typical summers

Typical summers brought intervals of working at unpaid internships and taking summer classes in order to graduate early, all whilst wishing she was napping in some sun-kissed island she sees in her dreams. What summer is not supposed to bring though, are tall blondes that look like foreigners yet somehow aren’t, who stand so tall anyone next to them would feel like an ant. 

And that she did. Rather, she wished she would become an ant just to prove the point that walking through her suspiciously cheap hotel room door and seeing a man in nothing but his underwear staring back at her had to have been a dream. She did not live a life of twenty years that was remotely close to the lives of her favorite female protagonists in the shojo manga she read so it couldn’t just change now. 

No, it wouldn’t change now, is what she swore until the man came over to her and flicked her in the forehead, asking if there was something wrong with her. 

Ten minutes later she was sitting on the only bed in the room with the unknown not-so-much-foreigner who was laughing his head off after she told him that she had absolutely no clue why they would be sharing a room together. 

“Are you an idiot?” He was in tears, she was just about ready to smash the potted plant she saw in the corner of her eye right on his smug face and continue to smash it on him until he was permanently unable to speak. “You buy a ticket that costs 12,000 yen for a three day trip in Okinawa without seeing this coming at least a little bit?” 

“It’s called broke college kid blindness, alright? I’m desperate and it got in the way of my common sense.” She was gritting her teeth, using every bit of the little self control she had at the moment to stop herself from having his face meet her right fist. She’s not a normally violent person, she swears, but somehow this jerk was able to bring it out of her the second they met. 

“Yes, I totally understand it little lady--” An elbow struck his ribs and he yelped, putting his hands up to plead for mercy. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” 

Sighing and allowing her back to hit the softness of the comforters, she peered over at him, “I’m assuming you’ll be here for the three days too?” 

“Right, because unlike someone, I looked into why this was so cheap before purchasing it,” He paused, expecting another jab at his suffering ribs but it didn’t come. Instead, the room was filled with a laugh, high-pitched and genuine that matched the whirring of the extra fan that came in the room. 

“You’re right, it was a stupid thing to do on my end.” Her face was still twisted in a lopsided smile, eyes now viewing the breathtaking direct view of the beach they got through the blue of the open curtains matching the color of the ocean. It was just as spectacular as it was in the preview online that got the blood in her veins to pump faster. 

He was staring at her as her laughter slowed until their eyes met once again and she noticed how his were almost more breathtaking than the ocean, blue in the center veering off to a paler green as the circle expanded. 

“What’s your name?” The topic change was almost sudden but she was too distracted to notice. 

“Kawasaki Nori. Yours?” 

“Toshiyuki but I like just Toshi. You can call me whatever you want though, Nori-chan.” 

“Don’t drop formalities so easily when we met fifteen minutes ago.” Her eyes narrowed at the nickname he was grinning at. “Last name?” 

“I want you to call me by my first name. No formalities.” His lips were twitching in something just under a smirk.

“Why does it feel like you’re flirting with me, Toshi?” 

“Why does it feel like you’re flirting back?” She laughed and his smile showed through as she got up and pulled her luggage in to park at the right of the bed. 

“I call right side.” 

“But I want the wall side,” he was pouting like a kid with his arms crossed, “it’s the best side!” 

“Exactly.” Her stuff was already being unloaded onto the bedside table and the bed itself. He groaned, she laughed. 

By the time they finished unpacking and getting distracted with a clothes throwing fight they accidentally had and breaks on the bed to ask random questions and laugh over random things, the sun was setting and glowing right behind the horizon in all of its golden beauty streaming across the calm rippling of evening waters. They got dinner at a nearby sushi restaurant along the beach and ate sitting on the short brick wall separating the sand from the trail where buildings and restaurants were located. 

“You know, I’m really glad you didn’t turn out to be a perv or a murderer or something.” Nori said through half-closed teeth behind the straw she used to drink the lemonade purchased with sugar coating the mouth of the cup. 

“Thanks. You too.” He moved a hand to gently tug at the band pulling Nori’s hair up behind her head. “You should loosen this or you’ll get a headache.” 

“How did you know that?” 

“I have a little sister.” 

“Really? What’s she like?” 

“She’s… a lot like you in a way. Misato’s her name. Her hair’s brown like yours, a little bit lighter though, and she’s forgetful and jumps into things without thinking them through. And she likes lemonade.” 

“I hope she’s not as back-handed as you are.” 

“She’s even sarcastic like you. You should meet her sometime, I bet you guys would get along great.” Toshi looked at his half-drunken lemonade, eyeing mine, going back to him, and finally looking up at Nori. “You want the rest of this?” 

It didn’t take another word for Nori to take the drink from his hand and dump it into her own cup. Ah, yes, the cliches of sharing lemonade with a stranger on the beach as the sunset bursts unevenly in front of them and the taste of salt is so ever-present. She almost wishes it were more interesting. 

The night ends with them sleeping side-by-side, not insisting on using a pillow to divide them, their lives weren’t that cliche, and Nori falls asleep rather quickly for someone sharing a bed with someone they’ve just met. 

Except to no one’s surprise, definitely not Nori’s that’s for sure, she wakes up, face in Toshi’s chest breathing in a mix of fresh laundry and hotel shampoo in a haze. It was warm, somehow not scorching hot even while strips of sunlight seared the carpet it lay on. 

He shifted under her, right arm probably painfully asleep by the way she’s laying on it as he grunts, turns his head to push deeper into the pillows with his left arm sliding up just a bit, pulling the loose T-shirt she was wearing upwards. 

If the story had gone the way it was supposed to, she would have gotten all embarrassed, flipping out or something at the contact and causing them both to fall off the bed and laugh and realize how hopelessly in love with each other they were after a single day. This, however, never happened, as the only thought on Nori’s mind was how hungry she was. Yes, she was coddled against a man’s rising and falling chest as his fingers brushed her lower back and his scent overwhelmed the bed but all she could focus on was the buzz in her stomach. 

She nearly laughed at herself. Nearly. Instead, she raised a finger to tap at his cheek. No reaction. She tapped the shell of his ear, moving her finger to trace the pierced part of the lobe and sparing a thought about it before moving to jab the cheekbone nearest to her. 

Startled, he blinked himself awake, staring at her as she stared back. “What?” 

“I’m hungry.” 

He laughed, voice raspy from waking up, not moving his position whatsoever as if he didn’t notice it at all. Or maybe because it was warm enough to not want to move at all. “What do you want to eat?” 

“I don’t know,” Nori replied, not bothering to think and closing her eyes once again. “Just go out and get us something.” 

“Are you normally this lazy?” He got out of bed anyway, slipping on his slippers and stretching as he stood. 

“No, just wondering how far I can push my luck.” 

“I guess that would be pretty far since my legs are moving on their own. Don’t complain if you don’t like whatever I get though.” 

“Mm. I promise I won’t.” Nori flipped back onto her back, eyes still closed with sunlight trapped in the spokes of her eyelashes, only faintly aware of the click of an opening door and the shut of it too, drifting back into the warmth of the comforters in a matter of seconds. 

“Hey.” As quickly as she remembered him leaving, Toshi was back, a bag of something that smelled really good, blinking herself away as her bangs were pushed off her forehead by his index finger. 

“Hey.” Rubbing her eyes and sitting up she glanced at the digital clock on the table near Toshi’s side of the bed. 13:41. “It’s late. It feels like we’ve wasted our second to last day.” She swallowed with a nervous laugh, it really shouldn’t feel so odd to leave someone when you’ve only just met them, but to her it did anyway.

“What if…” Toshi wasn’t keeping eye contact anymore, pausing, hesitant, careful, “What if we didn’t end our vacation after tomorrow?” He was fumbling with his fingers, almost trying to hide it as he glanced at what he hoped would be a positive reaction on Nori’s face. It could have been if you perceived it that way, but really, it was something bordering confusion instead. 

“I don’t have enough money to extend this trip, you know-- hey, are you trying to rub that in my face or--” 

“No, no, that’s not what I mean.” He was still acting oddly awkward, scratching his head as if he wanted to back away from the conversation, “Like you wouldn’t need to pay for anything. I’ll...I’ll house and feed you.” 

Nori still wasn’t following, cocking her head to the side and waiting for an explanation. 

“You could at least try to connect the dots without making me say it, geez.” He sighed, looking down and away before meeting eyes again, the constant movement of his gaze dizzying her. “Stay with me. I have an apartment and you could go sightseeing and meet my sister. I’m not creepy I swear but if you don’t want to go then--” 

“Okay.” 

“Huh?” 

“Alright. It sounds fun and it’s free but honestly, this is my inner cliche talking. No one should listen to strangers and stay with them after knowing each other for a day in hopes that something like this would happen to them.” 

“What are you talking about?” 

“Nothing. Where are you from?” 

“Kanazawa. It’s just my sister and me but we have enough room for a guest. I can get you a ticket too or you can crawl into your luggage and go for free with the hope that we don’t get caught and you don’t die in there.” 

“I think I’d rather accept the former and risk getting murdered after I have a good plane ride.” 

“You prove to be greater by each passing day.” He was leaning his head on his elbow now, lips almost quirked up in something that resembled a smirk. 

“It’s been two days but I’m not complaining.” Nori shifted under the covers, allowing them to slip from the sides of her hips and pool in clusters by her thighs. “Carry me to the table if I’m as great as you say.”

“You’re really milking this aren’t you.” 

“Comfort is supposed to be a package deal on vacations.” Toshi rolled his eyes but lifted her from the pillows anyway, arms straining under the weight and flexing so she could feel them bulging into her backside. If she was heavy, he didn’t show it. 

The sun shimmered almost dreamily at a closer glance, echoing off everything in the room it could reach, from the fabric of the couches to the marble of the counter. The opening of ramen bowls from the plastic bags they were in only added to the feel of the afternoon, proving to be cooled down enough to be enjoyable on a heated summer day. 

Typical summers brought tedious workloads and shifts where Nori would want to beat the living crap out of every customer who complained in hopes of getting a discount. Typical summers brought deep sighs and dreams of wishing she was anywhere else but the empty little apartment with rent far too expensive for its size. Typical summers were not supposed to bring strangers with sarcasm slipping off their tongues as smoothly as the blinking of their very own eyes. 

But maybe Nori liked the change of pacing. Maybe more than anything, she liked the company and the adventure and the splashes of ramen broth on the countertop. 

And as the choked back laughter from Toshi spilled into the room as he attempted to swallow his food without it coming out through his nose, Nori realized that what typical summers were supposed to look like was this.