Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts (II), Riku, Naminé, Roxas, etc.

Author’s Note: Can you believe it?! It’s an actual update! I have neglected my writing duties for so long I can’t even remember the last time I wrote something and bothered to finish it! Apparently the last time I updated this particular story was in the middle of June. June! Man, have I got a lot to make up for. This story’s just been sitting in the corner collecting dust.

Warning: Umm…I…forget…what this story…is about…

Quick Author Babble: I want to write something else! Something else!!! I love this story, but there are some things that are more important.

Chapter 6: The Other One

Naminé sighed happily as she shut the door behind her. She peeked through the window to watch Riku slowly lope away, his head turned upwards to admire at the night sky. What a great guy—sweet, considerate, polite, and even kind of good-looking, once you get past the untidy, long, silver hair and bleak clothing. But…Naminé squeezed her eyelids together until they started hurting. He still wasn’t her Roxas—Roxas and his heavenly smile, feather soft hair, enchanting blue eyes, melodic voice, sweet sincerity…She could go on for hours just describing him and all the things she loved about him. But…he didn’t love her anymore. At least, that’s what it felt like.

Naminé slid onto the couch, feeling tears well up in her eyes. The curled up and rubbed at them.

“Ugh, not this again…” she muttered, disgusted with herself. She wasn’t going to let some boy bring her down in any way! Even though that boy was Roxas—the most handsome, sweet, charming boy who she’d been crushing on for six years. She let out a sigh that was partly due to annoyance but at the same time her longing for the blond. She could still see his face perfectly. She closed her eyes and leaned back against one of the sofa pillows, feeling fatigue finally take over her. Oh, she felt drowsy…really drowsy. She yawned and the world around her completely blacked out.

xXx

“So…Naminé, you had fun at the picnic?” Naminé looked up at Riku, blinking. He had that smirk on his face that showed he knew that her mind had been elsewhere, and he’d found it amusing. Whoa, she must’ve totally blanked out there. Picnic? What picnic? And suddenly it all came to her in a big rush.

“Yeah, it was fun!” she chirped, but then she looked at Riku skeptically. “Don’t tell me you did as well, Mr. Pessimist?” Riku shrugged, and his smirk transformed into a laidback grin.

“I’ll admit I had some level of enjoyment,” he replied. Naminé smiled happily at this point. Riku had never been one to like something as corny as a picnic in the park. “But there was just one thing I couldn’t stand.”

“What?” Naminé asked, looking at him with curiosity. She felt a little piece of her hoping it was something romantic, like “We kept too far apart from each other” or “I just couldn’t keep myself from looking into your eyes” or…

“The egg salad sandwiches you made. They tasted like crap.” He said it bluntly, and his face was completely straight. Naminé felt a vein pulse in her forehead. She whacked him with her purse.

“Riku! You jerk!” But the anger passed to reveal the humour in the statement, and despite herself she started laughing. Riku gave her an are-you-retarded look, but soon he started snickering as well, and at the sudden lightness in the air around them, the two decided to continue the conversation.

“Now I understand why you eat at the diner all the time,” he remarked. “You can’t make anything edible at all!”

Naminé stuck out her lip in a pout. “That’s not true. I can cook just fine. I can’t help it if you have bad taste.”

“Bad taste? Is that what you think? Then tell me, my darling Nammy, why, exactly, do you insist on wasting your money at Tifa’s everyday?” His voice was dripping with sarcasm. Naminé bristled, feeling her cheeks burn.

“Ever consider there’s someone I wanted to see every time I dropped in?” she snapped, taking steps ahead so he couldn’t see how embarrassed she was. What had she just said? She didn’t feel like she was in her right mind, as if she couldn’t control what she was saying at all.

“Someone you wanted to…?” Riku began, sounding ready to mock her, until he realized what she was talking about. “…Oh.” There was silence, neither looking at the other, shyly looking down at their shoes. Finally, Riku’s voice filled the air again. “You know, Naminé, I really want to tell you that…”

There was a loud vroom, and suddenly, quite out of nowhere, a bright red motorcycle came zooming down the road. The two looked up, distracted for the moment. Naminé was especially absorbed in the motorcyclist’s movements, for there was something most familiar about them, and it made her heart ache. She couldn’t quite understand it until he pulled up beside them, and, removing his helmet, turned to look at Naminé.

Naminé’s heart jumped, and suddenly she was in a flurry of tears, her face burning so hard she felt like she was on fire. Roxas was before her, beautiful golden hair, enchanting blue eyes, pearly white smile and all. She didn’t even consider him owning and being able to ride a motorcycle, nor the bizarre coincidence that he was there. She was just too overwhelmed to care. She touched his face. It felt smooth, exactly like she remembered it.

“Naminé?” Riku’s bewildered voice came from behind her, but she ignored him—at that moment she didn’t want him to even be near her, and she was too caught up in her own emotions to feel guilty about it. Roxas smiled widely at her, but no words came out of his mouth. Naminé, quite uncharacteristically, felt she didn’t need an apology, and she climbed on the back of the motorcycle, not considering the risk nor that she had not been invited to do so. Roxas didn’t seem to mind, and he revved up the engine and off they went. At this moment, Naminé felt her head automatically turn to look back at Riku. His expression was completely unreadable, which was rare—heartbroken and sad. Naminé swallowed, and suddenly she felt a flood of sadness wash through her, and tears ran down her face.

“Riku!” she called out. “Roxas, stop! Stop this thing!” Roxas either didn’t hear her or didn’t want to, and kept driving on. She turned back and looked back at Riku, trying desperately to call out his name, but her voice was gone. As she watched Riku’s face get farther and farther away, his mouth moved to form the words, “How could you?”’

And then there was a terrible ringing noise, filling her ears and distorting everything around her. She covered her ears and groaned.

xXx

Ring, ring, ring!

“Ugh!” Naminé woke up with a start, sweating profusely. A nightmare—it was all just her imagination, right? The ringing didn’t stop though. She turned and, to her surprise, the phone was ringing. She held her breath. No, she couldn’t get her hopes up just so they could be dashed away. She had to stay cool.

She reached over and realized her hand was trembling. She shakily picked up the phone and put it to her ear.

“Hello?” she asked nervously. Her heart was pounding ferociously in her chest.

“Hi, darling,” a deep, male voice said, sounding sweet and familiar to her ears. “I just wanted to check in on how you’re doing.”

“Dad?” she said, just to make sure. She couldn’t believe it. A call from home…finally!

“Yes, Nammy, it’s me,” he replied. “How’s life working out for you?”

“Um…okay,” Naminé lied, lowering her voice considerably. “I got an apartment…looking for a job…No luck so far…”

“Have you made any friends?” he asked curiously. Naminé found herself shrugging even though he couldn’t see it.

“One,” she answered, trying to sound cool even though she felt far from it. She knew by now Riku would be dubbed as more than that, considering they were “dating”—he wasn’t her boyfriend, but he wasn’t just a friend either…he was something in the middle. But she didn’t know what. She thought back to her dream—the urge to run back to him had been immense at the time, but now it just felt silly. She knew she and Roxas were meant to be. Riku, to her, was like a child’s temporary teddy bear while their favourite one was being fixed. But there was still a feeling of caring towards him that she couldn’t quite explain, and she was suddenly worried that she had made a big mistake by going out with him.

“Well, that’s good. Companionship is the key to success in life,” he said in that usually life-lesson manner. She could practically see his tired eyes twinkle, a soft smile coming upon his lips.

“Maybe,” she stated, not knowing if she agreed or not. “How’s Mom?” She said it just to change the subject. She knew it wasn’t a good idea, but it would take her mind off Riku for just a little while.

There was silence for a moment, and Naminé could tell her father was considering what to say. He must have thought it was more of a delicate situation than it actually was.

“Well…” he started awkwardly, “she hasn’t spoken of you yet. But she’s been a little down lately. I’m sure everything will be fine.”

“Yeah.” Naminé felt dizzy for some reason, like it was all too much for her. She felt like she needed to lie down. Again.

“Say, Nam, there’s someone else waiting to talk to you,” her dad said quickly, to cover up the large spaces of silence that seemed to be in their conversation. “Let me put him on.”

Naminé’s heart fluttered at the thought of it being Roxas. Of course, that was very unlikely. I mean, if he’d wanted to speak to her, he would’ve called her from his house. It was probably one of her brothers—most likely Cid, who had been closest to her in the years they had lived in the same house.

“Hey, Naminé.” The blonde girl felt she might die at the voice.

It was not Cid.

It was the total opposite.

“Roxas?!” Even though the thought of it being him had crossed her mind, this was still a total shock to her. She had already completely convinced herself otherwise. She was half-hoping for a small voice to come on the phone—one that was so young that it could’ve easily been a girl’s as well.

“Naminé, thank God!” Roxas sounded relieved. He sounded like he hadn’t just ignored her for practically a month. He sounded like the boy she’d fallen in love with. And that hurt and healed her at the same time. “I’ve been trying to call you for forever!”

She didn’t respond. She was too overwhelmed. She felt like her heart was going to pop right out of her chest, fall to the floor, and just roll around for a little while because it didn’t know what to do. She sat down. She knew that she had to say something but she couldn’t speak.

“Nam? You still there?” her boyfriend asked. Or, more like, her so-called boyfriend, who never even thought of calling her before this. Real boyfriends wouldn’t do that. Real boyfriends call the moment their girlfriends get settled in their new home. They don’t wait three weeks before calling. That’s just cruel!

“I…Sorry…just…why didn’t you call me?” Her voice cracked a little and she felt herself automatically reverting to her old self—her quiet, Twilight Town alter ego, that couldn’t say much even when she wanted to. She clenched her fingers around the telephone, feeling that if she let go she would just get wiped from the universe itself.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, and he sounded truly apologetic, his tone coated in regret. “The phone connection at my house has been completely cut off. My parents called an electrician to figure out the problem, but still no luck. Plus, I lost my cell phone this spring on our class trip to Egypt…but you already know that.”

She couldn’t breathe. These words were supposed to be making her feel better, but it was like a giant boulder was crushing her lungs. She felt horrible. Awful. She wished she could think of the right word to describe exactly how stupid and disgusting she felt right at that moment, but there was none. In all the English language, nothing was nearly dark and pitiful enough.

At her silence, Roxas started worrying that she was ignoring him because she was upset. “I know it’s no excuse. I mean, I admit I’ve been procrastinating. I should’ve found another way to contact you weeks ago, but I…I don’t know. I was worried about what you’d say. I mean, I feel so insignificant to you now. I thought you were going to tell me how great everything was going, how amazing the school was, how awesome your apartment was…” He paused to take a deep breath in. “How much better the guys were.”

That sentence just sent Naminé spiralling down into a pit of despair. She felt like she might die right there and then. Just collapse and never wake up…which, sadly enough, may have been the best course of action. She felt disgusting. She felt like her skin no longer fit her; like she was too dirty to be identified by her name anymore. She had betrayed him. She had jumped to conclusions. She had thought that he was chickening out and by not calling was his way of breaking up with her. She was too hurt to think straight. Too depressed to remember—remember what kind of person he was, all the things he had done for her, even to bother with who he was. He was Roxas; the same Roxas who had always been strong and forthright with whatever he had on his mind. And she had thought this was his way of breaking up with her? She had been such an idiot! She was the one who had been the coward, turning all her pent-up need for being loved onto someone else, someone she barely knew. And now she had hurt so many people because of it—Roxas, Riku, and herself. She broke into tears at the thought. She wanted to just sink through the floor to a place where no one knew her, where she could just escape from herself and never return. And as she listened to Roxas’s concerned voice asked her if she was okay repeatedly through the receiver, she slid down onto her knees and tried to talk like nothing was wrong.

xXx

Naminé peered through the glass door into Tifa’s, making sure she wouldn’t be seen. Should she come in or not? She couldn’t decide. Everything was so messed up. She watched Riku carefully. He seemed different for some reason. Riku always acted all cool around her, and now she could see how he acted otherwise. His long, silver hair fell in his face constantly as he bent over each time to get coffee cups and plates from the shelf. His eyes were a little lowered as he worked, almost as if he was thinking things over. For all Naminé knew, he could be trying to figure out the meaning of life, he looked so concentrated. Suddenly Tifa came bouncing up and plopped herself down on a bright red stool in front of the counter. Riku ignored her for a moment, looking a little annoyed at the sudden disruption of his train of thought when she started talking. But after awhile, he warmed up to her being there. He talked back. He frowned. He smiled. He blushed a little sometimes. This wasn’t a normal boss-employee conversation. It wasn’t on a professional level at all. It was an exchange between friends. And the more Naminé watched, the more jealous she became—she was envious of Tifa and her beauty, her kind demeanour, her natural way of luring people in. And suddenly, the nearly impossible happened. Riku broke out into a grin and laughed. It was the most beautiful thing Naminé had ever seen. His teeth were a pearly white, and his mouth opened so wide she could see each and every one of them. His eyes closed, but didn’t crinkle like most people’s, just smoothed out in the most relaxed way. His cheeks went from its normal whitish colour to a light pink. He was the definition of joy and happiness. It was like an angel was laughing, not a slightly gothic-looking young adult male.

Naminé ran her fingers down the glass. She had never seen Riku laugh like that. Never. He’d chuckled, he’d snorted, but he’d never actually full-out laughed. At least, not like that. Yet another one of Tifa’s talents.

It occurred to Naminé that whenever she’d talked with him she’d always forced a conversation. He may have never wanted to talk her, but had decided to put up with it because he was such a nice guy. She’d come and visit him every morning. She’d brought up the idea of a date. She’d done everything—everything—in this friendship for him.

Maybe he didn’t want to be her friend. Maybe he’d never wanted to be. Maybe there was too little resistance in him to refuse her. It made her sad. It made her want to cry. It made her want to run. But instead she just stood there, watching him smile and chuckle and talk to Tifa cheerfully as the summer heat attacked her from behind.

Naminé had wanted to tell Riku about Roxas’s phone call, even if it damaged their relationship. But what was there to damage if there had been no relationship in the first place? She felt trapped in her own life. And suddenly a realization came over her—she had not betrayed Roxas. She’d just wished she had.

She turned to run back to her apartment, but the fragments of guilt still remained. She looked back inside at Tifa’s, but Riku had forgotten her existence, and she’d rather not remind him. She had nowhere to go. Even Radiant Garden had lost its appeal, what with her mother and her boyfriend all ready to pounce as soon as she got there. So she sat herself down on the curb and cried into her sleeveless arm, ignoring the strange looks passers-by gave her as they continued on their way, to the rest of their life—their life that was not broken or painful, otherwise they would’ve been the ones sitting on the sidewalk, making fools of themselves.

She had nowhere to go, but she was starting to get used to it. It still hurt to think about, but she was getting bored of her whole life. Why had she come here in the first place? To go to university, of course. But school didn’t start for a whole two months, and the last thing on her mind was her education. She wondered what would’ve happened if she had never come here. She would’ve led a happy life with her friends and her large but kind family. Her mother and her wouldn’t be fighting but probably a little on the cold side. She and Roxas would be the happiest couple in all of Radiant Garden. She probably would’ve never met Riku, which was both a negative and a positive, looking at her current situation. She liked Riku. A lot. But there was something in the pit of her stomach that kept telling her that wasn’t a good thing.

She wondered what to do. She couldn’t think of anything. So she tried to keep her mind blank and just sat there, withering away in her own depression.

xXx

“Naminé?”

The blonde girl looked up in a daze, feeling her head twist uncomfortably to see a tall, silver-haired boy looking down at her. His stupid-looking apron and hat were off, even though Naminé didn’t mind it so much anymore, after seeing him like that about ninety percent of the time. He still looked good, in his black pullover and loose jeans, but in his sunny apron it felt like she had more of a chance to see that smile—that irresistibly magnetic grin that shone brighter than the sun. Okay, maybe that went over the top. But Riku’s smile could cure cancer, for sure.

“Oh, hi.” Now she just felt like the biggest idiot the world’s ever seen. How long had she been sitting there in her misery? She was such a loser. She hung her head and waited for Riku to laugh at her—and not in a good way.

But Riku didn’t laugh. He plopped down beside her, and she felt embarrassed by how easily he had done it. It occurred to her that he didn’t care about how strange and homeless he looked sitting there, so she turned to look at him. He didn’t look back, but there was something about their silence that seemed to explain everything. “How long have you been sitting here?’ he was asking her without actually voicing the question. “A long time,” she admitted. And none of it needed to be said because it was already obvious. And for no particular reason at all, Naminé realized she needed Riku more than anything at that moment. He was God sent, she now knew, to help her deal with everything she had gone through in her strenuous relocation from Radiant Garden to Twilight Town. She put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, and kept visualizing that beautiful smile of his. She didn’t need him to smile for her. She just needed him. Period. Riku made no movement. He didn’t put his arm around her, or put his head over hers, or anything remotely intimate, but that just made her adore him more. After a moment of absolutely no interaction, Naminé put her hand over his, but couldn’t find the strength to lift her head.

“Let’s go inside,” she said, as more of an order than a suggestion.

“You mean inside Tifa’s?” he asked, not looking too impressed by the idea. “But I was just there!” She gave him a pleading glance.

“I haven’t eaten anything today,” she commented.

“Nothing?” He looked surprised and a little horrified. That’s how you react after working at a restaurant everyday. She shook her head. He paused, looked at her sad, puppy face, and seemed to weigh his options. “Fine,” he finally said, relinquishing a long sigh.

“Thank you!” she chirped happily, and they both stood up. Naminé’s joints ached like crazy from staying in the same position for so long, and both her feet were asleep, but she dealt with all the aches and pains and put her hand in his as they walked in. Riku pretended not to notice, but the telltale redness of his cheeks gave him away.

“You seem to only cause trouble for me, Blondie.” He looked at her before shaking his head. She giggled, even though she positively hated when people called her “Blondie”, but she decided to let it slide since she wanted her one moment of pure happiness that day to last.

“It happens to be my special talent,” she remarked, and they entered through the glass doors to meet with the warm, familiar scent of their favourite diner.

xXx

Food tastes so good. Naminé made that discovery as she practically inhaled all the food in sight. But her stomach was not nearly satisfied. She kept eating and eating, but it seemed like it was all falling into a bottomless pit.

“Hey, slow down, will you?” Riku asked with a smirk plastered on his face. “I don’t want you to throw up all over me five minutes later.”

“Can’sht shtop,” she said, her voice muffled by the half a burger, quarter plate of fries, and side of sausages all stuffed into her mouth at once. “Too hungry.”

“It’s a scientific marvel, really,” he continued, turning around so that his back was against the counter. “How you can fit all that food into that tiny body.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she said, pausing to reach for a napkin and pat her mouth in a very lady-like way. Riku raised an eyebrow.

“How could you possibly take that as a compliment?” he asked, out of genuine curiosity, but also a little teasingly.

“Well, you did say my body was tiny.”

“I meant short.” He smirked. She found herself wishing he would laugh again, even though she knew it wasn’t necessary. She didn’t need it to happen, but she most certainly wanted it to happen.

“Riku Allen! Are you saying I’m fat?” She wasn’t really offended, but she laid out the words in the most melodramatic way possible, since it was her duty as a girl.

“No, I’m saying your short. God, are you deaf or did some of the massive amounts of food you stuffed in your face get in your ears?” Naminé couldn’t think of a good comeback to that, so she just puffed out her cheeks angrily. Riku stared at her for a second, a look of blatant surprise on his face at her ballooned cheeks, before bursting out into peals of laughter. In an instant Naminé’s ridiculous expression disappeared as she stared in wonder at how amazingly beautiful he looked at that moment. It looked even better close-up, and she felt like he was suddenly going to grow feathery wings and take her up into the clouds. After realizing that Naminé wasn’t laughing, but rather just staring at him with a disconcerting intensity, he stopped and looked at her. “What?”

“You’re pretty,” she said bluntly, and Riku not only looked at her like she was crazy, but also went through a series of fits like he was coughing up a hairball.

“You did not just say that,” he remarked, after his slight seizure had passed. It wasn’t threatening, just complete and utter shock.

“I’m sorry, I had to,” she admitted. “I mean, your smile…it’s, like, so amazingly gorgeous…Maybe it’s just because it’s so rare, but…seriously…”

She felt sad. She knew for sure that now that she had said such a thing, Riku would never smile for her again. But she didn’t have the heart to lie to him. His kindness had completely broken through all her defences.

“Great,” sighed Riku sarcastically, rolling his eyes and deepening his frown. “‘A gorgeous smile’…what a manly trait to have.”

“It’s not necessarily a bad thing,” Naminé stated. “I mean, girls would be falling all over you. That is, if you smiled. Which you don’t.”

“I can’t help it. The world sucks.” He paused and took a sip of his coffee—the one thing he had ordered. (“Caffeine keeps me alive,” were his exact words.) “Speaking of situations that suck, exactly what are you so depressed about?”

Naminé sat up straight, which of course caught his attention, and his narrowed eyes watched her carefully as she coughed and turned to him, putting her fork on her plate with a clang.

“I don’t want to beat around the bush,” she remarked, but her heart was pounding and she felt extremely cold and uncomfortably hot at the same time. She clasped her hands together, her fingers shaking miserably. Oh, how she suddenly wished she was anywhere else! She couldn’t think straight. Her voice wasn’t working.

“My, what a lovely shade of green you’ve turned,” Riku commented mockingly, but nonetheless there was a certain tone of gentleness in his voice that suggested that he actually meant to say, “Continue.”

“It’s…well…it’s him.” God forbid, she could not say his name. Riku cocked his head to the side.

“Him?” Riku repeated, staring at her. “I’m afraid I’ll need a little more than that.”

Naminé took a deep breath and tapped her fingers on the countertop for a little bit, before turning to him, her eyes wide with worry and a little fright.

“I…I believe…well, know for a fact, that it’s R…R-Roxas.” Her throat was dry, which made it uncomfortable to speak, but nevertheless the words came out, and Riku looked at her in apparent surprise.

“Wait, Roxas?” he questioned, looking troubled. “You mean your boyfriend?”

She paused, and with a slight nod of her head the magic of the evening was flushed away. The silver-haired boy said nothing for a bit, before standing up promptly and looking at her.

“I think I should take you home,” he said solidly. His eyes actually gave the impression that they could shoot poisonous darts. Apparently looks could kill, depending on the person.

“Take me home?” she repeated, the words sounding ridiculous on her tongue. She felt like she was in one of those romance novels, except she wasn’t the main female character—she was the mean, side one that blocked the main female from getting to the main male. And now that the main male had realized what she was doing, he was kicking her out, but he was too nice to not walk her home. “What do you mean? Don’t you want to know what he said?”

“No, Naminé, surprisingly I do not feel the necessity for you to share your sappy phone conversation with me, but thanks for the invitation.” His voice had gone icy. He wasn’t going to take any crap, she could tell. But she wasn’t trying to give him crap! She just wanted to talk to him, that’s all. Riku walked over to the door and held it open for her, gesturing towards it with his left arm. “Now come on, I’m walking you home.”

Despite all the childish things she had done that day, she felt angry that Riku thought she needed a babysitter. She had always been the babysitter, and not only with her endless supply of siblings, but with her friends too. She had always been the mature one that got them out of trouble, and now it seemed she had switched roles with a waiter at the local diner.

“I don’t need you to accompany me, thanks,” she said angrily. “You know, I’m not five years old, and can find my way back to my apartment at night without a supervisor!”

“Don’t be stupid. There are perverts wandering the streets in big cities like this.”

“And what do you know about that? I thought you came from Destiny Islands! You don’t know anything about big cities, whereas I, who has lived in one all my life, know how to take care of myself so…”

“Fine! Whatever! But if you end up getting raped or something it’s not my problem!” Riku’s voice rose to almost the same level as hers. His words didn’t exactly fly past her, but she was too frustrated with his behaviour to feel hurt.

“LIKE I CARE!!!” she yelled, storming out of the still-open doorway onto the streetlamp-lit streets of Twilight Town.

“HEY, NEXT TIME YOU WANT BREAKFAST, WHY DON’T YOU JUST ASK ROXAS, ‘CAUSE YOU’RE SURE NOT GETTING IT HERE!!!” The door slammed shut with such a startling force that Naminé half-expected the glass to shatter. She found herself looking into the many eyes of the customers still inside of Tifa’s, now looking at her through the clear windows with wide eyes, probably wondering what the hell had just happened.

“Like I know!” she said to a particularly large man in a brown suit who seemed to be the most curious of all. He couldn’t hear her but she figured she got the idea across, because the next moment he quickly looked away.

Naminé walked out into the night with only her thoughts to keep her company. It was getting kind of cold so she rubbed her hands on her arms for warmth. She wanted to show Riku up by doing something particularly dangerous, but she avoided dark alleys nonetheless. She wasn’t stupid, just furious.

Usually by now Naminé would feel like crying. But she didn’t. She felt like breaking stuff—just blowing everything up in this terrible waste-of-time city—but when it got down to it she was sad. She had finally pushed Riku to his limit. And if Roxas found out about the other boy, he would probably be equally as mad, if not more so.

Boys are stupid, she found herself thinking. But she could only lie to herself for so long. She had been the wrong one in this ordeal, jumping to conclusions, acting without thinking. She had hurt a good boyfriend and a better friend all in one go. And now she could no longer deny it.

So anyway, hellooo! This chapter was a long one, I know. I got tired writing it. I got the perfect idea for the ending of this story, and it looks like I’m actually going to be ending it in, like, four chapters or so, maybe less! Can you believe it? I DIDN’T THINK SO!

I can’t believe how many of you hate Roxas all of a sudden! Seeing as I ruined the “surprise” last chapter, I decided that the “surprise” wouldn’t be the “surprise” at all just to “surprise” you! How clever was that? Yeah, I know, you may bow. (Kidding.) Anyway, Riku sounds like a real sweetie in this chapter, like one of those lemon gum drops that taste way too sweet to have lemon in them, but nonetheless look sour. (What am I going on about?) Well, I just wanted you to know that I still prefer jerk Riku. Even though this new lemon drop version is all right.

Read and review!

See ya, chicas!