Chapter Seven

"'Get your hands off of her!' Damn. I nailed it, didn't I? I've always wanted to use that phrase. Makes me feel all manly."

I couldn't help but laugh as my 'knight in shining armour' who also went by the name of Tsubasa Andou occupied the empty seat beside me. I was back on my seat after the creep who had been bothering me gave up and backed away from the glaring contest he was having with my schoolmate. The creep didn't leave in a silent manner though. He bit out a sour comment- "This is bullshit! You're not even that pretty. I'm outta here." -before walking out on us.

"Thanks for helping me get rid of him, Tsubasa." I said, genuinely grateful. I don't know what I would've done or the creep would've done if Tsubasa didn't interfere.

"It's nothing. That guy's a coward anyway. Couldn't even handle our glaring contest. Come to think of it, 'glaring contest'; doesn't seem fierce and manly at all, eh?" The swimmer chuckled as he carelessly rumpled his messier-than-usual hair. Curiously enough, I found the gesture boyishly cute.

"So, you a fan of Red Metal?" He asked, his hand making a sign to the bartender on the other side of the bar.

"Red what?" I asked in a louder voice, not quite sure if I heard his question right because of the loud noise inside the club.

"Red Metal! I'm guessing you're not because you don't even seem to know the name of the band playing." He grinned, and since our faces were close to each other, I could make out the slight dimple on the side of his lips and oh man, this guy sure has one hell of a smile.

"You got me. My friend just dragged me here with her. She's the one who's a fan." I explained, trying not to get distracted by his good looks and obvious charm.

Tsubasa wrinkled his face in an exaggerated manner, "You must have terrible taste in music then. How could you not like Red Metal? It's like the best band ever!"

I laughed, "Honestly, I don't understand a word they're singing. All I could make out of their lyrics are profanities."

"I bet you're the mainstream type. You listen to Bieber, don't you?" He teased.

"Well... yeah. Sometimes. But only because he's pretty."

I didn't realize I'd been chatting with Tsubasa for quite a while until Hotaru came up behind us to interfere. I guess I've been enjoying talking with the swimmer that I almost forgot about my friend. I felt a tiny bit of guilt.

"Thought you got drowned in the restroom or something. You didn't come back." commented Hotaru while giving Tsubasa a quick, uninterested glance.

"I kinda got in trouble with some creep but I'm alright now. Tsubasa here helped me out." I explained briefly.

I noticed the slight lift on Hotaru's eyebrow but the stoic girl didn't comment and instead, occupied the seat on my other side.

"Hey, I know you. Aren't we in the same Physics class?" asked Tsubasa, leaning a little towards my direction to talk to Hotaru.

"Yeah, but only when you decide to show up in class, that is." Hotaru answered before asking the bartender for a Piña Colada.

Tsubasa didn't seem offended by my friend's remark and only let out a laugh, "So you ladies have a ride home?"

"We have. Hotaru brought her car."

"Shame. I would've loved to drive you guys home, and maybe go to a drive-through on the way." He made a face before flashing us again that boyish grin of his.

"Didn't you come here with anyone?"

"I did, actually. I came here with some of the guys from school but they've been missing since the moment we entered the club. I guess they've been busy hitting on girls."

"You're with that Ayame guy from the swim team?" Hotaru suddenly interrupted.

Tsubasa and I both turned to look at her.

"Yeah. Why? You saw him?" Tsubasa asked.

"He was" Hotaru used one of her hands and made an air quote sign, "'hitting' on me just a while ago. He sucked at it, to be honest. I think he's had too much alcohol. I don't think he recognized me from someone in the same school and had been bugging me if I wanted to see his abs that he said he developed from doing gazillion laps of swimming. He was forcing my hand to slip inside his shirt, so I gave his oh-so-marvelous abs a good punch instead."

I couldn't help laughing out loud, as well as Tsubasa, after Hotaru finished talking in a bored tone.

"Yep, Ayame's definitely drunk. He likes flaunting his abs when he's had too much to drink. I better go and get him before he starts harassing other girls." Tsubasa rose from the high chair while still chuckling, "So where'd you leave the poor guy?"

"Center of the dance floor. He's probably still there on his knees, cringing in pain." Hotaru deadpanned.

"I bet. Anyway, it was nice hanging out with the two of you. I'll see you guys around in school." He said before he left us and made his way to the dance floor to retrieve his friend.

"I bet you two had been full-blown flirting with each other before I came to interrupt." Hotaru said out of the blue after we were alone.

"What? No. We were just talking." I felt the slight heat on my face. I was not flirting with Tsubasa Andou. Definitely not.

"Uh-huh. Whatever you say." Hotaru said in an unconvinced tone and then gave me a very knowing look.

I groaned. Hotaru was right. I had been flirting with the swimmer, and I had downright enjoyed every minute of it.

.

It was almost two in the morning when I got back home. I didn't bother to take a quick shower and just changed my clothes with a pair of pajamas and then washed my face.

I laid down on my bed but after about half an hour of lying down, I still couldn't get myself to drift off to the dreamland.

I haven't been insomniac these past few weeks but there were still nights that it would be difficult for me to get to sleep.

Slightly exasperated with myself, I got up from my bed. I walked to my table and sat down on the chair before I turned on my laptop.

I wasn't really planning to go online on my messenger. I just wanted to check if my torrents had finished downloading since I was not able to check it earlier before I left the house to go out with Hotaru, but when my messenger automatically appeared from the screen of my computer, I, without really thinking about it, clicked on the log in button.

I wasn't really expecting anyone from my contact list to be still online at this hour. It was almost three in the morning. It's either they're deep in their sleep or still out partying somewhere. So I was surprise when my laptop made a 'ding' sound and a chatbox popped up.

And the sender was Natsume freaking Hyuuga.

NHyuuga: You just got home?

I felt my forehead creased.

Mikan0101: You do know you're starting to get creepy? What's up with you. Were you waiting for me or something?

NHyuuga: Maybe.

Mikan0101: Hyuuga. What do you want?

NHyuuga: How's the concert?

I'm pretty sure the crease on my forehead deepened. Seriously, what is up with this guy.

I sighed. If I remember right, Hyuuga had always been kind of weird since day one. I decided to just go along with him.

Mikan0101: It was great.

NHyuuga: Gram's bday dinner went great as well. She asked about you though.

I didn't know how to respond to that so I settled with an:

Mikan0101: Ah.

NHyuuga: You should come visit grandma when you have time

I was really planning on visiting Natsume's grandmother. I was just planning on doing it on the day I am sure that her grandson is not around.

Mikan0101: I'll come visit her

NHyuuga: when?

Mikan0101: when I find the time

NHyuuga: Ok.

Mikan0101: I'll be out now. I'm sleepy.

The last sentence was a lie. I didn't want to continue to talk to him because, honestly, it was becoming too weird for me; and I didn't know how else to end the conversation with him except to say that I'm going to bed.

NHyuuga: Ok

NHyuuga: Goodnight, Mikan

I blinked. Natsume being this normal to me kind of freaked me out a little bit, but it didn't change the fact that I felt some slight fluttering in my stomach, and that the feeling wasn't entirely unpleasant.

My first thought was to just log out of my messenger without responding, but decided against it and then quickly typed a reply before I change my mind.

Mikan0101: Goodnight to you too, Natsume

Mikan0101 has signed out of messenger.

::-::

So the knight in shining armour is Tsubasa! Cheers to those who guessed it right, you know who you guys are! Here's your virtual cookie- (::)

Lol, it looks more like a button than a cookie. So lame.

Anyway, sorry for the long wait and then giving you such a short chapter. I'm so busy with reality that finding the time to update my stories is almost impossible.

I typed this chapter on WordPad and it didn't have a spell-check, so I apologize for all the misspelled words you might have encountered while reading this. Please excuse as well the grammar mistakes; I did not proofread.

Lastly, I've created a Formspring account so if you have any random question you wanna ask me, or anything FFN-related, just ask me there, and I'll be sure to answer them. The URL is posted on my profile. But before anything else, it would be nice if you click the review button below and leave a review first. Pretty please with a cherry on top?