Ink

“You sure you don’t want something to eat?” he said, breaking his wooden chopsticks apart. I held up my hand.

“I’m fine,” I said. He narrowed his eyes at me.

“I know what it is,” he said. “You’re scared I’m going to try and pay for you.”

The heat prickled up my neck. “It’s not that at all,” I stuttered.

“No problem,” he said, “because I’m not going to.”

“What?”

He raised an eyebrow and shone a cocky grin at me.

“I’m pretty broke at the moment. So order yourself something and I won’t protest, promise.”

“Fine,” I mumbled. I called the waitress over and ordered a bowl of gyudon. Tomohiro picked at his meal until mine came, and by then his curry was cold. But even though I insisted he go ahead and eat, he just prodded it.

When my bowl of teriyaki beef and rice arrived, Tomohiro just about leaped out of his seat.

“Itadakimasu!” he shouted, clasping his hands together and wolfing down the pork cutlet.

He took a gulp of his water to wash it down. “I’m starving,” he said, but the sound of the childish words he chose made me snort. “Peko peko” coming from the mouth of someone like Tomohiro.

“So are you convinced now that I’m not up to anything?” he asked, his chopsticks suspended in the air between bites.

“Not even close,” I said. “But why did you do that to me, the day after I saw you with Myu?” I said. He raised his eyebrows and looked sincerely puzzled.

“Do what?”

“Oh, please, like you don’t remember. You waited for me at the gate, and then you walked past me all dangerous-like.” And too close, I added to myself. The smell of his vanilla hair gel, the heat of his shoulder grazing mine. And then, you know, he proceeded to look up my skirt, but did we really need to remember that part?