The Opposite Of Attraction
– Part One: The Ordinary
Aamalie: Three cheers for my new fic! What to say about it? Hmm...
Well, it's gonna be... Different that my usual. And more complicated, thanks to PoF.
But that's a good thing.
So yeah. Expect the rating to up around
chapter ten, just for safety's sake. No lemon, of course. Just
safety. :-D And several make-out scenes. You'll see.
Enjoy!
Story Disclaimer: Haven't
owned it, don't own it, probably will never own it. Except in
my dreams, but that not applicable. Unfortunately.
I do own this plot, however, and its been in the
making since June. Oy...
---
The wind rustled through
the windows, causing the green curtains to sway slightly before it brushed over
the figure resting sideways on the bed. Catching the morning breeze, brown
tinted bangs fell across sienna eyes. Without breaking her concentration from
the book resting open before her, the young woman flicked back the stray locks,
totally oblivious to the world.
Just as she had wetted her
finger on her tongue, preparing to turn to the next well-worn page of
literature, there was a tap at the door. It swung open half a second later. A
boy, still in his mid-teens, entered the bedroom and plopped down onto the
mattress, the springs creaking beneath his added weight. The newcomer leaned
back to peer over the girl's shoulder at the book she was reading.
"What're you reading
now, Sango?"
"The Odyssey,"
she replied, not bothering to spare him a glance.
"Again? Jeez, sis! How many times are you
going to read that? It's not like you couldn't find something new. You do
work at a bookstore, and practically live there when you're not on shift."
Sango sighed, finally breaking away from
her preoccupation to give her brother a dull look. "Kohaku,
don't you have better things to do other than mock my reading material? It's a
Saturday. You should be out doing things with your friends, like most
high-school students do. Or better yet—" She flashed him an unexpected
grin, her voice turning mockingly enthusiastic. "You should go study!
After all, you are a junior now." Reaching over, she tweaked a freckled
cheek. "Most important year, you know."
"Hey!" Kohaku quickly retreated from her face-pinching fingers,
sulking a little. "Its not like you should be
sitting around here either. You're twenty-one. You should be the one out
with your friends at a mall, or studying, or something."
"You just want my
room. It's bigger than yours."
Kohaku ignored her comment as a thought
suddenly dawned on him. Plopping his head onto his palms, he gave Sango a smug smile. "You know what you need? You need
a boyfriend; one that'll get you to live a little, instead of letting you
lounge around reading your days away."
A frown touched the edges
of Sango's lips. If there was one thing that bugged
her to no end, it was the idea of someone telling her what her life should or
should not include—specifically love. It wasn't that the idea of a relationship
didn't appeal to her in ways. It was more that, deep down in some recess of herself, she was one of the romantic sorts, and the idea of
a love life entertained that part of her. However, one of her primary beliefs
was that love, or at least 'like', would come when it was meant to come, and
she wasn't going to push the matter.
The world didn't need to
know her views on the matter either. Sango was perfectly
content to let everyone just see the down-to-earth girl that was the other part
of her personality. It gave her the occasional chance to throw them for a loop.
It was with that basic
mindset that she finally pushed herself off of her stomach, adjusted herself
into a cross-legged position, and said, "Oh, really Kohaku! As if you, of all people, should be trying to give
me advice. You haven't even had a girlfriend of your own yet."
"So what?" he
muttered, clearly embarrassed. "You didn’t really go out in high school
either. Besides, its not like I've been out school for
three years like you have."
"I've taken a few
classes at the city college," Sango said mildly,
picking up The Odyssey again.
"You can't go there
forever."
"I know. I'll find a
college once I figure out what I want my major to be. Now, stop worrying about
your big sister and go occupy yourself elsewhere," she chided, reaching
over again to ruffle his bangs, which she knew he hated. "I'm trying to
read."
"Ack! Sango!" Shooting her an indignant and insulted glare, Kohaku made a hasty withdrawal from the bedroom, all the
while trying to flatten his mussed bangs. Sango
giggled as he went before returning her attention to her epic. Unfortunately,
she found herself unable to concentrate.
Something about what Kohaku had said had managed to hit home.
"Perhaps I do need a
boyfriend," Sango mused, letting the battered
paperback slip from her hands and staring at it. The corners of her mouth
tilted upwards wryly. "Or maybe I just need to get stuck on some isolated
island cove with a male version of Calypso for a while." She laughed,
recalling the lustful nymph who had held Odysseus as her prisoner for seven
years. Well, he wasn't so much her prisoner as he was her sex slave, but
whatever.
Hopping onto her feet at
last, Sango linked her hands behind her head in a
stretch before she dropped into the chair in front of her desk. Pulling her
laptop forward, she raised the screen and pressed the ‘ON’ button. Sango had received the compact computer as a graduation
gift, and she preferred it greatly over the more commonplace gift of a new car,
which many of her classmates had received. Perhaps she was unconventional, but
then again, her father already did own two cars...
Once her computer had
finished booting up, Sango clicked on the internet
browser icon, intending to check her e-mail. Who knew? Maybe something
interesting had been sent to her overnight. Much to her disappointment though,
she found that she had only received two message: One
from an acquaintance from high school, and the other from an address she didn't
recognize.
'Probably spam,' Sango
thought, decided to ignore it for the moment, instead opening the other message
link. The page finished loading after a few drab seconds, and Sango set about to the task of reading it.
Hey all!
'Sup? Hope you all
remember your old pal Katie! It's been so long, I just thought I'd update
everyone on what's been up in this crazy place ! I'm
so happy here. I've got my own apartment—no roomies! And I've also got a steady
boyfriend now, and...OMG!!! He's so freaking HOT! I mean, really, who would
have imagined that I'd get so lucky? I have to tell you what he did the other
day...
Sango huffed in annoyance, impulsively
clicking the delete button with her mouse. Was it just her, or was the world
not on her side today? Besides, who really cared about Kelly's (or was it Kalie's?) new boyfriend? Sango
didn't even know the girl, for heaven's sake!
Shooting another dark look
at the computer screen, she found that the page had loaded the other new
message, thanks to some unfamiliar setting of the e-mail provider. Feeling a
bit surly now, Sango went to delete it as well, but
the colorful title above the general text caught her eye.
Ever dreamed of what
it'd be like to live on an isolated Hawaiian beach...
In
the company of handsome guy?
Was it just Sango, or did this idea seem a bit familiar? Caught
off-guard by the irony of it all, she continued to scan.
Now could be your
chance! Click the link below, and send an application in to us! You could get
the chance to appear on the upcoming reality TV show, Opposites Attract! While being
filmed in beautiful
Interested? Click here!
Still want to know more? Keep reading!
Sango broke away there, staring
thoughtfully at her keyboard. As far as she had ever been concerned, she had
always considered reality television to be a ridiculous pastime. The thought of
actually participating as a cast member in one was purely ludicrous! But, in light of her earlier conversation with Kohaku...
Emboldened, Sango clicked the application link.
After all, it was worth a
shot.
-
Sango cast a frantic look at her watch
as she secured the brown paper bag beneath her arm, then grabbing the two drinks
she had ordered from the counter. She called a hasty, "Thank you!" to
the coffee shop cashier as she hurried towards the door, making a pit-stop
along the way to snap a lid over her coffee. Praying that none of the hot
liquid would manage to slosh out of the gaps in the plastic, Sango leaned backwards against the café's door, pushing it
open.
She was halfway to her car
when her cellular phone, tucked safely into her back jeans pocket, began to
ring.
"Shit!" Wishing
that she had made Kohaku come inside with her so that
he could have carried his own breakfast out, Sango
tried to juggle both of the drinks into one hand without dropping the muffin
she had purchased. She had nearly succeeded, and was just letting go of her
coffee to reach for the still buzzing phone when gravity chose to reveal that
it had other plans for her. The coffee cup slipped, causing the drink to spill
out...
...Right onto her shirt.
Letting out a cry of
frustration, Sango rushed to right the cup, finally
deciding to just let the damned thing in her back pocket ring away. She had
more important things to think about anyway, such as how hot that coffee
soaking through her nicely dry-cleaned white blouse was. Well, previously
white.
Biting her tongue in
annoyance, Sango finally made it to her vehicle,
passing Kohaku the muffin and the iced mocha through
his open window before stalking over to the driver's side and plunking into the
seat. However, that turned out to be a bad idea, as more coffee splashed though
the lid holes and dripped onto her lap. Kohaku
snickered at his sister's infuriated choice of words, offering her a napkin
after she had decisively dumped the remaining contents of the cup out of her
own window.
"Not funny," she
muttered, trying to sop up the drink before the fabric of her pants managed to
absorb it all.
"Maybe not from your
perspective," Kohaku pointed out, still amused.
"And by the way, my first class starts in, oh... Eight minutes?" Sango let another expletive fly, shoving the key into the
ignition and starting the engine. Shifting the gear into reverse, she backed
out of the parking space and shifted gears again before pulling out of the lot
altogether as fast as she could.
Today was not her
day.
Somehow though, they
managed to arrive at Kohaku's high school with a few
scarce minutes to spare. As soon as he had jumped out, waving a goodbye, Sango slumped down in her seat for a minute. Sleeping
through alarm clocks officially stunk. As did spilling hot
coffee down her front. Now she had to go home and change. If only whoever
had called didn't have such awful timing!
Sango blinked and sat up straight,
shifting so that she could yank the phone out of her pocket. Absentmindedly,
she called her voicemail as she pulled back into traffic, entering her password
when it told her to. Shortly afterwards, the new message began to play.
"Hello Ms. Mosouka!" chirped a bubbly voice. "This is Rin Ureshii, calling you as the
representation for the production of Opposites Attract! We just wanted
to let you know that we need you to come on over today by noon so that we can
interview you! Sorry if its an inconvenience, but we
can't reschedule. If you can come, don't bother to call us, just come. We sent
directions to you via the e-mail address you provided. Hope to see you
soon!"
The message ended, leaving
Sango feeling a bit bewildered. Ending the
connection, she let the phone drop to her lap, making herself continue to focus
primarily on her driving.
"They actually want
me for an interview?" she said to herself, slightly disbelieving. How odd.
Sango had just sent in the application along with a
slightly outdated photo of herself the week before on a lark. She hadn't really
expected to ever hear anything about it again, except maybe a letter to tell
her that they had found someone prettier (or sluttier)
to fill the open role.
After all, everyone knew
that reality TV viewers loved racy content and the soap opera type drama the
shows often provided. It was why the silly things received such high ratings.
That, and who doesn't enjoy the occasional back-stabbing? And then there were
the racy make-out scenes... Oh wait. She'd already covered that.
'To go,
or not to go? That is the question,' Sango thought, tapping her
fingers on the steering wheel as she waited for a red light. It would mean that
she had to miss work for the day, or at least some of it, but it also meant
that she had a better chance of getting to go to
If she did get the part,
she couldn't wait to see the reactions of her father and her brother.
Suddenly, as she was
pulling into her driveway, Sango froze. Hadn't the
girl who left the message said '
-
By the time Sango reached the building with the address she had been
searching for, she was on the verge of pulling her hair out in chunks. Between
changing into clothes that weren't stained by coffee, finding out she had to
drive all the way from where she lived in
She ran through the glass
doors, pausing to look around the small business complex for some clue as to
where
'Calm down,' she chided herself, 'you're
here already. You've still got five minutes to be considered on time, so just
get going!' Taking a steadying breath, Sango
followed her own advice, and searched for a way to get upstairs.
She then caught sight of
an elevator across the hall, which had just opened to let two people inside.
Cursing the fact that she had for some reason worn heeled shoes today, Sango pelted after them, desperately yelling for someone to
hold it open for her as she tried to reach the swiftly shutting doors.
Fortunately, one of the two heard her, and she managed to make it.
"Thanks," she
said, offering a small smile at the dark-haired young woman who had kept her
finger on the "Door Open" button.
"Which floor?"
"Same as yours,"
Sango replied, noting that the button with a numeral
three on it was lit up, indicating that it had been pushed previous to her
arrival. Sighing as the elevator finally jerked into motion, she rested her
head back against the cool metal of the wall. She had such a headache...
There was a ding as the
third floor was reached, and Sango jumped into
action. Almost lunging for the now open door, she ended up knocking into the
other person in the elevator. She apologized quickly, and the man, sunglasses
preventing her from distinguishing his features, laughed.
"No worries, it's my
mistake. Ladies first."
Nodding her gratitude, Sango took him up on his offer, only to pause a few steps
once she was out in the open. Which direction was the suite?
"Which one are you
looking for?" the man asked as he exited with the other girl, and Sango briefly wondered if the two were together, then
shrugged it off as none of her business.
"Three-fifteen."
"Three doors down
that way," he said, pointing to her right.
Flashing him another smile
and a quick wave, Sango headed off in the direction
he had designated.
Had she been listening,
she would have heard it when the man turned to his female companion and said,
"Her."
-
Sango nearly shouted in triumph when she
entered the business suite with a minute and a half still on the clock.
However, she resisted the silly urge, instead walking over to the desk situated
near the door. Behind it was a girl who looked to be about Kohaku's
age, which struck Sango as a bit odd.
"Excuse me?"
The girl hardly looked up
from her magazine. "Yes?"
"Um... I'm here for
the interview for the reality television show?"
"Okay. Just go have a
seat. The producer will be with you in a moment. She's in another meeting right
now."
Sango nodded,
glad she had thought to grab a book off of her shelf on the way out of the
door. Taking a seat stationed across from the desk, she prepared to wait
however long it was necessary.
---
Aamalie: Standard demands of reviewing
apply. :) Hope you liked! And I'll try to update this about... every 2 weeks. Emphasis on try. Lots of emphasis. Lots. Unless I get bribed again, like I
did for this chapter. Muah ha. ;D