‘It’s going to be a long day.’
Isaac’s assumption was correct, as without a shred of mercy, the cursed building stole his day off. After repairing Alice’s sink, he had to fix a dishwasher, install some new wiring, remake an apartment floor, and remove several dead rodents that had hidden in the walls during the winter and had now begun to stink.
With the day spent, he returned to his own apartment to crash on his couch. He was exhausted but in good spirits. He was looking forward to his date the next night, and for some reason, he was more excited than he would be for any other date. That excitement carried him on through the next day, where he met with a client across Portland who wanted to renovate his art studio. As Isaac spoke about the budget and materials and looked over blueprints, his mind kept drifting back to Holly.
It was thirty seconds to 7:00 when Isaac pulled into the parking lot of the diner. There, standing at the entrance, was Holly. Her clothes were very simple, a pair of jeans with a white blouse and black tank top underneath, but the smile on her face was sparkling. Before arriving, Isaac had thoroughly showered and shaved and cleaned the cab of his pickup to the point where it looked like it had just rolled off the assembly line. Stepping out of the truck, he walked towards her with the same smile.
“I’m glad you came,” he said.
“You told me to, and I don’t like disobeying people. But thank you, I know I said I hate having to make decisions. I’m really happy, I’ve never been on a date before,” she said nervously, avoiding his gaze with her face blushing. Damn, she was so adorable.
“You’ll have a fun time. I know the perfect restaurant and there is a movie playing that I think you’ll love.”
He extended his hand to take hers, and just like in the diner, she let his fingers enwrap hers and relished the feeling of his gentle yet firm grip.
Holly stared at the chopsticks with wonder and confusion and her eyes widened as she scanned the menu of the Japanese restaurant. Isaac watched her with a silent laugh, amused by her reaction to entering such a place for the first time. The restaurant was one of his favorites. He often came here with other contractors when he was hired to work at large scenes that required more than one man. Upon entering the restaurant, the customer faced a long bar stocked with sake. To the right, several booths were set up with low tables and traditional Japanese floor pillows with potted bamboo for decoration. To the left of the bar, past a large babbling water fountain, were the regular tables.
“I take it you’ve never eaten at a place like this?” Isaac asked.
“No, never! I heard a couple stories from my sisters when they went out on dates, but I’ve never even heard of these foods!”
“Your sisters?”
“Oh, yeah, the other girls at orphanage. They were all my sisters and the boys were all my brothers, well I at least thought of them that way. When I was little, there was a rule that only the older kids could go out on dates and have fun on the weekends. Unfortunately, when one of my sisters ended up getting pregnant, that privilege was taken away. Other than the diner, this is the first time I’ve ever been in a restaurant. In fact, I almost never left the orphanage.”
“So tell me more about the orphanage, I’m curious as to how your grew up.”
While a simple and routine question, Holly blushed at the inquiry. There were many things she had never experienced, one them feeling the bliss of someone’s attention and curiosity, especially someone so handsome. About to reply, she was stopped when the waiter came to get their drink orders. Isaac ordered a rum and coke, but Holly decided to just go with water.
When the waiter left, Isaac repeated the question, while careful not to be too pushy. “Please, I want to know more about you.”
“Well… uh… Like I said before, there were a lot of other kids, about two-dozen boys and girls. I actually never spent much time with the boys, the boys and girls were almost always divided up. I believe I told you the orphanage was on a farm? Well the boys and girls got different chores every morning. My sisters and I took care of the animals, cooked, cleaned, and learned homemaking skills, while the boys worked in the fields and outside.
After lunch, we were home schooled, again in different rooms. At 5:00, we would be allowed to play until dinner. I was never really sure what to do, so I just followed my sisters around and did whatever they told me to do.”
“Whatever they told you? Come on, there must have been some game that was your favorite.”
Holly looked away, blushing in embarrassment but with a small smile on her lips.
“I… I liked pretending I was their pet. My favorite game was always pretending to be a cat or dog. My foster parents who ran the orphanage made me stop it when I got older, but I always loved acting like a pet. I would crawl around on all fours, I would beg at the table, I would even bark or meow when people talked to me.
Oh, what am I doing? You don’t want to hear about this!”
Isaac chuckled at her cuteness and reached out and placed his hand on hers. “No, I do want to hear this. I want to know all about you.”
Isaac spoke the words with complete honesty. When he first saw Holly, he had been uncertain as to how long a possible relationship could last. He was ten years older than her after all. But every time he looked at her face and saw her bright smile, every time he heard her talk, he imagined the expiration date being pushed back farther and farther.
The waiter came back with their drinks and asked Isaac and Holly what they wanted for dinner. Isaac decided to go with the breaded pork, and indecisive as she was, Holly asked him to order for her. From there, the date truly blossomed with conversation becoming second nature to the two of them.
Isaac told Holly about some of the jobs he and his dad had worked on, told her about what public school had been like, and described his apartment building and the tenants. Likewise, Holly told endless stories about her and her sisters, talked about the animals she helped raise, and described what it was like being a surrogate mom to many of the youngest children as she got older.
Doing far more talking than eating, they finally left the restaurant at a quarter to nine, giving them just enough time to get to the theater. Exiting the restaurant and walking back to Isaac’s truck, Holly leaned over and clutched Isaac’s arm, smiling from her overwhelming happiness. Isaac was happy as well; this girl was already leaving a deep imprint in his mind, not to mention the sensation of her breasts against his arm was beginning to make him hard.
“Have you ever been to a movie theater before?” Isaac asked as they drove through Portland.
“No, but every week we would get to watch a movie at the orphanage. I loved the romantic movies the most, but I also really liked comedies.”
“Well you’ll probably like this one, it’s a comedy called A Million Ways To Die In The West. It’s supposed to be hilarious.”