3
I'm sitting in Aya's living room, watching TV and wishing Aya was here, or I was out with her.
She's on a stupid date with her stupid boyfriend. I hate him so much. He's such a bore. Sometimes she complains about him being too boring, but I know she holds back a lot of it. It's odd, but she doesn't talk about him much with me. Not that I'm going to complain. I wonder why she does that. I guess I should just be thankful that she doesn't harass me with constant talks about her issues with him. The less I hear of him, the better I feel because the more I can pretend she has no boyfriend and is able to dedicate all her time to me, her best and closest friend in the world.
She strolls in at eleven-thirty, and I, anxious to see her, turn the volume down on the TV and get up quickly to go and greet her. I'm eager to tell her what I've found out. She might have found out, too, but I somehow doubt it.
"So, how was your date?" I ask.
I really don't want to know. I don't want to hear about holding hands or giggling or goodnight kisses. I'll just get insanely jealous.
Of him.
It's a weird concept, and I can't quite get my head around it, but I'm getting there. He's stolen away my best friend. I want her back. I want more than that. But I'll settle for less. As long as he's out of the picture. That idiotic wallflower.
"It was okay," Aya smiles. "Dinner and a movie. Keita's not really creative, but I can live with it."
Damn straight, he isn't creative. He took my Aya out on a date and made her sit through a boring, probably-war-related movie and then bored her to death with "conversation" over dinner? Come on. I could do better than him. I'm glad that she finds him boring. He's got a doughnut hole for a brain.
"I can't believe how much having a boyfriend has tamed you. I always pegged you for the type that would moan and complain about how unromantic her boyfriend is," I say for lack of finding something better.
Sometimes I let my mouth run wild, and I end up saying things like that. I need to learn how to control it. Aya tries to hit me, but I move out of the way easily. She's pretty lame when it comes to fighting. Unless, of course, it's a tickle fight, in which case, she has a severe advantage as I'm way more ticklish than she is.
"Just because I complain about your behaviour all the time, it doesn't mean I treat everyone like that. Keita's smart and mature, unlike some people," she retorts.
I love it when she scolds me and complains about my behaviour. I want it all for myself. I don't want to share the scolding with him. I'm glad she doesn't do it to him. All for me. Me me me.
But Keita is neither smart nor mature. I don't know why she just said that.
I chuckle.
"Slept with him yet?" I ask with a smirk, trying to make it sound like I'm just being silly.
In reality, though, I've been trying to find out the answer. I keep asking her, but not once has she given me a direct response. It pains me to walk by her and have to wonder just how deep this relationship of theirs really is. When it started, I thought they were just hanging out and being pretty casual about the whole thing. Lately, though, they seem to be getting closer. The closer they get, the more jealous I become.
"Miki!!" she scolds me, hitting me, but not answering the question.
You're only evasive when the answer is risky or embarrassing, right? Knowing Aya, "yes" would be the more embarrassing of the two possible answers. I really wonder.
But no. The answer is no. She hasn't. She would have told me if it happened. Best friends' pact.
I feel a little more at ease.
"Ah, I'm glad you had fun," I say, trying to sound sincere while feeling anything but.
She continues to look at me threateningly, but she quickly leaves to get changed. I'm wearing comfortable in-the-house clothes. I assume she'll join me and we'll start our movie night.
"Oh, did you see the cover of Friday yet?" I call out, smirking to myself. I've forgotten to bring this up until now.
That definitely grabs her attention. She stumbles out wearing pants and a bra, and for a millisecond of time, I stare at her in surprise.
But what's there to be surprised about? It's always Aya underneath all that clothing. Nobody else.
Half naked, of course, but that's nothing new.
I focus.
"Excuse me?" she asks, sounding surprised. Maybe even scared.
"I guess you didn't," I sigh. "I went out to get something to eat and couldn't help but notice your name in big bold letters on the front of Friday."
They had just put the magazine on the shelf. A man had been reading one, and of course since I'm naturally attuned to all things Aya, I noticed her name right away.
Aya advances upon me and I wonder if some would consider a famous, topless idol walking towards you with such determination a frightening thing. She grabs my wrist and shakes it.
"What did it say?" she asks, absolutely terrified.
"Uh, well, I looked at the article briefly and there's sort of this big picture of you and then a few smaller ones. Oh, and an article about how you delivered groceries to Tachibana-san," I explain with a smile.
I pretend to have difficulty recalling the article, but in fact, I can recall every single detail. I read it twice over. I also act like I'm amused, but I'm not. Having those two written about together and published in a national magazine does something strange to my heart. It's not pleasant.
Aya lets go of my wrist and sits beside me heavily. She leans forward and puts her head in her hands. It's a sad sight and I get a little gloomy seeing it.
"This is not happening," she mutters.
"Oh, Aya-chan. It's okay," I say. It just proves to the world that you have a life. I mean, wow. Toilet paper? That's a serious boyfriend!" I laugh, and I pat her on the back.
Again, I have said something that I haven't thought through.
I'm nervous. I want to tell her the right thing, but I keep making stupid jokes. Why? Why can't I just comfort her like a normal person would?
"No. This is terrible. How am I going to face work? My manager's going to kill me that I got caught," she groans.
Which reminds me
"Oh, second thing. The agency called. Three times," I say, picking up her phone from a pillow on the couch and handing it to her.
"I chose the best day to forget that thing at home."
I laugh and pass it over.
I think it's good she forgot it at home. If they'd called her and started demanding explanations right away without her knowing the whole story, she would have gotten flustered and probably messed up with her excuse making.
"Could you stop laughing at me? This is serious. I could lose my job," she huffs.
Oop. I've made her think I'm laughing at her. I'm just laughing because I'm nervous. I'm laughing at me.
"Lose your job? Girl, you are going to go up a couple of notches. A hot, famous idol caught on a date with another hot, famous idol? It's like you just breathed life into your career."
Is that what I think? I definitely think she's hot. She's on fire. But Tachibana? That was exaggeration. I don't think he's hot. I think he looks like a girl, and I conclude that if Aya would go for someone as girly as him, she'd go for me.
Not that I'd want...
Well, I'm not sure.
"My career doesn't need life breathed into it," Aya deadpans, snapping me out of my thoughts. "And this kind of thing sucks life away. This is terrible. What am I going to do?"
She gets up and starts to pace. My mind feels like it's in a very weird space right now. I calm down.
"Well, you could start by denying that anything happened," I point out stupidly.
As she shoots me a glare, I wince in my mind because I know I've just stated the obvious.
"I didn't need you to tell me that," she snaps.
In response, I shrug. Then I say something I've wanted to say for a long time, but haven't had the right chance to yet. This one is definitely thought through thoroughly.
"And then you could break up with him."
She looks surprised, but I'm dead serious.
She should break up with that moronic pebble and go back to her old life.
Her pre-Tachibana life where we had more sleepovers and got more chances to giggle and talk about the future together.
Her pre-Tachibana life where even though I've always known I'll never have a chance with her, at least it's easier to dream about.
"What?!" she cries in surprise. "Why? Just because of a magazine photo? Ridiculous!"
"Fine, suit yourself," I say nonchalantly with a shrug. "Your life. You choose."
But inside I'm fuming.
Fine. Keep your stupid boyfriend. You don't even like him, I think angrily.
I just wish she'd own up to it and get it over with.
She continues to pace, and it starts to drive me nuts, but when she finally calms down and sits on the couch, resting her head on my shoulder, I also calm down instantly. One touch sends happy warmth throughout my body, and my mind is suddenly clear and I feel satisfied.
"Why does this happen to me?"
Poor thing. Time to make her feel better.
"Because if it happened to me, they'd somehow link sex, drugs, and alcohol to it, and then there'd be trouble," I reply. As a secondary thought, I put an arm around her shoulders. She needs it. I need it.
She laughs at my joke.
"Do you think Tsunku-san will be mad with me?" she asks.
She sounds too scared. Again time for a joke.
"That player? No way. He'll be upset you didn't bring him toilet paper."
She gets angry when I say twisted things like that, even though I consider this one very tame. She slaps my leg, and it actually stings for a minute.
"Ah!" I utter in surprise.
"You're not helping," Aya she pouts.
She looks so annoyed. When she gets that pout on her face, I know I've done my job well. I do things to annoy her just so that she'll look at me with this adorable look. I will never get sick of seeing it, which is why I never stop doing annoying things.
"Don't worry. You'll be fine," I say, rubbing my leg. "Trust me, it'll blow over in a week or two."
She sighs and we both watch the TV.
Why can't my life be like this everyday? This situation - me and Aya sitting on a couch, watching TV, comforting each other over the latest crisis, holding or hugging or kind of touching each other or... ug. Whatever.
Tachibana is not my only obstacle, though. I know that even once he's out of the picture (and I'm pretty sure if they haven't slept with each other, it'll be much easier to get him out), I'll just continue in the same way I've been continuing for the past few months ever since I've discovered that I like Aya. That I really like her.
And then something occurs to me.
"Hey, Aya-chan," I mumble, pushing her to her feet.
"Yes?" she asks.
"Go put a shirt on."
She looks at me like a deer caught in the headlights, and I want to laugh and hug her, but I just look back amusedly.
She lets out a little squeak.
"Oh. Right."
And she bolts.
The End (I mean it)
Topic: Friday's Children are Full of Woe (a continuing story) (Read 40297 times)