So this was what it was like to go on a real date, huh?
"So then the lady said that it was one sample per customer so I put my hood up and got back in line and then I took my hoodie off and got back in line and then me and Takeshi switched hoodies and then I got back in line again." Said Go. Rei nodded. That was the third story about Takeshi that she'd heard and they'd only been here for twenty minutes. Though maybe she should just have been glad that he wasn't talking with his mouth full anymore.
Because he'd eaten all of his fries already…or rather he'd tipped his fry container back and tried to drink them.
"And then what happened?" asked Rei, trying to make herself smile…because that was what you did when you had a boyfriend, you smiled when he told you stories about his best friend that didn't go anywhere, and also when he drank his fries and…oh God…
Chewed with his mouth opened.
"And then we-hang on I gotta swallow." Said Go
"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea." Said Rei as she passed him a napkin. He'd managed to get ketchup all over his face in just one bite. She looked down at her own food. As much as she loved Mobronald's, and pretty much any food that wasn't on Mom's weird diet plan, she was starting to lose her appetite. She wondered if Mob and Tome ever had these problems…well, probably not since their boyfriends were older.
That must have been it.
"And you have ketchup on your…everywhere." Said Rei as he took the napkin from her hand. Part of her wanted to get him Merry Meal and a juice box…but that was mean. He was just young, that was all, a few weeks younger than her. Younger than all of her friends and their boyfriends too. And, anyway, girls did mature faster than boys. This was just how boys were.
She could deal with this.
"No, to the left…the other left…no, the other-other left." Said Rei as she tried her best to tell him that he had ketchup everywhere without telling him that he looked like a little kid.
"Thanks….ok, so where was I? Oh yeah, so then we went to the bathroom to switch clothes but there was a long line for the stall and my Mom was texting me that she was in the checkout line so we just gave up on sampling and just grabbed a bag of chips. I tried to toss them into the cart while my mom was paying but she said that I can't have any more hot chips because they're bad for me. As if!" said Go
"Right, yeah, because you're a…pyrokinetic godsend." Said Rei trying to keep her smile on her face as he got back to eating.
"Yeah, see, you get it? But my Mom's all 'stop playing with fire' and 'why do you keep playing with fire' and 'if you don't stop playing with fire I'm taking you to a psychiatrist' and 'you're going to wind up in prison if you don't stop playing with fire' and it's like…Mom! Come on, I have powers." Said Go
"Wait, you told your mom? For real?" asked Rei
"Yeah, why not?" asked Go as he swallowed
"Because she doesn't believe you and she thinks you're crazy." Said Rei. Her parents didn't know anything about her powers and they never could. Either they would think that she was crazy or they'd start to try and use her powers to win the lottery and stuff…and she wasn't accurate enough to use her powers for anyone else. She still got simple things like the weather wrong sometimes. Go was even less impressive than she was. He couldn't do much better than a lighter, not unless he really focused, and when he did he always wound up making himself tired. She had no idea why he would have told his parents about his powers when he didn't have to.
"Well, yeah, but it doesn't matter if she doesn't believe me because I believe me. I know that I have powers and her not believing me and thinking that I'm a pyromaniac and not a pyrokinetic godsend kind of sucks but it's not like it's true." Said Go
"That's really brave." Said Rei. She couldn't have even imagined telling her parents but he had just gone and…been braver than she had ever been in her life. Unless, of course, she counted the time she was running for her life while Mob and Sho's Dad fought for the fate of the world….but Go had been there too so they were both equally brave on that front.
"Yeah, I'm super brave….hey! Are you going to eat any of that?" asked Go as he pointed to her untouched food. Rei shrugged and pushed her tray towards him.
"You can have it all." said Rei
"Thanks and next time we can go some place you like. You know, some place girly, like Starbucks or that Hello Kitty restaurant or something." said Go
"That's ok, I like it here. I'm just not that hungry." Said Rei
"Ok. Sorry, I forgot that most people aren't as hungry as me. Fire's gotta come from somewhere, you know?" asked Go
'Oh. I didn't know that your powers made you hungry." Said Rei
"They come at a cost. They didn't always, though, before I got good this never happened. Maybe it's like a growth spurt or something." said Go before he started to drink her fries the same way that he had drank his…or maybe drank wasn't the right word. He was pausing every so often to chew...though why he was eating like a duck in the first place she would never know.
"Maybe." Said Rei
"What about you? Do you still get headaches when you use your powers?" asked Go
"Sometimes…wait, you remember that?" asked Rei
"Yeah, of course I do. I remember pretty much everything you told me…well, anything that I could pay attention to…not that you're boring! You were just always really pretty, I mean you still are, but you were pretty back then too and I didn't really know that many girls since I went to an all-boys school for elementary school and my school now is all-boys so…uh….I'm not used to talking to any kind of girls but especially not pretty girls…" said Go as he tucked his chin down into his hoodie and looked down at the table. Rei watched his face get red. First his cheeks and then it spread…and then it started to get warm in there.
She checked the future. There was no chance that he was going to burn the place down. Or her, either…she was getting kind of warm too.
"I, um, I never knew that you thought I was pretty. You always kind of avoided me." said Rei
"That's only because you were really pretty and you were always talking to me and then there's that one time you tried to kiss me-" said Go
"Shh! Not so loud!" said Rei. She looked around. Nobody she knew was around and out of the people she didn't know nobody was paying attention to them. Good. The last thing she needed was for people to know how dumb she had been. She had been thirteen, dumb, and had watched way too many shows about high school. She had thought that just coming out and kissing a boy would make him like her…life didn't always imitate art. It had been before she'd had Mob and Tome to show her how to handle boys. It was nice having older friends…
But it wasn't that nice being the youngest.
"I mean, we don't have to talk about that. That's in the past. We're fourteen now, far past such immature things." Said Rei maturely. She tried to sound like Reigen there, she was the more mature adult Rei had ever met, well…mature adult who wasn't her Mom. But she didn't want to start talking like Mom now, that would have been weird. This whole thing felt kind of weird now. They way he was looking at her, then not looking at her, and then looking at her again.
She looked over his shoulder. The door was right there…but she wasn't going to run out on her first real date.
"You mean talking about it or kissing all together?" asked Go
"I mean talking about what happened. We don't have to." Said Rei
"So you just want me to do it?" asked Go
"Do what?" asked Rei, nearly getting frustrated enough to run a hand through her hair. She didn't, of course, because she had worked hard on it. She had worked hard on every single piece of her outfit from her hair to her makeup to her clothes to her shoes and even her socks, since most of hers had holes and she couldn't go on a date with holey socks. She had done all of that in the hopes of increasing the chance of the two of them doing something, anything, on this date…and there was a chance.
But it was going to disappear if he didn't stop being so confusing and so…just so…Go.
"That thing, uh…um…that thing that-that we were talking about…before. Before we started talking about this, I mean." Said Go
"What thing?" asked Rei. Now she really wanted to not only run a hand through her hair but bash her head onto the table too until she had exorcised all of her frustration. What was with him?
"Wait, I'm getting confused…so do you want me to kiss you or not?" asked Go. Rei tried and failed not to look excited.
"Yes! I mean, yes, if you would be so kind." Said Rei. She quickly settled back into being the picture of calmness. She wasn't going to do anything dumb like jump up and hug him and kiss him right there. No, she'd probably just end up scaring him off again and also they were in public. She was just going to be calm and contained and-and-and-
-and it was finally going to happen for her!
"Cool…uh…sure. I can do that. I mean I know how to do, uh, that." Said Go before he looked down at the table. He wasn't eating anymore, which meant that he was full, which meant that he was done. Which meant that they could kiss now…which meant that she would find somewhere for them to kiss. She quickly checked the future. Her house was a definite 'no', too many nosey people around, and his house was even more of a 'no' for the same reason…wait! She knew where to go.
"Ok, come on then, let's go." Said Rei as she stood up and took his hand. She knew just the place, and the future looked bright, so why not go right now? She couldn't think of any reason why not so…yeah.
His hand was sticky. She didn't mind.
"But we're still eating." Said Go as Rei started to pull him. She looked down. Yeah, he was still eating, but it was her food and…and it wasn't like it was any good cold. It wasn't like he couldn't just eat again tomorrow or the next day or the day after that. It wasn't like this kind of opportunity came around as often as meal times did. They were together, they had the chance to be alone, and they were going to kiss.
How could he have still thought about food at a time like this?
"Take it to go then. It's getting late and I have, um, curfew to…be at." Said Rei. She had read enough books and articles to know that lying to her boyfriend wasn't exactly a good thing…but she had a good reason to lie to him. Now she would finally have something to talk about with Mob and Tome, and also all that stuff about loving him and caring about him and all of those feelings she was supposed to be feeling for him, but it was kind of important to have something to talk about with your friends.
After all, how could you be friends with someone you had nothing in common with?
"It's four in the afternoon." Said Go. He held up his phone and…yeah. It was four in the afternoon. Which meant that normal people were allowed to be out…which meant that she had sounded kind of dumb there. She had two options. She could either tell him that she lied so they could get to the whole making out part faster and make herself look desperate, which guys hated, or she could lie even more and hope that this newer, better, more amazing lie cancelled out the terrible one.
She just needed a newer, more amazing, lie. That was all.
"…my Mom's weird. Just…come on." Said Rei. There. That was…not amazing but it made sense. And yeah, her mom was weird just like all Moms were, so really she was telling the truth which was actually much better than telling a lie and, therefore, their relationship was repaired and they could go on and be together for…forever…
Which she wanted, of course, because this was her boyfriend and she had all kind of feelings for him that went beyond really wanting to kiss him and do all of those things that would result in her happy crying like Mob had with Teru.
So that was why she dragged him out of Mobronald's, down the street, and to the river. Because she liked him a lot. He was nice and…funny, maybe, and he was cute too and that was enough to be in love with him. Like she should have been. Because she couldn't just go and drag some guy into the bushes by the river just to kiss him and other stuff. That just wasn't what you were supposed to do and, besides, she could totally get a boyfriend. All of her friends had boyfriends and had been with their boyfriends since they had been her age. There was no reason that she couldn't have a boyfriend, and she did have one, and he wanted to kiss her. He would kiss her.
She could see the future with about seventy five percent accuracy. She knew what she was talking about.
"Uh…Rei? Why are we by the river?" asked Go as she pulled him into the bushes by the riverbank. No one was here, good, the last thing she needed was to have to find a new place. Maybe she was more than seventy five percent accurate since even though she hadn't had the best feeling about this spot. Maybe she was more like eighty five percent accurate…or maybe less.
She had been right about the spot but wrong about what would happen here.
"Because you wanted to kiss me. This was your idea." Said Rei as she pointed to the ground in front of her. Go still wasn't sitting down. He had his hands in his hoodie pockets and he was staring off at the water. Why? He could have come here at any time to look at the water. She was here. She wanted to kiss him…and anyway, this had been his idea, not hers.
"But the river's where people go to make out and fool around and hook up." said Go
"And?" asked Rei, maybe sounding a little meaner than she should have. It wasn't like she didn't know what the river was for, she was fourteen not four, and it wasn't like she just wanted to kiss him. There was a lot of other stuff that they could do. They were a couple after all.
"Do you want to do…all of that?" asked Go
"Yeah, obviously, I mean we're boyfriend and girlfriend now." said Rei
"Uh…um…hey! Look at that!" shouted Go as he pointed to the left at…
"A rock?" asked Rei
"Yeah, like, imagine the splash it would make if we threw it in." said Go. Rei rolled her eyes and checked the future. Yeah, it would make a big splash…all over their clothes.
"We'd get soaked." Said Rei
"Yeah but the splash would be really cool and if we got soaked I could just dry our clothes with my powers and then, uh, we could throw more rocks in or look for cool stuff in the river or catch frogs or…stuff." Said Go
"Ok, we can do that after we kiss." Said Rei. She had read somewhere that it was important to share interests with your boyfriend. If one of his interests was throwing rocks at things and into things then she was into rock throwing too…but after they kissed. What was with him? How could he be this immature? He knew that the clock was ticking, her curfew may not have been as soon as she had implied but she did have one, and it wasn't like they were going to get the chance to be alone this often. Tome was at cram school and Mob had to come straight home and help her mom with mom stuff. Rei could easily have gone to Mob's house to help her, and maybe talk to Ritsu but just talk because she knew that there was no hope for anything there, but instead she was here with Go and…and alright, maybe that last part had been kind of mean…she wasn't doing him a favor or anything like that. She was just…
She was just trying to have a nice time with her boyfriend, that was all.
"Sure…sure! Yeah, I can…I can totally kiss you." said Go as he finally turned away from that dumb rock. Boys, honestly. He finally sat down across from her...but then that was all he did. She leaned in close and all he did was stare at her…was he waiting for her make the first move? But she had just told him what she wanted…but boys were kind of dense like that. Like how Mob said that she'd had to practically beg Teru to kiss her or like how Tome had said that she had actually been the first to kiss Inukawa…yeah, alright, sometimes you had to make the first move.
So she made it.
She leaned in and kissed him. After a moment he kissed her back…but that moment only lasted for a moment. He kissed her and then immediately pulled away. Really quick. Barely anything. Rei didn't feel like happy crying. She didn't really feel like anything at all. Maybe because his lips had been chapped, maybe because he smelled like hot chips, maybe because the whole thing hadn't lasted more than two seconds…but it didn't matter. It had still happened, which meant that she still had something to talk about, which meant that it could happen again and then she could have even more to talk about.
So what if it had sucked. It could get better.
"That was pretty good…so, do you want to-" said Rei. Practice made perfect, right? So if they practiced enough times then it would be perfect. She wasn't going to complain, no, because she knew that if someone had complained about the way she kissed then she would have been devastated…not that there was anything to complain about…right?
Go wasn't looking at her.
"I just remembered, have to go home and-and walk my dog!" said Go as he jumped to his feet. Rei stood up too and reached for his hand as he tried to talk away.
"But you don't have a dog." Said Rei. Unless he did and she forgot…that was probably it. It wasn't like she sucked at kissing or anything, no, he just…had stuff to do…and there was no way that she could have sucked. She read all the how to guides and practiced on her hand every night. She knew what she was doing. He was the one who had it wrong.
Maybe that was why he let go of her hand.
"I have to go home and ask my Mom to get a dog so I can walk it! I love dogs now! Bye Rei! See you later!" said Go before he turned and ran away. He tripped over the bushes, fell, but then got right back up again and kept on running.
"Bye…I guess." said Rei. Well, that hadn't been the best kiss ever but it had been a start. She hadn't happy cried but she would. And so would he because she knew what she was doing and…and also…he liked dogs? So that was a plus. So this was a real relationship. They had that in common and…and they could kiss again. She quickly checked the future. They would kiss again. Because that was what people in a relationship did.
They went on disappointing dates and had disappointing kisses…but they could also get better…and it would get better. She knew. She could see the future after all.