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“MINAKO. Stop moving so fast.” I hear right before a yelp, and then something comes crashing down on me. Us?
“What the hell?” Someone underneath me groans. I sit up, leaning forward to see a spectacular unfolding. First off, Rei is standing in the doorway taking pictures, or a video. Right in front of the couch Minako is lying face down on the floor with a chair toppled over her. Ami has her hands over her face standing in the kitchen next to Makoto who is trying not to fall over laughing. Motoki is standing behind the two with an expression that seems like a cross between a smirk and a child caught in the act of stealing a toy. Next to me is Mamoru, sitting on the couch staring at the same scene with confusion.
Suddenly, Minako recoiling from her dead position and yelling “I did it” her face upturned towards the ceiling. I too look up. Right above my nose hangs mistletoe; right above our noses, mine and Mamoru’s. I leap up off the couch, hovering a safe distance away. Suddenly someone’s loud snorts ring through the room. Rei is doubled over, having set the camera on counter, clutching her stomach laughing.
“What happened?” The voice of reason himself speaks.
“Funny story, actually.” Ami pipes up.
“Care to explain?” Mamoru says a little more clearly than before.
“Um….” Ami’s voice fades out. Minako, now sitting on the floor, throws her hands in the air and waves them towards herself.
“Well, I, can explain.” She makes a grand gesture to everyone but me and Mamoru. “But we all want to know the full story. Right? So you two explain first.” She then points straight at me and then at Mamoru. Heat rises to my face and ears, and Mamoru’s cheeks turn red, as we remember the events of last night. How I couldn’t fall asleep in the tiny cold cottage and went to heat myself by the fire, finding Mamoru already there.
I sway a little near the arm of the couch but don’t dare say anything. Minako is still smiling and giggling stealing glances at Rei who has calmed down a little and picked up the camera again. I’m afraid of what her plans for it are.
“Um... We fell asleep on the couch.” says Mamoru his voice slightly betraying him, “What about you?”. Finally, Mianko can’t hold it in anymore and launches into a story.
“Well, Ami woke up and saw you two, so she woke up Mako, who then decided to take a picture of you two. But they couldn’t find the camera so then they woke up Rei, and of course I got up too, because I could sense something going on. You know, I’m like that, nothing can get past the Goddess of Love. But Motoki was the one using the camera last to take pictures.” She took a big breath, having said all of that in what seemed like only one sentence. Rei was next.
“Naturally we woke up Motoki. But stupid Mina decided that you guys needed to wake up to a surprise. Makoto said we should throw cold water on you but-” Minako regained her breath and cut off Rei.
“But I said that we should hang mistletoe, me being the Goddess of Love and all, I thought of this great star-crossed idea! And I was just getting a chair and it was going to be perfect. But Makoto decided to make hot chocolate early and she yelled at me and-” Now Minako was interrupted.
“I did not yell” Makoto fired back.
“Yes you did!” Minako exclaimed.
“No, I did not! You were about to fall over.”
“Yes you did, Mako.”
“No. I didn’t. I was telling Ami to stabilize you.”
“Shut up, you guys” Rei interjected, “And then Mina fell, obviously.” I glanced at Mamoru and our eyes meeting for a second before looking away. I am beyond embarrassed that my friends found us sleeping together when we were just up late talking. What are they thinking we did?
“Guys, the Hot chocolate is turning to cold chocolate” Motoki says, trying to save us all from any more awkward conversation. For a few moments the conversation still hangs in the air but it’s as if suddenly we all realize how much we’ve blown things out of proportion. We all look at each other one at a time. Then Ami starts laughing and, within a few seconds everyone is cracking up. I’m sure our laughter could have been heard miles away.