I'm Not Giving Up On You [Tadashi Hamada X OC] [COMPLETED]

The First Of Many Distractions

Cherry's POV

I'm in Tadashi's room prepping for SFIT instead of my apartment this time, because as Cass and Hiro are away for the weekend on a trip to this 'theme park' Hiro is always talking about, that means the house and cafe - meaning the food displayed in it - is free for the whole two days. It's late Sunday, plenty of time for me to finish my shift and prep with abandon, and I still haven't got absolutely everything done I want to.

Bella barks loudly and joyfully, and I know Tadashi's walking up the stairs before he calls out, "I've got us some more donuts!"
I smile sweetly to myself: throughout the holiday he's been getting me to try all these different donuts - apparently which ones I like most is a big deal, especially at SFIT because it turns out everyone eats them while they're working.
Tadashi appears at the door then almost disappears as Bella leaps up on him. I order her to sit down and with her tail tucked between her legs she does, and Tadashi laughs which makes me laugh. My dog loves my boyfriend as much as I do!

"So," Tadashi announces like he's the presenter at the SFIT Showcase, "Miss Cherry Riegan, what would you like to try first?"
Shaking my head regretfully yet professionally I say, "None, Tadashi. I really want to get my prep done before SFIT starts: there's coursework to look over before classes start; there's stationery to resharpen; there's floor plans to look over-"
"How did you get floor plans?" he asks in slight alarm, and bends over the desk again to look at the blueprints of the college I obtained. I wave my hand dismissively, then go back to the heap of tattered old thrifted textbooks and notebooks I'm organising into which ones I should take or not.
Tadashi rubs his neck and looks at me worriedly - I'm not looking at him, yet I know what he's doing and that he's worried about me because he always is.
"Cherry," he begins, "it's okay to not be fully prepared. You got in on extenuating circumstances; everybody is fine with you not having a stray highlighter or the right textbook for now."

I sigh with heavy exasperation, and turn to him with a concerned expression. "But if I keep my job, and let's face it I don't have many others on the horizon as a nineteen-year-old waitress with no other qualifications, I'll have the same pay which means I'll only ever have enough to keep my apartment and buy cheap offbrand books and stationery, and don't you dare buy me stuff because you pity me Tadashi Hamada-" I point a finger and he bites his lip and smiles weakly as an apology, "so, in short, I don't care if I got in with extenuating circumstances, I want everybody around me to see me as one of the finest workers in my classes because I'm a hard worker, not because I'm considered 'brave' or 'diverse.' I just want to be a normal science student."

I finish with a pensive sigh and my pencil falls out of my hand and onto the desk. Tadashi looks downhearted. I sigh again, at him. I didn't want to be this pent up a month before college starts - I wanted to have some time to learn to be a normal teenager, something I was always too busy to try - but as each day brings it closer I get more and more worried and wound up and frustrated.
"I have to do all this stuff, otherwise I don't know how else I can sleep peacefully."

Tadashi blinks and looks down at the desk with a frown, then like an energy saving lightbulb his face slowly lights up and he turns to face me.
I raise an eyebrow, still a little unused to all his little tricks and idiosyncrasies, and ask, "What?"
"Oh, nothing," he feigns nonchalance, seemingly forgetting he sucks at that, and says breezily, "Go back to your work, it's fine."

Eyebrow still raised, I turn back to my book pile and try to find contents and glossary pages for one to note them down, but I can't take the words in. I'm immediately frustrated. He's done it again; he keeps distracting me just by the thought of him.

There's silence in the room and Tadashi isn't in my line of sight anymore, but I don't care because I need to concentrate.

All of a sudden, I can feel something... wet on the back of my neck. Reflexively my hand goes to my neck to bat off what I think is Bella licking me, but to my surprise fingers start to circle the palm of my hand and place it on my shoulder, whilst I hear Bella being ordered gently out the room.
The short wet things start to move, and I put my pencil and book down and sit upright. The wet things travel to the side of my neck; involuntarily I whimper a little, and my eyes instantly widen like dinner plates.