| Fan Fiction |
by afhilangie
I wanted to shout, "Will you answer me already!" but I didn't. Off to the side, saw my three friends watching, and waiting for an answer too.
And then---
"Sure, Rainie," Jiro said casually. As if I'd just asked him if I could get a copy of the Biology homework.
"Oh." That was my brilliant comeback. "Okay." And my witty follow-up. But inside I was freaking out. Yes, yes, yes, yes!
I pulled a pen from the outer pocket of my backpack. Leaning forward, I wrote my telephone number and email address on the corner of his notebook. "This weekend is good for me," I added, trying to sound as calm as I could. "Keep in touch."
Turning around, I let a huge grin spread over my face. I fell into step beside my friends.
Genie squeezed my arm. "Way to go, Rainie."
"Yeah, that was amazing!" GuiGui said.
"Inspiring, even!" Ella smiled. "Plus, you won the bet."
"You really can get any guy you want," GuiGui added in awe.
Any guy? I thought. I didn't want any guy. I was just glad to have a shot at winning this guy.
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That night, my friends and I sat around a table at the Bar, still talking about Jiro and the bet.
"I can't believe it, Rainie," Genie said. "The way you just walked up to him--- it was incredible!"
"You are definitely fierce," Ella added.
"Definitely," GuiGui repeated.
"You guys are so right," I replied in a pompous voice. Then I cracked up.
The waitress delivered our orders, which only added to our good mood. I loved the Bar. Everyone at Taipei Central did. Probably because you could hang out on the beat-up couches and listen to live music or play pool or board games or whatever. It was a great place to celebrate.
Was Jiro celebrating now? I wondered. Or was this just another ordinary Friday night for him?
"Honestly," Genie said, "I'm glad you won the bet, Rainie."
"Me, too." Ella picked up a mozzarella stick. "I'm not even going to argue the fact that you were supposed to get him to ask you out. I'm too impressed with you. You go, girl!"
"Go, Rainie, go, Rainie," Genie started to chant. Ella joined in. I laughed and took a bite of my brick-oven pizza.
GuiGui leaned in next to me. "You know, you've got me thinking," she said quietly. "I just might give Wang Zi another try."
Smiling. I swallowed the bite of pizza and whispered back, "Good. Now it's your turn to get the guy you want."
Genie and Ella had stopped chanting my name and launched into the song we were learning in chorus. They went on singing until they ran out of lyrics.
"We never did learn the fourth verse," Ella pointed out.
"Good thing," I said. "One more verse and the other customers will ask us to leave."
Ella tossed a balled-up napkin at me as we all laughed.
We were halfway through our meals when GuiGui started fishing through her bag.
"I should check my messages," she said. "Dad is cool when I'm out with you guys, but I'm always afraid of the one time he'll try to reach me and I'll forget to check messages and he'll freak out that something terrible has happened."
GuiGui's father was definitely in the overprotective category. The Wu's had moved away about three years ago, where GuiGui, Ella, Genie and I had grown up together. At first GuiGui was excited about living in the big, new house, but then her mom got ovarian cancer and died. It hit all of us pretty hard. And GuiGui's dad became so protective that the new house started to feel more like a prison to her.
She pulled out her Palm Pilot and flipped it open.
"Nice," I said, watching her punch in the code. "Can you check phone messages with that?"
"Phone, email, everything. It's got a wireless modem." Her face relaxed as she read the screen. "Nope. All clear." She flipped the cover down, and noticed me staring at her. "What?"
"I was just thinking," I said. "I gave Jiro my email address. Mind if I check online?"
"Go ahead." She put the Palm Pilot on the table in front of me, then set it up and showed me how to key in things using the tiny stick.
I typed in my user ID--- MsFizz--- which my friends started calling me a few years back because of my effervescent personality. Then I entered my password. I got excited when I saw I had mail, but then I realized it wasn't from Jiro.
"It's from my brother," I told my friends, rolling my eyes. "Dan sleeps across the hall from me, and he sends me emails. What does that say about our relationship?"
"That he's happy to 'e' you?" Ella suggested.
"Ha, ha," I said, and opened Dan's email.
I gasped when I read the message:
REMEMBER WHEN YOU SAID YOU WONDERED
WHAT LIFE WOULD LIKE BE IF WE KNEW DAD? ME TOO.
THAT'S WHY I FOUND HIS EMAIL ADDRESS. SURPRISE!
DO YOU WANT IT?
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Hi guys!
Sorry for the very late update.
I was busy with the other stories and stuffs and I totally forgot about this story.
Hope you enjoy!
=afhilangie=