Love - For Real? (COMPLETE)

Blurry Eyes

TW: Menitioning of death in family, family issues (yes, the entire book has traces of that, but in this chapter, it's a big issue)

Bryce's PoV

I knock on the door of the room Naomi is in. As the nurse leads us inside, Ronnie holds up three fingers with a smile. "How many?" Naomi gives him a cheeky grin and flips him the bird. "More than that, that's for sure." All of us laugh out loud. "Yup, she's conscious, alright," Yuki says.

My smile, however, is wiped off my face as I get closer to her. "How are you?" She gives me a beaming smile and a thumbs-up. "Absolutely fine! A few more minutes and we'll be ready to go!" "Nothing knocks you down, huh?" "And you love me for that!" she exclaims to answer my question. "Fair enough," I reply with a low chuckle.

15 minutes later

"Hey, Mikey, you wanna come hang out with me, Yuki and Naomi?" Mikey shakes his head. "Nah, sorry, can't this time. Gotta help out at a voluntary fire department and stuff." I punch his shoulder softly with a smirk. "You really want to work yourself to death, huh?" Mikey rolls his eyes in amusement. "I'll manage, don't you worry. Anyway, see y'all later!"

"What up, at least let a punk come into your crib!" Ronnie asks of us. "Fuck you, we'll see you at school," I reply. And the complaining begins in three, two, one...

"Ah, don't you two go and hate me 'cause I kick ass on stage! Maybe if you give it your all at practice, you wouldn't look like two lazy sacks of shit on stage! See you around, losers!" Naomi and I look at Ronnie walking away before we chuckle to ourselves. "What an idiot," we mutter.

Naomi breathes a sigh of relief once we get home. "Finally, I can get that ugly pink out of my hair..." "Don't you dare, missy, this looks pretty on you!" I roll my eyes at the mother-daughter banter. "Give her a break, will ya? I personally prefer her hair in its natural color." As soon as Naomi goes to the bathroom, Yuki leans towards me. "Hey, can we have a chat after eating?" .

..Have I done something wrong again? No, wait, I remember, I wanted to tell her something that I have been carrying around with me internally around other people. "It's getting late," Yuki remarks. I shrug. "I guess. The moon is beautiful, isn't it?" Yuki tries to not laugh out loud. "Are you trying to laugh at me?" She clears her throat. "No, no, I'm not trying to, but that sentence is a way to say 'I love you' in Japanese!"

"You know very well that I did not mean it like that," I mutter in response. "Of course not. You don't know anything about our culture and-!" "Excuse me, but didn't you want to talk about something else?" I ask, wanting to cut straight to the chase. "Sure. So, what did you want to tell me last time?"

"You know how Naomi falls unconscious, right? Before she joined the band, I had that too. Like, for two years." She looks at me in surprise. "...Seriously?" I simply nod. "Hm. And how did you stop...you know." I shrug. "Oddly enough, it all stopped when Naomi had her first live event with us. I don't know why it all stopped there." "The power of love?" Yuki asks with a small grin. I chortle. "Yeah, whatever you say..."

"That doesn't explain why you all were so shocked. At least your friends should've gotten used to it, right?" "Well, it could've been something worse, we didn't know." Then, Yuki gives me a cheerful smile. "So, what's the problem with telling her? You just tell her, you two concentrate on one another, boom! Like High School Musical!" I roll my eyes at her comparison.

"Could work. But it's as difficult as telling Naomi that her dad... Well, you know." Yuki walks towards the back door. "Do what you think is right," Yuki advises. "Yeah. Oh, and one more thing." Yuki turns back towards me with a questioning look. "Huh?" "You do know I'm not Zac Efron, right?" She giggles at my comment. "Right."