Coming Over

Ichigo and I were in the homeroom waiting for our teacher, as always, she was talking my ear off but I have to admit I wasn’t listening as much as I should but, in my defence, I have other things to worry about.

I was still thinking about my… feelings towards the chatty girl sitting next to me. I have to admit I was feeling something a little more, maybe a spark or a flutter, whatever it was it made me both happy and sick at the same time. Is that normal?

“Kyooooo!” Ichika yelled my name in my ear and shook my arm.

“What?!” I yelled, harsher than I intended.

Ichigo flinched and quickly retracted her hands away from my arm.

“I'm sorry,” she whispered.

My heart broke in two and I was mentally kicking myself.

“Ichigo I’m so, so sorry!” I apologised profusely.

She shook her head as a sad smile made its way to her lips, “No it’s my fault, I’m sorry for being annoying.”

“Ichigo you’re not…”

“Good morning, students,” our teacher walked in interrupting me.

I sighed and turned to face the front. Every now and then I glanced towards Ichigo who had headphones in her ears and her nose in a book. I chuckled at how cute she looked, but at the same time I felt so bad, but I had an idea. I ripped a small piece of paper out of my notebook and quickly wrote;

“Ichigo I’m really sorry,”

I folded it and threw it so it landed on her book. She looked up briefly and we made eye contact, she looked at me strangely as if to ask ‘What’s this?’ I gestured towards the paper and she put the book down to open it.

After reading it she ripped out a paper from her notebook and quickly wrote something on it before passing it to me.

“No need to apologise :)”

I still wanted to make it up to her, I don’t know how but I was going to. Then I thought of something that might work. I yanked the lid off the pen and quickly wrote on the paper.

My hands shook, my heart raced, and butterflies fluttered in my stomach at this idea, but I was going to be brave and just ask her. Once I had finished writing I threw the folded paper to her.

Once she opened the paper, she smiled and turned to me, “I would love to come over”

I had chosen that weekend for a particular reason; my parents wouldn’t be home, and the last thing I wanted was for my Mum to ask her any awkward questions or for my dad to find out who she is, besides what he doesn’t know can’t hurt him.

“So, you’ve invited her over?” my brother asked.

“Yup,” I nodded, glancing over the pile of shirts on my bed.

“And you have no idea what to wear?” he continued questioning me.

“Nope,” I replied, shaking my head.

“Fantastic,” he mumbled, sarcastically.

“You do realise I have zero knowledge when it comes to fashion right?” he raised an eyebrow.

“But you’ve had girls over before!” I yell.

“Well… yeah… but they’ve usually never really cared what I’ve worn. Besides I used to usually just go with the shirtless look anyways,” he winked.

I turned to him horrified, “Thank God I was at the library most of the time anyway.”

“Anyways I do know someone who can help,” he smiled.

Half an hour later his girlfriend walked in through the door.

“Help has arrived,” she announced.

“Finally!” I bounced up from the sofa I was sitting on.

“I don’t think I’ve seen him run that fast since his favourite author was in town and was doing a book signing in the local mall,” I heard my brother say.

I held up two shirts for them to choose from, one was a plain greyish-blue-coloured long-sleeved shirt. The other was a checkered shirt with large squares in various shades of brown.

Both my brother and his girlfriend thought for a while before pointing towards the light-blue shirt at the same time.

“Are you sure?” I asked them.

“Yeah, it’s better to go with the simple one sometimes,” she winked.

I smiled and paired the shirt with a pair of black jeans and black and white trainers. I still had two hours before Ichigo arrived and I was getting more anxious by the minute.

I quickly changed before picking up all the clothes off my bed and throwing them in my wardrobe, I can always hang them up later, if I start to do them now, I’ll never finish!

I sat on the sofa and kept glancing at the clock every five minutes, I swear either time was moving slowly or it had stood still because it wasn’t getting any nearer and my nerves were starting to get the better of me.

“Err, Kyo,” my brother tapped my shoulder.

“Yeah?” I asked.

“If you carry on biting your nails you won’t have any left,” his girlfriend chuckled.

“Oh,” I whispered looking down at my nails which were halfway up to my cuticles.

I swear I didn’t even know I bit my nails, I guess it's just one of those things.

“Relax! You guys have been friends for months and she hasn’t bitten you yet I doubt she’s going to do it now,” my brother’s girlfriend laughed.

“Ah, you never know, these guys are alone,” my brother smirked and winked.

“Make sure to use protection,” he added with a laugh, earning a slap upside the head from his girl.

Finally, the doorbell rang and I ran to answer the door, Ichigo stood there in a pink t-shirt with shorts and a light blue denim jacket, she wore ankle boots and as usual mascara on her lashes and gloss on her lips, and her hair was up in a ponytail. In her arms, she held a pretty basket filled with what looked like gifts.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” she smiled, shyly.

She handed me the basket and when I looked at it carefully, I saw there was a bouquet, some chocolates, and a bottle of wine which I’m guessing is Strawberry flavoured. The basket was also decorated with faux flowers and pretty ribbons that were turned into bows.

“You didn’t have to get all this,” I smiled at her.

“I wasn’t going to come to your place empty-handed now, was I?” she replied.

I let her come in and saw her taking in the whole house in awe, I’m guessing her house is also as big as mine, maybe even more, but still her eyes sparkled as she took everything in.

“It’s so pretty,” she complimented.

“Thank you,” I smiled.

I walked her to the living room where my brother and his girlfriend were, I could tell Ichigo was shy and hesitated for a few seconds.

“Do you want to hold my hand?” I whispered, holding my hand out.

She looked at me and my hand for a few seconds before slowly nodding, she slipped her hand into mine and it felt so soft and delicate, I made sure to hold it extra carefully.

“Ichigo this is my brother Sakurai Haruko and his girlfriend Tanaka Aneko, and guys this is Akabane Ichigo,” I smiled.

Once the introductions were over my brother and his girlfriend left to go to their band practice leaving us here alone.

“Where are your parents?” Ichigo asked.

Oh, they went to some party,” I shrugged.

“Oh, I forgot,” Ichigo took her backpack off, which I didn’t even realise she was wearing and took out a small container.

She bit her lip and hesitated for a bit; her face was going red as she proceeded to say what she needed to.

“I made something,” she extended her arms for me to take the container, her hands were shaking a bit too.

I opened the lid and saw it was filled to the brim with cookies, they were light pink with a red jam on the top. The aroma coming from them smelt like strawberries and… cherries?

“They’re strawberry-flavoured cookies but the red jam on top is cherry flavoured, it’s the first time I made them so if they taste bad, I’m sorry,” She chuckled.

“I doubt anything you make would taste bad; besides they look and smell amazing I’m sure they’re gonna taste even better,” I reassured her.

I took a cookie out of the container and bit into it, instantly the cookie melted on my tongue and the favours both complimented each other so well.

“H-how are they?” Ichigo asked.

“These are honestly the best cookies I have ever had, try one,” I took it out of the container and held it up for her to try.

“Really?” she asked, grinning.

“I’m being 100 percent honest, just try it,” I told her.

She took a small bite and was oddly surprised.

“Did I seriously make that?” she asked me.

“Well obviously!” I laughed.

“How are they so good though?” she questioned, taking the cookie out of my hand and eating it herself.

“I don’t know but I need that recipe or I need you to make me these every day, because I know for a fact that I’m going to be craving these cookies every day for the rest of my life,” I told her seriously.

She burst out laughing, “Don’t worry there’s plenty more where that came from.”

After having one more cookie each I decided to surprise Ichigo too.

“Want to see my favourite room in the whole house?” I asked.

She nodded and I grabbed her hand taking her upstairs down the left corridor.

“Open the door,” I tell her.

Ichigo gives me a weird look before opening the door, the room was filled with shelves that reached floor to ceiling and they were covered in books, there was a large table in the middle with a globe sitting on it.

Ichigo’s face lit up and her eyes widened as she took slow steps into the room, she turned a full 360 while looking at the whole place in awe. I leaned against the doorframe, a big smile on my lips.

“It’s wonderful,” she breathed out.

“Yeah, it’s pretty amazing,” I nodded.

“Have you read all these books?” she asked.

I shook my head, “Not all of them, some of them are in Chinese.”

“Wait really?” she asked, surprised.

I laughed, “No, now choose a book and it’s yours.”

“Really?” she quickly turned to face me.

“Think of it as a thank you for those amazing cookies,” I winked.

The rest of the time we spent hours talking about books, reading a few, and just enjoying each other’s company more than we did at school before it was time for Ichigo to go home.