Wow, it REALLY has come full circle. It's like I'm reading your first chapter from your first fic here, except it's the other side of the coin. 
Love x 2 revisited after almost a year and a half. Pretty wild. Never though I'd end it at the beginning.
Almost done!
Past the Barrier and to the Left
NineAya and I run into the van laughing at how we're holding everyone up by being so slow. We climb in one after the other and everyone inside shifts spots so that we have room to sit. Tsuji and Kago grin at me and wink. I can't help myself, so I grin back. It's thanks to their help and silence that I've been able to give Aya this birthday surprise. Aya catches the smiles we're exchanging and she looks at us suspiciously as she pieces together what's happening.
"You two knew she was coming to visit and you didn't tell me?" she demands.
She sounds like an older sister who is angry after being left out in the dark about some secret. It's so cute!
"But isn't it better as a surprise?" Kago asks.
She's on the same wavelength as me. Good girl.
I look over briefly at the Melons, and Shibata catches my eye. We nod hello to each other. We're not particularly close, but we do play futsal together. It's amazing, though, that I hardly have any interaction with her off camera and off the field. She's a nice girl, though, and I remember her smiling and laughing onstage with Aya, looking like she was having the time of her life.
I look back at Aya, who is in the middle of telling the Top Two that she loves them. I'm having a ball just listening to the way she talks to them. She's not that much older than them, but she seems so. She's acts so maturely compared to them (noses stuck in cakes aside). Of course she's not mature
all the time, and that dichotomy within her is yet another one of those beloved Aya traits that gets to me.
"I guess this means birthday celebrations with us are off," Saito pipes up with a grin.
"Yeah, leave the two lovebirds alone," Masae finishes for her.
I feel two things. One, of course, is utter humiliation. It's not like I meant to sweep in here and destroy their evening plans. I'm embarrassed to have called so much attention to myself because of my actions towards Aya. The other thing I feel is anger. I come
this close to telling Masae to shut up and mind her own business. I don't, though, because there's no need to cause tension, and I will admit that the anger I'm feeling now is reckless and almost entirely brought on by my underlying nervousness.
I look back at Aya and see that she, too, looks a bit embarrassed.
What are we? Hello!Project's scapegoat "couple"? Come all ye merry jokers and release thy naughty jokes upon us?
"I never said anything like that," Aya complains, rolling her eyes.
"Nah, it's ok," Hitomi laughs. "I'm actually exhausted. I don't think you could drag me out for any more fun."
I look over at the Melons to see Shibata yawning exaggeratedly and resting her head on Murata's shoulder.
"Well," Aya says, causing me to look back at her, "I'm not asking you to stay in your hotel rooms. If you want to go out with us, come along."
What?!
I thought we just agreed a few moments ago that we'd spend some time together without anyone else around. Why is she suddenly going back on that plan? Does she not want to hang out with me because I'm creeping her out? Or did she already forget our plan? Why can't we be able to communicate telepathically? I'd remind her with a sharp poke to her mind.
Shibata and her crew confer silently with one another, and to my extreme relief, they decide that they'll stay in. I breathe easy once again because I know that the twins won't want to come along if there isn't a massive amount of eating of candy involved.
Right on queue, Kago asks, "Will you be eating cakes and sweets?"
I look at Aya and we both shrug simultaneously.
"We'll probably just have some dinner. Maybe go for coffee."
Aya's response inspires indifference in the two youngest girls, and they claim they'll order room service. I laugh as Aya reminds them of last week, and they glare at me for being so insensitive as to laugh at their pain.
When she came back to Tokyo after her concert last weekend, Aya had told me the story of how Tsuji and Kago had spent the night eating so many sweets that they hadn't been able to fit into their costumes the next afternoon. They had had to suck it up when squeezing into their skirts and pants, and apparently they looked a little green around the gills each time they had to twirl.
The rest of the van ride passes silently. I see the Melons all pass out at roughly the same time, followed by the Top Two, who, like babies, just conk out exactly the way they're sitting.
I feel Aya rest her head on my shoulder, and of course I feel a little mushy. I want to say something to her in this moment of weakness where she's about to fall asleep, but we're surrounded by people. I'm fairly certain they're all asleep, but if by any chance they're not, I would be making a huge mistake. All I can do is offer my shoulder as a pillow and enjoy the fact that she's leaning right against me.
I cross my arms across my stomach, and I lean my head against the window so that if I fall asleep, it doesn't droop over and bang against Aya's. That's happened before and it's
painful.
Can I really do it? Can I confess my undying love before twelve o'clock?
That question sees me off to sleep.
When I wake up, my cheek is resting against the window and Aya is looking up at me. We seem to have just stopped, and Aya looks like she's just woken up. We smile at each other as if it's the morning and we've just awoken after eight hours of perfect sleep.
We file out of the van, say goodbye to everyone, get serenaded again by Tsuji and Kago, and finally get to Aya's hotel room. We drop our bags on the floor, and after seeing Aya fall back on the bed, I opt to take a seat in the chair. But maybe if I went to sit beside her, I could finally say something. I mean, we're both alone.
No, it's bad timing. We just got in. We need to eat some dinner first, and eating an awkward birthday dinner is not an option.
But maybe we don't need to go out to eat dinner. She looks exhausted lying there. It looks like the only thing she'd move for would be to escape from a missile attack. We could order room service, or maybe I could run downstairs and buy something for the both of us.
"Hey, if you want to just stay in, that's fine with me. You must be exhausted," I say quietly, afraid to speak any louder and disturb her moment of repose.
She rolls us with a jovial smile.
"Nonsense. You came all the way to Kobe. You are not leaving without going out and having some fun."
"But I came here to see you. I am having fun," I mumble.
It's strange. It's strange, and I know it the minute the words leave my mouth. She just smiles, though, showing no hint of thinking what I've said is as strange as I think it is. She reaches to the ground and tosses my knapsack to me. I catch it in surprise. It almost seems like she's kicking me out and telling me to take my belongings with me.
"Come on. Get changed. Let's go," she orders me.
Oh, so that's how it's going to be. She's starting with her bossiness again.
Two can play at this, I think gleefully. I love our power games.
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" I ask with a glare, daring her to tell me.
"You look like a boy. I'm not going out with no boy tonight. This is a girl's night out," she claims, rolling her eyes at me as if saying I'm so dumb for not being able to figure that out.
I laugh. She's won. I'm perfectly happy to let her win.
I quickly change my top so that now instead of that ratty old shirt, I'm wearing a much more flattering top.
Seduce him with wine and sexy lingerie?
Well, I've got a tank top and dinner. That will have to do.
"Okay, now that we're dressed decently, let's go," Aya says after giving me a look of approval.
No compliment? Just "dressed decently" and no jibe about how sexy I am? Even if it's a joke, I want to hear it.
Oh well. We still have some hours ahead of us. Nothing can make me feel down right now. I'm hungry and ready to eat. I grab her hand, and we skip down the hallway to the elevator.
"What'll it be, Birthday Girl?" I ask.
She squeezes my hand before letting it go to fix her hair.
"Anything suits me. What do you want?"
"You know what I want," I answer cheekily.
I wonder what would happen if she said she knew I wanted her. Hah!
She looks sneaky for a moment, and then breaks out her impish grin.
"Meat?"
I nod. That's the non-naughty answer to the question.
"I know a place," she says.
Having grown up nearby, she's been to Kobe many more times than I. I trust her to lead me somewhere good, and so I tell her that.
We end up in a cosy little restaurant where we're the only customers. We chat about life while we eat. I completely forget my nervousness because I'm so relaxed here with her. It's like old times. We just talk and talk, and sometimes we're just silent as we eat.
We finish up, and I have to watch ashamedly as she picks up the bill. Once we get outside, I grovel at her feet and thank her for feeding me. She laughs and tells me to shush up. I blush because she's too kind, but then I'd do that same for her. She'd never be forgetful enough to leave all her money at home, but if she ever did, I'd be there for her in an instant.
We start to walk down the streets. I follow Aya because she seems to know where she's going.
"What should we do now?" I wonder aloud.
"I wonder..." she repeats.
"I'd say karaoke because it's been ages, but you've just been doing that all day," I snicker.
She nods.
"Yes. No more singing in enclosed spaces, please. I need fresh air."
We walk a few more paces.
"How about we just keep doing what we're doing?" I ask, indicating the road ahead and our walking.
She smiles warmly, and so we decide that wandering will be good enough. She takes my hand and swings it playfully as we walk in the dark and listen to the sounds of the night.
Now would be a perfect time to say something. It's late at night, we're pleasantly sleepy, satisfied from a good meal, it's not cold out, we're alone, it's dark, she's holding my hand...
By the way, I really like you a lot.
I don't say it. We talk about other things, but we don't talk about my feelings for her. I can sense that she has something on her mind, too, but I don't ask what it is. She might shoot the question back at me and ask what's on my mind. I'm a chicken...
We fall into a deep, pensive silence that I break when I realise she's not paying attention to the streets.
"Where are we?" I ask.
She snaps awake and looks around at the buildings uncertainly. She hums and points in a direction.
"That's the way to the main street," she says confidently.
I contest her point. I could swear that the correct street is the one opposite to the one she's pointing at. We start to pull at each other's hands until I finally give in and let her lead the way, questioning whether we're going to end up more lost than we already are.
She's right, of course, and I decide to not question Aya when it comes to places she's been to far more times than I have. She obviously knows her way.
We get to the entrance of the hotel, and I sneak a peek at my watch. It's eleven-forty-five. I have fifteen minutes left before my self-imposed deadline. If I don't confess what I feel before twelve, I will hate myself. Such a failure will show that I have absolutely no backbone, no strength, and no will to succeed.
"You know, we didn't do much partying tonight," I say conversationally as we wait for the elevator.
"Well, we went out for a good dinner..." she points out.
"Yeah, but we didn't drink or sing or... I don't know. Party stuff," I shoot back.
How I wish we could have had something to drink. Even just one cocktail or a glass of wine. It would have relaxed me so much.
"I'm not old enough to drink," she reminds me.
It's funny how Aya's playing that card. I've seen her drink before. She's not a heavy one, but I've seen her cheeks get rosy from the alcohol
"Didn't stop you those other times," I say to her with a sly look.
"That's because we weren't out. We were at somebody's place."
Indeed. Abe sure knows how to throw a party.
I roll my eyes at her, though, to dismiss her flimsy excuse as we get into the elevator. I grab her hand and pull at it to get her to listen to me.
"So what now? Sleep?"
I can imagine she's tired. And when we're lying there in the dark, I can say something...
"I could go for a bath," Aya says with a yawn, letting go of my hand and stretching her arms out. "Get into bed, watch some TV, maybe order room service and eat sweets like Tsuji and Kago are doing right now..."
How cute! But I feel bad because I don't want to keep her up. I would sacrifice my happiness and leave if it meant she could get some rest.
"Is it really ok for me to stay with you tonight?" I ask. "I figure you need some down time. Er, alone time. That concert must've taken a lot out of you. You probably don't want to hear people talking or even moving around you."
I confuse myself a bit with that sentence, but I kind of hope that she doesn't want me around, because I'm starting to chicken out again.
"Sure I don't want to hear just anyone talking or moving," she agrees. "But I want to hear
you talking and moving. Of
course I don't mind. I'd be lonely on my own..."
She smiles at me and squeezes my hand.
The words are at the tip of my tongue.
Aya-chan, I-But "PING!" goes the elevator, and we get out.
Better luck in the next ten minutes.
Topic: Friday's Children are Full of Woe (a continuing story) (Read 49479 times)