Patterns - An Academy Story

Part 33 - Is It A Date?

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I checked my reflection in the mirror one last time, finally satisfied with what I was wearing. I'd lost track of how many different outfits I'd tried on tonight. Were we just a few friends going to the movies together? Was it a date? Or kind of date, since there were two of them? Could it be considered a date since they were already planning on going to see Justice League? I didn't want to wear something that made it seem like I thought it was a date, but I didn't want to look too casual. I looked at the clock. 7:25. They were going to be here any minute. Black skinny jeans, a long gray sweater, and a fun black and white spotted circular scarf would do nicely. Just as I finished lacing up my favorite Doc Martens, I heard the doorbell ring. I quickly grabbed my bag and headed down the stairs.

I opened the door to find Kota standing there, smiling. No Nathan? Wasn't he supposed to be coming with us tonight?

"Hey Sang, are you ready?"

"Yes, I'm ready to go. Where's Nathan?" I asked as I locked the door behind us.

"We circled around the block a couple of times, couldn't find a spot, so Nathan stayed with the car. We're double parked."

"Oh, you could have parked in front of the driveway. My landlord wouldn't have minded for just a couple of minutes," I told him.

"That's good to know for future reference," he said. He looked down at me as we walked side by side down the driveway. "You look really nice tonight, Sang."

My cheeks heated up at his compliment. "Um, thank you," I murmured.

"We were thinking that Toast in West Ashley would be a good place to go to dinner," he said, just as we reached the car. "It's not that far from the mall. How does that sound to you?"

"That sounds really good. They have great food."

He held open the passenger door for me and indicated for me to get in.

"I don't want to take your seat, Kota," I told him. "I'm shorter, I can fit in the back seat easier than you."

He shook his head. "Nope, I was raised a good Southern gentleman," he said with a laugh. "You're our guest tonight, you get the front seat."

I looked at him and he shook his head again. Accepting that I wouldn't win this argument, I slid in to the front passenger seat. Nathan looked at me with a grin, his eyes lit up.

"Hey, Sang. We get you to ourselves tonight."

"Don't jinx us Nathan! We don't want the rest of the guys showing up," Kota laughed.

"Yeah, they'd make us switch seats every few minutes so that they could sit next to Sang during the movie."

On the drive to the restaurant, Kota and Nathan got in to a debate about the merits of DC super heroes versus Marvel super heroes. Kota argued that the super heroes in the DC universe treated their super powers as gifts and were innately good, whereas the Marvel characters obtained their powers through different means, not all were good, and they were more unpredictable. Nathan countered that Marvel characters were more like every day people, with flaws. They were more relatable than some of the DC super heroes. By the time we reached Toast, we were all laughing, and Nathan had gotten Kota to admit to wanting to have an Iron Man suit like Tony Stark.

We were seated right away, and took a few minutes to look over the menu. I'd eaten at Toast in town before, but only for breakfast, and I was surprised by the number of entrees that they had. By the time the server came back, I'd settled on the shrimp and grits, while Kota decided on the sweet tea fried chicken with potato salad and coleslaw, and Nathan chose the grilled meat loaf with collards and mashed potatoes. Throughout the meal, Kota and Nathan shared stories about the guys in their family. I was amazed that they had been together for so long, and were still so close. If I was being honest with myself, I envied the closeness they had with each other. It reminded me of how close the Anderson and Toma teams were.