Living in Japan!

27 - All Fall Down

I woke up the next morning feeling like utter crap. I had a pounding headache and my make up from last night smeared down my face.

Last night had not been pretty. All the stress had finally gotten to me. I broke down and cried last night. It wasn't unusual, because I was in an unfamiliar place with only my best friend.

My phone dinged and I leaned over and plucked it from it's charger. It was Itachi. He had texted asking if Regan and I wanted a ride to school. Well if Regan wanted a ride and take me out for breakfast.

I told him that'd be fine. I didn't know why, but I did. He didn't take more than five minutes to get to our house. "I haven't even gotten around to telling Regan yet..." I muttered as I put the finishing touches on my eyeliner.

"Who's that?" Regan shouted from downstairs when the doorbell rang. "It's Itachi." I called as I ran down the stairs. "He offered to take us to school." I mumbled opening the door.

"Come in. Regan is still eating." I ushered Itachi in. He smiled at me and wrapped his arm around my waist. I didn't think anything of it until Regan wiggled her eyebrows at me.

Instantly, my face flushed but I still didn't do anything about it. All I could think about it was, 'His hand is so warm...'

"Regan, I was hoping I could take Ertha out for breakfast before taking her to school. Would you be cool with that?" He asked sounding like a complete gentleman.

Regan looked around seemingly confused. "Yea. Why do you have to ask? I'm not her mother or anything." She rolled her eyes, and took her bowl to the sink. Itachi. "Well? What are we waiting for? Let's go!" She pulled her backpack over her shoulder and grinned.

Itachi pulled me closer to his side as we walked out the door and I felt at peace. I gripped the back of his shirt and snuggled into his shoulder. Maybe we would be a couple one day.

My mind soared into autopilot as I pictured just that. Itachi and I as a couple. Through high school, my junior and senior year might be slightly complicated since he's two years older, but I'm sure we'd knock out that issue when it came.

Before it went further I shoved that idea out the window. It wasn't right to daydream about my best guy friend like that. I'd say best friend but Regan held that place in my heart.

We sat in the car and drove. It was two minutes to school, but I wasn't getting off there. As we dropped Regan off, I noticed a small detail that made me think of home.

The song, "All Fall Down", by One Republic, played through the speakers. "An English song? Do you even know what they're saying?" I mocked the people in America that teased others for listening to a foreign genre such as K-Pop.

Itachi nudged me with his shoulder slightly without taking his eyes off the road. "Uh, duh!" He joked nervously.

"Really? Then what's the song about?" I interrogated listening to the soft sad song. "Obvious!" He mocked a teenage girl. "It's about love!" He shot the gun in the dark.

I laughed softly. "I mean, to an extent. However, that's not the real meaning. I think it's more of a cry for help. If you think about it, maybe it could be about love, but not really." I explained and he listened carefully, taking into account every word I said.

Now, I would never ever admit it, but it made me feel special. We teasingly argued back and forth about the music. It made me smile, how we could tease each other like this. It's been I long time since my heart has been this light and airy.

We pulled into a small restaurant. The name was unfamiliar. I could name it because I wasn't as fluent in Japanese as I could be, but it was like the Happy something or another. Itachi lead me to the front and we were quickly seated.

"Wow. Impressive service." Then we talked for what seemed like hours. Not because time flew slowly, but we talked about so much.

"I uh, my friend, Kisame is having a date with his girlfriend, Savannah tonight, and asked me to bring a date, so I uh... Thought of you. So... Would you?" He asked skittishly and I put my hand on his arm and smiled.

"Yea! Sounds like fun. What are we doing?" Our conversation continued, but a bad feeling slipped down my spine for a brief second.

I didn't know what, but I had a bad feeling about it.