Two Straws

The menu was bigger than I expected, and Natsuki was already deep in it. I hastily chose an iced coffee and a cake to go with it, and let Natsuki make her choice. Time to get the ball rolling.

"How long will you ponder over the menu? Just choose something," I snickered. I didn't want to sound mean, but bad habits die hard. Shouldn't I be changing myself as well?

"Hey, let me take my time. I want only the best thing from here." I regret saying those words a second time. Although it mad sense, as she always has been this choosy. I need to give her the space she expects from me.

"Go ahead, but don't mind me then." As I said this, I lay down on the table, my chin lying over my crossed arms as I kept staring at Natsuki while she kept flipping through the pages of the menu. This was my way of making her conscious of me, as I hoped my presence would grow stronger when I'm with her. I could see her straining to choose now, so instead of making her too uncomfortable I just tilted my head toward the window.

"Were you happy when I invited you out to this place?" Uh, hello brain? We were not supposed to say that out loud.

"Yeah? Is that even a question? I always like to spend time with you. You try to choose the best places so that we can both have fun."

"I see. Thanks for coming with me." On one hand, I was happy that she liked to spend time with me, but on the other this still felt like our regular old meetups like we used to do. I just cannot fathom how I can be bolder than this, but I need to do something. It was the start, but I can't get conceited with just inviting her over a date. I have a ticking bomb on my head! Stopping my thoughts midway, I look at Natsuki raising her hand.

"Hey, I would like to order!" She called for the waitress and ordered a croissant, a tea and some more snacks to go with it. All in all, at least it looked like she was enjoying the place.

"So, did you scope out this place sometime earlier?"

"Uh not really, I had heard from someone that this was a good place for sweets." Guilt racked up as I curse myself for not having enough courage to speak out the truth.

"Looks to me like a place where couples usually go", she gave me a sneaky side-eye as she voiced her internal thoughts.

Obviously, that was my prospect from the start. As I took a look around today, sure enough there were multiple couples sitting at the tables around us. Not that many same-sex couples, but that was expected. I wanted to change Natsuki, but before that I need to change myself. I needed to me more courageous.

"Well, that ... that was my intention from the start, Natsuki!" I say that with all my might.

"Oh, is that so..." Her eyes widened, as I could see faint traces of blush appear on her face as she looked sideways. Wow, I guess being confident worked, huh?

"Here's your order!" Breaking up this tense flow of conversation was the waitress, who brought in our order. But something was out of place here. Why was the straw in our drinks splitting into two? HUH?!