C h a p t e r 1 3 : Alex

                                    

                                          
◇ Blake's POV: ◇
Feeling myself smiling, I watch Akira chatting away with my crazy sister. 
I can feel the soft smooth skin of Akira's thigh, unable to resist lightly rubbing my thumb against her lower thigh. 
I lift my hand off her thigh and lightly pinch her. 
She jolts up a little, glares at me from the corner of her eye, but continues talking with my sister.
Hm. Not enough of a reaction. 
I pinch her even harder, grabbing a hold of more skin to make it hurt more. 
She yelps, capturing the attention of the whole table, before standing up. "Sorry, I really really need to use the bathroom," she says and bolts out of the kitchen.
I lightly laugh under my breath, then clear my throat when my mom narrows her eyes at me and continues finishing my food.
7 minutes later, her mom stands up, "I'm going to go find Akira, it's been quite a long time since she went."
I stand up immediately, and volunteer, "No no, please, stay and continue chatting with my parents. You guys should catch up. I'll go find her."
Her dad narrows his eye at me, "No funny business, Blake. I mean it." 
Pinning me down with his glare, I laugh lightly, "Don't worry, I won't do anything. We're best friends after all."
Akira's dad makes a grunt of approval and shoos me away with his hand. I quickly get out of there. 
Geez, her dad is intimidating. 
She would go to the guest bathroom, right? I forgot to mention that she should use my bathroom because my little sister makes a mess in the bathroom down the hall.
I go up the stairs and head to the guest bathroom. 
On my way there, I pass by the first guest bedroom, and I hear Akira's voice through it. 
I know I shouldn't eavesdrop, but I can't help it when I hear concern laced in her voice.
I lean on the door, quietly listening as she talk. 
"Why aren't you coming?"
Who is she talking to?
"You promised you would come though..." Akira mumbled. 
She's on the phone. Oh. Maybe I should leave then. 
"Not even for New Year? We always celebrate New Year together..."
Okay, wait. What? 
"But you know how much I love New Year's!"
I can hear Akira choke out a sob. I should go in and see what's happening, but at the same time, I don't want her to stop. 
"Just...try, okay? Please, for me, for dad, and mom."
"Thank you...bye, talk to you next time." 
I hear a beep, assuming she ended the call, and wait a beat before I knock on the door, slowly let myself in. 
As I'm walking in, I see Akira sitting on the floor against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest and her head facing down. 
She slowly peeps up, and my eyes widen a bit and soften at her state. 
Her eyes are puffy and red, despite her being so happy and playful just 10 minutes ago. Her nose is a cute tone of cherry red, and so are her cheeks. Her lips start quivering and she tries to say something, but I quickly rush over to her and hug her.