On Sunday, Thomas left his house to meet Elaina at the cafe by noon for the arranged date. Thomas parked and locked his bike by the bike stands and walked down the street as he saw the cafe they had agreed to meet at. As soon as he opened the door, he looked around and saw Elaina sitting at a table by the window, almost hidden from view as she gazed out the glass window and out at the street through the back alley as she tapped her metal fingers on the table.
"Oh, hey," Elaina said hesitantly when she noticed Thomas walking over to her, "I'm surprised you actually came."
"Well, of course I came. I am the one who asked you out after all. It would be a pretty crappy move if I asked you out and then just stood you up," Thomas told her as he sat down, feeling even worse when he saw the slight bit of joy in her eyes and the genuine smile on her face.
"So then... umm... what do you want to eat?" Elaina asked.
"Well, I've actually never been here before. You said you have, right? Any recommendations?" Thomas asked as he browsed the menu.
"Umm... I was going to get the yogurt parfait. It's good and I like it because it's sweet, but umm... I think the mocha is quite good, as well as their matcha. The popcorn chicken and deep fried pork skin is too, but the spicy powder can be pretty spicy, so I'd recommend mild or putting it on the side. I don't know much about your preferences, and I don't really get meals here since I usually only order snacks, but I think that those items are some of the best ones on the menu. Most of the coffees here are pretty good though, so umm... yeah..." Elaina said as she fidgeted with her hands, clearly self conscious about her iron ligaments.
"Alright then, I'll have all of those," Thomas said as he smiled at her.
Even if this was just a date because he lost a bet, he wouldn't want to just make it a terrible experience for her. He already felt terrible asking her out like this, even more so after seeing how genuinely happy she was about it. He even continued to lie to her. In truth, he had actually heavily considered standing her up since the bet only entailed asking her out. Everything he did just made him feel even worse, so he figured that since he was going through with this anyways, he might as well make the best of it.
Elaina raised her hand to flag down a waiter and one quickly came. When the waiter arrived, Elaina ordered an ice blended matcha with whipped cream and her yogurt parfait while Thomas ordered a dark chocolate mocha with whipped cream and a dark chocolate drizzle as well as both a spicy popcorn chicken and deep fried pork skin.
"Wait! I told you! It's really spicy!" Elaina told Thomas, interrupting him as she stood up and putting her hands on the table as he ordered.
"She's right. We usually recommend mild or on the side," the waiter also told Thomas, "At most medium."
"Nah, it's good! I got this! I love spicy food!" Thomas told her, smiling confidently.
"Alright then," the waiter said, raising her eyebrow as she finished writing down their order before walking away.
"Why'd you do that? Spicy is really, really spicy!" Elaina said before noticing that everyone else had seen her outburst and quickly sat back down and nervously hid her mechanical arms under the table.
"I told you, I got this!" Thomas smiled.
"Alright then... if you say so..."
A few awkward minutes later, the waiter came back bringing with her the food they had ordered.
"Thank you so much!" Elaina smiled at the waiter as the waiter handed her the ice blended mocha and set down her yogurt parfait.
Now actually seeing it up close, Thomas couldn't help but notice how cute her smile was.
The waiter also set down Thomas' dark chocolate mocha and spicy popcorn chicken and deep fried pork skins.
"The powder for the pork skin uses Sichuan peppercorns, so it has some mala flavor. Be careful," the waiter warned before walking away.
Thomas immediately skewered one of the popcorn chicken and ate it.
"This isn't so bad," he said before he really began to feel the heat.
"I take it back, this IS spicy," he said with a raspy voice as he inhaled his dark chocolate mocha in an effort to soothe his burning mouth.
"Haha! I told you so!" Elaina laughed as she took a bit of her yogurt parfait, "Mmm! I love getting this!"
"This one can't be as spicy though, right?" Thomas said as she munched on one of the pork skins, "Yeah, this one isn't so bad."
"Those are soooo good, right?" Elaina said as she pointed to the deep fried pork skins.
"I can't feel my tongue," Thomas said as he felt the numbness caused by the Sichuan peppercorns and continued to sweat buckets and inhale his drink at an almost inhuman rate.
"They're so delicious though!" Elaina said to him as she reached out and tossed one of the popcorn chicken in her mouth and held one of the deep fried pork skins as she munched on it.
"How do you not think it's spicy? You're like a robot or something. Do you not feel pain?" Thomas half joked as he lifted his head from the table, revealing the tears of pain in his eyes, and looked at her with awe and admiration for her ability to eat such spicy food.
"I love spicy food!" Elaina smiled at him as she reached for another, "I hope you don't mind!"
"Not at all. They're all yours. I'm going to get another order. I think I will follow your advice this time though," Thomas said as he pushed the popcorn chicken and deep friend porn skins over to her side of the table and flagged down the waiter.
"Spicy, huh?" the waiter said as she saw Elaina happily munching on Thomas' order.
"Way too," Thomas half joked as he ordered another order of popcorn chicken and deep fried pork skins with spice on the side and another dark chocolate mocha accompaniment.
"I can't even feel my mouth anymore," Thomas sighed as the waiter left to place their order.
"Here. Try some," Elaina said as she extended a spoon with a scoop of yogurt with a piece of strawberry and wafer cookie toward Thomas.
"I tried some of yours, so you should try some of mine. It's only fair," she smiled at him.
Thomas couldn't help but look at her metal arms once again as he hesitated to take the bite.
"Come on, don't make it weird," Elaina shyly pleaded as she began to feel self conscious about her metal arms once again.
Thomas accepted and ate the bite of the yogurt parfait that Elaina fed him as she smiled at him, causing Thomas to blush slightly as well.
The waiter brought Thomas' order and they both finished eating.
They both insisted on paying, so they ended up splitting the check instead.
"Thanks for today! It was a lot of fun!" Elaina smiled at Thomas as she exited the cafe.
"Yeah," Thomas smiled back, "it really was."
Though he still felt bad about inviting her on a one-time date just because he had lost a bet with his idiot friends, he truly did enjoy her company a lot more than he originally thought he would.
"Well then, we both better be getting home now then. I still need to finish my chemistry homework for Duanos," Elaina said.
"Isn't it her first year teaching chem? Does homework even matter in her class? She lets us turn it in a day late and still get full credit."
"I guess so, but I'd rather not fall behind if I can help it."
"Fair enough. I'll probably cram it in later tonight," Thomas lied, knowing full well that he would probably just copy it off someone else right before class.
"Well then, goodbye!"
"Yeah, see ya!"
They both said their goodbyes and left: Thomas rode his bike back home while Elaina walked.
YOU ARE READING
Ironclad Love
HumorElaina, a girl born without arms, needs to use prosthetics metal arms for her whole life and has been a target of harassment and bullying for as long as she could remember due to her unique disability. Thomas, a boy in her class, loses a bet with hi...