Tohrue's Note: Terribly sorry guys about the late update. I moved into a new house about a month and a half ago and we just got our internet connection set up. So, here I am, providing a few updates in one day. :) Hopefully.

The Dumbing Down of Love
February First, Two Thousand and Seven
Settle For The Best Or Stay Home

...

It was certainly not what you would have called 'her best piece of art.' Though some people considered cooking an art, it was certainly one she could not touch. Uncomfortably, Kairi pushed the fork around the plate, drawing designs with the cherry juice that was flooding her plate. While cherry pie was supposed to stay in one piece and taste between a mixture of sweet and tart, her's had crumpled upon being set on the plate and tasted like sour patch kids. Yuffie, however, made no complaint and continued on shoveling down the pie in her mouth.

"Yuffie, I know it doesn't taste good. You don't have to eat it."

"No, Kairi, it's fine!"

She looked up at her friend to find her flashing her smile. Though she had cherry sauce around the outline of her mouth, she still looked as if she could be a commercial model. The girl wasn't only rich and smart in many areas, but she could make the boys drop to their knees with a smile. While in school together, she always found it hard to compete with Yuffie -- she was perfect. She'd given up long ago, though and had decided it was best the way it was.

After a few minutes, Yuffie hiked up her messenger bag strap upon her shoulder and cleared her throat. Wiping off her skirt for any crust crumbs, she then slowly started to rise.

"I'm sorry, Kai', but I need to get going. Mama will be mad if I'm late again and you know how she is on her designing sprees. She told me if I was late to the studio again, I could forget my allowances."

"Oh, don't worry about it Yuffie. You should get going, then!"

"Alright, love. I'll call you tomorrow morning for the juicy details!"

Leaning across the table, she gave Kairi a quick friendly kiss upon the cheek. Standing back up fully, she gave a short wave, then turned around and began to head for the back door in her kitchen. Kairi watched with slightly upturned lips and waved back, though the friend's back was to her. Within seconds though, she heard her kitchen door shut and then stood up herself.

It was truly amazing how that girl could come over 8 o'clock in the morning, looking like she'd had a fully days rest when she'd only gone to bed just hours before. And there Kairi was, in her flannel pajama pants, an oversized white tee shirt, and her tangled hair thrown up in the bun. How ridiculous that might have looked if someone oversaw. Two girls at a kitchen table eating cherry pie, one looking like she just arose from the dead while another decked out in Burberry and Fendi.

Grabbing the two plates they'd be eating off of, she brought them over to the sink and placed them down. She'd clean them off later when she actually had a full attention span. Reaching and opening the cabinet above her, she grabbed a glass and then brought it back down. Flipping on the water purifier, she filled up a glass full of water and set it down. Lightly, she strolled across the kitchen floor and headed towards another cabinet that sat next to the fridge. Opening that one, she stood up on her tippy toes and grabbed a small box from the top part of the shelf. Once she had it in her possession, she opened it, popped out a pill, and then put the box back.

NoHangs. They probably had about 5 boxes all around the house, just incase one passed out in a certain room and couldn't move more than seven steps to get something for hangover relief. Her mother though, she knew she was in her bedroom knocked out. She'd heard her come in late last night and trip on the stairs upon coming up towards her bedroom. What after had seemed like forever, the older woman's bedroom door shut. She had been drunk, no doubt, as she usually was most Friday and Saturday nights. Placing the pill next to the glass of water, Kairi then leaned herself up against the corner. A bit of a sigh came from her and she just shook her head.

The quiet peace though, didn't last for long. Just a couple minutes later, the home phone started to ring nonchalantly. Dismissing all annoyance before it made her crabby, she headed across the kitchen and grabbed the phone off its hook.

"Hello?"

"Uh .. hi! Is this Kairi?"

"Yeah .. Who is this?"

"It's Sora."

Quickly caught off guard, she almost dropped the phone. Catching back her poise though, she held the phone closer towards her ear.

"H-hi! How are you?"

"I'm good. Listen, sorry if I woke you up since it's still kind of early .."

"Oh, no, it's fine! I was just in the kitchen eating."

"Ha ha, okay, that's good."

"Yeah. So, um .. what's up?"

"Listen, I was wondering if you had a date to the Ball yet?"

No way. This was not happening. All night Yuffie had been discussing with her over he would ask her to be his date and how she just had this 'feeling.' Kairi though, being modest and doubting, denied the fact and said that'd he had already had a date in advance probably. But here he was, asking her to be his date! Blood rushed to her cheeks and she hesitated in reply before finally answering.

"Um, no .. Not yet, why?"

"Well you see, my brother is coming in from out of town and he doesn't have a date yet. So I was wondering that maybe you would want to go with him? I told him that I knew the coolest girl that he could take."

.. So. He wasn't asking her. He was asking her to be his brother's date. A bit of her felt let down, but another not surprised because she knew something like this would happen. Besides, why should she have been disappointed? Everyone knew he'd be taking some beautiful, foreign model. Oh well. It wasn't like she liked him, anyway. She wasn't that let down ..

"Oh, yeah, that'd be fun!"

Almost slapping herself, she couldn't believe the stupidity of that line.

"Great! He'll be excited. I'll tell him to pick you up at 6 so he can take you to dinner?"

"Yeah, that'll be fine."

"Awesome! Kairi, I can't thank you so much."

"Oh, it's really no big deal."

While she could tell that he was positively beaming from the other side of the phone, she was in a confused state of a frown and a smile. The two continued to talk for a few more minutes before she finally said she had to go. They said their goodbyes and Sora said he was looking forward to seeing her and she agreed. The phone was then clicked off.

Sauntering back over to her mother's glass of water and hangover pill she was going to take to her, she almost fell insignificant. While this whole time she was lying to herself, thinking she'd really be the guest of honor, she was just another someone Sora had invited to his party. Though they were exclusive invitations, it really didn't mean anything to him. Staring at the glass and pill sitting beside it, she made it her focal point for several minutes before she grabbed the glass of water and pill. Putting the pill in her mouth, she chased it down with the water.

This would be a long day.

Her mother stood behind her, pulling tightly at her hair. Kairi winced in pain but held back her tongue. The older reflection of herself was tying her hair into a tight bun. Watching in the mirror, her mother was very silent and tired seeming, but dressed and done as if she was going out as well. Every now and then, she would give off an occasional sigh. She tried to figure out the reason why, but couldn't.

"There."

".. A bun, mom? It seems a little simple."

"Some of the simpler things in life are the most beautiful."

".. But mom. It's cliché, especially for this theme."

There was a tense moment of silence before she felt the woman's hands grab at her pile of hair and take it out. Slowly, Kairi's hair fell back into place and just below her shoulders. Her mom remained silent though and worked her way around her to grab the curling iron that had been heating nearby for just incase. Grabbing one of the frontal strands of her hair, she wrapped the curling barrel around just the bottom of her tips to give her hair some definition.

This process lasted for twenty minutes as her mother curled the tips of her hair all around. Silence became their best friends during that time and nothing seemed to break it apart. Even after her mother had finished her hair, the reeking silence continued through her makeup and wardrobe.

Sitting in her own room at her bureau, she added the last touch of mascara to her eyelashes. While brushing it on, the doorbell rang. Kairi hesitated and became silent for moment until she heard the door open and her mother exclaim a greeting in an artificial tone of happiness. Kairi then continued with her mascara, keeping the number one rule of a date in her head: Always keep the boy waiting for a maximum of ten minutes.

She finished dawning on her mascara and then gave a final look at herself in the mirror. Her makeup was not overdone, which she knew many people would do for tonight. A relaxing shade of pearl of gel eye shadow went over her eyelids and then several coats of black mascara to make her eyes stand out. The only thing that looked any glamorous about it was a couple of rhinestones she had near the temples of her face. It had been Yuffie's suggestion while shopping, saying it would make her look 'even more beautiful.' Of course, Kairi was desperate and would try anything.

Standing up, she then stood at frontal and side view to make sure nothing was wrong with the dress. A matching shade of white, the dress stopped several inches before hitting the knees. It wasn't pencil straight, but it wasn't a big tutu dress either. It was very relaxing and swished whenever you took a step, which, was probably Kairi's favorite part besides the tie up back. Cleavage was only exposed minimally, which still made it classy. But once again, the dress became slightly glamorous as there was a Swarvosky crystal design at the hem of the dress.

Deciding that she looked just fine, she gave a final smile at herself in the mirror and then began to head towards her bedroom door to leave the room. However, on her way, her cell phone began to vibrate where it sat on her dresser. Stopping, she turned and headed towards it to see who it was calling. Half of her was hoping it was Sora, saying there was some mix up and he'd be taking her instead. But instead, she saw the name 'Riku' flash across the screen. It stopped vibrating though, she sighed in relief at now she wouldn't have to explain where she was or what she was doing tonight if asked.

On her way across the room again though, she stopped for the second time. Looking out the window, she found Riku looking right at her through his bedroom window. Though he was about 15 feet away, she could immediately feel the heat of intensity. She watched him for just a few more minutes, before she pulled herself away and headed downstairs.

This was her night, not his. And there was certainly no way he was ruining it for her, even it was already not going as she had planned. She would deal with his drama and phone calls tomorrow.

Coming down the stairs, at first she only saw her mother's and her date's feet and lower calves. After a few more steps down though, they ceased their talking and Kairi got a full view of them both. Her mother, grinning like some idiotic fool, and an expressionless blonde boy staring right at her. She paused, feeling suddenly overwhelmed by an uncomfortable feeling. She gave a tiny little smile, but he did not smile back.

"Kairi, this is Roxas! I was just discussing with him how beautiful you are!"

"Um .. hi, ha ha ha." Stepping down from the final step of the stairs, she began to laugh nervously. Her mother shot her a stabbing look as if to cut the laughing, but Kairi ignored her.

"It's nice to meet you, Kairi."

He nodded his head and she nodded hers. Her mother finally ceased the looks and smiled.

"Well, you two should probably get going! Have her home whenever, Roxas."

"I shall, mam'."

Hm. So her mother was fancying him. Kairi could tell by the awed looks and the remark a bout having her home whenever. Partially she knew because her mother would be out late as well, but also because her mother probably had this estranged idea of her and Roxas falling in love at the ball and then continually dating there on afterwards. It was funny in a sense, but also a bit of an annoyance.

Roxas grabbed her by the hand lightly and smiled. Not having expected it, she began to grow red in the face.

"See you later, you two! Have fun!"

"We will, mam'."

He led her out of the front room and outside, but did not pull her as if she was a rag doll. The door then shut behind them and the night had begun.

Tohrue's Note:

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Tohrue