Paper Wishes (#1)

Chapter Eleven: Re/Connecting

(Revised version of Chapter Eleven posted on October 29, 2015.)

After our heart-to-heart Kai asked that we go out for lunch, joking that 'all the feels' made him ravenous.

As I slid into the passenger seat of his Stingray, I realized that it had been just over two weeks since we'd done anything together. "After lunch do you want to go anywhere else... maybe another movie?"

Kai grimaced. "Maybe not a movie, Ann has been acting out again."

Guilt stabbed at my heart again. When I had initially found out about his trouble with Ann I'd felt regret that I hadn't been there for him, but since then I'd been wrapped up with the things going on in my life and hiding them from him. I simply hadn't been a friend to Kai - certainly not the kind he deserved.

"What's Ann been up to?" My stomach turned as I asked, suspecting that it had something to do with me.

"She approached me at school to ask me questions about you - 'I want to know more about that sweetie that was with you', she said. As if I would share any detail of my life with her! As if I would share information about the most precious part of my life with her." Kai's face was stern, reflecting the anger and annoyance that was in his voice.

"It was a mistake for me to think that ignoring her would solve the problem, so I told her that we weren't together - that we weren't even friends as far as I was concerned - and I told her never to speak of you again."

"That day she shoplifted from Heartful while I was working, she did say that she would tell you, 'what a sweetie I was', or something along those lines," I said.

Kai's mouth was set into a hard line, his annoyance obvious. "I just don't want her to affect our lives."

"I don't care what Ann says about me because she doesn't know me, and the people who matter like you," I paused to smile at him, "would know better and won't care about what she says anyway. Mom always used to say that to me when I'd come home upset about being teased."

He returned my smile. "Your mom raised an amazing young woman."

"My mom was an amazing woman," I said. It was the first time in months that I was able to talk about my mom out loud without my chest tightening up, and without the fear of crying.

"Yes, she was," he agreed.

***

We decided to eat at Ichiban again, mainly because it was the newest restaurant in the mall and we weren't sick of it yet.

"I'm glad we talked today, Vilv," Kai offered, starting conversation again.

"Me too," I smiled. I was beginning to see that things didn't have to be different between Kai and I just because I had a boyfriend now or because he confessed his feelings to me. Our friendship would always persevere, and I would cherish it the way it deserved to be.

After the waitress brought our food to the table I handed Kai a pair of chopsticks from the container that was on the side of the table. We broke our chopsticks in half and declared, "itadakimasu", before digging in to our food.

"Did you think about what you wanted to do today?" I asked before shoving a whole pork gyoza in my mouth. Some things, like sushi, were just meant to be eaten whole.

"Let's go to an arcade, like we used to when we were kids. We can relive our childhood and play DDR, air hockey, and horse racing!"

"Mph-mph," I said, my mouth still full of food.