"Hell-"
Maki rushed to the door and grabbed his arm before he could even get the rest of the greeting out.
"What the?"
"Walk."
"Huh?"
"Lets go for a walk."
"But" His expression grew sad. "it's dinner time..."
"It'll be here when we come back."
"Maki," He leaned over to one side getting a clear view at part of the table. "I can see the steam form over here."
"Come on."
"I'm a growing boy, I need my three square meals a day."
"Nonsense" She said, looking up into his eyes. "You're already twenty and if you get any bigger it will be to the point where you are freakishly tall. It's not even skipping a meal, it is delaying it to come talk a walk with me."
He sighed.
"It better be a really nice walk."
She smiled at him.
"Come on let's go."
As they walked down the sidewalk, Goto's mind was racing. She had butterflies in her stomach.
Why? Why does it feel like this?
It's just Kousuke.
No, it's different now.
She was walking alongside him. She made sure she was close enough to keep brushing her arm up against his, but far enough away so not to trip each other. He looked over at her, a small grin on his face.
"Whats with you?" he asked, sliding his right arm under her left and taking her hand in his.
Goto felt her heart skip a beat as she looked down at their hands for a split second. His larger hand held onto hers tightly in a reassuring manner, it was warm, and calloused.
She looked back up, smiling softly, trying to act natural.
"Nothing, I just wanted to talk to you."
She swung her left arm back and forth, he let his arm go limp, allowing her to swing it back and forth with her own.
"I'm really happy. I missed you. It was hard, us not talking like that." She looked over at him
"Yeah, it was."
She let go of his arm and ran over to a neighbor's rock wall in front of their house. She jumped and pulled herself up so she was sitting ontop of it. He did the same, having a considerably easier time lifting himself compared to her. They'd done this before. When they were younger. On the way home from school they would climb ontop of it and balance their way to the end of it. It was less of a challenge now that they were taller though. Directly across from them was a house. It was average, but very well kept. In the front yard laid a beautiful garden. Roses, cherry trees, everything was in full bloom, the vibrant color and meticulous details of the garden were impressive. A statue of the Mother Mary was at the center of it. In the garden was the owner. A rather average old man. He held his wife with both hands, as she braced herself with a cane.
"Just like old times, huh?" Goto said with a goofy smile.
Ever since they were little, on the way to and from school Goto and Kousuke would see the man and his wife in his garden. He was a rather pleasant old man, and they would exchange greetings everytime they walked past. They would sometimes see the woman kneeling infront of the statue. Once they asked why. He explained who the statue was. They followed one of those other religions. Goto couldn't remeber the name of it know. The man and his wife were now smiling as he seemed to be pointing to one of the flowers.
"Eh, not really."
Maki looked over at him, he kept his gaze at the couple across the street who were both smiling as the man held onto his wife's arm.
"She got really really sick. She was never out in the garden with him anymore. He only takes her outside now when it is really nice to pray."
Goto looked back at the garden and felt a wave of sadness.
"I didn't know."
"You've had stuff going on."
"How long ago did it happen?"
"I don't know, a few years."
They continued watching them.
"Do you think that we'll still be together in fifty years?"
He sighed.
"I don't even know if we'll be together in fifty minutes at the rate things are going."
She chuckled.
"They look happy. To be happy like that... It'd be nice."
"Yeah, it would."
Goto leaned over close to him. She lightly pressed her lips on his cheek, pulling away after a few seconds. He looked over at her, but she was looking at the garden again.
They sat in silence for over a minute.
He jumped down off the ledge. Brushing himself off when he reached the sidewalk.
"Come on, let's go eat."
He put his arms up to her. Goto slowly inched her body off the ledge, his hands gently grabbed onto her sides as she jumped down. When she reached the ground, she stood looking up at him. His hands stayed on her sides, there was barely any room inbetween their two bodies.
"Yeah...let's."