AMACon 3: Oikos - Children

Nagareboshi - Casseiopeia

Damn it.

Maine runs far away from everyone; far from the people who mock her and far from the poepl who think that it's easy to play with her emotions. What was supposed to be an amazing night turns out to be something she would like to be forgotten for the rest of her life.

"Maine!"

She turns around, tears staining her cheeks as she sees him approach her; him trembling with rage as his eyes reflect an emotion of disgust and wrath. RJ sees her crying silently, looking at him with pain and that made him regret that he didn't kill the bastard. He was about to go back and finish what he started when she grabbed his arm, preventing him from doing something he would most likely regret.

She sits on the bench nearby and he follows suit, relaxing his knuckles and letting out a sigh. "I'm sorry, Maine. If I only knew that he was such an asshole, you wouldn't be crying tonight"

Maine looks at the sky and tries to dry her tears. How could she be gullible? How could she believe that someone like Chris would like her? How could they play with her feelings like that on prom night?

She looks at her hands, wishing that somehow the earth would gobble her up; that she could escape everything and everyone. She looks at RJ who was looking intently at her; a weird emotion she could not describe envelops his face. He reaches out and takes her hand which leaves her wondering what the hell is he doing. She stands up and he places her hand on the nape of his neck while he pulls her loser to her confusion.

"What the hell are you doing, RJ?" she says while he says her to a music only he could hear.

"I'm sorry you had to experience that. I'm sorry you got hurt"

She laughs at him, a bitter one "It was never your fault, RJ. Stop apologizing for things that happen to me. You don't need to be my guardian." Maine caresses his wounded knuckles. "And you don't have to be my guardian. Just be the ass that you are."

She laughs heartily and feels RJ looking at her. "You look pretty tonight." He says which makes her blush, a feeling she would never in a thousand years admit to especially if the cause would be this annoying childhood friend of hers.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

He smiles at her and delves in closer; the sound of fireworks shockingly ringing through her head as she finally feels warmth seeping in; that for the first time in her life; the stars seem to shine a little bit brighter.

"What did you feel?"Grandpa Jay looks at her with a twinkle in his eye.

She looks at the elder man her face practically frozen "I didn't know, Grandpa. All I knew is that suddenly this part..." she points at her chest "felt warm. Suddenly I could not look at him without blushing; that everything seems to zoom in on him. Gah!" She drops her head on the table, banging the surface over and over again.

"Hey, chill." The elderly man says while she looks at him in disbelief.

"Since when did you learn the word, chill?" she says and Grandpa Jay laughs.

He sits down in front of her and looks at her with a smile that seems to warm her all over "Okay, in your heart of hearts...what do you feel about him?"

"I don't know. He annoys me for sure. But in my heart of hearts?" she thinks while the elderly man looks at her in anticipation "He is my constant; someone I could turn back to if I drift away. He is someone that I could trust, someone that I don't want to lose."

"Do you love him?" He asks and she looks at the elder man pensively.

Do I love him?

The thought reverberates within her during those weeks after. They never talked about what happened that night and he seems to annoy her as always but she knows that nothing will ever be the same again.

Even as his car drives away into the sunset, she wonders: what if they talked about that night? What if they tried to cross the line? But she could only wonder, as his car drifts away from sight to a place where he would start a new life, she could only wonder of the might have beens.

A flash of light passes by but the regrets remain.