A City Story, Day 4

[Anwen]

Aria felt Dolphin Boy's eyes on her and she slowly turned to face him. His eyes were no longer pure ice. Rather, he had a flicker of warmth in his once freezing gaze.

Then he smiled.

His smile was rusty with disuse, she could tell. But even then it awoke a desire in the one who sees it to smile back. So she did. "Let's start over. Hi. My name's Aria. What's yours?"

[Lithium]

Mr. and Mrs. Sonoda smiled.

"Well, despite how little we are able to see her, she is dear to us. Please treat her well."

Takeo came in through the swinging doors just as Cheiko was bowing to her parents in respect before they left.

"Are you leaving already, Sonoda-sama?"

Cheiko winced at the formality again.

"Yes, Kobayashi-sama. We finished our meal."

He stared at her blankly. "Kobayashi-sama? Seriously?"

"Sonoda-sama? Seriously?"

Takeo smiled slightly. "Then am I permitted to refer to you as Chi-chan, again?"

Cheiko smiled. "Yeah. Sure, Ke-kun." She looked back at Jason and took his hand again. "We've got to go."

[Cytherea]

Jason

Cheiko smiled. "Yeah. Sure, Ke-kun." She looked back at Jason and took his hand again. "We've got to go."

"Yeah." Jason smiled at 'Ke-kun' and walked with Cheiko to the dining room. It was still dark in the restaurant, except for the lanterns and candles, but he could see the brunette easily.

Jason thought they would be home free, except when he heard a voice, right next to him, that he knew wasn't Cheiko.

"Hello, Jason."

He whirled around to face the brunette. Her rich voice still sent shudders down his spine.

"Wasn't expecting to see you around so soon, Jason. Wait... last time I saw you, was in high-school, right?" she laughed lightly. "How could I forget? So many memories made there."

"Bad ones, Bonnie, bad ones." he said. His voice was tight with emotion.

"Aw, don't say that. You know you loved it every time I made you give me your lunch. And all those times when you didn't, I told the principle, she was soooo gullible, that you hit me. Then you got in trouble... you do know I had a crush on you, right?"

"Don't even go there, Bonnie." he took Cheiko's hand again. "Let's go."

"Oh." Bonnie said, staring at Cheiko. "You, should leave him alone. He's mine, by the way, even if he doesn't know it yet."

"Excuse me?" Jason said incredulously. "Don't say that type of thing to her, Bonnie." his voice quavered with a sudden gain of authority. "You bullied me once, but not anymore. There's no principle to run to now, especially with fake stories."

Alex

"Let's start over. Hi. My name's Aria. What's yours?"

"It's Alex." he rested the violin gently on his shoulder. "I'll be blunt here; why do you have wings?"

[Lithium]

Cheiko smiled at the girl. "Now, we'll be leaving. It was a... pleasure... to meet you."

She took Jason's hand and walked out of the restaurant with him, looking over her shoulder once to smirk at the girl before returning to herself and Jason.

When they were outside, under the awning, she turned to him and kissed his cheek. "I don't normally show that kind of affection on the first date, but most guys don't stand up for me like that. It was really sweet. Thank you."

[Cytherea]

She just kissed me. She just kissed me. That just happened. She just kissed me.

"It was really sweet. Thank you."

"Uh, uh," he tried to find words. "Sure... sure, Cheiko. You don't have to thank me. If Bonnie ever got mad at you, she'd find a way to bully you." Jason took both of Cheiko's hands in his. "I really don't mind that you are a Subterrean, at all, but Bonnie would be delighted to know that. It makes her bullying even easier. She's always been annoying like that." he looked into her eyes. "If she ever does bully you, tell me, okay?"

[Lithium]

Cheiko nodded. "Of course. I mean, she won't get the chance to, but yeah. I'll tell you."

The rain was slowly coming to a halt and the sun broke through some clouds that were moving past them.

"Looks like the rain stopped. Maybe you could come back to the house and hang out. We could catch a movie later this evening, if you wanted. I'll buy popcorn. Or, better yet, we can buy some candy and pop some popcorn and bring it to the theater."

[Cytherea]

"Looks like the rain stopped. Maybe you could come back to the house and hang out. We could catch a movie later this evening, if you wanted. I'll buy popcorn. Or, better yet, we can buy some candy and pop some popcorn and bring it to the theater."

Jason grinned.

"Sounds good! But say," he said, a sudden thought occurring to him. "I met your family; would you like to meet mine? Or at least my two brothers? We could drop by my house and say I hi to them, give them the peanut butter juice sticks, and then either hang out at my house or your house. Then we could go catch a movie, like you said."

[Lithium]

"That would be great. How about we hang out at your place. Matthew left on a business trip in United Europa, so Missy is in a bit of a funk. She always gets all depressed when her brother isn't around. It's kind of weird how dependent she is on him... anyways, what are you sibling's names?"

[Cytherea]

"Anyways, what are your sibling's names?"

"The older one is Joshua, normally called Josh. The younger brother is Eli. My sister's out of the house; she got married, and moved away. Josh and Eli used to be going to public school, but they're home-schooled now, so they'll still be at the house." he smiled at her. "You're going to love them."

[Lithium]

"Home-schooled? That's so cool!" Cheiko said. "Let's call a cab, just in case it starts to rain again."

She dashed over to the side of the street and raised her hand. "Taxi!"

An automated Taxi pulled over in front of her and its door opened.

"Here we are, Jason!" Cheiko said before sliding in. She let it scan her fingerprint for billing information, then it said, "Welcome, Miss Sonoda."

"And Jason Underhill," Cheiko added.

"Welcome, Mr. Underhill."

[Cytherea]

"Welcome, Mr. Underhill."

"Thank you, taxi." Jason said, grinning.

He told the taxi where his house was, and it started driving. Within a few moments, they pulled up in front of a large, beautiful house.

"This is it." Jason said. He hopped out of the cab and then quickly walked around to the other side. He opened the door and helped Cheiko out. He walked her to the door of his house and punched in the password and also unlocked the door. He winked at her.

"We try to be extra careful."

He walked inside the well lit house and shouted up the stairs.

"Eli! Josh! Come on down! I have someone for you to meet!"

There was a thudding of chairs pushing away from desks, and foot-steps running throughout the house.

"It's amazing how loud two boys can be." Jason said, shaking his head. "Make that three." he shouted again. "Hurry up, guys!"

[Lithium]

Cheiko felt nervous. More nervous than she had in a long time.

They're just some teenaged boys. It'll be fine. They'll––

She looked at Jason and then back up the stairs just as the boys emerged from the upper level.

[Cytherea]

The two boys appeared at the top of the stairs. When they saw Cheiko, they hurriedly brushed their hair with their fingers and straightened their clothing. They scrambled down the stairs.

"Good morning, ma'am!" Josh said, taking an extravagant bow to Cheiko.

"You dunce!" Eli said, shouldering him out of the way. He bowed as well. "It's the afternoon!"

"Oh who cares! Good morning sounds better than good afternoon does any old day."

"Guys," Jason said, a smile breaking onto his face. "This is Miss Cheiko Sonoda."

"Your beauty is surpassed by no one, your eyes sparkle like diamonds! You-"

"That's awful poetry, Josh!" Eli said. He cleared his throat. "You are as beautiful as a rose, and your eyes freeze me with their beauty." He furrowed his eyebrows and frowned. "Wait... that doesn't sound right..."

"Of course it doesn't! You made it up!"

Jason sighed.

"They're always like this. Especially around pretty girls."

[Lithium]

Cheiko blushed slightly and grinned. "You're going to make me blush. Hajime mashite, Josh-san and Eli-san. Douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu." She bowed at the waist to them, then smiled. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

[Cytherea]

The two boys ginned together.

"Beautiful and smart! I love it when girls say something like that to me." Eli said with a sigh.

"Ha! She was not talking to you, Eli! You think the most outlandish things sometimes."

"But let me guess," Eli said, turning towards Jason. "She's really going to be our undercover school-teacher that you hired from far away lands, to make sure we finish our homework, right?"

"Wha...?" Jason said, staring back at his brother.

"You got me this time, Jason." Eli said with a despairing sigh. "When you have to bring a beauty like this as our teacher, we can't disobey her."

[Lithium]

Cheiko looked at Jason with a wry smile. "Well, Jason, I do have my teaching degree."

These boys are so funny! Just like Ke-kun and his brothers when they were their age. I remember it all so well... But, that doesn't matter anymore.

[Cytherea]

Cheiko looked at Jason with a wry smile. "Well, Jason, I do have my teaching degree."

"No, no." Jason said quickly, shaking his head. "You do not want to try to home-school these boys."

"I don't mind." Josh said. "The other tutor he got for us was fat old Mr. Leeds."

"Joshua!" Jason said, shocked.

"Well he was!"

"I don't care if he was." Jason said carefully. "That is a very rude thing to say."

"He was, though." Josh muttered under his breath.

"I can vouch for that. Fat, old, and terrible at teaching anything." Eli said with a grimace. "All quite far from Miss Cheiko."

"Boys!" Jason said. He grabbed both boys by the ears. "You now are assigned to write, 'I will not say rude things' 300 times on a piece of paper, and finish it by tonight."

"Aw, man!" Eli said with a groan.

"Yes Mother." Josh said.

Jason raised an eyebrow.

"Shush, Josh! You know he doesn't like us calling him that! Hey!" Eli smiled at Cheiko. "She can be our mother! Or, better yet, she could marry Jason, and then... oh wait, I'd better not give them any ideas. Then she will make us do school!"

[Lithium]

Cheiko blushed then said quickly, "I don't think I could handle being your mother. Plus, I would feel like I was intruding." She looked away, remembering what Jason had told her about his parent's boating accident.

[Cytherea]

"I don't think I could handle being your mother. Plus, I would feel like I was intruding." She looked away.

"No, you wouldn't be intruding. Not at all. Why-" Jason quickly blushed bright scarlet and bit his tongue to stop himself.

"Did you bring us something?" Eli asked quickly. Even though he was known for his trouble-making, he knew when to help his brother out of a tough spot. If he chose to. "I bet you didn't."

"No, ah, I actually did." Jason said quickly. He reach into his coat pocket and handed the peanut butter juice sticks to the two boys.

"Have fun." Jason said with a grin.

[Cytherea]

Shawlin and Mandi had been working on his book for only a few minutes before Mrs. Jras entered the library. Shawlin looked up and smiled.

"Mandi and I were just working on a book of mine. I thought that it might need a second opinion to help it vary a little."

"Oh, so you write books, Mr. Hynour?" Mrs. Jras asked. "I seem to recall Mandi reading some books by someone with a familiar name to yours."

"Yes, I've wrote a few different series."

"How do you make the time? Surely you can't be out of college yet."

"I am, ma'am." Shawlin said with a smile. "I graduated when I was a lot younger, and now I teach at schools. Unfortunately, my school I was about to teach at burned down the day I came to teach."

[Lithium]

Cheiko smiled. "Okay, Jason, we should check the movie showtimes. I'll need to call Missy to let her know I'll be out a while longer."

She smiled warmly at the boys before she pulled out her Portable and stepped outside to talk to Missy.

I hope she is in a better mood.

[Cytherea]

"Whew." Jason let his breath out and wiped his brow. "You guys have got to improve your manners. Especially around ladies."

"You mean especially around your girlfriend." Josh said with a yawn. Before Jason could say anything, Josh broke open his peanut butter juice stick and put it to his lips. Jason had to smother a laugh as Josh's face started changing.

"What's the matter, Josh?" Eli said. "You? Not able to eat something made with peanut butter?"

Eli quickly started to suck on his juice stick, and his face turned green. Quickly, he pulled it away from him. A shudder went through his body as he swallowed.

"Peanut butter from the jar is a much safer idea."

[Zinna]

Mandi

"Unfortunately, my school I was about to teach at burned down the day I came to teach."

"Interesting. Very unfortunate Mr. Hynour." Mrs Jras said.

"Mother, may I please have some hot chocolate?" Mandi asked politely.

Mrs. Jras nodded, "You may dear."

Mandi got up, smoothed her dress and turned to Shawlin saying, "Would you like a cup of hot chocolate, Shawlin?"

[Cytherea]

Shawlin looked up at Mandi and smiled.

"Yes please. Thank you very much."

Mandi went to get the hot chocolate. Shawlin turned back to Mrs. Jras and forced himself to feel comfortable.

You can have a conversation with her. Just act normal.

Before Shawlin could think of something to say to her, she pursed her lips and asked him a question.

"So, Mr. Hynour, besides being a teacher and writing books, what do you do in your spare time?"

"I love reading." He gestured to the library with a smile. "I love reading and writing books. Oh, and you can call me Shawlin."

"What about your family, Shawlin?"

"My father has a good job and takes care of my mother and me extraordinarily well."

"Where did you go to school? You obviously know a lot to be teaching at one."

"Oh, uh..." Shawlin folded his hands. "I went to a... university."

"Which one?"

"Well, I was taught by Dr. Philesde, at the University of Planets."

"What? Why... why that place is nearly a legend!"

"Very expensive, I will agree with you there." Shawlin frowned, and he looked much older than he really was. "While I was there, I was singled out by Dr. Philesde, who gave me a very, very thorough education."

[Zinna]

"And what about your future plans, Shawlin. Do you have any idea who you want to work with or be with?" Mrs. Jras slid the last remark in just as Mandi called, "Shawlin, would you like anything in your hot chocolate?"