Mr. Wu Is Not At Home

As it turned out, Sun Mei asked for a refill twice and received it.

The second time she sneaked back into the theater with her bucket, Michael squinted at her in the darkness.

"Where do you put all this popcorn?" he asked her. "Are you stashing it in your bag to take it home with you?"

Sun Mei looked at him as though he had gone crazy. "I never eat stale popcorn. I have standards!"

"Have you even watched any of the movie?"

"Hush!" a lady sitting behind them told them angrily.

Sun Mei tried to stifle her giggles. "You just got shushed, Michael. I'd be ashamed if I were you."

"You are completely shameless!"

The movie was not bad. To be honest, Sun Mei would watch pretty much anything as long as she was bribed with popcorn, but she thought "Argo" was not a bad choice for a first date. Although she forgot most of it as soon as they walked out of the theater, she was glad that there had been no sex scenes. She was not sure she could have survived the awkwardness of sitting next to Michael while a couple undressed each other on the screen.

"So what did you think?" Michael asked her as they walked back to his car.

"It was alright," Sun Mei said, waving her arms around restlessly. Now that she had no bucket to hold, she had no idea what to do with them.

Michael unlocked his car and opened the door for her.

"Thank you," said Sun Mei. Suddenly, she felt herself blush slightly.

"You are welcome. I should have been more polite when I came to pick you up. I'm sorry that I let your boss upset me."

"Don't worry about it. It's all water under the bridge."

Sun Mei got into the car nervously. On the way back home, she felt like a completely different person. Her original awkwardness had taken over her body again, rendering her unable to say a single word.

She couldn't help it. As they got closer to Mr. Wu's house and the end of their date, she started feeling anxious about the prospect of being kissed.

If Michael didn't kiss her, it would mean that he didn't like her or that he wasn't excited about the idea of smelling her popcorn breath. If he did kiss her, Sun Mei would probably have a stroke or run out of the car in a panic.

It was a lose-lose situation.

Although Sun Mei wanted Michael to like her, she wasn't sure that she was ready to kiss him yet.

When they pulled over into Mr. Wu's driveway, her heart started beating as hard as a drum.

Any minute now, Michael would try to kiss her and she would make a fool of herself.

One second, two seconds, three seconds passed…

Michael pulled the key out of the ignition and turned to look at her.

"Sun Mei, I…"

Suddenly, Sun Mei's phone started ringing. Grateful for this excuse to not look at him, Sun Mei answered it immediately without even checking who was calling.

"Hello?"

"Sun Mei, where are you?" Mr. Wu asked her breathlessly.

"I just got home, Mr. Wu. I'm right outside. I'm coming in!"

"I'm not home, Sun Mei. I'm at the hospital..."