“This isn’t a date.”
Arkadin stared off, his eyes drawn to the flashes of lightning. Kayen wasn’t sure whether the Thantophor had heard his statement.
“This isn’t a date. Not planned. This is just you and I meeting to discuss when we plan to have our date. Dates.”
The Thantophor was still staring at the flickers and flashes, clearly not quite there.
“Uh, Arkadin?”
“Yes?”
“Did you hear what I said?”
The Thantophor nodded but didn’t say anything else. Kayen wasn’t really sure how they’d ended up there. He’d gone out on his own to an otherwise empty cafe to do some work since the power had gone out at his apartment, and somehow Arkadin had been there waiting for him. The massive storm that suddenly appeared had basically forced them together.
Kayen sipped his hot chocolate and sighed. The power had been off at home but the wifi was off here, so he hadn’t gotten any work done at all.
More lightning flashed. After a few seconds, thunder boomed, making the windows shake a little. Kayen shuddered, wondering when the storm would end or whether he would have to walk home in this. He may have been somewhat famous but he wasn’t famous enough to get a free taxi ride. When he’d left his apartment earlier, he didn’t think it would end up being so stormy outside.
“So when do you want to go on a date?” Kayen asked, trying to get onto a new subject, so he would worry less.
“Pardon?”
“When do you want to go on a date?”
“This isn’t a date?”
“No… Were you not listening to me when I said that twice, literally a few seconds ago?”
Arkadin shrugged, then stood up to order something from the counter. He returned with a chocolate milkshake and a plate with four cookies on it.
“Guess not…” Kayen muttered to himself.
“Sorry, I was distracted…” Arkadin apologised as he sat back down. “Why is this not a date?”
“Because we met by accident.”
“Does that not count?”
“A date is pre-arranged… Have you never been on a date before?”
Arkadin shook his head as he sipped his drink. “Not in a long time. Last being I took on a date is now a frozen corpse sealed inside a glass canister. I was distracted though by a village being washed away in a flash flood a few solar systems over. Maybe they shouldn’t have cut down all those trees…”
Kayen pretended to ignore most of that sentence. “Well, we should arrange a date and time. Do you want to go somewhere fancy or are you happy with a home-cooked meal?”
“A home-cooked meal is fine by me. It also makes our lives easier if you get kidnapped again…”
“That’s…” Kayen sighed, then smiled. “That’s kinda funny. Insulting, but funny. What time are you available?”
“Any time, really. I prefer the end of the working week though.”
“How about Sunday?”
“That works…” Arkadin sipped some more of his drink, then took one of the cookies, tore a piece off and dipped it in his milkshake. Kayen’s eyes widened, he’d never considered doing that.
“Can… Can I have a cookie?”
“Sure. There’s a reason I got four.”
Kayen beamed as he dipped a bit of cookie into his own drink. “Oh heck, this is so tasty…”
“Makes you forget about the rain, doesn’t it?”
“It sure does!” Kayen grinned. “It sure does…”