Flames of the Phoenix

Chapter 22: I'm fine

"Are you sure you want to go tonight? He doesn't seem to be a good guy. You heard what he said to you, right?"

I laughed. "You just don't understand his sense of humor. He has a hard time not acting seriously."

Mina twisted a chunk of hair away from my face and pinned it in place for me. "Alright." She held up a mirror. "Look!"

"Mina! Thank you! I rarely pull my hair down from a ponytail, so thank you for helping me. How are you so good at makeup and hair?"

She grinned. "A magician never tells her secrets."

I got off her bed and made a little spin, sending my hair rippling around my shoulders in waves. I turned and looked in the full mirror leaned against Mina's wall and adjusted my black jacket. "Do you think that my outfit is a bit too dark? It is entirely black and grey."

Mina laughed, "You look amazing!" She glanced at the clock and sighed. "You need to get going. Iida is going to be waiting for you."

We walked to the door. "Wish me luck."

She nodded and wrapped her arms around me. "Tell me everything when you get back!"

Iida held the door to a nice restaurant open for me. We sat at a table in the back. He pushed his glasses further onto his nose. "So, you look nice..."

I fiddled with the hem of my shirt. "Thank you. So do you."

"I've been wondering, what happened when you were with the villains?"

"Oh, I was actually unconscious or delirious for most of it. I don't really remember much of it." The waiter came by and gave us glasses of water. He also took our orders, but I let Iida choose for the both of us because I had never been here before. "The part that I do vividly remember was toward the end. Toga..." I fought for the words. "She... was inappropriate."

Iida nodded. "I'm sorry for that."

I shrugged. "It's in the past now." We sat in silence for a minute. "So, how is your family?

He took a sip of water before answering. "They are well. My brother has been recovering from his encounter with Stain. The doctors think that he is going to be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, but he shouldn't have any other problems."

"I'm sorry about that."

"What was your life like back in America?"

I smiled. "Amazing. I lived with my dad and his friend Harrison. I only recently learned that the two of them were dating, which is funny because I already considered Harrison to be my second dad."

"Oh, that's cool."

"Yeah. We had a lot of fun! There was once a time that Harrison took me to get ice cream, and the lady at the shop mistook him for my dad. Neither of us corrected her because it wasn't worth the conversation, and I guess she was technically correct."

"Are you sure it's natural?"

"What's natural?

He shrugged and went back to his food.

After we ate, Iida and I walked back to the dorms. "Thank you for taking me out tonight. I really enjoyed talking with you."

He nodded. "Yeah. It was really interesting. Thank you for coming with me."

I hurried up to my room and changed out of my nice clothes into my lounge clothes. I headed to Mina's room and knocked on the door. She poked her head out and squealed, "You're back! Come on in! I'm in the middle of working on my English homework. Maybe you could help me while you tell me about your night?"