The small group went quiet, as Savanna's gaze finally focused. She glanced between the faces trying to figure out who said it.
"What?" She asked before looking past them straight into the eyes of the young man sitting across from her.
Like a rush of water, her face began to flush, and her heart began to pound in her chest. She was sitting across from the guy who she just admitted she had a crush on, covered in peach tea. Gaping like a fish, she tried to make sense of her emotions; embarrassment, anger, irritation… joy? The joy she felt at seeing his face was undeniable— and yet she kept on denying it.
"Kaido!" She laughed weakly, standing to try and make things a little less awkward. She ignored the throbbing as her vision faltered again with her sudden shift from sitting to standing. She was fine.
"What brings you here? I seriously doubt you had any intentions to run into me— especially quite so literally." She tried to act normal for her friends, assuming they would start questioning her the second he was gone. She'd rather only have to explain one of those things.
He just looked at her so confused, like he was extremely confused and the others could see it on his face.
what in the world is she doing?
He noticed how her cheeks turned red when she saw him, and on his pale face his cheeks might have turned a smidgen pink. It wasn't much noticeable outside of him having run and his face being a little flushed.
He also noticed how she seemed a bit dizzy, and moved over to her side to support her incase she might have fallen which probably looked like he was worried about her.
He wasn't.
….
Maybe a bit.
He chided her about how she shouldn't stand up so quickly after banging her head on the ground.
He sighed as he moved to get napkins, and then returned to her as he dabbed the napkins on her clothes muttering things. He was acting weirdly too to say the least.
Savanna just watched him, trying not to think much of him getting up to stand by her side— or him telling her she needed to be more careful.
It was normal- this was normal. Another human being, caring about another after running into them.
When he started dabbing her with napkins, that's when it felt weird.
"I can do that— you don't have to." And quickly she grabbed his hand to stop him.
Now she was making things awkward.
"I- erm… I got it. Thank you though." Quietly she tried to soak up the tea, but there was no way it was coming out without a wash.
When she grabbed his hands to stop him from dabbing her outfit to get the tea off of her outfit was when he realized what he was fully doing and cleared his throat.
"Right. No problem." He looked away from her as he backed up a bit. He did ended up looking back at her, and letting out a sigh.
"That's not coming out without a good wash." He rubbed his face as he spoke.
He put a hand on his neck as he looked around the room, before looking back eventually at her.
Keegan had been standing on the other side of Savanna, watching the whole speculation. Looking Akira up and down a questioning smirk pulled at his lips. The smirk grew as he stood to return to the back, snickering the whole way. Savanna wanted to die of embarrassment.
They would be having a long conversation later- and she was not looking forward to the copious amount of teasing she was going to receive from him.
"I had a feeling," She sighed, dropping her hands to her sides. "Well, let's hope it comes out. Guess I should go home and change then."
Untying her apron, she slipped it off from around her neck, throwing it over her arm. She didn't make much effort to move from where she was standing, though.
"What are you doing here, by the way? Don't you usually go to the shop on the other side of town?"
"Oh uh, yeah I guess you should." He put a hand on his neck as he let out a sigh, being internally frustrated with himself.
"I should be asking you why your here, I thought for sure I wouldn't run into you here." He didn't go to the other place because he didn't want to risk bumping into her, but also his run took him far away from the original place he would go too so he needed a new place to stop by for a bit of a rest before going back.
"I am here because I was going for a run and ended up stopping near here and figured I would get a drink."
He sighed softly as he rubbed his face, "which eventually got on your clothes."
"So you were trying to avoid me." She quietly pulled her hair out of the bun she had it clipped in, glancing up at him as it fell just beyond her shoulders. "Did you figure I would hate you if you poured… what is it? Peach tea? Did you figure I'd finally leave you alone if you poured it down my shirt?"
Looking up at him, she crossed her arms below her chest, not standing at her full height. He already towered over her at her normal height, but the distance was more evident when she slouched.
'Probably have to stand on my toes to reach eye level… or lip- NOPE! Do not go there!' Shaking the thought out of her head, she slowly began to walk toward the back. "I'll see you guys later- I probably should head home." She waved to the people in the back before shuffling back towards him.
Great, now it sounded like he did it on purpose. Which, he didn't. Spilling peach tea on her was entirely accidental and he hadn't even noticed it was her right away.
He sighed, looking speechless for a little bit as she moved to put her stuff.
"Hey wait- I may have been avoiding you but I didn't plan to spill peach tea on anyone today. I had no clue you were even here. I was actually planning on drinking that tea just so you know."
He rubbed his throat as he spoke, realizing just how dry his throat was along with his mouth. He stupidly didn't bring his water bottle with him on his run and so he was left without water.
He crossed his arms as he swallowed, feeling his dry mouth.
He was gonna end up gulping down water when he got home.
He turned to leave as well
Savannah felt a little smile attempting to pull at her lips when he began to defend himself. Clearly, her teasing didn't translate well.
"I'm messing with you- I seriously doubted you would be so petty. To waste seven dollars for a tea you wouldn't drink seems very unlike what I know of you."
She was glancing over her shoulder, watching his mannerisms while she walked. Her pace was average, so she wasn't paying too much attention to where she was going. She couldn't seem to take her gaze off of him, watching how perfectly everything he did seemed.
It was foolish of her to stare, knowing he'd notice eventually, but didn't care if he noticed.
If he was uncomfortable with it, why was he following her in the first place?
"Wait, you didn't get your drink." She stated abruptly, blinking out of her trance. "Why didn't you go get a second one?"
He then realized that instead of moving on from the moment and going back to get another one from the counter he had just been talking to her the whole time.
"Eh, I'm going to head back anyway I'm sure I'll be fine without getting a drink." He let out a sigh, knowing it would be a long and thirsty way back to his house, or at the very least the Cafe.
He looked forward towards the doors and outside, wondering how long it would take him to get back to his house from here.
Probably at least 10 minutes of jogging.
He moved to go to the doors and push them open, deciding to hold it for her, to be gentlemen for once in his life.
"Well, are you coming or what?"
Savannah blinked a couple of times before walking through the door, biting the inside of her cheek to keep back any words that she may accidentally say and embarrass herself. She focused her gaze ahead of her, trying not to think about him.
"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to bump into you." She paused, glancing back at him after a moment, realizing how that sounded. "For the tea I mean"
Her voice was soft, and she tried to pass the comment off as normal, yet she couldn't help but notice how her apology could be taken in other contexts. Maybe he could accept it, or at least hear her out on it by… well curving around the actual apology.
He paused before moving to go on his run again, maybe he would hear her out once. Just once, then he never had to speak to her again.
Did he really want that to be how this would end?
….he didn't want to think about the answer.
"…fine. you want to talk, then let's talk." He spoke, turning around to face her with his arms crossed. Now or never right? Well he decided on the now option for whatever reason.
"Is there anything you want to say to try and fix what happened that day?" He spoke, raising a brow.
"What?" Savannah barely got out, coming to a stop. Disbelief was painted over her face, as she tried to figure out what was happening. "You- you're really…"
Her voice wasn't working as she stood there, similar to a deer in headlights. She gaped, forming multiple words, only slight scoffs coming out as she choked on her words.
'Words… say something, ANYTHING!'
"Wait- I've already tried to apologize." She finally stated, looking up at him as her brain began to work again. "The amount of notes, the amount of times I tried- none of it has been good enough." She found herself laughing a bitter, and exasperated laugh.
"So why not you enlighten me on what my other options are- because I'm running out of ideas here." Crossing her arms, she stood taller. "The only thing that I can think of is to get on my knees and beg- and I'm sure you understand I have enough dignity and self-respect not to do that."
He couldn't help but feel slightly frustrated at her response, I mean, seriously. How could she think that putting a couple of notes in his locker was considered enough of an apology?
"Oh please, nobody asked you to get on your knees and beg. I'm just asking you to put effort into a spoken apology." He continued to have his arms crossed, staring down at her. His eyes kind of darted around, looking at her eyes and then at her body language.
"Well?'
(Hey- I've gotten sick like four times, and had no motivation for anything, so I'm so sorry about that.)
"I have tried." She argued, looking up into his eyes, struggling to hold eye contact. "I just haven't had much success."
The two weren't at eye level, but they were pretty close. She had to look up at him, but she wasn't craning her neck.
Frustration simmered throughout her thoughts, trying to get over herself and say the simplest words. The words that would fix everything.
'Two words… that's all you have to say. It won't be perfect, but it's what he's asked for.'
But to her horror, three words tumbled out. And none of them was an apology.
"I like you."
Three words left her throwing a hand up to her mouth, and eyes going wide. Three words changed everything- whether either of them would accept it or not.
(OH my gosh that sounds like a lot! Well I'm glad your better now.)
His eyes widened, he was expecting her to maybe apologize finally. He wasn't expecting…that.
Did she really just say that? Was she being honest..?
He looked down at her, and ..his gaze softened at her. He saw how she reacted to herself saying anything, and a bit of flicker of distrust in his eyes was shown.
"You…you aren't lying are you?"
(Aha as am I!)
Every single one of the alarms in her head was blaring. Each gut instinct was to back out now and bolt.
But her heart? In the middle of all the panic, her heart felt fine.
So despite her more logical judgment, she shook her head slowly.
"No… and I think it's part of why I've had such a hard time apologizing." She decided, looking up at him with a gentler expression. "I've treated you horribly because I don't know what to do with you. Not because of anything you did, but… well let's say it's been a long time coming. I mean I know I can't run around never apologizing for mistakes I've made, but I really wish I could."
With a heavy sigh filled with relief, she ran a hand down her face as her shoulders relaxed.
"I mean I confessed that instead of apologizing. Seriously look at me and tell me I don't have a problem." Looking back up at him, a sheepish smile settled into place. "Now go ahead, feel free to make fun of me. It's only fair."
She wasn't lying, which mean she genuinely liked him back. It wasn't another game, it was real. He didn't really think about making fun of her, he definitely could but that wasn't what was on his mind.
He found himself glancing down at her lips as she spoke, before immediately looking away and blushing a bit.
He cleared his throat, "well, you certainly picked the best time to confess, distract me from you not apologizing because I'd be happy you like me back."
He half jokes, before shaking his head.
"You are such a dork, you know that? Your lucky I still like you." He moved to mess up her hair.
"Yeah, yeah I know…" She let out a weak laugh, before looking down at the ground awkwardly.
Having braced herself for the endless teasing, and mocking, she quite honestly didn't expect his next word.
"You… you what?" Eyes wide with confusion, both from the little act of affection, and the subtle but clearly said statement. There was no denying he said what he did.
Unless… he didn't mean it the way she thought he did.
But she would even take that if she was being honest. She would have assumed he would have despised her by now.
(Yo, I just remembered she still thinks his name is Kaido T-T so… yeah haha)
(oops lol she'll find out it's not soon)
He looked down at her as he waited for her response to what he had said. Was he actually letting someone in for once? Well, we will see. He was going to give her at the very least a chance.
If she screwed it up, He wouldn't forgive her again. Though he didn't exactly care to think about that right now.
"I, like, you. Yeah, i said it. I like you." He shook his head bit it was playfully."do I hav to repeat a million times?" He joked a bit. Hm, he was in a joke mood for once. She probably hadn't seen it at all.
Yes, he could make jokes.
Jaw having gone slack, Savanna stared at him in disbelief. Finally processing his words, she shook her head in defiance.
"You're kidding- there's absolutely no way you're not pulling my leg right now."
Turning on her heel she rubbed at her face, assuming it would wake her up from whatever dream she was in… not because it was a dream or anything. It was just so unrealistic there was no way it was reality.
This had to be his way of teasing her- a cruel way to do it, but that's what this had to be. She couldn't make herself believe it was anything else. It couldn't be anything else.
"In what universe would this actually be easy? This has got to be some sort of… cruel joke. Or- or a strange parallel universe! There's no way you actually just said you liked me."
He sighed softly, moving to bend down to her height and tip her head forward. He moved to plant a kiss on her lips before pulling away immediately afterwards. He was blushing.
"It's real Savanah."
He hoped this was enough. He didn't want her to seriously not believe him after all this time.
