Paper Wishes (#1)

Chapter Eleven: Re/Connecting

Kai rolled his eyes. "Was that, 'sounds good'?"

I nodded yes.

"You are such a baka," he laughed as he handed me a napkin so that I could wipe away the trickle of errant sauce running down my chin.

"Sometimes," I admitted as I laughed.

We spent the rest of our lunch time eating, laughing, and reminiscing about days long past.

"Remember on your first day of high school, your mom walked you into homeroom and gave you a big kiss on your cheek?" Kai laughed at the memory.

"Yes, and then she asked my teacher to take care of me," I smiled and shook my head in disbelief. I'd been so embarrassed at the time but now it was such a fond memory.

Our trip down memory lane was interrupted when the waitress approached to ask if we needed to-go containers or anything else.

"No thank you," Kai said, glancing at me to confirm that that was okay; I shook my head, acknowledging his unspoken question. The waitress handed him a black portfolio with the bill in it; he opened it and glanced at the receipt then slipped a few bills in.

"Shall we?" he asked as he held his arm out to me, so we could link arms as we've done since we were children.

As we walked to the arcade my mind wandered. I thought about how Kai had tried so desperately to be there for me but I didn't know how to be around anyone, about how happy he was when we started reconnecting, and how glad I was for his forgiving nature. Lost in thought I absentmindedly squeezed his arm, not noticing when he turned to look down at me, and raise an eyebrow questioningly.

When we got to the arcade, I unlinked arms with him and ran to the card dispenser so that I could pay for our game plays. When he finally caught up to me, he seemed disgruntled. "You know I hate when you pay for things," he huffed.

"That's why I ran," I laughed as I grabbed his hand and led him to the DDR machine. I took my wedges off and placed them off to the side, "Winner pays for any other activities we do today, okay," I challenged Kai.

"I think you've forgotten how good I am at this game," he laughed, "Challenge accepted!"

"I can't believe you did so well on Kimono Princess," I said as I sat down on the machine to put my shoes back on, taking a moment to catch my breath.

Kai shrugged nonchalantly as he pushed his damp hair back, "It's nothing...," he trailed off for a moment, until the realization hit him and he smiled victoriously, "nothing, except for the fact that I can pick up the tab for the rest of the day without you arguing with me!"

I rolled my eyes, "I should have challenged you to air hockey instead, but I was so sure that your sedentary lifestyle would have made your legs weak," I joked.

"S-sedentary lifestyle? I'll have you know that as someone who does coding for a living, my fingers get a lot of exercise!" Kai playfully jabbed me in the side as he said that.

I gasped, turning bright red.

Though it took him a minute, but he realized the double entendre. "That's not how I meant it, and you know it!" He laughed, "Sometimes you can be so hentai."

"More than sometimes," I joked, feeling a little embarrassed that my mind had gone off in that direction.

"Kai!" an unfamiliar voice called out. I turned to see someone I'd never seen before, approaching Kai so they could bro-hug. He looked cowboy-esque, although I couldn't pin down exactly what gave me that impression. "I haven't seen you around campus lately, everything okay?"

"Yeah," Kai said as he pushed his glasses up a little, "I've been busy, so I missed a few classes." Hm... He hadn't mentioned that during dinner tonight. I suspected that his recent shoddy attendance had something to do with us falling out.

Kai turned to me and gestured toward his friend. "Vilv, this is Erik, we go to school together."

I reached out to shake Erik's hand. "Hi, it's nice to meet you. I don't get to meet Kai's classmates very often."

"It's nice to meet you too," Erik smiled. He turned to look at Kai again, "Is she the reason Ann is so salty?"

"Ann is always salty," Kai deadpanned.

"Haha, I guess that's true. Anyway I have to go, Kim is supposed to be meeting me here soon and I don't want to keep her waiting," he said, gesturing toward the entrance of the arcade.

"Oh! You know Kim? Please tell her I said hi," I said warmly.

"I will," Erik said as he waved good-bye to us.

"Huh," said Kai. "It looks like Erik finally asked Kim out."

"That's great, I really liked Kim. Erik seems nice too...," I trailed off, hopeful that after having to deal with the craziness of Ann and the rumors she'd spread, that she'd found someone that could bring her happiness in Erik.

"I don't know him very well, but he seems like a nice guy. I think they'll complement one another's personalities very well," he said sincerely.

"That's good." It wasn't just their personalities that would complement each other but their physical traits complemented each other as well. They were both tall with beautiful blue eyes; Erik was a dirty blonde, while Kim's light blonde hair had naturally darkened over the years to a warm brown hue. Besides, I smiled to myself, Kim had a type, and cowboys were definitely at the top of her list.

"So... are we just going to stand here talking about Kim and Erik, or am I going to kick your butt at skee-ball?"

"Excuse me?" I laughed as we raced each other to the skee-ball machines.

We spent hours playing in the arcade, and dinner was long overdue. "Do you want to eat out for dinner, too?" Kai asked as we left.

"I'd rather cook, but I think it's too late for that," I said regretfully.

"What if we keep it simple? Rice, miso soup, and tofu?"

"Oh, that's easy enough," I nodded, "do we have everything we need at home?" I wondered - embarrassed that I hadn't taken a closer inventory of the contents of our refrigerator whenever I happened to be at home.

"I went grocery shopping earlier, so we're completely stocked up," he smiled.

***

"I had a great time today," Kai said suddenly - cutting through the silence that filled the car - as he kept his eyes on the road in front of us, "but I was thinking, since Nox is going to be such a large part of our lives now... maybe you should invite him over to dinner so that I can get to know him better."

"Really?"

"Yes. It makes sense, especially seeing as how we're all going to be living together."

"Thanks, Kai," I said happily, "I'll give him a call now." I reached into my purse to grab my phone. "I know Nox will really appreciate this, too."

---

A huge "thank you" to @vintageNewYork for designing the lovely graphic in the media above. ❤️