Steak Buddies the Beginining

Her question was so much more than just asking him if he promised to take her out to dinner. There were some real sensitive feelings involved. That was terrifying. He didn't want to be responsible for hurting the poor girl more than he already did.

But... it should be okay if he kept his promise, right?

He squeezed her one last time before pulling away to stand up, holding onto her wrists as he attempted to pull her up too. "Yeahhh. Look, there are some sweet twenty-four hour places Downtown that aren't too bad." He checked the cafeteria clock. "If we hurry, we can take the bus there."

They got to the bus stop pretty easily, if not a little slowly. Lei swatted the mosquitoes hovering in front of his eyes with a hand as he watched the incoming bus drive to their stop. A few college students hopped off, drunk and waddling a bit, and as Lei smelled the strong stench of alcohol exuding from them he realized: Holy shit, this was a bad idea.

Two girly looking people heading Downtown during witching hour. What a fantastic idea, Lei. He might be keeping his promise but the power of friendship still won't be able to stop night time creepers from shanking the both of them for their wallets. So much hate.

As they got into the seats, Lei sent Sid a quick text because, really, he had to calm down about all of this. He had to be strong for... whoever this girl was. Wow, he did not have the slightest clue to who this girl even was. And he was bringing her Downtown. Pfft.

Lei pocketed his phone and pulled out his wallet, checking the bills there. According to what was left of his allowance, it was very possible he wouldn't be able to afford anything good. He hoped she wouldn't order anything too expensive. Worse comes to worst, he'd sell his body in the streets or something. Ugh, what an unsavory thought.

"We're almost Downtown. Are you all right?"

"That's... goo..." Lei glanced down to Sid's texts, replying with one hand as he gave the pervert at the sidewalk a sharp glare. He smacked the bus window. The pervert scrambled. "Yeah, asshole, you better run!" He huffed. The nerve of some people. Lei would make them rue the day they make creepy gestures at him.

The bus eventually parked at the first Downtown stop. He gave shark girl a pat on the shoulder to snap her out of her thoughts and tilted his head to the exit to tell her they were going.

Lei got off the bus. He shivered when he felt the cold night air splash against his face, zipping up his jacket and pulling up the hoodie. He jumped when heard the sound of glass breaking in the distance. Calm down, Lei. Calm down! He tried to comfort himself with the thought that whoever was getting shanked by that broken bottle, it was not going to be them. Well, maybe.

There were rows after rows of establishments with... their lights turned off. All closed. Of course. What else did he expect?

"There's, um..." Lei looked into the glass window of McDonald's. "There's a McDonald's here. They have burgers... We should, uh, order them for takeout and head back."

There was also a really scary muscular drow with a giant, bloody (literally) sword strapped to his back eating several McRibs. Lei squeaked and ducked out of view.

"Or not. Let's go somewhere else."

Let it be known that Lei was not bad at money. In fact, Lei was incredibly good at managing money. The school offered students a measly sum that he made the best of, really. He had an entire system and everything. It took him months before he could buy expensive things he wanted, but the fact that it was even doable was worth bragging about. Right now, he had a decent $73 in his wallet. It was all his savings.

He was saving up for decent sneakers. The ones he had on right now were starting to tear and he didn't really have other sets of shoes. Why were shoes so expensive in the first place? He was fine going through thrift shops for clothes but shoes were an entirely different story. He wanted a pair of shoes that didn't hide Satan's fucking pitchforks underneath.

He didn't really count on this happening. Who did, really?

The Gilded Obsidian... That was a fancy place. He knew. He heard his richer classmates talk about how good the $200 steak was. Some of the others talked about how it was affordable, but he didn't really believe them. Any sit in place with waiters and a $200 steak was never affordable.

He was screwed. He was so screwed. He wouldn't be able to afford that place! ...And that wasn't Shark Girl's fault. It was his. If he'd only been nicer — shared his stuff — none of this would've happened. It was like life was propping him up so it could fuck him dry in the ass. All at once, Lei regretted all the unnecessary purchases he had ever made. Maybe he could afford that place if he didn't register for a damn Netflix subscription and torrented like a normal person!

Regardless of the anxiety and guilt bubbling in his chest, he was still intent of keeping his promise. He looked down, staring at the torn edges of his shoes.

He sighed.

"Ok," he said, putting an arm around Yuki's shoulders. "A promise is a promise. The Gilded Obsidian it is."

He started walking.

Stupid fucking hamburger.

Lei sat down and took a look at the menu.

Yes, yes, this was exactly what he expected —

"Holy butter on breadsticks, a $10 steak!?" The waiter placed a basket of complimentary breadsticks at their table. Lei gestured for him to come closer and pointed at the item on the menu. "I think you might have a typo there, sir."

"The steak is $10, sir."

"Ok, and that's a steak and not a piece of cardboard with steak sauce on it, right?"

The waiter nodded, trying (and failing) to stifle his laughter.

"HOLY SHIT." He nudged Yuki. "You're seeing this, right? It's not just me?" He handed the waiter the menu. "Yeah, that's a $10 steak for me."

"Any drinks, sir?"

"Er. Just water, please."

He looked at Yuki hopefully. Maybe he won't get bankrupt after all.