It was Saturday, the next day. I didn't have anything planned, so I'll just call the one person I like to bother—Mr, of course—to see what he was up to.
"Hey man, you wanna do something today? My parents aren't home. They went to some car thing," I say.
"I thought you had your date today?" he replies.
"I don't have a date today... do I?" I say. And right after I say that, I get a call from Sl.
"Hold on, Sl is calling me," I say.
"All right, call me back and tell me what he said," Mr says—nosy bastard.
I hang up and call Sl back.
"Hey, what's up?" I ask. There's no answer for a moment, then he responds.
"Hey, do you have plans today?" Sl asks.
How annoying, but I don't have plans, but also I want to say I do so badly. Before I can lie, I remember—the faster I get these stupid dates over with, the faster I can go out with Lu. So I give in and say, "No, I don't."
"Then... do you want to have our first date today?" he says in such a sweet way, I wasn't even mad about it. Besides, I had nothing better to do.
"Sure, why not? What do you have planned?" I ask, walking toward my closet.
"It's a surprise. But you might get home late, and it's going to be chilly, so don't forget a jacket," he says.
"Okay, but can't you tell me where we're meeting up?" I ask, skimming through my closet.
"Don't worry, I'll pick you up," he says.
"All right. See you later," I say, and hang up.
I think about calling Mr back and telling him what Sl said, like he asked me to, but I realize he needs to stop being so nosy. And in order to help him with that problem, I can't share everything that happens between Sl and me. But... he's my friend, so I'll just text him that I have a date with Sl. Well, I don't like calling it a date. Let's say I'm just hanging out with a friend. Not a date.
30 minutes later, I get a call from Sl. He didn't tell me when we were leaving, so I had gotten ready when he called earlier.
"I'm outside," he says.
I grab my stuff, lock the door, and head downstairs. As I'm walking down the street, it hits me—this doesn't feel like I'm hanging out with a friend. Usually, when I hang out with friends, we meet somewhere. They don't come to my house and pick me up. That's something someone does when they're going on a date.
I get to his car and see flowers in the back seat.
Should I have gotten him flowers too? I mean, he's the one who asked me out, so of course he brings flowers, right? But if a girl asks a guy out, does she get him flowers? That doesn't seem right—the guy gets her flowers. It's always been like that. But we're both guys, so who really should get flowers... oh, whatever.
I sit down, and he hands me the flowers. I take them and say, "Thanks."
"You're welcome. You look nice," he says with a smile and starts driving.
"Thanks. You too," I say, placing the flowers on the floor next to my leg. "So... can you tell me where we're going?" I ask, glancing at the time on my phone.
"We're going to the aquarium," he says. He was about to say something else, but I interrupt him.
"The same one we went to in elementary school?" I say, excited.
"Yeah, that one. You remember?" he says, chuckling.
"Dude, how could I not remember? We were supposed to be there for two hours but ended up staying for four," I say.
"Yeah, only because you went missing. I was so worried—I mean, we were so worried," he says.
"Well, to me, I didn't go missing. You guys did," I say, laughing.
"Right, the rest of us got lost." He continues, "Did you even try to look for us?" he says, laughing.
"Nope. I was in my own world, looking at the sharks, dude," I say.
"That's what I like about you," he says, smiling. "You're always in your own world. Even something like getting lost wouldn't pull you out of it. And somehow, you make people wanna be part of your world."
Huh. I've never really thought about it like that, but he's not wrong. When stuff doesn't go as planned, or I get lost, I don't freak out. It's my world, and I just roll with it. I try to focus on the good stuff instead of whatever's gone wrong. And maybe that's why I let people in—so they can see the weird little things I notice when everything else feels like a mess.
We get to the aquarium and start looking around. It was honestly really nostalgic. I still remember that day. It was actually a really fun time—even as a lost kid. I didn't have to follow a group. I got to wander around and look at the places I wanted to.
I showed Sl all the spots I went to—the ones they didn't see because they were too busy trying to find me.
We end up where the sharks are. As I admire them, I can feel Sl's eyes on me. Then he comments, "You still look at them the same way."
I brush it off, but I feel weirdly... seen.
Sl steps a little too close to me and I kind of panic, blurting out something dumb. "Did you know sharks pee through their skin?" I say.
"Pretty cool," he replies with a smile.
We keep walking. This is why I don't like being alone with him. It starting to feel like a date more than hanging out with a friend.
It's a pretty big aquarium, so we end up staying for almost two hours. I've never been to the aquarium with a friend before.
Oh—wait.
I've never been to the aquarium with a friend... because this isn't just hanging out.
This is a date. Right
Right outside the aquarium, there's a park. Sl suggests we take a stroll, even though the sun's already starting to set and I probably should've been heading home. But then he mentioned ice cream—so obviously, I said yes.
Even though it was kind of chilly out. But who says no to ice cream?
We got our ice cream and started walking. It was pretty nice. I see bench and decide to sit down. Sl followed close behind.
"I've been to the park plenty of times, but only with my family," I say, taking a lick of my ice cream.
"Never with a friend?" Sl asks.
"Nope."
"Well, that makes me your first. Nice to know."
"Don't start thinking you're special just because I haven't been here with my friends. By our next date, I've probably already done it with them."
"Don't worry," Sl says with a grin. "I'll make sure our next spot is somewhere no one else has taken you—so I'm the first, and the only."
That caught me off guard.
"First and only, huh? Sounds like some line you tell all your dates," I say, looking off in the distance.
Sl laughs softly, shaking his head.
"Nope. I've never said it to anyone else. I was saving it for you."
I freeze. I shrug it off—it's not like he's being serious.
I finish my ice cream as fast as I can. It's starting to feel way too much like a date.
"I'm done. We should head home," I say, getting up.
Sl's still sitting. I glance down at him.
He looks up at me with a smile. "Sure. Let's go."