A moment later, Kevin looked away, his cheeks coloring slightly.
“
Fine,” he mumbled, “one large Diet Coke, then, please.”
The woman gave them a knowing smile, which made Kevin feel like he had worms wriggling inside his intestines. It was a most unpleasant feeling, so he tried to ignore it.
“
Coming right up.”
Kevin’s face was a mask of embarrassment as he paid for their refreshments and they entered the theater. On the other hand, Lilian’s beaming smile was bright enough to illuminate the entire room.
After the woman had brought their concessions, she had wished them a “happy date”
and mentioned how “cute they looked together.” While the words caused Kevin to feel nothing but self-consciousness, Lilian couldn’t have been happier.
There weren’t very many people in the theater—it was still early and the movie had been out for awhile. Because of this, finding those perfect seats in the exact center of the theater took little to no effort on their part.
With a bit of a sigh, Kevin set their large soda in the cup holder between them before plopping down himself. Lilian daintily seated herself right next to him, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
“
This is so cool! I’ve never been to a movie theater before,” she exclaimed. Kevin had already assumed as much, knowing what he did of her life before arriving in Phoenix. “And look at that screen! It’s so big!”
An unbidden smile came to Kevin’s face. While this girl said some questionable things at times, her enthusiasm when experiencing something new was astoundingly child-like. She just acted so innocent―at least in matters that didn’t involve him, her, no clothing and a bed… or the dinner table. It was one of her more endearing traits.
The innocence, not the matters relating to her sexual desires and fetishes.
“
There are a lot of theaters that have larger screens than this.”
Lilian turned in her seat to pin him with an expression that shimmered with unrepressed excitement.
“
Really?”
“
Oh, yeah,” Kevin nodded. “This is one of the smaller theaters. There’s a much larger one in Arizona called the Capri de Grande. It’s pretty far from here, though, like, all the way down in Scottsdale. Otherwise, I would have taken you there instead.”
“
So this Capri de Grande is the largest theater around?”
“
The largest one here in Arizona, sure. There are much, much bigger ones in states like California and New York―and France has the largest theater in the world.” Kevin’s smile turned nostalgic as fond memories replayed in his mind. “I remember one time when my mom took me to France. It was the only time she and I spent any time together during that trip. The place was amazing. It was this gigantic skyscraper that towered over everything, and it had spotlights and viewing screens that played movie trailers all over the outside. There were a lot of small theaters in it, but the largest one was this massive room that looked like something straight out of the Renaissance period. It was incredible.”
“
It sounds amazing.” Lilian smiled gently at her mate. “I wish I could see it one day.”
“
You might be able to,” Kevin replied absently. “I’ve been to France a number of times, more than any other country I’ve visited. I think it’s because France has one of the largest fashion industries in the world. Anyway, I’ll take you to see it whenever we go to visit.”
Lilian’s breath hitched and her heart skipped several beats. She could practically hear her blood pounding in her ears.
“
Do you mean that?” she asked in a soft voice.
“
Of course,” Kevin said, then paused. Several seconds passed as the words he had just spoken replayed in his mind, his face swiftly growing red as it underwent spontaneous combustion.
“
Kevin?” Her questioning tone startled him into action.
“
W-what I mean is… I mean that, uh, i-it’s, well, we could, you know, if you, mom and I…” Kevin tried several more times to say something, anything that would explain away his words in a non-embarrassing way. He couldn’t, so he did something else. “Oh, look! The show is about to start!”
Did he just make a horrible attempt at changing the subject on me?
Lilian stared at her mate in silence. Several seconds passed before she realized that, yes, he had indeed changed the subject, and yes, he had also done an awful job of it. Then again, this was Kevin she was thinking about. What else should she have expected?
Why is he getting so embarrassed, though?
His behavior had been quite odd for the past two days―ever since Lindsay had turned him down, now that she thought about it. It was almost like his behavior had reverted back to when they’d first met, though it clearly hadn’t resulted in something she had done. After all, she hadn’t tried to seduce him or walk around his house naked since her battle with Kiara, and those were the only times he acted this way around her. Strange.
Either way, Lilian allowed her―hopefully―future mate to have his peace of mind, and turned back to the screen.
The lights dimmed as the screen went black. Words soon appeared and, not long after that, several movie trailers came and went. As the movie began playing, Lilian became fascinated with the phenomenon that was American comics being turned into live-action movies.
As the motion picture progressed, Kevin reached out for some popcorn at the same time as Lilian. A jolt like lightning traversed his fingers, causing them to jerk back reflexively as his face flushed. He peered at his friend from the corner of his eyes. Lilian must have sensed his eyes on her for she graced him with a dazzling smile, reached into the bag, grabbed a handful of popcorn, and gave some to him.
“
T-thanks,” he muttered softly, his face still feeling very hot. The smile that Lilian gave him didn’t help matters. Not at all.
“
You’re welcome.”
That was not the only time the pair found themselves in such an awkward―for Kevin, at least―situation. Several times they had both leaned over to get a drink at the same time, only to nearly bump heads. Kevin eventually decided to just go without drinking for the rest of the movie.
While he sat there, watching as the heroes found themselves caught within a cosmic space storm, Kevin tried to figure out why he felt so self-conscious.
Come on! Get of a hold of yourself, Kevin! What’s wrong with you? Why are you acting this way?
You haven’t acted like this since Lilian first barged into your life,
he reprimanded himself.
Heck, you’re being even worse than before! You haven’t acted like this much of a fool around anyone except for…
Kevin’s eyes widened marginally as he realized several important facts about the newly developed shyness he was experiencing around Lilian.
While it was true that he had always been prone to girl-shyness
around the time he’d reached sixth grade, there were different levels of how timorous he became based on his closeness to the girl in question.
Girls that he didn’t know were often met with silence. Girls who tried chatting with him—for reasons that were beyond his poor male brain to comprehend—were also met with silence―and the occasional wheezing gasp. Girls that he did know might get some stuttering, and with Lindsay, it hadn’t been unusual for him to say something extremely stupid or simply lose consciousness.
His current level of discomfort with Lilian was akin to the severity he’d had with Lindsay, but that should have been impossible. That issue had been taken care of. He’d already confessed to the tomboy, so why had this most vexing complication decided to crop up now, of all times?
Kevin tore his gaze from the screen to Lilian, sitting beside him, paying rapt attention to what was happening on the big screen. Or, she was, until she seemed to feel his eyes upon her. Then she looked at him.
Their eyes only met for a moment before Kevin felt his cheeks begin to burn. He quickly turned back to the movie, trying to calm his frantically beating heart.
Okay, Kevin. Calm down, just calm down! There’s no reason for you to act like this. It’s just Lilian. You’ve been living with her for almost entire month, so you shouldn’t be affected by her like this.
Just because someon
e
shouldn’
t
didn’t mean the
y
weren’
t
, however, and Kevin knew that. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, like a battering ram trying to break out of his ribcage. A few beads of sweat ran down the sides of his forehead, as all of his logical thought processes and higher brain functions seemed to leave him. All because of the girl sitting next to him.
Could it be that I really…
Kevin hadn’t finished his thought before a velvet-soft hand slid into his own and delicate digits laced through his fingers.
He stared at the hand now resting within his, at the unusually perfect fingers that were a stark contrast to his own calloused digits. His vision then traveled past the hand, up the arm and onto the smiling face of Lilian, who appeared to be enjoying the movie.
He looked back at their conjoined hands, then up at her. Back down to their hands. Up at Lilian again. Eventually, and with a strange sort of numbness, Kevin relaxed as the warmth from Lilian’s palm and fingers spread from the point of contact to the rest of his body. His own digits soon followed Lilian’s example, gently coiling around her hand and lacing through her fingers.
Kevin turned back to the movie, thereby missing Lilian’s “cat that ate the canary” grin. Everything seemed to be proceeding smoothly. She was confident that, very soon, she will have gained Kevin’s love.
Yes, all according to plan.
If it weren’t for the fact that they were in a movie theater, this would have been the part where Lilian let out her “ufufufu…” laugh. However, since they were in public and she couldn’t do that without people thinking she was weird, she laughed within the confines of her mind instead.
Soon, Kevin’s love will be all mine, ufufufu…
***
“
That was a really fun movie,” Lilian said as they exited the theater. Her eyes sparkled with a perplexing sort of incandescence, as if they were a pair of stars twinkling during the waning twilight hours. “I absolutely loved the story. It was so exciting! The way those heroes gained their powers was really interesting. I feel sorry for the villain, though. He had been one of their friends, but because no one had been around to help him when he needed it, he turned into a bad guy.”
Kevin grinned at Lilian.
“
I’m glad you enjoyed the movie.”
“
And the romance between Reed Richards and Susan Storm was just inspiring! I wish I had a relationship like that.”
Lilian peered over at Kevin with a gaze full of such longing that he needed to turn his head, the better to hide the growing stain on his cheeks.
“
Ah-ah ha! W-well, I’m sure you’ll get a relationship like that soon.”
“
Oh, I know. We’ll probably be in that relationship even sooner than you think. Ufufufu…”
“
Did you say something?”
“
I said thank you for taking me to see the movie.”
As Lilian graced him with an alluring smile that managed to light up her face in a way the overhead lights never could, Kevin thought his heart would melt through his chest.
“
You’re welcome,” he mumbled softly, then shook his head, forcing himself to maintain a calm facade. “What do you think we should do next?”
As if answering his question, Lilian’s stomach chose that moment to be heard, gurgling like some kind of creature was living inside of it. Her cheeks became suffused with a mild shade of red. She looked so cute that Kevin also began blushing.
“
Well… I am a little hungry,” she said, sounding just a tad sheepish. “That popcorn wasn’t very filling.”
“
Do you want to head over to the food court?”
Lilian thought for a moment, then shook her head.
“
No, I’d like something that isn’t that fast-food stuff. Could we go to an actual restaurant?”
“
Sure, I don’t think that will be a problem, maybe…” Kevin trailed off as his mind quickly calculated a decent estimation of how much a meal for two would cost at an actual restaurant. “… Yeah, we could do that.”
That was enough for her. Without further prompting, Lilian grabbed Kevin’s hand and quickly began pulling him through the mall.
“
Come on, then!”
“
H-hey, wait! Lilian, slow down!”
“
Hurry up, Kevin! I’m starving!”
As the fox-girl dragged him off in search of a restaurant, Kevin wondered why his heart felt like it was ready to burst.
***
Kevin stood outside of a small changing stall.
He and Lilian were inside of a clothing store called Alexandria’s, one of those small boutique stores that sold stylish clothing, jewelry and other expensive items. The woman working in the shop and several teenage girls were staring at him and giggling, but he did his best to ignore them.