Yoshi (extras) (10)

(a time around May 2007)

Yossi thought she felt something nudging her. She wasn’t sure, however doing what everybody would do on instinct; she shifted her body slightly away. Then she felt it again, this time on her arm. A little frustrated, she turned to her left, tugging along the blanket as she did. But before she could drift back to unconsciousness, she felt it again, very clearly this time. Little nudges on her back, she thought it was slight taps or pokes or whatever but nevertheless it was very irritating. She began to wonder just how much of the bed Rika actually needed before she was allowed some decent sleep.

She grunted softly, and into her pillow; her subtle display of disapproval meanwhile hoping that it wasn’t yet enough to evoke anger from Rika. She waited. It seemed to have worked. The nudging stopped.

Soon Yossi was feeling sleepy again. But the sleep she so badly desired never arrived. Under the warm sheets, a gelid foot that was suddenly on her bare back shot her wide awake. As the foot was still on her back, she couldn’t turn herself around and had to be contended with the thought that Rika must be having some action packed dreams that would somehow explain the taps, the pokes and the kick. Deciding to shift herself into safer zones, Yossi contemplated moving slightly away but stopped when she realized she was already nearing the edge of the bed. Another move and she would find herself on the cold floor beneath. Deciding on another way, she moved her hand back to try to navigate the offensive foot away when a palm landed on her cheek with amazing force and accuracy.

“What’s that for?” Yossi sat upright and faced her perpetrator. She rubbed her burning cheek and squinted.

Rika didn’t move at first. Then she raised her arm and pointed to where the dressing table was.

Yossi followed the hand and asked. “You need something?”

After a half-yawn laced with irritation, Rika finally forced the words out of her mouth. “Your stupid phone!”

In semi-darkness, Yossi looked where she placed her phone and noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Then she heard it. Soft, incessant thuds - the sound of her cell phone vibrating against the table top through her jeans. And she quickly realized what had happened.

“Who’s the idiot?” Yossi cursed.

“You, who else?” Rika chided. “Why didn’t you turn off your phone?”

Yossi wanted to give some excuses but quickly decided against it. She didn’t want to anger Rika anymore. She knew why Rika was angry. Being a very light sleeper, Rika had warned her countless times to switch off her cell phone whenever she’s around for sleepovers.

Doing what’s most right for the situation now, Yossi apologized and got out of bed. The nuisance gadget stopped vibrating the moment Yossi yanked it out from her jeans’ pocket. It made Yossi curse again. If only you did so earlier…

Though very much tempted to check who the caller was, Yossi didn’t, lest her darling princess would then complain that the dim light coming from the phone screen was blinding her and disrupting her sleep.

Placing the phone back on the dressing table, Yossi walked back to the bed and got back under the sheets. With Rika facing the other side of the bed now, she snuggled up close and hugged Rika from behind. Rika didn’t budge. When Yossi then heard Rika snoring, she knew Rika was only pretending to be asleep.

“Gomen, gomen, gomen,” Yossi whispered and kissed on the nape of Rika’s neck.

Rika turned around slowly until she was facing Yossi, but her eyes were still closed and she was still snoring, like what she did was only a routine turn between sleep.

However, Yossi thought she just caught a smirk on Rika. She inched forward and kissed Rika. “Gomen, gomen, gomen.”

Rika opened her eyes. She kept a straight face for a while before she broke out into a giggle. And when she started rubbing her nose against Yossi’s, Yossi knew that Rika wasn’t angry with her anymore.

…buu…buu…buu…

Rika got angry again. She sat up and slapped Yossi on the shoulder. Yossi quickly jumped out of the bed and dived for her phone. She fumbled with it in darkness, trying to locate the on/off button as quickly as possible when she realized her phone was lying insentient in her hands.

“It’s… it’s not the phone,” she told Rika.

“Then what was it?” Rika half-screamed.

They kept quiet and listened.

~…masaka saa…~

Rika quickly turned red. Realizing the source of the sound too, Yossi made a slight grunt and walked over toward Rika’s handbag which was hung behind the door. Getting it down from the hook, she dug into it, found the culprit and passed it to Rika. She said nothing when Rika received it quite solemnly although she was tempted to ‘scold’ back. But as soon as she saw the sorry look on Rika, the thought dissipated.

Seeing that Rika was now checking her emails, Yossi decided to do the same for hers. She took her phone and plopped down on the bed. As she read through the shocking contents of the email, she still wasn’t quite sure she got it right, but looking up and seeing Rika looking at her with the same shock expression, Yossi quickly understood that they had gotten the same message from Tsuji…

“USO!”