I stared at her, more embarrassed than anything. I could have chalked it up to an accident, her nose brushing against me as she lifted her head, but the way she cowered now, as if expecting to be hit… there was no doubt about it. But being far enough away to see her cowering… I wondered what I’d been doing all these years… all the mean things… brought on by stupid instincts… that had left our relationship like this.
I had to make it up to her.
Gingerly, I stood up, brushing my skirt off as I smiled and extended a hand to her. She seemed surprised by the gesture, but slowly accepted the offer. I took one moderately long look at her, and nodded. “It looks good on you. Does it fit right?”
She seemed to have lost her voice for a moment, but she whispered, looking down at herself, “Yes. Very well.”
I prepared to leave, give her some space. “Sorry for barging in like that. You’re alright, aren’t you?” She gave me the slightest of nods. “I’ll wait outside then. Be careful, okay?”
I turned away so that she wouldn’t see my guilt, when she looked up at me with such surprise, as if I could never feel concerned about her.
Was I really so cruel to her?
Our time apart was surprisingly short, though she didn’t seem to rush to pay for the piece and have it packaged. I hardly had any time to think before she was beside me again. Shaking my head, I smiled, “What do you want to do now? Since you’re in town and I’m free.”
As we walked out the store, she gave me an inquisitive look, as if debating whether I could take whatever was on her mind. What she finally voiced was, “I haven’t seen a Japanese movie for a long time. Are there any good ones in the theaters right now?”
It didn’t even occur to me then that I was being swept into a dating setup. But then, much of our problems sprouted from my thoughtlessness. Playing the hostess, I earnestly considered the question. “I heard the new romance-thriller one was pretty good… Rated R for graphic scenes. Think you can stomach that?”
She smiled, as if something in the back of her mind had come up to amuse her. “If I’m with good company…”
I scratched my cheek gingerly before throwing caution to the wind and grabbing her hand before hurrying down the street. “Let’s go check the times then. The complex has grown since you were last in town.”
As it turned out, we were more than an hour and a half early for the next showing, so we decided to look around the nearby shops before going in to wait to be seated.
I asked her what she’d been doing since we last saw each other, and at first, she simply glazed over the timeline of events- college… met Kasumi… moved to Holland… settled down as an OL until she could find something better…
In all honesty, mine was much the same- local college during which I stayed at the mansion, got lassoed into modeling, met June…
It startled me when she softly verified, “You really aren’t… closely involved with anyone?”
I thought about June, but we were just close friends and ex-roommates now. Yoshitaka was nothing more than a pain-in-the-back landlord. I smiled and shook my head. “Nope, not me. Actually, I think you’re the only one I know who has plans to tie the knot. Not that that’s a bad thing,” I added quickly.
She laughed at that, murmuring, “Did I tell you? Kasumi was the one that ‘proposed’ to me.”
I laughed, not out of malice, but out of a nervous jitter that made me want to believe that everything was a joke. Though… I really didn’t know what I was nervous about. It was just Anna-chan after all. “What’s she like? Is she a tomboy? Or…?”
She shook her head. “Not really. I mean, she does prefer casual pants rather than skirts or dresses, but on special occasions…OH! Duh. I have a picture, want to see?”
Even if I had said no, she was already looking through her purse for said picture. So I just went along with it, leaning a little closer so that I could see the wallet size picture.
My heart clenched when I focused on it, but I couldn’t understand why. It felt a little like a twinge of jealousy, but surely that must have been my lonely side thinking what it must be like to have your special someone’s picture in your wallet to show off to whoever wanted to see it.
It wasn’t jealousy that Anna-chan had her future wife’s picture in there and not mine.
That would have been ridiculously nonsensical.
Really. No sense at all.
I stood up, looking at the nearby clock tower. “We should get going if we want good seats.”
She nodded, gathering her things again and catching up to me as I walked off.
Though she ended up paying for things to snack on, we ate most of it while waiting. Just before they opened the doors, I told her to pick a couple of seats for us while I bought some refills.
Having once again escaped her, I sighed heavily. I stopped and wondered why I was so relieved to be away from her, when nothing had gone seriously wrong since she came back. I mean, sure, I introduced my ex as my old friend, I had a cry in the bathroom, I touched her while she was still have undressed, I let her buy my favorite piece that I’d personally worn countless times, I’m going to the movies with someone who once swore we would get married in Holland one day…
See? Nothing happened. Nothing at all.
Maybe there is something to this ‘denial’ thing people are always going on about.
I returned to the dimly lit theater, looking around for Anna-chan. There was a group of guys huddled around in the back, but I paid them no mind. Stupid blokes were everywhere these days. But as I walked up and down the paths, I couldn’t find her. I considered calling out for her, but I wasn’t sure how loud I’d have to shout for her to hear me, and I didn’t want to disturb the other patrons too much. As I was passing the raucous guys in the back, however, I distinctly heard Anna-chan’s voice. “If I wanted to hang out with little boys, I would have come with one. But that’s not happening anytime soon, I’m sure.”
She was putting on a bit of a brave front, but I could hear the slightest fear underneath the annoyance and bravado. As I took a step closer, recognizing the back of her head, I heard the head honcho say, “We’re real men. Those guys you’ve met before were just little kiddies compared to us.”
“So says the one with his fly unzipped. Is that a mark of a ‘real man’? Then I can do without, thanks but no thanks.”
I bit back a laugh, a little part of me wanting to see how Anna handled herself these days, when alone.
The overgrown boy puffed himself up and dared to lean in, not even ‘correcting’ his zipper position as he breathed, “All the better to have you suck it, my dear…”
All right, that’s it. If I stand by any longer, I’m going to be sick. Reaching forward, I wrapped my arms around Anna’s shoulders, speaking before she could be scared enough to flip me over her shoulder like she looked like she might be ready to do to any of those guys bothering her. “Excuse me, but could you kindly stop trying to force yourself on my girlfriend? I promised my officer friend I wouldn’t beat up anymore people, but if I call him and the ambulance afterward, I’m sure he’ll understand.”
Most of the lesser guys started to back off at that. Though my mind was currently demanding against the torrent of zealous protectiveness an explanation for the use of the word ‘girlfriend’, but I shut it up with a claim that it was all a ruse to get them to leave us alone. Because being alone with Anna was better than having Anna alone with a bunch of rough, stupid guys.
And no, I had no explanation for what I thought Anna-chan and I would be doing ‘alone’.
The main idiot wasn’t about to give up without some fight or another though. I frowned when I realized his loud remarks were starting to draw attention. Perhaps the theater cops could persecute him.
I barely heard him say, “A couple of lesbians, huh? Now I know neither of you have known ‘the real deal’ before. Come on, what’s say you both get in on the action then? You know it’ll be ten times bet-“
I hit the side of his head with my purse. The one with a rockhard wallet. I then pulled him closer by his collar, avoiding his stinky breath, to inform him, “You’re not the sharpest crayon in the box, are you? Being a lesbian does not equate to ‘can’t find a guy but wishes she had one’. It means preferring to keep guys out the picture entirely.” For the most part anyway. “Which translates to: leave us the hell alone before I arrange to have you forcibly circumcised. Then we’ll see just how ‘manly’ you are.”
It seemed that that was enough to make him retreat. I’ve been told that up close, I had the sort of eyes that could scare anyone of lesser will to believe all of the threats I strung up, and those that didn’t, soon learned that I was telling the truth.
I guess he wasn’t so stupid in the end after all.
As he backed away into his cronies, he stuttered, “Y-you’ll pay for this one day!”
Okay, scratch that. He was that stupid. Jerk.
I waited until I saw them all exit the theater and the door close behind them before looking down at Anna-chan. I smiled, as if what had just happened was nothing, offering her the popcorn I somehow hadn’t spilt. “Are you all right?”
She slowly nodded, as if in a daze, as I took a seat beside her.
Worried over her silence, I asked, “Do you want to leave? That wasn’t exactly a great way to start a movie… I shouldn’t have left you alone like that…”
She quickly shook my head and produced a smile as she got comfortable. “No, no it’s fine. Really.” As the movie started, she hesitantly placed her head on my shoulder. I swear I only wrapped my arm around her waist so that she wouldn’t suddenly slip and hit her head on something. I wasn’t even sure if I heard her right when she whispered, “You kept your word… you’re beside me now… that’s all that matters…”
Back to She Is My Mistress Index - Back to He Is My Master Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction