#mc:koh

Koh’s POV

“Thanks for letting me crash here again, Sakura,” I said as I set my bags down in the corner of Sakura’s room. “I appreciate it.”

“No problem, Koh,” Sakura replied.

I had been staying at Autumn’s house for the past few days while my grandmother was still in the hospital sick and our house was foreclosed. But Autumn’s dad had come home from his business trip to the Bahamas and was startled to see me just chilling in their living room eating a tv dinner, which he didn’t take too well. He took Autumn into the other room and scolded her for about ten minutes. She came back out and told me I had to leave because she’d gotten in trouble for having friends over without him knowing, or from what I overheard him saying:

“letting in dirty hoodlums off the street”. Go figure.

The last time I slept over at Sakura’s, we stayed up all night playing Street Fighter without getting a wink of sleep, causing Sakura to forget to do her homework and fall asleep in school and her parents getting super pissed. But then she somehow managed to convince her parents of letting me sleep over again, telling them all about my current situation and how I really needed this. I didn’t like to use my personal issues for sympathy, but right now I would do anything to keep from sleeping on the streets, or going back to my recently foreclosed house and risking being caught by the police.

“Want to play some more Street Fighter?” Sakura asked with a smirk.

“What, seriously? After what happened last time?”

“I’m just joking,” she said. “I don’t think we should play any video games tonight.” I was shocked. This was a first for Sakura. Usually her and that Nishan kid were always talking about and playing games. That’s what they were known for.

“Alright, so… what do you want to do?”

“Just hang out I guess.” She grabbed the tv remote off of the nightstand and lied down on her bed on her stomach, propped herself up on her elbows and turned on the tv. Under it were piles upon piles of tangled cords and cables and wires hooked up to dozens of game systems. “Oh my gosh, yes! Mechanical Brides is on! I haven’t since this movie in ages.” Sakura’s eyes instantly became glued to the tv, and an excited grin was spread across her face. I’d never seen the movie before, but seeing Sakura get so excited was actually kind of cute.

I got down on the floor and started setting up my sleeping bag next to Sakura’s bed. Hopefully Mia would get this court thing settled soon so I wouldn’t have to be sleeping on my friends’ bedroom floors anymore. This was starting to get a little embarrassing.

I finished unrolling my sleeping bag, and I sat up on my knees and just looked around Sakura’s room. The walls were painted a pale blue, and covered with a bunch of video game posters for Legend of Zelda and Halo and World of Warcraft and all the other games I always heard her and Nishan squealing over. On the opposite side of her bed was where all her computers were set up. Her desk held 3 large monitors and a laptop, and next to it was a wide floor to ceiling shelf that was jam packed with all of her games sorted by system. I was astonished. Who in the world needed that many games? I could barely even feed myself, let alone afford thousands of video games. In the corner I saw she had a little table with a CD player sitting on it, and multiple stacks of CDs scattered around it. I got up on my feet and walked over to the corner and started to look through her many stacks of CDs, curious to see what the gamer girl listened to.

My eyes widened as I picked up an album with a naked baby submerged in water on the cover. “Whoa! You listen to Nirvana?” Sakura turned her head away from the television and I held the album up to show her.

“Are you kidding? They’re my favorite band!” She sat up, and swung her legs over the side of the bed. “My parents listened to them all the time. They like, worshipped Kurt Cobain in the 90’s.”

I flipped through more of her collection and saw she had all of their albums, even the live ones. “Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said they were your favorite band. Mind if I play some?”

“Nope.”

And with that I plopped one of the discs into the CD player and closed the lid. When I pressed play, Sakura stood up from her bed and automatically started jumping and shaking as the first few chords of Smells Like Teen Spirit radiated from the speakers and filled the room with its sound. I’d never seen this side of Sakura before; usually she was all serious and concentrated, and not really jumpy and hyper. Maybe she only acted this way in private.

“Come on, Koh! Dance!” She tried to grab my hand and make me dance with her but I backed away.

“No thanks,” I shook my head. I wasn’t a dancing type of person. I didn’t see the point. Why not just sit and listen to the music instead of jumping around and flailing everywhere?

“Please?” She pleaded. She looked up with me with her dark, almond-shaped eyes that were begging me to come dance with her to music that wasn’t meant to be danced to. It was meant to be felt. With the soul.

I groaned. “Fine.” She happily took both hands and spun me around in a circle. She led me onto her bed and we started hopping up and down, making the springs in the mattress squeak loudly whenever either one of us went down. I rolled my eyes. This was so childish. I honestly thought Sakura was more mature than this.

Gah, Koh. Get a hold of yourself and stop being a tightass. She was just trying to have a little fun.

Although it pained me, I decided to loosen up and try have a good time dancing and jumping on the bed with Sakura. She spun around in the air, causing her dress to flare up and I caught a glimpse from behind of her panties that were a pale pink and edged with lace . My cheeks turned hot and I looked away. God, I was a perv.

I think we sung and danced to Nirvana’s entire discography until we were both panting and out of breath. I felt so pumped. Maybe there wasn’t anything wrong with acting a little childish once in a while. We collapsed on the bed onto our backs, laughing and giggling and sweating.

“Wow that was actually kind of fun,” I panted.

“Yeah, it was,” Sakura smiled, and shifted her body to lay on her side “I’ve never done anything like that with anyone before.”

“Me neither…”

“Like, my whole life I’ve always been that ‘weird gamer girl’, and I’ve never really had any close friends that would, you know.. do that kind of stuff with me. Nishan is great and all, but he’s not really helpful in that area if you get what I’m saying.”

“Yeah, I do.”

We heard a knock on the door, and Sakura’s mom opened it and poked her head in. “Sakura, Koh, I think its time to quiet down and get ready for bed now. You two have school in the morning.”

“Alright, mom,” Sakura said and slid off of her bed onto the floor.

“Yes, Mrs. Hayashi,” I said politely. I didn’t want Sakura’s mom to think I was a bad influence (like Autumn’s dad had thought), so I did what she asked. I grabbed my backpack with my clothes that I had placed in a corner and left the room and went upstairs to change in the bathroom.

I washed off my makeup and changed into a large black shirt and baggy sweatpants, and tied my long dark hair up in a high ponytail. I put my dirty clothes back in my bag and headed back downstairs to the basement where Sakura’s room was.

Opening the door and stepping into the room, I saw something so mesmerizing that it made me feel like my soul had left my body. Sakura was sitting criss-cross applesauce in a swivel chair in front of her computers. She had gotten dressed also, but in something I wouldn’t have expected.

She wore these blue shorts that came up to her upper-thighs, and a tight pink tank top that showed just the smallest bit of cleavage. The outfit was more form-fitting than her usual steampunk dresses she always wore.

Her hair was usually pulled back with clips, but they were now taken out, letting her hair hang loose around her face. Her wavy, dyed pink locks brushed slightly past her shoulders that were bare except for the thin spaghetti straps holding up her top.

She looked so… stunning.

“…Koh? Are you okay?”

Her soft voice snapped me out of my trance. Oh shit, I’d been staring the whole time.

“Y-yeah. I’m fine..” I stuttered and turned away quickly. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Get it together, Koh.

While trying to recollect myself, I set my bag back down in the corner where it was before then unzipped my sleeping bag next to Sakura’s bed, preparing to get slip inside and go to sleep.

“You’re going to bed already, Koh?” Sakura’s said from above me. I looked up and realized she was kneeling on her bed looking down at me.

“Uh, yeah. Didn’t your mom say that we had to?”

“Well, yeah, but will you stay up a little longer with me?”

As she was leaning down, more of her bulging chest was slightly more exposed and just inches from my face.

“Sure, why not?”

Eagerly, I scrambled onto her bed and sat cross legged right next to her. With the remote in her hand, she was scrolling through the channels like earlier, then finally settled on this one movie that seemed to be about some girls at a boarding school. Two were like super best friends and the other was a third wheel.  

I pretended to pay attention to the movie, which was slightly boring. All they were doing was being angsty and giggling. I kind of wanted to go to sleep, but it was hard. Especially when there was a cute girl sitting next to me.

I heard the pink-haired girl yawned, and to my surprise, felt her lay her head on my shoulder. She continued watching the movie and acting like it was nothing, while in my mind I was screaming. With butterflies beating the shit out of my stomach and the lack of ability to say anything without puking, I continued watching the movie.

The two best friends in the movie turned out to actually be lovers, and a hot make-out session between the two appeared on the screen. I could feel my face turning red hot, and Sakura being pressed up against me wasn’t making it any better. I held my head down and clapped my hand over my mouth.

Sakura giggled. “Is everything alright, Koh?” Without looking up, I nodded my head yes. Even though it wasn’t particularly true. “I can change the channel if it’s making you uncomfortable.”

“No, no, sorry. I’m fine it’s just…”

“It’s just what?”

Instead of answering the question I blurted out, “You look really beautiful tonight.”

The words hung awkwardly in the air, and I felt instant regret after I just said something that sounded like it would be a line in a corny romance movie.

“Thank you, Koh,” Sakura smiled and her cheeks flushed over with a light shade of pink. “You look beautiful too. It’s different seeing you with your hair up.”

We just sat there staring at each other for God knows how long. I noticed her eyes glancing from my eyes down to my lips, and I knew what she was thinking. Because it was what I was thinking as well.

I gradually leaned in closer to her face, and my heart beat faster and faster the closer I got. She didn’t pull away or anything, but I stopped when I was so close I could hear her breath and almost feel her heartbeat against my own chest.

“I-Is this okay?” I murmured. Our noses barely brushed together, and I just wanted to crash my lips onto hers. But first, I wanted to know if this is for real.

“Yes, it’s very okay.” She whispered. And before I could react, Sakura pressed her lips against mine. My eyes widened in surprise, but then slowly shut as I melted into the warm kiss. My hands moved to her waist and I pulled her closer so our chests were touching. Her lips slowly came apart, causing mine to open up too, and her sweet taste filled my mouth.  

I’d never kissed another girl before, and it was a lot more different than anything else I’ve experienced. The kiss was so soft and sweet and comforting; I could kiss Sakura forever. My heart had long ago exploded, and body filled with… I’m not sure what the feeling was. Love? I don’t know. But it was a good feeling.

Before we both suffocated, Sakura and I pulled apart from our intense kiss. We were breathing just as hard as we were when we were jumping on the bed earlier.

“I really like you, Sakura,” I said.

“I like you too, Koh,” Sakura laughed and put her hand around the back of my neck, and pulled me into another kiss.