Counting Stars - (Straight!AmeriPan)

Chapter 4: A Radio Song

The next day, on Saturday, Sakura walked down to her housemates having a mini concert in the living room. Elizabeta was nowhere to be seen, Mathias sat on the couch beside the radio, blasting it to a deafening volume, Alfred danced demonically to the melody of the song, and Gilbert was using a broom as a guitar.

Sakurwa turned around to head back upstairs and fall into sleep again, hoping her housemates hadn't noticed her. Of course, as soon as she thought about those words, Alfred stopped dancing and grabbed the Japanese girl's thin wrist. "Come on, Car, dance with me!" Alfred pulled Sakura's body closer to his in a dance position as the chorus began and sang.

"Baby, I've been, I've been losing sleep.
Dreaming about the things that we could be..."

"Alfred, no!" Sakura tried to recoil from Alfred's grip, yet her petty attempts did nothing. Alfred only laughed and continued singing.

"Baby, I've been, I've been praying hard.
So no more counting dollars,
We'll be, we'll be counting stars..."

"Alfred, stop! I don't dance!" Yet Sakura could not contain her poker face any longer and fell into a laughing fit. Alfred smiled at the Japanese gurl in his arms...they were so close together, it was perfect...Alfred had one arm around Sakura's waist, the other holding onto Sakura's left arm. If only he could close the gap between their lips...

"Yeah, we'll be counting stars..."

"Get the camera, Mathematics, this is interesting!" Gilbert nudged Mathias on the shoulder as the verses after the song's chorus played. Sakura released herself from Alfred's grasp and immediately ran back upstairs to her room.

"Did I do something wrong..?" Alfred tried to call after Sakura once she was gone.

Gilbert placed a hand on Alfred's shoulder as a way to comfort him. "You probably scared her, my friend."

"I have to admit though, her laugh was cute," Alfred walked to the kitchen to make some coffees, still humming the tune of "Counting Stars."

A blonde figure suddenly appeared on their window and pounded a fist on the glass pane, looking angry. "Oi, you're being too loud! It's too damn early in the morning to be doing karaoke!"

Gilbert scoffed. "Well, it's too damn early for you to give us your shit, Swiss Cheese."

"Just lettin' ye know that people are still sleeping out here!"

Gilbert nodded, obviously not listening to Vash's rant. "Mhm, yes, I heard you." Then he covered the curtains over the window to cover Vash venting outside the window on their lawn.

.

That did not just happen. Oh, that did not just happen. She didn't dance with the American she was secretly falling for, wasn't she? No, that was a dream. She was still asleep.

Sakura buried his face, which was a burning and blushing mess, in her pillows, trying not to squeal like a typical anime highschool girl. Oh my God-

What will Elizabeta think?

Oh God, what if she found out...she'd never stop teasing her about it.

A few knocks came from the other side of the door. "Hello, Hon? You alright there, buddy?" Alfred called from outside. Hooray, she earned herself a new nickname, she realized.

"Go away, I still want to sleep!" Sakura answered, her voice muffled due to the fact that her face was buried in pillows.

"Are you sure about that?" Alfred tried to do a voice impression of John Cena, yet failed miserably and ended up laughing.

Sakura chose to ignore Alfred's continuous requests of opening the door and tried to text Elizabeta instead.

Elizabeta: Ah, good morning Kiku. What's wrong?

Kiku: Housemates are giving me trouble and I feel sick.

Elizabeta: Oh? If it's Gil again I will kick his ass. What happened?

Kiku: Well...earlier I saw them having a mini-concert with the song "Counting Stars" and Alfred forced me to dance with him even though I didn't want to.

Sakura noticed that Elizabeta had gone sort of silent after her last message. Worrying that she had said too much, Sakura shakily dialed Elizabeta's number. After only one ring, she immediately picked up the phone. Sakura prepared for the worst to come.

"KIKU, I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!" her voice yelled through the telephone. "Dancing with our little Alfie...oh, you two are just so adorable!"

Sakura cringed again and pulled her cellphone a little farther from her ear. "Elizabeta-san, please calm down, it's no big deal-"

"No big deal? Are you kidding me?!" she shrieked. "Oh, Sakura! I know love when I sense it! And I have, between you and Alfred...multiple times!"

"You're starting to sound like Francis," Sakura tucked stray locks of hair behind her ear nervously. Elizabeta made sounds like pterodactyl screeching.

"Come on! You two should just date already! There's no point in hiding those feelings-" Elizabeta put a great deal of emphasis on the word feelings- "you have, my friend!"

Sakurw rolled his eyes. "I'm still sleepy, though. Maybe I'm confused with what I'm really feeling inside. It has been good talking to you, Elizabeta. I'll just hang up and get back to sleep..."

"Sakura? Wait, Sakura! Don't hang up on me-"

"Goodbye." Ignoring Elizabeta's cries and protests, the Japanese college student ended the call and placed her phone on the bedside table next to her.

Now what? She thought. Now she was probably just going to lay there in bed, hugging her pillows and silently quaking under the blankets.

You're not here to get a boyfriend, Sakura. Get yourself together, she thought.

"Sakura, I'm sorry."

Sakura's heart nearly exploded in her chest as those three words replayed over and over in her head for the next few seconds. She almost forgot about Alfred still being outside the door. She hugged the pillows tighter.

"Look, I think I scared you and stuff. I'm sorry. If you're still not coming out from there I guess I'll have to go, because my little brother Matthew is waiting for me and stuff because I promised that this weekend we'd hang out..." Alfred's voice faltered. Just as Sakurw thought that her feelings couldn't get any more painful, she heard Alfred's footsteps out the door and immediately shot up from the bed.

"Alfred, no." Sakura looked at his fluffy white slippers as he opened the door, earning a confused look from the American. "You did not scare me," she said as her soft, brown eyes looked into Alfred's blue ones. "It was a new experience. I actually liked it. Though your singing made things ten times more horrible."

Alfred pouted and punched Sakura's shoulder in a childish way. "That's unfair!"

Sakura cracked a small smile as she stepped out of the door. "Life isn't fair, Jones."

Alfred rolled his eyes. "Of course it isn't."