CHAPTER 6: IT ENDS HERE
Hello, everyone. Train Boy speaking. I’m home. I’m not gonna beat about the bush, so let’s cut to the chase tonight…
We agreed to meet at the Hogsmeade main subway station at 8. It’s only about an hour away from my home, but I ended up getting out of the house 2 hours earlier than I should. Obviously since I got there an hour later, I ended up waiting there for the next hour.
I really was desperate.
I looked up from the magazine I bought from home and saw many couples passing by in front of me. They were all dressed in the nines and were rather lovey-dovey with each other, which kinda contrasted the situation I was in. Could that really be how I might be if Dragon Guy and I were…?
Now let’s not get ahead of ourselves, I told myself as I checked my watch. It’s already 8:05pm. He should be here by now…
Speak of the devil. As soon as I thought that, I heard pitter-patter of steps coming towards me. It was Dragon Guy, resting himself on his knees trying to catch his breath. When he finally stood up straight, he was a beauty to behold, just like the first time I saw him.
He wore a plain shirt buttoned up all the way up to the first three, showing a little of his torso. He was wearing two tribal necklaces, one longer than the other, and his shirt was matched with a black jacket with white thin stripes. He wore a pair of designer denim jeans and was sporting a pair of casual leather shoes. When he looked up at me, his panting face was tinted pink with the exercise as he smiled apologetically.
“Sorry I’m late. You waited long?”
His statement about not letting me have high expectations just didn’t do him justice right now.
“Oh, it’s…it’s OK, really,” I replied, stuttering as usual. “I’m the one who got ahead.”
“It’s been a while, Train Boy.”
“Yeah, you too, Dragon Guy.”
Suddenly he came very close to me, staring me down with his grey eyes. What? Did I say something wrong? Did I have a snot hanging on my nose or something? Eye boogers, maybe…?
“You weren’t lying about looking different tonight,” Dragon Guy commented. “I didn’t know you actually have jade-green eyes.”
“R…Really? I got those from my mother,” I sighed in relief.
“She must be a beautiful woman.”
“She was…”
“Oh, I…I’m sorry,” Dragon Guy looked awkward. I smiled and waved it away good-naturedly.
“It’s alright, really. I never really knew her or my dad either. Probably that’s why I lacked fashion sense back then. I really wanted to try changing myself a little, though it’s not much…”
“I think it suits you.”
“Th…Thanks…”
“Shall we go now?” Dragon Guy jerked his head a little.
“Yeah. This way, please.”
We left the subway station and went through the crowd of people. We had to squeeze through the area and Dragon Guy seemed to have a bit of a hard time keeping up.
“Feels like it’s rather crowded this time of night,” I commented, making small talk.
“Yeah,” Dragon Guy agree. “Can’t blame ‘em. It’s the weekend, after all.”
Due to my fear of losing him, I kept looking back from time to time to see if he was right behind me. He tried to tell me he was alright, and all I could say was “Alrighty”, which was friggin’ lame, by the way, but I couldn’t help looking back at him every minute or so, worrying over him and terrified that if I didn’t look, he’d be gone from me forever.
“There. It’ll be much better if I hold onto you.”
My mind suddenly went blank. I felt something grabbing my elbow. I saw grey eyes looking at me casually. I saw a hand with slender fingers grasping on my arm and digging lightly through my sleeve. The whole thing took about 10 seconds to sink into my brain.
He is holding my arm!!!
I instinctively backed away, forcing him to let go. Impossible! My brain screamed in denial. Impossible! He held my arm! Impossible!
“S…Sorry…I didn’t mean to frighten you,” Dragon Guy apologized, his cheeks gaining a little colour.
“N-No…um…Uh…It’s OK…”
That was when I realized as I led him to our destination that I had always wanted to say “Let’s hold hands” from the moment we walked through the crowd, and in the end, I blew it. I felt like kicking my own ass for this. Words like ‘Coward’, ‘Moron’, ‘Asshole’, ‘Idiot’, ‘Stupid’, ‘Bird-brain’ and ‘Dumb-ass’ kept repeating in my head as we reached our dinner spot.
The place we were having our good old-fashioned English dinner was in The Leaking Cauldron, which served the best vintage English food in all of Hogsmeade. The waiter led us to our seat in a private room according to my reservation and Dragon Guy looked around the place in awe.
“Wow. This place’s got great ambience.”
“Is it?” I smiled in swelled pride, “Glad you like it. I really like this place too.”
Although this is only my second time being here.
“Are you ready to order, sir?”
“Sure,” Dragon Guy replied, then turned to me. “What do you recommend, Train Boy? Since you’ve been here, I let you be the judge.”
“Alright,” I replied and turned to the waiter, “I would like the London Specialty set. Make my steak medium rare and my vegetables buttered and potatoes mashed. Oh, and please give me grapefruit wine.”
“Very well, sir. Will there be anything else?”
“No, that’ll be all, thanks,” I replied, then I saw Dragon Guy looking at me like he had never seen me before. “What?”
“You…actually drink?” Dragon Guy asked, genuinely surprised.
“Uh…yeah. Why?”
“Sorry,” Dragon Guy chuckled nervously. “It’s just that you don’t strike me as the kind who drinks.”
“Err…OK…” I felt a little awkward. Why? Does he think I’m really that bad of a geek? Oh boy…
“And for you, sir?” the waiter turned to Dragon Guy.
“I’ll have what he’s having, and a second glass for me for his wine.”
“Very well. Please wait a moment. In the meantime, shall I get you our complimentary appetizer?”
I nodded and the waiter excused himself. Less than a minute later, the waiter brought Caesar Salad for two and our wine. We decided to wait for our meal before we opened the wine to drink. I apologized for making him drink with me, but he seemed to be sipping happily, not minding it at all. In fact, he praised me for recommending the food and he claimed he enjoyed every taste of it. We even ordered some side dishes based on my recommendation and he liked them as well. Thank goodness I did my homework on this place beforehand.
“So you come here often, Train Boy?” he asked.
“Um…well, how should I put this…” I tried to get my words right. “You can say I only liked this place recently.”
“Ah, I see,” Dragon Guy replied almost knowingly. “I’m also more of a food hunter myself. I enjoy going everywhere to try out new cuisines once in a while.”
“That’s good. I heard there are plenty of other restaurants like these…”
We spent the better half of dinner talking about food places we both heard of, and I whipped out my expertise in surveying the restaurants and cafes from my chat friend’s list. Some of them he never heard of, but was interested to try, and some of them he knew of it and had been there before.
“But then again,” Dragon Guy took a sip from the glass. “I don’t get to do that very often now.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“I used to go with my friends and all, being all adventurous and find anything edible around town, but they’ve all got girlfriends and boyfriends now, so they’ve sorta forgotten lil’ ol’ me. Although it can’t be helped, I suppose.”
“Oh, so that’s how it is.”
“So it’s been like forever since I’ve eaten out with someone like this. I’m glad you asked me out.”
I blushed at that comment.
“I’m…I’m glad I did.”
We talked for a while long after we’ve done eating, but we noticed the place starting to get a little crowded with people who came in for late dinners. We exchanged looks, agreeing through eye contact that it was high time we left. We finished our drink and called for the bill. I wanted to hurry up and be the gentleman and whip out a huge fat dollar bill, but Dragon Guy beat me to it with a credit card.
“Sorry. I forgot to withdraw money today, so it’s on me for the moment.”
“Um…OK…”
Working people like him sure beats part-time students like me!
We left the restaurant and reveled in the moment that we truly enjoyed our dinner, particularly Dragon Guy.
“That was an awesome meal.”
“I agree,” I replied briefly.
“So…shall we go now?”
“Yeah, let’s.”
The streets were less crowded now. We walked side by side in silence. I didn’t know what else to say. I ran out of topics at the Leaking Cauldron, and I realized this was it. We were going to go home, part our separate ways at the subway station and then this would be it. Everything would be over and we would never see each other again…
Suddenly, Dragon Guy stopped. He was checking his watch, looking a little hesitant. He then looked up to me and bit his lip, looking like he wanted to say something. What’s wrong? Was he…?
“You know…it’s…still kinda early…don’t you think?”
It took me 5 seconds to get his point.
“Yes! Yes, of course! I agree!”
Gods of all religion, I love you guys right now!
No comments:
Post a Comment