Bab 62: Day of Birth
*Bip-Bip-Bip*
*Bip-Bip-Bip*
Ori groans as he turns off the alarm, tiredly sitting up and glancing at the notification... "Oh... It's today huh...?"
Somehow he was surprised, despite how dumb that sounded... It was his birthday, and the alarm that'd just rung was one he'd set up in an attempt to get one over on his dad and sister. They liked to bumrush him before he was even awake, jump all over him before carrying him and tossing him into an ice-cold bathtub...
It wasn't like he didn't get them back though, last time he'd shaved his dad's beard completely off during his sleep. For his sister, he'd painted her face completely like a clown, which she only discovered halfway through the day... The beating and withheld food afterwards were well worth it.
...
Not like today would be like that, his family was still missing, and Bats barely remembered his birthday back in Casinha, let alone now... Hmm, he was sixteen now... Yet felt like the same kid as before.
"Close your eyes... Maybe you can sleep through today..." he mutters to himself, Six was apparently gonna be busy with a solo job today, and he wasn't sure what Rebecca was up to. He himself didn't have any gigs going, so maybe he could just take a break...
*Beep-Beep*
...
"Uuuuggghhhhhhh....." he groans as he looks at the notification but his body throws itself into an upright position when he sees who it is.
[Hey Ori, happy birthday, just wanted to let you know that I'm free today if u wanted to hangout... Or something...] - Christy
...
She remembered... He could've sworn she'd have forgotten, while they were technically friends, he'd always assumed he was the forgettable 'little brother' you only thought about when visiting Casinha.
He smiles to himself and texts back after many rewrites as he wasn't exactly sure what he wanted to say.
Sure! If you're available, I've got nothing else plan-...
No, that wouldn't work, made himself seem like a loner charity case... She'd already had to lend him money after all...
[Sure, what were you thinking of doing?] he simply replies, leaving it up to her to decide. Not a minute later he received a response.
[There's a nice little coffee shop that opened up Downtown, we can meet up there now if you like?] - Christy
[Send me the detes and I'll be there. Might take a bit though, traffic around this time is killer.] - Ori
[No probs, I'll see you then!] - Christy
...
Wait, did this count as a date...? Boy and girl head spend some time about the town alone... No, he couldn't psyche himself out before the da-meeting... Meeting...
With that said, he grabs his 'best' clothes, which essentially amounted to smart and slightly torn casualwear, and leaves a note for Bats who hadn't even awakened yet, saying that he'd be out doing some chores.
---------------------------
After struggling for thirty minutes to find a parking spot, Ori eventually makes it to the coffee shop. 'Bean's Hub', a stupid name if you asked him, but the place must've been doing something right with how busy it was.
He steps through the door and glances around, there were no free chairs or tables, each one filled with an assortment of people, varying from your typical pre-Corpo War hipsters, to suits looking for a quiet place to conduct a meeting, to regular families just visiting to check the place out.
His eyes do focus in on a table with one person on it... Familiar tanned skin and pink hair under a wide-rimmed synth leather hat. That was Christy alright, she was presumably using it to keep anyone from noticing her... After all, she and her bandmates were getting quite famous judging by the news stories he'd heard about them while flipping through T.V channels.
He makes his way over and sits opposite her, smiling slightly as she beams at him under her hat.
"Happy Birthday!" she quietly yet excitedly offers as she grabs his hand and eagerly shakes it.
"Thanks... How'd you know it was my birthday anyway?"
"I remembered, obviously." she answers as if his question was a stupid one.
He shrugs, "I mean, I'm only askin' since you probably have lots of friends, family, even business associates, don't take it the wrong way but someone like me doesn't really... Deserve... It?" Ori trails off and looks up at her, only now noticing the frown on her face.
"Ori, don't start talking about other people or 'deserving it', be it my attention or whatever else. For someone like me there isn't a lot of people I can actually call my friends, yes, I have got a calendar for the birthdays of my producer and others, but they only really receive a gift card or whatever." she shrugs, "I like to think we're friends... Doing something as small as this is easy, like I'd be forgetting your birthday either," she smiles mischievously, "Last year you kept asking me if I remembered it, I had no choice but to memorise it!"
He looks to the side awkwardly, that'd been when his crush first started... He was a pile of nerves around her, even more so than now, which he'd displayed by basically badgering her to remember him whenever they met... Such dark... Cringe times...
"D-did you get drinks yet? This is a coffee shop right?" he asks, changing the subject.
She taps on one part of the table causing an electronic menu to open up, "Pick what you like, I'll catch the bill." she offers after ordering a latte with an egregious amount of add-ons onto it. Chocolate, cinnamon, coconut shavings, double cream, and a bunch more ingredients that Ori hadn't ever encountered before now...
Not wanting to take advantage of her generosity, he picks a basic large coffee, one of the cheapest drinks this place had available, despite its still rather large pricing.
"So, how're things?" she asks as they wait for their orders to arrive.
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