Her cheeks turn the slightest shade of pink and I shove my hands into my pockets to stop from tracing a finger over them. Turns out, I’m a sucker for a blushing Cherry.
“That makes sense. Is it nice?”
I stop in front of a vending machine and buy a few bottles of Pocari Sweat drinks for her. They come in several flavours and I want her to have options.
“Oh.” She takes a sip and licks her lips. I smother a groan. “It’s nice.”
Gulping from my bottle, I nod, momentarily lost for words by the mere sight of her small pink tongue.
What. Is. Happening. To. Me?
She continues drinking and I scramble to get my thoughts in order. “Do you want to know a secret?”
“Yes!” She bounces on her toes and I mentally kick myself. This isn’t anywhere near getting my thoughts together. This isn’t something I ever wanted to share with…anyone.
“Tell me.”
I hesitate. Fine, I’m stuck now. Me and my stupid brain have got me in a pickle. “I was in an ad for Pocari Sweat. A few years ago.”
Her mouth drops open. “You were? How did I not know this?”
“It was only here in Japan.” I shrug. “And that is something I’m very grateful for.”
“Oh, now Ihaveto see it.” Her eyes shine with mischief and she pauses in the middle of the footpath, causing a slight foot-traffic jam behind us.
I take her hand and pull her off to the side, ignoring the zing zapping up my arm from where my palm is touching hers.
“Don’t think you’re going to get away with not showing it to me,” she threatens, dropping my hand and shaking hers slightly.
“I’m not sure I want you to see it,” I admit.
She flashes her dimple at me and I groan. I should never have divulged how much power that smile of hers has over me.
“Fine.” I fish my phone out of my pocket, silencing James’s chuckle with a quick glare. He’s seen the ad and knows why I’ve kept it a secret.
“Gimme.” She snatches the phone from me and squints down at it. “What am I looking at?”
I stand behind her, leaning over her shoulder to scroll through my phone. From this position, my senses are assaulted by her. By her scent, by how her hair tickles my nose. By how perfectly she fits against me.
“Here.” The one word comes out strangled and I clear my throat. “But I must swear you to secrecy. No one back home can know about this. Especially your brother.”
Her head tilts back and she locks her gaze with mine. I can feel the tension in her body and wonder if what I said just now has another meaning. Because the way I’m feeling with Cherry so close to me? Yeah, her brother can never know about it.
“You can press play now.”
She shakes her head, tearing her eyes from mine. “This is so exciting.”
Embarrassed, I step away from her, not wanting to see her face as she watches the ad. It’s not that it’s a bad ad campaign; it’s just that I’m horrible in it.
“Oh my gosh, Nicky! This is so good.”
Good, as in so, so bad.
“I have to watch it again.”
Her light laughter stops me from snatching the phone from her, so I let her watch it again. And then one more time. The video goes for twenty seconds and watching her watch it, it feels like three thousand. In it, I’m an F1 driver (should have been a pretty easy role for me), but instead of racing on the track, I’m racing in space. And the other drivers? They’re anime cartoons. The Japanese public seems to love all things Manga and anime, so the ad makes sense for this audience. I’d spent the day in the studio acting with a bunch of nothing; just a green screen. For most of the video, I’m looking lost. The rest of the time, I’m delivering my lines poorly in Japanese. And even though it’s obvious that I’m uncomfortable throughout, both the clients and the public loved it, and I’ve got a lifetime supply of Pocari Sweat in my garage back at home to show for it.
Still, it remains my dirty little secret.
