What a Life This Is - A Collection of Short Stories

Second-First Date - Part 1

Kojiro and Kaoru meet the first boy.
———

After her total disaster of a date with Dani, Kadence vowed to herself that she wouldn't do romance. She quit it, she shunned it and rebuked it, and she swore on her favorite pair of shoes that she would never occupy her mind with love, ever again.

That is- until she met Cameron.

Cameron Marino, he was in her 4th period science class, and she'd spoken to him a few times for help with assignments or to borrow a pencil or something, but she was just now beginning to see him in a different light- a romantic light.

She couldn't lie, he was cute, with his crooked smile and black hair with bangs that fell over his dark eyes. He was really smart too, one of the smartest kids in her class, and he was kind and considerate and really funny! Plus, he was Italian, so her Dad would like him.

To put it simply, Cameron checked all the boxes of a decent boy- and a decent boyfriend. So when she went to ask her parents if she could go get ice cream with him and some friends at the mall this Saturday, she fully expected them to say yes.

———

"Absolutely not."

"Wha-What?! WHY NOT?" Kadence exclaimed in disbelief, staring at Kojiro as the green-haired man folded his arms, "You're only fourteen, and we said no dating boys until you're fifteen."

"You let me go out with DANI!" Kadence tried to reason, and Kojiro simply scoffed, "That was different, Dani is a girl, and this Cameron kid you're going on about is a boy."

"Uhm- can we just-" Kaoru tried to speak but Kadence cut him off, "HOW is that different?! It's not even a date, we're going to get ice cream and then to the mall, with friends!"

Kojiro narrowed his eyes at his daughter, "Who all's going?"

"Uhmmm," Kadence began to count people off on her fingers, "Me, Cameron, Ashton, Kassidy, Jaylin-"

"Ashton and Jaylin sound like more boys," Kojiro interrupted, and Kadence blinked at him, "Ashton is a girl."

Now it was Kojiro's turn to blink, "What?!" He exclaimed, "What kind of name is Ashton for a girl?"

"You know Ashton, Dad," Kadence sighed in exasperation, and Kojiro furrowed his brow, trying to remember.

"It's a unisex name, Kojiro," Kaoru leaned over and said, and Kojiro turned to him and scowled, "It's misleading."

"That's not what we're focusing on here," Kaoru responded testily, turning to Kadence, "Look, sweetheart," he said as calmly as possible, "We're happy that you're meeting people, but-"

"Uhm- no, we're not happy that she's meeting people!" Kojiro butted in, and Kaoru gave him a look and repeated, "We're happy that your meeting people.. but I think your Dad would feel more comfortable if we met this boy before you go somewhere with him."

"Yes, exactly," Kojiro said smugly, like he was the one who'd just said that, and Kaoru rolled his eyes to the ceiling as his husband went on, "We've met all your other friends, so I don't see why it would be a problem for us to meet this Cameron kid."

There was silence, and Kadence stared at the two of them for a few seconds..

"Oh, okay cool, I'll text him and ask if he can come over," Kadence went to her phone, and her parents looked over at each other, bewildered.

"Yo-You've got his number already?" Kaoru asked, and Kadence looked up from her screen and gawked at the two of them like they were dumb, "Uhhh, yeah, we traded numbers two days ago."

"Jeez," Kojiro mused, then he side-eyed his husband, "It took me weeks to get your number, and our daughter gets one in a few days.."

"That's just because you had to go through a whole book," Kaoru replied flatly, folding his arms, "Plus, even when you got it you were too chicken to call me."

"I wa- I was not chicken!"

"You were too."