Once we’re seated, I order a bottle of cold sake for the table and look up to see Damon sitting with a bewildered expression on his face.
“Oh, my bad, D. Did you want something different?” I could have sworn he liked sake.
“Uh, no. No, sake’s perfect.” He smiles at the waiter and hands him the drink menu. “Thank you.”
We spend lunch reminiscing and laughing over the stupid shit we did growing up.
I can barely catch my breath when he asks, “Do you remember your prom-posal to Sara?”
I’m wheezing as I try to remember why in the hell I thought it was a good idea to rent a hearse and put a sign in the window that said, ‘Let’s dance until we drop.’
“I mean, okay, the execution wasn’t great, but she agreed to go with me, didn’t she?” I ask, wiping literal tears off my face.
Damon sobers quickly. “Yeah, she did.”
“Come to think of it, I don’t remember you being at senior prom,” I point out.
“That’s because I didn’t go.”
“How the fuck did I not remember that?” I ask, horrified.
“You were pretty wrapped up in Sara,” he reminds me.
I huff a humorless laugh. “Yeah, right up until she decided she wanted to date someone, and I quote, ‘who had more direction for their future.’”
“Joke’s on her, Li, you’re doing just fine,” Damon says reassuringly.
“I’m not, but I will be.” I send a wink his way, and before he can ask any follow-up questions, our waiter brings another bottle of sake over, and Damon pours it into the small glasses.
“A toast,” Damon says, raising his tiny cup.
I mirror his gesture, waiting for him to continue.
“To Sara, for being too blind to see the man she had, and for driving him into my arms.”
I rememberthatday well.
Sara dumped me three days after senior prom, and I was so upset, I sent Damon a text asking if he would ditch class with me. With no questions asked, he left school right in the middle of his English class and met me at the corner gas station, where we left my car, and I climbed into his.
He didn’t fill the silence; he just let me be in my feels as we drove around back roads with the windows down. I didn’t have to think about where we were going, when we were coming back, or if we were going to get in trouble. Damon took care of everything, just like he always did.
“We need a redo,” I blurt, throwing my sake back as though it’s a tequila shot.
Damon looks at me with a blank expression. “You know you’re supposed tosipthat, right?”
I give him the same look right back. “Andyouknow I ingest more liquid when I brush my teeth than what’s in this tiny-ass cup, right? This whole thing is asip.”
He snorts and expertly uses his chopsticks to shove another piece of tuna roll into his mouth.
“As I was saying…aredo,” I repeat, putting us back on track.
“A redo of what? Your breakup? No thanks,” he says.
“No, dumbass. Senior prom.” He cocks a brow at me as I continue, “But this time, we’re going with the dates we should have taken back then.”
His face falls.
“Damon, I meaneach other.” Instantly, his face perks back up. “Fuck’s sake, dude, I thought I was the slow one in this relationship.”
