John led me to the hostess podium as if he had done it every day. I was busy staring at all the surroundings and hoped the fish in the pond weren’t going to be our dinner.

A short Asian woman with a Cleopatra-like haircut stood behind it and smiled when we approached. “Hello, you have reservation?” she asked in a high-pitched voice.

“Yeah, two for Walden.” His voice was smooth as silk when he spoke. I was surprised the woman wasn’t quivering with his every word.

She ran her long fingernails down the podium. “Okay, two for Walden.” She grabbed two menus from under the podium. “Follow me.”

She turned on her heels and for a little woman she walked very fast. I almost had to run to keep up with John’s long strides and her little feet. She led us into a large room that was probably the size of my high school’s basketball stadium. There were Japanese shoji screens lining the room, and at least twenty giant silver teppan tables had cooks standing behind them prepping food for wide-eyed customers like it was an art form.

“I thought we were getting sushi?” I asked John. I didn’t think they cooked sushi on grills in front of people, but I could have been wrong.

“We are, but we can’t just have sushi alone. You have to get some sukiyaki steak to go with it.”

“But what if I told you that I was a vegetarian?”

John came to a sudden halt as if someone just punched him in the gut. “Are you serious?” He looked at me with big puppy dog eyes.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “No, I’m definitely not, but I just wanted to see the look on your face.”

A small smile appeared on his lips and he squeezed my hand before we continued following the woman. “I’m glad I have you to keep me in check.”

“Likewise, John.”

The woman stopped in front of one of the teppanyaki tables where four other people sat: a gray haired couple and a middle-aged Hispanic couple with matching hipster glasses. I guess our date just got a little bit more crowded.

“Well, this is intimate,” I muttered.

John pulled out my chair for me and I sat down, thinking he didn’t hear me. But he did because he leaned in as he sat down and whispered in my ear, “Half the fun of these places is people-watching the other couples at the table.”

I had to admit, my curiosity was piqued. One of my favorite past times was people watching. Not in a creepy way, but in a way that a future journalist and possible author would do. When people came into the coffee shop I would watch their body language when they ordered and make up their whole life story just by what drink they ordered. A lot of them ended up being cracked out caffeine addicts in my head, but that’s because there were a lot of wired college students.

“What kind of rolls do you want?” he asked.

“Um, what?” I blinked, putting my menu down and staring blankly at him.

“Sushi?” He let out a silent laugh through his nose. “You really aren’t into sushi are you?”

I shook my head. “Oh, no, I didn’t say that.” I sighed. “Okay, moment of truth, I’ve actually never eaten sushi.”

“You’re shitting me, Red.”

I swear the old lady gasped, but looked away when John glanced at her. I guess she wasn’t used to the foul-mouthed guy.

“No, I’m not. I’ve never really had it. There’s just something about raw fish that was never very appealing to me.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Then why did you say you were okay to have sushi tonight?”

I could feel the blush creeping up into my cheeks. I couldn’t think of something witty to say back, so I just told the truth. “Because you were excited about going out to eat and I didn’t want to disappoint you.”

He squeezed my hand. “You could never disappoint me.” His eyes locked on mine and I wasn’t sure if he was talking about sushi or something else entirely.

The gray haired lady leaned over John’s shoulder, smiling. “How long have you two been together?” she asked in a shaky voice.

John turned toward her. “This is actually our first date.”

“Really?” She adjusted her glasses and her eyes looked like they grew to at least twice their size.

I was about to respond and say that we had been friends for awhile or something else lame, but John was quicker to respond, putting his arm around the back of my chair. “Yep. No first date jitters from us.”

She smiled, her lips forming an almost perfect line. “Well, I think you two are destined to be together for awhile. I can tell these things. It’s like I have a sixth sense.”

“What are you jabbering about, Martha?” Her husband peered over her shoulder. For an older guy he looked like someone who was attractive once upon a time. He still had all of his hair that was combed to the side and a full white beard. He could have been a Sean Connery relative.

She glanced back at her husband. “Richard, I was just talking to this lovely couple. It’s their first date. Can you believe it?”

“Really?” He raised his eyebrows. “You two look far too comfortable for this to be a first date.”

John squeezed my shoulder. “Sometimes it just feels right being with someone.”

“Awww.” Martha folded her hands together. “I still remember our first date.” She dropped her hands. “Richard actually showed up late!”

“I didn’t show up late. You just misheard me about the time!” Richard grumbled.

Her eyes narrowed as she turned back to her husband. “I did not! You told me five and you didn’t show up until seven!”

“And I think that is our cue,” John said, turning away from the arguing couple.

“Who do you think is right?” I whispered, glancing over at the couple and then looking back to John.

“I think the guy is always wrong.” He smiled.

“You’re just using first date talk to try and impress me,” I quipped.

“Is it working?”

“Maybe.” I picked the menu back up. “But you should stop stalling and pick out some rolls or whatever for me.”

John ordered some things I’d never heard of and he assured me that none of them contained raw fish. I wondered if he was just saying that they didn’t have raw fish in them so I would try them before judging.

After the sushi came and we ordered the rest of our dinner, an Asian man with a tall, red chef’s cap came up behind the grill. “Hello, hello.” He turned on the grill beneath him and pulled out a cart of different meats and spices.

“Think he always wanted to do this? Or maybe he wanted to be a doctor and just couldn’t get into med school?” John leaned over, whispering in my ear.

“It wasn’t that he couldn’t get into med school. His mother got sick and she told him he had to stay here and fulfill his destiny to work at an Asian restaurant,” I whispered, trying to keep from giggling.

“Mother knows best.” His lips tickled my earlobe and I couldn’t help but let a small laugh escape.

“Hey, lovebirds, do I have your order right or are you too busy necking to notice?” the chef asked, pointing at us with one of his cooking knives.

I snapped my head up and could feel my cheeks flush, but as usual John was as cool as a cucumber. He smiled and looked at the chef. “We weren’t necking...yet. But I’m sure we will be as soon as you’re done making our steaks.”

The hipster couple shook their heads, but I could hear Martha awwing at us again. Luckily the chef had a sense of humor, but it still embarrassed the heck out of me.

“Okay, red meat and then necking. Gotcha. You need some wine? Or music to set the mood?” he asked, playing an invisible violin on his shoulder.

“That would be great,” John said.

“I try and make the night as romantic for you as possible,” the chef said as he cracked an egg on the grill and then started humming “Let’s get it on” by Marvin Gaye.

My nights with John were always interesting.

* * *

After dinner, and after I’d been embarrassed enough by John and the chef, we got back into John’s car and instead of turning toward campus, he went the other way.

“Um, you know this is going toward the highway and not my apartment, right?”

He didn’t look at me, but smiled. “Yeah, Red, I know where I’m going.”

It hadn’t started to snow yet, but the temperature dropped enough that it looked like the clouds could just burst open and we’d have a blizzard at any moment.

“Then where are we going?” I asked.

He shook his head. “That’s a surprise. I can’t give away all of my secrets.”

“If this is a first date, shouldn’t you be like groveling to keep me happy or something?”

His smile turned into an all out grin. “How many first dates have you been on? It’s the girl that usually cares more about all that impressing shit. The guy just usually does whatever he can in hopes that he will get invited back up to her room after it’s over.”

I almost choked on my own spit and had to pound my fist against my chest. “Is that what you’re doing?”

“Red, if I wanted to get you in bed, I don’t think I’d need to take you out to dinner first.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “I told you I wasn’t going to sleep with you tonight and I meant that.”

“Geez, cool down. I was just joking.” He put his hand on my knee. “Will you just enjoy your time with me and stop thinking I’m going to trick you or something?”

I blew a big puff of air out of my nose. I didn’t have an answer. At least not one that I could say out loud. I didn’t know what we were half the time. One minute I would think we were on the path to a relationship and then he’d get a lap dance from a girl or I’d do something stupid. He wasn’t like Robby, that was for sure. But it may have been my comparing him to Robby that was holding me back.