I spent way longer in Pucca's bedroom than I thought I had. Just talking. About nothing particularly important. She told me what tv shows she was watching. To my surprise, we actually had a few in common. She asked me about my house renovations, how they went and if there were any plans for more.
Such idle chit-chat, yet she seemed so thrilled about it. Like she hadn't talked to anyone in weeks.
Eventually, we could both hear the distinct sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. "Help me up, help me up!" She sort of yell-whispered at me. I quickly got up myself, offering her my hand. She grabbed it, and I carefully got her up. "They're definitely going to be bringing me food about now."
I leaned down and grabbed the empty containers and threw them back in the bag. "I guess that's my cue." I joked, quietly. As I started back towards her window, she stopped me.
"Wait wait wait!" She again loudly whispered. After doing a couple of little hops over to her desk, grabbed a pen and wrote something down. She pulled the piece of paper from the little pad it was on before hopping back in my direction.
I walked over to her, so the poor girl wouldn't tire herself out. She handed me the little note. "Text me, okay?" Smiling at what must have been my bright red face, she pulled my arm down, and gave me a little kiss on the cheek. "Thank you again."
I didn't have a moment to say anything to her. The knocking at her door startled both of us, prompting her to quickly turn around back to the door. She turned back and waved, smiling, before going over to the door.
I quickly jumped back out of her window, trash in hand, and onto the roof. Luckily, it was completely dark outside. No one could see me as I jumped down to the ground.
"Uh. Hi, Tobe."
Oh. Well. Maybe no one would have seen me if I had made sure the Gohrong's only non-familial employee wasn't standing down here.
"… Hi, Dada."
He looked at me, his face reading far more "confused" than "suspicious". "Whatya doin' here?" He asked.
"I…uh…" I really wasn't sure how to answer him. But not answering probably seemed even more concerning. I sighed. Might as well be honestly with the kid, he hasn't wronged me yet.
"I was bringing Pucca food." I gestured up to her window with my head. I could hear at least one of Pucca's uncles up in her room now, and clearly Dada could too. He ushered me away from the restaurant, and we just started walking into the village.
"Can you, eh, explain the whole 'you and Pucca' thing to me? I've been tryin' to figure it out all day, and for the life of me, I can't." He asked. I was pretty sure he was genuinely asking and not trying to be an asshole. In fact, I wasn't entirely sure Dada knew how to be an asshole.
"There isn't really a 'me and Pucca' thing. At least, I don't think there is?" I started. He raised an eyebrow.
"Do ya want there to be?" He asked. I didn't expect to be politely grilled this evening.
"Of course I would. Pucca is literally perfect in every way my socially awkward ninja brain can think of. But have you seen the competition? I'm no Garu." That was far more than I wanted to say about THAT.
He shrugged a little. "I dunno, she sure talked about you a lot when she got home. Even after she was done getting interrogated by Ho, Dumplin' and Linguine."
"I hope it wasn't too aggressive of an interrogation." I smirked. "Wait. Did you say she talked about me?"
"It wasn't too bad, they're just real protective over her. But yeah, she did. Wasn't even really about you takin' her to the hospital, either. It was things like… how good ya cookin' was. Or about you burnin' eggs."
Oh good, I'm glad THAT left an impression.
"She said you were cute."
"THAT is the 'being rescued from a fire' talking." I half laughed.
"She isn't really the type to like a person, even platonically, just because they helped her with something. In fact, usually, it makes her kind of mad."
"I've definitely gathered that she's the independent type." I said. Dada laughed.
"She could do my job and hers if the chefs let her! She hates help. Always thought it was sorta ironic that her closest friends were a bunch of hero-type ninjas when she would rather take down an entire army herself."
I looked back in the direction of the restaurant that was no longer in view, and back to Dada. "Do you think… I have even a remote chance here?"
"I'd say yes. She wouldn't just fall asleep at someone's house she didn't trust completely. Besides, like I said, she was gushing about you all day…"
"Gushing?"
"It was like when she was a young teenager talking about Garu again." He sighed. "Those were rough times for self-conscious me. Imagine the closest thing you had to a sister constantly talking about how great and perfect this guy was that clearly had no interest in her."
"As the guy that had to watch the dude he hated most get doted on by the one girl he actually liked, I understand."
"Why do ya hate Garu so much, anyway?" He asked, before immediately getting flustered and saying "Unless that's personal it's totally fine."
"He's like having a way cooler brother that everyone likes more than you. You start to resent a person for that. Never hated the guy, but oh boy did I want to destroy him." I smirked and looked down at my feet. "Didn't exactly make anyone like me any more than they did, though."
"As far as I'm aware, no one at the Gohrong has ever really disliked you. Your ninja friends, though…"
"They're really loud, I know, we're working on it." I sighed. They really were like having an entire army and toddlers, sometimes.
"OH." I said, out loud. Rifling through my pocket for a second, I pulled out the note Pucca had given me. I never got a chance to look at it.
"Ooo that's Pucca's fancy stationary. I think she got that imported from Japan. That's definitely a good sign for you if she gave you that." He nudged me a little, before scooting back over awkwardly. I like this guy.
"It says, 'Text me!' Followed by what I'm assuming is her cell phone number, with a little heart at the end." I told him, without looking up from the paper.
"You should get on that." He smiled. "If I know her, and oh boy, do I, her phones in her hand right now, hoping you text her."
"Really?" I asked, pulling out my phone.
"I can nearly guarantee you an answer in under a minute."
"It's a bet." I typed her number into the recipient bar. "Now I just have to figure out what to say."
"Uhh…" He looked down, clearly in thought. "I'm not what one might call a 'ladies man', you're on your own."
I started typing. "That was not my most elegant exit." Maybe she'd appreciate my comedic honesty? I hit send.
Dada pointed to an apartment building. "Gotta go, but good luck! I'll throw in a good word with you with the chefs if it comes up!" He shouted as he walked to his door. I waved goodbye.
My phone vibrated.
"It was not my most elegant… stay in place?" She replied, with a laughing emoji.
"At least you didn't basically get caught jumping out of a girls window by a waiter." I sent back.
Nearly immediately she responded. "Dada knows I'll hit him if he says anything."
"How'd opening the door go?"
"I got about ten differently worded questions as to why my door was locked. They didn't try to bust in or anything, they just heard it unlock when I opened it, and they were mad I had to get up to let them in."
"Am I going to get noodle whipped again?"
"Again?!"
"He was right to noodle me, I did just return his injured niece home when he had no idea you were with me."
"Can we hang out again soon? Maybe even tomorrow?" I wasn't expecting her to actually ask to see me. I thought for a minute. Is she asking me out, or does she just want someone to talk to?
"My place, your place, or other?" I texted her back, feeling uncharacteristically bold.
"Anywhere but here!" She sent back, extremely hastily.
I already wanted to back for her. I wasn't about to immediately ruin my shot by being a creep, though.
"I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow, then." I sent back, with the least aggressive smiley emoji I could choose.
"It's a date!" She sent back, with a bunch of delighted looking emojis.
Apparently it was a date, and now I was terrified.