Joe feigns pain and rubs his arm dramatically.

"Help! Help! I'm being abused by a five-foot-nine asian girl! Help!"

Joe puts an arm around Mel and doesn't noogie her, but pretends to.

"I'm glad you came home this weekend kiddo. I've missed you."

Heh, same to you too. So, where too?

She opens the car door for him.

"Thanks. Uh.. dunno. It's still early. Wanna get some lunch?"

Joe hops in, and reaches across andf pushes Mel's door open.

"Then if you drop me at my car, I'll drive this afternoon. I'm sure you had a helluva drive to get home."

Mel makes a face at him and gets into the car.

Sure, where too? Heh, you playing the knight again?

"Always the knight. You pick, I'll pay for lunch. But we do dinner dutch. You wouldn't go out with me in high school, and I'll be damned if I'll pay now."

Joe sticks his tounge out at her, and then lets the seat back a bit and sits all slumped down. He pulsl his had low on his eyes, and raps on the car door with his hand.

"Lets move it, girly."

Heh, but you never did asked me out.

She starts up the car and heads to a small chinese restaurant a ways from the school.

1st Chinese Barbeque, lots of good cheap food.

"Fair enough. Maybe I didn't think you'd say 'yes', alright? I was just joking anyway. I'm buying you lunch, afterall."

Joe exits the car, and holds the door to the resturaunt for Mel. He makes a face at her when she goes past.

"Table for two please."

Hmph, we'll just see about that.

She waits for a fresh table to be cleared up.

"Why don't you just let me buy you lunch, Mel? It's not like I'm proposing to you. Me and Dan would switch off paying when we used to go to the pizza shop, just so the bill wasn't all divided up."

The nearest place is China Buffet, an elegant little establishment that's only 3-4 years old, tops. The owners went all out with the decorations, and entrance and middle of the restaurant sport large ponds with massive goldfish and other more exotic aquatic animals. There is even a bridge just behind the cash register area, which is made to look like a chinese pagoda*. The buffet is at the back, but the grill (where things like peking duck are served) is closed until dinner. The selection is still excellent, however, and there's even some 'american' pizza and wings to one side.

The pair are seated quickly, and a pretty young asian girl asks them what they'd like to drink.

*Why do I feel 'pagoda' is the wrong word? It's the little hut-thing. Tell me if I got it right?

Finishing up with Joe's car quickly, Jim returned to the wreck he'd been working on earlier. It took him another hour, but he soon had the problem narrowed down, replaced from parts in storage and had started on putting the damn thing back together.

"Hey, Dad! This thing's almost done. You want to finish it up? I'm going to call it a day, and go take a shower. There's got to be some parties going on tonight."

His father nods, wiping sweat from his brow with a grin. "You go have fun; nice job today, I didn't think we'd get this done and still keep up with everything else. Should I tell your mother you'll be missing dinner?"

Just a pot of Jasmine tea, please.

She frowns slightly at the pagodas and turns to Joe.

When did the other restaraunt move?

"I'll have a Coke."

Joe shrugs.

"I dunno really. But I'm not picky. I promice I'll think of somethign better for dinner, ok?"