Ataxia

Chapter Four

"Ayashe, hurry up! I have an outfit that'll look pretty sick on you!"

It's only been ten seconds since Angela left and I already know I'm in for a ride.

"Ahhhh, here I come!" Dragging myself up the stairs to impending doom (or so I liked to believe), I thought about how the party would be. I never was the partying type, but there was always a chance I'd enjoy myself. Getting up the stairs, I turned left and Natalia was standing in the doorway with a crazy grin on her face. "C'mere, there's nothing to be afraid of!" I walked in and took in what was around me. Her room was amazing.

Her canopy bed sat in one corner, the slanted roof reaching its peak above it. Her laptop sat opposite the bed, against the wall where the roof sunk. A vanity sat next to her small closet, and on the top were candles and lamps. Her bedside table harbored a lamp and a piece of paper. I tried to get closer and read it, but she must have noticed me looking at it. She glided across the room and grabbed the paper, stuffing it in the vanity's drawer. "So, about that outfit. . . do you like black?"

Of course my answer was yes.

She leapt with joy and walked into the closet, shuffling around a bit before pausing to yell. "Damn it, Kai!" Her voice dropped to a whisper before telling me that Kai had probably been in her closet and retrieved the wrong clothes. After waiting a grand total of 24 seconds, she asked me if I wanted to sneak up on him to see what had his attention so much to the point where he could ignore her so. I was feeling a bit mischievous at the moment, so I asked myself, why not?

I walked nonchalantly into the hallway only to be snatched backward by Natalia. "Whoa, what was that for?!" She gave me a disbelieving look and frowned. "Do you want to be caught? Seems that way, because you can't just go around running toward him! He'll get suspicious. We're agents!" Upon making that last statement, she giggled, and I couldn't help but giggle back. This was the most fun I'd had in a while. I'm a bit on the immature side, so I could never turn down an attempt to goof off. After about 30 seconds of child-like planning, we decided on slowly creeping down the hallway, peering into the door a bit, and then jumping in like 3 seconds after looking for a bit. Pretty soon, we started to put the plan into action.

I went first, edging across the hallway quickly but quietly. She inched behind, and before long we were at the door. I looked in for a second and couldn't see anything, so I looked back to let Natalia know. Before opening my mouth, she softly pushed me in and before I knew it I was looking an angry Kai in the eyes. "Jesus, Natalia, what--" Upon seeing it was me, his anger dissolved and he was giving me a kind smile. "What's up?" He was laying on his bed, looking at the ceiling when I first walked in, which I thought was a bit strange, but to each their own. "Well, Natalia said that you may have gotten the wrong clothes, and--"

He awkwardly cut me off and started to talk. "Well, I ha-- sorry, keep talki--" Now it was my turn to make a stupid mistake and cut him off. "No, I'm so-- Jesus, I'm really on a roll today. Go ahead."

We just sat there for a second without speaking. My eyebrow started to itch.

"Uh, yeah, check my closet for them," he continued looking at the ceiling and pushed his hair away from his face. I shuffled across the room and opened his closet door, scanning for a black outfit in a sea of black. I didn't like the sound of it, but I had to ask him for help, which would mean interrupting him yet again. "Um, I'm sorry Kai. Can you help me find it?" He looked up at me for a second and laughed. "No need to be sorry. I'll help." In a few minutes we found it, but I couldn't help but notice something glittering in the vents. I hurriedly reverted my eyes before things got more awkward than they already were. I started to leave, but before I could go he grabbed my arm a bit and called my name. "Hey Aya. Meet me here after the party?" At the moment I was thinking about how I'd really give it to Natalia about pushing me in here, but eventually I answered.

"Same place?"

He looked at her and stifled a laugh. "Come on, people only say stuff like that in the movies."