The Other Anzai

It's kinda getting good

I'd taken her home and was on my way to the cleaners to quickly clean my suit before returning it. I decided to drive to hers to make my life easier, but it was the most awkward drive of my life. She kept checking her phone for some reason; and whenever I caught her looking at me she blushed and looked away.

Fucking awkward.

Anyway, I'm stood here waiting the last few minutes for my suit when I get a text from a number that I didn't recognise. But then I actually read the message.
"Hey Reo. It's Akari. I put my number in your phone when you went to the bathroom at the wedding." I rolled my eyes and texted back.
"Honestly not surprising, are you okay? You were really quiet in the car,"
"Yeah but so were you,"
"That's because I'm an awkward devil so to speak,"
"Haha, hey you wanna go to that club we met at again tonight? Drinks on me!"
"How about dinner instead? One of my friends owns a restaurant branch in the city and he says he'd give us a hella big discount"
"Like a date?"
"Maybe, if it turns into one,"
"Okay. Pick me up at 7?"
"Sounds great,"

Not gonna lie, I was really happy with myself then. I mean, my awkward ass had asked someone out on a kind of date. Then came the mix of excitement and nerves.

I returned my suit and drove straight home. I then spent the rest of my day calling my friend about his restaurant, trying to find some clean half-decent clothes to wear and looking at photos of outfits that Akari sent me to try and help her choose what to wear.

The time for me to pick her up came quicker than I anticipated. There were no spaces at the front of her building so I parked around the back. I got out of my car and saw that there was a telephone pole standing close to her balcony. I remembered Akari saying she was a big fan of Yuuki; so I thought, why not?

I took a deep breath and pounced onto one of the other cars in the car park. I bounced back off the car and went flying directly at the telephone pole, perfectly adjacent to Akari's balcony. I couldn't do that again if I tried.

I perched on the edge of the railing and peered through the little window in the door to the balcony. I could see her leaning across a table trying to put some eye makeup on without gaping too much. I started waving to try and get her attention. When she finally noticed me she ran to the door with the biggest grin on her face.
"You did the thing," she couldn't contain her happiness,
"I did the thing, yeah," she let me in still smiling from ear to ear. I leant on the table next to her as she leant across it again to put on more makeup.
"So where are we going again?" She asked putting some shiny powder on the end of her nose.
"My friend owns a restaurant a couple streets over. He told me that if I went I'd get a huge discount, free drinks if I brought a girl," she giggled like she does
"Your friends sound great,"

She rushed around her flat making sure curtains were closed and everything was put away and all that. We started heading to the restaurant. I noticed how peppy she was. She walked quickly and one step ahead of me even though she didn't know where she wad going. I felt underdressed walking next to her; there she was in a nice black dress that almost floated around her knees and her massive heeled boots that I couldn't figure out how she walked in, and then there was me; in a creased  shirt that probably had a stain on it somewhere and the same jeans that I wore yesterday. She'd done her hair all nice too. She'd done something that made the colour of it more noticeable. I'd washed mine half an hour before leaving. I couldn't fathom why she liked me so much, I was the living embodiment of a big mess.

"I think I found it!" She called from up ahead. I got so lost in my own thoughts that I hadn't noticed her running ahead.
"Yeah that's it," I called back to her. She came speed-walking back so me with so much excitement that she bumped into me. We bounced off each other in such a fit of laughs that my friend from the restaurant came outside.
"Hey! There he is! Oh my gosh he brought a date! He actually did it!" He danced around in celebration outside his restaurant, embarrassing both of us and himself in the process.
"Hey Reo! I'd ask how things are but you've just got mega discounts so things must be pretty good for you right now. And who's the lady of the evening?" He offered her his hand.
"Akari," she grinned and shook his hand.
"Akari, beautiful name for a beautiful lady, now, your table should be ready by now if you guys wanna follow me,"

He lead us through the bar and weaved us through a maze of tables to one that sat in the corner with a clean tablecloth and a newly lit candle.
"Here you go, you guys wanna order a drink while you choose what to order?" Akari held up the drinks menu in front of her face and looked at the most expensive off the drinks.
"Ooooh, I think I'll have..." my friend gulped as she looked over the expensive wines.
"A diet coke," she grinned. He breathed a sigh of relief and scribbled it down,
"Me too," I said when he turned to me,
"Alright I'll get those and I really shouldn't but just text me what food you want and I'll personally bring it to you," it was all smiles and nods as he sped off. I leant forward on the table and rubbed my face in exhaustion.
"Jeez, I love my friends but they are really hard work," a waitor came and dropped off or drinks. Akari giggled and stirred the ice around in hers.
"If you think that was exhausting then you might wanna sleep on my sofa again after tonight,"

Turns out, I did sleep at hers, but not on her sofa...