The Loophole
A Flash Fiction by Alexandra Varga
"I just don't want to become a part of the mediocrity," he said to Ashley over a candlelit dinner at the Celadon City Restaurant. "Everyone seems content to just run through the towns, collecting wild animals along their way, going up against the Elite Four with sickening delusions of grandeur, and then fade into obscurity when they fail just like their predecessors." Vincent did not have any notable experience with women, much less a considerably-successful fashion model like Ashley. This date was not going well. "It's like marriage has just become a consolation prize for anyone who can't follow their dreams." Vincent was not quite sure why he would say such a thing. He was on a date, for cripes sake. This could not bode well.
"What's wrong with a wedding? It's a union between two people who love each other!", Ashley demanded. They made eye contact for the first time since the evening began, and only to read one another's glare. Vincent darted his eyes away after a few moments, observing the iconography gracing the walls of a tacky office-turned-restaurant."I think you're a fraud," she said, after a loud and powerful silence. Vincent took a moment to look back in her general direction, confused and ready to be offended. "What are you talking about?", he asked, sounding slightly more juvenile and whiny than he had intended.
"You aren't a nonconformist by choice," she said, "You just don't know how to relate to people." Vincent opened his mouth to respond, but the words just wouldn't come out. He wondered if his verbal paralysis was a sign that, maybe, Ashley was right. "You failed the pilgrimage, and then you quit altogether. In that order. There's nothing intellectual or philosophical to you," her tone gradually becoming one of misplaced pity. "You just suck at being a person."
Ashley placed 3200 Yen on the table to pay for the meal, and walked out the door without saying a word. Vincent stared at the glass of wine for several moments, before escaping into a kind of denial and taking another spoonful of tapioca.
End.
