I woke up due to a cellphone call, just seconds before my alarm clock rang. Damit Lance, you sure are an expert in timing… I picked up the phone and replied: "Lance, if you were any better at timing, you would have called me just when the alarm clock rang." – The alarm clock rang immediately after I said that, confirming Lance's words.
"Oh, terribly sorry, li'l bro! Well, what about that girl from yesterday? Did you talk to her? Or maybe you even had a nice time with her, you Casanova-wannabe?" – Lance laughed at his own joke after saying that.
"Really funny, Lance. Why yes, I actually rescued her from a few bandits, thanks for asking." – I replied, standing up from my bed and putting my black pants on.
"Well, you barely arrived, and you're already getting yourself into trouble! How typical of you. Anyway, did she thank you for rescuing her?" – Lance answered while I put the phone on the bedside table for a while, putting my red shirt on. When I put the shirt on, I took the phone back and replied: "Well, she told me to meet her at a certain restaurant in the Little Innsmouth district today, so…"
"Hold up for a second… Little Innsmouth district? Don't tell me you're into Dagonians now…"
He said that just as I was exiting the apartment. I stopped for a moment and said: "Why yes, she is a Dagonian. You've got any problems with that? As far as I'm concerned, marriage and you-know-what intercourse between humans and dagonians is legal around here."– With that said, I hung the phone up, approached my motorcycle on the parking lot, unchained it, and drove to the Little Innsmouth district. After a few hours, I had arrived to that one restaurant Minette was talking about. I entered the restaurant and was met with a pretty generic sight – both humans and dagonians sitting beside the tables, Minette just doing her typical waitress work, and some female feral standing in the corner and looking around. Minette saw me just as she put a few plates on one of the tables, after which she approached the cat-feral and said something to her. The feral nodded and Minette ran towards me, saying: "Well, I certainly didn't expect you to come here that early! Unfortunately, I have a bit too much work today, so…"
I took a seat beside one of the empty tables and said: "Don't worry - I'll gladly wait until you have the time to talk. In the meantime, I'd like a cup of coffee."
"In just a minute." - With that said, Minette ran off. After dealing with a few other orders, Minette brought a cup of espresso. It seemed that now Minette had already served all the other customers, so she sat down on the chair at the same table, just opposite of me.
"Well, guess we can talk now."
I hesitated for a while, thinking what to talk about. And of course, given the fact that I arrived just yesterday, I couldn't find any better topic other than asking Minette how's everything going around here.
"Sure. How's things going?"
Minette didn't hesitate and replied: "Well, things were going more or less alright around here. At least not as horrible as back then, a year or two ago…But that's beside the point, really. As for now, not much was happening. Except for those bandits attempting to kidnap me or one of my sisters sometimes. Now…Why did you arrive here from Canopolis?" – Minette asked.
I sipped a bit of coffee and replied: "Well, there were some… Circumstances that made me think about moving to New Meridian. There's not much one can do in Canopolis, so I just packed things up, got some money from my big brother Lance, boarded the train to New Meridian and…Well, I guess you know the rest. Anyway…What are you usually doing on your free time?"
"Oh…Well, there's not much to do in this district - just shopping every now and then. On Saturdays and Sundays however, I prefer going around the central district every now and then, mostly for shopping. And sometimes, I visit the Maplecrest Park every two weeks or so. Can't always visit it, to be honest - getting there by foot from either the Central District or from Little Innsmouth is a bit problematic, and sometimes the taxi drivers charge a little too much. And on especially sunny days, I like going to the beach." - Minette stopped for a while and looked around. There weren't any new customers showing up, and all the previous customers were already finishing whatever they ordered. After making sure nobody is going to disturb her for now, Minette continued: "Anyway...I don't really think we have much time to talk here, so I guess we can just go to Maplecrest later?"
"If you want me to drive you there on my motorcycle – sure, I'll gladly drive you there. But how about you give me directions on how to get to the Maplecrest Park then? I've arrived only a day ago and don't know much about the city…"
Minette nodded and answered: "Alrighty then! My work hours will be over at 6 PM, so…See you later!" after which she stood up from beside the table, going back to work. I stood up as well and exited the restaurant. When I went back to where I parked my motorcycle, a muscular shark-dagonian guy, standing not too far away from where the motorcycle was, shouted: "Ay! Watch where da hell you're leaving your motorcycle at! You're just lucky I didn't let anyone steal the damn thing!"
"Sure, sure, I'll try to be more careful next time…" – I said, taking the motorcycle and moving back onto the road, after which I drove away, deciding to explore around here for a bit. I explored the Little Innsmouth district for a while, noticing that water only gets higher as time goes, visited a few shops to look for some things, and when it was 5:30 PM, I drove to that same restaurant, arriving in half an hour. Once I was there, I parked my Mustang, chaining it to a random signpost and went back to the restaurant entrance. Minette was already waiting for me, wearing the same clothes but without an apron. I approached her and asked: "Well, you ready for a ride?"
Just before Minette could reply, the same cat-feral from before, who was currently standing not too far away from the entrance and leaning on the fence, said: "What do you mean by "a ride"?"
"I just wanted to take her to the Maplecrest Park, that's all. She asked me to drive her there." - I replied, staying calm.
"Fiiiine…" – The cat-feral replied – "By the way, the name's Nadia Fortune, or just Nadia. I am Minette's friend, so, if anything…"
"What an odd friendship I see here… Well, we got to go now. When we're done, I'll safely drive Minette back home." – I said, and just when Minette and I were about to run off to where I parked the motorcycle at, Nadia grabbed me by my neck and said: "If as much as a single scale falls from her head, I'll claw your eyes out."
I nodded and the cat-feral let go of me, after which I ran towards where I parked the motorcycle, unchained it, started up the engine, boarded it while Minette sat down behind me, and said: "Well, have you ever had a chance for a ride on a motorcycle before?"
"No…Not really." – Minette asked, sounding a little bit nervous and already holding on to me.
"Then get ready for the ride of your life." – Before Minette could say anything, I drove forward as fast as possible for Mustang. Good thing that dagonian girl had a rather tight grip on me, otherwise she would have fell right off the motorcycle when I started it up. I was barely having enough time to react and make a turn at the right time – I was always less than a second away from either crashing through the fence and into the water, or getting into a dead end. Somehow, in half an hour or so, we were already at the Maplecrest District. Throughout the whole ride, I absolutely loved this feeling of speed – the feeling of wind blowing into your face, the smell of the tires practically burning due to friction… Yet there was something else together with the feeling of speed. I guess it must have been Minette screaming to stop or at least slow down. Or maybe the feeling of her holding on to me as tight as she could? Oh well, it didn't matter much to me. Despite the fact that I had no idea where to go, we arrived to Maplecrest district in less than half an hour. When I stopped for a while, I noticed we already gotten not too far into the district. I looked around – Maplecrest looked quite different compared to the other districts of New Meridian – whether the rest of the city was all busy hustle and bustle, Maplecrest was probably the quietest district around here, with a lot of maple trees growing everywhere and lots of small houses here and there. I turned around to look at Minette, and saw that even though we already stopped, she kept holding on to me, shivering in fear with her eyes wide open. "Ummm…You alright?" – I asked, after which she almost immediately snapped out of it and let go of me, replying: "Y-yes, yes, I'm okay. Just…Don't go so fast next time, please." – After this, Minette jumped off the motorcycle, walked towards a nearby bench and sat down on it to calm down for a bit. I chained the motorcycle to a nearby signpost and sat down next to her. It seemed that I must have scared her a little when I drove the motorcycle at maximum speed. Woops.
"I'm sorry I scared you like this. I promise, next time I'll go slower." - I said, edging a little closer to Minette.
"It's…it's alright. Anyway, I'm fairly certain we're already close to the Maplecrest Park." – After saying that, Minette stood up and told me to follow her. It wasn't long before we arrived to the Maplecrest Park. At the moment, the park was almost completely empty, so Minette and I were pretty much all alone, at least in this part of the park. We soon approached a certain part of the park where there was a rather clear view on the sunset and one bench in the middle of a grassy field (Probably a perfect spot for couples.). Minette and I sat down on that bench next to each other, looking at the setting sun. It was just a minute before the sun completely set, so I was pretty much awestruck with what I saw. "This...Is...Beautiful."
"When I have the time to get to the Maplecrest District before the sun sets, I always end up staying here for a while and watching the setting sun." – Minette replied, still looking at the setting sun. I edged a little bit closer to her. And just when it was mere seconds before the sun completely set, I felt Minette grab my hand. We turned to look at each other, blushing and not knowing what to say. I was just about to say something, but the sun has already set and Minette replied: "Oh, the sunset's over. Well…" – She let go of my hand and stood up from the bench. – "See you tomorrow…I guess?"
As we went to exit the park, we still walked close enough to each other, but tried not to look into each other's eyes, not daring to say a word. Even when I drove her back home, this time going considerably slower – as such, we arrived only when it was 9 PM or so – neither of us has said anything other than "Goodbye" when Minette was going back to her apartment building. When I had arrived back home, I honestly couldn't think about anything or anyone else other than Minette. Somehow, I even kind of liked the feeling of her holding on to me when we were driving to Maplecrest…And her eyes are so beautiful…
I was snapped out of these thoughts by a phone call, just when I was opening the door to my apartment. The one calling was Lance all over again, so I picked up the phone and replied:" For once, just for this once, I'm actually glad you called me. What did you want?"
"So, how did things go with that dagonian girl?" - Lance asked, sounding somewhat...More serious than usual.
"Hey, where did that typical sarcastic tone of yours go?" - I asked back, entering my apartment.
"What? Oh, sorry, just thought that this is a rather serious subject, so my sarcasm is of no use here. Anyway, on the subject of that girl..."
I didn't hesitate and replied: "Well, we didn't really get any further than hand-holding. But hey, can't really go too far on the first goddamn day."
"Alright, alright, I get it. At least you have some control over yourself and didn't try to screw her over on the first day. Well played. Anyway, have you had a chance to meet Hunter?"
"You mean my new neighbor? No, we didn't really meet just yet."
"Well, I'm sure you two will probably get along. Who knows, maybe you two will give that girl a time of her life, hehehe. I'm sure she'll be able to take on more than one fishing rod at once." - Lance once again laughed at his own joke.
"Lance, damn you! Get your mind out of the gutter!" - I replied, laughing, and hung up the phone. Damn you Lance, you just never change. Even when you try to be serious, you can't help but utter a dirty joke or two. Oh well. The rest of the day was going almost completely routinely, so there isn't anything worth mentioning.
