The Girl Next Door

Chapter Five: The Kickoff

 

 

            I groaned and crushed my hand over the note, dragging my hand across my face before sitting up and groaning again in the bright morning sunlight. I yawned and looked the note currently lying on my lap. I picked it up gingerly with two fingers and examined it, feeling like an idiot as I did so. The note was written on a heavy purple stationary, folded into a square with my name written on the front in gold ink. She had funny handwriting, small, narrow and slanted. It was unusual; so many girls had big, round handwriting and dotted their ‘I’s’ with circles, or even worse, hearts.

            I stared at the note, wondering whether or not to open it. I caught sight of myself then in the mirror then and glared at my reflection. I looked like I was eight years old again, scared and frightened of my own shadow. I glared again at my reflection and open the note with a flourish, barely repressing the urge to yell out in triumph.

            Her stationary was different too. I’d expected hearts or maybe irritatingly cute little teddy bears or kittens decorating it. No, instead there were big yellow smile-y faces adorning the corners of the purple stationary. And she didn’t start her note off with ‘Hey babe’ or ‘what’s up cutie-pie’ or even ‘hi babe!’ like many of the girls I had received notes from did. No, instead she merely wrote…

 

Hey Heero! Can’t believe you’re still asleep, it’s nine-thirty! Anyways, I went for a jog this morning like I do everyday-but you probably know that.

 

I hadn’t. I planned to take up jogging as soon I found out where she ran and at what times.

 

So, I met up with Anne and Noin and guess what! Them and their guys-Treize!-are all headed for the pool this afternoon! So, they invited me to tag along and they said spread the word! So, here, I’ve spread the word to you-call me and let me know if you’re going! You know my number, same as Milli’s!

Oh, and about last night…I’m not mad, I was just shocked. I hope there’s no hard feelings between us or anything. And while I’m babbling mindlessly, please call Dorothy and tell her you didn’t try to seduce me. She’s convinced that you’ve got a crush on me or some crazy idea like that. That’s funny, you and me-together? Ha! I can just see it! Heero and Relena…LoL!

All right then, I’ll let you go, I’ve probably bothered you long enough. I’ll be going…don’t forget to call me!

 

~Relena

 

            I stared at the letter. I didn’t know where to start. She was laughing at the idea of us being an item-was that one of those coy, girlish flirty things? And she wanted to go to a swim party…jeez, seeing her in a skimpy little swimsuit flirting with Treize...I closed my eyes as my body reacted in a mixture of ways, warmth flooding through me as I pictured her in a swimsuit to a violent need to retch at the idea of her flirting with Treize.

            I paused. *She* had invited me. Not Milli. I gaped in horror at the note. It was happening. Milliardo’s girl was becoming more important to him than friends. Shit! This was *not* going to be the great summer-before-college I had planned!

            I sighed and rolled over, picking up the phone and replacing it on its cradle. It rang immediately. “Hello?” I mumbled into the phone, trying my best not to yawn.

            “Did ya get my note?”

            “Good morning to you too, Relena. Yeah, I got it.”

            “Well? Are you going?”

            “Yeah, probably.” I ran a mental checklist of things I had to do that day. I had to mow the lawn…no biggie, I could get the kid next door to do it for two bucks. The kid had no sense of money. “Yeah, I’m free, I’ll be there.”

            “Awesome! They’re going to be there at one and it’s almost eleven now…” she paused. “I’ll be over at your place at eleven-fifteen.”

            “Why?”

            “So we can get ready.”

            I rolled my eyes. “I’m not a girl! I don’t need an hour and forty-five minutes to get ready to go to the pool!”

            “No, doofus! Not that kind of ready! Ready as in you’re going to help me with Treize ready!” I could hear her exasperated sigh over the phone. I glared at the receiver. If she started with the boys, boys thing I’d be forced to do something drastic like kill her or something along those lines.

            “See you in fifteen,” I responded, unable to think of what else to say.

            I could hear her grin as she snapped her gum over the line at me. “Great! See ya!” I groaned softly as I dropped the receiver back onto its cradle.

            How the *heck* was I supposed to play matchmaker?

 

#@#@#@

 

            “Hey Heero! What’s up?” Relena bounced off my bed and chirruped a greeting at me cheerily.

            I stared at her. She was waaaay too comfortable for her own good. I had just walked out of the shower in only a *towel* for God’s sake and here she was smiling happily at me and chattering on about how glad she was to be back and how glad she was school was over. I did the only thing available to me at the moment. I gave her the infamous Yuy death glare ™.

            And she *laughed* at me! “What are you doing Heero? Trying to scare me?” she giggled. I glared again. “Oh stop it, I’ve known you too long to be scared of your ‘Yuy death glare’!” Another glare followed by more laughter from her. “Come off it, we’re too familiar with each other to be intimidated by stupid gags like that. I mean look at us! You’re in a towel and I’m wearing a bikini and there’s no weird feelings between us!”

            How she underestimated me. I swallowed harshly as I realized what she was wearing. An electric blue bikini with a pair of white shorts thrown on as a cover-up. And the towel I was wearing was suddenly much too small and left much too little to the imagination. “Ah yeah, I need some clothes. I’ll be back in a sec,” I muttered, my ears flaming as I grabbed the nearest clothing available and shot back into the bathroom, her light laughter following me.

            A few moments later I was dressed and sitting beside her on my bed trying to figure out how the heck I was supposed to bring her and Treize together. “I don’t get it. If you want to go out with Treize, sabotage his and Anne’s relationship, jump in as the comforting friend and bam! By the end of his mourning period or whatever, he’s yours-without me!” I reasoned out.

            She shook her head firmly and my eyes fastening on the high ponytail perched a top her head. Back and forth, back and forth…I blinked and reeled back sharply. Great. Even her hairstyle had me fascinated. I whimpered inwardly. I was *so* not going to make it through the day! “I’ve told you, Heero, I want a *relationship*!”

            “A relationship can evolve from a date,” I argued.

            “No! I don’t want him to be on the rebound! I want this to be his own decision!” Relena cried, her eyes flashing fiery indignation at me. I like her eyes, I realized idly as I yanked at loose threads on the bed coverlet in irritation.

            “The why do I have to play matchmaker?” I cried, breaking a thread with more force than intended.

            “Because…” he tone was suddenly soft and gentle. “He still thinks I’m a little tag-a-long. He sees me as ‘Milli’s little sister’…not as Relena. And I need you to show him who I am…” Oh God, her voice was heartbreakingly tender and pleading with me and that wanting, hopeful look in her eye was doing strange, wonderful things to my body-I brought myself crashing down to earth as she added the next sentence in the same sweet, tender little tone.

            “Heero…I-I think I’m in love with him.”

            I missed what she said next, I could only gape astounded at her. *Love*? At age sixteen? Impossible! But then…I was eighteen and I was already flirting with the idea of love…talk about unrequited love! “All right then, ‘Lena, got any ideas?” I asked, resigning myself to the situation with a sigh.

            A bright grin lit up her face then and she lunged herself at me, knocking me down with the sheer, unexpected force of her embrace. “Thank you Heero! I swear, I could kiss you right now!”
            “That could be arranged,” I quipped immediately, surprising both her and myself. She stared at me in surprise and a slow, sensuous little smile spread across her face and she leaned closer, our lips almost touching…

            “How about…no?” she suggested, her voice light and breathy. I stared at her, she laughed and suddenly we were both tangled up together on the bed, laughing at nothing but enjoying ourselves nonetheless.

 

#@#@#@

 

            I could feel Dorothy glaring at me. She’d been busily glaring at me and mumbling threatening things under her breath whenever I passed her all afternoon. I sighed and slumped lower down in my deck chair, feeling decidedly revolted as Treize and Milli chased their girls around the wet pool deck with a hose, ignoring the shouts of the lifeguard how they were breaking the rules. And then, my revulsion of the flirtatious couples quickly changed to sympathy as I saw Relena hoist herself out of the pool and wrap a towel around herself. Her plans to get Treize to notice her had been unnoticed by everyone except me and she looked dejected and depressed as she made her way over to Dorothy and I.

            “Hi,” she smiled half-heartedly at us and dropped onto the end of Dorothy’s deck chair. “What’s up?”

            “He seduced you, didn’t he?”

            “What?” Relena looked at her friend incredulously as she applied liberal amounts of sunscreen to her arms and legs. Turning towards me, she dropped the sun-warmed bottle of lotion into my lap and instructed, “Do my back.”

            I swallowed harshly as she unclasped her bikini top, leaving it loose so I could have better access to her tanned skin as she continued speaking. “Who seduced me, Dorothy?”

            “Heero,” Dorothy replied, glaring at me over the rims of her sunglasses. I glared back even as I applied the sunscreen to Relena’s back, extremely wary of where my fingers went. Now was not the time to ‘accidentally’ put my fingers anywhere that could be deemed as suggestive…not with her big brother and protective best friend around.

            “Just because *you* sleep with everything around here in pants does *not* mean she does,” I snapped, still glaring Dorothy.

            “I didn’t *say* Relena was like me. I said *you* seduced her!”

            “Dorothy-,”

            “I do not make habits out of seducing my best friend’s sister!” I cried.

            “Heero-,”

            “Are you saying she was *willing* to jump into bed with you?”

            “Guys! Shut up!” Relena cried in frustration, fumbling for the clip of her swimsuit top, clasping it as she whirled around to glare at us both. “Stop talking like I’m not here! For your information, I did *not* sleep with anyone last night and I do not *plan* to sleep with anyone in the near future! For God’s sake!”

            “Sorry,” Dorothy offered meekly, hiding behind her book. The few times Relena *did* get angry were extremely rare and extremely dangerous for whoever she was angry at. The last time I remembered her being truly angry was when she caught someone tormenting a younger student. Between Relena and her many allies, the kid ended up being transferred to an entirely different school district. Never cross Relena or her beliefs, I reminded myself.

            “Milliardo!” Noin’s laughter-filled shriek pierced the afternoon as her boyfriend suddenly decided to throw her in the pool, jumping in after her.

            “Stupid whore,” Dorothy muttered, turning a page in her novel savagely.

            “Talk about the pot calling the kettle black,” I quoted absently.

            Relena rolled her eyes, never noticing as the wet hose slipped from Treize’s hands and rolled over to us. “Heero!” Treize called my name, waving his hands as he did so, obviously wanting me to throw him the hose.

            “No! Heero, don’t!” Anne squealed, taking the moment to dash away from Treize. Treize laughed and sped after her, still beckoning to me for the hose.

            I smirked and shook my head, picking it up instead and pointing it at Relena. “’Lena,” I called softly, spraying her. She shrieked and jumped up, her towel fluttering to the ground. Her eyes caught mine and she grinned, her blue offering me a direct challenge. The words of the night before hung unspoken in the air between us.

 

            Catch me if you can.

 

            I nodded and jumped to my feet, chasing after her for the second time in two days. The other two couples quickly joined in, and the lifeguard threw us a disgusted glance before retreating into the air-conditioning and shade of the snack counter. The hose passed through many hands and I never knew who had it when Relena fell, trying to duck the spray of the hose. A sharp, wordless scream left her lips as she skidded across the slippery pool deck, crashing into Treize and bringing him down with her.

            “Relena! Are you okay?” the cry was mutual as we saw her go down, her eyes wide with fright and shock. Milliardo started after her but as much as I wanted him to go, I held him back. This was her chance.

            “Ye-yeah,” she managed to say, covering her face with her hands, breathing loudly and deeply. “But…my ankle…”

            “Let me see,” Treize said immediately, pulling her hands away from her face. Tears were shining in her eyes and she was blink rapidly, obviously trying not to let them fall. He smiled softly and continued, “I’m going to touch your ankle and you tell me when it hurts.” She nodded, her hair slipping out of its high ponytail and cascading around her shoulders. Despite her red, tear-filled eyes, the girl was beautiful. I knew it and Treize was realizing it as he paused and gazed at her before slowly reaching down and probing her ankle.

            “Ouch!’ She jolted, the tears falling unheeded now. “Oh my God, it hurts…”

            “Try to stand up,” Treize encouraged, wrappings his arm around her waist and helping her up. She immediately faltered, collapsing against Treize.

            “I think its broken,” Milliardo stated the obvious. “C’mon, we can take her to the emergency room.”

            Soft murmurs of sympathy filled the air as we gathered our things and headed out to the car we’d all managed to squash into. I was the last one out, stopping to gather Relena’s things at her request.

            I watched as Treize scooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the public pool, her arms clasping around his neck and head resting on his shoulder. She’d had her chance, taken it and won.

            And I was left behind, not sure whether I wanted to cry because I’d lost or cheer because she’d won. But even then as I watched the look on Anne’s face, saw the protectiveness on Dorothy’s face mirror the look on Milliardo’s; I knew that the game was beginning.

            This was only the kickoff.