In my opinion, they should outlaw the ones on motorcycles. That was how Princess Diana died years ago. It was bad enough to be harassed; you didn’t need the danger that the bikes added.
“I understand. I also wanted to give you a heads-up,” he said.
That didn’t sound promising.
“Lexi obtained the video of you asking Misaki out, with the permission of the
“Don’t tell me you had to pay off some favors and decided to sacrifice me,” I said.
“You know how it works. I asked Caryn to call your girlfriend to warn her,” Frank said.
It was good that I’d beaten her to the punch. Not calling for three days and then having Caryn call Brook to tell her I was having dinner with a Japanese starlet might not have gone over very well. Sometimes you get lucky.
“Are they aware we don’t have long for dinner? I don’t want to spend half of it talking to the press,” I warned.
“All good,” Frank said, holding up his hands. “You might want to change your clothes.”
I’d planned to wear what I’d worn on set all day, but he was right. I should look a little better than that for my big date.
◊◊◊
It was good that I’d changed because Misaki had dressed up for dinner. We were met out front by a couple of the gossip shows. Misaki did a good job holding her own when they started to ask questions. It worried me at first when she acted shy. But once she got started, she was a little chatterbox. Finally, I had to tell them that we had reservations so they would let us go.
I was happy when we pulled up to Nobu. I’d heard a lot of hype about the place and wanted to try it. It was a cozy and more casual atmosphere than I expected. The bar was packed with people waiting to get seats, but they seated us quickly once they confirmed our reservations. Misaki’s head was on a swivel, watching all the celebrities and beautiful people who were there. I spotted what I would want in a trophy wife once I reached my dotage. The waitress told us the specials and then left us alone for a moment.
“I doubt we have time for the tasting menu,” Misaki said.
“How about we have sushi?” I asked.
She smiled.
“I was afraid you wouldn’t want to. Would it be okay if I picked out what we have?” she asked.
“I’m sure you know better than I would. But I do like tuna.”
Misaki turned out to be a delightful young lady. She was from the island of Kyushu and lived in Fukuoka. The city was surrounded on three sides by mountains and was an important port. Her parents had a place on Hakata Bay. Misaki had an older brother who owned a coffee shop, and she had two nephews who were under three. She also had a boyfriend who was in finance at an electronics company.
Misaki was shocked to discover I was ten years younger than her. She’d assumed that, like most actors, I played someone younger. In my case, I was playing an older character—that is, older than me. Once she figured out she was my senior, Misaki decided she would be my big sister and boss me around.
“Why was Kenta acting put-out when you asked me to dinner?”
I explained our talk about how to ask American women out to dinner and how he was striking out. She knew about what had happened with the script girl and scowled.
“He was trying to be the big star and dominate her. The script girl is our hero. She rejected him out of hand.”
“What’s it like, dating in Japan?” I asked.
“We don’t normally show affection in public. People here hold hands openly, and that’s not something you often see back home. The big problem is finding time to date. Most young people work long hours to establish their careers. What you do is important. Even more important is your family. A Japanese girl wants to make sure that she gets along with a boy’s mother. They can be a real problem if you don’t,” she shared.
“If you have a boyfriend, why did you go out with me?” I asked.
“I should ask the same of you. Someone said that you have a girlfriend.”
“I asked first.”
She blushed.
“You’re the big American movie star. Haru sings your praises and gushes about what you did to help her career when you did
“Thank you for not embarrassing me like that,” I said with a smile.
“Somehow, I imagine you would survive my rejection. Besides, I enjoyed the prestige of being the first you asked out,” Misaki said as she sat up a little straighter.
“I take it prestige is important.”
“Why, of course. Haru had told us that she would be the one to catch your eye. You’ve made an old woman happy.”
I liked that she was self-deprecating. By the end of dinner, I was glad that I’d asked her out. We had a good time talking, and it gave me a chance to quiz her about her country while she questioned me on mine.
“You have to do something for us: we want to go to an American party. We’ve read about them and want to experience one,” Misaki said, catching me totally by surprise.
