Tenshi no Hikari: Says TB has my permission to add this story to Tea and Biscuits for the Takari fan's Soul.
Title: Just like in the Movies
Author: Tenshi no Hikari
"Love? What I want is a romance… Just like in the movies…"
~
The outfit?
Short white skirt, pink spaghetti strap top with matching pink and white platforms.
Check.
The hair?
Fixed neatly in a loose bun, strands of brown bangs strategically brushing across face. Sparkly butterfly clip in place.
Check.
The makeup?
A hint of lipgloss, just barely noticeable.
Check.
The time?
T-minus 15 minutes.
The mission?
To have the best first date ever.
Hikari smiled at her reflection. After 32 outfit changes, 24 hairstyles, 16 pairs of shoes, she was finally perfect. She turned sideways, left and right. Perfection from every possible angle.
Takeru had finally asked her out. After months of hinting and flirting the blue-eyed boy had finally, finally asked her out.
She sighed in bliss. This was it. The date. The first date of her life. Everything was perfect. She was dressed perfectly and had the perfect boy to go out with. There was nothing that could go wrong.
Absolutely nothing.
*
Take a deep breath. Just relax. Nothing to worry about. Just calm down and relax.
Takeru exhaled deeply. He had finally asked Hikari out. And now he was so nervous he could hardly think straight. This was, technically, his first actual date. And that did nothing to help calm his nerves. Yet despite all of his anxiety, he was very excited. To think, he was going on a date with Hikari, the girl he had been crazy about since…well, forever. A stupid smile slipped onto his face as he thought about her. Her smile, the way whenever she looked at him with those beautiful wide brown eyes his heart started pounding like crazy…
That was it. He was determined. He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. Now or never. Do or die. After this there would be no turning back, no escape, no way out.
And Takeru finally summoned the courage to ring her doorbell.
Nothing to worry about…
*
The doorbell was ringing.
Hikari stared at the clock above her bed, panicking. He was ten minutes early! And she was- well, ready. And that proved to be a new unforeseen problem. Should she go down now? But then he would know that she was ready, ten minutes before she was supposed to be ready. And wouldn't that make her look over-anxious? Like the kind of girl that got ready for dates ten minutes before she was supposed to? But then if she didn't go out now, he would have to wait and then he could get irritated. And leave. And she didn't want him to leave. But she didn't want to appear like the wrong type of girl either.
To go out front or not to go out front…
She bit her lip. Unsure of the correct reaction, she sat on her bed, landing on one of her shirts that had been flung around the room earlier. She would wait. For five minutes. Then she would go out. That would make her five minutes early. Early not in a desperate type way but in a more considerate type way.
Yes, that's what she'd do. Five minutes. She could wait for five minutes.
While she waited she could fix her hair or something. She eyed it in the mirror. It was starting to look a little messy anyways…
*
Taichi welcomed the painfully nervous blond teen into the apartment. He stumbled inside, literally tripping over himself and nearly landing on the older boy. Embarrassed, he pulled himself upright and mumbled an apology.
"It's okay," Taichi said with a smile, trying to put him at ease. "Happens to everyone." He looked at Takeru, who had shoved his hands in his pockets and was staring at his shoes most uncomfortably. Taichi winced. "I'll go get Hikari. Have a seat. I'll be right back." He gestured towards the couch.
The younger boy blinked and then nodded, moving towards the couch. Sitting down he began fumbling with the hem of his shirt.
Nothing to worry about…
*
Hikari stared at her hair in the mirror. Yes, it could use a little freshening up. She grabbed the purple handled brush and began to brush the side of her hair. Forgetting completely about the sparkly butterfly clip that was there.
Brush and hair and sparkly butterfly clip met and immediately became entangled in each other. Girl began to yelp and desperately tried to disengage hair accessory from hairbrush. Neither brush nor clip loosened their grip. She pulled harder.
There was a brief knock on the door.
"WHAT?"
Taichi poked his head in. "Takeru's downstairs. Are you-" He trailed off and stared at the brush attached to her head. She gave him a look. He slipped his head back into the hallway and closed the door. Hikari tugged fiercely on the brush.
*
"Um, Hikari's gonna be a few minutes…" The brunette flopped in the chair opposite Takeru. "She's not quite ready yet."
The blond boy nodded then continued fumbling with his shirt hem.
Taichi sighed. Time for some conversation. Takeru hadn't spoken a word since he'd walked inside. He crossed his legs and looked at Takeru questioningly.
"So… you're going out with my sister…"
*
Later
Hikari emerged from her room. Both brush and clip had been removed successfully. Well, she was fairly sure she was partially bald in that area but her new hairstyle covered it. However the new hairstyle had called for a new shirt which meant she needed a new skirt. And of course she had to find a different pair of shoes. Thus she left her room, 47 minutes later, freshly dressed in a blue version of her previous outfit, slightly less confident but still determined.
She rushed out front to find Takeru looking slightly frightened as Taichi was animatedly discussing…his new favorite gun?
She cleared her throat. Both boys turned to look at her. Takeru stood up, obviously relieved, and walked over to her. He smiled awkwardly and breathlessly made out, "H-hi."
Blushing, she smiled back. "Hi…"
They stared at each other, unable to look away, oblivious as Taichi pushed them outside and closed the door.
*
Once outside, they continued to stare at each other until Hikari tore her gaze from him and said, "Guess we should be going now…"
Flushing, Takeru nodded then attempted a smile. It was tense and nervous but genuine. "Shall we?"
She nodded and walking side by side, they made their way to the movie theater in an uncomfortable silence.
*
At the theater
"Sold out?" Takeru asked the girl behind the counter in disbelief.
"Mhmm…" She tapped the computer screen with a long false nail and popped her chewing gum loudly. "Been sold out for the past half hour."
He looked at Hikari, blue eyes apologizing silently. "Um, sorry…Guess we're going to have to see another movie."
She smiled at him. "No problem. What else is showing?"
The girl behind the counter clacked at the keys for a moment then slid them two tickets of the only movie that wasn't sold out.
Hamtaro's Big Adventure
She clacked her gum again and smiled sweetly at the couple. "Enjoy."
*
At the food counter
Tickets in hand, Takeru asked Hikari, "So do you want popcorn or something?" Anything, he prayed, to make up for this horrible start.
She smiled, a little less vibrantly, but still a smile. "Sure, I'd love to." Something to restore the perfectness of this date, she begged the goddess of dating.
Little did they know that the goddess of dating has a sick sense of humor.
The two made their way through the line to the counter. "So," Takeru asked, "What do you want?"
She placed a fingernail in her mouth as she decided. "A jumbo popcorn, um, a large soda and…" She peered at the candy display. "Some Twizzlers, M&Ms, Gummi Bears, and Pocky…" She looked at Takeru. "What are you getting?" she asked, in what she hoped to be sweet manner.
He looked away, unable to read the tone in her voice. Great, now he was blushing again. "A large soda and the same candy as her," he mumbled, trying to hide his face.
The cashier, oblivious to the expressions of his customers, turned the price on the cash register towards them and waited for his money.
Takeru glanced at the screen then peeked in his wallet. Then back at the screen. "Shit…" he muttered, patting his pockets.
Hikari looked at him. "What's wrong?" Then, looking at his face and suddenly understanding, she reached for her pockets. "I can help. Here, let me…" She reached in her pocket and pulled out some money.
The blond boy shook his head. "It's okay. I got it," he told her, vigorously searching his pockets.
Bored, the cashier glanced at them. "Are you paying or not?"
"I'm paying," Takeru muttered, still vainly searching for extra money.
"No, I want to help!" Hikari attempted to put the money in his hand. He tried to push it back in hers and she tried to give it back to him. The money dropped to the floor, coins landing and rolling in all directions.
"I'll get it," he said, bending down.
"I got it," she said, reaching over.
Brown bangs met blond bangs in a sickening thud.
"OW!" Both clutched their head with one hand and the money with the other. Embarrassed, they looked past each other and mumbled sorry.
"Anytime this year would be fine."
At the sound of the cashier's voice, wordlessly they dumped the money on the counter, took their stuff, and then walked to their movie.
*
In the movie
The two waded through the crowded theater, stepping over screaming, crying children with each step. They made their way to the only empty seats- front row center. They sat down and looked at each other then forced a smile. Then prepared to spend an hour breaking their necks watching giant hamsters.
And so it began…
They were sitting next to each other. Nothing separated them but a metal armrest. And the bowl of popcorn placed purposefully between both seats. And as fate would have it, they both liked popcorn. In fact, they both wanted some. At the same time.
Hikari reached for the popcorn bucket.
Takeru reached for the popcorn bucket.
Their hands met in a sea of buttery popcorn. Slowly, their fingers reached out, timidly seeking each other. Then finally their fingertips met- the glorious first touch.
"AIIEEEEE!!"
It was a brief first touch, however, as unfortunately fate had also placed them in a theater full of small children. One of which had just dumped his entire soda over Hikari's painstakingly fixed hair. Which made her scream, making Takeru very quickly withdraw his hand from the popcorn, thus managing to tip the bucket's entire contents onto his shirt. This of course, led to a chain reaction of him swearing and moving, spilling the sticky bag of Gummi Bears he was holding with his other hand onto his date. Who in turn leaped up and knocked over her soda very cleverly into his lap. Which made him stand also and shout which of course made the usher come over and ask them to leave the theater.
"Bye-bye!" The toddler sitting behind Hikari, waved his empty soda cup at her and cheerfully stuck a fresh wad of gum on her skirt as she walked past.
And such is fate…
*
Outside the theater
"I. Don't. Believe. This." Hikari spat out through gritted teeth.
The hair?
Soaked.
The clothes?
Sticky, dirty and disheveled.
The girl?
Very, very unhappy.
Takeru looked down at his clothes. There was a huge wet soda stain on his pants and popcorn all over him. "Great. Just great."
Nothing to worry about? Ha!
Hikari moaned. So much for her perfect first date. So much for the second date. So much for life as she knew it. She threw out her arms and began to cry. "This is awful…"
Takeru looked at himself. Tired. Wet. Buttery. Sticky. Broke. He looked at his soaked date as she unsuccessfully tried to remove the pink wad of gum from her skirt. She was-
Beautiful.
And he began to laugh.
Hikari looked warily at him. Now Takeru was having a mental breakdown. How wonderful. "Why are you laughing? We're soaked and dirty and sticky and bro-"
It was then he kissed her.
The kiss was short and chaste. A sweet first kiss. When it ended they stared at each other for a moment, confused and unsure. Then slowly, she broke out into a big smile. He smiled back, matching her grin with his own. Then, he offered her his wet and sticky and wonderful hand and she placed her filthy sticky hand in his.
And together, hand in grimy hand, they walked off into the sunset.
Just like in the movies.
~
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