Nine

1987


Nine

I just couldn't believe the tragic turn my life had all too suddenly taken. To make matters worse, no amount of moping in bed blasting cheesy love songs on the radio seemed to ease the pain. A week ago, I'd been Exoplanet High's hottest "it" girl (alongside Jessica, of course), and now I was nothing. A nobody. I'd become a hermit—a modern-day damsel in distress locked up in my own bedroom tower, only without all the glamor the title entailed. Because there was no knight in shining armor to climb up to my window and rescue me, and my daring prince Kai had forsaken me.

Oh, how he had forsaken me.

I think I sulked in bed for, like, a week straight. I spurned Jessica's invitations to let off steam at the Jungs' private spa; I rejected Daddy's credit card and promises of a limitless shopping spree at Macy's. I didn't even let Rosa in to change my bed sheets—and let me just say now that I'd never subject my poor skin to something so grody as sleeping on greasy, tear-and-mascara-stained pillowcases ever again. As if to personally torment me, the DJ kept spinning all the most tragic hit love songs—a Richard Marx record in particular was the flavor of the week—and I cried so hard for so long that when Daddy finally rang Dr. Kim up for a house call, he diagnosed me with dehydration.

I still can't listen to "Should've Known Better" without breaking into tears. (He's still a mega babe, though.)

By my fifth day ditching school, I was so sure everybody at Exoplanet High had all but forgotten about my existence. So imagine my shock (and soon-to-come horror) when the doorbell rang that fateful Friday morning. I didn't dart out of bed to answer it, of course; I merely rolled over on the mattress and shoved a pillow over my head, begging the universe to cut me some slack, for everyone to leave me alone and stop ruining my already miserable life any further. The sack full of down feathers didn't drown out the sound of Rosa's feet padding upstairs for my bedroom, though, nor did it mask the thick-accented English that proceeded to squeak through the door:

"Miss Mila, I think that somebody here to see you!"

"Ugh, like, tell whoever it is to go away," I groaned. There was the sound of footsteps shuffling down the hall, and then—a mere sixty seconds' solace later—several rapid-fire knocks sounded on the windowpane.

I was so annoyed that I completely forgot about the possibility of it being an axe murderer and skipped straight to step two: bolting upright in bed and glaring at the window incredulously. "Like, you have got to be kidding me!" I screeched, and then screeched again plus, like, twenty-five percent more frustration just to hammer my displeasure home.

Through the glass, Theatre Boy shot me a cheeky, dimply grin and raised a hand in greeting. I couldn't believe my eyes. Had he seriously yoinked the gardener's ladder again just to stalk me on my deathbed? I had half a mind to drag myself out of bed and push him off the thing, but I guess I didn't need a homicide on my permanent record, so I gritted my teeth and settled for glaring daggers at him instead as I shoved the pane open.

"Like, what gives?!" I hissed. "Can you not see I'm wallowing in misery and self-inflicted isolation here? Do I need to spell it out for you? I haven't exfoliated in seven days and I, like, so do not need to be seen right now!"

"Like, it's so good to see you, too," he shot back, in his best Valley Girl accent, before brushing past me through the frame, evidently deciding to welcome himself in without invitation. I continued to glower at the back of his head before slamming the window shut behind him. His eyes scanned the room, and judging by the stupid smirk that spread across his face, he seemed to get a real kick out of the sheer unsightliness of it all: the unchanged bed sheets, the pile of empty candy wrappers I'd let myself pig out on, the Johnny Depp poster I may or may not have ripped off the wall because it reminded me of Kai. (Admittedly not my proudest moment.)

I crossed my arms, tapping a foot impatiently. "Like, the least you could do is spit out whatever it is you're here for so we can get this over with already."

Yixing chuckled as he settled on the edge of the bed and kicked off his leopard-print Chuck Taylors. Ugh, that could only mean one thing: he was staying. "C'mon now, Popcorn Head. You didn't seriously think I was gonna let you play hooky without me, did you?"

"Yes," I deadpanned.

"No such luck." He smirked, self-pleased, before kicking back on the mattress. Like, I kid you not: this kid crossed one ankle over the other and folded his arms behind his head and plopped back on my grody pillow. Honestly, who the hell did Theatre Boy think he was, waltzing in like he owned the place?

I just gawked at him, speechless, until I couldn't stomach the stupid simper on his face anymore. "Like, what?" I spat.

"Nothing," he whistled. "Just enjoying the view."

"Uh, what view?" I said, my eyebrows furrowing.

"The view of your face. Did your diamond-encrusted shower break or what?"

I dropped my jaw in disbelief. "Excuse me? I'm in mourning if you hadn't noticed! Show a little respect!"

Yixing cocked an eyebrow. "Mourning what? Wait, let me guess: your twenty-four-karat goldfish died."

"Ugh, no!" I groaned, stamping my feet in exasperation. "I'm mourning the demise of my social life. The death of any chance I ever had at dating Kai! I made, like, such a fool of myself. I'll never show my face in public again!" Just speaking the words aloud brought a tear to my eye. Theatre Boy, of course, looked unmoved by my theatrics.

"Like, woe is you," he snorted oh so sympathetically.

I shook my head, sighing: "Look, I wouldn't expect you to understand." How could he? He'd never love anyone, the heartless wastoid.

"Yeah, sorry. I don't speak Valley Girl. Maybe if you explained it in English for us average Joes."

"I'm talking about my date with Kai!" I plopped down on the empty space beside him, throwing my arms out for dramatic effect. "It was so terrible. I'll never, like, not be mortified again. So, like, last Friday he took me out to this grody bar on his bike, right?"

For some strange reason, I threw my head into Theatre Boy's shoulder as I relayed every second of the not-date in gory detail: from Kai practically slamming the door to Road Dogs in my face as we entered, to the way his swoon-worthy Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he chugged his rum and Coke. Yixing awkwardly patted me on the back all the while I soaked his houndstooth vest in tears; apparently, not even he could deny the tragedy of my tale.

"So, like, after he told me it wasn't a date date, I was so mortified I just gulped down the rest of my Diet Coke and excused myself to the ladies room because, like, I wasn't about to just break down and cry right there in front of him, you know? Then, like, thirty minutes later, I finally came back out, and by then my makeup was totally ruined, so he just drove me home in dead, total silence. And then when we got there, all he said before speeding off was: 'Thanks for the drinks,' because, like, I guess I forgot to mention he didn't even have his wallet and I had to pay. Like, oh my God, it was so humiliating. I'll never love again."

As I suddenly realized I was dribbling all over his shirt, I pulled away to find Yixing biting his lip as if to hold back a snort of laughter. "Like, what's so funny?" I grumbled, understandably put off by the look considering I'd just poured my heart out to the guy.

"I'm sorry, I'm just"—a snicker slipped out—"I'm just relishing how dead serious you are about this. 'I'll never love again'? Really, Popcorn Head? You can't"—snicker—"seriously"—snicker—"be serious."

I shot him a humorless stink eye. "That's, like, so easy for you to say, considering you've clearly never had to bear the weight of a broken heart."

He rolled his eyes and grabbed me by the shoulders, shaking me as if to snap me back to sanity. "Oh, come on, Mira. Wake up! You're just gonna give up, just like that? After all the trouble you went through to catch his eye in the first place? After you roped me into pretending to be your boyfriend? One little bump in the road, and you're bailing? I thought you were tougher than that, Mira."

It took a moment for his words to sink in. I just sort of sat there, staring pitifully back at him, with my hair frizzing out to Mars and mixed tears and snot dripping down my cheeks. But the realization hit me all the same in the end.

He was so right. I hated to admit it, but he was totally, tremendously right.

"Holy smokes!" I exclaimed and, to my immense surprise, abruptly pulled him into a hug, squeezing him ultra tight in thanks. He pretended to gasp for air—at least, I think he was pretending—and I pried my hands off his shoulders to face him. "Like, you're my faux beau. I just gotta, like, try harder to make Kai jealous. That's what you're saying, right? It's genius. I'm, like, super glad I thought of it."

Like some Hollywood movie scene, in which the heroine suddenly realizes something super-duper important, I turned to stare vacuously into thin air, a smitten smirk spreading across my lips. So what if my not-date with Kai wasn't a date date? Maybe it wasn't totally the end of the world. After all, the ice had been broken between us. We were practically friends now. The falling-madly-in-love-and-biking-into-the-sunset part could come later. I mean, I was gorgeous, and Kai would totally fawn over me eventually, right?

Right?

"Yeah, uh, what's up with the outer inner monologue? Not that I'm complaining, but are you giving me embarrassing stories to help with the boyfriend act or are they just for my benefit?"

I blinked, suddenly finding myself halfway through pumping my fist, and froze like a deer in headlights. Like, oops. Did I just say that all out loud? Yixing shot me a cheeky smirk, and I immediately slapped his shoulder with the nearest pillow to shut him up before he could start giggling.

"Ugh, bag your face, lamebrain! Don't you dare tell anyone about that, or I'll, like, never speak to you again!"

He rolled his eyes and then flicked his wrist, glancing down at his plaid-print Swatch. "Well, if you're all done moping around for the day, you might wanna hop into the shower. The new Pat Demps is showing soon, and I, for one, don't wanna be late."

 

Author's Note

I leave you with No More "I Love You's" by the Lover Speaks. This is one of my favorite 80s songs (well, favorite songs period) but it didn't make the short list for the upcoming playlist/soundtrack shuffle I'm going to do. :( I'm posting it mainly because I'm sad I won't be able to pimp it out through the playlist (doesn't fit the fic well enough... or at all even, lulz), but this version deserves so much more attention than it gets, especially compared to the Annie Lennox cover which completely bastardized the original meaning of the song!!!!!1!! sadface. If you love overly-chorused guitar solos and the melancholic crooning of British men, this is the song for YOU!!!!!!!!!!

STAY TUNED FOR CHAPTER 10, in which some more stuff will happen!

Thanks for voting, -tsundere-, 88wolfanatic, aquatriangles, caitiec, dluisnothere, ewsikits, ex_omona, exosujulover, exozen, fairytaleending, hananii19, lenaubrey, lulu416589, nancyuti, non avatar, perpetual, ricepony, sone4lyf, theawesomewise, un_natural-blueglass, undyingexoath, kylalovesiu, breezyskies, junnosuke1, Lapalissian, Myungsoo-PinkRomance, ninyhime, Pabo-doll, pinktomato, sarangDB5K, sassykyu, scrambledeggs, Sessalin, strawberryluna, Young_CSY15, yunjae2014, Miemela, ndeables, and nana_LCHY! (*^▽^*)

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Comments

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exolotl
25 streak #1
I realise this will most likely never be completed, but damn... this used to be one of my favourite stories! I had so much fun reading every chapter and loved how cute and funny everything was.
Alishaboro #2
Chapter 8: Okay, period is kai gay?
crazyfantassii #3
Chapter 9: I was just LITERALLY staring at my cieling and I suddenly remembered this fanfic. I cannot believe I read this almost 5 years ago.
onlyixing
#4
Chapter 9: can't wait to see how their relationship will progress! love this
AngelKat
#5
Chapter 9: Honestly, she's a bit of an idiot
ariadne22
#6
Some of the pictures on here are broken btw~
HyunYoungPark
#7
Chapter 9: I was just scrolling my bookmarks when I came across this fic, it has been a long time (3 yrs) since I'm here (aff). when I saw the title, all memories came flooding back and I thought the fic had already been completed but sadly it was not. I just want to say that this is a great fic, I really really like it. maybe you can finish this fic in the future? take your time and do what you have to do first. I hope I can read the next update even though I need to wait for it. sending thousand of hug and love. ❤
sobinoodles
#8
I just wanted to say that I love your writing! Ahn Mira is not like any other OC I've seen on AFF - the usual meek, good-natured woman but Ahn Mira is unique, bold and wacky. I love it. It's a bit sad that you don't write anymore and this chapter ended early.I can't help it but have a lot of speculations about Kai and Lay. Totally love Theatre Boy and Popcorn Head moments! I guess I can only predict what's going to happen next in my own head hehe. Thank you for delivering such a unique storyline :)
TheHotSquadRP #9
CUTE
chanbaekedt
#10
Chapter 9: chapter 10