Chris sat upright and threw the blanket off of him. He looked around and found Marly standing by the stove, stirring the soup that had been left from yesterday. Next to the pot stood two cups that looked exactly like the ones from yesterday, but still clean. He could hear her faintly humming a tune that he knew must have been the inkantation.
"Morning" He yawned as he stretched his arms and rubbed his eyes.
"I got us the last of the soup." She said, pouring the remainder of the soup into the two bowls.
"Wha-" He yawned. "What time is it?"
"Fourteen hundred thirty seven."
"What?"
"Fourteen hundred thirty seven." She repeated like she replayed a tape.
"I got that… but what time is it?"
"By now it is fourteen hundred thirty eight." She handed him a bowl and spoon.
Chris put the food down and took out his phone after realizing that he was still wearing his clothes instead of his pajamas. He should change before they went out, he thought. His phone showed the time to be 14:38. It took him a bit to realize that Marly was just telling him the time in some weird way. He shrug it off and got back to the soup.
"you said that you wanted to engage in activities today." The octoling stated more then that she asked.
"I remember something about asking you to join me to the cinema?"
"Correct."
"And a restaurant?"
"Affirmative."
"Do you want to?"
"If you want to go, I shall accompany you."
"I take that as a yes."
Chris would normally still get weirded out when she would talk like that, but for some reason, today he didn't.
He ate his soup as he tried to think of where to go for the day. He knew that the movie: 'mammal park' had a new sequel, but as for a restaurant, he still had no idea on where to go, nor what Marly even liked to eat.
"Marly, what would you want to eat for dinner?"
"Is that not something we are going to decide on when we are at the restaurant?"
"No, like… What do you like for dinner? In general."
"Soup."
"you do?"
"It is not only easy to prepare, but also stays edible for a number of days and can be made to be a balanced source of nutrient intake."
"ok..."
Chris took his bag and went to the bathroom to change and freshen up. With a little splash of ink in his face, he already looked a lot less like someone who had just crashed down on a couch. After putting on some fresh clothes, he went back out to find Marly not to be in the living room anymore.
"Marly?" He called out.
"I will be with you after approximately half of a minute." He could hear, slightly muffled, from towards her bedroom.
He patiently waited on her, going over the restaurants closeby the cinema to find one to go eat after the movie. He found a few to be close, but couldn't decide on where to go. He instead decided to let her choose when they were done watching the movie.
When she came back out, she was wearing an outfit he knew all too well. It was rather simple, a basic tee with yellow sneakers and a bucket hat that he had lent her for cod knows how long. He couldn't help but smile as he saw her again.
"Do you think this clothing will be sufficient for the activities that we are going to do?"
"You're looking great." He wanted to punch himself again.
"Shall we depart for the cinema?"
"Good idea."
The two of them left her apartment. As it was a short walk, they walked instead of taking her bike again. They arrived twenty minutes before the start of the movie.
"Two cards, would you like to pay via card or cash?" The employee asked.
"Cash." Chris answered as he handed the cashier some coins.
"Don't forget to grab a beverage and some popcorn before going in." The employee pushed out as if it was a recording. Chris took their cards and set off for the food stand.
"Why pop corn first before eating it?" Marly asked him.
"Just try some, you'll love it." He answered, handing the employee coins in return for a paper bucket of popcorn. "Here hold this and try some." He handed her the bucket and took two plastic bottles of soda. "The movie's in hall seven."
"Sure thing." She marched off to the halls, making Chris trail behind her.
She promptly walked by the guard that stood by the corridor to the halls. Chris had to quickly hand him the tickets as he wanted to run after her, having to explain the man that this was most likely her first time here and she had no idea how it all worked. He had to run after her to catch up before she entered the door with a large '7' on it.
"Wait, don't enter... just yet..." Chris weezed.
"And why would I not?"
"You need to know... a few things..."
"What would those things be?"
"That you need to be quiet… and not get in the way of others..."
"Is that not obvious? We are going to watch a movie, people need peace and quiet to do so."
Chris sighed, at least she knew a few things already. It did make him wonder why she just walked by the bouncer like he wasn't there if she could figure out how to behave during a movie. He shrugged it off as they went in and quickly found their seats, followed by Marly.
"So we have the popped corn and our drinks, we are here before the movie starts, what do we do now?"
"If I remember correctly, they start off after the advertisements."
"Why would they have those before the movie?"
"To reduce the price of the tickets or something, they have their reason I guess."
"Why are the lights dimming their brightness?" She asked as the lights slowly turned off.
"That means the movie is about to start." Chris answered as the last advertisement 'Juicy Orange, putting the orange in the juice' slowly faded off the screen.
As the film started, he saw how she would completely focus on it. Whenever he looked over, she was watching with an expressionless face. He found it hard to understand the plot, something about scientists creating humans using these things called 'apes'. He was never great at understanding any of the mammal park films, and the newest installment didn't make it any better.
He periodically grabbed some popcorn out of the paper bucket Marly had put on her lap, only to be surprised when he felt something on his hand that made him unable to grab more. As he looked over, he saw that Marly had put her hand on his, making his mind bring up the question again on if she felt for him what he felt for her.
"Marly?" He asked.
"..." Marly gave no response. She still seemed completely focused on the movie.
As they were leaving the cinema, Chris was looking at his phone trying to decide on where to eat while Marly was slowly working out the entire movie as she tried to get its story all laid out in her head.
The two of them walked in silence, the boy to nervous and without courage to try and ask her again, the girl not aware of what his mind was going through. They reached their destination: a simple pizza parlor.
She finally spoke up again. "That was a great movie, you made a good choice."
"T-thank you." He stammered as he could feel himself blushing.
"Have you chosen this place for us to eat? The food smell is nice." She continued, not noticing his blush.
"I… I assumed you would like pizza." He stammered.
"And why did you?" She chuckled.
"It's just like soup, everything all in one thing." Chris explained, speaking slowly as to avoid stuttering.
The two sat down and took a short look at the menu before deciding on what to pick as a waiter came up to them to take their orders and pour them some water.
"I think I will have a pizza with anchovy." Marly said.
"A tuna one for me please." Chris followed.
The waiter nodded and left them with the glasses of water he had poured for them.
Chris tried to slowly work up to the question as he couldn't get himself to ask it to break the ice. "Thank you again for letting me stay with you for these days."
"I must thank you, this afternoon has been fun. And you just needed a break from your mother."
"Your mother must be a better one then mine." He joked, immediately regretting it as he saw her face turn form smiling to looking like one would expect at a funeral.
"...I never had a mother..."
"What?"
"I do have a 'parent' so to speak, but she was not like a parent to me."
"That sounds horrible..."
"Your parents were so nice to me. It was nice to pay you a visit back then."
"You're welcome anytime!" He saw how she slowly started to smile again.
"You are so kind." She let out a little laugh that he couldn't help but find cute.
"I wanted to ask you someth-" He was interrupted as their pizza's were put on the table.
"The pizza's smell good, do they not?" She picked up a slice and blew on it to cool it somewhat.
"They do..." He picked up a slice as well and bit the tip off of it.
"So like that.." She turned the slice around and took a bit as well. "Tastes even better. Can I try some of yous too?"
"S-sure" He he held out his piece and she leaned in to take a bite.
"This one is also delicious. But now it is only fair that you get to take a bite of mine." She now held out her piece for him to try.
He now lent in and nibbled a piece of of her slice. "I think I'll stick with tuna, not a fan of anchovy."
"To bad, Although I must say I think tuna is an equally tasteful food."
"So anyway… I wanted to ask you..."
"What?"
"Do you… do you like me?" He finally did it, he got it out for her and she heard him.
"No." She said with a serious face.
"No?" He could just about cry, he hadn't expected her to think they were more then friends, but that was just harsh.
"I do more then like you silly."
"You… you do?"
"Like one would say… I love you."
"You do?"
"Do you not?"
"I do too." He could feel relieved, not only had he finally said it, she felt the same.
"You were the first one who was nice to me." She paused so he could speak, but all he did was blush and stare at her. "You are the greatest friend that I had ever had."
She leaned in, and he did the same, suspecting what was going to follow. They had their first kiss above the damp of their hot pizza's. It was the best he had ever felt, and she felt the same way.