Rainy Day Dinner!

📻🎤👑

Meda was bouncing with delight when we met up at school the next day. She’d never been this happy before, but it lifted my spirits a little too.

“I know I’m exciting to be around and all, but what’s got you so happy?” I let out a breathy laugh, amused by her cute joy. “Find out something interesting about that comet?”

“Hai, so desu!” She opened up the infamous notebook and pointed to some chicken scratch she’d written down. “Mitte Kudesai.”

‘It is my conjecture that I hath discovered a bonafide comet within the region of space regarded as the Draco constellation, on the night of…’

She was playing up the sciency speak, wasn’t she? I had a lot of respect for the commitment.

Along with her almost Shakespearean documentation, she also had a little picture printed out that apparently she took with her phone at full exposure. The colorful comet just barely appeared in the photo.

“You really think you discovered this?” I asked, happy her goal was making great headway.

She nodded to me.

I was honestly stunned. Maybe it was beginner's luck? No, I didn’t believe in luck. This had to have been the hand of fate moving, maybe a gift from the gods to her as a sign that she was a chosen one?

She pointed to my phone, which meant I had to bring up the sign language chart. Her hands slowly moved in different ways so I could follow along with her…

“You want to go and confirm your…” I squinted on that last gesture. “...discovery!”

She nodded. It made sense that she’d want to ensure her findings were accurate and record more info on it with another look. We were both very excited to get back out on the balcony and start looking…

*RUMBLE!*

*SPLASH!*

Flashes of lighting flared through the school windows, barely getting through all the droplets racing down the glass.

“It’s pouring out there.”

I turned to see the dread and disappointment on her face as she gazed at the abundance of droplets coming down. No shot we were going stargazing in this weather.

Probably should have figured this would happen eventually. It was only a matter of time before her hobby got rudely rained out by nature.

“Oi…” I uttered to get her attention. She turned to me with a mix of puffed up pouty disappointment.

“Let’s lose the tears and celebrate, feel me?” I said with a confident grin. “How ‘bout I treat you to somethin’ tonight?”

She lost her frown, but seemed too conflicted to break a smile.

“Let me take you to dinner,” I suggested. “It won’t just be for you though, cause I’m pretty hungry myself.”

After a few quiet moments Meda agreed, but didn’t have the slightest clue where we were going to go.

Lucky for her, I had a wonderful place in mind where I had an employee discount…

📻🎤👑

“WcDonalds?” her brow raised as she gazed at the restaurant from under an umbrella. “Doshite?”

“Because I work here.” I patted the stone bricks framing the windows. “It’s a lot nicer than the ones anywhere else in the world, I promise.”

I wouldn’t have decided to work at a fast food joint if it didn’t have some class to it. The owners of this chain usually had their whole family on deck, even the toddlers on rare occasions, of which there were four of them.

Thankfully they considered me an honorary family member, since my friend Yujin was their eldest son.

Speaking of him, he was at the front leaning over the register like he was bored. He must have left school early to get here before us.

“Hade, what's uuup? They call you in for a shift? Slow day today, so don’t bother.” Yujin laughed as his eyes immediately turned to Meda, who was struggling to close her umbrella. “Oh, I get it. Is this your latest catch?” He leaned in close and quiet, as if we were talking about something scandalous. “She’s a real pretty girl. Didn’t know you were a dog for the foreign gals, but I approve.”

“I’m not dogging for her, man,” I bluntly stated. “Just tryina’ cheer her up.”

“Oh, so you’re ‘cheering her up,’” he said in an obnoxious tone of voice. “I know where this is going.”

“Stop making me sound like a creep.”

Hey now, did I just technically call myself a creep? He wasn’t just coming up with that idea out of thin air. It wasn’t unheard of for me to wait for a girl to get into a sorry state, then I’d swoop in ready to light up her life again. It was an idea I selfishly masked as heroic.

What a weird and guilty feeling that was…

“Alright, alright…” he finally backed off, still touting that goofy smile. “Tell you what. Since you seem to be doing a genuine good deed, this one's on me.”

“For real?” I smirked. “You don’t have to, man.”

“I want to,” he insisted. “All I’ll ask in return is you put a good word for us in the announcements when you start them back up, okay?”

This guy was always thinking about his family’s branch of business. Every conversation I’d ever had with him always somehow revolved right back to it.

“Yeah, whatever.” I waved him off with a smirk. “You’ll get some good press.”

And with that, he set the two of us up with a seat in the upper floor, which had one of the best views of the whole restaurant.

The place was well lit with warm lights, decorated like an American log cabin. Pictures of the local woods were everywhere, and some taxidermy animals surrounded the fireplace, which was just a stone's throw away from our table.

Meda was surprised this was a fast food restaurant. Apparently where she came from, they were all just big cubes that smelled like grease traps and spread super germs through the playplaces. This impressed her a lot.

She did not like the moose looking down on us though. She kept glaring at it like it was challenging her to a stare down. But once she noticed a mural painting of the river and night sky above my seat, she figured out exactly why this spot was perfect for her.

“Ushukagi.”

That was a new word, and I couldn’t make heads or tails of it. I tried mumbling it to myself, but as many times as we both repeated it I was at a total loss.

“She’s looking at the painting…” I muttered. “Ushuka… Uts…Utsuku…Utsukushi!” I pointed to her. “You think it’s pretty.”

She nodded, reading my lips. She figured based on my reaction she was saying it wrong, so I helped coach her a little so she’d say it correctly from here on.

“U…tsu…ku…shi.” she enunciated. “Yatta!” she playfully clapped her hands and beamed brightly.

Listening to her speak more clearly was a treat. It was so nice to hear the bits of joy in her tone whenever I confirmed she got the word right.

Since today the restaurant patronage was slow, Yujin didn’t waste any time requesting our orders.

“Alright, love birds…” he winked at me. Thank God Meda couldn’t hear him, or she’d be assaulting him with her pouty power. It’s harmless, but you just feel so ashamed afterwards. “Can I start you off with any drinks?

Meda was looking at him blankly, obviously not understanding what he said. His lips weren’t easy to read, which even I noticed. She looked at me for an interpretation.

“Meda, he asked what you’d like to drink.” I pointed to the menu, specifically at the list of drinks they offered here. “Drink.”

“Ooh,” she cooed out, then pointed to iced tea. “Mmm…” she nodded.

I went ahead and ordered the same thing. That was always a safe bet to make someone feel comfortable on a date. Platonic, of course.

But for some reason, Meda was glaring at me with a stink eye pout.

“What?” I asked. “You don’t want me to order that?”

Her pouting increased dramatically. Was she on to me? She might have known I picked the drink because she did.

“What if I like ice tea?” I folded my menu and leaned on the table, trying to convince myself it was a fine excuse.

That pout suddenly shifted down toward her menu, and a mischievous grin followed. There was an evil idea spawning in that head of hers…

Yujin was back in a flash with those drinks, and they weren’t as sweet as they usually were, which was a sign his little sister wasn’t here pouring buckets of sugar into each glass.

As for our meals, It seemed like Meda knew exactly what she wanted.

“Aha!” she pointed to the Super Stellar Ultra Deluxe Dangerous Double Burger, also requesting a small fries along with it.

“Meda, that's going to be bigger than your head!” I shouted in shock. “Do you realize how much food that is?!”

She just stared at me with a happy little smirk, probably not fully understanding the magnitude of the meal she was about to receive.

Yujin wasn’t going to say no to her if that’s what she wanted, but his expression communicated a lot of doubt that she’d be able to finish that in one sitting.

“Are you sure, Meda?” I made sure to enunciate it very clearly.

“Uhuh.” she nodded, practically drooling as she prodded the burger's picture again. “Ah ah.” she rubbed her belly.

Did they not feed her back home? Poor thing snacked like a mouse at school, so I really didn’t expect her to get more than a few bites out of this burger.

“Tabetai kudesai?”

“Tabetai… Wait, you want me to eat it?” I asked.

She shook her head and pointed between the two of us.

“Oh, you want to share it?” I realized.

This couldn’t have possibly been revenge for me picking the same drink as her, could it? I mean, nobody would ever sabotage their own arteries simply to get back at another for trying to get in their good graces, right?

But if it was what she wanted, at least two people eating that giant thing wasn’t going to be as bad. I purposefully say ‘as bad,’ my audience, because it was a greasy monster no matter how many people bit away at it.

Yujin was all smiles as he skipped off to broil our meal. On slow days like today, he was a one man army keeping this joint together. I always made sure to give him a good tip if I could.

It took him about half an hour to get the food finished and done, and Meda finally realized the undertaking she was about to endure.

“Ahhh!” she squealed as she laughed, her hand lightly slapping the table. “Ooki ne!”

“It sure is big, alright,” I said in an exaggeratedly loud, yet heroic sounding voice. “But a man like me can manage this…”

No I couldn’t! This thing took up nearly the entire table! How did Yujin broil this so fast anyways?

His wink and thumbs up was not necessary! He made a terrible wingman.

“Itadakimasu!” Meda cupped her hands for a traditional pre meal prayer, then started carving away at this pumpkin sized burger.

“Itadakimasu…” I said after her, reluctantly digging in as well…