Cinder sat in the booth in the New Beijing café, across from Kai. She fiddled with the fabric of her blue skirt. She was wearing the outfit she bought for a date, her red shoes on her feet—both of them.

Adri had given her the foot back, albeit reluctantly. The low-heeled shoe clicked against the floor as she jiggled her leg nervously, eyes transfixed on a spot on the wall.

Kai had his hands folded together over the table, occasionally glancing around the café and at Cinder, though he tried to hide it. She pretended not to notice.

They'd gone out to eat again for the first time in a while. It'd been a little more than a week after the big confrontation. Cinder's relationship with Adri was even more strained than usual, but Adri had let her leash on Cinder grow looser. It wasn't much, but still enough to be noticeable.
Cinder and Kai's relationship, on the other hand, continued as smoothly as ever, if not more so. They'd become closer and started hanging out with each other on a regular basis, sometimes with Iko's company. Iko was certainly ecstatic.

"I'm going to burst, Cinder, seriously!" She'd said once. "My hopes and dreams are coming true!"

"Your hopes and dreams?" Cinder asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Okay, maybe not my hopes and dreams," Iko admitted. "But I've still totally fantasized about this kind of thing! You, a boy, together. Being friends. Wink, wink."

Cinder flushed. "I—we—we're not a couple, Iko. And I'd rather you stop saying those kind of things. It's making me uncomfortable." It was the truth, but Cinder couldn't completely figure out her feelings for him. She wasn't sure if she liked him as just a friend… or not. And there was still the "no-dating" thing Kai had after the big Levana fiasco, and she was sure it was still standing.

Back to the present, she held in a sigh as she watched the girl lounging behind the counter. Her name was Scarlet Benoit, as she'd introduced herself, and she had long, curly hair to match her name. She was older than Cinder, about the same age as Kai. She was Wolf's girlfriend, and was waiting for him to finish with Cinder and Kai's order to continue talking.

"I was wondering," Kai said, the sudden noise startling Cinder. "If you wanted to, you know, go to the town's annual party with me this year."

Cinder's heart did a skip. "You mean the 'ball'?"

"That's the one."

"Oh. Er…"

Kai's ears turned pink. "I mean, only if you wanted to. As just friends. If you were planning on going, anyways."

"It's just that I—" It was her turn to warm. "I can't dance. I've never been to the party before, actually. Adri never let me go. And I'm sure I'd be a terrible dance partner anyways."

"So, you're not going?"

Cinder grabbed Kai's hand over the table. "No—I mean yes, I'll go with you. It'd be fun, I'm sure."

Kai's gaze fell to her hand on his and they both blushed. She quickly retracted her hand. "Oh, no, I'm sorry. I didn't mean—."

"It's fine," Kai said. He looked as if he wanted to say more, but Wolf came with a serving tray, steam rolling off the hot food.

"Here you two go," Wolf said, placing a bowl of noodles in front of Cinder and Kai's plate in front of him. "Enjoy." He left, eager to return to his waiting girlfriend.

Cinder tried hard not to slurp her noodles. Maybe I should have eaten something less noisy, she thought, but then Kai crunched loudly on an eggroll and she snorted.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh. I guess my nerves are kind of making me a little… unraveled."

"Ah," Kai just said.

Through their meal they shot the breeze. Kai told her about a book he had finished reading, which she promised to check out sometime soon, and she told her about some of her old customer stories, the radicals and the funny ones. They left the place still laughing.

"You're not serious," Kai got out between breaths. "That many?"

Cinder grinned. "You have no idea how many times little kids have thrown up in the store. I've seen enough to last several life-times."

"I don't think I can handle working in a place like that. It must be pretty difficult."

Cinder shrugged. "It's not the best, but I'm strong. Sometimes it's pretending to be happy all the time that gets to me. Smiling for show? No, thanks."

Kai nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Being my father's son, I have to look perfect all the time. It really does get to you."

The two got into Kai's car and headed back to Cinder's place.

Cinder scratched her wrist nervously. "Well, if you need anyone to make you smile for real, you can come to me. I'll try my best, I promise."

Kai met her eyes in the rear-view mirror. "Thanks, Cinder. And you, too. I'll be there."