Geek Meets Chic

I knew the guy would go all out in this sushi restaurant, but I had no idea that he’d even order wine for me. Things got weird when I pulled up and realized that this kind of sushi place needed me to put away my yellow mouse hat in the back seat.

Oh my God, this was a Sushi Steakhouse place!

It’s not like I didn’t come looking nice, but I didn’t come looking that nice! Like, I chose a video game motif that wouldn’t be that tacky or mind-blowing for someone who wasn’t a part of the culture! Golden triangles are pretty, right? Black and gold! Nice and classy!

This kind of made me more nervous because I still had my sneakers on, plus my trusty anime watch. I had to check it! Okay! I was still ten minutes early!

Why were first dates always like an interview?

So his name was Aaron, and I totally met him in the theater department. I don’t do stage, but if I wanted to be the master of cosplay, I had to learn how to do costumes! We wear work clothes over there, and he’s played the main antagonist of the last three plays that the Gardenview Theater has put on!

He thought I was cute!

I didn’t know he was rich!

At least rich enough to ask me out here!

So I sat there in my flare-out yellow skirt and knee-high socks and in walks Mr. Gorgeous!

“Aaron! Hi!”

I was expecting him to flinch or something because he had this nice buttoned-down blouse and slacks, and, oh my God, his shoes were polished! He even had a tie on!

He looked at me like Mamoru looked at Usagi! I would have melted if he called me dumpling head!

It was a smirk, but his eyes were, like, lit up!

“Ready to show me the world of sushi, Nan?”

AHHHHHH!

I wanted to scream! All I could do was squeak.

“Yup!”

I got up from my seat, and he gave me a hand up. It wasn’t holding hands, but it was nice! I usually have my hair up because I work with glue guns and other hot things when I’m in the costume shop.

We walked to our table and were seated and everything! I was glad nobody was looking at my shoes! They weren’t even black!

Then he wanted to order wine.

“Do you like merlot?”

“Huh? No, I usually have saké with sushi when I want a treat, but you can introduce me if you like!”

“Why don’t we introduce each other? I’ve never had saké!”

I didn’t even look at the menu that long to know that this guy had some money to blow. I didn’t know how to react about it, really. I just never got the attention of someone rich before!

“Sure thing! Wow! You’re really treating me tonight!”

“Well, when you’ve been around the block like me, you get bored of the same old girls. Same old games, same old politics. I just wanted something fun and different in my life.”

“Fun and different? I got that on the resume! Totally!’

I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks as I laughed. Was he looking for different? I can do different!

He just leaned on his hand and smiled at me. It was kind of hard to know what he was thinking, but the wines were ordered and I looked at the menu.

“Ooookay” Aaron said as he looked at the menu. “I’m fine with the price tags, but I have no idea where to start with this.”

“You’ve never had sushi?”

“Not a bite.”

Sushi master to the rescue!

“Okay, does raw fish make you squeamish? Cause we can totally do cooked nigiri like eel!”

“They sell eel here? Oh that’s posh!”

“Yup! Unagi!”

“Tell you what, I need a story to tell the set when we get back this weekend! Give me the creepiest thing on the menu!”

“Oh come on! I wanna see if we do well together! I don’t wanna scare you off!”

“Alright, then! Game of trust! You order for me, I order for you!”

“Deal!”

He wanted creepy, but I didn’t want to scare him off. Nigiri didn’t look like the fish was staring at you, but eel and octopus were daring enough without getting too squeamish.

Then the waiter showed up. I got him a whole set of nigiri to try, making sure he had some tuna if the “creepy” stuff wasn’t what he liked.

He ordered me Wagyu steak.

I blinked for a few moments and nearly dropped my jaw like the tuna he was about to eat.

“Wagyu?! Are you sure?”

He just laughed and leaned back in his side of the booth.

“The look on your face is worth it!”

I was about to eat some of the rarest beef in the world. My glasses almost fell off, and apparently, he found my spazzing adorable.

“For real! You could of asked Clarice out!”

“I did about a year and a half ago. She decided to go with Bryan even after I wined and dined her. The fact that I ate meat offended her.”

“Uhhhh, first class carnivore!”

I raised my hand and laughed nervously. Aaron leaned forward and smiled.

“See, you don’t expect me to do this. You’re here because you thought I was fun.”

“I saw you in the Phantom last year! I was working for the Anime Convention that year, but I went with my mom. When I saw you backstage, I really liked your jokes!”

“See, I heard you came with a cosplay background, and I kept wondering who was doing the plastic work for all the weapons. You came in to work this year, and I heard you laugh.”

“You like my laugh? Seriously?”

“I like how legit you are. What you see is what you get, and my dad kept telling me to look for a girl like that. Never listened until now.”

“Never really considered that a positive thing, especially in high school!”

“Now, I’ve never dated a nerd girl, but I’m crazy about movies. If I introduce you to movies, you can teach me whatever fan-“

“You like horror anime?”

“Trade you for Alfred Hitchcock!”

“Deal!”

I raised my saké, and he raised his merlot. We clanked glasses, and all I could do was giggle! Deep down, I wasn’t sure I could keep up with Aaron, but at least for now, we were going to have a blast!

His sushi showed up, and so did my beef. I started crying tears of joy. Aaron laughed too, just enjoying all the weird expressions I made. Then it was his turn when I told him what his sushi was. I gave out this evil laugh.

He returned it with his evil laugh from the show. He always played the bad guy!

In the end, though, he wasn’t such a bad guy after all!