10 Years Ago (Part 5)

The Date

“I don’t even know why I agreed to this, actually why I initiated it! Maybe I should cancel” I grab my phone only to have it slapped out by Emi.

“Oww!” I rub the red patch now forming.

“You will do no such thing!” she pointed at me before picking up my phone and throwing it across the room. Thankfully it landed on my bed.

“Listen to me, Reiko. You ARE going on this date. You ARE going to enjoy it. And you ARE going to tell me everything that happened, okay?” she told me.

“Yes, okay,” I nod.

“Good, now quickly change into this.” she hands me a cute, pink dress.

“And then come I’ll do your makeup.” she smiled and pushed me out of the room.

I walked into the bathroom and had a shower, once I was dried, I wore the dress, it wasn’t fitted like the other one I wore at the bar but this time it was like a plain princess dress, it reached my knees which was the perfect length, I decided to pair it with my favourite silver pumps when I walked out Emi had a huge smile on her face.

“Sit,” she gestured towards the chair in front of the dressing table.

“Now close your eyes,” she covered my eyes with her hands and proceeded to apply makeup to my face and do my hair.

Emi was like the older sister I never had and always wanted, in these few days we have gotten close and I only regret not meeting her sooner. But now that I have, I hope we stay friends we all do. I hope nothing breaks this little group of ours…

“And done, okay, Reiko, open your eyes,” Emi says.

I slowly open my eyes and see that my hair is up in a ponytail, light brown colour is on my eyelids as well as a black liner, and there is a rosy colour on my cheeks from either blush powder or me just blushing in general, light pink lips, really big hoop earrings in my ears.

“What do you think?” she asks.

“You’re amazing!” I smile wide.

“No, you’re beautiful. I just enhance that beauty with a bit of colour that you don’t need, but still, you look good and I enjoy doing your make-up so I consider that a win for both of us” Emi smiles at me through the mirror as I nod.

A knock on the door causes both of us to turn our heads to turn at the same time. Emi looked at my reflection in the mirror and sighed.

“What are you waiting for New Year's? Go and open the door!” she pushed me towards the door for me to open it.

I took a deep breath before opening the door to white lilies in my face.

“Hi,” I smiled wide.

“Hello,” Kazuki finally emerged from behind them and when I said my jaw dropped I mean Emi had to come and close my mouth for me.

Who knew a guy who wore a shirt and trousers most of the time would decide to change his look and wear a leather jacket? I mean he looked hot!

“You look great.” He smiled.

“What are you trying to say, Kaz-Kazi? Doesn’t my girl always look great?” Emi piped up from behind me.

“No, she does.” He stuttered rubbing the back of his head.

I laughed at his awkwardness.

“Don’t worry, Kazuki, thank you. And you don’t look so bad yourself,” I winked.

“Okay time for you guys to go, Kazuki make sure to have my girl home by 10 and wear protection,” she mumbled the last part but I heard and lightly smacked her arm.

Kazuki gave me the flowers which I then handed to Emi, “I think you’re the one who needs protection. I heard Daisuke’s coming round” I whispered in her ear making her face turn red.

“Bye,” I waved to her as she still looked like she was in a daze.

As soon as I closed the door Kazuki turned to look at me.

“Let’s just say she won’t be teasing us again,” I giggled.

“I’m not getting involved between you girls,” he pinched the bridge of his nose with a laugh.

“So, where are we going?” I ask.

“Well, if I tell you that, it wouldn’t be a surprise now, would it?” he questioned.

I shook my head with a smile before we left the building.

We walked for a while before we entered a café, I was about to open the door when he pulled my hand back and opened the door for me. At first, I felt weird because I never had any guy open any doors on me before, I’ve had them close the doors on my face but never open them for me.

“Thank you,” I smile.

“So, what would you like?” he asked, sweetly.

“Um, I’m not sure. Vanilla Latte?” I asked with a slight shrug.

“Okay,” he smiled.

He turned to the barista and ordered me a Vanilla Latte and a Frappe for himself. He was about to get his wallet out when I beat him to it and handed the guy cash.

“Hey, what are you doing?” he asked.

“Paying.” I gestured towards the money.

“Sorry, would you mind giving the girl back her money, I’ve got a card.” He told the guy as he fished his card out.

“But I can pay for my coffee,” I chuckle.

“But I don’t want you to,” he sighed as he handed back my money.

“Reiko,” he says as we make our way to a table.

“Yes?” I ask.

“Have you never been on a date before?” he looks at me with a sigh.

I look down at my hands in my lap and shake my head.

“But I’ve read about them in my books,” I point out.

“And what do they say?” he questions.

“That the guy pays for everything, and opens doors for her, and buys her stuff, oh and does whatever she wants to do,” I tell him.

He smiles, “Exactly, so why are you stopping me from doing those?”

“Well, first of all, I wouldn’t want you wasting money on me, and secondly it’s the 21st Century, which means everything should be equal, and that includes paying for stuff,” just as I say that our coffee arrives, we both thank the guy before drinking our beverages.

“Oh no,” he drops his head.

“What?” I ask.

“I should’ve seen this coming, look Reiko you’re independent and that’s good but first of all I just want to clarify that I’m not wasting my money on you and if anyone says that buying something for you would be them wasting their money then that person would have to be a fucking idiot.”

I look up at him surprised, I never heard him swear before, well at least not around me.

“Sorry,” he bites his lip.

“No, it’s okay. I’m sorry I know you were just trying to make me feel good, it’s just that this is the first-ever date I’ve ever been on so I’m not too sure about the norms, but now I promise I won’t say anything, other than thank you.” I smile.

Kazuki laughs, “Well then I suggest you save the thank you for the end because I feel like you’re gonna be saying that a lot,” he winks.

Once we finished our coffees we walk to a park, surprisingly it was empty, “That’s funny, this park is never empty and it’s a Sunday,” I tell him.

“Maybe because it’s 4 in the afternoon, and kids have school tomorrow,” he points out.

“Yeah, they’re not lucky like us who have classes only a couple of times a week,” I giggled.

“Since the park is empty…” he slowly turns to face me so we were face-to-face, he took two steps towards me and bent down so his lips were near my ear, I closed my eyes at the proximity, his cologne so strong it filled my senses.

“You’re it!” he yells making me squeal in surprise, I open my eyes to see him running.

“You’re so mean!” I yell and run behind him.

“Can’t catch me!” he yells over his shoulder.

“Oh, we’ll see about that” I shout back.

I hop over the small fence and corner him, he doesn’t see me coming and I run straight for him grabbing him by the waist and throwing him down so I’m on top.

“Told you,” I say.

“How did you…?” he asked, clearly surprised.

“Self-Defence,” I winked.

I got off of him and offered him my hand which he took, and we both sat down on the swings. I started spinning one way and release so I quickly spin the other way.

“So, who taught you?” he asked.

“My Dad, my grandad was a Martial Arts sensei, he taught my Dad, when I was born my Dad took it upon himself to teach me,” I smiled.

“You don’t talk about your parents much, do you?” Kazuki asked, making me chuckle.

“I know, don’t get me wrong I do miss my dad it’s just if I talk about him, I’m going to miss him more and that just makes me sad and I don’t like being sad…”

“I don’t like seeing you sad,” Kazuki cut me off making me quickly turn towards him.

“What about your Mum?” he asked.

“Oh, she left me when I was 3,” I shrugged.

“Shit,” Kazuki muttered.

“It’s okay, it was a long time ago. I don’t even remember anything about her, to be honest,” I looked around.

“My Dad and I used to come here a lot when I was little and before he got ill, I remember every time he used to bring me a yellow flower and tell me, ‘Reiko, the only thing more beautiful than this flower is your smile, so let’s see it’ I remember sitting on the swings and telling my Dad to push me higher, we used to try to get the swing to go all the way, but then I realised it wasn’t possible.” I shrugged.

“Because of physics?” Kazuki asked and I nodded.

“Well, we can try to get you halfway,” he came behind me and pulled me back from the swing.

“Huh?” I looked back confused before he pushed me.

He carried on pushing me higher and higher before I jumped off.

“Uff, that was fun,” I giggled.

“Good,” Kazuki smiled.

He looked at the time and saw it was nearly 18:00.

“You hungry?” he asked.

Before I could reply my stomach did for me, I felt my cheeks heat up as I placed a hand over my tummy, Kazuki laughed before guiding me out of the park. We both decided to have Pizza before going home, on our way we saw a photo booth and knew this day had to be remembered.

It was cramped inside though so I was sitting on his leg, we took a few funny ones, and some cute ones, but the last one was special, for the last picture I was sorting my hair out when Kazuki held the side of my face and turned me towards him, he gently placed his lips on mine.

I swear I felt fireworks, butterflies, and electricity flowing through me, everything that I have never felt before, we pulled apart and were slightly out of breath.

“Wow,” he mumbled.

“Good wow or bad wow?” I asked.

“Amazing wow,” he chuckled making my cheeks heat up.

I heard a chime before Kazuki got his phone out, “Ooh home time.”

I felt a little sad, but I know Emi would want to know EVERYTHING, so the sooner we get home the better, also I like Kazuki alive and if we’re a minute late then Emi will kill him. We stepped out of the photo booth and it was a little cold so Kazuki took his jacket off placing it on my shoulders. I smiled at him before we started walking, as we were my hand was bumping his before I curled my pinkie around his.

We got home and were outside the door, “So, did you have fun?”

“Loads of fun, thank you.” I smiled, shyly.

“Good,”

“Hey, um just wondering does that mean we’re um…” I stuttered while playing with my fingers.

Kazuki chuckled and leaned in, “What do you think?” he whispered.

I grinned with nodding and quickly kissed his cheek before running inside, and just as expected Emi was sitting on her bed giving me a half creepy half excited look, I sat down on my bed and proceeded to tell her everything without missing a single detail, and just as I thought as soon as she found out about the kiss she started jumping on her bed.

It was the best day ever!