Act 2 | Chapter 2

People shuffled out of the cramped theater not too long after the credits started scrolling for the film. The theater had gone from quiet to loud, as people talked about what they had just seen. It was a simple action movie. Lots of explosions, shooting, and of course action. I walked beside Riley, interlacing my fingers with hers as the two of us walked out of the theater and into the food court. It was a long movie and my legs were still tired from sitting for so long.

"So, you wanna get something to eat?" I yawned.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Well, I picked the movie, so why don't you pick the restaurant?"

"Hm, alright. I know about this sushi place not too far from here." Riley led me out of the mall and back to the car. The sun had set, and the moon was the only other thing to provide us light, aside from the street lamps that were positioned around the parking lot. The sushi place Riley had in mind actually wasn't far. Only a ten-minute drive from where the mall was. It was this small sushi bar, with only one or two visible workers. They were busy preparing another customer's meal when Riley and I sat down.

"So, what did you think of the movie?" I asked.

"It was pretty interesting. A good sequel, but there were some hit or miss jokes." She responded with slight criticism. I couldn't help but chuckle and nod in agreement.

"It was kind of cheesy," I replied, glancing down at the menu placed on our table. "So... how is this going so far?" I asked in a nervous tone.

"It's been a great first date." Riley smiled, putting her menu down to smile at me.

"You have no idea how long I have wanted to ask you out."

"I wanted to ask myself but I was... a bit afraid of doing so. I'm glad you asked first." Riley replied, looking slightly embarrassed. With her brave personality, I wouldn't have taken Riley for someone to let anxiety get the best of her.

"Y- You did?" I blushed, "W- Well I don't know, I feel amazing, and I finally decided to ask you. I was nervous too."

"So was I."

I gave her a smile and looked back down at the menu. Most of the food on there was written in Japanese. This may come as a shocker, but someone who used to watch anime all the time can't just learn fluent Japanese from it.

"Gakkō?" I looked up at Riley, "What does that mean?"

"I don't know." She laughed, "I can't read that side. Flip it over."

I looked back down and turned my menu over. The translations on the other side where completely in English. I let out a long sigh and jokingly slapped my face with the palm of my hand. Riley giggled a bit.

"Dork."

"I've never had sushi before. I don't what to get?"

Riley looked back up from her menu and leaned forward. She started pointed a few dishes out and explaining them to me.

"Well, we have Tamago, which is supposed to be a cooked sweet egg omelet. There's also Amaebi, which is basically shrimp. Oh, there's also Ika, that's pretty much raw squid with cooked tentacles."

"Gross." I mumbled, looking up and down the menu, "I think I'll just get whatever your getting."

"Fine by me. I can afford it."

"You don't have to pay for all of it." I quickly explained.

"You took me to the movies and paid for it. I might as well pay for the food." Riley then leaned forward and did something I wasn't expecting. She gave me a quick peck on the cheek and leaned back in her chair. I froze up for the moment and started blushing more. I couldn't help but smirk.

"A-Alright," I said, sounding a bit flustered. Riley called over the waiter and she ordered the food for the two of us. As we waited, we simply talked casually. At one point the topic of the art contest came up, and I simply frowned.

"So. What did you do for the rest of yesterday?" I asked.

"I kinda just went back home and went to bed. Didn't have much to do anyway. Plus I kinda wanted to get yesterday over and done with."

"Yeah, me too. I just let some anger out and tried watching movies for the rest of the day." The waiter returned with a small plate of sushi and put it in front of us.

"So what is this exactly?"

"Salmon eggs," Riley replied, handing me one of them. They looked like large orange balls on seaweed wrapped in rice. There was some salmon meat, scallops, octopus, and corn sauce on the plate as well. I picked up my sushi and held it between two fingers. Hesitantly I took a bite from it and quickly cupped my mouth as some of it fell from my lips. It had a salty taste to it, which caught me off guard.

"It's uh, good." I nodded and took another bite. "How's yours?"

Riley looked up with her mouth a bit of a mess. Not even a few seconds after getting the food was it dripping from her mouth, with egg juice spilled on her lips.

"What?" She asked, trying to finish chewing her sushi. I laughed and smiled back at her.

"How is it?"

"It's good!" Riley replied after swallowing.

"I can see that." I chuckled, as I took another bite from my meal. We sat there and jokes while we ate. It was fun, just the two of us hanging out. To be honest, it didn't feel too different from just spending time with each other.

"So how about after this we head on over to the arcade." I suggested, "It should be open for another hour or two?"

"What? You wanna try that alien shooter thing again?"

"We can try. Oh, and I finally got to see the movie that the game was based on. It was pretty nice." When I finished eating, I used the napkin to wipe my face off.

By the time we got to the arcade, it was pretty barren. Only about a dozen people were there. Some kids at a birthday party, who had apparently been throwing a party all day. Riley and I walked over to the token machine and both spent about ten dollars for a total of twenty. The rest of the night after that was simple and straightforward. We went around from game to game, playing them and earning tickets from them. Using the tickets we had saved up from last time, we were able to bundle our current earnings into a much greater pile. Though in the end, we saved the printed receipt of a ticket for another time. We could just come back and get more and eventually win one of the bigger prizes that never left the top shelves. We had been doing it for years, and in fact, have quite a large pile of receipts with ticket numbers. One day, we both plan on getting something large from that shelf, but until that day comes, we continue to save the tickets, ready to use them when something interesting is finally added.

A little later on, we were both driving back to Riley's apartment. It had started to snow more, with the roads becoming more dangerous to drive on. Lucky for us, it was the start of winter break, so we didn't have to worry about school in the approaching days. Riley's apartment still hadn't been decorated for Christmas. It was only two days away.

"You still haven't put up a tree yet?" I asked, putting my coat up on the rack beside the door.

"Not really, no."

"We could go shopping and try to find you one tomorrow? Maybe your mom could come with us if she was free?"

"I could text her, and ask," Riley replied, taking her boots off, and putting them on the shoe rack below the coat one.

"Tonight was... fun," I smirked, looking back at her.

"Yeah... it was." Riley nodded and sat on the couch. I chose to sit next to her and lean up against her shoulder.

"Should we do this again?"

"Why not?" She replied and smiled. Judging by her appearance she was in the same boat I was. Happy. I honestly never thought I would actually get here. Finally asking Riley out on a date, and having it go well. She even liked me back, which made this feel all the better.