Her grip never seemed to loosen as she kept pulling me too the beach, dragging me by my forearm down the almost silent roads of Fujisawa, the night was still getting closer to the water you could hear the soft crashing of water hitting the shore. the light sheet of snow had covered the path enough to ad a crunching sound to each step as we made it ever so closer to the beach. how did I end up here, wasn't I supposed to be a wingman for my only true friend, but like a child I ran off to a beach with some idol I have never personally talked to before. the beach was fastly approaching and the soft sound of water was getting evermore apparent and the salty sea smell started to fill my nostrils. as I lowered my scarf a bit to get a better smell.
we reached the entrance steps and carefully dodged the ice trying to catch its next victim. she let go of my arm and I could feel the blood start to circulate back into my forearm and hand. I hadn't been to a beach since I was a kid, seeing the water again, I reached to touch the sand, not as soft as the sand back home, but still able to recollect on the past. thinking about my family and being not alone. a time where my Mom and Dad were happy, I. was happier. but that was all thrown away so fast. crouched over I clenched my teeth in pain, trying to hold back tears again. " why am I like this, cant I just keep it together for once". I try to regain my strength striking my fist in the sand to keep myself up. she slowly approaches me like I'm a wild animal and asks " are you alright? drink too much?" yea I reply in a weak tone. trying to keep my secrets locked away as always. " give me a countdown if your gonna throw up okay?" she tells me in a scared voice. "you aren't going to vomit right?" she continues. "right?" at this point its comedic. enough to take my mind off things. I fake a vomit noise, and I scare the emetophobic idol to the next galaxy, running all the way back to the stairs.
I turned to look at her with a small smirk and start to break out laughing on the sand, I haven't laughed this way in forever, "hey!" she yells at me "that wasn't funny, I was actually worrying about you" sorry I reply as I fall onto my back looking straight into the sky, letting air completely ill and exist my lungs. I couldn't tell what time it was, but I knew that it was past shudden and I had been completely split up with the guy with the plan. Mei finally had the courage to tempt her luck and sit next to me on the sand. I was tired as hell even though I had taken a nap on the train here, picking up my phone out of my pocket I checked the time, 11pm, the last train had already left and I was stuck here until morning. out of exhaustion I let my phone fall onto my chest and the peacefulness of the beach carry my soul away, my eyes got heavier and I-
*Slap* I jolted awake and felt a small pain in my shoulder " do you have a place to stay" Mei asks me. "nope" I reply in a delirious voice. "were you planning to sleep here idiot?" she quickly responded. " I was contemplating it " I responded. Mei quickly pulled out her phone, and started tapping away "don't fall asleep or ill leave you here" She said catching me, "I'm not kidding" I was fine with that and slowly drifted again, until she yanked me up, I was shocked how strong she was, I'm very average build but I'm still decently heavy. "I'm dropping you off at a close friends house" she said as she was dragging me again. "why do you care about me so much, you don't even know me" I say, at this point words were just falling out of my mouth with no control. "because your Fuko's friend" she said as I was not putting any of the jigsaw pieces together.
I started to catch a second wind as we were walking. how did she know Fuko. then things started to click in my slow brain. this was the girl visiting Fuko every day, the sweatshirt from our school. she was the idol living among the commoners. is Fuko out of his mind? an idol? that's far out from his world. "does your friend mind me staying over, I don't want to be a bother" I asked. "as long as you don't do anything weird then she wont mind" Mei replied, letting go of my arm she stopped in her tracks, we were in front of a house, the only one on the street with the lights still on, "here we are, this is Hana's house, the train station is close by so you can catch the first one tomorrow with Fuko-" Hey!, Eto!!" a familiar voice calls out to me cutting Mei off. " thank god he was with you Mei" Fuko says to Mei giving her a hug. "Fuko, I'm not a child..." he glares at me. causing me to crack a smile.
We walk through the security gate and entered the house being greeted by a small girl with flowy brown hair and bangs, and I was getting confuse by who was the idol now. Fuko elbows me in the ribs "hey Blushy stop staring." and I take a second to collect myself. Hana hands me a towel and a change of clothes. and shows me awkwardly to the guest room. I set my bag down and unwrap my scarf setting it on top of my bag. I turn around to go see Fuko off but am stopped in my tracks, and startled by Mei, she looked stern, she grabbed me by my shirt collar and looked me in the eyes with the coldest look on her face "listen here goober. if you try anything funny I will make sure your life is cut short". I was scared. she could tell, and let go of me, I followed behind her as she was going to set off with Fuko to her house further down the road. these house were small so instead of being uncomfortable they opted for staying somewhere else.
Fuko was standing in the living room on her phone while Mei went to find Hana in the kitchen a room over. "hey Fuko wh-" Fuko looks up from his phone and embraces me "don't fuck this up man" Fuko whispers into my ear. "what the hell do you mean" Fuko wasn't able to respond in time, as Mei and Hana where walking out of the kitchen "see you tomorrow Hana-Chan" Mei exclaimed as she dragged Fuko out the door. I waved to him but I don't think he noticed. "Damn I didn't get to ask what time I was meeting him tomorrow.
YOU ARE READING
I never thought about Oranges in winter
RomanceEtoshi is a third year in Tokyo university going through a rough patch in his life, struggling with self-harm in between his transition years between high school and college he slowly starts to acclimate the consequences of his parents abandonment...
