Hopeless Unromantic

Hearing the doorbell go off made a nervous jolt shoot through Benjiro's chest. As he slowly descended the staircase, he came to an odd realization. He was excited to be going somewhere with a girl, and something like this had been apart of his fantasies for many years. But over the many years of being single, he came to realize that relationships and everything that came attached to them were a lot of work. Coupled with the fact that he felt quite comfortable being alone, he was at a bit of a loss. Getting a date always seemed like such an impossible task that he honestly wouldn't know what to do if a girl said "Yes", so he had pushed a majority of thoughts about dating aside.

Those and similar thoughts, bouncing through Benjiro's mind were quickly hushed when he opened the door and saw Akiko. The red and black themed outfit was simplistic in its design. However, he had only ever seen the petite girl in their school uniform and some casual clothes. Seeing her dressed up, even if it was only to the sixes or sevens, made his mind blow a few circuits and fuses.

Benjiro's eyes slightly widened as he gave her a once-over. Akiko noticed the rapid examination and frowned in response, "Hey, just because I decided to look nice for today doesn't mean you get to stare", she said while nervously twirling her hair in one hand, "Also, this is just how I get dressed for when I go places, just so you know."

Benjiro had to quickly turn around and let out a breath he had been holding in for half a minute, 'Holy crap! How does such a minor wardrobe change make her look like a completely different person? And why is she still trying to keep me at arm's length even though this was all her idea? GAAHH, why can I never figure out what girls are thinking?'

"Are you ready to go then? We should get going soon, or we'll be late."

Seeing Akiko in her outfit made Benjiro do two things: One, it made his cheeks tinge into a shade of pink. Second, it made him realize that he hadn't really prepared for the afternoon at all. He was still wearing his clothes from the day before. Having been too busy to give a damn about how he looked was fine while working within the privacy of his own home, but when going on an excursion with a lady, it wasn't acceptable. Although calling Akiko a lady was a stretch of the imagination, even by Benjiro's standards.

He turned back to face her, "Um, c-could you give m-me just half a m-minute. I n-need to grab s-something."

Not waiting for an answer, Benjiro ran upstairs to his room to find a suitable outfit. He knew that getting ready was something he should've done fifteen minutes ago, or even three, but what fun would that be? He quickly through on a smoky gray V-neck sweater, a pair of nice jeans, and a pair of gray shoes that seemed an appropriate place between dressy and casual. He gave himself a quick once over in the mirror, 'Eh, it's not perfect, probably could've found something better to wear. Ah, forget it, it'll have to make do.'

Before he ran downstairs, he ran into his Dad's room, almost tripping over a few things on the floor. On his Dad's dresser, there was a clear bottle with some brown liquid inside, which he recognized as the cologne 'Stallion.' He unscrewed the cap, gave himself a quick spray and darted back downstairs. When Benjiro reopened the door, he was out of breath, "S-Sorry if th-that took too l-long", he puffed.

"No, but it probably would've been better if you'd been ready before I got here", Akiko responded in a somewhat annoyed tone.

Benjiro sheepishly apologized but Akiko quickly waved the sentiment aside, "It's fine, just as long as you didn't completely forget like you did with drama club."

A nervous laugh escaped Benjiro as the pair began walking towards the theater. Despite the fact that they were technically on a date, no matter how much the two of them would deny that fact, they honestly didn't know how to interact with each other. The last time they went out was for that quadruple date trip to karaoke and that had been planned out by Akiko's friends. And that excursion had almost ended on a sour note because of the guys badmouthing Benjiro. Plus unlike that time, this time, if there was too much of an awkwardly long silence, there wasn't anyone else she could turn to if conversation fell through. Trying to think of anything that could break the ice, "Hey, what do you think of my nails", she attempted

'AHHH', Akiko silently screamed, 'Idiot! Why is that the first thing you ask about? You had a thousand things you could've said, and you point out your nails? Stupid, stupid, stupid!'

Benjiro looked at her nails and noticed they were a bit longer than usual. The length, and their shape, everything about them made some part of his psyche terrified. His pulse quickened, his breathing accelerated and his hands became jittery, "Th-They l-look n-nice", he muttered.

Akiko knew he most likely didn't mean what he said, but tried to take the compliment anyway, "Thanks, I thought they'd go nicely with my outfit. You know, with the red and the black, and I think it works." She finished her sentence with a small flourish of her hand, which made Benjiro instinctually flinch.

"Hey, are you alright", Akiko asked while reaching for him.

Benjiro quickly backed out of reach, keeping Akiko and her hands within full view. The petite girl saw that his eyes looked panicked, his pupils were tiny and that he was trying to hide his heaving chest. She tried approaching him once more but his arm shot up, "NO!"

Akiko halted where she was, "What's wrong", she tried asking.

"J-Just stay b-back", Benjiro desperately asked.

After he took a moment to steady his breathing, he requested, "C-Could you j-just hide y-your n-nails? Th-That's all I ask."

Akiko was confused and slightly creep out, but she stuck her hands inside a convenient pocket on her skirt.

"If you didn't like them that much then you could just say so."

"It's n-not that. I j-just d-don't like l-long nails."

'He doesn't like my nails? What else?'

"Is it just my nails? Is my entire outfit not right?"

Benjiro tried waving his hands to defuse, "N-No, your d-dress is r-really pretty. I w-wasn't exp-pecting you t-to look s-so good."

"Hah! You're just saying that to weasel out of this", she said in a high pitched tone.

'So he thinks I look good!', she excitedly thought as a blush returned to her face.

"I j-just d-don't like l-long nails", Benjiro reiterated, "S-Something ab-bout them m-makes me f-feel on edge."

Akiko was a little suspicious at the vague answer, "Were you badly scratched by a cat when you were a child?"

"Yes", he quickly answered.

'I answered that way too quickly', Benjiro thought, 'Please just let sleeping dogs lie.'

Akiko was a little confused about Benjiro's erratic behavior, 'OK, he's acting weirder than normal. But, it's alright, let's just try and enjoy the afternoon.'

They got to the movie theater without incident, but she noticed that Benjiro kept occasionally sneaking glances at her hands. 'Why is he so creeped out about my nails', she wondered.

When they got to the theater, Benjiro hastily offered to buy the popcorn and drinks but Akiko pointed out that they still had some time before the movie actually started. Inside the seating area had that familiar scent of carpet cleaner, butter and Skittles. When the film started, Akiko remembered too late that her friend asked her to buy tickets to the latest heartthrob movie "Two Hearts Beating as One." Akiko slightly panicked when she realized what she had inadvertently invited her neighbor to, but thankfully his face had changed from a frightened look to its usual impassive front.

'Oh good, he doesn't seem to be getting any weird ideas about this. Not that I had any in the first place.'

'Ugh, I hate these movies. The dialog in them is so cringeworthy that I get the urge to throw myself off a bridge', Benjiro silently groaned, 'When I get home I need to purify my eyes with an episode of Black Lagoon or something.'

Akiko's eyes were enraptured with the images flickering across the silver screen. Scenes of two people meeting, gradually falling in love before finally passionately declaring that they couldn't live without each other. What she hadn't been expecting, with more than a subtle blush, was a short period where the two leads were consumating their love. The two movie-goers occasionally stole a glance at each other, mostly to see how the other was reacting to what they were seeing. Akiko set her hand down on the armrest and Benjiro bit his nails into his arm.

'Five things you can see. Four you can hear, and so on. Come on, think!'

What seemed like only a few moments later, the movie ended with a slow panning away as the two lovers embraced each other beneath the light of an unusually large moon. The credits began rolling, the lights came back on and people returned to the real world. On the way out Akiko seemed to be in a better mood than earlier.

"Oh, that was fantastic." she grinned, " I love a good romance. I always dream that something like that could happen one day"

"Hmph."

"What are you saying 'hmph' for?"

"I w-wouldn't go wish-shing for someth-thing like that if I-I were you."

"Oh, do you ever get tired of being such a cynic? Don't you believe in love at all", Akiko asked

"If w-we're sp-speaking in t-terms of wh-what we j-just saw, defin-nitely not."

"You don't think that there's someone out there, destined to be with you" Akiko asked in a disbelieving tone.

"No. I d-don't believe in tr-true love, I d-don't b-believe in l-love at first sight, I d-don't b-believe that th-there's such a th-thing as Mr. or M-Mrs. Right and I don't believe in H-Happily Ever Aft-ter."

Listening to his small tirade, Akiko grimaced, 'Yikes, what happened to this guy to make him hate romance so much? Did his middle school crush shoot him down that hard?'

A half hour later they arrived back at their street, "R-Regardless, th-thanks for inv-viting me."

"I told you! My friends all bailed on me last minute. I wasn't even going to invite you, so don't misunderstand."

Benjiro already knew and believed what she told him, but that didn't make the stinging he felt in his chest any less real. Biting his lip, he turned away without saying goodbye and returned to his home. Standing in front of his mirror and pulling off his sweater, 'I know you don't really care for me, so would you mind not getting my hopes up for no reason?'