The Girl Next Door
Chapter Six: Things Are Always Easier to Say Online
If I head the words ‘Relena is a little whore’ leave Anne’s mouth one last time, I’d scream. Or ‘don’t EVER say that about my sister again!’ Or ‘Treize says…’
I swear, they were all going to drive me crazy in the end!
Normally I’m calm and rational and I have a high tolerance level of things that would normally tick others off. But for the past two weeks the only talk had revolved around Relena and her successful attempts to capture Treize. What was so great about Treize anyway? Those stupid red roses he loved clashed horribly with his ginger hair-who has ginger hair anyway? And what kind of guy has a passion for roses? I’d worry about him if he were *my* son and he started bringing home roses and talking like he was reciting a book of poetry.
Whatever it was about him, Relena and Anne both obviously found him unbelievably attractive and he sparked enough interest in Dorothy to let her flirt with him if not more. Even Noin, devoted as she was to Milli, seemed to go a little fluttery-eyed and breathy whenever Treize smiled at her.
I’ve got a nicer smile than him.
Not to mention the fact that *I* spent four years of being called ‘metal-mouth’ to have the straightest teeth in the whole damned state.
Summer was really beginning to suck and I was dying for fall or at least August so talk would transfer from Relena’s stunts to college.
Heero Yuy, college man. What a strange and scary thought!
But, what a welcome one. All I’d done recently it seemed was act as a go-between. I’d listened to Anne alternatively cry about Treize and threaten to wring Relena’s neck. I’d listened to Milliardo complain about his younger sister and best friend start getting *involved* with one another. I’d listened to Noin consider the pros and cons of siding with or against Relena. And I’d heard more than was good for me about the wonderfulness of Treize from Relena.
If I suddenly went insane, they’d all be to blame.
#@#@#@
“Hey Heero! What’s up?”
“If this is about another matchmaking stunt, I *don’t* want to hear about it!” I spoke sharply into the phone. No matter how much I was attracted to Relena, I was *sick* of her behavior lately. I’d thought I’d known her to be an intelligent, respectable girl and all she’d done lately was run after Treize like…like Dorothy!
She paused and said slowly, “No…I just…never mind.” Had I hurt her feelings? Great. I was developing a heart so late in life. I was ripping whatever reputation I had as a heartless bastard left to shreds.
“Come on Relena. You didn’t call me for nothing. What’s going on?” I relented, my tone softening.
I could almost hear her perk up over the telephone line. “Well, some of us were talking about going out tonight and I wondered if you wanted to come.”
“Why?”
“Because…you’re my friend and I’d like you to come.”
“What? Isn’t Treize enough for you?” I winced as soon as the words left my mouth. I was digging a grave deeper and deeper to lie myself in…
“What’s wrong with you Heero?” she burst out with, her tone hurt and tearful. “I *know* you’ve got a reputation as a jerk at school but I *know* you and I *know* you’re not a jerk. So why’re you acting like one? Have I done something?”
“Like you said, I have a reputation as a jerk. Hard to drop one mannerism and pick up another,” I excused myself. Before she could say anything, I continued, “Anyways-you can’t go anywhere! You’ve got a broken ankle!”
“I know. But that doesn’t mean I can’t go out!” She was definitely angry at me…very angry…
“Are you mad at me?” That sounded stupid. Of course she was. Hadn’t I just made fun of the very cause I’d been helping her with? I hate being young and stupid. I wish I could fast-forward ten years into the future so I was at least old, experienced and stupid.
“No…just hurt,” she sighed and I had a mental picture of her sitting on the floor of her kitchen with her legs stretched out in front of her as she sighed into the phone. I’d seen her sit like that often enough whenever she was preparing to have a good, looong talk on the phone.
I sighed back at her and flopped to the floor of my bedroom, leaning against the side of my bed and pressing my feet against the wall. Cradling the phone on my shoulder, I felt around absently until I discovered my old baseball equipment beneath my bed. Exactly what I needed to take my mind off sentimental heart-to-heart crap.
I sighed again, beginning to toss the ball up and down in my left hand as I reached for the cordless phone with my right. “What did I do now?” I asked, the epitome of an abashed child seeking guidance.
She was smiling now, I could tell from the way her wistful tone perked up a notch or two. “You’re such a dork, Heero.”
“Thanks.”
This time she laughed, “So…are you coming tonight?”
“Sure. Why not?” I paused in throwing the ball. “What time?”
“We-ell…the others are coming over around five…”
“I’ll be there at four-thirty.”
She laughed again. “All right then.” A pause. “Just so you know…Treize isn’t going out with me OR Anne. He…he says he doesn’t want a girlfriend when he goes to college next month.” She laughed, a short bitter sort of laugh. “Looks like our plans backfired, hmm Heero? Instead of drawing him *to* me, we chased him away!”
And with that, she hung up on me.
#@#@#@
BiteMe69: You hurt her feelings again!
IMAHeero: what?
BiteMe69: you heard me!
BiteMe69: you hurt relena’s feelings!
BiteMe69: she was CRYING when she hung up on you
IMAHeero: …
IMAHeero: wait…were you there?
BiteMe69: duh
BiteMe69: I’m not physic
IMAHeero: you swear I made her cry?
BiteMe69: would I lie to you?
IMAHeero: 9.9
BiteMe69: ok, so it was a rhetorical question
BiteMe69: but I don’t lie when it comes to my friends…
BiteMe69: I dunno what you did to her, but you’d better
say sorry
BiteMe69: or else -__-
IMAHeero: oh, I’m scared now
BiteMe69: u should be
BiteMe69: you*
IMAHeero: whatever
BiteMe69: *imitation Yuy glare*
BiteMe69: APOLOGIZE!
IMAHeero: *authentic Yuy glare* NO!
BiteMe69: SAY SORRY!
BiteMe69: she’s online now!
IMAHeero: No! >_<
BiteMe69: or else…
IMAHeero: 9.9
BiteMe69: I’ll tell Duo you ARE bi after all! [1]
IMAHeero: you wouldn’t!
BiteMe69: I would
IMAHeero: I hate you
BiteMe69: join the club
BiteMe69: I’m the president
IMAHeero: damn you
[BiteMe69 signed off at 4:07 p.m.]
IMAHeero: Relena?
Sunshine01: yeah?
IMAHeero: I…
IMAHeero: …I…uh…
Sunshine01: 9.9
Sunshine01: spit it out!
Sunshine01: it’s not like I’ll hurt ya or anything
IMAHeero: I apologize
Sunshine01: huh?
IMAHeero: I apologize for…hurting your feelings this
morning
Sunshine01: ^_______^
Sunshine01: I told Dorothy you were a sweetie
IMAHeero: …sweetie?
IMAHeero: >o<
Sunshine01: …figuratively speaking of course
Sunshine01: #^_^#
Sunshine01: …so
Sunshine01: wanna come over?
Sunshine01: like now?
IMAHeero: sure
[IMAHeero signed off at 4:09 p.m.]
[Sunshine01 signed off at 4:09 p.m.]
#@#@#@
“Heero!” Relena yelled my name as soon as the door opened.
“Relena?” I replied as she latched onto my arm and dragged me down the hall as well as she could with her cast and crutches. “Be careful!” I added, unsure if I was worried about my safety or hers.
“Don’t have a conniption. I know what I’m doing,” she assured me, a wide grin on her face.
“And that’s *exactly* what I’m afraid of.”
“Oh, shut up. I want to show you something!” Relena grinned, “Even *you’ll* melt at the sight of her!”
“The sight of who?” I demanded, immediately suspicious. “You’re not gonna spring a cousin or something on me, are you?”
“Nope! Better!” Relena leaned over the gate blocking the entrance to her kitchen-since when did they have a gate in their kitchen? “Isn’t she precious?”
I jolted as a wriggling bundle of soft brown fur was thrust in my face along with a bright pink tongue and cold black nose. “A *dog*?”
“Mmmhmm! Isn’t she adorable?”
“Uh, yeah…I guess.” Now that the initial shock was over, I could actually take the time to pet the dog and take her in. Small, loud, squirming little thing…a typical puppy.
“Her name’s Peanuts-,”
“Peanuts? I’ve never seen anything that looks less like peanuts in my life!”
“Well, she likes peanuts. *Anyways* we just got her two days ago.” Relena sighed and hugged the dog close to her, well as best as she could on her crutches. “Noin found her wandering around outside and brought her over-and I couldn’t let her go.” She smiled and buried her face in the puppy’s soft fur.
I was melting, falling, dying; whatever you call it I was doing it then as I watched Relena cuddle her new dog. Somehow, all the bitterness and coldness I’d spent years building up reputation up on were dissolving as I watched the two of them. I had the irrepressible urge then to give them both a hug…maybe give Relena more than a hug…
Oh man, what’s happening to me?
The doorbell rang and I was saved from any further insane, romantic musings.
#@#@#@
“That was fun,” Relena announced to me as I helped her clear away the remains of our get-together. Once the girls had discovered Peanuts, there had been no getting them out of the house and so, we’d simply played with the dog and made a general mess that evening.
“It was,” I agreed. As the next-door neighbor and older brother’s best friend, I was usually the first to arrive and the last to leave. Which included help with the preparations and help with the clean up. I’m such a nice guy.
Heh.
Yeah. Right.
My self-confidence decreases, as I grow older.
“Where’s Milli?” I asked, helping her stack dirty paper plates in a large black garbage bag. Standing there, twisting garbage bags closed it suddenly dawned on me I’d spent my whole summer so far with Relena rather than my best friend.
Well, the company of a blond woman was a heck of a lot more attractive to me at that point than the company of a blond man.
“With Noin.”
Apparently I’d dropped in the importance factor too.
“So.”
“So.”
There was a long pause as Relena suddenly spotted the urgent task of watering all the plants in the kitchen and family room. I watched in amazement as she moved with surprising speed and agility on her crutches, watering her plants in less than five minutes. “That was fast.”
“Thanks.”
Pause.
Since when had these awkward pauses started springing up with her? Normally we could bicker and tease for hours on end; she was like the little sister I’d never had. Except…
Except I wasn’t seeing her as a surrogate little sister anymore. Now she wasn’t pain-in-the-neck but still good for laughs Relena. Now she was don’t-touch-just-look-because-she’s-Treize’s Relena.
I confuse myself sometimes.
“Are you angry that Treize didn’t pick you or Anne?”
Relena jolted in slight surprise and sent me a curious look. I coughed in slight embarrassment and looked away. After a moment-of thought, I supposed-she answered. “Sort of. I mean, after the day at the pool he did seem to show special interest in me. He didn’t touch me or anything but he did treat me like he treats-treated-Anne. And I guess I blew it out of proportion and assumed it meant he liked me as a girlfriend. But then he threw out kind of casually that he didn’t intend to have a girlfriend when he went away to college…I guess that was dead hint.”
The look on her face was a wistful, half-hopeful one. Even after all this she *still* hoped that Treize would see her differently. I could totally read her face; see what she was thinking in her eyes. She was daydreaming that Treize would come home from college during a break or graduate…and would know that she, Relena, was the one for him. And I would have to smile and congratulate her on getting her man while the whole time wanting to strangle Treize with my own two hands. I could see my future played out before my eyes then…godfather to her-their-children…poor, pathetic Uncle Heero hanging around all the time…
Okay. Even I know when I get pathetic and I was getting really pathetic then.
“You have expressive eyes, Relena.’
“What?
I gazed at her pointedly and continued, half-unsure of what I was saying. “You have very beautiful eyes, but they’re also very expressive. Everything you see and feel is played out in them. Be careful with that. You could break hearts with it…including your own.”
And then I left abruptly and wordlessly.
#@#@#@
Sunshine01: Heero?
IMAHeero: yeah
Sunshine01: I
IMAHeero: you what?
Sunshine01: I just wanted to say thank you for saying my
eyes are beautiful
IMAHeero: oh
IMAHeero: well, then your welcome
Sunshine01: you have nice eyes too
IMAHeero: what!
Sunshine01: they’re an intense blue…very nice…you’ll have
heartbreaker kids if they inherit your eyes
IMAHeero: oh…thanks I think
Sunshine01: you thought right
Sunshine01: ^_^
Sunshine01: omg…Peanuts just chewed up the end of my
crutch!
IMAHeero: poor dog’s gonna get sick
Sunshine01: *talks to dog* sillybeans
IMAHeero: o.O
Sunshine01: eh heh heh, sorry
IMAHeero: Relena?
Sunshine01: yeah?
IMAHeero: Treize is an idiot if he chooses Anne over you
Sunshine01: really?
IMAHeero: really.
Sunshine01: *sigh* thanks
Sunshine01: …why do you think that?
IMAHeero: um…
Sunshine01: c’mon, things are always easier to say online
IMAHeero: you’re beautiful
IMAHeero: intelligent
IMAHeero: nice
IMAHeero: and funny
Sunshine01: …
IMAHeero: y’know, you’re right
IMAHeero: it is easier to say things online
Sunshine01: thank you
Sunshine01: Heero, you’re a really, really, REALLY great
guy
Sunshine01: I’m going to miss you a lot when you go to
college at the end of the summer
IMAHeero: its late
Sunshine01: I know
IMAHeero: …I’m going to bed
Sunshine01: good night Heero
IMAHeero: good night Relena
[IMAHeero signed off at 12: 11 p.m.]
[Sunshine01 signed off at 12:14 p.m.]
#@#@#@
“I told her she was BEAUTIFUL?” I raged at myself later that not.
Not that she wasn’t.
But that’s completely beside the point.
“I’m in soooo much trouble,” I groaned, yanking a pillow over my head and wishing to die in my sleep. “So, so, soooo much trouble!”
========================================
AN: I’m so completely sorry that this chapter took so long in coming out. But Heero’s a very difficult character for me to write sometimes and this was one of those times. *sigh*
Okay, I have some questions for you, the wonderful readers to help with the next chapter. First of all, someone remarked that Dorothy and Heero seem to have a certain chemistry. Does anyone agree with that and want to see some 1xD action? [Don’t worry; the fic would end 1xR] Second, I’m kind of toying with idea of having Treize use Relena and leave her for Anne…and have Heero come along and pick up the broken shreds. That sound good to anyone? Comments, negative or positive are appreciated.
Quick explanation incase anyone was lost:
Bold stands for online [Instant Message, IM] conversations
BiteMe69 was Dorothy
IMAHeero was Heero [I couldn’t resist the play on words]
Sunshine01 was Relena [and yes the 01 was signicant]
Comments are appreciated, hope you enjoyed this chapter!
========================================