Page 15 of Up All Night
“Oh…”
“Yes.” I had no idea what I had unbottled. Hadrian had gone from joking about being drunk off two beers to looking wistfully off into the distance. “My brother and I came here alone. He left his family to make them money.”
“I see…”
“Things are not good in Greece. Money is a problem. In Turkey, things are not better for my family. There are bad people trying to…” He furrowed his brows and punched more words into his phone.“Recruit.”
Oh.
Oh.This had definitely taken a sad turn.
“I hate terrorists,” Hadrian said, as if I would ever question him otherwise. Then again, I was American. He probably heard every ounce of shit an ignorant American could throw his way about politics and war. “They ruin everything.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
From what I pieced throughout the night – because the state of Hadrian’s family weighed so heavily on his mind that he often brought them up – his family was a mix of Kurdish, Turkish, and Greek. One part of his family was from Turkey, where unscrupulous characters that I shall not name often tried to forcibly “recruit” adult men into activities said men never wanted anything to do with. The other part was from Greece and still trying to recover from the economic collapse. They had connections here in Tokyo that allowed the two eldest sons to head east to make a living to send back home. How much were they making to both afford an apartment in Tokyoandsend money back home to their families? And Hadrian was moving on to America so soon? I would argue he’d make even less money, although I wasn’t sure exactly what he did. So far I had guessed he was a bartender and not much more.
I felt for the guy. What I had thought was going to be a fun date and possible one-night stand often came back to him talking about his family until he remembered thiswasa date… best to keep things light.
Still, how could I ignore something like that?
“Maybe America will be a good opportunity for you,” I said at the end of dinner. I stumbled my way to the bathroom, calling over my shoulder, “Lots of fun to be had in America!” I would know. He could be having a lot of fun in this American.
While I was in the bathroom – and trying to regain my tipsy bearings – I once more pondered how things were going on this strange date. Hadrian hadn’t made any moves. He made no references to us going back to his place or to a love hotel. With the language barrier, it was difficult for me to be coy or suggestive. When you’re on a date with someone new, you don’t want to be so aggressive, you know?
Unfortunately, Hadrian was the kind of guy Ihadto be assertive with. I unzipped my bag and looked at the condoms I scoured my whole neighborhood for. That’s right. I had come on this date with the intent of getting laid, hadn’t I?
I freshened up and sighed. For all I knew, this strange date was going to end with us going our separate ways right after we left the restaurant. Perhaps it was for the best.
Hadrian was already up when I left the bathroom. Had he paid for everything? Damn. I also wasn’t used to that.
“We go?” he asked.
“Sure… where are we going?”
Come on, dude, tell me we’re going to a love hotel…
“I want coffee.” He went ahead of me. At least I got to look at his sweet ass in those tight jeans of his. It was probably going to be the closest I came to seeing his hot body, so fuck it, I was gonna ogle it the whole way up the stairs. Fuck his coffee, though. I could think of something else that started with aCand anOthat should have been in my mouth.
