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chapter sixteen
fuzzy
"Do you think they know that they're madly in love yet?"
I went on pretending as if I hadn't heard the two boys, looking around the shopping street as Tetsu and I walked past a group of street performers consisting of a fire-eater, a juggler, a clown (who I tried to stay as far away from as possible) and some guy on stilts.
A little further down the road and we came to a square of sorts, music playing form speakers up ahead. Tetsu grinned, taking my hand and gently spinning him a round. A soft Japanese Alternative song played overhead, and the chipper guitars in the background reminded me vaguely of The 1975.
"What are you doing?" I asked, reluctant to begin dancing in front of a group of people. I don't dance, have never and will never embarrass myself like that in front of a group of strangers.
"Dance with me, Gilly." The way Tetsu said my name, the way his eyes sparkled. With a face like that, who could say no.
I shook my head. "I don't dance, Tetz."
"Well, today you do." He took Steve the axolotl from my hands, passing it to Dan. "Watch this for us, will you?" He asked the other boy, taking both my hands and pulling me closer to the music.
"Me? No, you take it." Dan frowned, passing Steve to Chiharu.
"Why do I have to do it?" the younger boy complained.
"Because unlike me, you actually look like a child."
Chiharu pouted. "This is bullying."
"Not if it's true." Dan smirked.
Now, let me tell you the reason that I don't dance: not only am I very self conscious, I'm really bad at it. As Tetsu gently spun the two of us in circles ( and then just me ), I kept looking back to make sure that nobody was staring at us. My white skirt twirled with the momentum, and I kept worrying that I was going to step on Tetsu's feet.
That happened twice.
"I'm so sorry." I said through laughter, a smile starting to form on my face. "Now you see why I don't do this very often."
Tetsu laughed. "It just takes practice."
"And I take it you've had lots of that?"
The boy blushed "My mom taught me."
'Oh, did she?"
The song finished, and we stopped dancing, our faces close. Almost instantaneously, I thought back to the night we spent in the bathhouse.
This time, I was going to make the move.
I pushed onto the tip of my toes, looping my arms around his neck and pressing my lips to his. He held me close, one arm by my waist, the other around my back.
