"Mei!" Cassey exclaimed, throwing the watering can at Haze, who looked at them confused, "Nice to see you saw my number!"

"Yeah, sorry I couldn't call before," She chuckled, "Shift was tiring and then I went home, to bed, and completely forgot about it."

"Is it the cute gal?" Haze whispered, getting closer to Cas, probably to hear the conversation. She nodded, before shoving zirs face away. Haze frowned but backed away.

"Well, don't worry, I'm sure you had a long day. So... how you doing?"

"Quite well actually. Not doing much at the moment. I hope I didn't catch you at a bad moment."

"Oh, no, you didn't. I wasn't doing anything important, I'm all free to talk right now!"

"Rude," Haze hissed. Cassey put her index on their lips to tell zir to shut up.

"Glad to know, glad to know..." Mei replied.

Cas awaited, not knowing either if Mei was going to continue talking, or if she had nothing else to say. It appeared as if she was thinking exactly the same, leaving them both in an awkward silence. Haze, who had decided to leave Cas to handle this alone, was now continuing with zirs job of watering the plants. Cassey wondered if Mei could be able to hear the noise of the water falling down, and if she did, what would she assume was going on. Finally, Cas took on their duty to end the awkwardness.

"Anyways, are you free sometime soon? I was thinking we could, ya know, meet up and all, kind of like a date?" They wondered, looking up at Haze to seek approval. Ze smiled lifted zirs thumbs up.

"Sure! Um... I'm free on Wednesdays in general, and Saturdays as well. Sadly, tomorrow isn't one of those, I promised my friend I would cover for them"

"Well, uh-" Cas thought back. Their schedules didn't exactly meet up, since hers was kind of unstable, still not 100% official with all the changes going on with the café lately, the only day for sure that they had free was Tuesdays, since the café was closed. The other day would be Saturdays as well, but- well, that day wasn't available for a bit. An idea came to their head, but it wasn't infallible, "Hey, how... how much of a night owl are you, Mei? Because I think I might have an idea, but it'll depend on how long you usually stay awake..."

"To be honest, I only sleep during the day, and not even that much. I'll stay awake all night normally."

"Great!" Cassey smiled, "In that case, I think I have a plan."

"Really? What's your plan?" She asked.

Cas explained her the idea. Well, it could be barely called an idea, there was no development, they hadn't had any time to actually think about any plan for a date, this was just to figure out a good moment to do it all that fit into both of their schedules. Mei listened, and once Cassey finished, she spoke.

"Sounds good to me, altho I wouldn't want you to be tired by staying up longer than you're used to..."

"Nah, don't worry, it won't be a problem. I'm kinda used to weird shifts already, I can always catch on my sleep later on the day. Like the plan?"

"Yeah! We can go to the movies if there's anything good. If there isn't, or you come up with something better, text about it with where to go, what it'll be and all that..."

"I'll sure will! See you on Wednesday then?"

"See ya! Mind if I hang now or-?"

"Don't worry. Bye!"

"Bye," Mei repeated back.

Cas hang up on the call and put her phone aside. They took a deep breath before turning to face Haze, her face beaming of happiness.

"I have a date with Mei!" They squealed, jumping a bit.

"I heard," Haze chuckled, "I'm happy for you pal."

"UwU thanks. I can't believe it was so... easy."

"It was just a phone call sweety, you don't have anything actually planned for the date itself. Even with that, I'm surprised the cute gal called you back in the first place. You must've given her a very good impression."

"Well, what can I say? It's just my natural charm," Cassey laughed, before adding, "And her name is Mei, you know that, right?"

"Names are easy to forget. Instead, cute gal is forever lasting. Much more efficient."

"Whatever, nerd. Eeeeeeeee I'm just so happy!"

"Calm down. Come on, grab your watering can and get to work. Those plants ain't gonna water themselves; some gardening will be good for you to chill," Haze handed Cassey her watering can. She lifted her hand up to grab it but thought it twice before picking it up. After a second of consideration, they grabbed the tool.

"Alright boss, I'll get to work," she sighed

"Great. Also, this way you can have some alone time and think something else for when Wednesday comes."

"'kk. I haven't forgotten about the sweater deal, by the way. I'm gonna want it back. I need my clothes."

"I'll give it back tomorrow," Haze replied, even if they both knew that wasn't really gonna happen.

---

When Mei said that she had completely forgot about the number... it was a lie. She had been thinking and over thinking about it all day, since the moment Laurene pointed it out. Work had helped her distract from it, but the moment she got home, it was the same issue all over again.

She had tried painting, which resulted on wasting a good canvas and throwing away paint. Maybe she'll manage to get away with it and sell it saying it's modern art or whatever. It honestly was just random strokes and handprints of her hand all over it, mostly from swinging the brushes around and punching the canvas. Some people managed to sell similar ones for thousands of dollars, so might as well try.

After the paint incident, the young vampire had decided to try sleeping. Hadn't really worked, but at the end it saved her some hours of worrying, all gone to the void of the night, or better said, morning.

By the time Mei woke up, it was early afternoon. After a lot more of doubt and self-debate, she had arrived to the decision that calling Cassey was a good idea. Not exactly a great one, but a reasonable one.

The reason that it had taken her so long to make the final decision wasn't because Mei was unsure about her feelings. It was obvious to her that she felt something for Cas, and the feeling wasn't exactly friendship.

But it was all so rushed- they had only met a few weeks ago! To be truthful, Mei was scared. Scared not only that it won't work out but scared that she wasn't enough. Scared that Cas wouldn't be into her when they found out she was ace. Scared that it'll happen something similar than what happened 2 years ago and that Cassey would get hurt this time as well.

Even with all this in mind, Mei had still called. Her heart had told her to go for it, and she did long a relationship. Cas seemed nice, accepting, and sweet. Maybe there was a chance. Maybe it'll work out.

That's the truth on why it had taken her so long to call. And that's the reason she had decided to do so.