”SINCE WHEN DID THIS PLACE SERVE PASTA!?!?!” I normally don’t pig out with food but pasta is an exception. Especially considering Chovy made this pasta just for me. She really knows how to make my belly full. If only she were my wife...anyways. Our shift finally came to a close and we were having a nice little dinner celebration with the crew before we would take off for our “date” if you could even call it that. We aren’t exactly romantically engaged one bit. We just met yesterday. Good relationships take time to develop. But something about Chovy makes me feel more connected on a higher plain of reality compared to other girls I’ve encountered in my past (none of which ended up anything remotely on a good note). Perhaps because I have some sympathy towards Chovy. She’s a great Sensha-do tactician from Anzio who’s hindered by her school budget and sub-par team. It’s more than that though. She can be in charge when she needs to but it’s not like she doesn’t have a soft side either. She’s like a two in one. I never met anyone like that, let alone a girl with that kind of personality. She’s straight forward one moment and the next you know, she’s blushing and trying to hide herself. It’s really funny and charming to see. She’s been the only thing I’ve been thinking about while I was doing dishes or serving customers today.
”Don’t talk with your mouth full Tomio! You’ll choke and then we’ll have to find another guy to replace you.” remarked Gio. “Either that or it’s going to be double duty for me.” “He’s right you know.” said Chovy. “But I’m glad you really like my pasta.” She grins as she serves the rest of the crew sitting at one of the tables in this pizzeria. Just the four of us, Chovy, Gio, our Boss Benito, and myself. “So Tomio, what made you want to work with us of all establishments?” Benito asked me directly. “Most boys your age work in the downtown district or do summer school.” I shrug my shoulders. “I had nothing better to do. It’s not like I have my goals or desires anyways. But I suppose making a litle bit of dosh on the side sounded nice in my book. My mom told me about this place and it wasn’t too far off for me to take my bike to and well….here I am.” “Normally I hang out with my best friend from school but he’s out of the country right now. Lucky him I guess.” I finish up my pasta before everyone else. “Sometimes I feel like I’m never going to leave Japan. I probably sound like a loser but the way I see it, there’s not much for me out there to even bother. I envy my best friend sometimes.” Chovy interjects “You sound a lot like the girls at Anzio. They don’t think about their own future at all. If Duce Anchovy doesn’t give them orders, they are usually slacking off. It’s going to be a problem for them real soon. She won’t be there for very long.” She’s of course talking about herself since she is graduating by the end of fall. Of course, Gio or Benito don’t know that fact. She could at least bring that up to them. “Do I really remind you of the Girls at Anzio?” I ask her back. “I did have to deliver an order to their school. They seem really lively. Nice girls too. I’m anything but nice.” “Damn straight. Even new guy is honest with himself.” sparked Gio who was next to finish his pasta. “How many times do I have to tell you?!! My name is Tommy wait what?!!!” Everyone laughs at me. “Damnit. Now you’re getting your stupid nicknames stuck in my vocabulary Gio!” “I don’t think it’s stupid Tomio. I like the name Tommy.” remarked Chovy. “See, even Miss Anzai likes it.” said Gio. “I could arrange a new name tag for your uniform if you like.” remarked Benito. At this point, I guess I could let the name stick around this establishment. No harm done. I could be just like Chovy with alternative aliases. “Fine by me.” I grumbled. “I’ll be Tommy for now on.”
Chovy finished up her pasta and started picking up our empty plates. “Well now that we are all done Tommy. I think it’s time we head out. There’s this really nice Arcade I’d like to go to and you’re going to be my sidekick for tonight. “Wait...what did you sign me up for Miss Anzai?” I asked. “Oh it’s nothing to worry about. I arranged a little something and perhaps you could be some use to me.” I have this look of disappointment on my face. Was she really just using me for something for her own personal gain. “Don’t worry, I want to do some other stuff with you besides that so don’t worry. You are good at gaming right?” “Uhhhh….I guess I am.” I reply back. I don’t know how to respond to her question to be honest. While I do play a lot of vidya back home, it’s mostly strategy and dating sim games. If she’s implying I’m good at arcade games, well she’s asking the wrong kind of guy. Action games in particular give me motion sickness.
She takes my arm and pulls me towards the door.”We’ll find out real soon. Come on, we can’t be late.” Man, she’s really something alright. We get to her moped which has a drivers seat and a passenger’s seat right behind. This doesn’t look comfortable one bit. “Come on, sit behind me and hold on.” Behind her? “Now just wait a second? Where do I even hang on? I never been on a moped.” I complained (though without being unreasonable). What if we were to get into an accident or something? I’m being a filthy coward this whole time. Dreadful. “Don’t worry, you just have to hang on to me. Just wrap your arms around me like this. She turns around and grabs my arms and wraps them around her stomach. I’m basically hugging her at this point. It just feels and looks awkward. I’m glad she can’t see me blushing. But something about this is very comforting. She feels so soft to hold. Her hair is right in front of my face. I could bury my head in her hair and fall asleep. “See. It’s not too bad. Now hang on.” She accelerates on her moped and we take off down the road. My feelings of dread and uncertainty have been replaced by enjoyment as the warm summer breeze swarms through me as we drive down the road towards the downtown district. Normally, I’d take a bus down these roads with my best friend so we never really pay attention to the scenery but the outskirts of town are really quiet pleasant. A couple of small residential areas and wide open fields, distant wooded areas , and a nice vista of the nearby mountains. Not to mention, the glow from the sunset off in the distance. It almost feels kind of romantic but I’m not pumped to admit that to Chovy just yet. Could I even bring myself to admit my feelings for her?
Once we reached the downtown area, the sun is already minutes from disappearing on the horizon and the street lights are now lit nearby the roads and sidewalk. There’s more pedestrians walking about this time, mostly kids from the nearby schools looking to do something on a Friday night. We soon find the Arcade and it’s already packed with other school kids. I hope I don’t run into any of my classmates. I am usually not one to be seen with any girls at school, let alone in public. Though this time it’s going to be different. “Huh...that ride wasn’t too bad. You certainly aren’t a shitty driver like Gio.” She giggles and then replies “Told you it wouldn’t be so bad. Come on. They are waiting for us inside.” Oh no….so we aren’t going to be alone this time. But who is waiting for us? This arcade is packed with so many people, it’s making me nervous. I don’t think I’d be able to have any kind of conversation in this kind of environment for you can’t hear anything other than arcade sound effects and all these people in here. They have every kind of arcade game you can imagine from light gun games, to driving games. They even have novelty stuff like crane games, gatcha machines, and photo booths. There is however one room with a door plate titled “Private”. Visual novel logic is starting to hit me hard and I’m starting to think this is only going to end one way and it’s not something I can say is family friendly. Oh Jesus! She’s leading me to this private room! I’m not ready! I’m not ready! Ahhhhh!
The inside of this private room actually has some soundproof walls so all that chaos from the main arcade room is completely sealed off. There is a television crt kind of setup in the far corner of the room with microphones on opposite ends of this crt stand. The room has this circular seating arrangement too. So this is a karaoke room huh? Never been to one before. To makes matter worse though. We are not alone. There are two other girls here as well though they don’t seem to be from around here. There uniform isn’t like those from Anzio high. They are wearing blue uniforms with a white tea logo. Wait a second, these are girls from St. Gloriana Girls College in Yokohama! One of the girls has blonde hair with a french braid tied behind her head. She has this ceramic cup of tea on her hand and her posture is relaxed but proper. The other is a ginger, also with a braid but she appears more reserved and shy. “Well well Miss Anchovy. I’m glad you were finally able to show up.” Orange Pekoe and I were waiting for you.” the blonde one says as she sips her cup of tea. “I didn’t break my promise did I Darjeeling?” replied Chovy. “Just as we agreed. Though I did bring a friend along with me. He’s going to help me beat you both in this Karaoke match! If you thought Anzio was strong in Sensha-do, you haven’t seen what Duce can do in Karaoke!” “K-karaoke…...but….but….I can’t sing!!!” I muttered. What did I get myself into? The blonde one replies "I'm sure you'd be suprised what kind of singing voice Miss Orange Pekoe is capable of." "Uh....Miss Darjeeling....I-I can't sing either." the ginger hair one mentioned in a quiet shy voice. I don't think either of us two were prepared for this competition. These girls are insane.
So there I was, in a karaoke room with three other girls. I would never had guessed I’d end up in such a situation like this but am I really to act all bummed out about it? Not really. I’m more concerned with how I’m going to sing in front of them all. I’d never done Karaoke in my life. I mean, sure I might have done choir back in middle school but that was just a club thing. I wasn’t particularly good or anything like that. I assume this is all for good fun anyways right? Nothing to stress about especially for a date night.
”So here’s the deal Dar-jeel-ing. Each of us will preform a song. My good friend Tommy here is going to be on team Anzio!” (Oh good grief, she’s already putting pressure on me). “If team Anzio gets the high score…” She shouts as she points her finger forward towards the St. Gloriana girls across from us. “You’ll have to dine at my family restaurant! Not comped of course!” The blonde one (Who goes by the name Darjeeling) replies calmly and not in that calm sense of HARRY YOU FOOKING TWAT DID YOU FOOKING PUT UR NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIRE YOU LITTLE SHIT CUNT but actually well mannered “I and Orange Pekoe accept your challenge. Likewise, if our team wins, then we’ll present you both to a St. Gloriana's breakfast meal. Free of charge in our case.” She chuckles as she sips from her tea while Chovy gives out an audio “ugggh…That’s not going to happen. I already know how awful your cooking is Miss Darjeeling. I’m not going to put Tommy through that as well.” Orange Pekoe interjects “Miss Darjeeling, she’s kind of right you know….” Darjeeling laughs and responds to Orange Pekoe “Ha! I can assure you that my cuisine has improved greatly since the last time we served the Sensha-do leaders a year ago. Did you two ever hear the expression: “If you are a chef, no matter how good a chef you are, it’s not good cooking for yourself; the joy is in cooking for others. It’s the same with music.” “ Orange Pekoe adds “That’s a quote from will.i.am right? I didn’t know you were into pop music Miss Darjeeling.” Chovy interrupts “Don’t kid yourself. She just looks up and memorizes quotes from the internet. Do you know that saying about quoting others and not speaking your own mind?” Darjeeling politely responds back “Do you know what they say about Italian engineering? There’s this famous acronym for FIAT. Fix It Again Tony” Orange Pekoe then follows up with “A joke commonly mentioned by American car enthusiast in part due to the company’s poor reputation for quality.” Chovy strikes back with another comeback (jeez! Wasn’t this suppose to be a karaoke match by the way?) “Oh please, when was the last time British engineering was known for quality? Sanders’ has American tanks that are more robust than any of the British tanks your school uses! Don’t even get me started on the modern British military! Tell me again, who makes their standard issue rifle or rather, fixed the abysmal problems faced with the first generation of production rifles? Or what about your famous Mini series of cars? Who makes them now? HUH!!! HU!H!!!” I had no choice but to interrupt them. “Uh….look, let’s not get into an argument right now. I’m just here to have fun. I’m sure the both of you are as well?” Darjeeling nods her head: “Thank you Mr. Tommy. After all, banter isn’t something St. Gloriana’s is known for. Is that right Orange Pekoe?” “Maybe not so much with Miss Rosehip.” Orange Pekoe mentions. “So it’s settled then. We better get this competition going then.” Chovy then whispers to my ear “Please, for my and your sake. Let’s represent how strong Anzio High is when it comes to singing.” As if I needed any more pressure from all this.
”Splendid! Let us begin. Orange Pekoe, you’ll go first since you didn’t back up my cooking skills. I’ll select a song for you.” Orange Pekoe looks distressed now “No wait Miss Darjeeling…I’m not sure if I can….no...I can’t...this is going to be so embarrassing.” Poor girl almost looks like she’s going to cry but it seems like Darjeeling is having fun messing with her. “Oh, I really do like this song. I’m sure you remember singing this along with the other girls at our campus!
She navigates to this particular song:
”Don’t disappoint me dear Pekoe.” “Oh lord help me…” mutters Orange Pekoe. “Miss Darjeeling...p-please don’t record me!” Darjeeling giggles and says “Have some heart Miss Orange Pekoe, I want to treasure this experience and share it with all of my good friends. You’ll have to sing your heart out my dear. I know you can.” Sure enough she begins to sing. Poor thing is trying not to stutter while she sings but she’s not all that bad. Sure she might be very nervous but her tonal accuracy is on point for the most part. I think it would really help if Darjeeling wasn’t recording her for her own amusement. For so one with high class manners, she does seem rather cruel sometimes. I can see why Chovy might have some beef with her.
Orange Pekoe finally finishes her song and she’s already looking beyond exhausted and humiliated. Though she wasn’t half bad at all. “Alright Tommy…” Anchovy tells me as she takes the karaoke remote from Darjeeling. “you’re up. Don’t fail or I’ll make you do extra clean up duty at the restaurant!” She’s already scrolling down the list, looks like she has a song just in mind for me. The audacity of this girl. Just when I think she’s all shy and innocent on day one, she’s putting up a lot of energy and enthusiasm the next day. Her personality is something else!
She finally finds the song she’s looking for:
I’m not going to lie, it already sounds insufferable but it’s at least in English. I would had preferred if she picked something in Japanese but at least it’s not Italian….forget about even trying at that point! After all, Orange Pekoe did an English song so it only seems fair. Oh well….here goes nothing! Now that I am actually singing, let alone in front of all these girls, this song isn’t too hard to match up to. It’s a crappy remix of a Beatles song if I am not mistaken but it’s not like I’m doing opera or any of the stuff I did in middle school. I think I’m doing alright. Though why did she pick this song in particular? *sigh* “Obla Di Obla Da life goes on!”
Oh wow, I think I did alright as well. I’ve might of done better than Orange Pekoe. Chovy looks pleased too. “Good job Tommy. I knew you could do it.” “Fu fu….Impressive.” remarked Darjeeling. Looks like Team Anzio is in the lead. Though we can still catch up. It’s now between Miss Anchovy and myself.” She picks out her own song this time and once she started…..oh God. My ears!!! How can someone be that tone death? Whatever song she picked, she’s butchering it horribly. Chovy, Orange Pekoe, and I are quite visibly unsettled. Though neither of us really say anything even as she finishes and reads out her score. “Hmm, these machines can be quite finicky you know.” Darjeeling implies. “Excuses excuses…” jeers Chovy. “Let me show you what the Duce of Anzio has in store for you all! Let me just pick out a song….um…..well….wait hang on a second….um….I guess I’ll do this one.” Looks like all of her passion and willpower went completely out the window the moment she was next. She’s even more nervous than Orange Pekoe. For some moments, she tries to sing and it’s mostly alright but then she goes completely mute in some lyrics. She’s starting to act shy and nervous all over again. I’d say it’s adorable to watch her stumble like this but our team score is on the line. She’s going to hinder our starting lead.
Unfortunately, the song ends and she wasn’t able to recover by the end of it. She looks displeased with her own performance “I can’t believe I blew it…” she mumbled quietly. “I’m sorry Tommy.” She sits back down next to me as Orange Pekoe tallies the score. “Um...Miss Darjeeling….Miss Anchovy….there’s a problem It’s a tie.” So I guess it’s not over just yet. “Hmmm….that’s rather unfortunate. Luckily we are in an arcade as well. Perhaps we shall settle this tie beaker on the digital battlefield then.” She sips more of her tea cup (how much tea does she have in that thing anyways to be sipping all the time!) as she motions us all to exit the karaoke room. “Well….at least we still have a chance. You are good at gaming right?” Chovy asks me. I sort of nod in response but like I said, I am not a particularly good competitive gamer. It’s been quite a while since I’ve ever played any arcade games. I have a feeling I can’t rely on my personal skills for whatever is going to come up next.
So the four of us made our way back to the main hub of this establishment/arcade. As mentioned before, there’s a whole bunch of stuff to do around here but I think the girls I’m with have something very particular in mind. There is this one arcade fighting game machine that we are approaching. It has all of these buttons and joysticks which is expected for these kind of games though frankly it’s all alien to me. Even with all of these buttons, you still have to press multiple buttons and combinations at once just to pull of certain moves in these games. Darjeeling faces me specifically and asks “Do you perhaps have any experience with fighting games?” I shake my head. “Hmm...that’s a shame. Neither does Orange Pekoe. So I guess it’s between Miss Anchovy and myself then.” Chovy pops her hands as she pulls out some quarters from her jean pocket. “I’ll have you know I know how to play this game like a pro. I even memorized all the combos for each fighter!” Anchovy bragged to either Darjeeling or me. Do these girls even have a life outside of Sensha-do and nerdy crap? “I won several local tournaments myself in my prefecture. I wouldn’t call myself an amateur either” implied Darjeeling who also put in some quarters into the machine. Both girls are ready to face off in some professional digital ass kicking. At least once they gone past selecting their characters and having the in-game announcer say some stuff in broken English like “Serect ur frighter!” and “Round Run Frighters GO!” like couldn’t they stick to some Japanese prompts instead of trying to sound international with English words. It throws me off sometimes especially with those racing games.
But none of that matters because these girls are going at each other in-game the likes of which I have never seen in person. Both of them are blocking, attacking, and strafing so quickly, it’s hard to keep track of who’s doing what and who’s even winning. All I can really do is look at the health bars for both Darjeeling and Chovy. Neither of them have an edge at first. That is until Darjeeling pulls off some fancy move that ends up draining a quarter of Chovy’s health bar. “What the crap!” cried Chovy who was now frantically pressing buttons. Now Chovy did some other fancy move in-game and drained a whole bunch of health from Darjeeling as well and now they are back to being on an even playing field. Honestly just watching them is making feel a little dizzy.
”Fighting games can be rather tiresome right?” I asked Orange Pekoe. “Yeah, I don’t get them either.” replied Orange Pekoe who looked bored. I look around and try to look for something to do while these girls duke it out. They are taking a long time to even get a K-O. “Oh look they have some light-gun games here. Those are pretty bad ass. Wanna come join me for some co-op?” Orange Pekoe nods her head accordingly and we both walk out on the little competition Chovy and Darjeeling were engaging in. I think Chovy noticed us leave and called out to us! “Hey Tommy! Wait for me! I want to join too! We’ll call this a draw Darjeeling!” Darjeeling sighs. “Fine by me I guess. Might as well have some fun while we are here. After all…” She looks at Chovy and smiles “You should try to spend some quality time with your boyfriend while you are here.” Chovy begins to blush and starts stuttering “B-B-Boyfriend?….errrmm...I-I-I….I mean…” There goes Darjeeling’s teasing as usual. “We’re just good friends Miss Darjeeling” I interject for Chovy to try to calm her down. “Y-Yeah. We’re just friends that’s all.” She did sound a little disappointed when she said that but quickly changed her tone as she seemed to want to focus on having fun at this arcade. “Come on Tommy. Let’s see if we can beat one of these games with one continue!”
So the four of us spent the majority of the night playing various games from light guns, racing games, and even a basketball game where you had to shoot as many hoops into a basket in a limited amount of time. It seems like the whole competition thing has been called off entirely and the mood became less tense as we moved from one arcade game to another. I hate to say it but I think I am starting to have a lot of fun hanging out with these girls. Especially Chovy who’s always full of high energy when it comes to these arcade games. She’ll even do some playful things with me like give me a shove to throw off my aim for those light gun games or try to stare into my eyes when I attempt to beat her at the air hokey table. Suffice to say, we didn’t get to beat any of the arcade games as we were running low on coins by the end of it anyways. Besides, we wanted to save those last few coins for a photo booth. We all wanted to have a group photo followed by our own team photos with Darjeeling and Orange Pekoe alone and then another photo with Chovy and myself.
This particular photo booth that we used had these little filters/borders with various themes ranging from Sensha-do tanks to stuff that would suit couples better like hearts and teddy bears. Our group photo turned out to be really light-heated for it had some space background and a green border around it. I think we did some stupid poses too which is not something I’d ever do personally if someone tried to get a photo of me. But I wasn’t concerned with that one bit tonight as I was having a good time. Once our group photo was done, we got out of the booth and waited for Darjeeling and Orange Pekoe to take their own photo. I look at the group photo picture that was printed out from this booth. The photos themselves are actually sticker backs so you can place them in your books or whatever. I think I’ll probably place them on my laptop when I get home. “You look happy with yourself Tommy. I’d didn’t think you be anything but grumpy when I first met you.” Chovy told me as she looks over my shoulder at the group photo we took. “Well, that’s because I’m not used to being in social situations like this Chovy.” I tell her. “Sure I occasionally hang out with my best friend from school but we are kind of like outcasts in society so it’s not like we do stuff like this.” I hand over half of the stickers to Chovy. “I didn’t think you’d be full of energy either Chovy. Though sometimes you still act kind of shy.” She then looks down at the floor for a bit before turning back her attention towards me. “It’s conflicting sometimes. I do get really nervous around some people. Not if I know them really well like with the Sensha-do members from my school or the other schools but with complete strangers it’s a different story. I’m also not good at singing in front of others. I sometimes feel I’m not confident with my own abilities.” “Not confident?” I reply to her. “Chovy, you’re really talented if I say so myself. I’d seen that tonight even if you were hesitant to show it. That’s more than what I can say for myself.” I shrug my shoulders. “I am not even that good when it comes to school stuff anyways. I just sit at home and browse the web and play degenerate video games.” Chovy shakes her head at me. “I don’t think so. I think you have potential as well. You’re a big help at our family restaurant. Plus you aren’t half bad at karaoke either. I think we are both flawed in our own ways.” I never thought of it like that. Perhaps in some way, we might even complete one another. My heart is racing just thinking about how our relationship might develop but I try not to show it from my face. I have feelings for Chovy but I don’t think I feel like I am ready or even worthy to bring them up to her.
Darjeeling and Orange Pekoe come out from the booth. They also have their own printed photos that they took and give the two of us some copies. They are both sitting properly and straight back in their team photo with Darjeeling doing some weird victory sign with her hand. “Uh… Miss Darjeeling...that’s not a victory hand sign” says Orange Pekoe. I think that’s a vulgar hand sign in some countries like in the United Kingdom it means something very rude…” Darjeeling has a look at the photos. “Oh….that’s rather unfortunate. Well either way it’s unique I think.” She giggles after saying that. “Are you serious Darjeeling?” Chovy adds. “That’s not something a girl from St. Gloriana's should be doing anyways, let alone any of the Sensha-do schools...well maybe other than Bellwall Academy.” “Well either way, it’s still somewhat an English photo. Even if it’s dare I say, vulgar.” Darjeeling then steps aside from Chovy and myself. “I guess it’s our turn now.” I explain to Chovy. “Let’s make our photo a good one.”
Chovy and I step into the booth and sit together at the photo bench. Now to choose a filter and frame. I’m not sure what to choose. “Should we just go for a random option?” I ask Chovy. “Yeah, I think it’s more fun if we don’t know what we’ll get.” she responds back as she selects the random button. What we got for a photo theme was not what I had in mind though. Talk about bad timing too. The background was something you’d see in some romantic anime and the border was all hearts too. I didn’t know what we can do at this point. I’m blushing and she’s blushing too. “Chovy…” I call her name out quietly. “Tommy” she whispers back to me as well. We just sit there quietly and embarrassed as the timer counts down before the camera flashes and takes the photo. “Tommy….I feel warm.” mummers Chovy. “I feel the same too.” I tell her softly. I can feel her hand touching my hand but she’s also shaking and hesitant to proceed any further. I take the imitative and envelop my own hand around hers. Her eyes are wide open and she’s completely red in her cheeks. Her hands are sweating but so are my hands. Nevertheless, I can feel her soft palms in my own grasps. I think I know how I really feel about Chovy. She probably thinks the same way too. But I can’t let it out. I want to embrace her further but this is as much as I can do for now. The camera snaps. The booth prints out sticker copies of our photo. Just as I’d imagine. We are both blushing in the photo with eyes facing right towards the camera lenses though in reality, we were really looking at each other. You can’t see our hands luckily so hopefully the girls outside don’t get the wrong idea. “I’m sorry I did that Chovy.” I mutter to her. She slowly lets go of my hand and gently smiles at me. “Oh it’s nothing. I might of got carried away too.” Chovy...why does she torment my soul like that?
We both get out from the both. Darjeeling and Orange Pekoe are anxious to see the photo we took. It’s kind of embarrassing but we show them the photo anyways. Darjeeling can’t help but smile. “Oh isn’t that just simply lovely.” she said as she pats us both in the back. “You two look so cute together. I really do hope for the best for you both. Especially you Miss Anchovy.” She then shakes both of our hands. “I really enjoyed spending time with both of you. Even if we started off on the wrong foot.” “Even when things got a little embarrassing for ourselves” added Orange Pekoe. “I had a lot of fun.” Anchovy changed her mood back to her normal self and returned the good favor. “You two are welcome to stop by my family restaurant and have some of my famous Anzio cuisine. Free of charge of course. Just don’t tell the girls from Anzio. That’ll be our little deal.” I also pitch in on the formalities. “And we wouldn’t mind having breakfast with you two as well. I’m sure Chovy would be fine with that right?” Chovy nods and also adds “Your tea is actually not bad if I’m being honest. I’d say it’s worth a visit to St. Gloriana’s just for that alone.” Darjeeling clasps her hands together and bows. “Well ladies and this good gentleman you brought tonight Miss Anchovy. I bid you both a goodnight. Orange Pekoe and I will be heading back to our dorms now. Farewell.” “Take care you two.” Orange Pekoe states as she leaves alongside Darjeeling. We both bow and wave goodbye to those two as we also figure out it’s our time to go back home. “I can drop you off at your place since it’s not far off from pizzeria anyways.” Chovy tells me. “I would be more than pleased to drive you back home.” I place my hand on her shoulder. “That would be swell.” “Great! Let’s go home before it gets too late.”
As we are riding back home on the moped, Chovy starts to explain to me her plans for tomorrow. “I’m going to be busy with Sensha-do practice tomorrow so I’m afraid we won’t be able to hang out again until Sunday. Perhaps we should do something then. Just the two of us this time.” I reply back “That sounds good to me. I have to take care of some errands back home anyways. But I look forward to spending some time with you on Sunday. Got any ideas of what we can do?” “Hmm. Not really but I’ll figure it out soon enough. You have my word Tommy.” We finally make a stop at my place of residence. It’s a small house with a iron fence surrounding the property. It’s on the outskirts of town so the area around is more rural compared to housing and apartments located near the downtown area. “You have a nice place Tommy. You’re staying with your parents?” “Yeah, it’s just my mom and myself. I don’t like the school dormitories and I live close to my school anyways.” “Well, you probably already figured out I’m staying at the Anzio School dorms. If you do need anything, you know where to find me. Though I’ll be kind of busy tomorrow but I’ll meet you here again on Sunday.” “Fair enough.” I answer back as I get off from her moped. “I had a great time tonight. You’re a lot of fun to hang around with Chovy.” “Same.” replied Chovy. “I guess I’ll see you again soon Tommy. Take care and goodnight Tommy!” She waves at me before driving off in her moped. I’m internally screaming at myself for not telling her about my feelings. Even though I had a good time tonight, I still have some regrets with myself. I can’t stop thinking about her. It’s going to keep me up all night. Not to mention, I’m not going to see her all day tomorrow. Why did I get myself into this situation. I love it and hate it all at once. Perhaps I should talk about it with my friend on our communication client tomorrow. He needs to hear about all this.