smiling cheerfully at me again. I really, really, didn't know what to say. Thank you? You shouldn't have?
"Er…"
"Ohh, that felt GOOD! I've wanted an excuse to do that for so long!" she gushed, before turning and heading towards the main doors, receiving a high-five from several girls who had fallen foul of Tidus' 'manly charms' in the past.
"You're welcome…" I muttered, running to catch up to her side before we both headed towards our lockers to dump our bags in. The English corridor was on the other side of the college, and we were already rather late after the duffing-up fiasco, hence there was no time for the mandatory bag of Skittles; we raced down hallways and up a flight of stairs before bursting noisily into the room, red-faced and panting – in short, the exact opposite of how I'd wished to arrive.
The entire class, including the dopey Mrs. Thomas turned to peer at us as I tried to make my way stealthily to my seat, though I was foiled by my button getting caught in Vincent's hair. After a tedious few moments it was freed, and I reached my seat, mumbling an apology, slumping down so low so that only my head was visible. Looking round, I saw that anyone who wasn't still looking at me, trying their hardest not to laugh had turned to whoever was sitting next to them and whispering.
Wishing very much there was a black hole under my seat, I ignored everybody's beadies on me and retrieved my English book from my folder, setting it on the table and looking as un-bothered as I could, waiting patiently for Mrs. Thomas to begin the lesson. I might as well have waited for a pig to fly past the window with the way she was sat faffing about with her laptop. It probably wasn't even turned on.
It was going to be a long day.
It was with fervent relief that I made my way back to my locker at the end of the day alone, Kairi having been detained in her Biology class for abusing the gerbils. I'd pretended to spill the contents of my folder all over the floor of my Chemistry room (which was thankfully poisonous-gas free once again) to give the rest of the class a chance to get out before me and bugger off elsewhere, as I'd had quite enough snide comments to last me a long time.
I spent a ridiculous amount of time picking up my books, Mrs. Watters even telling me to get a move on as she wanted to get home and have a 'bevvy'. Not wanting to detain her for long after a tedious lesson, even without Cloud present, I checked the corridor was clear before heading out the door and heading towards the stairs.
It felt so good to have a break from the constant giggling and raucous comments that had stalked me the whole day through, as I made my way towards where mine and Kai's lockers were down empty hallways, past empty classrooms. All my thoughts were on the evening ahead, and the fact I'd gone through the whole day without killing myself and/or others; I reached my locker, dropped my folder to the ground and entered my combination, pulling when I heard the click.
What… that was the right combination wasn't it? Why isn't the bugger opening? I twisted the knob again, hearing a definite 'tick' sound before attempting to open it again.
And failing.
Fantastic, this was. Just what I needed. I pummelled the door with my girly slaps before trying once more, heaving with all my might (which albeit isn't saying a great deal), only to be rejected and left with no option but to stare angrily at it in the hope it would spring open spontaneously. I sighed, letting my head fall against the cold metal locker, silently mocking me with its being stuck and unreasonable.
"Sticky locker?" a voice came from somewhere behind, a little way down the corridor.
I didn't even bother looking up to see who it was, replying with a singular, grumpy 'yes', simultaneously banging my head against the door a second time. Whoever it was chuckled, and I heard footsteps come up behind me; I assumed they were heading towards their own locker, before they stopped right next to where I was stood, still with my head leaned and my eyes closed.
"I'll fix it for you," they offered. What a random, friendly stranger. It made a refreshing change to the attitude of the rest of the world – ahem, college – that day. I turned, about to move out of the way and say thanks, when I finally clapped my peepers on who it was.
Riku.
Just… standing there smiling like nobody's business, clad in a navy t-shirt and jeans, his hair tied in a ponytail at the back of his head. I swear, I must have broken the world record at going from nought to Absolute Redness as stared stupidly at him, attempting to comprehend the situation – Riku, talking… to me!
I have entered the twilight zone.
He was just… peering at me with apparent interest, possibly intrigued by the aubergine colouring my face had adopted, possibly wondering why I hadn't replied and was still leering at him like a lunatic. Ohh frig, what do I say?! Should I apologize for Friday? Should I pretend that nothing happened? Should I run away home with my tail between my legs?
The latter option seemed the most desirable at the moment, and I almost took a step forward before he spoke again.
"So, you want me to fix it or not… Sora, isn't it?" he asked, smiling again. How does he expect me to not melt into a puddle or Sora-flavoured goop right then, right there?
"Ah haaah," was the only thing that managed to fall out of my mouth, which seemed to be suffering from acute paralysis; he laughed again, before stepping up right beside me and thumping the locker with his fist, making me jump slightly.
"Try your combination again," he said. I obeyed almost mindlessly, still not having absorbed entirely what was going on – why was he being so nice to me? Hadn't I embarrassed the bollocks out of him at the dance? I twisted the knob once more, waited for the click and pulled.
It worked! He clearly has le magic touch. I grabbed my bag, intending on thanking him (or at least trying to say something somewhat coherent) and rushing off as fast as my skinny little legs could carry me all the way home – I expected Riku to move onto his own locker, but he stood back slightly and scratched the back of his neck as though he wanted to talk. Oh God, I really would liquidise if he tried to have a conversation with me.
"Th… thanks," I managed (hoorah! In English and everything!), before turning and starting towards the main entrance, willing my face to tone itself down in case I happened to run into someone else looking like a tomato in a wig.
"Erm… Sora?"
Curses! He really did want to talk to me. Ohh, it wasn't going to be about Friday was it? He was probably expecting some sort of apology, and as Kairi the Buffoon wasn't here I suppose it had to come from me. I turned slowly, steeling myself to carry on producing whole words instead of nonsensical jibberish.
"Yeah, about that… I er… am really sorry and… stuff. If you – "
"What are you talking about?" he cut across my rambling, laughing slightly. "I don't want an apology."
"Oh…" I breathed, wondering about what he was after.
"I was actually kind of… wondering if…" he began, scratching the back of his head nervously, "…well, I'm not promising any willies in hands," he continued, causing the abominable blush to return with reinforcements, "…if maybe you'd like to… go and see a movie some time?"
You. What.
Have I just… been asked out?
Have I just been asked out… by Riku?
"You… you don't have to, if you don't want to," he added quickly, snapping me out of my stupor as I realised I hadn't even answered and was once again staring blankly at his face, at his mouth, where words had just come out, words that asked me to go to the movies… with him.
WITH HIM!
"Y… yeah! I'd love to!" I burst, rather too excitedly, mentally slapping myself. He sighed, letting his hand fall from the back of his neck to his side – he broke into a relieved smile, moving a step closer to me. A small gust of wind suddenly flew down the corridor from an open window some way behind him, his bangs rustled slightly, the smell of something fresh, like ocean spray, or tilled earth lingered in the air for a moment as I looked into his eyes properly for the first time.
And I swear I almost lost myself.
I don't know how long we both stood there, but I know I could have stayed a hell of a lot longer.
"So… is tomorrow night okay?" he asked slowly, eventually. I shook my head slightly, bringing myself out of the torpor, taking my eyes off his. It took me a while to process what he'd said (I hope I get used to that, or he may think I'm somewhat 'special').
"Yeah that's fine," I said, strangely quiet.
"You live in the little house at the side of the beach, right?"
"That's the one," I replied, wondering vaguely how it was that he knew that, but not really caring.
"I'll pick you up," he said, smiling yet again, causing me to grin myself, " and I'll walk you home now, if you don't mind?"
"If… you want," I stuttered, as he walked round me towards the main doors. After a moment of furiously trying to get my legs to move, which seem to have turned to lead at some point in the conversation, I hurried up to his side as we made our way towards the bright sunshine streaming through the entrance; it felt so unreal, so unlikely, and so amazingly unexpected, walking by his side, that strange, sweet, fresh smell still remaining.
It was without a doubt the happiest I'd felt for a long time, and by a long shot.
And I made a mental note to tell Kairi how much I loved her, and her big mouth.
Jesus, there was a lot more angst in that than I'd previously anticipated! I apologize if it wasn't to people's taste!
Anyway, I've decided to put this story on hiatus for a short time whilst I work on something else, so I beg of thee not to take it off your alert/fave lists.
Reviews would make me a very happy bunny. X3
Thank you so much for reading, and I sincerely hope you've enjoyed the story so far!
Lots of love, Starlyte x