35 Millimeters by Lady Aishiteru Chapter 7- Coming into Focus Disclaimer: "Mmmm...64 slices of American Cheese. 63. 62...." - Homer Simpson, The Simpsons "Look at the Jell-o! It's jiggling!" "Afraid of the competition?" -- Brittany and Daria, Daria REAL disclaimer: I don’t own Sailor Moon. I don't own Daria or The Simpsons either. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Flashback “Whaaa? You...l-love me?” I stammered. “Is that so hard to believe?” he asked softly, tracing along my jawline with his finger. I looked into his eyes, and saw a trace of what looked like....sadness? “Nobody..has ever...said that before,” I whispered. “I’ve only said that..once,” he admitted, holding a Beanie baby. “To your fiancee?” “Yeah.” I was silent for a minute, absorbing the impact of the information. It seemed a bit soon...after all, we had only known each other for a few weeks. “Why me? I’m not that special...” I admitted, trailing off. He didn’t answer, at least not out loud, but what he did when we went outside said more than enough. He took my hand, and with his free hand, he cupped my chin so I was looking into his eyes. Time seemed to come to a halt as he slowly, too slowly, closed the distance between our faces. The emotion he poured into the kiss left our previous one in the dust. So I did something I thought I would never do; I kissed him back. All too soon, he broke the kiss and whispered in my ear, “I think that sums it up.” End of Flashback Zoisite stepped back a bit to look in my eyes, like he was reading them for some emotion. I've always been the kind of person who could never hide her emotions, and if my eyes were conveying what I was feeling right then, there was no question about my feelings for him. "Penny for your thoughts, Zoisite?" I asked, grinning. He gave me a mysterious smile, but I wasn't buying it. "Well, do you still want to see a movie at my place?" he asked, changing the subject. "Sure," I said. He linked his arm with mine and we walked over to the car. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* "Meet The Parents?" He scratched his head a little, in that adorable way that he does when he wants to look pensive. "Well, it's not much for intellectual value-" "That's okay," I said, cutting off his apology. "I'm a big fan of Ben Stiller. He's cute." He fell back against the couch and held a hand to his chest in a pathetic attempt to look wounded. "I thought I was the cute one!" I elbowed him in the ribs as I sat down next to him. After the previews, I made a bold move, at least for me; I rested my head against his shoulder. His body stiffened for a second in surprise, but soon he put his arm around me. Soon, the credits were rolling, and the screen showed Ben Stiller in all of his nerdish glory. We both laughed hysterically the whole way through. Tears were rolling down my eyes and my stomach hurt from laughing so much. "This is nice," I said. The credits had rolled five minutes ago and neither of us had made a move to get up. "What is?" he asked. "Being here, like this," I said, craning my head up to look at him, and blushing at the admission. He ran his fingers through my hair, in such a way that it made shivers go up my spine. "I wanted to hear you say that." "And I wanted to say that..." I said, and mentally added, 'I've always liked being with you.' I didn't complete the thought verbally, lest the moment swallow us whole. He didn't say anything to that....I mean, what can you say? We sat there like that for awhile, until both of us fell asleep ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* "Ami?" "......." "Ami?" "......" "Ami, you're needed on Earth!" Rei said. "Huh? Oh, I'm sorry," I said. "What's got you all spaced out, Ames?" asked Usagi, sipping her chocolate milkshake. We were all sharing a large booth at the Soda Shoppe on a Friday afternoon. Usagi was getting somewhat of a tummy, but I doubted it was from the food she ate. That woman has an amazing metabolism. "Oh, I was just thinking about things." "What things?" piped in Makoto. "You know, THINGS," said Minako, winking for emphasis on the last word. "So how is that business deal with Zoisite going? I hear he's run up quite a tab," said Mamoru, who was seated on Usagi's left. "Yeah. By my present calculations, he owes me about one hundred thousand yen." He whistled. "Pretty pricey for a photo. So, what do you think makes him keep changing his mind?" I honestly had no idea. First, he had wanted the background to be in his apartment, then he wanted it to be the lake in the park, then he wanted it to be backlit, and that's just the beginning on a long list of alterations. It had been going on for about six months now, and he wanted the picture changed about once every week. He would always bring it up as he drove me home from our weekly movie dates. I would remind him of the price, and he would say that money is no object. By now, the current hodgepodge had absolutely no resemblance to the photograph he had originally brought into the shop. "You know, I honestly have no clue," I said. "Hmph," said Minako. "What's that 'hmph' mean?" questioned Makoto. "Oh, you don't want to know what I think," said Minako, smiling. "Actually, for once, we DO want to know what you think," said Rei. "So spill it, girl." Minako stuck her tongue out at Rei, then said, "I think he's got it for Ami." "That's not news," I said. "He told me that five months ago." "I know," Minako said, giving a look that it wasn't all there was to her theory. "I think Zoisite's afraid that once Ami's done with the project, she won't have any reason to see him anymore." "Boy, I'll bet it's expensive to be that insecure," said Makoto. "Insecure? Hardly," said Mamoru. "Knowing Zoisite as I do, he's probably got some 'brilliant scheme' planned." "You think he's up to something, Hon?" asked Usagi. "I wouldn't put it past him," said Mamoru, smiling. Soon, the subject changed to other matters, but I wasn't paying attention to the topic at hand. Throughout the meal, and all the way to my apartment, the same question turned over and over in my mind; What could he possibly have planned?