PART 7
Sayori is laying on the couch, engrossed in the screen of her laptop. Her long legs are stretched out across two cushions and one legs is bent upwards, dangling a slipper over her bare foot. Her hair is somehow even messier than usual. With a poorly timed flick, the slipper falls off her foot and bounces off her butt and onto the floor. The fat jiggles beneath the thin pink shorts she's wearing before her leg bends back, pushing into place with her foot.
I stand in front of her, two glasses of juice in one hand and a bowl of chips in the other.
"Sayori." I try to catch her attention. She pays me no mind.
"Sayoriii." I repeat. Still nothing.
I set the snacks down on the coffee table by the couch, then pull an ice cube out of my glass and lick the excess juice off of it. Holding the ice in one hand, I lift up the back of her shirt as carefully as possible. Then I touch it to the small of her back.
"AAAaaaaH!" Sayori pushes the laptop away and scurries into the corner of the couch, grabbing a pillow and holding it in front of her like a shield. "What was that for?"
"You stole my seat." I say, reclaiming my rightful spot. "So I moved you."
"You could've just called my name and asked, you know." Sayori raises the pillow over her head and throws it at me. I reach my hand up to catch it but I'm too slow and only succeed in redirecting it to my face.
"Alright." I say, grabbing the pillow and squeezing it. "You'll pay for that."
I grab Sayori's lemonade off the table. I shoot Sayori a smug look as I raise the glass to my lips.
"You- you wouldn't dare!" she challenges.
I half smile back before taking a deep breath. I tilt my head back and empty the contents of the glass into my mouth. The whole thing goes down in four large gulps. I give an exaggerated "Ah" before setting it down on the table.
"You monster! You wasted it!"
"Wasted? I drank it! How is that wasteful?"
"You drank it too fast! You probably didn't even taste any of it." Sayori reclines a bit. "This means war."
She kicks her legs forwards and drops them onto my thighs. She then adjusts herself in the seat, getting comfortable before closing her eyes.
"Good night, my little footrest!" She says, before making loud, fake snoring noises.
"Hey! Don't think this is over. You haven't won yet!" I grab Sayori's ankles and lift them off of my legs and into the air.
Sayori's shorts roll up her legs until I can see a purple pair of panties beneath them. Sayori opens her eyes and looks over at me.
"Hey! Let go! No fair!" she says, kicking her legs.
But my grip on them is iron-tight. I refuse to budge at all so her kicks accomplish nothing. I turn myself to face her, then I recline on the armrest, putting my feet on the cushion between us. Her legs fall down onto my knees.
"Ow! Your knees are bony, MC. You should eat more."
"So you want me to drink more lemonade? Got it."
"Aaaah!" Sayori lets out a frustrated yell, then wedges one foot between my knees. She manages to shimmy her way between my legs, but I squeeze them together, blocking any more progress. Unable to push through, Sayori tries to lift my legs into the air with hers.
To my surprise, Sayori has remarkable leg strength. She pushes my legs into the air, but I re-position my feet below hers so I'm in charge. Not wanting to be outdone, she turns her foot sideways and slips it around my toes, breaking free from my foot's grip.
Her leg comes slamming down between mine.
There's a silence between the two of us. Sayori covers her mouth with her hands.
"I- I didn't mean to..." Sayori stammers "MC, I, are you... are you okay?"
I look back at her.
"If you had been half an inch to my left... You would have caused some serious damage."
"Phew." Sayori sighs. "For a second I thought we'd need to adopt."
Her comment catches me off guard. Sure, we'd been dating for a while now, and we'd been childhood friends for even longer. But to skip right over engagement, moving in, marriage, to skip right to having children?
My confusion must show on my face. Sayori uses my hesitation to slide forwards, claiming more of the couch for herself. As she does so, her legs slide against mine, pushing the old pair of sweatpants I'm wearing up.
One of Sayori's feet is resting on my chest, the other between my arm and the back of the couch. My knees are spread a bit more, one foot hanging over the edge, the other leg is bent and resting against the back of the couch. Sayori grabs her laptop and sets it onto her chest, leaning it up against my foot. I reach for the bowl of chips on the table and slide it over to myself. Then I pull my phone from my pocket and start reading.
The two of us remain on the couch with our legs entwined. The foot I have hanging off the side of is cold relative to the foot being pressed against Sayori's back and the couch. Sayori starts to wiggle her feet to the tune of some imaginary music. With each movement, I can feel the ball of her foot rolling against my chest and when I look at it, I can see it rising and falling swiftly with my heartbeat.
Sayori closes her laptop and sets it aside, then her feet stop moving. After I finish reading an article on my phone, I set it down. When I look at Sayori, her eyes are closed and her mouth is hanging open a bit.
I debate whether or not to stay like this for the night, but common sense wins out and I carefully untangle our legs and slide out from underneath her. I sneak over to the closet and grab a blanket, then lower it over Sayori, tucking the corners underneath her legs.
I return to the closet and grab a second blanket, then lie down on the other couch and fall asleep.
