Deep Inside

Chapter 6

The silence that filled the air around the four of them was stifling. It nearly suffocated Pleakley as he waited an baited breath to see how his friends would react to his confessed love. It was finally out in the open. No more secrets. The very thought of this made the little alien want to faint. He had been hoping that by the time Lilo, Stitch, and Nani had learned this, Jumba and him would have been pretty far into their relationship. But all of that seemed a blurred, forgotten fantasy now.

Pleakley looked down into his lap, fiddling with his hands.

“Love him?” spoke Lilo at last, who small voice piercing through the air.

Pleakley looked up slightly at the little girl right next to him. It was moments like this when her innocence tickled his cheeks pink. She could be so cute when she wanted to be. Pleakley nodded.

“Yes. Love…” he squeaked.

Nani pulled back a bit, having been leaning closer to him before. She crossed her arms, remaining silent and staring him down as Lilo continued to grasp what was going on.

“Well, of course you love Jumba, Pleakley! We all do!” she cried out. Stitch shook his head as he climbed up onto the hammock. He touched her arm, making her look at him and he shook his head once more. This made Lilo cock her head to one side. She looked back up at Pleakley. “That’s not what you mean, is it?”

Pleakley shook his head, a frown on his face. “No. I mean, I ‘love’ him, love him.” “I always knew there was something odd about you” remarked Nani frigidly. Pleakley flinched at her tone. “I was just never able to figure out what.”

Pleakley shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, looking away. This is what he had been dreading. Lilo, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to her sister and inched herself closer to Pleakley, seemingly fascinated. “So, does that mean you guys are a couple? As in dating? You know, like Nani and David are?”

“Lilo!!” cried out a red faced Nani. “We’re not going out!” “Then why do you go on dates with him!?” retorted Lilo, looking back at her sister and giving her a raspberry. Nani rasp berried her right back, having no other retort to offer.

Pleakley closed his eye, sighing. “No…”

“No? Why not!? You just told us you loved him!” demanded Lilo, turning back to her ‘aunt’.

“Because he doesn’t love me back” his voice was so low and so heartbroken, even Nani was taken aback. After moments of silence, he decided to continue. “That’s the whole point. That’s why I’ve been so upset lately. I finally told him and he….said no….”

None of them knew what to say to that. And Pleakley didn’t allow them to think of anything as he concluded, “But its nothing. Everything is just going to stay just as it was, and we’re all going to pretend it never happened…” He began to stand up from the hammock.

Lilo’s mouth dropped slightly at this in shock, looking up at Pleakley as he stood.

“What!? But--! You can’t do that!”

“Why not? If Jumba isn’t interested, then its up to me to swallow my feelings and forget them” he replied. He looked up and met Nani’s gaze, who was still watching him like a hawk.

“I should have known you were like this…” spoke up Nani just as Pleakley was about to leave. He had been about to head down the first step when she turned around and spoke to him. He froze in mid step. “All the dresses, all the make-up, all the girly hobbies….”

Pleakley sighed, his shoulder lowering. “If you don’t like it, Nani, just say so…”

Nani didn’t reply at first, but then said, “I don’t like it.”

Pleakley bit back a whimper. “Well, sorry. That’s just how I am…” And with that he left, trotting down the steps and into the house.

Nani flinched when Lilo kicked her in the ankle. “Ow! Lilo!”

“Why did you say that!? You hurt his feelings!!” she cried out, outraged.

Nani just looked down at her little sister, slightly alarmed, slightly bewildered. “Lilo, baby, did you even understand all that?” she asked, kneeling down in front of Lilo and cupping her face with her hands. “Lilo, the easiest way I can tell you this is that…Pleakley is different. Weird…and…”she tried to think of a better word, but couldn’t. “and……different…”

Lilo just blinked at her. “Yeah, Nani, I know. I’m not stupid.”

Nani frowned a bit, but decided to ignore her little sister’s attitude for now. She ran a hand through Lilo’s black hair. “Sweetie, I think it would be best if we just left Pleakley alone for a little while…”

But Lilo would hear none of it. “No!” she cried out, stomping her foot to the ground. Stitch, who was still standing there, watching everything take place before him, finally moved from his spot to stand behind Lilo. “Naga!”

Nani blinked at the blue creature. “Oh, so you’re taking her side, huh?” she demanded. She should have seen that coming.

“Ih!” confirmed Stitch, nodding once and crossing his arms. He was standing tall next to Lilo, the same height as her. Nani rolled her eyes. “Listen you guys, maybe if you were older, or if you understood a little more on what is going on, you wouldn’t be feeling this way, but trust me, this is for the best okay. Just leave him alone.”

Lilo shook her head, still not wanting to listen. “No, Nani! Pleakley is our friend and he’s apart of our o’hana. I refuse to leave him on his own! He needs us right now! He would be there for us if things were the other way around!” she insisted. She glared up at her older sister, waiting for her to strike again.

But instead, Nani straightened, having been leaning forward slightly while talking to Lilo. She rolled her eyes and groaned, placing her face in the palm of her hand. “Aya. Would you just let it go, Lilo. Please..”

“No, Nani. I refuse to give up on a friend who needs me” she looked at Stitch, who blinked at her, uncrossing his arms. “It’s not Pleakley who I’m going to be talking to..” She had a devious look on her face, a look which Nani had seen one too many times.

“Oh, no, missy! I know what you are thinking!” she lunged for Lilo, but was too late as Lilo jumped past her sister’s leg, running down the steps and towards the house, Stitch right behind her. Nani groaned, standing straight again. “Why me?” she asked, looking up into the now starry night.

---------------

Pleakley pushed the door open the bedroom he shared with Jumba, his eye half open, cheeks flushed, and looking as though he was about to collapse. That was not how he wanted it to go. No one was supposed to know about him. No one. But then he finally spilled his heart out to Jumba, who refused him, and now the rest of the family knows because apparently he wasn’t as secretive as he had hoped.

He collapsed on the bed, face first, and just laid there. He didn’t know what he was going to do now. He had no idea what was going to happen. It was obvious outside that Nani was less than thrilled about the news. He knew she would have that kind of reaction. Lilo seemed pretty positive about the situation, but then again, she was very young and probably didn’t know the full magnitude of what was happening.

Not that it mattered. Everything was different now. He couldn’t leave even if he wanted to. Jumba and Lilo certainly wouldn’t allow it. Jumba had made it quite clear that though he wasn’t at all interested in a relationship with him, he did not want his one-eyed one to leave.

That in itself made Pleakley confused. If he was so insistent that they not have a relationship, why was he also so insistent that he stay? That seemed to prove that he meant something to Jumba, just….not what he wanted.

“Ahh!” cried Pleakley, suddenly realizing he needed air. His face had been in the mattress of the bed and hadn’t been breathing. He panted a little, feeling pathetic. Why couldn’t things just go the way he wanted them to? Why did things have to be so difficult?

-----

The next morning the sun was shining and the birds were chirping. It was Saturday, so Lilo did not have to be at school, meaning there was less to be done for Nani to do before she rushed off to work that morning.

Lilo ended up sleeping in, not getting up until after Nani had left for work. Since she had the morning shift, she had to leave early. So Lilo found herself getting her own breakfast that morning, Pleakley being no where in sight. Usually he was up even before Nani, already attempting to make breakfast. It was just as well. Lilo figured she would be able to eat real food for breakfast for once. She grabbed the cereal box from the lower shelf, just able to reach.

She was pouring herself some milk into her cereal when Jumba walked in, wearing his pajamas. He yawned largely, then looked down at Lilo. “Oh, good morning, little girl. How would you be this morning?” he asked her.

Lilo shrugged. “Alright, I guess. How about you?” she asked in a friendly way. She sat at the table, Jumba doing the same a moment later. Jumba didn’t bother with breakfast, instead he picked up the morning newspaper that had been sitting on the table from where Nani had left it earlier, opening it up and starting to read it.

“Jumba, where’s Pleakley?” came Lilo’s voice several minutes later.

Jumba’s four eyes blinked as they moved from the newspaper to the little girl sitting beside him. “Hmm? Oh, Pleakley. Hmmm, little one-eyed one is still in bed.”

“In bed? Is he okay?” inquired Lilo, cornered.

“Is hard to tell. I am sure he is fine. Just needs to sleep. Spent most of night crying. I am surprised I got as much sleep as I got” replied Jumba, shaking his head and turning the page of the paper.

Lilo frowned at this news, dropping her spoon into the bowl of her cereal, ignoring it for a moment. “Wait, he was crying? Why was he crying all night?”

“I do not know. He cries over many things” was Jumba’s gruff answer.

Lilo looked away, falling silent. She looked down at her bowl of cereal, deep in thought. It was no coincidence that the night he confesses his love of Jumba to the family, he spends most of the night crying. Lilo furrowed her brow, figuring out what to do.

“Jumba, I think I know why Pleakley was crying last night…” whispered Lilo. Though she must have said nit louder than she thought, for Jumba seemed to have heard her perfectly.

“Oh, do you?” he grinned, amusement on his face.

“Yes…” Lilo gulped, not exactly sure what this was going to do or start. “See, we kinda have found out something about Pleakley last night…” Jumba stopped reading the paper at this, turning away and looking at Lilo. “Stitch and I and now Nani, found out that…he has feelings for you. Pleakley didn’t mean for us to find out, we just sort of figured it out on our own…”

There was silence between them for a while. An awkward silence. Then Jumba huffed, pushing the newspaper aside. “Hmp! Finally you silly earth people notice! That silly alien upstairs has been so obvious! I admit, I didn’t truly find out until just the other day, but I always had my suspicions. He was so girly, it had to have been true!”

Lilo nodded. “Well, yeah, apparently Nani had her suspicions too, but he finally came out and told us after we went to him and talked about it. We actually thought it was something else, but then found out it wasn’t.” She was hoping Jumba would ask about what they had originally thought had been taking place, figuring the large alien would take offence to it.

The awkward silence fell over them once more as Lilo poked at her cereal, no longer hungry. She kept glancing at Jumba, who had gone back to his reading, kicking her legs as she tried to think of what to say next.

“Well, Jumba, Pleakley seems pretty upset about all this” she spoke at last.

“Hmm. Little one gets upset about a lot of things…” grumbled Jumba.

“I know, but I mean, this seems to really be bothering him…” continued Lilo, hoping her alien ‘uncle’ would see what she was talking about.

“Listen, little girl…” sighed Jumba, pushing down the paper once more so that he was looking at her. “I have already discussed this with Pleakley. He knows my answer and I am sticking to. This is no place for little girls to be getting into. Not your concern. Now, please….I now you just want what’s best, but everything is under control…”

Lilo frowned sadly at this, knowing she wasn’t going to get any other answer. She hung her head, no longer hungry. A moment later, movement from the doorway caught her attention, and she saw Pleakley standing there in the doorway to the kitchen in his nightshirt and three mismatched slippers. He looked heartbroken.

“Don’t waste your time, Lilo. I’ve already tried getting through to him, but there’s just nothing I can do…” he sighed dramatically. Lilo looked at him, his eye red, and noting that he looked as though he could start sobbing at any moment.

“You did get through to me and I give you my answer!” groused Jumba, giving Pleakley a side glare. Pleakley looked hurt at this glare, wrapping his arms about himself.

“But Jumba--” began Lilo.

Jumba finally stood up. “This is lovely. I am now unable to sit down to read paper without being pestered by little cries of displeasure. I give you answer. I am sorry you dislike my answer, but it is my honest answer. Now if you both don’t mind, I will be reading silly earth news in the living room.” With that he stormed off into the living, where they could hear him sit down at a moment later on the couch.

Pleakley and Lilo both sigh at the same time. This makes Pleakley blink as he looks up at the little girl sitting across from him at the table.

“Wait a minute…” he begins unsurely. He points a finger at Lilo. “Were jus trying to convince Jumba to…” He isn’t able to finish his sentence.

Lilo smiles and nods, which makes Pleakley smile. “Don’t worry, Pleakley. I’m on your side. Nani can think what she wants about you, but I don’t see anything wrong with you.”

Pleakley beamed with delight and just as he was about to stand up and go over to hug her, he stopped in mid-motion. “Wait, you’re only saying that because….Oh, you’re too little to really understand what’s going on…” he mused.

“I can go into detail and prove to you what I know” offered Lilo deviously. This made Pleakley blush cherry red and shake his hands in the air.

“No, no!” he cried out in a high voice. “That won’t be necessary!” He looked away.

Lilo stood from her chair and walked up to Pleakley, taking his hand. This startled him as he watched her, his eye wide. “Don’t worry, Pleakley. We’ll get Jumba to change his mind.” She smiled up at him warmly, while all Pleakley could do was look down at her in bewilderment.

-------------

Author’s Note: Oh! I am so sorry! But I finally updated this story! Oh, its been such a long time since I’ve worked on this! It was so hard to finish up this chapter. My apologies as to how short it is, but its all I’ve got right now! I’ve really lost touch with this story and idea since I’ve been working so hard on other things. I’ve been getting reviews and people saying they want me to update this and I did, I just wish it was better and longer. But eventually something will be happening, cause Lilo there seems to have a plan. Shame I don’t know it yet. Ha!~ But maybe now this’ll get my wheels going. Again, sorry it took so long for me to update. Hope you enjoyed it!