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Ashita Genki Ni Naare:
“Rerigou rerigou reri rerigou!”
The little girl sitting behind me belted out the lyrics, bouncing happily with song that blasted through the car radio. She wasn’t much more than five or six but she could already fluently speak twice the languages I could.
This of course amounted to a devastating one and a half.
I rolled my window down just a little further.
June in Las Vegas without air conditioning equaled hell on earth.
I abandoned my flip-flops and pulled my bare feet up on the seat, wiggling black-painted toes. My hair flew back away from my face like an enormous blow-dryer was shouting in it. I’m so glad I cut it short. I glanced at the driver. Her hair hung halfway down her back and around her face. She was wearing the same black shorts she wore when I first met her, but now she was wearing a white tank top under and unbuttoned black shirt. How could she not be dying? For some reason the heat didn’t seem to bother her much. Her head bobbed back and forth to the music while her lips moved silently to the lyrics being sung from the backseat and speakers.
“So…what are we listening to?” I asked finally.
I jumped when the little girl flung herself forward and slapped her hands on the divider between the front seats.
“Miyavi!” she squealed happily.
“May, please don’t scream in my ear while I’m driving,” my friend scolded lightly.
The girl sat back and pouted.
“Sorry sis.”
The little girl called her sister, but really they weren’t related by any ties of blood or marriage even. May and the driver were both a part of one of those big brothers/sisters programs. They were on their was to the park and I was invited along.
“Miya...vi?”
My friend laughed lightly and handed me a case without taking her eyes off the road.
“Miyavi is the artist. And the song is Ashita Genki ni Naare. I made the mistake of introducing her to it one time and now we always have to listen to it in the car. Its one of her favorites.”
“It’s a very happy song.”
They both giggled.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
“Higher!”
May squealed as I threw the majority of my weight into the shove that sent red and black bangs in my face and her soaring above my head, feet kicking excitedly on the way back down. People have said I have a way with children and that they just “don’t have the patience for it.” Really, though, the only reason I’m so patient is because during those tedious times I’m never really giving the kid my full attention.
Like now for instance.
I was only half listening to May’s demands to be pushed “Higher! Higher!” responding automatically. She was entertained….
An honestly, so was I.
I was watching that little miss Emily Lynn, sitting lazily under the shade of a near-by tree. She had left her shoes lying against the trunk and was feeling the grass with her bare feet.
She flipped her feathery black hair out of her tan face and glanced in my direction and smiled.
Of course I returned it with a beaming one of my own.
“Having fun?” she called out softly.
“Yup.”
She laughed in that breathy way of hers and lay back in the grass, using my abandoned over shirt as a rolled-up pillow and stretching out her bare legs. Heaving a sigh that caused that red tank-top to rise and fall dramatically she pouted.
“Why is it so hot?”
I laughed
May screamed “Higher!”
“That’s Vegas for you sweetie, get used to it.”
She groaned and rolled over, turning her back to me. Of course i took to opportunity to admire the rather gracious curve of her hips and the cute way her ankles hooked together with drawn up legs. She really was adorable.
I caught the swing as it came back at me. The little girl in it squealed and kicked her feet, holding tightly to the chains supporting her.
“Alright Miss May, I’m tired. Its too hot to work so hard; swing yourself for a while.”
She whined as i let her swing back forward and walked away. Stepping into the shade brought a more than welcome relief from the days capricious sun, which, though it spent much of its time darting in and out of clouds, was still unforgivingly scorching. Its a good thing May tans naturally, or she would have gotten burnt and i would have gotten scolded by her mother when she came to pick her up. I lowered down beside the resting figure. She didn’t stir, even as I leaned forward until me lips were inches from her ear.
“Falling asleep?”
She started and nearly knocked heads with me as she whipped around. “That wasn’t nice!”
I laughed and flopped on my back feeling the oppressing heat radiate and shift around my bare legs. She tucked her head into her elbow and lay glaring at me. I grinned at her. “I’m sorry, but your just so adorable when startled.”
She blushed cutely. I rolled onto my side so i could face her and my knee brushed against hers. I think she blushed a little harder.
Suddenly May called out and I heard the thump as she jumped form the swing.
“Mama! Mama! Mama!”
I groaned inwardly and sat up to see the little girl running into the outstretched arms of a woman in a cheap grey business suit. Picking up her daughter the woman turned her sunglass-shaded eyes to me.
“Sorry I’m late Abby, my meeting ran over.”
I glanced at my watch-less wrist and grinned at her. “No worries, Mom; I don’t mind at all.”
OOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
After seeing May and her mother off Emily and i began walking around the parks oddly-spongy track. Thankfully the sun had hid itself behind a particularly large and dark cloud, providing a humid, but thankfully-received reprieve. I made a joke about a man as he ran passed in very skimpy biker shorts, earning me a slightly repressed giggle from my companion.
We came up on a long, narrow, wooden bridge that never really covered any water over a desert storm drain. I took a chance and stepped widely as we crossed over, bumping her with my shoulder and hand quietly slipping my fingers between hers. Her lovely blush returned and she squeezed my hand a little. I managed to tear my eyes from her and look up at the clouded sky. My god, was I falling hard.
“Hey look out!”
I had been entirely too distracted to notice the biker making his way across the bridge, which Emily and I were practically taking up, walking side-by-side. As the man riding tried to make a sloppy stop, I quickly stepped back, tugging on her hand. Neither of us were quick enough, however, and her fingers slipped from between mine as she was knocked by the biker, and fell ungracefully over the waist-high railing.
“Emi!”
She cried out and landed about five feet below us on a rocky bed. When the rough ground broke her fall she hissed loudly, curling in on herself and clasping her ankle. I was down beside her in a minute, not even noticing how I had to run all the way around to get to there. ‘Are you alright?‘ ’s were pouring from my mouth as I put an arm around her slight shoulders and helped her to sit up.
“Is she hurt?”
I turned away for a moment to look over at the man straddling his bicycle at the end of the bridge. Glancing at Emily, she shook her head and I relayed the message.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, she’ll be fine.”
He nodded. “If you’re sure then. I’m really sorry about that.”
And with that he took off without a second glance. Really, people in this city could piss me off sometimes. I had better things to worry over. Turning back to the girl beside me, I was surprised to see her crying. Her right knee and elbow were scraped and bleeding, but she had let go of her ankle and wrapped arms around her stomache.
“H-hey, Emily are you really alright? Let me see...”
I reached toward her knee, but she jerked away from my hand. “I’m fine. That was just...really embarrassing,” she grated out, cheeks burning indignantly. I almost laughed.
“Is that all? Come on, I fall down all the time. That’s no reason to cry.”
I made her mad. I could tell because she frowned deeply and refused to look at me.
“I know that...but I am anyways...”
That made my heart hurt. I wrapped an arm around her, and the poor girl with an injured pride tried to turn away and failed miserably. She sniffed and wiped at a trickle of blood finding its way down her leg.
“Come on.”
I turned my back to her, squatting and reaching out behind me.
“I’ll piggy-back you to the bathroom to clean up.”
There was a long silence behind me before she quietly muttered ,“I can’t...I’m wearing a skirt.”
Of course. Like the gentleman I am I slipped out of my black button-up and wrapped it around her waist, tying it soccer-mom style. I gave her a quick smile before turning back around. “Now its okay, right?”
She hesitated, and I was about to look to see what was wrong when her thin arms slowly wound their way around my neck. Grinning a little, I wrapped my hands under her knees and counted: one-two-three-up! By some miracle I got us both standing without falling, but I was slightly distracted by the way her breasts bounced lightly against my back on the way up. I tried not to think about it too much.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered against my neck were her face was lightly pressed.
“Stop apologizing Emi.”
As I maneuvered up the rocky slope I noticed just how soft her skin was. She quietly let little breaths fall against my neck. Thankfully the bathrooms were not far from our dry little drain ditch. The dark-haired girl wasn’t heavy, but I wasn’t incredibly strong either, and I was walking uphill. Walking through the stone structure into what was, of course, the picture of hygienic facilities, I gently set her on one of the high metal sinks. Her arms fell away almost reluctantly as I walked across the small roof\m to pull paper towels from the dispenser. She folder her hands neatly in her lap and I wet the towel in the second sink.
Giving her a small smile, gently grabbing her arm in one hand and wiping the blood away with the other. She blushed and looked away. “I can do it myself you know...”
I shushed her.
Once the blood was gone from both knee and elbow I gently squeezed her ankle in a few places.
“Does that hurt?”
She shook her head. “Not so much...I can probably walk on it now.”
I glanced up at her to find her eyes intensely trained on my own. She started, glancing off to the side, then deliberately back. It was then I finally took the time to notice her full, slightly parted lips, with that little silver ring through one side. She was panting quiet breaths barely inches from my face, and before I knew it, any resistance I had hoped to hold onto failed me. Raising just the couple of inches needed from my squat, I moved closer, testing the water. When she didn’t pull away, I took the chance and pressed my lips against hers. Surprisingly, they parted with a gentle sigh, and her hands found my collar and clutched it desperately. My tongue ventured along her bottom lip and earned me a shy response. Suddenly I was standing, working my way between her knees and now tilting my head down instead of up to kiss her, but never breaking the precious contact. Her hands moved up my neck to twist lithe fingers in my hair.
We parted, and I stared into the dark, tourmaline eyes so close I had to nearly cross my eyes so see, her hands relaxing to rest against my collar bone. Suddenly, I became aware of something other than the girl whose waist I just realized I was clutching.
“Can you hear that?”
We both turned our faces toward the ceiling, were a consistent drumming hammered against the metal roof.
Relinquishing my grip I ran to the door-less exit.
“It’s raining!”
I ran out into the sudden summer downpour with a skip, the way I had done on such rare events for as long as I could remember. The shower soaked me within seconds, the drops stringing out my hair and slipping down the front of my shirt. I looked back toward the bathroom to see Emily tenderly stepping into the doorway. Grinning wickedly I ran over to her, clutching her suddenly around the thighs and lifting her into the air and out into the storm with me. She squealed and laughed, like I had expected her to, and grabbed my shoulders as we raced out onto the grass. Coming to a stop and panting breathless laughs I looked up at the round face with strands of hair clinging desperately all across it. With a smile and an airy giggle, she planted a butterfly kiss on my own hair streaked forehead.