Keep It Together (OHSHC/Hikaru Love Story)

Chapter 27

"Crimp what?" I stared at him.

"What?"

I translated, "You said, 'Want to crimp with me?' Or something close to that, at least."

He groaned, slumping in his chair, "You can't be serious."

I tried not to laugh, "I wish I was. You're pronunciation was great, but the grammar and actual words were not. You're lucky you're only in French I." He covered his face with his hands and shook his head. He said something, but I couldn't make it out. I giggled, "Why don't we try that again? You're asking me, so it would be 'voulez-vous'. That means 'do you want to'. Can I assume the last two words were right?"

Hikaru uncovered his face and nodded, "Yeah. The verb was something close, too." He thought about it for a moment. I wanted to help, but I wasn't sure what message he was trying to get across. His face quickly brightened. "Wait! It's 'sortir'! Voulez-vous sortir avec moi, Katashi?"

"That's very good!" I praised. Then, I paused, fully registering what he said. "Did you just ask me to go out with you?"

"Well, yeah," he nodded slowly.

"Like, on a date?" I pressed. The red in his cheeks brightened.

Hikaru rushed, "No! I know that would be wrong! I mean, you're...." I saw he couldn't bring himself to say the word. "I just thought it might be nice to go look around here. As friends."

I teased, "And did you try to learn that phrase by yourself just for me?"

He said, "Yeah. Oh, don't look so flattered! You always make me say things in French if I want you to do them!" I laughed at how flustered he was getting. "If you don't want to, you don't have to go, you know."

Whether he denied it or not, it sounded an awful lot like a date. I glanced at my phone lying on the table. If Eric found out, he was going to kill me. How would he find out, though? I wasn't going to tell him, and no one else would. And why should I have cared about what he thought? The feeling obviously wasn't mutual. I shouldn't have even had to consider his thoughts on the matter!

I stood up, and he gave me a questioning look. "I heard Misuzu and Haruhi talking earlier. It's going to rain soon, so we better get going." His nervousness faded, and he grinned, standing.

We started to walk away from the table when he asked, "Shouldn't you take your phone?"

"No, it's dead. Come on!" I lied, grabbing his hand and pulling him out of the pension onto the street. We walked hand-in-hand into the center of town.

Surrounding us were a variety of stores and restaurants, most locally owned. A lot of them were gift shops selling little trinkets that advertised Karuizawa, and the cafés sold pastries and coffee for cheap prices. The bright colors and cheerful people made me smile at the sight. I finally understood why Misuzu said people went to Karuizawa to be refreshed. The scene was much different from the city, and it was nice to be away from all the noise. "So, what did you have planned?" I wondered.