Author's note:
I thought of this one day when I was staring at my computer screen. ~Grins~ It's been sitting in my files along with every other story I've ever writen since then, and I finally decided to ask someone to put it up on the net. Please tell me what you think, because if you hate it, the best way to stop me from writing things you hate is to tell me what you hate so I don't write it or correct it. ( The same applies to those who like what I write and want me to write some more. I won't if nobody replies. ( In anycase, send your comments to me!
Disclaimer: The idea of the characters of 'Lita and Ken' belong to the creators of Sailor Moon. The actual character potrayal of Ken belongs to me as I didn't base him on anything I found from either the series: Sailor Moon or any fanfic on the net.
Copyright: Fiona Lim, 1997
All rights reserved.
Catch The Stars
By Fiona Lim
flim@hotmail.com
Ken glanced nervously at the clock. It was only five, not even close to the...the...
*Think it, man. It's only a few words.* he tried to force himself to think the words. And remembered a time when he'd been just as nervous and unsure of himself. Ken forced himself to sit down in a chair and grimaced as he remembered that long ago time...
***
Ken's bedroom was silent and dark, he hadn't bothered to change out of his school clothes, and hadn't bothered to turn on the lights since he'd slammed the door shut when he first came home. Not even close to eight, when Lita would be meeting with that boyfriend of her's. Ken bit his lip and threw himself onto the couch. Trying to think - trying *not* to think. Trying to do nothing and everything at the same time, as long as it had nothing and everything to do with Lita. He sighed in exasperation.
"Ken?" his mum poked her head into his room, "What are you doing in here. You haven't been out since you came home from school."
Ken grunted, "I just want to be alone, mum."
With a sigh, his mum closed the door. Ken knew what she was thinking - that he was in one of 'those moods' again.
*I can't help it.* he thought in despair, *Everytime I think of Lita and that stupid boyfriend of her's.*
He closed his eyes, but that didn't help much. It felt like it was branded into his brain. That scene he'd accidentally heard - well, maybe not so accidentally…
*Alright, I was eavesdropping on that bastard.*
It had been a warm Saturday, and Ken had been at the arcade, when he'd seen Lita's boyfriend: Josh. It'd been warm, and he'd ducked into the arcade to get some of the air conditioner. Obviously Josh had needed the air-conditioning as well because he was there as well. With a blonde hanging off him. Ken had gotten close enough to hear the conversation:
"You've got to let me date you at least one, darling." Josh was whispering as he kissed the blonde.
"Aren't you dating that other girl? What's her name - Lita." The blonde demanded.
Josh had shrugged, "I'm dumping her next Saturday. She's too tall for me anyway, and all that cloying 'love yous' get on my nerves."
It'd taken all of Ken's willpower to stop himself from grabbing Josh then and there, and punching his lights so far out that they'd never come back on again! Not only was Lita his best friend, but he - he…
*Think it, coward!* Ken snapped at himself.
Not only was Lita his best friend, but he loved her. Had ever since she'd fought next to him when he'd been picked on in the playground at their first day of preschool. Sure both she and him had ended on the ground with two black eyes and the reputation of being geeks, but he'd fallen in love with her… When he sat down to think about WHY he loved Lita, it seemed like so many small things... And yet - the few times he'd dated any other girl, he always felt empty, because whatever they did, it was never the way SHE would have done it... so many little things that he loved her for -
The look in her eyes when she cooked...
That great laugh when she thought something was funny...
The way her hair bounced when she was running....
The way she could always help him, no matter what...
The way they could always talk about everything...
But most of all because she was *Lita*. HIS Lita, his love, irrevocably, utterly, endlessly...
*And the only problem is?*
Ken could almost laugh at how absurd it all was. It'd been years since he'd been called a geek by the opposite sex. His hair had turned blonde/brown, he'd grown taller, and swimming and exercise made him slim and muscled enough not to look fat. He got invitations from enough girls to boost his self-esteem, but he couldn't get the one girl he wanted. The *only* girl he'd ever wanted.
*Lita.*
They were friends, *close* friends. Lita spoke to him about everything - which was good sometimes, and bad other times. He'd been planning to ask her out since the day he'd met her. He'd had it all planned out in his mind to - she'd be just thirteen, and they'd be in his mum's kitchen eating after school, and he'd ask her out to the local fair. They'd go, and then Lita would start falling in love with him as well, and then, maybe, one day, they'd get married and then, they'd live happily ever after.
*OKAY, so I was a trifle young at the time, and MAYBE Mum told me too many fairy tales for my own good -*
But in essence, he had it planned straight. He'd ask her out on her thirteenth birthday, after school. Except two days before, she'd been asked out by one of the local jocks at their high school. And he'd had to wait, and wait, and wait and wait! Watching as she got dumped, and hurt, and came to him to find solace in her 'best friend's' words, then go out and date again. Every guy - EXCEPT HIM!
*And now she's going to get dumped again.* Ken finished with a sigh.
He didn't know what to do. Lita might not appreciate knowing that Ken had eavesdropped on her boyfriend, that he hadn't trusted Lita's boyfriends (which he didn't, but he wasn't going to tell HER that!), and she definitely wouldn't want to face Josh if she believed him, which would only make matters worse for both of them. It could mean the end of their friendship!
Josh sat straight up, he loved Lita, and if that love had to be one sided, and if she only thought of him as a friend, it was better than *nothing*. And either way, there was no chance that he was going to let her face Josh by herself.
It was raining, pouring actually. In fact, it was raining about as hard as it'd been hot last week. Ken knew where Lita and Josh met every Saturday to start their lunch-dates. In the centre of the park, in the little open aired building with it's blue tiled roof and circle seats and railing. He stayed hidden underneath the shadow of a massive tree. He didn't know what to do. Just knew, in his heart of hearts, that he must be there - if anything, to watch them, to be there to pick up the pieces…
*Or to punch that bastard's face so hard that they'll be finding in SYDNEY!*
He watched as Lita ran eagerly up to the building, her face eager. She hadn't even brought an umbrella, and the rain made a soft mist around her. The bouncy pony tail at the back of her hair was limp from wetness, but it didn't stop that everlasting spirit that seemed to surround her, was part of her - was part of what made Ken love her. He couldn't hear the words, could barely see Josh. Lita's bastard boyfriend was half hidden in the shadow underneath his own umbrella. Instead of letting her into the building, he walked out, not even offering the shelter of his umbrella as he said the words. All Ken could see was her shoulders dropping. Her clinging to Josh, and being pushed back. Then Josh walking away in the rain.
Lita stood there in the rain. A tear rolled down her cheek, lost in the pouring rain, and Ken ran to her, sheltering her underneath his umbrella. For a second, she didn't seem to notice, then she turned to him.
"You're my best friend, Ken." She whispered, smiling, and hugging him, "My best friend."
He held her, and even though his heart was breaking he hugged her back as a best friend would, "He wasn't good enough for you, Lita." He said softly.
That was all he needed to say. Lita had trusted his advice, going with him back to his house, and crying into his shoulder. But she'd been as open as ever, and he had been her best friend… He'd watch her fall in love with boy after boy after boy, seen her eyes fill with stars as she fell in love again and again and again...
If only he could gather the courage and reach for those stars.
***
Ken clenched his jaw as he found himself pacing. He forced himself to stop, then started again as he couldn't keep still. Almost six. She'd be here soon. It'd been almost three weeks since they'd last met each other. He wondered what she'd been so urgent about on the phone.
*Did she passed those tests she was worried about last time? Did she get an award in cooking? Has she got another boyfriend?*
The last thought made him want to hit his head against something hard. His thoughts were thrown apart as the doorbell rang. He nearly broke something running over to open it.
Lita was standing there, a bag of chicken and chips in her hands. And he those familiar stars in her eyes. Ken felt his heart sink, but knew that if anything, her friendship was better than nothing.
"Who is the lucky man?" he asked her as he took the bag from her hands and started unpacking the food onto the table.
"What man?" Lita asked, confused, "I wanted to tell you first, Ken!" she threw herself into his arms, "I won the Verbo Deyvonae award for Cooking! If I finish school and go to college, I've got a full scholarship to the Verbo Deyvonae College of Cooking!" she stared up at him, her face lighting up with happiness, "A FULL scholarship, Ken! No fees, no worrying about how much I can afford to spend anymore - with the money from Mum and Dad's insurance, and the inheritance, I'll be able to finish college and maybe have enough to start my own restaurant!" She hugged him then, her eyes wide with wonder, "I just found out, and you were the only person who I want to share this moment with." She said, her eyes softening, "You were always there when I was down, and broken. Now I have something that is so amazing, and you were the one that I could share it with."
The stars were in her eyes.
The long ago thought he'd had, back then, before she'd been expelled from the high school they'd both been part of. Before she'd gone to that Crossroads Junior High and started drifting away so they only saw each other occasionally.
*If I can only get the courage up to reach for the stars. Just to touch them, just once.* He thought, and pulled out of her hug, holding her at arms length.
"Lita, I've been in love with your for so long." He whispered, not daring to see her face, "I've been in love with you for longer than I can remember." He didn't dare look, what if he saw rejection - or worse yet, revulsion in her face? But he should take his own advice.
And reach out…
To catch the stars…
The End
Flim@hotmail.com
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