Date?!
I stared at Kenji, mouth open.
"Are you serious?"
"Well, why not?" he asked, sitting down again. "Your ghost isn't going anywhere, so rather than sitting around twiddling our thumbs, waiting for Pinky, let's go out and do something."
I looked at him in silence.
"If it's the 'date' part you're worried about, we don't have to call it that," he said softly.
I looked down at my feet, scraping my shoes against the ground.
"...okay."
Kenji stood, abruptly.
"Okay as in 'okay, let's go out on a date', or as in 'okay, we won't call it a date'...?"
"Let's go out..." I cleared my throat. "...on a date."
I glanced up at Kenji. He was grinning from ear to ear.
"Okay!" he said brightly, and I felt myself beginning to grin as well.
"So, what did you have in mind?"
"Huh..." he said thoughtfully. "I hadn't thought that far ahead."
I gave an amused snort as he frowned, trying to think of something.
"I guess, first of all, we could go have lunch."
"Okay. You pick a place."
We walked a few blocks, finally settling on a small place where we ordered grilled sandwiches. We sat in a corner and enjoyed our food while making quiet small talk.
"We haven't really spent any time like this, just you and me, before," Kenji said, smiling at me. "It's nice."
"Yeah," I agreed. I looked up, meeting his eyes. The look in them made my heart flutter.
"Can I ask you something?" I said, finishing the last of my sandwich.
"Shoot."
"How come you're not seeing anyone?"
Kenji raised his eyebrows.
"I always figured you'd be dating someone by now, but Matt and Jeff said you haven't been seeing anyone at all. I'm just curious," I shrugged.
"Well..." he leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table, and looked me deeply in the eyes. "Why move on when you know something's worth waiting for? It's kinda pointless... don't you think?"
I couldn't stop myself from blushing.
"I guess..." I said, turning my head away. He laughed quietly.
After lunch we went for a walk, showing each other our favorite stores. I took Kenji to the place where I buy most of my clothes. He bought himself a black leather jacket, in which he looked good enough to eat. After we left the store Kenji showed me an awesome used bookstore called "Alex's Dungeon", that specialized in sci-fi, horror, fantasy and graphic novels. I could have browsed in there for hours. I was happy to find a short story collection by Poppy Z. Brite that I hadn't read yet.
When they saw me, the two guys that worked there started whispering to each other. As I walked to the register to pay for the book, one of them cleared his throat.
"Hey... you're Ash Lucas, right?"
"Yeah...?" I said, surprised.
"I knew it!" he whispered to the other guy. "I saw you at that exhibition a while back. I love your work. I'm Alex, I own the store."
"I'm John," the other guy introduced himself.
"It's a great store," I said, shaking their hands. "I'll definitely be coming here again."
"Awesome," Alex said, then glanced at the book I had placed on the counter. "Listen, how about a trade: I'll let you have that book free of charge if you'll sign this."
He rolled out a poster from Grave Dirt, of a woman in a Victorian mourning dress, holding her dead lover in her arms. Next to them is his opened grave, a shovel sticking out of it. One of my best designs.
"You've got a deal," I said. Alex fished out a black marker from a drawer and handed it to me. I signed the poster, shook his hand again, then me and Kenji left.
"It feels really glamorous, going out with a celebrity," Kenji smirked, nudging my shoulder.
"Shut up!" I laughed.
We walked around for another hour, then we went back to Kenji's place to drop off our stuff and change clothes, as we were going to dinner and then to the club later. I rummaged through my bag, looking for something to wear. I hadn't really paid attention to what clothes I'd shoved in there when I packed the bag. I was in luck: I had a nice, black shirt and my best pair of jeans. Not too shabby. I ran my fingers through my hair and went out into the living room.
Once I got a look at Kenji I felt my heart beat a little faster. He had on a midnight blue long sleeved t-shirt that clung to his body, black jeans and boots. His new leather jacket was slung over his arm. He smiled when he saw me and stood looking at me in silence.
"You look great," he said after a minute.
"So do you."
"Ready?"
"Yeah."
I grabbed my wallet and jacket and we left. We had decided to forgo the usual place this time, and had instead decided on a small Italian place. I had mushroom tagliatelle and Kenji had the carbonara. For dessert we shared a piece of chocolate cake and had espresso.
I was really enjoying myself. I was surprised at how easy it was, being out on a real date with Kenji like this. Not once had I hesitated or questioned if I was really ready for something like this. I had thought I would be a nervous wreck, but I wasn't. I was remarkably at calm.
After dinner we went to the club. We sat down by the bar, and ordered a couple of beers. We sat talking, when someone next to me drawled:
