Chapter 15 - What Did I Do? aka The Morning After
The sound of a message arriving in your phone was enough to shake you from your sleep so you sat up and checked the message.
"Miyake-chan, could you please take Mitsu-chan with you until I return from my audition? I wouldn't want to leave him alone if I don't know how long it might take me there. Call me ASAP" you read the text before your eyes. Quickly you sent an affirmative reply and got dressed to pick Mitsu up from Yuka's place. As you passed the living room you saw Ruki still sleeping soundly. Another flashback took form before your eyes and you rushed out of the room before he would wake up and see your blushing face.
Saturdays are the days when people cure their hangovers from Friday's partying so you had no problem getting to Yuka's place within 10 minutes. Excited barking greeted you as you rang the doorbell and you could hear Yuka rushing to the door, opening it to reveal herself only wearing a tanktop and jeans.
"Miyake-chan! You've gotta help me - I have to be there in two hours and I have no idea what to wear to impress them. I don't know what they want me to look like and-"
"Shut it. It's your voice that should be your weapon, not what you're wearing. Yeah, they're important people, but you shouldn't lose sight of yourself in all of this camotion. Just be as you are and impress them with your talent. Now, where's that cute marine-coloured jacket I saw you wearing a week ago?" you dove into Yuka's wardrobe.
Ruki's POV
'Hangovers are the killer. Really, did I need to drink that much? And where am I anyway? Hey, this room looks kinda familiar. Wait! It couldn't be... No. Fucking. Way.' "ITAI!" 'I can't believe I'm here, of all the places... Shit!' You groaned and got up from the couch, staring at the clock on the wall. 9.45AM it said. There was a click of the door being opened and the next second something was licking your face. "Whatta hell...?" You could hear Miyake chuckling in the background as you tried to escape from whatever just attacked you.
"Sorry about that, Ruki-san. Mitsu-chan, stop torturing the poor man" she ordered the small dog and it obeyed without hesitation.
"When did you get a dog?" you asked and looked at the little creature waving its tail and happily barking, causing your head almost to explode.
"Shh, Mitsu-chan. No barking, behave" Miyake ordered and the dog shut up, sitting on the floor looking around and sprinting off when it saw the bedroom door open. Even though your head wanted to burst you still sputtered at the pup's hyperness. "He's not mine, he belongs to a friend of mine who asked me to babysi- err puppy-sit him for today since she was unable to watch over him and didn't want to leave him all alone for the whole day" Miyake shook her head seeing the puppy returning from her bedroom, carrying a sock in his mouth. "How are you feeling today?" she asked you. "You were in a rather wasted state when I found you last
night."
"When you 'found' me?" you blinked your eyes from suprise. What was that supposed to mean?
"I saw your friends last night when we were in the same club. But you weren't there and messaged Reita about leaving. After I left I saw you in front of another banr, drunk as hell and almost incapable of standing straight on your feet. Since I had no other idea where to take you and no people to call to pick you up I brought you here. I hope you don't mind. I couldn't just leave you there in faith's hands" Miyake calmly went over the events that had happened last night. Your eyes widened as she finished.
"Ano... Is there anything else I need to know? Like, did I do something inappropriate?" you manage to let out a squeak and feel terrified about what her answer might be.
Your POV
It's wrong to lie and you know it but he looks so fearful already so you decide to keep quiet about the kiss and shake your head. "No, Ruki-san, you were a good drunk, if 'good' was a word to describe decent drunks. Did you take the painkillers alreay? 'Cause, forgive me for being so blunt, but you look like you were run over by a truck."
Ruki's POV
'Painkillers? Oh, she must mean that box on the table...' you notice the little box on the table. "Right... Forgive me about causing you trouble" you avert your eyes on the floor and swallow the small pills. "I don't even remember anything after sending Rei that message..." you mutter. It's not right to lie, but how can you just blurt out that you wanted to get as drunk as possible to forget her image that has been torturing your mind for a while already, even if only for a little while? You can't, simple as that.
There is a minute of silence before you hear your phone ringing. Pulling the phone from the pocket of your jacket you see the caller's ID on the screen. "Morning, Kai."
"Ru! Thank God you're OK. I was worried all night. Where did you disappearto so fast?" You scrunch your face hearing him talk so fast AND so loud. That's definetly not a good feeling for your aching head...
"Keep it quiet, please? I'm not feeling so good this morning..." you plead the drummer and he seems to understand as he takes a deep breath and continues speaking with a softer voice.
"I assume you didn't go straight home last night, did you? May I ask where you are? Since I called your phone at your place but nobody picked it up."
"Hai... Ano, I kinda randomly met someone I know and went with them. I'm fine, no need to worry about that. And sorry for dashing off like that last night; I wasn't feeling so good." The words keep coming from nowhere as you forced yourself to sound normal and not give away what really had happened - if Kai ever knew that Miyake had dragged you to her place after finding you so wasted to not even being able to walk straight, he'd lecture you the whole day long. And several weeks after that. A quick glance towards Miyake showed her supressing her laughter but the grin on her lips and playing in her eyes made you almost, no not almost - more like completely feel like a criminal for lying to the band leader so the guilt was becoming a burden and the only way to rid yourself from it, even if only temporarly was to stop talking to him. "Hey, I'm grateful for your worrying but I really gotta go now, is that OK?"
Kai's laughter was heard on the other end. "Sure, Ru, it's fine. As long as I know you're safe and therefore can now breathe easily. Take care and see you on Monday" he reminded the next practice where you would have to get thinking about the songs on the next single to be released."
"Yeah, I'll be there. See you then" you close the phone only to be a little suprised when the happy puppy decides to hop up onto your lap. 'He's actually cute' you smile at the dog as he keeps chewing Miyake's sock he found in the other room. "You've got one sock less" you laugh to Miyake who giggles along seeing the dog's affection towards you, probably because you own a dog yourself and her scent still lingers on your clothes.
"Animals are the best at judging different people's characteristics. He likes you because you're a good person, ne?" she smiles and joins you to pet the puppy.
A small blush starts invading your skin again when you can sense her so close to you so you can smell her scent and it smells heavenly. And that smile... 'It's not easy pretending everything's under control when you're only inches away from losing the last of your sanity. Damn Uruha for being so straightfoward and not hiding any of his feelings when he likes someone. Hugging Miyake like they've known each other for years, for example, even though it's only a month or so. And who can forget his first encounter with her when she was at the practice with the band? He sniffed her hair even! Kai had to literally drag him away from her. Where's that confidence when I need it???'
"Ano..."
"Yes, Ruki-san?" Miyake turns to you with her bright smile that is almost blindingly true and beautiful. You almost choke seeing her like that, the morning light illuminating her face thus making it look angelic.
"Ano... I... Drop the '-san', ok? It's really ok if you won't be that formal. And... Thank you. For bothering yourself with dragging me here and letting me spend the night. Thank you. If there's anything I can do to repay it, just name it." 'Isn't the carpet just fascinating?'
"Ah, it wasn't a burden at all, you don't need to worry about that. Now, how about breakfast?"
As Miyake prepared something in the kitchen for the both of you, toyr eyes scanned the room. It wasn't all that big like in your house but it did give a homey-feeling. There were some pictures on the shelves next to the books. You already knew about the contents of her CD collection located near the stereo system but what you hadn't had a look at was her DVDs. Sitting up from the couch you took a couple of steps to the TV table and explored the DVDs in the glass cabinet. Some action movies, a few comedies and thrillers and concert DVDs. A smirk curled the edges of your lips upward as you saw the Decomposition Beauty DVD placed on top of all the others. A shriek suprised you and you quickly got up and hurried to the kitchen where you had heard Miyake's scream. She was trying to balance a pot of coffee and omlette with curry on a tray and her face was grimaced.
"What happened? I heard you screaming" you took the tray from her hand and she held it close, blowing air on it.
"It's nothing, The steam just burned my hand a little" she answered with a hiss of pain as she accidentally brushed her burnt hand againt her apron.
"Liar, if it hurts then it's not 'nothing'" you turned the tap to cold water and gently shoved her to the sink, letting cold water run on her burnt hand. "Where are the bandages?"
"In the case above your head. But you needn't get them, it's really nothing" she tried to explain again but you ignored her protests as you did your best to gently dry her hand and rolled the bandage over the burnt area.
"There you go" you smiled to her, petting ber shoulder. "There's gonna be a blister there soon but it will heal in a week or so."
"Thank you, Ruki-sa- I mean, Ruki" she smiled gratefully. "Now about that breakfast..."
15 minutes later you were both sitting on the couch in the livingroom, casually talking. The omlette had been delicious and you didn't forget to compliment her on her cooking to which she turned her blushing face away, mumbling a 'thank you, it was nothing'. It was half an hour later when you kinda ran out of neutral subjects to talk about so an acward silence was present for a minute before she lifted her head again.
"If you're not that buzy then how about a movie?" she shyly asked but this time didn't turn
her head away.
"That sounds good" you agreed to the idea and you pulled out her DVDs to pick something you both would enjoy watching. You both slouched on the couch as the opening sounds of a Korean movie called 'Apartment' was heard across the livingroom. As the events of the movie progressed you took a small glance at Miyake's direction who's eyes were wide and she was tensed from the scene that showed a person trying to commit a suicide and drag another woman with her. A loud thump against the door made you both jump up and you stared at each other for a second trying to calm down your racing hearts before you pressed the 'pause' button on the remote and Miyake went to open the door.
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Thiswill bethelast chapter published on Quizilla; I've moved the story over to another site andwill continuewritingthere. If you'reinterested about whathappens next or where thestory finally leads to,thenhere'sthe link tothesite -http://mizusu-chan.livejournal.com/
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