|| NOAH ||

"Right over here," she lets us take a seat next to a large window that showed a small garden outside. This place looks wonderful, I should definitely bring my friends over here as well. Brad takes the seat in front of me as the lady provides us a medium-sized folder menu. "Thanks," Brad said to her with a smile before she left. He turns to me with a grin and spoke, "just tell me what you want and I'll order it for us," he said.

I nodded and looked down at the list of foods. "Oh wow, this is pretty cheap," I thought; Five dollars for a grilled cheeseburger, three for a garden salad... ooh, mango smoothie for two.

"See anything you want?" I hear Brad ask. I peered up to look at him staring at me.

"I'll have these ones..." I said and pointed at the items on the menu. He nods and folds his to set it aside.

"So..." he said, folding his arms and leaning back, "tell me some things about you," he said.

"Hm?" I tilted my head to the side.

"I wanna get to know you more," he smiled.

I stared at his eyes momentarily before looking away. "Erm... there isn't much to talk about me," I scratched my cheek awkwardly.

"Aw come on Noah, I'm sure there's something," Brad places his elbows on the table and leaned forward to get closer. I looked at him once again. I sighed and thought deeply of what information I could possibly share that wouldn't make me seem like a loser. "well, by blood, I'm bi-ethnic," I started.

He nods, "I heard. Do you know how to speak either language?" Brad asked curiously.

I shook my head, "no actually, my parents don't often speak in their own native tongue at home. You know, my mother sometimes does when she's occasionally furious regarding my Father. However they try to educate each other on either dialect once in a while," I said to him.

Brad tilts his head to the side in confusion, "w-woah?" he said, looking at me like some alien.

"what?" I asked him.

He facepalmed himself, "fuck... sorry, your vocab was just a bit... fancy. Could you uhh... slow it down for this stupid jock?" he said with an awkward grin. I sighed and thought for a moment. Later on, I reworded my sentence in a simpler form. This made me self aware of how involuntarily advanced my word choice is. It also made me think about how it was somewhat difficult to make it sound less formal and easier to understand.

Sigh, I really need to talk to other people often other than my small group of friends...

-

Moments later, a different waitress came to take our order. Brad took the initiative and told her our orders. After writing down requests, she politely excused herself and left us alone. "how about we talk about yourself?" I asked him this time.

"Ahh," he uttered and leaned back with hands behind his head. "Welp, I like sports," he stated.

"No duh?" I rolled my eyes at him. "What's your motive? To get fit? A stress reliever? Scholarship?" I continued.

"Mostly..." he said. He brings up his arm and starts flexing it, bulging his bicep. He looks at me with a smug grin, "get laid and stuff..." he winked at me. A blush made its appearance on my face and I hid my face with my hoodie. He lets out a chuckle and continues, "...also yes, I find it fun and a stress reliever too. I may not be the brightest, but I also do sports to try and get a scholarship," he nodded.

"I see..." I looked down.

"Here you go gentlemen," the lady came back again with our food. She placed down a plate of a small sandwich with a thick slice of ham, fresh green lettuce, white onion, and tomato in front of me. "Thank you," I gave her a smile. She gives me a heartwarming one in return. She then gives Brad his big and beefy double patty burger with extra cheese and bacon. "Thanks," he flashed her his pearly whites. She giggles and looks at both of us, "if you two need anything else, just let me know, 'kay?" She said.

"No problem," Brad and I said in unison.

I grabbed my sandwich and started eating in silence. It tasted a lot more delicious since I was so hungry.

Yesterday, I came home late after having dinner with my friends. We weren't exactly keeping up with time and I had to drive all of them back at their places. I arrived back home slightly past my bedtime. It was unfortunate for me because I was scolded by my parents for returning home pretty behind time which I then overslept up to nine in the morning. I got the message from Brad telling me about our scheduled meeting which sent me in a frenzy of panic. Without even eating breakfast, I quickly dressed up just to "help" Brad with his history issues.

Despite the frustration of teaching him certain aspects of his struggling subject, at least I'm here right now enjoying a meal. I looked up to see Brad looking back at me. He seemed to be staring quite intensely at, almost as if he was in deep thought or had something to say. "What's the matter?" I asked him. He continued his pondering look before closing his eyes and shook his head, "it's nothing," he uttered and resumed on his food.

-

After finishing our food, the bill arrived. I pulled out my wallet from my pocket when Brad spoke, "Noah, I got this," he said. I raised my eyebrow in confusion, "what do you mean? I can pay," I said to him.

"Nah, it's alright you don't have to pay for all of the-"

"I'm paying for my food, I ate my portion, so I'm paying for what I ordered," I cut him off. He remained still with a look of surprise, "oh, I thought you were gonna... uhh... never mind," he said.

I pulled out my money and left it on the receipt. Brad brought out his own and slowly placed on top of mine. I checked the time on my phone and looked back at Brad, "Hey Brad, could you bring us back at your place, I need to drive back to my home soon. I'm sorry for being abrupt, but my parents REALLY need me to do some work. I hope you understand..." I asked him. He looked at me with a frown and nodded, "Okay..."