Chapter 4, Fancy Night Out
Bex Pop
I sit around in my dorm room, currently watching out the window. I see the cars and pedestrians march by as people walk throughout the Golden Gate Park. It’s currently one of my favorite types of day, a lazy day! I just sit around, in my dorm melting into the bed like a popsicle on a warm summer day. I’m scrolling through my phone, still in the XL shirt and shorts I wore to sleep. I’m not usually this lazy, but I’ll gladly enjoy a day where I can. After a bit of this, I suddenly get a text from Tommy.
“Yo.” I see him text.
“Yeah hun? What’s up?” I reply, “Is it something to do with the flowers?” adding one of those cheesy emoticons.
“So, are you busy tomorrow night?” I see him text.
“Not really, is it a date night?” I tell him, I grin knowing it’s a date.
“Uh… Yeah!” He texts back, “Well see ya!”
I start to grin as big as I can, another date! I’m as excited as a kid on Christmas day, it’ll literally be tomorrow! I finally decide to leave my room, ending up in the living room. I see Billie stare at me as the first thing I see.
“What, it’s my lazy day?” I say, chuckling near the end of the sentence.
“Yeah, sure it is.” Billie replies to me with.
I see Lily walk in from her room, looking at the both of us already dressed.
“What are you two girls talking about?” She asks in a confused tone.
“Oh um…” I start to reply, until I get interrupted by Billie
“Nothing, just Bex walking out of her room.” Billie instead replies with.
I enter my room again, finally starting to change into my normal attire. The cargo pants, t-shirt, and hoodie. It was a quick change, I usually can do this in like 1 or 2 minutes if I’m not distracted by my phone watching some stupid video. I exit the room, still happy over the news on my date for tomorrow. I eat a quick breakfast of Frosted Flakes and yogurt. I think about Tommy, I wonder what I should give him as a gift; after all he’s possibly giving me flowers. I think about all the possibilities: A computer, a new CD, some Azumanga merchandise? Maybe not the later, it’s not gonna arrive tomorrow. Then I think about it, the pin! The computer pin I bought at Treasure Island! It’s perfect! However, I stop and think for a second; A pin can’t really be as good as sunflowers. So I think about his CD collection, and more specifically his collection of Weezer albums. He’s got all of their North American singles, some import stuff like White Deluxe and the Japanese single for “Troublemaker”. However, I see there’s one album he’s been trying to find, Everything Will Be Alright in the End, a pretty rare one to find physically. It’s a bit of an investment, but I think it’s worth it. I leave the dorm, heading to my car and into some mom and pop record stores. Heading towards the East Bay, as too my experience I feel like there’s more there than on the peninsula. After sitting through traffic, spending time rambling to myself I end up in Berkeley. I remember Billie recommending me to get some CDs from there. I mean, her random noise music bands and that Japanese jazz music, she could just buy her classical stuff at Goodwill. After sitting for an eternity in traffic, I arrive at the record store. I look both ways while crossing the parking lot, it’s not an extremely busy place but I still just want to make sure. I enter the store, getting a hint of nostalgia over my teen years from a couple of years ago. I immediately jolt over to the rock section, going through the collection of CDs. I go down the alphabet, I check the albums under the Weezer tag. At first I had no luck, it’s just Blue, Pinkerton, and just the popular albums. Then I find it, EWBAITE! I quietly celebrate with myself, calming down so I can go and pay for the CD. It’s a bit pricey, it’s as expensive as the more popular albums. But knowing how Tommy will treasure it, I 100% know it’s worth it. I head over to the cash register, pulling out my credit card to pay for it.
“Hi! Ready to check out?” The cashier asks me.
“Yeah, I am!” I reply, placing the disc for the cashier to scan it.
“That’ll be 25.99.” She tells me.
I place the credit card in the card reader, and once it beeps at me I take it out.
“Would you like a receipt to go with that?” The cashier says.
“Yes please!” I reply to her question.
The receipt gets printed and placed in the paper bag where the EWBAITE cd is played in. I say goodbye to the cashier, and I head to my car. I think about tomorrow night, knowing it’s going to probably be the greatest night of my life. Just tomorrow and my life will change forever. . .
Bex Pop, The Next Evening
I wait in the college’s courtyard for Tommy, the slight breeze in an overall perfect afternoon. In my handbag, I have the EWBAITE cd and the computer pin which will be my gift to Tommy. After waiting for a minute or so, I see his dark green Toyota Corolla. I wave at him, and he parks in front of me.
“Uber?” Tommy replies in a jokey fashion.
We both chuckle as he exits the car, giving me a beautiful bouquet of sunflowers.
“Aw! Thanks hon!” I tell him, giving him the biggest hug I can.
I enter the passenger seat, buckling my seat belt. I see Tommy walk around the car, entering the drivers side. I take a look at his face as he enters, having a bit of a confused yet confident look as he starts to drive to a restaurant. Looking past the avenue of restaurants makes me a little hungry, I wonder where Tommy chose for us to eat at. Then I see it, Bella Fiore! It’s the restaurant I’ve always dreamed of going to! I contain my excitement for after Tommy parks, as to not startle him. He goes to the parking lot next to the restaurant, and he pays the public ticket and parks. Just as he does, I erupt in excitement.
“THANKS HON! I ALWAYS WANTED TO GO TO BELLA FIORE!” I exclaim.
“You’re welcome, Becky! I know how special this place is to you.” He replies, with a smile.
My family always hosted special events and parties here at this restaurant. Heck, it’s even the place where my dad proposed to my mom all those years ago. It’s a nice restaurant and just a venue in general, I’m pretty much more excited for the date. Tommy opens the car door for me, bracing his arm for my arm. We cross the street, and enter the building. As we do, we’re asked a question by one of the waiters.
“Good evening, reservations?” The waiter asks.
“Yeah, we do.” Tommy replies, showing his phone and the QR code.
After a little pause, we’re escorted to our tables. Like a curious child, I look around the restaurant. Its interior is built in the classical style, containing many painted frescoes on the pillars and ceiling; just like what I remember. I turn back to Tommy, seeing him unfold his napkin to place it on his lap.
“Man… It’s been a while since I’ve been here…” I say to Tommy.
“Yeah, this restaurant is very nice,” Tommy replies, “I can see why your family hosts special events here.”
We spend time looking at the window, admiring the view which the building gives us.
Soon enough our menus are brought to us, and our water is poured. I scan through the dishes on the laminated pages. I find a dish of Fettuccine Alfredo, and now I begin to see what selection of wine they have. In between reading the menu, I look back at Tommy, he’s slowly swinging to the beat of the live jazz band. I give out a warm grin, he’s clearly having a good time.
“Hey hon!” I say, “I see you’re enjoying this music!”
“Yeah I am, Becky!” He replies.
The waiter arrives, with notebook and pen in hand.
“Good evening, so what will you be ordering for tonight?” He asks.
I order first, choosing the fettuccine alfredo and selecting the wine. Tommy stumbles for a bit trying to find his words. After getting his courage, he orders the salmon. We wait around, taking a view out the window.
“Hey Tommy,” I ask, “Do you think we’ll be able to catch the sunset?”
“Yeah, I think that’ll be nice!” He replies.
We wait for what seems like forever, but finally our dinner and wine arrives. I wait for the last drop of wine to be poured into our glasses to eat. I’m pretty excited to see the sunset, but I have to practice my etiquette and not rush eating. I enjoy this pasta, and the appetizer bread is also excellent! We both enjoy this meal, watching as the sun begins to set. Soon enjoy, we finish our dinner and hopefully we can catch the sunset before sun sets. Just before we leave, I ask Tommy a question.
“Hey Tommy, so who’s going to pay for the dinner? I can pitch my share of dinner if you like.” I ask him.
“Uh… Don’t worry Bex, I’ll pay for it.” Tommy replies with.
“Ah alright, well I’ll tip then.” I add on.
We pay the check, tipped, and went back to the car. It was a wonderful dinner! I quite enjoy the aesthetic of Bella Floire, I’ve alway loved that place when I was little during the 2 to 3 times per year my family would host events there. Wherever we’re going to watch the sunset, it’s still going to be the most beautiful and best moment of my life.