Her Mysterious Smile

[Nayt]

Akizetsumei kind of wanted to apologize again. It was starting to become an automatic response. The second she thought she might have done something wrong, she felt the need to apologize. Though she didn't think it was anything bad, this was bound to get on someone's nerves eventually.

"Umm, o-okay, um . . . I-- I'll be in the living room, ummm . . ." Akizets whispered as she took a step back from Eld's door. "S-sorry again. Ididn'tmeantowakeyou."

And then she turned and made haste for the living room. She felt a little bad, now. Literally every time she came over here to visit Eld, she was waking him up. She'd been coming by later and later each time, but nothing seemed to work. It was early afternoon and he was still asleep.

This guy really liked his sleep!

Sarah waited until she couldn't hear Akizetsumei anymore, then cleared her throat for the sake of Eld's disjointed and jumbled up perceptive qualities. Indeed, it was pretty obvious (to everyone but Akizetsumei of Terra) that Eld was sufficiently freaking out right now. Sarah sat up in bed with a blanket held over her chest and looked up to Eld expectantly, figuring he was going to give her some sort of request or order soon enough-- but before he could, she let that blanket slip down and expose herself, and pretended it was an accident. One that she didn't really care about enough to fix.

Just 'cause, really. Sarah didn't need a reason to screw with Eld anymore.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld was in the process of pulling up some jeans when the sheets suddenly seemed to slip off Sarah, exposing her chest. This made him pause for a moment to stare, before he caught himself and decided he needed to address the whole of her and not just specific parts.

"U-Umm...sorry I woke you. You can go back to sleep if you want. Or...well...if you're going to go home, it might be a good idea to wait a bit. So there's no misunderstandings."

It wasn't that it was Akizetsumei, of course. Anyone would misunderstand! Their relationship was kind of unconventional, after all. If people found out, in addition to lectures and scolding people might not be interested in dating them, which of course was worse for Sarah who went on a lot more dates.

[Nayt]

Sarah looked at Eld's window.

"You suck at this frantic escape thing," she remarked under her breath.

Sarah leaned over Eld's bed to rummage her hand around by the floor, searching for any article of her clothing. Eld had just kind of tossed them aside somewhere. He did that a lot. It was a serious pain in the ass to find her own clothes sometimes.

"See, what you're supposed to do is shove my clothes at me like a wild man, pace 'round your room like you're tryin' to put holes in your floor, and impatiently rush me into gettin' dressed and climbin' out your window." This was a skill that Sarah had personally witnessed in action before, though not from Eld. Eld rarely needed to panic because of this sort of thing. The Vaerbonds and Tsukimonos simply knew about this relationship they had, and those were the only people that came around worth worrying about.

Well . . . maybe Maya. Maya was worth worrying about. Sarah didn't want to spark the intense jealous rage that she knew Maya to be capable of.

[Zach Kaiser]

"T-The window?" That seemed...kind of extreme. Like something out of a trashy romance novel, except that they weren't cheating on anyone by being together. "You...really don't have to, but I guess that would be easier."

He resumed getting dressed, though a little more calmly; in a way, Sarah had pointed out how silly he was being. It took a few moments before he paused again and stared up at her again, though this time for a different reason.

"Did someone actually do that to you?" he asked incredulously.

[Nayt]

"Eh . . .?" Sarah seemed surprised, "Yeah?"

Eld hadn't heard of that? Sarah was pretty sure she'd told him at one point. Oh well. She glanced to the door and figured they had an extra minute.

As she spoke, she worked on gathering her clothes and slipping them on, starting with her underwear. She didn't want to leave her bra at Eld's again. That was kind of the way Eld's parents first learned of the sexual nature of their relationship, and it was kind of embarrassing. They weren't going to get "the talk" again (it was the sort of thing discussed only once in a person's life, after all), but it was still best to just avoid that embarrassment in general. Rebbecca would have picked on them both or something, and unlike Sarah's mother, she couldn't pop off at Rebbecca Tsukimono. Sarah didn't live here. She didn't have the privilege of mouthiness.

"I was datin' a guy for a few weeks," she replied with a shrug of her shoulders, "Supposed to be out on his own-- his own house, his own bills, all this responsibility and shit. It was kinda a turn on? You know how I am when it comes to guys that pull their own weight. So anyways, I stay over one night, and the next mornin', he rushes me out the window. Turns out his parents were comin' back to their house after a weekend vacation. He was still livin' with his parents. Twenty-two an' still livin' with the 'rents, man."

Sarah cleared her throat.

"That relationship didn't last long."

[Zach Kaiser]

"So the fact that he lied to you doesn't bother you as much as that he was still living with his parents?" Eld asked. Most of the time he could make some sense of Sarah, but there were times when she her way of thinking was kind of bizarre. Of course, another realization was a bit delayed. "Wait, you dated a twenty-two year old?" A six year difference seemed like quite a bit.

"Ah, nevermind," he muttered as he finished getting dressed. He still looked a bit disheveled, but not as much as he would have if Sarah hadn't gotten him to calm down a bit. (Even if her attention was likely to get more worked up.)

"You don't have to go out the window if you don't want to," Eld stated suddenly. After that story he'd feel kind of bad if he made do that. "Akizetsumei and I don't usually stay around here, so I'm sure the coast will be clear in a few minutes."

[Nayt]

"Yeah, I figured," Sarah shrugged her shoulders.

She'd already found that Eld was out of the house whenever he was with Akizetsumei. It was the whole reason she came over last night, after all.

Sarah had started to button up her shirt when she got to thinking about it again. Eld was probably not going to be single for very long. And it wasn't she or Maya that he was going to be dating. Sarah knew that they simply didn't work as anything beyond friends. Obligation screwed everything up for them-- and then, Eld's beliefs clashed with Maya's so harshly that it was impossible for them to date for any length of time. But with anyone else . . .? Eld might be able to hold a long relationship with just about anyone else.

"Hey, Eld?" she whispered

He'd just finished getting dress and Sara finally had her shirt buttoned up. Sarah caught him by the sleeve as he was heading for his door, and gently pulled him closer to her . . . if only so she could place a soft, romantic kiss upon his lips. She shut her eyes and held him there, fully intending this to be a long, drawn out, yet feeling filled kiss. Eld might get all the feelings from last night all over again, just in this one clasp of their lips. At least, Sarah hoped he did.

It was a kiss to go out on, one that made Sarah feel a strong finality in her heart. One that actually made her lower lip quiver. One that actually made her feel sad. She was fully aware of what this was. She was fully aware of what this was going to be.

The last kiss they'd ever share.

[Zach Kaiser]

While Eld hadn't expected Sarah to pull him into a kiss, he certainly wasn't complaining. But although he enjoyed it as much as he enjoyed any kiss from her, there was something different about this one. While she was certainly prone to kissing him out of the blue, it was never such a romantic kiss...one so full of emotion.

When it finally ended, he saw the sadness in her eyes, and realized that this was it. He didn't know why, but it was. "I guess...nothing good lasts forever, huh?" he asked.

[Nayt]

When they broke the kiss, Sarah felt a sting in her eyes. It was a burning sort of pain, accompanied by a slight moisture collecting in the corner of her eyes. This, however, was something she was not going to show to Eld. He didn't need to see her cry, even if it was just a tear or two.

Instead, the most she did was smile sadly at him.

"Just the way of the world, huh?"

All good things ended. So did all bad things. All things ended. Eventually. It was a nihilistic sort of belief and one that Sarah didn't necessarily subscribe to, but right now, she felt an austere need to distance herself from the bulk of her worst emotions. At least for now. She'd let herself go once Eld was gone.

Which was soon.

Sarah looked past him, to the door he stood before. Akizetsumei was still waiting out there, and Eld had been much longer than just a couple of minutes. It was best that he got out there and met her soon, or else she might start to wander about and get herself into trouble. As if trying to coerce Eld to go and move on-- not just with the day, but with the rest of his life --she nodded to the door.

"Just don't break her heart, 'kay?" Sarah said, more of a request than anything else-- even if Eld didn't perfectly understand her request.

[Zach Kaiser]

"R-Right." He didn't really get it, as he wasn't sure how he'd do that even if he wanted to, but he took it to heart nevertheless. It wasn't in Sarah's nature to be sincere very often, and he always made sure to listen when she was. "I guess I shouldn't keep her waiting..."

He grabbed the doorknob, but just as he about to turn it he hesitated. He didn't want to leave without saying something.

"Sarah..." For a moment, she might be tempted to think he was going to apologize. Eld had a bad habit of apologizing for things he wasn't truly to blame for, simply because he felt bad--a habit that annoyed Sarah to no end. But there was no apology this time, and for a good reason. "I know our parents weren't too happy, and that some people would think we're immoral, but...I've never regretted it, not for a second."

And then he went through the door, because he could see Sarah holding back tears, and he knew if she started crying he would too, and she'd think he was pathetic.

So even though part of him wanted to kind of sleep all day (and not just because he was still tired), he went out to greet Akizetsumei. "Sorry it took so long," he said; hopefully she wasn't getting too impatient with him.

[Nayt]

Eld's parting words . . . they filled Sarah's heart with something other than gut wrenching sadness. No regrets. And though she said nothing in return, she shared Eld's exact sentiments.

But it wasn't permanent. It was never permanent. Going into this relationship of theirs, they both should have known that. They weren't exclusive, and they just couldn't function exclusively. And yet, as Eld walked out of his room, Sarah couldn't help but feel as if they had, in fact, been a couple. As if they'd been exclusive all along, and that their utterly unstable relationship was finally meeting its end. If only for half of a second, Sarah thought she'd made a mistake. She thought it might be best to run out and tackle into Eld, hold onto him, and tell him to stick with her.

But she couldn't. She wouldn't. It felt like she was paralyzed, and the only thing she could do was smile until Eld shut the door. It wasn't the right thing, anyways-- because the truth of the matter was that their relationship was not exclusive. They were not a couple. Sarah had no right to claim Eld's heart.

After all, it'd already been claimed by someone else, whether both parties knew it or not.

When she couldn't hear him anymore, she looked away from the closed door. Sarah stared at Eld's sheets, felt the texture of his blankets with her hands, and was tempted to lay her head back down on his pillow, if only to take in the smell of his hair. All the thoughts she was holding back came crashing down upon her all at once.

Sarah didn't shed just one or two tears. There were several.

---

During her stint of long, drawn out waiting, Akizetsumei had taken to exploring Eld's living room again. There weren't too many distinct features, except for pictures on the mantle-- which she'd already examined before, and examined again just now.

Akizets was only just starting to wonder if Eld was all right when he emerged from his room. She instantly felt a wave of relief and joy run up her spine and worm their way into her heart. She smiled brightly, replacing a previously inquisitive expression.

"Ah, um, i-it's no problem at all!" Akizets replied cheerily.

But then her mind reeled back to a topic she wanted to apologize about the very second she'd entered the house.

"Ummm, I-- I hope it's okay that, um, I sorta, um, just came in," she put her arms behind her back and looked to the floor as if she'd done something wrong, "No one answered and I sorta, um, thought no one heard me knocking."

[Zach Kaiser]

"I-It's fine. Most of my friends just come in anyway." He started to glance back towards his room before catching himself. Friends, huh... He wondered why he and Sarah made such a terrible couple. In a way they really did love each other, but...things just couldn't work out between them.

"S-Sorry, kind of stayed up too late last night," he said, realizing he'd spaced out for a moment. "Anyway, what's up?"

Right now his still tired mind was a little overloaded; he forgot that Akizetsumei wanted to go swimming with him, though admittedly she never specified when.

[Nayt]

Well, if it was okay, then it was okay. It was kind of weird that all of Eld's friends barged in like she did, but it actually felt a little natural to just walk in and look for Eldridge. She thought it was weird at first, then just decided to not think about that anymore.

"Ummm, well . . ." Akizets rubbed the ball of her foot against the floor.

She was wearing a somewhat less casual of an outfit--in so much, it looked like she'd borrowed one of Maya's outfits. She was wearing a subtle pink sun dress, with a long pair of blue jeans beneath. For some reason, her brother insisted that she wear pants under her dress. It didn't make the least bit of sense to her, but the second she said she was going to go out to see Eld, he got all gruff with her and insisted that she wear pants-- so she picked a pair of jeans that fit her pretty tightly, the kind that allowed freedom of movement and all that, but hugged the legs so much that it almost negated the purpose of wearing them. This was supposed to be super ultra massive omega passive-aggressive spite against her brother for being a mega jerk so early in the afternoon, but he seemed perfectly okay with it.

"My mom and dad actually came home last night," Akizetsumei didn't realize that she'd thrown actually into that sentence, "Aaaaand dad actually gave me an allowance."

Akizets was starting to feel awkward again, and she hadn't the slightest clue why. She hadn't a clue why she decided to wear something dressy today, either. It was like some weird force was at work behind the scenes and she just couldn't recognize it yet.

"I was, um, kinda wondering if I could pay you back for the, um, for the bathing suit-- I was gonna ask if I could buy you lunch or . . . s-something like that?"

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld tilted his head a bit, wondering just how often Akizetsumei's parents were around. Clearly it wasn't much, which was a foreign concept to him. His parents were always home, without exception--at most one of them would leave at a time, but by the very nature of the clinic they had to be around.

Though, then again, with the way his schedule was it did sometimes seem like he went a long time without seeing them.

"You really don't need to pay me back, but sure, we can go get some lunch." Eating sounded good right now, as he desperately needed some energy back. And the sooner left, the sooner Sarah could sneak off.

[Nayt]

"Okay!" Akizetsumei cheered.

The relief she felt every time Eld took her up on one of these offers or requests was beginning to feel both familiar and muted at the same time.

But then she stopped, as an odd realization crossed her mind just now. It was something she hadn't given any thought to when she left her house. What kind of food did Eld like? Obviously, Akizets had her own unique tastes, but she never really did ask Eld what kinds of food he preferred over others . . . or more specifically, if there were any places in Hillcrest he liked to eat.

"Wh-what's, umm . . . your favorite restaurant in town?" Akizetsumei asked. She almost felt ashamed to not know this little factoid about Eld.

A weird thing to be ashamed of.