“Here are your noodles,” the waiter arrived, placing down their plates.
“Can I have a fork? I’m gonna starve,” Mano asked, and the waiter chuckled.
“Of course.” He left.
“Why? You know how to use them now,” Ody said.
“Yeah, right. I managed to pick up one piece of sishishi. The noodles are slippery.”
“One what?” Ody burst into laughter.
Mano glared. “They’ll kick us out of here if you keep laughing.”
Ody tried to stop, but failed miserably. “Sishishi!”
“Will you shut up?” Mano hissed. “Stop making fun of me.”
“I’m not making fun of you. You’re just hilarious,” Ody said, still laughing.
“Here is your fork,” the waiter said.
“I’ll stab you,” Mano threatened, gripping it.
“Okay, okay. I’m done.” Ody tried to compose himself. “Just so you know, it’s called sashimi.”
“I don’t care what the hell it’s called,” Mano said, twirling noodles around the fork.
When they finished eating, Ody leaned back. “Wasn’t everything great?”
“Yeah. It was good,” Mano replied, drinking some water.
“Next time you’ll come play basketball with us, right?”
“I don’t know. Don’t push me.” Mano looked away.
“How am I pushing you?”
“I can’t deal with big groups.”
“Is that why you don’t take public transportation?”
“Yeah.” Mano looked back at him.
Ody grew thoughtful. “You know, you haven’t touched your phone at all tonight. Do you remember how glued to it you were when we first met?”
Mano shot him a look and turned away.
“Am I that fascinating today?” Ody teased with a grin.
“I was eating. I only have two hands.”
“You weren’t eating when we were waiting for the food. Or now.” Ody’s smile widened as Mano picked up the phone. “Hey, I’m joking! Put it down.” He placed his hand over Mano’s.
Mano glared but set the phone down.
“You can’t handle big groups. Fine. But small ones? You’re okay with those?”
Mano shrugged. “Depends on how small.”
