El Fuego y La Flor - The Storm

Chapter 8 - Cas gets a new Nickname - I just spoiled it, didn't I?

Leo

We wandered around the ship for a bit before we found an asian restaurant, where a bunch of people sit around a counter and watch the cook make the dinner in live action. It was pretty cool. Cassia held herself up well enough to not accept any of my help, but from the grimaces on her face, I could tell that she was still in pain. That was a common side effects of giant mole attacks. We sat down at the counter, surrounded by strangers. We didn't seem any different from them. Just normal mortals, wanting dinner. I pulled up a chair beside Cassia and looked at the chef, who was cooking up an assessment of Japanese food. It did look quite amazing.

»Woah.« Cassia mumbled, her eyes wide and fixed on the burning pan in the cook's hand. I grinned as a gust of hot air pushed from the middle of the table, she squinted her eyes and her hair blew out of her face. Then, a red strand fell into her eyes again, which she didn't even bother to move.
The cook smiled at her reaction, she was completely drawn to the magic of his doing. The woman next to me slid over the tablet with some hot, noodle like soup on it, followed by some plates of sushi and other food I didn't know. I slid it over to Cassia who gratefully took a lot more Sushi than she could probably eat. Then she passed the tablet on.

»Cool, hm?« I finally said, taking some exotic looking plate with raw fish. She nodded, her eyes still on the cook.
»Wow, now I know how to shut you up. I only have to show you an asian cook.« I teased, carefully picking up one of the fish slices with my chop sticks, only to drop it again.
She turned towards me, her cheeks red, a yellow flame dancing in her iris. »It's not the asian cook! It's the way he cooks!« She blurted out, almost embarrassed. Then she ran a hand through her hair and flipped it over her shoulder, so it wouldn't entangle in her food. She had no problem eating with chop sticks.
I rolled my eyes.
»Yea, I know that. What, did you think I thought you liked the cook?«
She stuffed sushi in her mouth to avoid answering that question.
I side eyed the chef and leaned closer, so he - and the other guests - wouldn't hear me.
»He's a little old for you, Cas.« I said, my grin growing.
She almost spit out her sushi roll. An old lady across the table looked at her judgingly. I rolled my eyes again, but this time at the lady.

Meanwhile Cassia regained her composure, coughing a little.
»Cas? Since when am I Cas?« She asked, almost offended, glancing at me from the side.
I shrugged. »Cassia isn't short for anything. Therefore you're now Cas, short for Cassia, Flores.«
She opened her mouth, ready to argue about that, then she hesitated for a second, shaking her head.
»Fine. I don't have a choice right?«
»No. Except if you want to be called 'Girl that got knocked out by Hedgehog?'« I replied, my head tilted, my smile wide.
She quickly shook her head.
Then we remained quiet for a couple minutes, and ate our fish, hers rolled, mine cut into slices.
At some point Cassia sat up straight, almost choking on her sushi, as she turned towards me, a bright smile on her face.

Oh gods, that can't be good. I thought to myself, while watching her with raised eyebrows.
»Didn't you think I was pointing out the animal, duck, when I actually told you to duck?« She asked excitedly, her voice almost somersaulting.
I rolled my eyes, a flush of embarrassment surging to my head.
»We were fighting a giant hedgehog-mole thing. Of course I thought it called for backup.«
»What'd you imagine? A giant rubber duck?« She laughed. A wholehearted, happy laugh. People around us looked confused, some even annoyed, but I didn't care. Her laugh was nice to listen to.
I just shrugged, infected by her joyous spirit. »Why not? Straight from Poseidon's bathtub!« I replied, also laughing.
There we sat, two teenagers on a cruise ship, laughing about the idea of a (very real) god's bathtub. We must have looked like lunatics to anyone around us.

We returned to our dinner, talking, laughing, enjoying the food. The bottomless pit in my stomach slowly got filled. Cassia ordered more and more Sushi. Luckily for us. The board card we snatched for our room, also included an all inclusive drinks and foods offer. Thank the gods for all inclusive vacations. When we finished dinner, we left the sushi, and various other asian foods, bar and made our way to the regular drinks bar. We were more on edge, now that we knew that someone or something had released a Cetus to get us. They probably had more cards up their sleeves, including angry rubber ducks.
At the bar we took seats and ordered non alcoholic cocktails. The American law of no underage drinking still applied in the middle of the ocean, apparently.