Chapter Twelve
A week passed without any incidents or significant happenings and it was just the usual for both Tadashi and Hana. While Hana had work and errands to run, Tadashi was juggling his projects and classes. It was already the first round of midterms and he had buckled down to study for them. After all, keeping up with those scholarships were extremely important.
On top of that, he had had a few projects due by the end of the week, which wasn't that bad to be honest. They were just really time-consuming. Unfortunately, that meant he had little time to see Hana and even less time to have a proper conversation with her. The most they did was wave and greet each other briefly before he went up to his room to study.
Finally though, he was finished up with his last project and just in time for the weekend too.
Hitting the upload button in his class online folder, he watched the little blue bar fill up and scrubbed a hand over his face. The project write up had taken all night to do because there had been so many equations and notes to type up. He could feel the 5 o'clock shadow on his face since he hadn't bothered shaving and he could practically feel the bags under his eyes. Grabbing his SFIT mug, he gulped down the rest of his chilled black coffee and sighed. At this point, the bitter and cold taste was what was keeping him awake.
As soon as his file uploaded, he submitted the file and shut his laptop. When he got up to stretch, he nearly moaned at how amazing that felt, especially after long hours of sitting at his room desk. Again, he grabbed his mug and glanced at the clock that hung on the wall. 7 o'clock, which meant Hana should be downstairs in the café already.
Tadashi splashed his face with cold water in the bathroom, but didn't bother shaving. It didn't look that bad and, really, he was just too tired to do anything about it right now. Before he crashed for the rest of the day, he wanted to see Hana.
He had been looking forward to seeing and talking to Hana all week. It had partially gotten him through the grueling projects and midterms. He had told himself that once he was done, he would ask her the question that had been burning in his thoughts for a while now.
"Morning, sweetie." Cass greeted. "Finished your project?"
"Mhm." Tadashi gave his aunt a brief one armed hug. "I'm going back up soon to crash."
"Make sure to eat something before you sleep."
After giving her an okay, he stepped out into the front of the café and saw Hana working on making a drink. Sidling up to her, he poured himself a cup of freshly made coffee and smiled. Just being near her washed away some of the tiredness he felt.
"Hey, Hana."
She looked up and smiled. Then she noticed the stubble on him. "Hey. Rough night?"
"Something like that. I had to pull an all-nighter to finish my project." He sipped his coffee and basked at the warmth of it. That was way better than the cold, overnight coffee.
"That definitely doesn't sound like fun." She grinned, and handed the customer their drink.
"Once it gets to about four in the morning, it gets less fun for sure." He cupped the back of his neck and rubbed it. It was now or never. "Speaking of fun, I was wondering if you were busy tomorrow?"
Hana blinked at the question and shook her head. Had she heard right? "No, it's my day off. What's up?"
God, this was nerve-wrecking. It shouldn't be and yet, his heart was hammering in his chest. He'd been waiting all week to ask her and he wasn't about to chicken out. Tadashi Hamada never chickened out of anything. "I was wondering if you wanted to hang out. With me."
Cue the owlish blinking.
"I mean…my midterms just ended and I'm free. I wanted to hang out with you and stuff." And it had never seemed like the right time before.
"Sure, I'd love to hang out."
Relief washed over him like a tidal wave and his shoulders sagged a bit. The sleepiness was finally catching up to him now. "Great. I'll text you the details tonight?" With one hand, he brought his phone out and handed it to her.
Wiping her hands on her apron, she took his phone and swiftly added her number. A minute later, Tadashi texted her and she saved his number to her phone as well. That action alone made her extremely happy because they finally exchanged numbers. It had taken a while, but the wait had been worth it.
"Alright. Sounds good. Now go get some rest, Tadashi." She patted his arm and watched as he trudged back inside, after waving at her. The moment he left, she bit down on her bottom lip to prevent herself from giggling out in glee.
For the umpteenth time, Hana checked the time on her phone. 12:20PM. There was still ten minutes until she and Tadashi were supposed to meet, but she had still come early. It was the nerves talking, the same nerves that had her change outfits three times before she picked out the perfect one.
But it's not a date. Hana kept reminding herself. If she could, she would smack herself right now to get rid of these stupid nerves. This was most definitely not a date. Today was just two friends hanging out and nothing more. That was totally fine with her because she really wanted to just hang out with him too. It wasn't often that they saw each other outside of the café, so she was excited about this too.
Adjusting the strap of her small purse, she sat patiently on the edge of the fountain that was near the mall's main entrance. Last night, Tadashi had texted her after his very long nap. He suggested they grab lunch together and walk around the mall, which she didn't mind at all. Maybe she could buy a few things while they browsed through the stores, since she had gotten paid yesterday.
"Hey! Sorry I'm late. I hope you didn't wait long."
Hana turned and smiled up at Tadashi. He was wearing his trademark San Fransoyko Ninjas ball cap, a pair of dark blue jeans, and a red t-shirt that looked really good on him. He was very casual yet he still looked really good.
She stood up and shook her head. "Don't worry, I didn't. I actually just got here." Checking the time again, she noted he was also early, rather than late. It didn't really surprise her that he was punctual; he seemed like the type that would always be on time, or a little early.
"That's a relief. I was worried I was gonna be late." He lifted his cap up and ran a hand through his hair, an action that seemed really common with him.
"It's okay. I probably would've bombarded you with texts if you were." She joked, giggling lightly. Her friends would most likely disagree though. Bombarding someone with texts would be a stretch, but they'd all agree that she was rather impatient and that punctuality was important to her.
Tadashi smiled widely and gestured towards the escalators. "Shall we, then? The restaurant is on the second floor."
As the escalators were going up, she turned to look at him. He was a good head taller than her, which wasn't hard since she was about five foot five. "Which restaurant are we going to?"
"It's a pasta place. I hope you don't mind." He smiled. "I know we're at a mall and whatnot, but this place is pretty good. Hiro and I come here to eat sometimes."
"I love pasta." Honestly, she loved anything that was food. But any sort of pasta dish was an instant favourite. "I'm sure it's delicious. I trust your judgement."
Once they arrived at the restaurant, they were seated at one of the booths. Instantly, she fell in love with the interior. The restaurant itself had a homey and cozy feel to it, and all the furniture was modern.
"It's really nice in here. No wonder you and Hiro come here often. If I had known about this place, I would've come here too." Hana said while opening up her menu.
"We can come here again any time you want." He replied, smiling at her. It was great knowing he was the first one to introduce her to one of his favourite places. It was almost like sharing a secret.
Flipping through the pages of the menu, drool was practically rolling out of her mouth. Everything sounded delicious. Carbonara, seafood fettucine alfredo, spicy sausage…there are so many dishes! How was she going to choose just one? If she had her way – and if she had a huge stomach – she would definitely order everything on the menu.
"It's so hard to pick one. Everything sounds seriously good."
"I totally get what you mean. I've been here a lot yet I still have trouble picking." He chuckled, closing the menu. "One of my favourites is the seafood fettucine. They don't skimp out on the shrimps and scallops. And they're jumbo sized too."
"I was actually looking at that just now." She nibbled on her bottom lip, an action that didn't go unnoticed by him, and nodded. "I think I'll go with that. I'm in the mood for some seafood."
Both of them closed the menu simultaneously and told the waitress their orders. Seafood fettucine for her, chicken parmesan for him, and tomato and basil bruschetta as an appetizer. He had ordered that last one on whim, but he didn't want her to be hungry while they waited for their main dishes.
"So, did you get a chance to check out your university?"
Hana's eyes lit up at the mention of her dream school and she nodded eagerly. "I did! The campus is seriously so beautiful. There's something relaxing about it and it's a bit different from your school. SFIT is more…modern and tech and SFAM seems like...an antique."
"I mean, on the outside it looks like that. Something classical?" She smiled sheepishly, having a hard time trying to describe the feeling.
But Tadashi understood what she meant. It was still adorable how she was really excited and how she was fumbling over her words. So, she has this kind of side too, is what he thought. It made him want to get to know her even more.
"I think I know what you mean." He smiled as he rested his chin on his palm and leaned forward a little. "I've only been there twice, but I'd love to see it again. Maybe you can show me around one day?"
She thought about it a little before nodding. "When I get into university, I'll show you around."
To her surprise, he stretched his other arm across the table towards her and lifted up his pinky. "Promise?"
It was childlike, but not in a bad way. It was kind of…cute. Cute because she hadn't thought that Tadashi would be the type to make pinky promises. And of course, she was childlike too so she grinned widely and linked her pinky with his.
"I promise." She stamped her thumb with his. She held it there for a few seconds and leaned over to blow lightly on it, as if to make sure the magic of the promise would be extra effective. Perhaps it was silly to others, but she'd always done that as a little girl and it was special to her.
The blood rushed to Tadashi's cheeks when she did that and his chest suddenly felt fuzzy. The fact that she was taking this promise seriously made his heart melt a little. The more he thought about it, the more he was glad he had asked to spend time with her today. If he hadn't, he wouldn't have been able to see her like this.
"There! Now I can't break the promise." She grinned, sliding her pinky out from the link.
His shoulders shook a little as he chuckled at her enthusiasm. He had to bite down on his bottom lip a little in order to resist the urge to smile bigger. Luckily though, the appetizer came out so for the moment, both of them were distracted by the bruschetta. He didn't mind though because he wasn't entirely sure what the fuzzies inside were.
"I'm so stuffed." Hana rubbed her stomach as they walked out of the restaurant. "Everything was really yummy."
"I'm glad you thought so." Tadashi smiled as he slid his wallet into his back pocket.
"You really didn't have to buy lunch." She had told him that she could pay for hers, but he had insisted that he paid for their meal. Before she knew it, he had whipped out his card and paid for their meals. She felt really bad, but it was still a sweet gesture. Although, she kept reminding herself that this wasn't a date.
"It's really okay. I wanted to. Plus, I'm the one that asked you to spend the day with me." He noticed her bottom lip jut out a little into a pout and he had to hold down the chuckle again. "Buuuuut."
That got her attention. Her light brown eyes lifted to look up as they sparkled with curiosity and she tilted her head a little to the side.
"Next time." He cleared his throat, averting his eyes to the side for a second to compose himself. "You can buy next time."
That meant…he wanted to hang out with her again like this. A bright smile formed on her face and her eyes closed into half-moons. "Of course! Next time, it's on me."
Was it okay for her to be this happy? The question echoed within the depths of her mind.
Not wanting to dwell on it, she unexpectedly linked her arm with Tadashi's and pointed forward animatedly. "I think the arcade is this way. Think you can beat me in air hockey?"
"Is that a challenge, Miss Hana?"
"I believe it is, Mister Hamada."
A smirk rose up onto his lips, one that was clearly challenging her, and her stomach did a flop. There was a mischievous twinkle in his warm eyes that resembled and reminded her of Hiro's. "You're on."
Playful competitiveness bubbled inside her and glee ran through her veins as she pulled Tadashi towards the arcade.
An old couple that had seen them stopped briefly to watch them go. The elderly woman stared at the young ones walk towards the arcade then gazed at her husband with a mirthful smile.
"Ah, young love. It's beautiful, isn't it?"
The husband chuckled in agreement and kissed her temple before they continued walking.
Gah, I'm so sorry for the late update. I've been really busy and I had to rewrite this chapter a few times. I'm still trying to get used to writing long chapters with more detail, haha. Isn't it nice that Tadashi and Hana finally went on their "not really a date" date? ;) There's more to fluffiness to come, I promise! Hana can be pretty childish and silly, and I thought that would bring out the silliness in Tadashi too. It's kind of cute when you think about it, hehe.
I hope you all liked this chapter! As always, thank you to everyone who's read this and favourited. And special thanks to everyone who reviewed for their wonderful message and constant support! When I feel down, I always go back to read your guys' reviews and it really keeps me going! So thank you very much!
~Mari