Four Days

On Monday they hang out together. It's not a date, so much as a trip to the theater that Hayner doesn't attend. When they announce the movie they've agreed on, the blond blinks and says "I already saw that," then flushes and stammers for a moment, attempting to pretend he hadn't said that.

"Was it good?" Olette asks, and smiles. She and Pence can still see it.

Hayner's blush returns, and after a very awkward silence he says "I don't remember."

Pence looks bewildered. They're old enough to know what that means. "Who did you go with?"

The blond looks defensive; "I just saw it with a friend. I have friends other than you guys!" Then, for a third time, his face goes red. "Not that he's my friend or anything!" He adds, hurriedly.

"... Oh," Olette says, and slaps her hand over Pence's mouth before he can ask again.

The two of them see the movie together. Olette thinks it sucked, and Pence thinks that next time he would like to watch a nice calm happy movie that doesn't have zombies and monsters and unending screams. Not that he can remember those scenes - he kept his face buried in Olette's shoulder for the majority of them, while she stared at the screen blankly, waiting for the movie to get better.

---

On Tuesday they watch Hayner and Seifer spar - but it's only interesting for so long, and Olette is getting somewhat tired of distracting Pence every few minutes.

Seifer swings the struggle bat and hits Hayner on the side of the head. The blond stumbles and falls backwards against a wall. Olette slaps her hands over Pence's eyes while Seifer proceeds to molest Hayner against the wall for a few minutes. The older boy steps back and Hayner glares;

"One more round," He demands breathlessly, and Olette's not sure if Hayner is really after victory or not. She removes her hands from Pence's eyes, and the brunette looks up at her cluelessly.

"I've been wondering," he says slowly, giving her an odd look. "Why do you keep doing that?"

"No reason," She lies, and after a moment says; "I'm kind of hungry, let's go have dinner."

The two of them head home, and end up eating snack foods and playing old video games until far past midnight. A midnight-snack becomes their midnight-dinner - the two of them finish the day off with a romantic candle-lit meal. They both think this would've been nicer without the thunder, lightning, and general power outage.

---

Wednesday is a shopping trip. Of course, to Olette, nothing could be more romantic. She asks Hayner to come too, but he says he has better things to do than carry her purse all day. She frowns, because the last time he held her purse, he rummaged through it - so it's not like she would even let him. She dismisses this and says "Very well then," before following Pence down to market street.

"How's this one?" She asks, pushing aside the changing room curtains. Pence takes a moment to look at the swimsuit. A two piece, the bottom has tie-sides. He eyes them critically. Those are very dangerous in Hayner's presence. He considers this, and how to tell her that without offending her.

"It's cute," Pence says honestly. "But... Remember that time two years ago, with the top that tied in the back? How Hayner un--"

"--Oh." Olette says. After a long pause she says "Not this one, then." and returns the dressing room.

They return to the usual spot with precisely seven bags, only one of which Olette carries herself. Olette gives Pence a peck on a cheek for being so helpful, and smacks Hayner upside the head for sitting around pathetically, covered in new scratches and bruises.

"Oh sure," Hayner complains while Olette bandages, disinfects, and otherwise mothers him. "I get beat up and he carries bags, yet he gets the kiss?"

Olette fights the urge to say 'you've already got your kisses from Seifer - not all those bruises are from being hit,' but does give the hickeys on his neck a very long look. Another option was 'Pence is a good kid who doesn't get into fights' but she dismisses that one as well. Olette looks into Hayner's eyes evenly and asks dryly "You want one too?"

He shakes his head quickly, and Pence makes a vague noise of protest. Olette blinks, and turns to the shorter boy curiously.

---

Thursday is typical. The three of them sit around at the Usual Spot and sort of play cards, sort of build card-castles, and sort of mess around with no idea what they're really doing. Nothing is the best word to summarize it - it's Summer Vacation, after all, and there's no reason to do anything that involves effort.

"So," Pence says conversationally, putting a card in the discard pile. Or at least, he thinks that's what it is. It's kind of difficult to tell what they're playing - but that's okay, because he doubts Olette knows either. "I love you."

Olette blinks, and plays an ace of hearts on the third pile. "That's new."

"Not really." Pence puts a king of spades into the first pile.

She blinks again, discarding a few cards at random. "Oh." After an awkward three minutes of silence, Olette says "Me too," and kisses him on the cheek.

Hayner grins, and plays a seven of clubs into the middle pile. "I win," He announces. Neither of his friends can really dispute this, considering that there are no defined rules, so they just shrug.

Because really, anticlimactic is the only way to be on lazy summer days.

Pastel Ink