#7 - eating in the same diner every morning and the waitress ALWAYS mixes up our orders so why don't we just sit at the same table to save her the trouble
# 30 - orders switched at a restaurant au
In which everything gets mixed up.
GoGo stared sullenly down at the plate in front of her. A chicken club, a side of onion rings, and some ketchup sat there, looking delicious. Unfortunately it was not at all what she had ordered.
It wasn't the first time since GoGo started coming to this restaurant that this had happened. In the beginning she let it go, because hey, it was a busy place, and people make mistakes, whatever.
But now? After a grand total of eight times, that was far too often for her to make excuses for the waiter.
Her chair squeaked against the tile as she grabbed the plate and her bag to head over to where a boy with black hair sat, engrossed in a thick book. He broke out into a wide grin when he spotted her approaching.
"GoGo! That wouldn't be what I think it is, is it?"
With a clatter the plate landed in front of him as she slid into the opposite seat. "Looks good. Enjoy."
"GoGo?" He watched her take her bag off, confusion written on his face. "What...what are you doing?"
"I thought it was rather obvious." Still he continued giving her that blank look. GoGo rolled her eyes.
"Look, Tadashi, I don't know how, but they've managed to mix our orders up nearly every time. We don't order remotely similar things. We don't sit at the same tables. So I'm going to sit here and get my food when I'm supposed to, unless you have a problem with that?" And her expression just dared him to refuse.
"No! Course not." His grin was back. "You're welcome anytime. Food always tastes better when you're eating with others." And GoGo knew he meant that with the utmost sincerity, because Tadashi was that sort of guy.
Truthfully, GoGo knew slightly more about Tadashi Hamada then she would care to let on. Formally, they'd exchanged only names somewhere around the fourth mix-up; he was a friendly and fairly intelligent guy (if the robotics books he was reading were anything to go by) who seemed to be around her age.
Now, whether it was out of boredom or curiosity she'd developed a habit of observing him at length. She'd first started keeping an eye out for him as a forewarning against late food. But she'd continued watching him long after that fact until she came to the realization that she knew about his habit of running his hand through his hair, and that when he smiled the left side of his mouth went up first.
GoGo didn't want to think too much about what that meant.
"So...how're you?" Tadashi's voice broke through her reverie, and she flit her gaze away.
"Fine." GoGo paused. She wasn't much for small talk, but she didn't want to be rude after forcing herself onto his table. "I'm alright. You?"
"Good, that's good. Me too." Tadashi drummed his fingers on the table, silence descending. "Want an onion ring?"
GoGo practically shoved it into her mouth, thankful for the distraction. She wasn't good at this, especially with cute semi-strangers. This is why she needed gum, dammit.
...semi-strangers in general. She definitely didn't think he was cute just then.
She slowed down her chewing, buying time. GoGo didn't know why she was self-conscious about what she did say to him; it was literally just eating at a table with another person, after which they would go their separate ways. What he thought of her shouldn't bother her.
Except it did, and that thought bothered her.
"GoGo, you alright? You look like you're kind of worried about something." She looked up to see Tadashi's concerned face.
"It's nothing. Kind of something stupid." She lied, smoothing out her expression. "So, you come here pretty often." It wasn't the most subtle of transitions, but Tadashi went with it.
"My classes end around lunch, and the food for the price here is unbeatable. It kind of makes up for the service." At that GoGo smiled wryly.
"Didn't think you cared about the service."
That was another thing about Tadashi – he was perpetually positive. Unlike her, he never badmouthed the restaurant whenever their orders were switched yet again. Instead, he'd spin it into something like "at least it's cooled down now!" or "it's always good to see you, GoGo." (That one made her uncomfortably happy).
Tadashi shrugged. "Well actually, the girl who's been bringing my food lately is pretty cool." He shot her a crooked smile.
GoGo snorted. "The guy who's been bringing my food lately is a bit weird."
Tadashi pulled his face into a pout, complete with big puppy dog eyes. "You mean you didn't enjoy the cat napkin I folded?"
"How does one even begin a hobby like that?"
"Not a hobby. My aunt runs a café, and we had a cat themed day. There were cat-shaped balloons and pastries and we drew cats in the lattes. And I got to learn how to fold cat napkins!" He laughed sheepishly. GoGo quirked her lips just thinking about it; Honey Lemon would love that sort of thing.
"And actually" He dropped his voice. "The worst part was we had to wear cat ears!" He blushed slightly as GoGo laughed.
"That sounds like a maid cafe. Or butler for you, I guess." She teased. "Did you have a tail too? Oh god, I'm imagining something funny right now."
He mock scowled. "Hey, I think I pulled it off with some dignity intact. In fact-" He dug around in his bag before pulling out a cellphone. "I took pictures."
They leaned in towards the phone as he flipped through his photos. Most of them contained a fat calico cat, a smiling brunette woman, and a messy-haired teen.
"That's my aunt - the one with the café - and that's Mochi, our cat. He made us so many tips on cat day. And this troublemaker -" he paused on a photo of the boy pulling a rather ridiculous face. "This is my younger brother, Hiro."
He said it with such obvious affection GoGo didn't think he even noticed. She couldn't help but smile softly and luckily Tadashi didn't turn her way at that moment.
"He's the reason I took photos. Can't call myself a big brother if I don't have any embarrassing pictures of him, can I?" He swiped again and a photo of Tadashi and Hiro in cat ear headbands came up. Hiro was very visibly trying to get out of the frame while Tadashi held up a peace sign with one hand and restrained Hiro with the other.
"Wow, you weren't kidding. Look at you, rocking your pretty kitty ears." She smirked, leaning in further to get a better look.
"The key is confidence. Then you can pull off anything, even cat ears."
I'll say, GoGo thought as she absently examined the photo. He actually looked...attractive in them.
"You'd look pretty cute in them, I think." Tadashi suggested. The idea was so hilarious GoGo nearly ignored his choice of words.
"When hell freezes over, sure. And I don't do cute."
Tadashi examined her hair. "Are you sure? You know, your hair actually sort of looks like ears already – here and here..." He pointed to the areas, finger lightly brushing the strands. "It would definitely work!"
A noise of disbelief rose from her throat. "Excuse you-" she turned abruptly only to find their noses were nearly touching. His eyes were wide from surprise and GoGo could see the exact shade of them was a tawny brown.
Suddenly she was hyperaware that his hand was still hovering over the nape of her neck, palm radiating heat (or was that from her?). Slowly, it lowered to sweep through the ends of her hair.
Tadashi's gaze flickered briefly down before meeting her eyes again. Then he seemed to steel himself, opening his mouth to speak-
-and the waiter came by with her food, dropping the plate of wings on the table and waltzing off without so much as a refill of water.
They jumped away from each other, GoGo pulling her plate towards her loudly as Tadashi took his own back. She was sure this time her neck was actually flushed.
"That looks pretty good!" Tadashi smiled as he picked up his sandwich. "I've never tried the wings here." His voice was slightly too loud.
She realized that disappointment was welling in her chest, but she crushed it down and offered him a wing in return for the onion ring.
The rest of the meal passed in relative silence. GoGo could no longer deny she found Tadashi Hamada attractive, and spent the remaining meal questioning just what the hell she had been thinking, sitting here. She had never been so unsure of how to act.
"Hey." Tadashi hoisted his satchel over his head as they got up to leave. "Where're you headed off to now?" She shrugged, popping a piece of gum in as she exited the door.
"GoGo." Tadashi followed her outside, standing by when she went to unlock her bike. "I was wondering, is there something you were bothered by?"
GoGo stopped cold, not sure if he'd picked up on her dilemma or if was referring to something else entirely. Just to be safe she said nothing, staring him down as she desperately tried to think up an answer.
Tadashi's hand ran through his hair. "It's just that you seemed kind of off ever since..." he flushed at the recollection of earlier. "And you looked like you were really contemplating something, and a little bit mad, so I thought maybe it was about...what happened then. And I should probably explain."
GoGo felt cold. She'd misinterpreted the moment and now he'd noticed her feelings and was trying to reject her nicely. Embarrassment rose up in her and she wanted to make a quick getaway.
"Sorry if I made you uncomfortable." He continued, looking at her shoes. "If I crossed some kind of line…I won't do it again." His ears were turning an adorable red. "I don't want you to think I'm some kind of creeper or something that gets too familiar with just anybody."
Well, this wasn't going in the direction she'd thought.
"I don't think you're a creeper, Tadashi." She murmured. "Though now I'm wondering what you were going to say."
"It's just you, I mean, I've noticed you for a while, and I can't seem to stop looking for you so maybe we could see each other a little more outside this restaurant?" He was looking somewhere around her forehead now. "I wasn't going to make a move today, but you kind of surprised me. You do that."
GoGo scoffed. She certainly wasn't being the surprising one right now.
"I was actually worried that you'd noticed me checking you out earlier." She'd said it nonchalantly but there was no hiding the amusement that leaked into her eyes.
"Oh. Oh." His voice sounded strangled and he flushed pleasantly. "See. Surprising." She popped her gum, satisfied.
"So if you aren't busy." He rocked on his feet. "I'd like to take you out somewhere, sometime."
"Hmm." GoGo pretended to mull it over. "Well, I feel like grabbing a coffee actually. Preferably somewhere I could get a cat drawn on it. Know any place like that?"
"As a matter of fact." His grin was brighter than any she'd seen on him before. "I do."
A/N: Ah shit, I rewrote this ending three times before settling on this = w =