Amanda was the kind of friend who was always full of great ideas.
Amanda was not the kind of friend who always followed through on her great ideas.
Amanda posted one of her great ideas after final exams; "Hey everyone! If you're staying in town over the summer, let's all get together for Chinese food. 2Nite at 6. Be at that little hole-in-the-wall across town, The Wok and Roll. C U there!"
I had a Tuesday lab with Amanda and shared several classes with her, so I thought I'd likely know some of the others in Amanda's circle. Perhaps it was time to stretch my boundaries with some new acquaintances, since most of my closer mates had other plans for the summer and had just left town. Starting the summer with an informal night of sharing Chinese food after finishing exams, that sounded like a great plan to start my senior year - I certainly didn't have any better ideas.
I drove up to the Wok and Roll. I arrived early, not wanting to be late, but then I kicked myself for being too early. I walked into the little restaurant, a converted small, old house and selected a table that I hoped would be large enough to seat all of Amanda's friends -- once they arrived. I told the proprietress that I was waiting for a few more before we all ordered. She asked, "How many?" I said I didn't know. That earned me a dismissive glower.
I waited, checked the time, and waited. Then I doubted that I was at the right place. I rechecked Amanda's message. I was at the right place. Why am I always the fool who gets stood-up by girls that do not follow through with their plans?
While I was wondering if I should leave, the proprietress looked at me frequently as if I was up to no good. I watched an old car pull into the parking lot, telling myself that if this was not Amanda or one of her friends, I'd call it quits. I'd slink away from the hostile glare of the Chinese proprietress and order a greasy cheeseburger and a strawberry shake somewhere else. It'd be another dinner for one. It'd be my reward for my trouble and it might take the edge off the bitter taste of my gullibility.
I recognized the woman who stepped out of the car and walked through the door. She was a year behind me, she had a couple of classes with me and Amanda. I struggle with names, but I remembered her name, Rori. As she stepped inside, she looked around the vacant room with hesitation. She did not seem to see me, or at any rate recognize me sitting at the large table across the room. I lifted my arm and made a gesture that was not overly familiar, but enough of a movement to catch her eye. She looked at me, but her expression was somewhat blank and I thought I recognized some disappointment recorded in her blankness as well. I stood and stepped toward Rori and introduced myself, "Good evening, I'm Carl, one of Amanda's friends..."
Rori let the corners of her mouth turn up a bit as she brushed her wavy, light brown hair off her shoulder, "I know that," interrupting me in mid introduction. I couldn't tell if she meant that to be dismissive as if she felt insulted, or if she meant it more as 'yes, happy to see you here'.
I pulled a chair out from the large table as a gesture to seat her. She threw her elbows up on the table and waited for me to be seated across from her and then commented, "Well, quite the gentleman this evening." Again, I could not be sure if she was somehow insulted and was being dismissive of my gesture of best-intentions or whether I'd perhaps lucked into a good social start for the evening. I hoped it was the latter and planned to pretend as if that was the case, whether it really was what she was thinking, or not.
Rori swiftly threw her head from side-to-side to cast her glance around the Wok and Roll dining room and then folded her arms on the table top and asked, "How many did Amanda invite?"
I shrugged, "She seems to have invited three and I fear that the third person lost the invitation."
"The third person being Amanda -- right?" Rori looked at me as if to confirm that I'd made a joke, or perhaps checking to see if I was just that clueless.
I broke into a smile, feeling it was now necessary to laugh or at least smile at my own humor. Rori then laughed with me, not at me. I continued, "If you've got better information, I'd love to hear it."
"I got nothing. Other than this is sooo typical of Amanda!" Rori smirked and shook her head in a dismissive gesture of exasperation at Amanda's no-show.
"They say, two out of three ain't bad. At least that's what I've always heard." I took a sideways look at the girl across from me, "And this time I'd have to agree with 'em. May I buy you dinner tonight?" I asked with what I hoped was a winning smile and not something creepy.
Rori smiled again, "Well, quite the gentleman this evening," was her answer. Rori dropped her head and looked across the large table, "What are you going to have?"
I paused, pressed my open palms together in front of my lips and closed my eyes for a moment, I then reopened them. With a deadpan expression I said, "Your name is Rori, right?" She nodded with a quizzical look. "If I am not mistaken, that is an old and venerable Chinese name from the Wu Tang Dynasty of the 11th Century. Why don't you order for the both of us?"
I could see she didn't know how to take that offbeat suggestion. She asked in an honestly confused voice, "Are you serious? Because if you are, you are mistaken."
"Oh, my apologies; did I say 11th Century? I meant to say 12th Century -- thanks for catching that! However, I am most certain that Rori is a most honorable name from China."
Rori now caught my jest and pressed her palms together and brought them up in front of her lips and said, "A-so" as she nodded her head.
I remarked, "Your fluency in Japanese is making me hungry for Chinese food." I hit my hand on the table in a chopping motion and told her, "Chop chop! Order us some Chinese food, most honorable Miss Rori."
She laughed out loud and replied, "As you wish."
The dour proprietress was satisfied to finally take our order. At Rori's request, she brought us chopsticks. "You did say 'chop chop', isn't this what you wanted?" She asked as she picked a piece of Mu Shu Pork off of my plate. She then parried my chopsticks with hers as I reached toward her meal as I tried to remove a piece of Mongolian shrimp from her plate. It was an evening of chopstick wars and a source of some consternation from the severe proprietress lurking with a jaundiced eye behind the counter.
We received our fortune cookies after I paid the tab. I offered Rori her pick of the two cookies. She selected hers and then waited for me to peel the cellophane wrapper from my cookie. Rori leaned across the table with an intent stare and cleared her throat as if she had something serious to announce. "Carl, you must follow the ancient tradition of the Wu Tang Dynasty when eating your fortune cookie. You have to read your fortune aloud to me --
and
you must insert the phrase
'in bed'
at the end of the fortune." She tried to not break character, but I detected a smile in her eyes as she introduced this ancient Chinese custom to the end of our meal.
"What about you and your fortune?" I asked playfully indignant.
"A gentleman will not make a lady reveal her fortune, especially 'in bed'. It is a lady's prerogative to read her fortune to a gentleman, only if she so chooses. Besides, it has been an old Chinese custom since the 11th or 12th Century, the height of the Wu Tang Dynasty." Rori humphed with a coy tone.
