Finding A Place

Chapter 6

Friday dawned. Much to my dismay.

She found me outside of calc. "I'm swimming until 5. Is 6 OK?" she asked.

"That's fine," I managed.

"Great," she said. She gave me her dorm and room number, and said "See you at six," and off she went.

Giving me a lovely few hours to panic. And panic I did. What with Jake playing a game tomorrow, he wasn't around at all, so I couldn't even get a pep talk from him. By the time five o'clock rolled around, I was contemplating throwing myself down a flight of stairs and breaking a few bones, just to get out of this. What a coward.

But I didn't. I managed to find something half-decent to wear, and managed to walk over to her dorm without tripping and killing myself. I went in and knocked on her door.

"Hi!" she said as she answered. She was wearing a pink blouse and a gray knee-length skirt. She had even put on a bit of makeup. She looked fantastic. We left her room and got in the elevator.

"What are you in the mood for, to eat?" she asked.

"I don't know. How about you?"

"I've got a mad craving for sushi," she giggled.

"I've never had sushi."

"It's great."

"Raw fish?" I asked, skeptically.

She giggled. "Not all sushi has raw fish-but the stuff that does, most of it is actually pretty good. The way they prepare it, it doesn't taste raw, if you know what I mean."

"OK, I'm game," I said.

"My roommate told me about a good place. And it's only a few blocks off campus, so we can walk. And it's a full-bore Japanese restaurant, so if you can't stomach the sushi, you can get teriyaki or tempura or something."

"OK," I said, and we started walking.

We walked a little bit, and she said, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," I answered.

"Do you regret asking me out? It almost seemed to me like it was an impulse you wanted to take back."

"Uhh..." what was I supposed to say to that?

"If you don't want to take me out, it's OK, we can turn back," she said with a sad little smile.

"It's not that," I said. "I do want to take you out. It's hard to talk about, OK? But it's not you, and I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to."

She grinned at me. "You didn't expect me to say yes."

"No, I didn't," I admitted. "You shocked the daylights out of me."

"Why? Why is it so shocking that I'd say yes?" I didn't say anything. "Brendan," she continued with a smile, "when I asked you how I could repay you for helping me with calculus, that was a hint. I wanted you to ask me out. If you didn't, I was going to do it myself," she giggled.

I stopped walking. "WHAT?" I said.

"Brendan, again, why is this so shocking?"

I took a breath, and told her. "This is my first date in three years, and it's the first time I've asked anyone out and gotten a 'yes' in close to four. The one three years ago was a blind date arranged by my mother. My list of rejections is probably longer than your list of swimming trophies. Girls do not go out with me." Then I blurted out the rest. "And the reason I wanted to take it back when I asked you out is that I'm so inexperienced that I'm terrified I'm going to f**k it up. I haven't been on a date in my life that went well, OK?" I couldn't look at her when I said the rest. "I asked you out sincerely. I wanted to go out with you. I just can't help but think that you'd have been better off going out tonight with just about any other guy on campus."

"I'm out with who I want to be out with," she said definitively. "We really need to work on your confidence. However, that's a project for another day." She grinned. "Today, we'll just get you to like sushi. Come on!" And she grabbed my hand.

As we walked down the street-with her still holding my hand!-she said, "Look. I'm glad you told me that you haven't dated in a while. I knew you weren't Mister Experience, but I didn't know it was that bad. But it's OK, you know. I want to be here with you. I said yes because I wanted to go out with you. Just remember that, OK?"

"OK," I said.

We got to the restaurant, and I decided to let her order. "We can just get a selection. I like all types of sushi, so we can have them bring a pile on over and see what you like," she grinned. She started me off with some of the easier ones, which had cooked stuff like crab and shrimp in it. "That green stuff? That's wasabi, Japanese horseradish," she told me. "Be careful with that, it packs a kick."

I tried it, and, actually, put some more on. "Actually, I like that wasabi stuff. It's not any hotter to me than regular horseradish. And my mother's Polish, so I know from horseradish," I grinned.

The first few things she introduced me to, the milder ones, I liked. "I can't believe you've never had sushi," she said.

"Well, I'm from Chicago. If the plate doesn't contain a big hunk of something that used to be part of a farm animal, it's not a real meal," I grinned. "I actually like this, though."

"Good," she grinned. "Try this one."

I looked at the one she was pointing at. "Now, that appears to be an uncooked fish on that one," I said.

"Yeah. Tuna. That's my favorite. You'll love it," she said. I gave her a face-but I tried it.

"OK, I admit it. I liked that one," I grinned.

"Told you! Don't worry, I stayed away from some of the more extreme ones like uncooked eel." I grimaced. "But that one, and this one over here-that's salmon-are good."

As we ate our selections, she said to me, "Tell me about your family."

"Well, we live in Highland Park, which is north of Chicago on the lake. Nice suburban-type place, at least at first glance. I, personally, wouldn't mind if I never set foot in the place ever again. Anyhow, I do love my parents. Dad's an architect. Mom's a schoolteacher."

"Brothers or sisters?" she asked.

"Nope. I understand that I was something of a surprise-they thought Dad was infertile, and were going to try to get some treatment, when I unexpectedly started growing." She giggled. "They were never able to have another kid, though, and they figured since they had me they wouldn't push their luck. You?"

"I'm from La Jolla, which is north of San Diego, right on the Pacific. Also suburban-well, on the ritzy side of suburban. Dad is some sort of corporate bigwig. Mom is a nurse. I have a younger sister, Jenny, she's 15."

"So you learned to swim in the Pacific?" I asked.

"Pretty much at first," she grinned. "Pools are more efficient, though, so I was in those before long."

We chatted easily-very easily, for me-throughout the rest of the meal. I paid the bill, and we left.

"Did you want to do something else?" I asked.

"Yeah," she grinned. "What's playing at the movie theatre?"

"Yeah," she grinned. "What's playing at the movie theatre?"

"Let's go find out," I grinned back. We started walking to the theatre, and she took my hand again.

It was pathetic, really, how much of a thrill I got from that. I was 18 years old, and I got a thrill out of a girl holding my hand. I tried to just enjoy it, and forget how pathetic I was. Anyway, we found a romantic comedy we both wanted to see, so I paid for our tickets, we got some popcorn, and went in.

It was a good movie, and we both enjoyed it, laughing as we munched on the popcorn. After the popcorn had been exhausted, we put the tub on the floor-and she leaned closer to me and wrapped her arm around mine. It took me a minute to notice-it was a good movie-and not noticing right away made the little thrill I got when I did realize a little less pathetic.

Anyhow, we got out of the movie and walked hand-in-hand to her dorm, laughing and discussing the funnier points of the film. I took the elevator up to her room with her.

"I'd invite you in, but my roomie is temperamental about her beauty sleep," Sheila giggled.

"That's fine. I'm going to get woken up about 8 tomorrow morning, anyhow. Jake's got a game, and he's not quiet in the morning," I laughed.

"Good. Brendan, I had a great time. I told you this date wouldn't be a disaster." She smiled at me. "I'd like to do it again."

"I'd like that, too. I had a great time myself."

"Good." She looked at me, and then leaned over and kissed me! It wasn't a five-minute-long heartstopper or anything like that, but it was sweet and warm and nice. Very nice. I was shocked at first, but then returned the kiss.

"Goodnight," she said, breaking the kiss, blushing, as she opened the door to her room.

"Goodnight," I said, and watched her go in. Then I floated back to my dorm!