They were shopping in Juuban, because Ami wanted to get a new wristwatch with her birthday money and Makoto needed new sneakers, when Ami noticed Makoto had gone very quiet beside her.
She looked up from the shoe store’s clearance table, where she was trying to find New Balances in Mako’s size and price range, and found her friend was staring across the shopping arcade, unhappily biting her lip.
‘What is it, Mako-chan?’
‘Over there,’ Makoto said quietly, nodding her head in that direction. ‘My old senpai.’
Ami couldn’t help feeling a little dismayed. It had been so long since Makoto had seemed to grow out of seeing ‘my old senpai’ in every man, boy or dog who appealed to her. She’d hoped that old wound really had healed, that at least Makoto could find a new boy to love freely, without repeating the patterns of the past. ‘Another striking resemblance?’ she asked, trying to keep her voice light.
‘No – it’s actually him. In the white jacket. I don’t know what he’s doing here.’
Ami picked him out, a lanky boy with a tanned complexion and dark brown hair, examining a window display of cellphones. He was good-looking, she supposed, although not what she considered anything special. Just an ordinary boy, really, a year or so older than them. Makoto was gazing at him in a way no ordinary boy deserved to be gazed at, with an aching wistfulness and regret in her eyes, still nibbling at her lower lip as if undecided.
‘Um – Mako-chan, look at these!’ Ami picked up a pair of shoes more or less at random, finding to her relief that they were pretty primrose yellow platform heels with daisies on the toes. ‘Do you think they’d suit me?’
‘They’re really cute,’ Makoto said, bringing her attention back with a noticeable effort but no reluctance. ‘They’re a lot higher than you usually wear, though. You might feel a bit wobbly.’
‘But if I’m a bit higher up, I’m a bit closer to you, after all.’ That made Makoto laugh just a little bit, half a chuckle, and Ami went on, although she felt as if she was babbling, and about an unaccustomed topic. ‘I think because the heel is chunky they would be quite stable. I could wear them with my green dress -‘
(and we could go for a walk in the park and you could wear your orange top and the yellow capris, because you look beautiful in those, and we could sit and rest under a shady tree and you could lay your head in my lap)
(oh no! go away!)
The Old Senpai had crossed the arcade and was standing just behind Makoto, looking over her shoulder at the heels that Ami held up for her to examine. He was grinning. How dare he grin?
‘You weren’t thinking of wearing those, were you?’ he asked, with a light little laugh.
‘No,’ Makoto said, starting away from him and blushing. That startled movement was almost a flinch, almost apologetic. Her shoulders rounded in a way that made Ami’s heart ache. ‘No, they’re for-’
‘Excuse me,’ Ami said. She suddenly knew that she was going to be very loud and very rude, in public, and she was hot and cold all over with the shame of it already, but she knew equally well that she wasn’t going to stop until it was all out. ‘I know all about you. You’re the stupidest boy in existence. Because you were going out with the best, sweetest, kindest girl in the world, and you dropped her because you thought she wasn’t good enough for you! Well, let me tell you that being tall and strong doesn’t make a girl unattractive! It’s just part of how beautiful Mako-chan is! And a sign of excellent nutrition and robust genes! And do you know what? She’s going to end up with someone who will love her and appreciate her and tell her all the time how wonderful she is and how lucky they feel, and you will never be that lucky again, and it will serve you right!’
She glared at him furiously, her small chest heaving and her face hot with anger and embarrassment, and he gaped back as if a rather grandmotherly standard lamp had just jumped up and clobbered him with its own shade.
‘What the hell,’ he began, but he was drowned out by Makoto’s laughter. She tried to smother it at first, but quickly gave up and bent over with her hands on her knees, peal after peal escaping her until her cheeks were pink and her eyes teary.
‘Come on, Mako-chan,’ Ami said, hoping to reclaim some shred of dignity, grabbing Makoto’s hand. ‘If we hang around here any longer, we might catch stupid.’ She set off down the arcade at a fast clip, towing her friend, her heartbeat drumming in her ears.
‘Ami-chan!’ Makoto protested, still laughing helplessly. ‘We have to go back!’
‘No!’ Ami cried, wheeling around and gazing up at her earnestly. ‘You should never go back! You’ve come so far since then, and you’ve only grown more wonderful, and if you ever go back and let that – that – ignoramus talk to you that way, you’ll be letting yourself down! I can’t ever let you be so unfair to yourself.’
Makoto folded long arms around her and hugged her close, and Ami wondered if she was developing cardiac arrhythmia, and whether anything had ever felt as good or made her blush as hard as Makoto’s strong arms and her soft, full breasts pressed against her own, and whether she was a complete pervert to be noticing those wonderful breasts so keenly, and whether she had said entirely too much or somehow, just the right thing. And Makoto smelled like clean hair and pink roses and vanilla.
‘I never will,’ she murmured by Ami’s ear. ‘I’m so glad you were here. But we do have to go back, because Ami-chan, you’ve just shoplifted a pair of shoes.’
Ami & Mako Drabblish Thing
SittingOverHereDreaming 