"Darian," Honoka said with a welcoming but unsure tone. For the first time in years, I really took in her appearance.

She looked the same. Still petite and pretty. But unlike before, her hair wasn't shielding her face from the world, and her posture was more upright.

I smiled awkwardly, moving my gaze away from hers. "Hey."

"Come in." Honoka opened the door wider and motioned for me to enter, which I gladly did.

As soon as I stepped foot into their apartment, Honoka closed the door behind me, and my eyes gravitated straight to Kenji. My breath hitched when he stared right back at me.

His expression wasn't hateful because he masked that well, but the distaste was evident in his features from the firmness of his jaw to the tension in his lips. He leaned back in the couch with his arms crossed, and his legs parted wide.

We stared at each other until Kenji finally said, "Had a good smoke?" I didn't miss the malice in his voice.

How did...? My gaze moved to Aaron and Gavin, and Aaron hid his face from me. Even though he couldn't see it, I slit my eyes at him. Aaron and his fucking big mouth.

I returned my attention to Kenji. "I did actually." I could see his inner turmoil to resist rolling his eyes.

"Shoes," Kenji reminded me, and I glanced down at my feet.

Oh, right. No shoes in Kenji's house or apartment. I bent down and quickly removed them, kicking them to the side.

"Okay, Darian. Take a seat," Honoka intervened, ushering me to sit besides Aaron. Once I was seated, she moved over to take a seat besides Kenji.

An awkward silence ensued real quick, so I scanned the room with crazy eyes. Anything to distract myself.

"Okay," Honoka said, breaking the silence when it became too awkward. She turned to Kenji. "Can you get the drinks?"

"What am I? Your designated waiter tonight?" Kenji sneered, making Honoka frown at him.

"Kenji," she warned through gritted teeth.

Kenji didn't back down. He kept his cool and glared at her with his expression not relaxing. I almost smiled. That was one of the things I loved about Kenji. He could be so goddamn stubborn. It annoyed me sometimes, but other times it was amusing.

"Fine," he finally gave in, uncrossing his arms and rising to his feet. "I'll get the drinks." He turned to walk off, but I, along with the others, didn't miss him mutter under his breath, "Total bullshit." I could almost see the vein pulse through Honoka's neck as her glare intensified.

What a night this was going to be.

"Well, then," Aaron mumbled, and Gavin sent him a warning look.

I almost rolled my eyes. We all knew this shit wasn't going to be smooth sailing. From Gavin's expression, even he knew deep down.

When Kenji returned with a two liter Pepsi and a two litter Dr. Pepper, I was relieved. Thank God they had Dr. Pepper. I grabbed one of the cups Kenji brought and helped myself, and Gavin and Aaron did as well.

When we all had our drinks and sipped from them, Honoka smiled at me. "I see that you still like Dr. Pepper?"

I grinned. I couldn't believe she remembered.

"Hell yeah," I responded, and she laughed.

        "This guy here," Honoka said, pointing her thumb my way, "was obsessed with Dr. Pepper. It was all he drank in middle school." I laughed, and Gavin and Aaron joined in while Kenji held his indifferent expression.

        "He still drinks it but not to the point of obsession," Gavin said.

"Yeah," Honoka agreed. "Over the years, I totally forgot about it since I didn't see him drinking it as much."

"I still like it," I told her. "I'm not obsessed anymore, but it'll always be my favorite pop." Honoka nodded, but I just had to ask. "If you almost forgot, how did you remember then?"

"Kenji," Honoka replied, making the blood drain from my face. My gaze landed on him while he avoided mine, but I didn't miss the softening of his features. "Kenji reminded me."

"You did?" I asked, my eyes fixated on him. He nodded sharply, still not looking at me.

"Honoka, let's check on the food," he said, changing the subject. Kenji stood up and pulled Honoka with him, who watched him with a crease in her forehead.

"Um, s-sure," she responded as he dragged her away. The whole time they left, I couldn't control the smile forming on the corner of my lips as I watched Kenji go.

He remembered. After all these years and after all that had happened, he still remembered my obsession with Dr. Pepper. It was a trivial detail, but it meant a lot to me.

"Darian," Gavin said, snapping me out of my daze. I blinked Kenji from my mind and focused on him. He smiled. "Thanks for being nice."

"Don't worry about it."

"Kenji sure isn't being nice," Aaron muttered under his breath. My attention shifted to him, and I frowned. I didn't hesitate to punch his arm, hard. "Ow!" he yelled, grabbing his arm. "What the hell was that for?"

"You can't control your big mouth," I sneered, getting in his face. Aaron pouted, and I felt an urge to punch that pout off, but I didn't really want to hurt him. At least, not too badly. "You talk and talk, and you just had to tell them I was smoking outside."

"You were though!" Aaron cried out.

"You didn't have to tell them." I leaned back into the couch with my arms crossed and a scowl on my face.

Gavin laughed. "Since when do you care about what other people think?"

I usually didn't care, but I wanted to impress Kenji, and I wanted to make things right between us. Kenji, and the others, were always against me smoking when I first started in eighth grade. I didn't want him to know I still did it, but Kenji finding out was inevitable. I just didn't like Aaron being the one to tell him.

"Whatever," I grumbled. I was done with the conversation anyway.

Gavin and Aaron continued bantering back and forth, but my attention shifted to the kitchen where Kenji and Honoka stood over the oven. Kenji stared past Honoka with a bored expression while she did crazy hand gestures and appeared to be yelling at him. It was obvious they were having an argument and a heated one at that. Honoka motioned in our direction, and Kenji's eyes landed on me. We held eye contact for a brief second before he looked way.

I didn't.

I kept staring the whole time, and I didn't even look away when they made their way over to us again.

"Everything okay?" Gavin asked, turning to face them.

After they were both seated, Honoka turned to us with a grin. "Everything is great." I didn't miss the eye roll Kenji tried being discreet about, and I smirked. "Dinner is almost ready. Until then, what do you guys want to watch?"

Gavin returned her smile, and that was how we started watching The Little Rascals. It wasn't a bad movie, but it definitely wasn't my cup of tea. I was more of an action and adventure guy. There was just something about a character who could face obstacles and come out of it smoothly using their wit.

I admired the main characters in those genres for being able to handle their problems face-first and still come out on top.

Halfway through the movie, the five of us had dinner. We had salmon noodle bowl with plain brown rice, boiled vegetables, miso soup, and cucumber salad. Aaron was super excited because he finally got to eat authentic Japanese food, feeding his love for other cultures. I was thrilled, too.

Kenji cooked all of it, and I wasn't too surprised. He was always decent in the kitchen in middle school, but apparently, he improved a lot in high school. I was just glad Honoka wasn't the one who cooked. The girl was incompetent when it came to cooking back in middle school and from the looks of things, it hadn't changed.

After dinner, Gavin, Honoka, Aaron and I sat in the living room watching an episode of Shark Tank while Kenji stayed in the kitchen washing the dishes. I guess he really was the designated waiter tonight. Even though I loved Shark Tank, I didn't know what the hell was happening because my mind was focused on Kenji.

He was still mad at me, and tonight was my chance to make things right between us. It could be my only chance. After junior year of high school, all that anger I felt towards everyone, especially Kenji, disappeared. Only disappointment remained. Disappointment in the world and most of all, in myself.

I had to talk to him, and I had to do it now.

I stood from my seat and turned to the others. "I'm gonna go give Kenji a hand."

Gavin and Honoka nodded, but they were both too engrossed in cuddling and watching Shark Tank to really pay me any attention. Aaron didn't even acknowledge what I said.

Okay...

I made my way into the kitchen. I slowed my pace when I saw Kenji putting a plate into the drying rack before he moved on to wash the next one.

My eyes travelled down his body. Even though he still had a boyish look, Kenji lost his baby fat. He wasn't muscular, but he wasn't skinny either; he was a nice lean built. He had a grey shirt on that hugged his torso perfectly while his sleeves were rolled to his elbows. It was a sexy look on him.

He was sexy. I hated to admit it, but even though I was pretty tall myself, Kenji had a few inches on me. He always did, all the way back in elementary school.

"Hey," I greeted, stopping next to him.

He stared at me wide-eyed, and I sent him a closed-lip smile. When he recovered from his shock, he continued scrubbing away at the plate as if I didn't say anything.

I frowned slightly but still said, "So... Dinner was delicious. I always loved eating Japanese food. Haven't had it in a while though." Silence. "Um... Thanks for the Dr. Pepper." Kenji's eyes remained on the task at hand—washing dishes. "I'm glad you remembered. Sure saved me from having to endure the horrors of Pepsi." I laughed and even dragged it out, hoping he would join me.

He didn't.

"So..." I continued when I gave up on laughing. "How've you been?" Couldn't go wrong with that now, could I?

I was wrong.

Kenji threw the sponge into the soapy water in the sink and turned to face me with a crease deep in his forehead. His eyes penetrated mine with a hard look. "Can you stop?"

His voice felt loud and large, but I knew he wasn't yelling. If he was, Honoka and Gavin would have noticed by then. But he didn't need to yell for me to feel the venom in his voice.

"Stop what?" I asked, playing dumb.

"You come marching in here trying to have small talk with me, but no." He took a step forward. "No, Darian. You don't get to pretend as if everything is okay between us. You don't get to act as if we're 'boys'." His voice lowered. "We're not boys. We haven't been boys since middle school. Those four years of high school did happen." He turned around, facing the sink again. "Especially junior year, so fucking act like it."

He sent me one final glare before returning to doing the dishes. I stood beside him motionless as his words processed through my mind. He was angry at me, but most of all, he was hurt. I hurt Kenji, and not just physically, that hurt me more than I thought it would.

What I did was fucked up. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did, and I regretted so much of it. That was why I didn't bother him senior year, and I mostly kept my distance. I thought that would make things better, but it didn't get rid of the guilt I felt, and it didn't heal the emotional wounds I left Kenji with. We were both fucked over by it. Well, time for a different approach.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

Kenji froze and slowly glanced my way. "What?"

I cleared my throat. "I'm sorry," I repeated more confidently. Kenji stopped what he was doing and gave me his attention. "I'm sorry I was an ass junior year. I had no right treating you that way. You were just as much of a victim as the rest of us. Dealing with Camila's death was hard enough, and I'm sorry I made it that much harder for you, from the tormenting to the name-calling to the physical assaults to the pranks to everything. I'm sorry, Kenji."

Kenji's expression softened for a millisecond, but his scowl returned soon after. "You didn't only hurt me junior year of high school, Darian." He scoffed. "I wish. You've been hurting me since middle school." The guilt intensified in me. "I was the first person you pulled away from in our group. Why?" He genuinely looked confused. "How could you go from having me be the person you're closest to, and making me believe I was your best friend, to avoiding me as if I was nothing to you? Why was I the first person you cut loose? Why Darian? That's all I want to know. Why? Why did you do everything that you did?"

"I wish I could answer that," I said. "But I can't." He shook his head at me with a smirk on his lips, but something rested within his eyes.

Disappointment.

Knowing I always disappointed him only turned the knife more. "I'm sorry, Kenji. All the things I did, sometimes even I don't know why I did them. I was in a dark place, and I was consumed by emotions. I know that's no excuse, and I know what I did was wrong, especially since it was to you, someone I cared so much about."

"You obviously didn't care enough." His eyes told me that he believed it.

Kenji thought I didn't care about him.

Sure my actions may have said otherwise, but I cared about Kenji. More than I should have.

"I did care, Kenji. I still do." I took a step forward, and I was surprised he didn't take one back. "I'm sorry for drifting away from you first. I'm sorry for leaving all of you hanging for Gavin and Aaron. I'm sorry for bullying you all throughout junior year. I'm sorry I was a shitty best friend, and I'm sorry I'm a shitty person in general. I'm sorry. If I could take it all back, I would. I'll take all of it back."

"Well, you can't." Kenji crossed his arms. "You can't take any of it back."

"I know, and that sucks, but please Kenji. Can we just try to get past this? I know that's a lot to ask, but can we try to start over? Even if we can't be friends again, can we at least be on okay terms?"

Darian Ansel didn't beg...except for when it came to Kenji Kai.

"Please," I added.

It took a few seconds, but Kenji's hard expression finally wavered. "One night of hanging out and a couple apologies isn't going to erase everything."

"I know." We maintained eye contact. "I'm aware of that, but it's a start. At least, I want it to be. I'm tired of us butting heads, and I'm tired of us ignoring each other. I miss you, Kenji." He sighed, and averted his gaze from mine. "I miss you a lot."

Even though I would love to start spending every day with him now, I knew he needed time. It was going to take a while to fix things between us, but I was willing to wait.

"Okay. We'll try starting over," Kenji finally said. "Don't expect too much, but I'll try."

I grinned while he continued watching the dishes. "That's all I ask." I rose my arms in surrender, and Kenji nodded as my gaze remained locked on him.

When he noticed my staring, he smirked. "Grab a drying clothe."

"What?" I tilted my head slightly, and Kenji chuckled.

"If you're going to stand there, at least make yourself useful."

This bastard.

My lips still curled at the corners.

"Plus," Kenji said, leaning towards me, and my heart rate increased more than it should have, "what better way to get forgiveness than bribery, right?"

I bit my lip to suppress my goofy grin, and I grabbed the nearest drying clothe. Kenji washed the dishes and rinsed while I dried and placed them back into their rightful location. It didn't take us long to finish and even though it seemed trivial, I was glad I washed the dishes with Kenji. As stupid as it sounded, I felt like I was bonding with him.

It took a couple minutes, but when we were done, we returned to the living room to rejoined the others in watching re-runs of Shark Tank. Kenji seemed to relax more, and we all discussed the different businesses brought forward and predicted whether or not they would get a shark.

I hated to admit it, but I had fun. A huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders, and I was glad things were looking up for me and Kenji.

Unfortunately, it was short-lived because I received a text soon after.

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* The boys finally interacted. What do you guys think?

* Well, votes and comments are always welcomed. :)