Chapter 19

I WAITED OUTSIDE  my house for almost an hour. It was 5:26. Maybe he stood me up? No… I hope he’s not lost! I was about to walk inside, then I heard the patter of shoes smacking the pavement. Someone was running up to my house, and when I turned around, it was him! I opened the door and yelled to my mom that I was going, and then I left.

“BE BACK BY 7!!” I heard her shout back.

            The two of us walked up to the bus stop, it was silent. It felt really awkward, so I decided to spark up conversation… And it was that easy.

“What’s with that get up?” I said, eyeing him from head to toe. He was wearing a kind of bar-tender’s outfit, a shipman’s hat and blue-tinted glasses. It was kind of funny looking on him, but also kind of adorable.

“Why? Does it look funny?” He asked with a half smile.

“Yeah, it does actually. It doesn’t even look like something you’d wear!”

“Oh good… Then it’s a perfect disguise.” He coughed into his hand.

Disguise? Oh, that’s right. So that people don’t try and kidnap him. I guess that makes sense. He continued coughing, I thought he was going to throw up.

“Hey, Justin, do you want a scarf or something to cover your neck? You might hurt your throat from coughing so much!”

“No no,” he gave me a hand-gesture. “It’s fine, really.”

            We waited at the bus stop and then took the Number 4 into the St. Johns plaza. It’s rather small, with a few shops here and there, but it was like a little old-fashioned town and I loved it. The two of us walked around, as if we were a pair, I felt so red. Was I dreaming this? It was too good to be true!

            When we were ordering something to eat at Starbucks, I overheard some high schoolers, maybe our age, saying “Wow, what a cute couple!” I felt a little happy �" this was kind of like a date right?

“Hey, why are you so blushy?” Justin said, taking a sip of his ice coffee.

“Oh… I’m blushing??” I quickly turned away.

He laughed a little bit, then coughed again. “It’s ok, it’s kind of cute.” He winked at me.

Aaaah! This is so intense! I… I don’t even know what to say! For the next 6 minutes straight, I just chewed down on my coffee cake. It was really good by the way, but really crumby. I had to be careful with each bite or else crumbs would get all over the place!

“C-can I try a bite?” He said, so calmly.

“Oh, yeah, sure!” I slid the plate over to him, he picked up his own fork and took a bite. But whoa, what a bite! He ate it so easily, no crumbs ANYWHERE! And it just slid right off the fork and into his mouth. Usually it would get stuck and I had to bite it off. This cake was just like spaghetti or a burger, it was one of those foods that you can’t really eat with poise. But Justin could… And it was so adorable!!

“Was it good?” I asked.

“Yeah, I might buy one next time.” We both giggled. And right when all things were just right, guess who walked over…

“H-hey.” It was Bea.

“Oh, what do you want?” Justin said, in a defensive tone. I guess he didn’t forget about that first day of school in gym class. I didn’t.

“It’s ok Justin…” I interjected. Then I eyed Bea.

“I’m here with Mason, our parents wanted us to pick up a few things.” Then Mason walked over to us and sat down at the table to the side. He waved at me so I waved back.

“Uh,” he chuckled and pointed at Justin. “Nice shades.”

“Thanks.” He replied with a smile, I think Mason blushed too, but I couldn’t tell.

Then Bea continued, “Soon we got hungry and since we were in the area, we stopped in here. What are you two doing here? Uh, together?”

I wasn’t sure what to respond with, but thank you Justin! I think…

“The two of us,” he grabbed my hand, “are on a date.” He smiled and flashed Bea and Mason a peace sign with his fingers.

“Whaa-??” I gasped while my cheeks turned pink.

“Right?” He turned to me and winked.

Ohhh. I thought. So I put on a fake smile. “Um, y-yeah! We’re on a, on a date!”

            Both Bea and Mason had a look of shock on their faces, but they were different kinds of looks. Mason’s was more of a ‘Whoa, no way!’ face, and Bea had a kind of disgusted face, like she was saying “Why her?” But that didn’t bother me much. I kind of enjoyed it.

“So, uh…” Mason said with a sigh. “You two are like, together now?”

I blinked fast, because I hoped maybe Justin would say something, and he did! But not what I expected he’d say. “Hey Aika, we have to finish our shopping. Your mom said to have you home by 7 remember.”

“Have you home..?” Mason whispered. Bea still looked in a little shock.

He gathered his things and we began to leave. I waved back to Mason, but I couldn’t care less about Bea. And that was the last I saw of them that day. We continued onto other small shops, we visited a card shop, a formal clothing shop, and we took a look at these cute stuffed animals at a local kid’s store. But we didn’t buy a thing!

“Hey, Justin?” I asked while we pondered through a trunk of donated toys.

“Yeah?” He got interested in this paddleball and began to play it.

“We’ve been to all these shops, but we haven’t bought a thing.”

“Oh right right, hey what do you think of the stuffed animals in that last aisle?” He asked, still playing the paddleball.

“Well, they were pretty cute, but I’m not a big fan of stuffed animals.”

“Oh, ok.” He put on a face of think.

“You know, that’s all you asked me. At the past shops we were at, you asked me if I liked that one suit in the window, do I like funny cards or serious cards, and what kind of flowers I like… Are we taking a survey or something or are we going to buy something?”

He put the paddleball down and sighed. “I’m so sorry, if I just dragged you around town. But I had to see what I wanted to buy first, before I bought it. And I’m not so good at special occasions, so I thought you could help me.”

“Oh, so we were basically just window shopping, why didn’t you say that first?” I smiled. “I brought all this money too!” I winked.

“Haha, well I guess since we came this far, we can buy something.”

“But can it be somewhere else than this toy store?”

            We both agreed and stormed off. We tried a clothing department down the street, but not much of a selection of things we liked so then we went to the closest Blockbuster to see if there were any movies we wanted. Justin found a rare DVD copy of The Three Stooges, but it was too expensive. Finally, we visited a pastry shop called Tulip Pastries. I pass by that shop all the time on my way home from school, but I’ve never tried it. Business was kind of slow, so I suggested we try it out.

“Hello?” I said quietly as I opened the door. “Are you still open?”

“Yes!” A voice called from the back. Then a nice, pretty, lady with bouncy, brown, wavy hair came out with a tray full of chocolate rolls. They smelled so sweet.

“Wow, those look really good!”Justin said with shine in his eyes. He approached the counter and eyed the beautiful looking sweets.

“Why thank you!” The lady said pleasantly and whipped her apron.

“I’d think you would have more customers than… this.” I said, looking around the empty room.

“Oh, well you know how the economy is these days,” the lady sighed, “but we’re much more busier on weekends. It’s Thursday, so I don’t usually expect much. But I still put out as much treats as I can, because you never know when a crowd will come in.”

Justin and I looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

“For example, you two were just a surprise to me!” She giggled. “So is there anything I can get you two today?”

Justin put his hand on my shoulder and whispered, “Anything you want? My treat.” He smiled.

“Oh, no! I have my own money�"!”

“No, don’t worry about it. Just pick.”

“But, Justin�"!”

“Really, Aika, it’s ok.”

I didn’t want to argue in front of the nice lady, so I agreed. I picked out two cinnamon rolls, 1 honey bun, and a glazed donut. I thought maybe I should get something for my family. And then I thought of someone else…

Right when Justin was about to pay, I stopped him. “Wait! I want to get one more thing!”

Justin nodded, “Ok, what else do you want?”

I picked out a chocolate rose. “Oh, excellent choice, this is what we’re known for!” The lady said with pure delight.

“Wh-who’s the rose for?”Justin looked puzzled.

“Oh, it’s for Kevin!” I smiled.

“For Kevin?” He said looking casually away.

“Yeah, I’m kind of sad that we got all these things, but Kevin didn’t get anything. And he didn’t even get to see this part of St. Johns, so might as well not forget him!”

Justin turned around and put his arm around me, and I felt like I was going to die. “You’re so caring, you know that?” He took out his wallet and began to pay.

“Alrighty, so is that all for you two today? Are you sure your girlfriend doesn’t want anything else?” The lady asked before taking Justin’s cash.

“Girlfriend?!” I spun my head around fast, I think I sprained my neck.

“Oh um, she’s not my girlfriend…” Justin rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled hesitantly.

“Y-yeah, we’re just friends!” I exclaimed, waving my hands in front of my face.

The lady felt so embarrassed, she backed away from the counter and covered her face with her hands. “Oh my, I’m so sorry! I, I didn’t know!”

“It’s alright, you’re not the first to mistake us today.” Justin assured her and handed over the money. Once we got things together we stormed out and headed back to the bus stop. Are little outing was over.

            While we stood at the corner of Lombard St. and Richmond Ave. I started to devour the pastries we had just gotten. They were so good! I almost didn’t want to save any for my family, but I had to be nice… But man, if I knew how good these things were I would have bought a dozen!

“Haha, so it looks like you’re enjoying them. They must be good, now I know I didn’t waste my money.” Justin leaned on me.

“Bah, you’re heavy!” I joked. We laughed and talked about life, are dreams and goals, and just anything.

            It turns out that Justin really doesn’t want to be the successor for the family. He wants to grow up and become a lawyer, he has been so fascinated by law when he was younger. He says he’d rather have Kevin as the successor, because he’s more manageable about money, plus he’s strong and can fight back his attackers. Fists, or words. He’d make a great defender.

“It should have been him.” He admitted.

            I told him about me wanting to become a nurse but I am terrible in math. He kind of laughed, because he’s not so good in English, but he was excellent in math.

“Oh, I’m great in English!” I got excited. “I can tutor you if you want?”

“And I can tutor you in math.” He added.

“Yeah, it works out!” I twirled around. Then the bus came in and we boarded.

            Riding on the bus, it was pretty quiet. Our conversation about tutoring just couldn’t carry on. For the 7 minute ride back home, we just sat in silence. I peered out the window a few times and Justin shifted in his seat around a couple turns, but that was the life of the party. The awkwardness came back. But finally we made it to our stop and got off that boring bus.

            We walked down a block then made it to the intersection where we would separate. But I wasn’t too bummed; After all, today was the best 2 and a half hours of my life. And I think, I was falling for him even more and more.

“Well that was fun.” Justin said while we walked towards the intersection.

“Yeah, it wasn’t so bad. I had a lot of fun, even though we only visited a few shops.” I giggled and eyed Justin.

            The conversation ceased, and then he leaned in forward towards my face…. I think you know where this is going, because I sure did. Or I thought at least… Right before his lips met mine, he stopped, and backed off.

“Uh, it was great.” He said with a cough. I guess he was just shy, or scared. Because I was too. It was, or would have been, my first kiss after all.

            I turned onto my street and began to walk, but then he grabbed my arm and spun me around towards him.

“Aika,” he started, “tomorrow, after school, by the tennis court… I need to tell you something really important. So please, be there.”

After school..? The tennis court..? But wait, I was suppose to meet Kevin after school tomorrow!! I thought, worried. If he was going to say what I thought he was going to say (confession!), then I hope Kevin doesn’t do the same thing!

“Oh, t-tomorrow?” I swayed back and forth.

“Yes. And it’s almost 7:00, I think both you and I have to be getting home now.” He smiled and began to walk away.

            I watched him walk and walk down the street until he turned the last corner and I couldn’t see him again. Then I continued to walk back to my house. I opened the door quietly, because I knew Alice was asleep, and tiptoed to my room. My mom asked me about the day and I told her everything, and I mean everything! Even the near-kiss part. She kind of freaked at that part, but I assured her that nothing happened.

“I want to meet this boy,” my mom said with a serious tone. “We should have a talk.”

“Ah, just, don’t scare him mom.” I was half joking.

“I’ll try not to. But I don’t make any promises about your dad.”

“Wait, what? Why?! Don’t tell him, he’ll never let me hang out with another boy ever again!”

“Well, Aika, your dad and I have been talking and… Well, here, do you like this Justin boy?” She asked with one eyebrow raised.

I wasn’t sure what to say. I did like him, I fell for him the minute I saw him. But then Kevin… He was, hmmm, how would you say it. ‘Swept me away?’ Maybe…

“Y-yeah, I guess I do.” I sighed and sat down.

“Well, if you do like him, and your dad and I talk first, we might be able to work things out with you and him.”

My eyes shot straight open and I jumped up.

“Wait, so mom, this means…?”

“It’s not official, but yes, we may give you the opportunity… to date.”

            My heart pounded with excitement. I can’t believe it! Even it if was a maybe, this could be my chance, to have my very first boyfriend, and it would be with someone I actually like. Yes, I couldn’t be any happier.

            That night, when my dad came home, my mom sent me and my brother to bed right away. I couldn’t sleep though; I heard her and dad talking downstairs, first it was really quiet, then there were some loud talking, and then yelling, then it was calm again, then negotiating, and after all that, some sweet-talking from my mom. That’s the last thing I remember before falling asleep. And when I woke up, I saw a note on my bedside table. It was from my dad.

 

Aika,

            Your mom and I had a talk last night. Congratulations, go get him sweetie.

                       Dad

            I couldn’t believe it! This means… “IT MEANS YES!!!” I jumped up and screamed. My mom walked into the room, smiling.

“Good morning. You found the note I see?”

“Yes mom! I LOVE YOU AND DAD SO MUCH!!!” I ran over to her and hugged her, she laughed and nudged me off.

“Now now, get ready for school.”

            I got dressed in my best clothes, that’s how happy I was. I actually smiled while brushing my teeth and hummed a song while combing my hair. But while I was gathering my things for school, the thought occurred to me: Now that I have this privilege, who am I going to choose? Justin or Kevin?