Omar and Cassie had left for dinner at 7:30 sharp, unusually on time. For Omar, at least. The clock now read 7:42, and Aladdin's stomach told him it was time for some Kung Pao chicken. He grabbed his wallet, took Bobby's order, and set off for the House of Chung. One of the few bonuses of living in the East Village, he decided, was all the great food close by. House of Chung was only five minutes away on foot and by 7:49 Aladdin held two of those nifty little white carryout boxes of chicken and sesame noodles.
He was just about to head home when noticed a girl sitting by herself near the entrance. She was dressed like a Villager but at the same time, she had a certain... something about her. She turned to look at the window, flicking her long, messy black braid over her shoulder.
Whoa.
And she was sitting alone! Come, Mr. Suave, he told himself, go talk to her!
"Hey." Wow, smooth Al.
"Um... hi?" The girl fixed her eyes on him and Aladdin could almost feel himself drowning in them.
"You, um, hungry?" He held out a carryout box. Hey, Bobby always forgot to eat anyway. She took it and gave him a small smile. He sat down at the table and tried to think of something to say to her. "So... are you from around here?"
"Not exactly. Do you mind if we don't talk about it?"
"Sure, no problem." Think, think, think... "Hey, whaddya say I show you around a little?"
"I'd like that," she replied with a grin. Aladdin performed a raucous victory dance in his head. He would have liked to dance out loud, but A) that would totally nullify his success by branding himself as a psycho, and B) the last time he had done so, Bobby had informed Aladdin that his victory dance was something that no human should ever be unfortunate enough to witness. Oh well.
Aladdin led her down 8th Street, pointing out various buildings, anything he could think of. "Sorry, there's not a whole lot to see down here... Oh, and this is my building. Welcome to the palace." The girl winced at the term. Gosh, what was the matter with her? "Here, come on up."
"Oh no, I couldn't. I have to—"
"No, no, no, not like that." Dumb mistake, Aladdin! he scolded himself, resisting the urge to bang his head against the dingy brick wall. "Here, come on." Aladdin led the girl around the back of the building and scaled the scaffolding up to the roof. "Hold on," he called from the top. "Sorry, the fire escape kind of...never mind. I'll send a something to--." She had climbed up almost as fast as he had. "Wow."
"I'm a fast learner." She sat down on an empty refrigerator box and shucked off her overshirt. "It's hot up here. But nice," she added with a small smile.
"Yeah. How about we eat now?" Aladdin sat next to her and opened his carryout carton. "No offense, but I'm starving."
"Oh, it's fine. I'm hungry too."
"So," Aladdin began, swallowing a mouthful of noodles. "Did you notice we've been running around for almost and hour and don't even know each other's names? I'm Aladdin."
"Nice to meet you, Aladdin." The girl looked conflicted but finally opened her mouth. "I'm— "
"Jasmine Sultana. What are you doing here?" The police? Shit! Why were the police here? And why did they know the girl, whoever she was? Jasmine, that was her name. Jasmine Sultana. Wait- as in the daughter of Officer Sultana, chief of the NYPD? Double shit.
"Jasmine, I am extremely disappointed in you."
Yeah, don't I know it, Jasmine thought. "I already said I was sorry, Dad."
"Running off to that slum—"
"It's not a slum!"
"With a boy you've never met. A boy, Jasmine! What if he had—"
"It wasn't like that, Dad! For God's sake, he was just nice to me. Since when is that a crime?"
"Being nice is not. Kidnapping is," another voice cut in.
"Who the hell asked you, Jafar?"
"Now, Jasmine, there's no need to get angry." Why did her father have to choose such a meddlesome deputy police chief? Jasmine wondered for the millionth time.
"I will get as angry as I want, seeing as this is none of your business. Besides, he didn't kidnap me, I ran away! I'm seventeen, not seven. Since you obviously haven't noticed."
"Jasmine!" Officer Sultana cut back in. "That is quite enough. Jafar, you and I have a lot to discuss. Jasmine, you will go to your room. Now."
Jasmine turned around huffily and stormed upstairs. Why couldn't the world just leave her alone for once?
A/N: Ahh, the fateful meeting... mwahaha. Hugs to TrudiRose for being my first reviewer!!! So sorry about the weather thing, hopefully the rest of my New York stuff is accurate. Keep on reading, folks! And, of course, the HappyFlower gets really big and pretty with some review pollen...okay, that sucked. Oh well! : )