Hello everyone! I've been really busy lately as I missed a whole week of school last week and am now catching up on homework! However I did manage to find the time to type up this chapter and post it to you!

Oh I also realized that I forgot to add a little authors note to the last chapter and explain my absence… Simply put I was at my dads in Texas for ten days after christmas and he didn't have any wifi or anything so I couldn't post or even get onto to google docs to type up extra chapters! But I'm back now and I'll be trying to get new chapters to you as quickly as possible!

"Hey!" Honey Lemon yelped as she immediately sat up straighter, nearly forcing a smile on her face, she never did that but today - despite how wonderful he was to look at - she was hoping to catch up and spend some time with her friends not unintentionally drooling over Tadashi.

"Oh, hi Aiko!" He spoke her name with a cheeky smile before greeting the others. "Fred, Gogo, Wasabi! It's a pleasant surprise to see you all here! And to think I was worried I'd have to talk to boring customers all day!" The dark haired boy continued to smile and make small talk with Wasabi and Fred, Tadashi and Wasabi got along really well and Honey assumed it was because they were so alike… but why did he get called by his name and she just got 'Aiko!?' Even Gogo was addressed by her proper nickname but Honey was left in the dust, or so it seemed.

"It's a surprise to see you here too…" Honey Lemon continued off of his sentence, inviting herself into the conversation. "You - uh - never mentioned working here, why?" Honey was babbling like a fool, but she kind of felt neglected, he didn't talk much and she knew that but couldn't he at least tell them important things like this.

"I also didn't mention living here so I fail to see your point." He chuckled lightly then nodded to the spiraling staircase in the far corner of the restaurant when he noticed their faces of confusion. "It's a house upstairs. When we got the place a few months ago and there was all this extra space, so we started brainstorming different fun uses we could get out of it. Since my aunt Cass has always wanted a restaurant, it seemed like the natural choice." He nodded, the soft smile never leaving his lips. Tadashi seemed happier at home, which was understandable, but she still noticed a difference in his disposition since freshman or even sophomore year.

"That's really cool Tadashi!" Gogo nodded sounding rather sincere. Maybe she, too, noticed his happiness and wanted to preserve it. Honey knew this was true when she felt Gogo lightly hit her leg with the back of her boot, gesturing to make a move - a little one of course.

"Uh, yeah! I guess we don't really know too much about you, huh… You'll - uh - have to tell us more about yourself sometime!" She was nervous of course, but regardless of the 'uh's' her words sounded fairly natural. When Tadashi smiled a soft smile at her, she knew she had done well.

"Oh - um - I nearly forgot! What can I get you guys?"

"Just a few chocolate shakes all around!" Fred nodded happily, of course he was as excited as everyone else to indulge in the creamy, chocolate goodness of a milkshake.

"Yeah," Gogo nodded in agreement, "Honey Lemon and I are going to go out alone after this… for a girls night." Honey smiled as she listened to Gogo's words, not only did she use her nickname - hoping she could drill it in his head - but Honey was reminded of their long awaited 'girls night.' Their kind of girls night wasn't as typical as the ones in the movies, although it did consist of similar events such as shopping, they never gossiped or did each others nails. The night usually ended with a scary movie marathon and some popcorn, cuddling up on Honey's small sofa in her basement till the late hours of the night.

"Sounds like a blast!" Tadashi nodded before turning to go, "I'll be right back with your milkshakes!"

Once he was out of hearing range, Fred burst into a totally different conversation. "Well, he's oddly perky today."

"You misjudge him, Fred." Wasabi immediately contradicted Fred's statement, in favor of the groups new friend. "Tadashi is extremely intelligent and quite fun to be around, you shouldn't be so hard on him. The last time him and I hung out he said he thinks that you are very nice, don't make him regret that statement." Just as soon as Wasabi finished his sentence, Fred was nodding apologetically and sinking in his chair.

"Thank you, Wasabi… Wait, hung out?"

"Yeah, just last weekend… You didn't really think Tadashi and I became so close through lunchtime small talk, did you?" Wasabi chuckled a little and she pushed a piece of hair back behind her ear.

"No, o - of course not…" Wow, It seemed like everyone was getting way closer to Tadashi than she was, even Fred was nice, she was just Aiko.

The group had happily finished their shakes and bid Tadashi goodbye, then Gogo sped off to Fred's where she dropped the boys. Finally, it was just Honey and Gogo. They both could not have been happier.

"To the mall?"

"To the mall!" Honey chimed as they drove off in the direction of the wonderful building. Gogo wasn't much of a shopper but appreciated clothes and loved to accompany Honey while she raced from rack to rack grabbing five hundred things before finally trying them on. She always helped making the decisions of what looked best on Aiko, honesty was her key trait and if something looked like crap on her, she would say it.

"How's it lookin' in there, Honey?" Gogo called from behind the dressing room door.

"Oh just wonderful! I'll be out in a second!" She called back to her friend before zipping up the zipper on a knitted, pastel orange sweater-dress. The article was form fitting and it adorned her usual peterpan collar, plus it was warm so it was extremely suitable for the rather chilly months they'd been receiving. Personally she loved the way it looked, especially with the white nylons she was wearing, so she stepped out of the dressing room and did a twirl. "Whaddya think?" Honey smiled happily then placed her hands on her hips.

"I think you'll have Tadashi Hamada all over you in that dress." Gogo chuckled and sat back the small plastic chair that she had claimed while she judged Honey's outfits. Aiko chuckled at her best friend who - though was rather tomboyish - really knew how to girl talk. "Speaking of Tadashi, how are things going between you two? Have you got his number? Do you guys even talk outside of lunch?"

Honey's head hung a bit as she answered her friends question honestly. "No… We hardly ever talk at lunch, so how am I supposed to get to know him anywhere else?"

"Hey, hey girl. Chin up! You'll get to him eventually, he just has some sort of issue with socializing." Gogo actually lifted her chin as she spoke with a soft smile. "How about, next weekend, we all go out for a friends night. Then we drag him along, yeah?"

Honey laughed a bit at her friends words, how they would have to drag him along if they wanted him to go. "Yeah. I mean if he and Wasabi have hung out after school than theres no reason the rest of us can't…" She agreed but the disappointment was still plain as day in her voice. "...Did you notice how he called everyone by their nickname except me?"

"Girl, relax, he's probably just used to calling you Aiko… wow, I haven't said that in years!" Gogo laughed as she ran a hand through her jagged short hair.

"My point exactly." Honey shrugged not liking how she felt so useless over such a stupid thing.

"Come on, why don't we check out this dress and a few other things then go curl up on your sofa with a big bowl of extra buttery popcorn?" Honey laughed and nodded before returning to the dressing room to change.

Aiko only wished there was a better way to interact with Tadashi, and that's where her mind was throughout their whole movie session; wondering about Tadashi and how she could possibly get closer to him.