The Stupidity Of Love (Lev Haiba)

Vending Machine Mishap

After having failed to get anything done that first day, Lev decided, or rather his teammates forced him, to take our study sessions more seriously. Any day that he failed to study, he'd be put through hell the next day during volleyball practice. I felt sorry for him, but after that first time, it proved to be a very effective method.

We had agreed to meet every day to study. Except for Sunday. Even if he was a nice guy, dealing with Lev every single day would be too much. Everyone needs a break sometime, you know?

He'd often insist on having lunch together and I'd also help him with his homework or we'd review what we'd studied the last time. Today though, things went a little differently. Unlike the last couple days, Lev hadn't come to my classroom during lunch to drag me off to wherever he felt like going.

So during my lunch break, I did something I didn't usually do; I wandered around the school. With SB tucked under my arm, I encountered almost nothing. Though there was one thing I saw that would definitely be the highlight of my day. Or maybe week. Hell, probably even the entire month.

"Lev?"

At the sound of my voice, the boy looked up at me with an embarrassed grin. His hand, or rather, his whole arm was inside the vending machine. Lev's body was sitting on the ground right in front of it and he didn't appear to be in any hurry to get out of there.

You can guess what that meant. "You're stuck, aren't you?"

He opened his mouth, probably to make up an excuse, but just closed it again and nodded. For some reason, this really didn't surprise me. "It got stuck, so I thought maybe I could reach it and get it unstuck..."

"... and you got stuck in the process," I finished with a small laugh. Walking around to his back, I knelt down. "Hold on, I'll get you out." I set SB down beside the machine and placed a hand on Lev's shoulder. "Now just relax and let me control you for a minute."

Carefully, I had him lean back a bit. Reaching up to his arm, I grabbed on. After a bit of work, I successfully freed his arm from the machine. And as his way of thanking me, I was tackled to the ground in a hug.

"Thanks!" he said excitedly, still squeezing me tightly. As I opened my mouth to insist that he let go, I was released from his grip and he stared unhappily at the machine. "But it's still stuck..."

"Which one was it?" He answered by pointing to the object he'd failed to get.

With a playful grin, I pulled out the sticky notepad that I always carried and stuck one of them on the machine in just the right spot. Target marked. Next, I scooped up SB and set him down again just the right distance from the machine. Take aim. Lining it up just right, I smiled and did what I had to. Fire!

The ball hit the front of the machine, making Lev's trapped snack fall. "That's amazing!" An idiotic grin covered his face and his eyes were full of amazement. "How did you know that would work?"

"There was a vending machine at my middle school that got stuck like that all the time." I smiled at him as I remembered all the times I'd had to deal with these situations. Well, not the arm-being-stuck part. That was sort of a first for me. "That's why I started carrying SB around all the time. Everyone would always ask me to get their stuff unstuck-"

The school bell rang, signaling that we were supposed to be in class right now. "We're late!" Instantly, I ran off, trying to hurry to class before I was too late. What I didn't realize though, was that I'd completely forgotten my best friend.

"You're late," the teacher said in a very bored tone as I reached my classroom. "Sit down before I decide to give you a detention."

Not wanting to argue it, I nodded. "Yes ma'am."

"It's not her fault!" an all too familiar and energetic voice said from the doorway. My head snapped around to see Lev standing there with SB held in his hands. "She was helping me, so it's my fault."

As I approached him and took SB back from him, one of my classmates decided to be funny. "You got your arm stuck in the vending machine again, didn't you?" The entire class laughed as a slight blush of embarrassment appeared. Though it could only be seen from the distance between us.

"Again?" The teacher was surprised that it had happened more than once. "You mean to tell me you're stupid enough to try that again after getting stuck once?"

"It's been at least seven times since the beginning of the year, actually," Shibayama said, embarrassing poor Lev even further. Now the boy's face was red with embarrassment, causing even more laughter. Even the teacher was laughing.

And maybe I giggled a little too. "Next time, just come get me first, alright?" I said through my giggles while everyone else wasn't listening. At that, Lev went back to normal and laughed at himself a bit. If you can't laugh at yourself, then what fun is life? "Study after practice today?"

My only response was a quick nod and that cute, idiotic grin of his.