Youth Unsupervised

Chapter 14-Irresistibly Close

School started again, which usually made me irritable because it meant I had to focus my energy in pretending to give a crap. But this time I was actually looking forward to a sure fire way to see Saki every day, or at least I thought it was going to be a sure fire way, until I turned up to the first day of the second term, and she didn't even bother to come in at all. 

Great. She was pulling her disappearing act again.

Aside from the first few days she'd missed in the spring, she had been pretty good about going the rest of the time. Maybe her problem was returning after breaks. Hiromasa had to go help his mom, so I was left to go home by myself, annoyed and grumpy.

"Yo," Saki said, giving me a wave as I opened the door to my room.

She was laying belly down on the rug, kicking her legs in the air lazily, surrounded by various manga titles. A box of sweet corn flavored snack sticks sat to the left of her. She pulled one out and nibbled on it as she flipped the page to the manga she was currently reading.

I suppose it should have surprised me that she was there, but it didn't really. Maybe I was getting used to her random behavior, whatever that meant. I wanted to be mad that she'd ditched class, but I was too happy to see her to hold any real grudge.

I set my bag down by the door and sat near her on the rug, leaning my back against the bed. "Why did you wear your school uniform if you knew you weren't going to go to school?"

She shrugged without taking her eyes from the page. "I thought I was going to go, and then decided this sounded like a lot more fun."

I sighed. "Are you going to go tomorrow?"

"Yes, Mother," she sneered.

"How did you get in here, anyway?" I asked. "I know I locked the door."

"There's a tree in your front yard that lets you climb right up onto that small piece of roof that's directly below your window." She flipped the page, acting like it was the most natural thing in the world to have said.

"So, you broke into my house in broad daylight right in the front yard?"

"Relax. No one was around." She held up the box of snack sticks. "Want one?" She shook it.

I sighed again and took one. "Thanks."

"No Hiromasa today?" She put the box down and took out another stick for herself.

"No. He had to help his mom, so he won't be over today." I munched on my salty snack.

"I see." She snapped a piece of the corn snack off with her teeth.

After a few moments of silence, she shut the book and looked up at me without saying a word.

It was no odd thing for me to stare at her. I did that every day I saw her, but for her to stare wordlessly back at me, and so intently, was something entirely different.

She pulled herself to a sitting position and scooted closer to me. She still hadn't said anything, but she hadn't broken her gaze with me either. Her eyes flittered all around, like she was trying to read something about me, then she brought her face closer. It'd been a while since she'd been this close and it made my heart pound. I did what I normally did when she got irresistibly close, stayed perfectly still, because if I moved, I might do something stupid. She pressed her lips into mine. The kiss was a lot gentler than I'd expected from someone like her, and she pulled away quickly. It was much too short for my liking.

"What was that for?" I whispered.

She smiled. "Bored and curious."

That was so cruel, and she didn't even know why.