Chapter Seven: The Date
Kairi shyly walked out of the bathroom, looking down at herself as she did so.
She was wearing a slim fitting, black dress that dipped into a V at the neck with two small straps covering her shoulders. The dress was cut just above her knees with a small slit on each side. Kairi wanted to wear something nice if they were going somewhere expensive, she didn't want to look out of place. The dress was elegant but simple, slightly revealing but not cheap. Her hair was pulled into a twist on the back of her head, a few tendrils of hair spiraling down from it, lightly framing her face. She also wore a pair of diamond earrings and black high heels.
"Wow," Her mother said when she saw Kairi. "You look great Kairi. You're sure to knock his socks off."
"That's not my goal." Kairi said, giving her a slightly annoyed look, "I'm just trying to look nice if we're going somewhere more expensive."
"Well you look the part hon." Jayna said, "Now stay there for a second."
"Why?"
"Because," Her mother yelled, running up the stairs quickly, "I need to take a picture."
"Mom, not you don't." Kairi yelled back.
"Yes, I really do." Jayna replied, already coming back to stand in front of Kairi. "Okay smile."
Kairi shook her head but smiled, amused by her mother.
"Perfect." She said, looking at the picture. "Just one more thing."
"Mom where are you going now?" Kairi asked, watching her mother run back up the stairs.
"Just a sec." Kairi could hear her mother's footsteps pounding on the floor above her.
"Mom," Kairi hollered, checking the clock in the kitchen, "He'll be here soon and I do not want to make this night any longer than it needs to be."
"Alright I'm coming." Her mother said as she hustled down the stairs. She handed something to Kairi, "Wear this."
Kairi held up a silver chained necklace with a small heart attached to it. Tiny diamonds were imbedded within the heart, tracing along the edges.
"Wow, it's gorgeous. Where'd you get it?"
"I got it for my birthday last year."
"You did? How come I've never seen it?"
"You have."
"When?"
"Uh," Her mother hesitated, afraid her daughter was losing her memory, "When you wore it."
"To where?" Kairi asked, having no idea what her mother was talking about.
"Christmas dinner last year at your grandparents house."
Kairi thought for a moment. "Oh yeah!" She looked down at the necklace with a new familiarity. "Thanks mom."
"No problem." Jayna said, pausing as she heard a car pull up. "He's hear!" She excitedly moved to the window, looking outside to catch a glimpse of his car. "Wow, nice car. Come look." Not hearing any movement behind her, she turned to see her daughter looking slightly green, as though she was going to be sick.
"What's…" She began before she was interrupted.
"I can't do this." Kairi blurted out, her eyes darting to the door. "It was a stupid idea. I don't want to go on a date with him. He'll be a jerk and talk about himself the whole time and I'll be so bored and he'll ogle me and flirt horrendously the whole time and oh my God, what if he expects me to kiss him? Cause there is no way I'm…"
"Kairi." Her mother said quickly, putting her hands on her daughter's shoulders. Kairi was going into panic mode and that was never good. "You have to calm down hon. It's just a date. It'll take three hours tops and you'll be back here and never have to deal with him again. You'll be fine. Now breath, he's going to knock any second."
"Right." Kairi breathed deeply. She could do this. It was just one little date and then she never had to deal with him ever again. No more teasing, bugging her, asking her out… She smiled. She could do this.
A loud knock came from the door and, with a little nudge from her mother, Kairi slowly walked over and opened it.
There stood Sora in black slacks, a white button up shirt and a black jacket. His hair was still messy, though it looked like he had tried to tame it, but failed horribly. He held a bouquet of red roses in his right hand while his left was casually stuck in his pocket. Sora's eyes immediately scanned her body, his mouth dropping open.
"Hi." She said, a small blush coming to her cheeks at the attention she was receiving.
"Uh, hey…" He said weakly, continuing to stare at her until he seemed to snap out of it. "You look amazing."
"Thanks."
They stood there for a few awkward seconds until Kairi brought her attention to the flowers.
"Flowers?" She said, trying to fill the silence.
"Huh?" Sora exclaimed, still distracted by her. She looked absolutely gorgeous.
"You have roses in your hand, they for someone?"
"Oh yeah!" He said, quickly handing the flowers to her, "They're for you."
Kairi took the roses and quickly placed them on a table just inside the door.
"Thanks." She said to Sora before looking back over her shoulder to her mother. "See you later." She tried to quickly step outside and shut the door but her mother was faster. Jayna grabbed the door and pulled it open, wanting to get a good look at this Sora she had heard so much about.
"So you're Sora." She said, her eyes narrowing slightly as she crossed her arms, trying to intimidate him. She was just joking but there was no need for him to know that.
"Uh, yeah." Sora said, shifting from one foot to the other nervously. Sticking out his hand he continued, "It's nice to meet you Ms. Knight."
"Please." Jayna said, waving her hand, "It's Jayna." She grasped his hand and shook it, still not sure what to make of him.
"Alright." He said, a bit uncomfortably. Sora stood there for a long minute, not really knowing what to say to her. This was Kairi's mother, the girl he was crazy about. 'Say something, anything.'
"I can see where Kairi gets her good looks from." He said, giving her his most charming smile. 'Nice one Sora.' He thought, applauding himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Kairi roll her eyes.
Jayna laughed, the kid was good. "Flattery will get you everywhere with me. You picked a keeper Kairi."
Sora smiled, showing his perfect, white teeth while Kairi threw her mother a withering glare.
A thick silence fell around the three, instantly making Sora uncomfortable once again, his confidence slipping.
He cleared his throat, "We should really get going."
"Right, well, you two have fun." As Sora turned around and headed towards the car, Jayna gave Kairi a wink. "He's pretty cute." She whispered teasingly, earning a glare from her daughter.
"Bye." Kairi whispered, before making her way towards Sora's car. She was slightly shocked when she looked up to find him holding open the door for her, a smile on his face. She muttered a quick 'thank you' and hustled into the car.
They sat in an uneasy silence for a solid five minutes, each not really knowing what to say. Kairi was nervous and dreading the evening while Sora was incredibly anxious. This was the first date he'd ever been on that he actually cared about the girl he was with. Contrary to her belief, she wasn't just some object or game to him.
"Your mom seems nice." He threw out there, not really sure what else to say.
"Yeah," Kairi said, "She's great."
"Where's your dad?"
"Oh," Kairi said, looking out the window, "He's not really around."
"Oh." He took a quick look at her face and saw the sadness there. 'Must of hit a nerve. Wonder what that's about?'
Another uncomfortable silence passed.
"So you seemed kind of nervous meeting my mom." Kairi said, teasing him. It was really the only comfortable thing to do. She had never really talked to him before and the banter came naturally.
"Well, I'm not really a parent person."
"I figured as much." Kairi said. She looked at him for a moment before staring back out the window.
Sora smirked at her, "It seemed like she knew me. You talk about me a lot huh?"
Kairi scoffed, "I complain about you a lot."
He had nothing to say to that, he'd given her every reason to hate him.
A long minute later, Sora wiped his sweaty hands on his pants and breathed heavily. 'Calm down.' He thought to himself, 'You're going to blow it if you continue like this the whole night. Let's get the conversation rolling.'
"So Kairi." Sora said, his eyes flickering towards her. "You've been holding out on us."
"Huh?" Kairi said, not getting what he was hinting at.
"I had no idea you had that hot body under those school clothes."
She rolled her eyes, but Sora did see a slight blush come to her cheeks.
"Charming as ever Daniels." Kairi retorted, giving him a reproachful look before staring down at her hands, playing with them.
"So where are we going?" Kairi asked a few seconds later.
"It's a surprise." He replied, giving her a wink before looking back out at the road.
"How far away is it?"
"We're about halfway there."
Kairi looked out the window and saw they were at the ferry station.
"What are we doing here?"
"Taking the ferry to the mainland. I have no idea where to eat around here, I've only been to this island a handful of times." He looked out the window before turning to her, "I'll be right back." Sora jumped out of car and made his way over to an employee who worked at the station. Kairi watched them exchange hand gestures for a moment before Sora came jogging back to the car.
"Okay." Sora exclaimed, driving the car up to a small gate.
"What was that about?"
"Oh, I was just telling him I needed to get onto the ferry with my car."
"Oh right, you'd probably need that over there."
Sora nodded before moving his car slowly past the now opened gate, inching his way forward as the worker carefully ushered him in.
"Now we just have to wait about twenty minutes. Once we get to the island, we'll be just about there."
"Okay." Kairi said, resting her elbow on the windowsill on the door, placing her chin in her hand. She was already bored.
It was a slightly agonizing journey as they waited for the ferry to make it's way across the water to the mainland. Twenty five minutes later they were coming off the boat.
Sora took a right and drove alongside the ocean on a road Kairi had never been on before. They traveled about two miles before a huge, luxurious boat appeared behind a bend of trees.
"Wow." Kairi whispered to herself but Sora had heard. A huge grin appeared on his face.
Kairi could only star at it in wonder. It was beautiful. Lights shimmered from every window, giving off a beautiful, romantic glow. The water, illuminating by the ship, glittered below. There was a dock that lead out about sixty feet into the ocean with a ramp connecting it to the entryway of the boat.
As they parked in front of the dock, a man in a white tuxedo ran over towards them and stood beside the car. Kairi opened her door to get out but Sora rushed over.
"I got it." He said, opening it up further to let her out.
"Thanks."
Kairi looked up at the boat, trying but failing to see the top. This thing was gigantic. The boat was painted white but towards the front were black, cursive letters spelling 'Victory'.
Sora handed his keys to the valet and turned to Kairi. He smiled, watching her gawking at the surroundings. So far, so good. At least she liked the place.
He put his hand on the small of her back before leading her inside. They went through a huge door in the middle of the boat, walking on a lush red carpet and stopping at a podium in the middle of the room.
"May I help you Sir?" An employee in a black suit asked, standing behind the podium.
"Yes, reservation for Daniels."
The man ran his finger down a long list of names before stopping.
"Ah yes, right this way." He gestured for them to follow before heading up a grand staircase that branched off in two different directions. They took a door right smack in the middle of the two passages and followed the man through.
If Kairi thought the place looked amazing before she had no idea what to call it now. They were standing in a massive ballroom, filled with hundreds of tables. The carpet was a deep red, with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. To the far left of the room was a dance floor where a number of people stood dancing while someone played on a very large white piano.
The man lead them to a table on the right side of the room, a bit more secluded than the others. The table was placed right underneath a window that overlooked the vast ocean below, which extended as far as the eye could see.
The employee pulled out each of their chairs before lighting the two candles in the middle of the table.
"A waiter will be with you shortly." He said, before giving a slightly bow and bustling off.
"You like the place?" Sora asked, picking up a white napkin and placing it over his lap.
"I love it." Kairi answered truthfully, still in a bit of shock. She couldn't believe he'd take her to a place this extravagant, it much have cost a fortune. Why would he waste this much money trying to impress her?
"This place must have reservations backed up weeks in advance. How on earth did you manage to get us in here?"
"I pulled a few strings." He smirked.
"More like your parents did you mean?"
"Well, same thing." He shrugged, giving her a lopsided grin.
"How come I've never seen this place from the ferry before?"
"I don't know, it arrived earlier this morning. You must have just been immersed in one of your books." He smiled lightly, "It only ports here for a few weeks a year. It travels to all sorts of different places around the world." Sora explained as he picked up his menu and opened it.
"Any idea what you might want?"
"No clue." She said, picking up the menu to scan through the items. "I've never been to a place like this before so I might not be the most knowledgeable on the food here."
"Well, what do you like? They have the same foods as anywhere else, its just more expensive and done a bit differently."
Kairi looked over the menu. Nothing was very familiar. She was used to burgers, chicken strips, pizza, pop tarts and Chinese food. Not the fancy stuff on the menu. 'Escargot?' She shuttered, 'Yuck.' She scanned the list of foods looking for something she might know. 'Salmon! That's something I'll eat.'
She put down her menu to find Sora staring intently at her.
"What?"
His cheeks reddened. "Err, nothing, sorry." At her inquisitive look, he opened his mouth to speak but at that moment, a waiter in a black and white uniform came over to them.
"Hello I'm Milo, I'll be your waiter for this evening. What would you like to drink?"
Sora put down his menu, "I'll have a club soda with lime."
"And to eat?"
"Uh, the lamb with the French onion soup please." He handed his menu to the waiter.
"Miss? What would you like?"
"Oh, um do you serve coffee?" Kairi asked, in desperate need of a fix.
"Yes, we have hazel nut, and regular or if you prefer a tastier drink we have a peppermint mocha twist or a white chocolate mocha."
"I'll have a white chocolate mocha and the salmon fillet with the grilled chicken Caesar salad please."
"Alright." The waiter said, jotting down their orders, "Your drinks will be here shortly."
Sora nodded to him before turning back to Kairi.
"Coffee with your salmon?"
"Of course, what else?"
Sora shook his head, she was crazy.
"So..." He said, not really sure what to talk about now that they were here.
"So…" She repeated, fiddling with the white table cloth.
"Where do you usually go to eat?"
"A local restaurant near my house called Topher's Place. He makes the best food and coffee I've ever had." She smiled before continuing, "It's not anything like this place but I've gone there since it opened when I was eight. It's kind of mine and my mom's spot."
"Sounds interesting, I'll have to check it out sometime."
Silence fell around the pair.
"Err, I know I already said this… but you really do look amazing tonight." Sora said once again, giving her a warm, sincere smile.
"Thanks." She said, managing to fight down the blush wanting to rise on her cheeks. She wished he would stop saying that. "You clean up pretty nice yourself."
"Well when I'm out on a date with someone for the first time, I try to impress a bit."
"Clearly." She said, gesturing to the room.
"Once we get to our third or fourth date, it'll be movies and fast food restaurants."
"You sound pretty sure of yourself there."
"Well," Sora smirked, running a hand through his hair, his cockiness coming back, "No girl can resist me."
"You sure about that?" Kairi said, raising an eyebrow at him.
Sora stared at her for a long moment, tilting his head to the side as he studied her. "You really don't like me do you?"
Kairi sighed, putting down her drink. "You're just annoying that's all. Really annoying."
"So, if I were less annoying you'd actually like me?"
"No, if you were less annoying I could tolerate you. If you miraculously became nice, were more mature, stopped acting like a jerk, stopped bugging me and stopped being cocky all the time then maybe I'd like you. That's a big maybe though."
"Okay. Good to hear." He took a sip from his drink to hide the smile forming on his lips. So she didn't really hate him. He just needed to stop acting like a two year old. He could do that. He didn't want this to be the only date he ever had with her. So far, things were going far better than he'd ever imagined possible, he just hoped he wouldn't mess it up.
They ate their dinner in silence, Sora occasionally asking a question to try to get the conversation flowing, but it didn't work too well. Right now, they were currently finishing their dessert, Sora eating a chocolate mousse cake while Kairi tried a lemon cream cake with chocolate curls.
Sora racked his brain for something clever or funny to say… but nothing came. He watched as Kairi idly picked at her plate, resting her cheek against her hand. She looked so bored. He glanced around the room, hearing music play on the other side. An idea struck.
"You wanna dance?"
"What?" She said, looking up from her plate, not having heard him.
"Do you want to dance?" Sora asked again, gesturing with his head towards the dance area while a slow song played.
"I err… I'm not too good at it." She said embarrassed.
"That's okay, first time for everything right? I'll teach you." He stood and walked over towards her, his hand outstretched, waiting for her to take it.
"Sora…"
"Please?" He asked, for once in a polite voice.
Kairi stared at him for a moment, seeing the stubbornness shinning in his deep blue eyes. If she didn't accept, he'd just bug her until she did. Kairi's shoulder's slumped in defeat as she took his hand.
Sora threw her a grin and lead her to the dance floor where a few other couples stood, swaying slowly to the rhythm of the music.
Sora pulled her close, but not close enough for her to get angry with him. He kept a good, safe distance between them, taking her hand in his and placing his other hand on her waste.
"Put your hand on my shoulder." He said, smiling as he watching her blush prettily, doing what she was told. "Now just follow my lead." Sora continued.
He began to slowly move, Kairi awkwardly trying to follow.
"Sorry." She said quickly, after seeing him grimace when she stepped on his foot with her heel.
"It's okay." He said, smiling at her in reassurance before starting again. As they danced Kairi slowly got the hang of it. They moved more gracefully across the dance floor, spinning and twirling between couples. Sora dared to move them just a little closer together, hoping she wouldn't notice and back away. He caught a whiff of her hair and breathed deeply, closing his eyes and smiling. She smelled like strawberries and coffee, which was an odd combination but it smelt nice. He held her close, relishing the feeling of finally having her in his arms.
Kairi had been so concentrated on dancing correctly she hadn't noticed how close they were until now. So that's why he had wanted to dance, just to feel her up? Is this what he did on all his dates to win the girl over; act all charming and suave on the dance floor? She could see how that would maybe work… with the bimbos he dated at least. The dim lighting, the slow music, the two of them swaying back and forth… but come on, that's way too easy. Is that really how he got all his girls? Kairi shook her head slightly. Same old Sora. If he thought that would work on her… he had another thing coming.
She tried to pull away slowly when the song ended but he was having none of it. His arms tightened around her instinctively, pulling her back to him as the next song began to play. Kairi rolled her eyes at his caveman like behavior. Although she would never admit it, somewhere in the back of her mind… she kind of liked it. Kairi quickly squashed that train of thought, not liking where her mind was wandering off to.
As the second song ended, Kairi pulled out of Sora's loose embrace. He felt a sudden emptiness when she stepped out of his arms. It had felt so natural, she fit so perfectly in his arms.
"Thank you." He said, giving her a grin.
"You're welcome."
The two of them stood there for a moment before Sora boldly took Kairi's hand once again, hoping she wouldn't pull away.
She didn't.
He knew she was just being polite but he couldn't help but grin like a fool as he lead her back to their table.
They sat for about fifteen more minutes, conversation between them becoming a tiny bit easier before Sora checked his watch.
"We should get going."
Kairi nodded, standing behind Sora as he went to pay the bill. As they headed to his car, Kairi felt relieved… the night was almost over. Sora, on the other hand, felt saddened, not wanting this night to end.
--
As they pulled up to her house, Sora got out of the car quickly to open her door. They walked up the steps to her front door, each not really knowing how to end the unusual night.
Sora cleared his throat, "Well, thanks for coming out with me."
"No problem."
"I know you didn't really want to go in the first place but, well, I really enjoyed it and I appreciate you giving me a chance."
"Surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was actually okay."
"Really?" Sora asked, stunned.
"Yeah. Who knew?"
They both smiled briefly at the other before the deafening silence enveloped them again. Kairi stared at the ground while Sora scuffed the floor with the tip of his shoe.
"Well, goodnight Kairi. See you on Monday." He said rather lamely, giving her a short wave before walking down the steps towards his car.
"Goodnight." She said, turning to go inside.
"Oh and Kairi?"
"Yes?"
"A deals a deal… I'll leave you alone." She thought she saw a flicker of disappointment in his eyes before he turned and got into his car, driving off into the night.
Kairi stood in her doorway watching his retreating car. The fact that she no longer had to deal with Sora Daniels was slowly sinking in. As she stepped inside, an odd, foreign feeling that she couldn't quite place, settled into the pit of her stomach.
--
Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews I've been getting, you guys are great! What do you think of the chapter? Review and tell me how it was!
