This was it. Today was the day. There was a nervous yet excited chatter spreading through the office due to the rumored promotion. Someone in the office had actually just been fired, so there was an opening. There were seven or eight of us in my division- we generally just responded to emails that people sent with inquiries about the land. But a promotion could mean actually handling money.
Haku and I had conversed about it earlier, who we thought might get a promotion, but deep down I thought it would be me. I had recently secured a location for a popular food chain that was sure to do well.
When it was time to leave, our boss, Miriam, stopped by and let us know that there was a promotion open, and I did not get it.
Haku did.
I half-heartedly congratulated her like everyone else, but on the inside I was completely crushed.
As I walked to the parking lot, I called Luka. "Hey, Meiko. Did you just get off of work?" She asked.
My voice was heavy. "Yeah, uh... I didn't get that job promotion."
The line went so silent for a moment that I thought she'd hung up. But finally she muttered, "Oh."
"Yeah," I said again, swallowing.
There was an awkward pause. "Well, I'll see you when you get home."
"Okay," I responded. "I think I'm gonna drive around for a little bit."
That was a lie. I just didn't want to go home and face her. I hung up and got into the car, my thoughts heavy. This wouldn't have been such a big deal if I hadn't constantly brought it up. I was so convinced that I would get the promotion, that we had begun to rely on it. That's why it was a problem.
As I drove, I did not wander around, in fact, I had a specific location in mind. I pulled up, feeling almost embarrassed, but I wanted to talk to someone other than Luka.
The shop's bell rang as I opened the door. Kaito had his back turned to me as he wiped some tables. "Sorry, we're closed."
"I wasn't planning on ordering anything, but alright," I said, getting ready to leave.
At the sound of my voice, he looked up. "Oh, Mei-chan! It's you!"
"Oh, yeah, nice to see you again!" His purple-haired friend waved from behind the counter.
Kaito walked over. "You remember Gakupo, right?"
"Yeah," I sat on a stool at the counter.
Kaito walked around and put his chin in his hand. "So what's up? This is the first time you've voluntarily come to see me."
I exhaled deeply and smiled back. "Oh, I don't know..."
"You totally do. You wouldn't come see me just because. Is... is something wrong?"
"Yeah," I kept the large grin on my face, so he would know it wasn't a really big deal. "I kinda screwed up, and I just want to forget about it for a while."
"Oh," he said, still contemplating what that meant.
I nodded. "I figured you'd be happy to see me. I know Luka is disappointed, and I don't wanna deal with that yet. Immature, I know."
"Gakupo?" He finally turned to his friend. "You don't mind locking up by yourself, do you?"
Gakupo had a huge grin on his face. "Oh, no, of course not. You two go have... fun. But be safe."
Why would he tell us to be... I realized he was implying something dirty and I turned the same shade of red painted on my nails. Kaito shoved him. "We're just going to get food. And we aren't dating!"
"Really? I thought you liked her!" Gakupo said.
"You don't have to buy me dinner," I interjected, hoping to change the subject. "We don't really have to go anywhere."
He walked over, ready to go. "And what if I just want to do something nice for my friend?"
"That's, uh... fine, I guess." I followed him to the door.
He smiled. "Good, because if you had started arguing I would've insisted."
"Byeeeee!" Gakupo shouted.
Kaito chuckled as the door shut behind us. "Oh, man, that guy is crazy."
"Do you... talk about me?"
Now it was his turn to blush. "Uh, maybe."
I wasn't really sure how to feel about that. It was kinda weird but it also made me feel a little bit nice.
We went and got some fast food and just had normal friendly conversation, and it was actually really nice. Kaito had some really funny jokes. His sense of humor was kind of corny, but I didn't care. It felt good to let my guard down and just laugh like his jokes were the best I'd ever heard. I had always been so uptight that I had never even noticed how great he actually was. Whenever I laughed, it would make him laugh, which kept me laughing, and it just went on and on and on. People looked at us like we were crazy, and we were.
Walking away, I felt simply happy. I hadn't realized how long it had been since I really enjoyed myself, since there was always one thing or another to worry about. I let out a deep, content sigh and turned to him. "Well, now where to?"
"You want to go somewhere else?" His eyes widened in surprise. "Usually you try to get away from me as soon as possible."
"You're right, but I guess I wanted so badly to forget that I just cleared my mind and I actually had a good time. You're... you're really not so bad, I'm just constantly worrying," I looked down and the ground. "Like right now, I'm worrying about how I've got to go home since we're done."
"You sound like you have a lot on your mind," he said. I only nodded.
"Here- come on," I followed him across the street to the park, where he sat on a bench.
I hesitantly sat down. "What are you doing?"
"I don't know, I just thought this would be a better place to talk," he shrugged.
"Uh... talk? About what?"
He turned towards me a little more. "Well, I mean, we're friends, right? And friends should be able to tell each other about their problems, don't you think?"
Did I? It sounded nice, but would I really just tell him what was bothering me? It wasn't nearly as simple as it sounded.
"You don't have to if you don't want to, but I just want you to know that I'm here to listen if you wanna get it out of your system. I won't even say anything if it'll help," and then he laid his hand on top of mine.
Oh, Kaito. For the past several years I had gone around screeching that men were just the worst, most disgusting, hateable creatures, and yet here I was, ready to just tell everything to one. Because the truth was, I didn't hate him at all. His smile was genuine, and instead of being creeped out, or assuming he had bad intentions, I knew he really did just want to make me feel better.
"Okay. So, uh, basically..." Where should I start? The very beginning? Or just earlier today? I took a deep breath. "We've never had very much money-"
My phone started ringing. I decided to wait and let it pass. Kaito said nothing.
Finally, it stopped. "So-"
It rang again.
"For Pete's sake!" It was Luka. "What is it? I'll be home soon, if that's what you're so worried about!"
"Good, it is."
I was startled to hear a voice other than Luka's. "Miku? Why do you have Luka's phone? And what's that background noise? Is someone... crying?"
"Yeah, that's Len," She sounded so calm, although there was a hint of worry in her voice. "He accidentally broke a plate, and so he went to tell Luka, but she wasn't waking up from her nap. Also, she has an empty bottle on her bed. I'm not really sure if I should call 911."
I groaned so loudly that I think Kaito was concerned. "Okay, I'm on my way home. Just stay calm. I think she's fine, if we need to call them then I'll do it when I get there."
"Is everything alright?" he asked when I hung up.
I stood, annoyed with the series of events. "There's a minor emergency. I think Luka drank herself to sleep. Kids are freaking out."
"I'm coming with you," it wasn't a question.
We drove home as fast as we could without getting pulled over. When I got inside, Len wailed, "Auntie Mei!" He was sniffing and hiccuping over on the couch. Rin was trying to calm him down, but there were tears streaming down her cheeks, too.
In the kitchen, Miku was trying to sweep up the glass. "No no no no no no!" Kaito ran over. "Don't come in here without shoes! You could cut your foot!"
Since he was helping her, I turned to the twins. "I'm gonna go talk to Mommy, okay? Don't worry, she's fine." They nodded but didn't stop crying.
Luka's room was dark, with only the setting sun as a source of light. She was sprawled out on her bed, and an empty bottle was lying next to her. I picked it up and saw it was one I had been saving for myself, but I hadn't opened it yet. "Good Lord."
I sat near her head. Luka's hair was everywhere, so I tucked it behind her ear so I had a clear shot to slap her across the face, and that did it.
Her eyes fluttered open and she whined. "Owww... my head hurts!"
"Welcome to being drunk," I crossed my arms. She looked at me with widened eyes, but since she didn't respond I continued. "How could you drink the whole bottle, that's at least five or six drinks, and you know you have a very low alcohol tolerance!"
Tears formed in her eyes. "Ohhhh, I did a bad thing."
"Do you know how worried the kids were? And on top of that, why were you drinking in the first place? You hate it!"
"I got so stressed out... thinking about money and just how bad our situation is in general... it got to me, so out of impulse I grabbed that bottle you had saved and drank the whole thing. That was a terrible way to react," she weeped.
I let out a sharp sigh. "You bet it was. Now you go on back to sleep, because there's no point in talking to you like this."
"Okay," she responded, still sobbing loudly.
I went back into the living room to find Kaito, Miku, Rin and Len all sitting on the couch. The glass was cleaned up, nobody was crying (except for Luka, of course), and Kaito was telling the kids some wacky story from his childhood.
However, when he saw me he said, "Oh, there's Auntie Mei. How's Luka?"
"She'll be fine," I said, ignoring the fact he called me Auntie Mei.
Rin crawled off the couch and hugged me. "Hey, Mr. Kaito is the beeeeest. He cleaned up all the glass and made us feel better. Can he babysit sometime?"
"Oh, uh..." I looked over at Kaito. "Depends if he wants to."
He shrugged with a smile. "I'd love to, but we'll have to see what your mom thinks."
"Oh, she'll say yes," said Len, who was leaning against Miku. All the crying probably wore him out.
"Well that's good! I guess I'll see you guys soon then!" Kaito stood up and I walked him to the door. He spoke in a quieter voice. "You know, we didn't get to finish our conversation earlier."
I shrugged. "Whatever. The moment's gone. Really... if you don't mind watching them for a couple hours, it would be really nice. Luka doesn't like to hire random strangers, and most of our friends aren't particularly fond of kids."
"Oh, I love kids," Kaito said. "Especially yours. I'll watch them anytime, for free."
I started to protest, but I realized there wasn't a point. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Drive safe, okay?"
"Thanks," he grinned. "I really did have a good time with you tonight."
"...Y-yeah, me too."
Once I shut the door, I turned around and realized Miku had been watching from the couch. "Are you sure he isn't your boyfriend?"