Root Beer Float (Kaito x Meiko)

Thirteen

(Kaito's POV)

I pulled onto Meiko's street, cheerfully humming a tune I made up myself. Today a picnic was being held at the Megurine household, and yours truly got invited.

I could hear kids squealing in the backyard as I went up to the porch. I rang the doorbell and Luka answered. She was wearing a long gray sundress covered in a floral pattern and on her head was a large hat.

"Kaito!" She threw her arms around me in a hug. "I'm so glad you're here, Meiko is gonna be so surprised!"

I grinned and held up the bag in my hand. "I brought ice cream, too."

"Oh my goodness, you didn't have to do that! The kids will be so happy. Here, come with me to the kitchen so we can put this in the freezer." Luka opened up the door and I followed her inside.

After that, we went into the backyard. There were two blankets spread on the ground. On one sat Len, Miku, a girl with pale pink hair and a small boy with blond hair. Rin was running around the blankets, playing tag with a green-haired girl. My eyes followed them and then landed on the woman on the other blanket. She had long blond hair and was holding a toddler with green hair that matched the girl running around with Rin. Sitting next to them was a lady who, similar to Luka, was wearing a floppy and a sundress. That was my lady.

"Meiko, darling!" Luka called out. "Guess who's here!"

Meiko looked up and her expression changed. "Kaito? What- what are you doing here?"

"Luka invited me," I said, crouching next to her. "And I brought another blanket just for the two of us."

Luka spoke up. "Lily, this is the guy Meiko is dating. Kaito, this is my friend Lily."

"Nice to meet you, Kaito," Lily said, sticking out her hand. I shook it. "I heard you're babysitting the kids as well. I live only a couple houses down if you ever need anything."

I smiled. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

As I was setting up the blanket, the kids recognized I was there and they ran over to greet me. I soon learned that Rin's friend was named Gumi, her baby brother was Gachapoid, and Lily was their mother. Miku and Len had both been allowed to invite a friend too, Miku's friend was named Aria and Len's friend was named Oliver.

Once they finally scrambled off, I was able to really get a good look at Meiko for the first time today. With her hat tilted back I could see that she wasn't wearing any makeup. Her dress was a different pattern than Luka's, and instead of little puffy sleeves she had thin straps which showed off the freckles on her shoulders, trailing down her arms.

She shifted uncomfortably as she muttered, "I knew I shouldn't have agreed to these stupid outfits."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to stare at you," I responded. "You just look really pretty today."

I saw her turn red as she pulled the hat over her face. "Luka is prettier. Luka is always prettier."

"Well, I'm not Luka's boyfr-" I paused. Technically I was not Meiko's boyfriend either. "I'm not dating Luka."

She didn't budge. I still couldn't see her face when she said, "Maybe you should be. She's much better than I am."

"Mei-chan," I moved closer and took her hat off so she would look at me. "I like you."

She wouldn't look me in the eye. "But why? What's so great about me?"

"Well... okay, here's the deal. Remember back when we first met you called me shallow? You were right. I saw you and thought you were hot. I still do, by the way. But I said I would change and you told me not to. Yet I'm changing anyway. Not for you, but because of you. The more time I spend with you the more I learn. You are very unapologetically yourself and you don't care what others will think about you. You don't... you don't say things just so people will like you."