Edwin P.O.V:
It has been a whole day since I asked out Jasiri, I am still shocked that she said yes. I didn't really think that she would say yes to a date with me. I am both excited and nervous for tomorrow night because even when I am excited, I'm really nervous that I will screw this up.
Even when I still did my tasks at work efficiently, I was still a little distracted thinking about the date. I even-zoned out in many conversations when I had lunch with my colleagues at the cafe.
While I ate my food, I kept thinking about how this date would possibly go. It could end up being great, but it could end up a disaster. We could end up in a relationship,but we could also end up remaining friends. I just don't hope I don't spill anything like on the last date I was ever on.
"Edwin!? Hello? Earth to Edwin?!" a voice called. I turned my head to see that it was Makini calling me, looking a little irritated.
"Oh hey Makini, what's going on?" I replied casually.
"I've been talking about my self-defense class for like five minutes and through all that time, your head has been in the clouds the whole time. You've also seem pensive almost all day, is there something going on Edwin?" Makini asked.
I was a little nervous because through text message, Jasiri and I promised that we wouldn't really tell anyone we know about our date because we did not want anyone to make a big deal about it and if I know anything about Makini, she makes a big deal about EVERYTHING and we don't want attention drawn to ourselves. So I have to come up with a quick excuse.
"Oh nothing, it's just that I recently received my water bill and it was a little higher than normal and I was wondering what I did that caused it to increase." I said, just hoping that they would believe it.
"Oh okay, I totally understand, sometimes I feel the same way about rent." Makini replied.
I turned to see that Jasiri nodded at me, most likely indicating she's satisfied with the bill excuse. Soon Makuu turned his head towards the group.
"I guess bills or rent are coming for people all over the city because Jasiri has been acting a little pensive today as well." Makuu said in an inquisitive tone.
"Yeah, my electric bill recently came and it was a little high, so I'm trying to think of ways to cut back on electricity in my apartment." She said, trying to keep things casual and just looked at me briefly before turning back to the rest of the group.
Then for some reason, Vuruga started to laugh a little bit.
"It's kind of funny thinking about it that almost twenty one years ago, we didn't knew what electricity was and we drank water directly from a watering hole and now we can't imagine life ever going back to that." She said.
"I know, it's crazy, who would have ever thought it." Makini said.
After that, the rest of the day was pretty much routine, after I finished my day at work, I basically laid out the clothes I am going to wear for my date with Jasiri tomorrow night. I've just been nervous lately because this is going to be my first date in a long time and I just hope that I don't screw this up.
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I woke up from my 5:00 morning alarm, even when it's Saturday, I still had some stuff to do before I pick up Jasiri tonight.
After going through my usual morning shower, shave and hygiene routine, I got dressed in a casual jean and t-shirt while I laid my clothes for tonight out on my bed.
After preparing myself a small breakfast, I headed out to do some errands I've been meaning to do. I went to the Blue Line stop across the street to put more money on my Ventra card, after that I bought some groceries for my apartment, fixed the chain on my bicycle and dusted nearly every surface of my apartment thoroughly.
As the hours went by, I finally finished what I needed to get finished for the day. I checked the time on my phone and saw that it was 3:30 in the afternoon. With only two and a half hours to get ready for my date, I made a B-line to the shower because I am covered with sweat and dust from all the cleaning I did today. As soon as I got out of the shower, I headed towards my bed to look at the clothes that I'm going to wear tonight. It was just a business casual ensemble consisting of a sky blue button down shirt and black dress pants.
As I was getting dressed, I heard a ding from my phone and I went over to my nightstand to look at what it was and I saw it was a text from Beshte. It says:
"Hi Edwin, how's it going? Do you have any plans for tonight?"
I replied: "Hey Beshte, I'm good, I actually have a date tonight." and then I pressed send.
After that I continued to get dressed and before I could put on my socks, I heard another ding on my phone and I saw that Beshte replied back.
"Oh okay, nice. But I thought you said that you had feelings for Jasiri."
I texted back: "My date is with Jasiri, I asked her out a few days ago. I'm still surprised she said yes." and pressed send.
As I finished putting my socks on, Beshte replied back:
"Congrats! I'm sure it will be great, Jasiri's a great person so don't be nervous. Best of luck!"
After that, I just decided to go down to check my email before I left. So I went over to my laptop, logged in and I saw that I received six e-mails over the past couple of hours.
Three of them were just advertisements so I just ignored them, another one was just a reminder to RSVP to my ten-year high school reunion, which is something I already did. Another is just a notice from Mr. Charles that the walls of the hallways will be repainted within two weeks. While another caught my attention….it was an email from my sister Katrina.
It was a shock, I haven't heard from Katrina in months, so I opened the email and read it:
Hi Ed,
I know it's been a while since we last talked with each other, but I want to know how things are going? Me you know how my work is, same old-same old, and I'm currently in Manilla for business. I saw that on your Instagram you now work at the Field Museum? Congrats for you, though I know this congradulations is two months late. Anyway, I'm happy for you and I hope you are doing well because you seemed miserable at your previous job at the pharmaceutical company. I hope we get to talk more frequently, have a good week!
Kat
It's kind of nice to hear from her again because there are some times I wish we could reconnect more often, but our busy schedules prevent us from doing so. So I just replied to her email very casual way:
Hey Kat,
I hope you are enjoying Manilla, don't forget to send me some pics. Things are going well fot me and yes, I am enjoying my job in the genetics at Field Museum, it's so much more rewarding than my job at Genico, most of the people there only cared about getting big bonuses rather than the research itself. I'm also still shocked that it has been around ten years since I graduated high school. Also I agree, we should contact each other more often, it's been a while since we had a legitimate conversation. Anyway, have a good trip in Manilla!
Edwin
After replying to that email, I put away my laptop in my nightstand drawer. I then grabbed my phone, wallet and keys to place them in my pockets, along with a little cash in my other pocket just in case I lose my wallet.
As soon as I got myself together, I soon left my apartment, went down the three flights of stairs and left the building to go to where I parked my car. I found my black Honda four-door sedan just where I parked it last time, again cleaning up the dust on my dashboard as I got in.
I turned on the ignition, but then I saw the gauge on my car that says I only have a quarter of a tank of gas left. So I decided that I'm going to get gas along the way. I eventually typed Jasiri's address into my phone and placed my phone next to me so I can listen to the directions as I drive.
I drove a couple of blocks along Milwaukee Avenue until I reached a gas station to pay to fill up my tank, and paid $25 to fill up my tank. I left the gas station to go back on my route to Jasiri's place.
The rest of the drive mostly consists of what I have normally seen in Chicago at around 5:30 PM on a Saturday, just on the street either heading home from work or to other places to have a good time later on tonight. But on the other hand, this also has caused quite a bit of traffic. While I'm waiting for the traffic to clear up a little bit, I began to continuously look at the area around me and I see that even when it is still light out, the sky is starting to turn a lighter tint of blue with some yellowish hues when looking at the lower areas of the sky.
Eventually, after like 20 minutes, traffic passed by smoothly and within five minutes of getting out of the traffic, I arrived at the address Jasiri gave me and I pulled up in front of the entrance of the apartment building. I then took my phone to send Jasiri a text I am here. Within only a second after sending that text, Jasiri sent me one asking "Hey Edwin, are you close?"
After receiving the text, I immediately replied back, saying "I'm actually here, if you come down, I am in the Black Honda in front of your building."
I put my phone down and decided to play around with the radio to see if there are any good stations, but so far there is nothing really good and I just decided to stick with the Top 40s station I was already on.
Then I heard a knocking on my passenger side window, I turned around to see that it was Jasiri, so I unlocked my passenger door and as she came in, I noticed that she was wearing a purple blouse with some small blue prints on it along with black pants.
"Hi Edwin, how's it going?" Jasiri said with her usually upbeat tone.
"I'm good, how about you, are you ready for our date?" I responded calmly.
"Yeah, I'm excited to get to know you a bit more, oh and try out that tea place you told me about. Where is it again?" Jasiri said.
"Oh it's on Argyle, close to the corner of Argyle and Broadway, so maybe around an hour considering the usual traffic that's usually around on Saturdays at this time." I said.
Jasiri let out a little laugh, but there seems to be an almost nervous expression on her face.
"Is everything alright Jasiri?" I asked.
"Oh yeah, everything is fine, it's just that… on the way to the tea place, could we make a possible stop along the way?" Jasiri asked.
"Sure, no problem, what for?" I replied.
"Oh it's just that when I… transform to my hyena form, I would rather do it at a point where the car is not moving because the last time that I transformed in a moving vehicle, I threw up in my now former roommate's back seat, as well as chipping a few of my claws too. So anyway, is there a chance we could stop by a parking lot when it starts to get a little darker so that I can transform?" Jasiri asked.
"Yeah, sure, just tell me when you feel that you are about to transform and I will park at the nearest place possible." I replied. After I responded, I started to see the expression on Jasiri's face light up a little bit.
"Good, thank you Edwin, I'll make sure to tell you on the way." Jasiri said.
After that we started our drive to the tea place. During the duration, we just casually conversed with each other about work, life and other topics. We got stuck in a slight traffic jam, but it wasn't painfully long before we got out.
We were twenty minutes from the tea place when we noticed that it was starting to get dark out, I guess that traffic jam must have taken more time than I expected. But as I was driving, I saw that Jasiri had a slightly nervous expression on her face again.
"Hey Edwin, would it be okay if we tried to find a place to stop now?" She asked.
"Okay sure no problem." I replied. I eventually saw that we are approaching a grocery store, so I decided that this would be a good place to make a good stop.
As I was making a turn to go into the parking lot, I heard Jasiri was starting to groan a little bit.
"Uhh Edwin...could you please try to park somewhere quick-...aghh...I think it's time." Jasiri said anxiously.
"Oh okay sure, let me just find a parking spot first." I quickly replied while I just parked at the first spot I saw. Sure, it wasn't the straightest parking job I have done, but I don't really have to to correct that right now because Jasiri was starting to feel more pain, as I got in the car, I immediately stopped and even unlocked the back doors.
"If you want Jasiri, you can move to the backseat if it's more comfortable, I just unlocked the doors." I said.
"Really? Thanks!" Jasiri quickly replied as she quickly exited the passenger side to make a b-line to the backseat.
After she got to the backseat, I heard that her groaning started to intensify until the point at which she was screaming in pain and I started to get concerned so I wanted to check on her. When I took a peak I saw that she was laying on her side in a fetal position while I was seeing what almost looked like a tail coming out of her back.
"Hey Jasiri! Are you okay? Do you want me to get something from the sto-" I asked before being she started to look at me with a look that seems like a combination of nervousness and assurance. I also saw that a little fur was starting to grow on her face and the tip of her nose was starting to turn black.
"No thanks, I don't need anything at the store and I'm just fine thank you, I told you that I do this every night." She quickly replied.
"Okay.." I said as I turned away to give her some more privacy.
While Jasiri's transformation continued, a Shawn Mendes song was playing from my car radio. It's kind of funny that the song that was playing in the car is called "There's Nothing Holding Me Back" when all of this is going down in a random grocery store parking lot. Sure, it might have felt a little awkward at first, but I think I really connect with Jasiri at both work and during our occasional jogs together, so I think that the awkwardness will be worth it in the long term.
After what I believed was five minutes, the groaning and screaming came to a halt. I then heard the back door open and close within ten seconds. After which I decided to lock the back doors and unlock the passenger seat for Jasiri to get back in. As I heard the passenger side door open, and when I looked towards the door, I once again saw her in her hyena form. Even when it is the second time I have seen it, In my mind I was still fascinated on how within ten minutes, she has transformed from human to an anthropomorphic hyena. Don't get me wrong she's still pretty attractive, I guess I just still have some questions in my mind about the whole hybrid thing, but I'll save those for another time.
After hearing the passenger side door shut, I then turned my attention back to my dashboard to check my mirrors and then I turned my attention back to Jasiri.
"Hey Jasiri, are you feeling okay?" I asked.
"Yes, I feel much better Edwin, thank you. Also thanks so much for being so understanding about me being hybrid and for stopping the car for me to transform." Jasiri said in a more enthusiastic and relaxed tone.
"No problem, it's nothing really. So are you still ready to go to the tea place?" I asked.
"Yeah, definitely!" Jasiri said.
"Okay, let's get back to our route there then." I replied.
I then gently pressed on my gas pedal and drove out of the parking lot to start driving towards the tea place again.
It was a relatively quick twenty minute drive to the tea place and there was very little traffic. Although Jasiri did feel a little numb since she was sitting on her tail during the drive. Soon we arrived at the tea place, and I parked a block away from the place.
As we got out of my car, I could not help noticing how beautiful the lights along Argyle Street. It almost seems as if the neighborhood itself was trying to send us a message. After our short walk, Jasiri and I finally arrived at the tea place, it was this charming little Black building in which three rectangular windows stood prominently to the left of the main entrance below the squares of black tile that construct the building's edifice. Through the windows we can see multiple plant pots hanging from the ceiling, with each plot streaming down long streams of leaves, combining to make a botanical arch to welcome all those who come inside. There were also some potted plants on the floor to add to the vibe of the place. We walked inside to see that only around five other customers in the restaurant. We started to look around the place and we saw that there were shelves that contained cameras that looked decades old, even a century old in one case. I was intrigued to see an old sewing machine in the far corner of the restaurant, but what caught my interest the most was that around the register and kitchen there were dozens of tea cups hanging around above the counters attached to steel cords. After looking around the place, we then looked at the chalkboard menu to determine what we are going to order.
"Aw man, all this sounds so good Edwin, I literally have no idea what I am going to order." Jasiri said.
"Me neither, I guess I'm just going to pick something I've never had before and try something new. So I guess, I'll order the jasmine and roasted rice tea. What about you Jasiri?" I replied.
"Well, now that I think about it I do like lavender, so I think I will get some roasted lavender tea." She replied.
Soon after that we just walked up to the counter to order our drinks. The cashier who was walking towards up was wearing a black t-shirt, black pants and her short black hair in a ponytail. Her eyes were pretty much glued to a notepad, when she started to raise her head a little bit.
"Hello there, my name is Anh, I am your cashier and server for this evening may I take your uhhh?" The cashier said as she raised her head and then immediately became startled when she looked at Jasiri in her current form, I turned my head towards Jasiri and saw that she is starting to develop a visibly uncomfortable expression on her face. I'm starting to feel a little guilty because I never wanted her to feel uncomfortable, so I decided to check on her.
"Um Jasiri, are you okay?" I asked.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine, can we just tell them our orders already?..." She replied, soon turning back to the cashier. "I'll have a roasted lavender tea".
"Okay sure, I'll have a hot jasmine and roasted rice tea…" I replied, and soon noticed that Anh was still staring at Jasiri. "Uh excuse me, what are you looking at?" I said.
"Oh nothing… uhhh … I was just looking at a stain on her shirt." Ahn replied, which caused Jasiri to look at her shirt briefly.
"Oh, uh thanks, I'll wash it later." Jasiri replied. Despite her looking at her shirt, I'm sure she was just trying to avoid confrontation with the cashier because I didn't see a stain anywhere.
"Okay, that'll be $14.95, I'll call you up to the table to my right when your orders are ready."
"Okay thanks" I said
"Thanks." Jasiri said, as we both gave Anh our money for our individual orders, after which we soon took seats at a nearby table.
"Jasiri, I'm so sorry for a few seconds ago, I had no idea that the cashier was going to act like that and…" I said before Jasiri began to speak.
"Edwin...It's okay, I've been used to behaviors like that for almost twenty one years and based on things that were previously said and done to me, that was nothing." Jasiri quite, with her even starting to form a small smile on her face.
"Okay, so… how's work going?" I said, trying to break the ice.
"It's going great, our team is in the process of preparing the specimens of those Ordovician period Orthoceras specimens our archaeology team found six months ago. I think our interns are really starting to get the hang of it. Makuu hasn't yelled at anyone or made them cry in three weeks, so that's a new record. How about you? How are things in the genetics lab going?" Jasiri said.
"Oh it's pretty interesting, we are still doing research on the effects of environmental conditions on the genomes of certain species of lichen. We are currently doing some SDS-PAGE, agar gel electrophoresis and Sanger sequencing techniques to further investigate some of these conditions. We are also working on a paper which discusses our research with one of the species of lichens, and we're hoping to publish that research." I replied.
"Wow, that actually sounds really cool." Jasiri said.
"Thanks, yours does too! I've always been fascinated by the fossils everytime I went to the museum as a child and in many cases I am still fascinated by them." I said.
"Thanks, I'm just curious, you've been working with us for almost two months, so are you liking the team you are working with?" Jasiri asked.
"Absolutely, Ma Tembo is an excellent supervisor and we have a lot in common, Vuruga is an incredibly trustworthy partner and incredibly thorough, Pete is always the one you turn to for a good laugh, Makini's a little quirky but she's cool anyway, and Bupu's alright though he is a little closed off in some cases. So what's it like working with Makuu?" I asked.
"Oh it's good, when you are on his good side, he is an excellent person to prep fossils with and he can be quite a perfectionist. But if you get on his bad side, then he can be stubborn and temperamental." Jasiri said.
"Oh yeah, I overheard some of my lab's interns mention that they have friends interning in your lab and I heard similar things about Makuu.I guess that gossip really does travel fast at the museum." I replied, after which we both started to laugh a little bit.
"Speaking of, I heard something from Makuu earlier this week which you might be interested in." Jasiri said with a little bit of intrigue in her voice.
"Really? What exactly did he tell you?" I asked.
"Well you know the president of the museum… Simba Furahi?" She said.
"Yeah… what about him?" I replied.
"Well based on what Makuu told me, he is cheating on his wife Nala with one of his interns." Jasiri said.
"No way! Are you joking? because they seemed to be doing just fine when I saw them at the gala a few weeks ago." I replied a little surprised and intrigued myself.
"I'm not joking, this is real. Makuu told me that Zazu saw him making out with some intern named Melinda in his office." Jasiri said.
"So Zazu told Makuu directly after the incident happened?" I asked.
"Well not exactly. From what I heard, Zazu first told Ono about it, who told Anga, who told Fuli, who told Vitani, who for some reason told a Romanian tourist, who told Tiffu, who told Muhimu and Twiga, who told Rafiki, who told Makuu, who told me and then here we are with me telling you. When I first heard it I was kind of shocked because they seemed so put together back in the Pride Lands, I guess people can drastically change over a period of 20 years." Jasiri replied.
"Yeah, sometimes marriages can end up like that. Like my parents for example, from what I heard they got along well in the early years of their marriage, but after a while it all started to fall apart and tried to keep it together for my sister and I but we both knew what was going, which went on until they finally divorced. Though I am a little curious about how the Romanian tourist got in the mix." I said, which made Jasiri laugh a little.
"Yeah, I'm curious about that too." Jasiri said. After a minute, a bell rang and I saw Ahn bring out two teacups to the counter.
"Order number 650, roasted lavender tea and a hot jasmine and roasted rice tea!" She yelled.
The two of us just rose to get our orders. After walking to the counter and picking up our orders, we carefully returned to our seats.
As we sat down, something occurred in my mind that I wanted to tell Jasiri something but I forgot what it was.
"So Jasiri, I can't wait for you to try this tea, I initially had my doubts when I first tried it but it ended up being the best tea that I ever tried in my-" I was saying until what I wanted to say suddenly popped back in my mind when Jasiri's lips were an inch away from her tea.
"Oh wait I should probably warn you that you might want to-" I was saying until Jasiri let out a slight grunt, after which she grabbed a napkin and placed it on her tongue.
"-let the tea cool down for a little bit because it can be pretty hot when it is freshly prepared. Are you okay?" I finished the latter half of my phrase.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine, I guess after living among humans for twenty one years, I still need to get used to hot beverages." Jasiri said, letting out a nervous laugh.
"It's okay, I totally understand. Sometimes I have a similar adjustment process with caffeinated beverages and don't get me started on alcohol, after trying beer once, I found out that I'm actually allergic to barley so the only alcohol I really drink is a glass of wine on certain occasions." I said.
"I know, I still don't don't get why you humans drink alcohol, it tastes horrible." She replied.
"Exactly, whenever I socialize with my friends at events that involve alcohol, at least one of them gets drunk and I have to practically babysit them for the rest of the night." I replied, after which we laughed a little bit, though I seem to notice that Jasiri had a slightly nervous laugh.
We eventually started drinking our tea once it cooled down, during which we had three more minutes of casual conversation.
"Hey Edwin, you are right about the tea, it's really good." Jasiri said as she placed her cup down.
"Well, I am glad you are enjoying it, so anyway I'm just curi-" I was saying until I accidentally hit my hand against my tea cup and accidentally spilled some of my tea on the table.
I immediately grabbed some napkins I had and even Jasiri was starting to grab some as well.
"I'm so sorry Jasiri, I can be such a clutz sometimes." I said while wiping down the table to clean up my spill.
"It's okay, it's just a spill, there are far worse things than a-" Jasiri said but then paused.
She started to look down, which made me look in her direction… and we saw that both of our hands were touching each other. I'm guessing that we grabbed them accidentally thinking they were the napkins we were using. We looked into each other's eyes and I started to develop this tingling feeling in my body, but all I did was continue to stare into her deep indigo eyes. We continued to stare at each other for almost a minute but I saw that Jasiri was starting to become visibly nervous and walked away to throw away her used napkins.
"Jasiri, are you okay?" I asked.
"Oh no I'm fine, I just realized that I need to meet up with my …. uhhh therapist to catch up with something we were discussing last week. So I'm just going to go and catch the Red Line to go there and thanks for the tea." Jasiri said as she was grabbing her bag. While she was doing that, I began to feel guilty that I made her feel uncomfortable.
"Oh okay, are you sure because I can drive you there if you want?" I said to try to help her with this sudden anxiety.
"I'm sure Edwin, I'll be fine and again thanks for the tea. Bye Edwin." Jasiri quickly said as she left the restaurant, while flashing an awkward smile.
"Okaay… Bye Jasiri." I said..
After she left the restaurant, I started to think that it was unusual that she had a meeting with her therapist because she told me that she usually meets her therapist on Thursdays. But then it hit me, there's the possibility that she didn't leave to see her therapist...she must have left to avoid me. I admit that the hand thing was a total accident but I felt some sort of connection between us and I couldn't define what it was. I guess that might have accidentally been coming on too strong for a first date and must have unintentionally made Jasiri feel uncomfortable. I then just realized that I might have made her more uncomfortable by taking her to a restaurant in which she was being stared at by both the cashiers and a few other customers. Now I'm feeling really guilty about making Jasiri feel distressed this evening.
"Man, what was I thinking? I can't believe I'm just realizing this now. I really like her and all I did was drive her away" I said to myself.
I then proceeded to facepalm myself on the forehead.
"I'm a fucking idiot. Why am I such a fucking idiot when it comes to dating." I said to myself, and I remained at the restaurant before I finally left.