As Planned

At seven a.m. on Monday morning I was discharged from the hospital. I was completely and utterly exhausted. I barely got any sleep last night with doctors and nurses coming in and out of my room at all kinds of odd hours to check on me and make sure I wasn`t having any bad reactions to my new treatments. Thankfully I never did and everything appears to of went well. And if I feel up to it I can go to school tomorrow.

We finally got home around nine and mom and aunt Sarah helped me up the stairs. I swear it took thirty minutes but mom insists it only took fifteen. Either way it took longer than normal because of how drained I was. So, from nine thirty in the morning to three in the afternoon I slept. And I only got up then to eat.

"Honey, honey. Wake up."

I slowly opened my eyes to see my mom standing above me. She gave me a weak smile and I groaned, "What time is it?"

"Almost eight," She answered. "There`s a boy here to see you."

I yawned, "Tell Twinkie to come back tomorrow."

"It`s not Twinkie."

I blinked and rubbed at my eyes to make sure I was seeing correctly. What was Morimoto doing standing in my bedroom doorway? And a bit dressed up at that. Instead of ripped jeans, a wrinkled shirt and a leather jacket, he wore slacks, a nice white shirt, and a blazer. He still had on his combat boots though.

"Morimoto? What are you doing here?" I asked while slowly sitting up.

"Date night," He answered. "I wanted to see if you were feeling up to it."

I bit at my lip and tried to keep from frowning. I was tired but he looked so...hopeful. He even dressed up for me! I let out a sigh and looked to my mom, "What do you think?"

Mom smile and shrugged, "Why not? You slept all day, I`m sure you have enough energy for a date."

I nodded and looked back at Morimoto, "Give me a few minutes to change."

He grinned and nodded, "I`ll be down stairs."

I nodded and watched him leave. As soon as he closed my door I looked to my mom, "What am I going to wear?"

She laughed, "I`ll help. Now out of bed."

I huffed and climbed out of bed. I didn`t fall to my knees so I took that as a good sign. I slowly made my way over to my closet and leant against the door frame to watch mom go through my clothes.

"You seem very happy about this," I observed.

"Of course I am," Mom Scoffed. "You haven`t been on a date in years. And he seems like a nice enough boy."

I smiled, "Yeah, he`s pretty great."

"I wonder where you`ll be going."

"Based on Morimoto`s clothes? Somewhere halfway decent."

"I wonder how he plans to pay for it."

I snickered and shook my head. Leave it to mom to think about money. I can understand her thoughts though. How could a high school student afford a fancy place to eat? My best guess? He probably works at a garage. He likes cars enough to. And he races them.

"Found it!" Mom declared as she held up a black dress. It was knee length with sheer little straps. Iv`e only worn that dress twice.

"Do you think it`ll fit?" I asked.

She shrugged, "Only one way to find out."

"Where are my flats?"

"Closet, dear."

I quickly grabbed my flats and slipped them on. I smoothed out my dress and took a deep breath. Thankfully it still fit. It was a little loose but it wasn`t meant to be form fitting anyway. I took another deep breath and followed my mom down the stairs and into the living room.

"Wow."

I felt my face get hot as a blush rose to my cheeks at Morimoto`s comment. Well that`s a first. "Ready to go?"

Morimoto nodded, "Yeah. Let`s go."

"Oh um," Mom interrupted. "Normally I wouldn`t care, but with Sam still recovering from her treatments, could you have her home by midnight?"

"Of course," Morimoto nodded. "I wouldn`t want her any more drained than she already is."

"Thank you. And please take care of her."

We left after that. I was surprised by how patient he was with how slow I was walking down the stairs. It had to of taken at least fifteen minutes. But he never uttered a complaint. Not even when I was hesitant to get in his car. He calmly sat in the drivers seat as if it was nothing.

"Are you ever going to talk about why you don`t like cars?" He asked as he started his car.

"Not tonight," I answered.

"But you will another time."

"I suppose so."

We arrived at this little hole in the wall restaurant that pretty much was a hole in the wall. We had to go through an alley to get to it. With the way we had to get to it, you wouldn`t expect to walk into this elaborate looking place with a chandelier hanging in the center of the room. The whole place was just amazing.

"Reservations?" A man asked as soon we walked in.

"Yes. Under Mori," Morimoto replied.

"This way, please."

I raised an eyebrow at Morimoto but none the less followed him and the waiter. We were seated at the very back of the restaurant that was all but surrounded by candles. I was very surprised to say the least. I couldn`t believe Morimoto went to all this trouble just for me.

"I can`t read half of this," I confessed as I looked over the menu.

"I can`t either," Morimoto chuckled. "Just order what you can. And don`t worry about the price. I got it all covered.

I nodded slowly and went back to looking over the menu. Even though he told me not to worry about price I tried to stay cheap. Well, at least as cheap as this place gets.

"How are the treatments going?" Morimoto asked after we ordered.

"They`re going good," I replied.

"Any side affects?"

"Just exhaustion and feeling drained. But that happens with every new treatment. It`ll only last a few days."

"That`s good," He murmured. "Are you going to school tomorrow?"

I shrugged, "Maybe. It just depends on how I feel in the morning."

He nodded and started fidgeting in his seat. He fixed his hair twice and adjusted his jacket while clearing his throat. He then bit at his lip and glanced around the restaurant before looking back at me.

"Are you nervous?" I asked.

"A bit," He confessed.

I smiled, "Don`t be. It`s just me. Plain old Amelia."

Morimoto smiled and nodded, slowly relaxing. "I guess you`re right."