First Love

Chapter 6

On the way home, Jiro told me that it was the first time Kei has attended one of his shows.

"It's thanks to you." He gave me a weak smile. "I understand that his... situation might have caused him to start hating Kabuki... Or even hating me."

"Don't be silly, Jiro. Your brother loves you." He didn't react to my comment.

We continued home without a word. Jiro was lost in his thoughts and I in mine.

Kei never made it home that night.

I was getting quite excited because we had three days left to start school. I was also nervous. I had put in a request to be in the same class as Kei but I wasn't sure they were going to accept. If not, I was going to feel really lonely. I wasn't the greatest at making friends and I was afraid I was going to stay alone for the whole trimester.

It was a Saturday morning when I was woken up by knocking on my door. I moaned, unable to open my eyes. I had stayed up with Jiro the night before, watching Japanese samurai movies.

"Hey, are you awake?" It was Kei. I heard him open the door.

"What do you want Kei? Why are you doing this to me?" I growled and I heard a chuckle.

"You make it sound like I am torturing you."

"You are!" I still couldn't open my eyes.

"Well, I guess I'll just forget about inviting you out since you're too tired to even open your eyes." I sat up instantly. Kei laughed, louder this time.

"You're inviting me out? Why? Did your mom make you do that again?"

"How rude?" Kei pouted. "If you don't want to go out just go back to sleep." He pretended he was leaving.

"I want to," I almost squealed.

"Good. Be ready at 12:30. My friends want to meet you." My eyes widened.

"Your friends?"

"Yup." That was all he said before closing the door behind him.

I felt a rush of heat go through my whole body. It wasn't embarrassment, it was pure nervousness.

At twelve thirty, I was ready by the entrance. I wore jeans and a brown shirt. My hands were all sweaty from my nerves. 'Why would his friends want to meet me? Has he talked about me before?'

Kei put on his shoes in silent and opened the door for me. He walked with his cane for a while without uttering a word. I wanted to ask him so many questions, about his friends and why they wanted to meet me. But I couldn't open my mouth.

"Don't say anything stupid, ok?" His low voice startled me.

"What do you mean?" I said, angry at his words. "If I am going to embarrass you, why are you bringing me with you?" He stopped walking instantly.

"I didn't mean it like that," He started explaining without facing me. "It's just that... they don't know a lot of things about me, and I'd like it to stay that way."

"So, you don't want me to share that I saved your butt a few times when you were bullied." I could see his smile from the side of his face.

"Also, they speak very little English so this would be good practice for your Japanese." I heard my heart pound against my ribs. That last statement made some sweat break on my back.

As we reached a coffee shop, Kei entered and started walking up the stairs. Unconsciously, I stopped him with both my hands clenching the back of his orange shirt.