(D2 Entry) Pretty Baby Chapter 6

[J Alberghini]

Title: Pretty Baby (Chapter 6 of 7)
Penname: J Alberghini
E-mail: JAlberghini2@aol.com
Categories: Best Series/Multi-part, Best Romance
Warnings:None for this chapter

Disclaimer: Not mine. See other chapters for more details.

Pretty Baby
Chapter Six
"Oh just the scent of you, it makes me hurt"

I slipped into the darkness as quickly as I came. Relena comes out onto the balcony, but I refuse to make my presence known. She knows anyway (unless she was talking to herself, which could be possible). She always knows when I'm around. She did at that Romefeller meeting and probably after the whole Mariemaia thing too. The child wasn't there today, I'd noticed. Even former would-be dictators can't pick the days they get off from school (although I sometimes can). Though I gotta say, I'm surprised that Relena's birthday isn't a national holiday. But I'm sure people must have thought of it. She probably just refused. Still, if a Japanese emperor can make his birthday a holiday, why not the former queen of the world? She's more popular than he was. If it were my decision it would be one, but it isn't.
I put on my jacket so I won't have to carry it. Chances are I'll be sleeping in it tonight. It's not that I can't afford to sleep in a hotel, the Preventer jobs I've taken in the past few months paid very well. But I'd rather save the money for other stuff, like schoolbooks, food and Relena's birthday gift (which I still need to get). Plus, it makes me harder to find. In any case, I like to sleep outside, as long as it's a nice place. And this is a nice place. Rather than parking my car over a mile away so not to be detected (though I don't think my friends know I have one), I'd decided to walk to Relena's house. She had done it; it wasn't exactly a difficult walk. I can certainly handle it. I haven't gotten that lazy with peace.
If she tries, Relena can probably find me easily. But she gave up following me a long time ago. I can't say that I'm not disappointed, but I can't blame her either. I wish she would come after me. That's why I picked such an obvious place. As I said, I haven't been getting sloppy. But I don't deserve her concern, not after what I did to her. And why would she think I would come to a place that was essentially ours, since I?m obviously such a heartless bastard that I would leave in the middle of the night without even saying goodbye? Why would she want to bother with someone like that? Why has she for so long? God, I'm an idiot. I feel a sudden urge to go back and promise her that I'll change, but I fight it. It's better this way.
"Not even a day left," I remind myself. It's 12:35 now, 23 hours and 25 minutes until Relena's birthday. I can wait that long and a few hours more until we see each other again. That is, if she wants to see me. If I were Relena, I wouldn't. But then, she's a far more compassionate human being than I. I don't deserve her.
"She's been staying up too late," I think aloud, trying to take my mind off things. "She should be sleeping on her vacation." I've always been a person who can function on three hours of sleep, but I doubt it's the same for Relena. I don't want her to get sick. She's already done so, a few months ago. What would have happened if I weren't there? Don't give yourself too much credit, Yuy, my conscience says. She doesn't need you. Again, I feel the need to rush back, this time to tell the girls off for being so stupid. Especially Sally, she's a doctor, she should know better. Then again, that was a while ago, maybe she did tell her to go to bed. I'm already too far away to go back. The distance is probably less than three miles, but I've been wandering the streets, taking detours. I'm not in any hurry. I've been walking for an hour already. I finally find myself where I was last night. My car is parked in the exact same spot. It's surprising that this place has been deserted for so long, not turned into a public beach. But I'm happy about it. Well, if you can ever call me "happy."
I walk right past it and onto the beach. I sit down on the shore, letting the waves soak my feet (I took my shoes off this time) and close my eyes. In the darkness, my other senses awaken. I can hear the water calmly lapping on the sand and a few night owls among the seagulls bringing in whatever scrap of food they can find from the public beach nearby. I can feel the wet sand and the icy chill of the water on my toes. But despite these things, probably the most alert sense tonight is my sense of smell.
Perfume. It lingers on my jacket, taking on a life of its own. I'd never known Relena to wear it before, but she must have been the other night. Before then, I didn't even know she wore make-up at all. And if I hadn't seen my reflection in the water this morning and half-heartedly attempted to wash off the lip prints on my forehead. It was out of the ordinary, but it suited her. I liked the scent. I'm not usually into that kind of stuff, which apparently women created for the purpose of seducing men, like Cleopatra did with Mark Antony (interesting what you learn from the SATs). But it's Relena's and that's what's important.
Like anything of hers, it brings me joy and pain. But tonight, the pain outweighs the joy. And I can't help but wonder if I'd made a mistake. What if she never wants to see me again? What if I show up tomorrow and she rejects me? But Relena won't do that. No matter how much I hurt her, she'll forgive me in a minute. And that makes me feel even lower than I ever have before.
With my great luck, as I'm sitting here, it starts to rain. Not an unusual occurrence, April showers and all, but still. "I can't catch a break this week, can I?" I complain. But I suppose rain is the least of my problems. Still, even though I've never really minded it before, I dove into my car so quickly that I was almost completely dry. My hair got slightly wet, but that was all. My jacket was preserved. The smell is still there. I push away all the bad thoughts that come with it and just try to enjoy that little bit of Relena I still have. For I may never have anything else.
"What should I get her?" I muse aloud. Something special, I know that much. Stuffed animal? No, been there done that. Jewelry? A bit out of my price range. She doesn't need perfume, apparently. Flowers? No, flowers die; I want something that lasts. "Well, I guess I'll have to go shopping," I say to no one in particular. It was good that no one was around to hear me. I stifle a yawn. "I?m going to sleep," I decide. "I'll think about it more in the morning. Maybe it'll come to me in a dream." I close my eyes and eventually fall asleep sitting in the front seat of my car, listening to the patter of rain on my windows and the violent crash of the waves on our beach.

* * * * * *

I wake up this morning to a smiling face that I so did not want to see, especially the first thing in the morning.
"Morning, sunshine," it says cheerfully. I sit up and glare at the braided nutcase, a.k.a. Duo Maxwell or as some people like to call him, my best friend. Heaven knows how that happened. But, like with Relena, it happened involuntarily, especially on my part. Not that there's anything wrong with Duo. He is a good friend. He just drives me nuts sometimes. Now if it were her smiling face, then I wouldn't mind so much. But it isn't, and at this moment, I'm not really in the mood for Duo.
"Actually, I should say good afternoon," he corrected himself, still with that sickeningly happy disposition. "It's two o'clock in the afternoon."
I looked past his big head and sure enough, he was right. The sun was high in a now cloudless sky. Well, I found one use for Duo. He makes a good beach umbrella. Though how he can stand the heat with all that black he wears, I have no idea. Another one of life's mysteries that I don't care to solve and that I just accept. "How'd you know I was here?"
"Men's intuition," he answers grinning. "Deduction and reasoning."
"Cut the crap, Sherlock. What do you want?" I ask, getting straight to the point.
He pretends to look offended. "Here I am, coming to invite you to what promises to be a great party and you treat me like dirt. You're so mean, Heero." He sticks his tongue out at me childishly.
"Knock it off or I'll cut it off," I threaten. (Not a bad idea, I might get some peace and quiet for a change). "What party? I haven't heard about this." I'd known a long time ago through my sources (meaning that Lady Une has a big mouth) that the others were coming to surprise her, but I didn't know there was going to be a party. Poor Relena, if Duo has his hand in it, it can't be good.
"Well, not so much a party as a little celebration. You know, cake, food, etc. We're going to a karaoke bar/restaurant. It's perfectly safe, so don't worry, and it should be fun. It was my pick. We flipped a coin for it." He dug out two old American quarters from his pocket and showed me both sides. One coin was all heads, the other all tails. He put a finger to his lips. "Don't tell Wufei. I think he might suspect something, but it's hard to tell. He's been acting crazy every since he got here. I don't know why, something about Relena nearly castrating him?"
I shrug. "I don't know. Whatever she did to him, I'm sure he deserved it. Relena doesn't usually get violent for nothing."
Duo grinned. "Yep. Never knows when to keep his mouth shut, that one."
"Reminds me of someone else," I reply. "So where is this place?"
He looks at me hopefully. "Does that mean you're coming?"
"I'll think about it. Why sound so surprised?"
Duo's face sobered. "Well, it's just, Hilde told me about what happened with you guys? I figured you'd be making yourself scarce for a while. It'll really mean a lot to her if you come. I'm sure Relena will really like it."
I frown. "If she'll ever speaks to me again."
Duo looks taken aback by my comment. "Relena wouldn't do that. I doubt she's really mad, just hurt. She doesn't understand why you left again. Why did you leave again?" He waits for an answer, but I don't give it to him, because I myself can't think of one. "Okay then. Well, anyway, she'll really appreciate it if you apologize to her. Just tell her you're sorry and you were wrong and that'll be the end of it." I wince at the mention that I could be wrong. I don't take to that to well, as you saw from before. "She'll be really, really happy," he adds, making me glare at him. But if I needed anything to convince me, it's that. "Just tell me you're going, and I'll leave." And it's also that.
"Fine. Again I ask: Where is this place?"
His face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning (at least I think so, I've never actually seen one nor celebrated it myself, so I wouldn't know). I almost feel guilty about how badly I'd treated him early. Despite being an annoyance, he does mean well. And if he doesn't care about my feelings and happiness (though I think he does) at least he cares about Relena's.
"Okey-dokey karaoke. The name and address are on this card." He tosses me a slip of paper. Printed on it was "The Singing Bird." Real original. "We're going to be there at around six tomorrow. Now I've gotta go now before they say I was just trying to get out of shopping. See ya." He bounces off cheerfully. If it weren't totally undignified, he would've skipped, he was so happy. I watch him until he's out of sight. Then I lay down and go back to sleep, the card still clenched tightly in my hand.