“JAMISON! HOLY FUCK!”
The door to Jamie’s room flew open to reveal a hyperventilating Koran girl with a face about as pink as her MEKA.
She stepped in, slammed the door shut and screamed.
Jamie shot up in bed with a huge grin.
“Did he finally ask?!”
“HELL YEAH HE DID! AAAHHHH!!!”
The blonde boy jumped up and gave her a solid hi five.
“Finally! Where are you guys going?” He asked plopping into a beanbag.
Hana laid flat in her back on his floor next to him. He handed her a stuffed pig and she used it as a pillow.
“Skating.”
“Like roller skates? But you have awful balance.”
“I know.”
“And he basically lives on his rollerblades.”
“I know!”
Hana covered her face with the sleeves on her hoodie and let out a groan.
“Are you nervous?”
“Jamie don’t be an idiot. Of course I’m nervous.”
Jamison raised her arm to look her in the eye.
“You’re gonna bust your ass.”
She stuck her tongue out at him and he dropped her arm back into her face and snickered.
“Take this seriously, Jamie.”
“Okay okay, I’m sorry. But you should take it a little less seriously, you know. Your crush asked you out. You should be over the moon right now.”
“I know, but I’m just so scared of messing all of this up. If something goes wrong I don’t want to lose Lúcio as a friend.”
She sat up and hugged the plush pig. Jamison gave her an encouraging smile.
“Trust me, mate. Everything will be fine. You just need to relax.”
Once the day of the date came, Hana could literally not be further away from relaxing. The palms of her hands were sweating like crazy, she felt like she was sweating through her deodorant and perfume, she was as stiff as a board trying not to bump into him, and she had absolutely no idea what all Lúcio had planned. All she knew was that he was leading the way and now they were walking.
To her dismay, Lúcio noticed that she wasn’t exactly herself.
“Hana, are you okay? You haven’t even looked at me since I picked you up. Not to mention you haven’t even made fun of my shirt yet.”
Hana’s blushing face quickly glanced over to see that his T-shirt had a graphic of the playboy bunny logo, but with Dat Boi’s head with ears and a bow tie. A single word was printed below.
“Playboi?”
Hana burst out laughing. Lúcio just puffed his chest out as to show that he was proud to wear it.
“It’s amazing and you love it. Don’t deny it.”
“Whatever.”
Hana rolled her eyes and calmed down a bit. She let her shoulders relax and she walked normally.
Her date noticed this and smiled a bit to himself.
After a few more minutes of walking, they arrived at the skating rink. Lúcio held the door open and Hana awkwardly stepped in.
She looked around the room and saw an empty roller rink complete with old pop songs, lasers, and black-lights.
“Oh my god.”
Lúcio came up from behind her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, his free hand resting on his hip.
“I know right? I’m so excited.”
He smiled and went up to the counter. As the man behind the counter handed him his rollerblades, Lúcio got Hana’s shoe size and asked for skates for her as well.
Once they both had switched shoes, Lúcio stood up first and held his hand out.
“Need some help up?”
She nodded and took it.
Once she stood up, she was pretty shaky and did have to hold onto things for support. Lúcio found this adorable and said she could use him to stay upright. Albeit a little embarrassing, she took him up on his offer and linked arms with him. After a few laps around the rink, her legs looked a bit less like baby deer.
“Hey, you’re getting better! Loosen up a little. You’re doing great!”
Hana looked up from her feet and smiled at Lúcio. It was only then that it hit her how close the two of them were right now. She had also never realized how soft his skin was, even on his arm where she was holding on. But just as she was about to say something, one of her skates hit the other and she face planted, pulling her date with her.
They both laid still for a moment and looked at each other before laughing.
“Some timing.”
“I didn’t expect you to fall that hard!” Lúcio said, sitting up.
Upon doing so, he realized that she had scraped her knee up pretty bad.
“Oh, hold up. I’ll go get a bandaid.”
“Okay.”
Lúcio jumped up and quickly skated over to the counter with ease. He got the bandage and started to come back, but with a little more flair. He did a few spins and made a different funny face every time he looked at Hana. He was making her giggle like crazy, but Hana felt pretty ridiculous. She knew she was going to fall and now she’s being taken care of like a child. She wished she could turn invisible.
“Leg please.” Lúcio said, bandaid unwrapped and ready to put on. Hana extended her leg over his lap where he gently covered up her scrape.
“Thanks, Lú.”
He smiled.
“No problem! I’m usually on first aid duty with the kids here so I’m kinda used to it. I just really love to help.”
Hana blushed. She could only think about how perfect he was, and somehow got even more nervous than before.
“That’s so sweet.”
He blushed this time, thanking her.
“So you wanna get back up and keep going?”
“Um, that fall actually hurt more than I thought. I’d like to take a break if that’s okay?”
“Oh yeah, sure! We can go down the street to Rikimaru’s if you want?”
“Ramen sounds perfect right now.”
Hana took her skates off and walked back to where her sneakers were, while Lúcio skated circles around her as she walked. She half heartedly threatened to push him down and he ran away like he was scared.
During the short walk to the restaurant, Lúcio playfully nudged Hana. Being the competitive person she is, Hana pushed back harder. And in just a few steps it had already elevated to shoving. They were laughing and shoving, back and forth, until Hana shoved him straight into a car. The alarm started going off and they both bolted the rest of the way to the shop, laughing and breathing heavily.
Once inside Rikimaru’s, they sat in a small booth and began to eat.
“So, you’re good with kids?” Hana started.
Lúcio shrugged.
“Yeah I guess. I was sort of a big brother to all of the kids in my hometown neighborhood, and kids have always liked me, so you could say that. Most of the time I don’t do anything too special though. One day they’re just stuck to me. But I’m not complaining.”
Hana sighed.
“I wish that happened to me. I seem to have the exact opposite reaction.”
“Maybe it’s your intimidatingly good style and the fact that you set impossible to beat high scores in every game you play.”
Hana stuck out her tongue at him and he just grinned. A beautiful grin that made her heartbeat quicken. She stared for few moments and felt her cheeks turn pink again. When she realized what she was doing, she quickly went back to eating. So quickly, in fact, that she accidentally hit her drink with her arm and spilled it all over the table.
“Oh my god. I’m so sorry.”
They both were fast to grab napkins and soak it all up before it reached the floor. Lúcio just chuckled.
“A little bit of a klutz today, huh?”
“To say the least.”
After they had cleaned up the spill and finished eating, Lúcio said he had somewhere he wanted to go but wouldn’t say where.
He led Hana a few blocks away and down some rather sketchy looking streets to get to a beautiful hidden area, completely filled with cherry trees in full bloom. A gentle breeze hit the trees and sent tiny blossoms flying through the air and kicking up those that had already fallen to the ground.
Hana stopped and stared, completely awestruck.
“This is so beautiful. How did you find this place? It looks like it came straight out of an anime.”
Lúcio sat down on a bench that was a few feet in front of them. A bit harder of a breeze knocked more blossoms down.
“Genji told me about it when we first came here.”
She walked over and sat down next to him.
”He said that it would be a good idea if I ever worked up the courage to ask you out.”
Hana blushed and looked at him, not knowing what to say. He softly took her hand in his and smiled.
“I’ve kinda liked you for a long time.”
She tried to find words to explain that she had too and that this was all a dream come true, when a gust of wind passed through, sending all kinds of blossom petals flying everywhere and blowing Hana’s hair into her face.
“Oh, you have some petals in your hair. Here, hold still.”
Lúcio leaned a little bit closer and took out the few bits of flowers while Hana blushed more than she had all day.
His face was so close.
After the petals were gone, he gently brushed back the hair that had fallen into her face behind her ear. The two made eye contact and Lúcio blushed, realizing what he had just done.
He started to lean in, but was cut off by Hana quickly turning away and letting out a small sneeze.
Lúcio snapped out of it and ran his hands across his face as she stood up all of a sudden. Her cheeks were still red and she wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“I’m so sorry. I should go. I ruined our date and I-“
“Wait wait wait. What are you talking about?” He stood up. “You didn’t ruin anything.”
“Yes I did. I was nervous and I messed up everything. I had to hold onto you while skating and then I fell, like a child or something. And I pushed you too hard and you hit that car. And a drink spilled at Rikimaru’s. And now I ruined what was about to be our first kiss. I’m so sorry.”
He just laughed.
“Whoa, slow down. I had a great time. I don’t know why you’re so upset about it.”
She finally met his eyes.
“You did?”
“Of course. At the skating rink you held onto my arm while I kept you steady, and I got to cheer you up after you fell-which everyone does. At Rikimaru’s I got to look into your beautiful eyes and managed to make you so flustered that you spilled something. Then I got to bring you to this beautiful place and hold your hand and just be with you. You being nervous was the best thing to happen, and totally adorable, honestly.”
He took both of her hands in his and smiled.
“And we both know that car alarm going off was hilarious.”
Hana giggled.
“Yeah, you’re right. About everything.”
Lúcio smiled and looked at her for a beat before placing a soft kiss on her cheek. Hana blushed once more.
“I had a wonderful time. But we can leave if you really want to.”
She just smiled before grabbing either side of his face and kissing him full on the lips.
When she pulled away, she grabbed his hand and started to walk back home, both with hearts in their eyes and pink in their cheeks.
‘I can’t believe she did that.’
‘I can’t believe I just did that.’