//------------------------------//
// 2 - Becoming Better Aquainted 
// Story: A Clean Slate for a Former Siren 
// by AlchemicBlaze21 
//------------------------------//

Saturday Morning

When I woke up at eight-thirty the next morning; I washed up quickly, got dressed in a t-shirt and cargos, and gelled up my hair. Then I went and cooked an egg for a small breakfast. When I finished washing the dishes that got used, I told dad that I was headed out for a walk. With my phone and wallet in pocket, I headed down to the first floor.

It had crossed my mind to stop at Sonata’s apartment and surprise her as she got out. But I figured that it would seem a little creepy on my part and took the stairs all the way down.

It was ten past nine when I got outside in front of the apartment complex, and there was no sign of Sonata anywhere. It was still early, so I stood there looking out across the street. That was until I felt a pair of hands cover my eyes.

"Guess who," a familiar voice said in a singsong tone.

"Sonata, is that you?" I asked as if it wasn't obvious. The hands came off of my eyes, and I was able to turn around. I was then met by an up close view of Sonata’s big magenta eyes. If she was trying to surprise me, it worked. I nearly fell back thanks to her being practically nose to nose with me.

She laughed a little and asked, "I didn't scare you, did I?"

"Not really," I said trying to play it off. "I wasn't sure if you were out yet. But anyways, are you ready?"

"Yup, let's go," she said. As we walked out towards the park, I couldn't help noticing that she seemed happy to be away from the apartments. I also couldn’t help noticing that she was wearing a light sweater with some joggers and some tennies.

I asked her "So, did you rest well yesterday?"

"Yeah," she responded. 

"That's good to hear, I'm glad that everything was alright at home for you," I said.

"I guess," she said with a sigh and a sad look on her face.

"Is something the matter?" I asked.

She shook her head a little as if to shake off the look on her face. "Oh, um, it's nothing." 

"Alright, well if anything's ever bothering you, you can always talk to me if you want."

"Ok," she said as a little blush appeared on her face. "Oh, by the way, I was wondering. What did you do to get rid of those guys yesterday?"

"I just used what I've learned from a few years of taking karate, that's all."

"Oh, so like all the flipping and acrobatics that they use in the movies?" she asked with a huge smile on her face. "That's so cool! You think you can show me some of that over at the park?"

"Heh-heh, wish I could say that's how it went down, but I just used simple self-defense stuff," I replied while rubbing the back of my neck. "To be honest, the flashy moves are probably best used for movies and TV shows but not really for much else. Besides, I mainly practice the traditional stuff."

"Oh, well I guess that's cool too," she said. "Could you still show me some of it? I haven't seen anything like that in person."

"I don't see why not," I said. "Hey, so you like those kinds of movies? I never would have guessed."

"Well, they are way better than what Adagio and Aria like to watch," she said matter-of-factly. "‘Dagi likes those long, boring dramas that take forever to watch, and Aria likes those over the top gore-fest horror movies that make my stomach turn."

"Huh, I can't say I really care for either of those genres myself," I said. "Dramas usually bore me to tears. As for horror, I prefer suspenseful psychological movies over the gory stuff."

"I know, right?" she agreed. "But, Aria seems to like those movies because she finds them ‘funny'," she said with a shrug.

Not wanting to judge Aria without having met her, all I could really do was try to give Sonata my best poker face and say "Oh, well to each their own, I guess."

"It still seems sick to me," she said thoughtfully as she tapped a finger on her chin.

Glad I wasn't the only one thinking that.

"So, I take it that, um, ‘Dagi' and Aria are like your sisters, right?"

"You could say that. We've been together our entire lives. We've really only been able to count on each other." She seemed to be reminiscing on something as she was quiet the rest of the way to the park, which wasn't too long anyway. "Oh hey, we're here," she said.

Looking around we could see a few people walking around the park’s edge. Some were riding bikes, and a couple was walking their dogs. On the opposite side of the park, there were a couple of soccer games going on and a few people were tossing a football back and forth. We walked to a less crowded part of the park and stopped by an empty bench.

Sonata took a seat on the bench and looked at me expectantly. "So can you show me some of that martial arts stuff?" she asked with a smile.

It really wasn't the ideal place for me to practice, but since I had already agreed to demonstrate, I wasn't about to back out now. I looked around to make sure that there wasn't anybody else around. Fortunately, we were practically the only ones in that area, save for a few onlookers further off in the distance. "Ok, let me just back up a bit," I said. She nodded, and I put a little distance between me and where she was sitting.

I took a deep breath and bowed to Sonata feeling a bit self-conscious. I then launched into a series of strikes, blocks, rolls and jumping kicks with as much intensity as I could. I didn't bother shouting as one would usually do during an exhibition like that since I didn't want to draw a lot of attention to myself. At the end of the form, I finished on one knee. As I stood up and bowed again to her, I could see that she had an awestruck look on her face. I wiped a few beads of sweat from my brow and went to go take a seat next to her.

"So, what did you think?" I asked, curious about her opinion.

"I don't think I could've memorized all those moves, and it looked kind of complicated. How long did it take you to get all that down?"

"A few weeks to learn it, and about a month or so to make sure I wouldn't make any mistakes while performing it."

"That seems like a lot of time just for that," she said with a confused look.

"I suppose so, but if that's what it takes to get it down right, then it's worth it. Besides, I love being able to do this kind of stuff," I answered.

"Hmm, must be nice to be able to do what you love," she whispered, looking down at the floor. It was barely audible, but I was able to tell that she had said something.

"What's that?" I asked hoping she'd say.

She looked up at me, surprised that I had even heard her. "Oh, uh, umm, it was nothing," she said hastily. "Actually, could you show me how to do some of that stuff?"

"What, you mean like right now?" I asked.

She just answered, "Yeah."

I hadn't actually planned to do anything like a full on class. Hell, I had never actually done anything like that at all in the first place. I mulled it over for a minute or so before I responded. "Well, I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea to show you how to defend yourself. Sure, let's do it."

"Yay, thank you!" she exclaimed. "So what are we gonna do first?"

As I stood up from the bench, I told Sonata, "Alright follow me onto the grass," which she did. After making sure that there weren't any rocks where we stood, I turned to Sonata and said, "Ok, I'm going to show you how to defend against a wide punch. So pretend to swing out your fist at me."

"Ok," she said a little nervously before throwing a punch slowly towards me.

"Alright, so when you see the punch coming, you want to duck under it," I said as I did just that. "Next, you want to place your palm under their chin and move your back leg behind theirs." I gently put my hand under her chin and set my foot behind her. "And now that they are off balance all you have to do is push up on their chin," with that I carefully pushed against her chin, and she began to tilt backward.

"Woah!" she exclaimed as she realized that she was about to fall. She didn't have to worry about it, though, I had my hand on her back to slowly lean her back without actually touching the floor. I suppose from anyone else's perspective it might have looked like we were dancing. She looked a little confused and just stared up at me, not to mention she started to blush a little.

I pulled her back upright. Once she had shaken some grass blades from the tip of her ponytail, I asked, "So, do you want to give it a try?"

"Would I?!" she exclaimed, getting ready to use the same move.

"Ok then, here it comes," I said and threw a slow-moving punch at her. She did exactly as I had done and ducked out of the way before bumping her palm into my jaw a bit fast. Well, she's picking it up pretty quickly, I thought. "Okay right, now remember that it's just practice so you do- Wha, whoa!" Before I knew it, I was off my feet and now looking up at the sky. Within that split-second, one thought shot across my mind. This is going to hurt. I hit the floor with a dull thud and just laid there on the grass.

Sonata’s excitement at having performed the technique correctly quickly turned to shock when she saw that I was laid out on the ground and kneeled down next to me. "Oh my god, I didn't mean to do it that hard. I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

A few seconds had passed before I was able to force out, "Don't worry about it. You just knocked the wind out of me. I'll be fine."

"So, you're not mad at me?" she asked me, still looking as concerned as ever.

I sat myself up with a sigh and reassured her, "Nah, it was an accident after all. Besides, I should have mentioned from the start that it's actually really easy to knock someone off their feet like this without putting everything into it."

She gave a sigh of relief after hearing this and asked sheepishly, "So, um, does this mean the lesson is over?"

"I don't mind if we continue or not, it's up to you," I said, waiting for her decision.

"Thanks. Alright, I promise I'll be more careful."

"Okay then," I said, as we stood up and I dusted myself off. We kept on practicing the throw without any further incidents. I also showed her a few other essential things. We wound up finishing a while later and at which point she looked pretty tired.

"I think this is a good place to stop for today," I announced. "If you want, we could do this again next weekend."

She looked up at me from the bench and said, "Sure, sounds good, but can we go get something to eat right now?"

"Yeah, I'm starving too," I said. "Did you have any place in mind?"

"I saw a Mexican restaurant across from the park," she suggested. "Wanna go there?"

"Sounds good."

It didn't take long for us to cross the park over to where the restaurant was. When we entered, the smell made me realize just how hungry I actually was. Apparently, though, Sonata was worse off than me because I could hear her stomach grumbling right next to me. She tried to stifle it by wrapping her arms around her midsection.

"Heh-heh, sorry," she said a bit embarrassed.

"It's okay. Let's just order," I said as we made our way to the ordering window where we were greeted by the cashier.

"Hi, welcome to the King Taco, may I take your order," she said with a bit of a bored tone.

I looked over to Sonata and told her, "Go ahead and order first."

"Thanks," she smiled back at me, "Okay, I'll have the large order of tacos, and a large diet soda, please."

The cashier punched in the order into the cash register and then turned to me. "And what will you have, sir?"

I had never been to that place and didn't know what was good, so I said, "I'll have the large order of tacos with a large diet soda too, please."

After putting in my order and ringing up the total, the cashier announced, "That'll be fifteen-thirty-five."

Sonata was about to reach for her wallet until I stopped her and said, "Don't worry, I got this." I then gave the cashier a twenty dollar bill. She gave me the change and a receipt, along with a plastic card with the number 4 printed on it.

"We will have your orders sent out to your table shortly," the cashier said as she brought out our drinks as well.

"Thank you," we both responded.

The cashier only responded with a bored "Mm-hmm."

"I'll be right back, just got to get a few things," I said while Sonata had picked out a table for two.

"All right."

I went over to the salsa bar and grabbed a few of the small containers full of condiments along with some napkins. With all that in hand, I walked back to the table careful not to drop anything.

While she was waiting, Sonata had been playing a block breaking game on her phone.

"So, you like video games?" I asked observing her play.

"Yeah," she said, still keeping her eyes trained on the screen. "Aw man, I was so close to beating my best score." She brought her attention back to me and continued, "Who doesn't like playing them. I mean, asides from Adagio."

"Not a fan of them?" I asked

"Yeah, she says that they're a waste of time, but I think it's because she just sucks at them," she said with a huge grin.

I couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "Hmm, that's a shame, personally, I enjoy playing them," I replied.

"For realsies, which kinds do you like?" she asked.

"Well, action-adventure and fighting games for sure, but I'll try any game if it looks interesting," I said. "How about you, Sonata, which ones do you like?"

"Well, I like rhythm, puzzle, and action games. As long as it's fun, I'll play it," she said. "Hmm, maybe we could play together?"

"Sure, that would be great," I smiled back at her.

Before we could continue our conversation, a waiter brought out two trays with our orders to the table and asked, "Order number four?"

"Yes, that's us," I answered.

"Here you go then. Enjoy," he responded.

"Thanks," both Sonata and I replied as he handed us our trays and took the plastic card with him back to the cashier.

I got one of the containers with the red salsa and started to put it on a few of the tacos. As I took a bite, I couldn't help but notice that three of the six tacos on Sonatas' plate were gone. She was now taking huge gulps of her drink and then wiped her mouth with one of the napkins. I thought to myself, I don't know whether I should be concerned or impressed with how fast she polished off half of her plate at the moment it took me to use the salsa.

I suppose she noticed that as well as she began to eat slower now. Of course, she still finished before I did. Eventually, I finished as well and got rid of the trash that was left, and Sonata took a few last sips from her cup.

"Ah, that was good," she said looking very satisfied.

"I still can't believe how fast you finished the whole thing," I said in response.

"Well, I didn’t have anything for breakfast," she answered.

"Okay, I didn't know, never mind what I just said," I apologized.

"It's all right," she beamed, "it's been pretty fun so far, huh?"

"Can't argue with you there," I said. "So, was there anything else you wanted to do?"

"Well, I thought that maybe we…" she began but didn't finish her thought. The color had suddenly rushed from her face as she was looking past me towards the entrance. She then got up from her seat and said, "I, uh, I gotta go to the restroom. I'll be right back." She then bolted towards the restroom and slammed it shut.

What got into her?

I turned to get a look at what had spooked Sonata. However, I only saw Rainbow Dash, who was looking over the menu. She went and placed an order and turned to find a place to sit. She then noticed me at the table, and waved "hi." I waved back, and she came over and sat across from me.

"Hey, how's it going, Slate?" she asked. 

"Not bad, how about you?"

"Pretty good. Just finished trouncing the other team. So, what are you doing here by yourself?" 

"Oh, I'm actually here with a friend of mine, she just stepped into the restroom," I explained, "We came in here not too long ago after a walk in the park earlier. So you were playing a game right now?"

"Yeah, I was at the park for a soccer match," she said. "I felt like coming here to get something quick to eat afterward."

"So are you dining in?" I asked.

"Nah, I've got a lot of things to do today, so I put my order to go. Actually, I think they're bringing it out right now. I guess I'll see you around."

"Alright then, see you later," I waved at her. She waved back, took a plastic bag from the waiter and left.

Sonata peeked her head out from behind the restroom door and cautiously walked back to our table. 

"Hey, are you alright, Sonata?" I asked her as she sat back down. "It seemed like something was bothering you, was it Rainbow Dash?

Her eyes went wide for about a second, but she quickly regained her composure and answered, "What, no, nothing's bothering me. But maybe we should get going."

"Alright then," I told her, and we made our way back out onto the street. "By the way, you were saying you wanted to do something else?"

"Oh, right," she said, "I wanted to ask if I could hang out with you at your apartment. To be honest, it seems like it would be better than having to spend another day at my place."

"Um, sure, I just need to check something. Could you give me one second?"

"Ok," she said a little disheartened.

I began to send a text message to dad but stopped when I saw that he had already sent me one of his own.

It read, "Hey Slate, a bit of an emergency came up at work, and I won't be back till five today, there should be some stuff in the fridge that you can prepare. I'll see you later, take care."

I quickly shot a text back asking if I could have a friend over. All I got back was a concise, "Sure." I guess dad was extremely busy then.

The phone showed that it was barely going to be one o’clock, which meant we had plenty of time to hang out.

"Hey, Sonata, it's okay for you to come over."

She perked up again and replied, "Cool, so what are we waiting around here for." She then took me by the hand and practically dragged me back towards our apartment complex. We made it there in no time at all. I had a feeling that it had something to do with Rainbow Dash back at the restaurant. Between that and what had happened the night before however, I couldn't help but wonder what could have possibly happened.

We took the stairwell up to the fifth floor and over to my apartment. Once we were both in, Sonata took a look around.

"You have a beautiful place here," she said. "I especially like the pictures of your family. You guys look really happy."

"Thanks," I said as I went to the kitchen sink and quickly washed my face. "Go ahead and make yourself at home."

"Okay," she called back as she sat on the couch.

Once I dried off, I went back to the living room with Sonata. I then asked her "What do you want to do?"

Sonata looked all around the entertainment system trying to see what there was. Her eyes had landed on the gaming console before she turned to me.

"Ooh, how about we play something together," she said as she got up and went to look at my small library of games. After glossing over them for a moment she picked one out. "Here, let's play this one, it's been a while since I last tried it," she said handing me the box with a smile.

"You've played Blazing Fist X before?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah, it's one of the few fighting games I really, really like."

"Alright then, let me just get everything set up," I said, turning on the television and game console. I inserted the game and got it running to the title screen, and then found the second controller for Sonata to use. We selected the 2-player mode and began playing.

It had actually been quite a while since I had last touched that game. And based on all the mistakes that Sonata was making, the same could be said for her. At least it made it enjoyable. As we relearned how the game worked, we began to get competitive.

"Ha, that was close," Sonata remarked as my attack barely missed her.

"Woah, nice try," I said as my character countered hers.

"Ooh, you can't get away this time," she said as she cornered my character.

"Ah! No, no, no, no," I muttered as I tried desperately to keep the life bar from dwindling away.

"K.O." an announcer shouted from the screen as my character flopped onto the ground in defeat.

"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you really liked this one," I said now looking at the score which was 16 to 19, Sonata leading by 3 wins.

"Yeah," she said, "it was still pretty fun though. I'm surprised that you didn't come out ahead in the end."

"What can I say, I'm a bit rusty," I said with a grin. What I failed to mention, however, was that I was holding back a tiny bit. I didn't want to ruin her fun.

"I guess," she sighed and leaned back into the couch, now relaxing after that series of fights. "How about we watch something now? I don't think I can go another round right now."

"Fine by me," I said. I went and turned off the console, set the television to the cable channels and gave the TV remote to Sonata. "You can put it on whatever channel you'd like to watch. I'm going to step into the kitchen for a little, do you want anything?"

"Yes, can you get me some water, please," she asked looking a little embarrassed.

"Sure," I said heading to the kitchen. When I got back with a couple of water bottles for the both of us she had picked one of those caught on camera shows. I suppose we both had a dumb sense of humor because Sonata and I would burst out laughing at some of the sillier, slapstick moments.

Regardless, we had a good time all the way to the end of the show. Sonata wiped away a tear from laughing so hard at the last clip, and I stretched out and placed an arm over the top of the couch.

Sonata then turned to me. "Hey, Slate," she said.

“What’s up?”

"Thanks for inviting me out today. This whole past week was the worst, and this really helped me get my mind off of it."

"Well, I'm glad I could help," I responded, "It was kind of fun after all."

As another program had finished, the view of a setting sun was visible through the window. When I checked my phone, it read four-thirty three pm. Not much longer till dad gets back, I mentally sighed to myself. As soon as he got in, he'd expect me to take care of a plethora of things regardless of having a guest. I felt that wouldn't be fair to Sonata and decided that I should just escort her to her apartment before then.

"Hey, Sonata, I'd really like for you to stay longer, but once my dad gets here, I won't really be able to hang out," I said. "Just a ton of things that need to be taken care of, sorry about that."

"It's alright, I should probably be getting home soon anyway," she said. "Gotta make sure that Adagio and Aria don't need help with anything."

"Okay then," I answered. "I’ll walk you back to your apartment?"

"Yeah, that would be nice," she said. I got the spare key to my place and we took the stairs down to the third floor. We were certainly not in any rush to part ways so we walked at a leisurely pace. But we still got there fairly quickly. Again we were standing at her apartment door just like before.

"So will I see you tomorrow?" I asked her.

"I'm not sure," she said frowning. "It depends on what Adagio has planned." 

"Hmm, well then maybe we can trade cell numbers so we can text each other," I suggested pulling out my cell phone.

"That's a good idea," she said pulling out hers as well. So we gave each other our numbers and put them into our contact lists.

"Ok then, I guess I'll see you around," I said putting away the phone.

"Ok, I'll see you later," she said as she hugged me. I still wasn't used to that, but I still hugged her back. She then got the apartment open and waved bye, as did I. I took off up the stairs trying to get back to my place quickly so I could get started on the chores before dad got back. 

Other than a brief conversation with dad when he arrived, the rest of my afternoon was full of cleaning the apartment until dinner. All the while, I was checking to see if I had received any texts from Sonata.