Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda series or the Characters.
Chapter 19: Dating is Complicated
The next day was when Rose and I decided to have our date. I was absolutely scared to death! It wasn't going to be until 6:00 in the evening; yet this didn't calm my nerves one bit, for I kept on thinking of ways it could go wrong. It was just a simple dinner at Telma's Bar! How bad could it be? I'll tell you right now! It could be terrible!
I slept in and got up that morning only to find Marie. Ilia invited Rose over, so she went over to Ilia's to get to know her. When I finished getting dressed in my room, I went over to see what Marie was doing. She was coloring a drawing. As she grew, I began to realize that she really has a knack for art.
I smiled at her. "That looks great, Marie!"
She turned to me and beamed. "Thanks!" There was a short moment of silence. I watched her color for another moment, and then I went to the kitchen to eat some breakfast. "Are you hungry?" I asked her.
"No, I already ate." She answered. I started to make myself some French toast. "Are you excited to go on your date with my cousin?"
I blushed, the warmth of it showing brilliantly on my cheeks in a pink hue. It was almost as if I had a fever for an instant. "Yes…but let's not talk about this with other people…ok?"
"Okey dokey smokey!" She giggled.
I laughed along with her. "You're very silly."
"I always thought you two would be cute together!" She said happily. "I hope it works out!"
"I do, too." I said with agreement.
While nothing much happened at my house, at Ilia's, Rose was being questioned…a lot…
(Note: Rose tells the story!) I was sitting there with Ilia and chatting with her. It was fun getting to know some of Link's friends…but I felt a little uncomfortable with Ilia asking me questions that were a little more private.
"So…what do you think of Link?" She smiled.
I blushed. "He's a very kind man…no doubt about it."
"Do you like him, as in more than a friend?"
"What? Why are you asking me that?" The redness in my face was showing more splendidly.
"Oh." She said. She looked down at the floor. "Well…it's just…He's had such a hard time finding a girl. I think he really deserves to find a great girl someday…I'm sorry that I tried to get an answer out of you…I was curious. He always says that it's no use for him to date. He believes that he needs to focus more on his work instead of finding a woman to settle down with."
"Oh, no…it's ok…" I was red in the face. She obviously doesn't know. I think it would be alright to tell her, though…she seems concerned for him. "Promise not to breathe a word of what I say."
She looked at me with a confused expression. "Ok…"
"I wanted to wait to say anything, but I feel like I can trust you. Link and I had talked about dating…we're going on a date tonight and seeing how it goes."
"Really?" She said happily. I nodded. "That's great!" She squealed. "When I first started talking to you today, I immediately thought 'this is the kind of lady that I know Link would like.'"
I grinned. "I'm glad to have reconnected with him. And he does deserve to meet a great woman. He's so kind and humble."
"He is." She looked around the room with a look of content. "So…where are the two of you going for your date?"
"Telma's Bar."
"Oh. Are you going around dinnertime?"
"Yeah. Which is good; because I know I'll be hungry."
She chuckled. "Good. Going out to dinner is a great first date. You know how you told me about your little cousin; who's going to watch her?"
"Fado is going to watch her."
"Oh. He'll do an excellent job taking care of her."
"Yeah. He will."
"Are you nervous?"
"Heck yeah!" I laughed nervously.
"It'll go well, I'm sure of it." She smiled at me. I smiled back at her.
That afternoon I went home and finished getting ready to go. I was pretty sure that it would go alright; I mean Link and I have been friends for so long. It just feels odd to think about us being more than that. I waited to leave because I was early. I was going to meet Link at the Ranch because he went early to help herd the goats. I was excited, but extremely nervous!
It was finally time to go see him. I wore casual clothing that included jeans and a blouse. I went up to the ranch entrance and saw Fado coming up to me.
"You ready for your date with Link?" He asked.
I was surprised that he knew, but I just nodded. "Yes. By the way, where is he? I looked around but I didn't see him."
"Oh. He's hiding in the stables behind the crates." He laughed. "He's a little nervous!"
"Hiding?" I was confused. (Note: Link tells the story!)
"I can do this; I can do this!" I whispered to myself. "Ugh! Who am I kidding? I can't do this! People might as well call me 'Dr. Timid' or some other stupid, lame name!" I heard footsteps coming, so I peeked and saw Rose coming towards the stables. I hurried to the back window, opened it up, and climbed out through it. I ran into the smokehouse (not in use) and closed the door. She won't find me here! Everything was fine for a few minutes, but then a mouse came to me. No big deal, I'm not scared of them! But this one thought that my finger was delectable? Crunch! "Holy crap! Could you bite any harder!" I yelled in pain.
A few seconds later Rose came in. "Aha! Found you!" She laughed. "Are you ready to go?"
"Ummm…define ready."
She looked at me with a confused expression. Then she spoke with a tone of sarcasm. "Oh! Now I see what's going on! You're nervous, aren't you? I didn't know that!"
Great! I've been discovered; not only in a physical sense, but in a sense of how I'm currently feeling as well (that's a mouthful!). I should've known that it would be inevitable. "Ok. I'm nervous. The cat's out of the bag."
She had a look of satisfaction on her face. "Good! Should we get going?"
"Ok." I said. We walked together and headed over to Epona. She and I both climbed on and started on our way to Telma's bar.
There was an awkward silence for a while, but then Rose spoke to me. "It's ok to be nervous…I'm nervous, too." She looked at the ground, and then at me again. "You don't need to be ashamed of it." I nodded in agreement. "Besides, I think it'll go well."
"I hope." I said.
"Of course it will!" She said. "I'm sure of it!"
A half hour later we were at Telma's bar. Rose and I walked in and noticed that everyone was whispering, but when they saw us, they stopped. This could be bad! Then Telma came out of the kitchen.
"Anybody want more pickles?" She yelled. Everyone got up and left. She looked disappointed at first, but I realized that it was a farce because she briefly wore a smile. Great! We were set up! And she got her customers involved with her plan! She walked over to us.
"Hey there, you two!" She smiled. "You ready to sit?" She gestured her hand to the only table that was set. It looked out of the ordinary compared to the other plain wooden tables because it had a white tablecloth and lighted candles on top. Does everybody know about us dating?
"Sure! We're ready to sit." Rose grinned. I crossed my arms. "Everything okay?" She asked me.
"I need to talk to Telma for a minute." I said.
"Ok."
"Telma." I said.
"…Oh! Yes! Certainly!" Telma answered. She and I went into the kitchen.
"You're not fooling anyone!" I whispered angrily. "You set us up and I don't appreciate it!"
She looked a little upset, but then she was angry. "Look, honey…I was just trying to help you! When it comes to this kind of stuff, you have the intelligence of a Quail!"
"I do not play with danger!" I hollered. I covered my own mouth. (A little random, but I suppose quails are considered birds that play with danger. Crosses the road when vehicles are rolling towards them? Yeah. :)
"What's the matter?" Rose yelled.
"Nothing! It's ok!" I shouted.
"I'm not saying that you 'play with danger.'" Telma said. "I'm saying when it comes to love and relationships you don't really understand how it works. So I'm trying to help you by giving you and Rose some time alone."
I then realized that she didn't really mean any harm. "I'm sorry. I got defensive. I would appreciate it if you'd meddle a little less. I think I can handle it."
"Ok. I understand." She said. I left the kitchen and went to the table where Rose was. Telma came over with a couple of menus, set them down, and went back to the kitchen.
After a few minutes of looking at the menu, Rose spoke up. "This looks really good!" She pointed to the vegetable beef soup and bread. "We could have that…" Then she pointed to the macaroni salad. "And then we could have that. What do you think?"
"It looks good. I'm in the mood for anything." I smiled at her and she smiled back. So that was what we ordered. Less than half an hour later, the food was ready and we started to eat. I was silent for quite a bit of the meal, my heart thumping quickly the whole time. I think it was mostly because of my nerves, but I really couldn't think of anything to talk about. Thus, Rose did most of the talking and she also picked a lot of the topics. Finally she tried to get me to talk a little more.
"So…what do you want to talk about?" She asked.
"Umm…I don't know." I said to her.
She giggled, and my heart began to beat faster. When I didn't say anything again, her light-heartedness turned to worry. "Are you ok? I know you're nervous, but I don't want you to feel uncomfortable."
"I'm ok." I said with a grin. "You don't have to worry about me."
"Ok." She looked relieved. We continued to eat and talked a little bit more. Then I thought it might be fun to take her to Lake Hylia. She and I went there and sat by the water.
"I thought that went really well! And the food was good!" Rose said.
"Yeah!" I agreed. "It went really well, and the food was great!"
Rose looked at me. "It's getting dark. Are you ready to head home?"
"Yeah. I think so." I looked out at the sunset.
"Oh! You look um, tense. I know a way to help you relax." She said.
"Ok." I said back. I wasn't really tense, but I was still nervous. I wonder why she thought I was tense.
"Ok. Close your eyes." She instructed. I closed my eyes. "Now don't open them." I nodded. "Take a deep breath…" I took a deep breath. "Hold it." I held it. "Now exhale." I exhaled. "Is that better?" She asked.
"Yeah." I said.
"Good! I think deep-breathing is a good way to deal with an uneasy mind." I nodded. "Maybe you should do it again? I'm…uh…not convinced that you're relaxed."
I took a deep breath and held it. Then I felt her lips touching mine. I liked kissing her. I exhaled softly through my nose and opened my eyes. I wrapped my arms around her and closed my eyes once more. After a few seconds I stopped kissing her and stood up. "Umm…uh…I…uh…" I couldn't think of what to say. I then thought that it might be good to compliment her and say how I liked kissing her. But of course, it had to come out wrong. "I…uh…um…ewewewyoooou are…lahahahaha…uhh…" I knew what I wanted to say, but I was so nervous that I couldn't form the words.
"Is everything alright?" She asked.
"Uh…yeah…um…" I took a deep breath and sighed. "I'm just so nervous. You're so beautiful." She blushed. "And I really like kissing you…" I could really feel my heart pounding. "Umm…" She smiled.
"You're so sweet." She told me. She kissed me on the lips again, but this time it was short. "I like kissing you, too." She and I grinned at each other.
"Are you ready to head back?" I inquired. She nodded. We climbed onto Epona and went back. When we got back to my house, it was about midnight. Rose and I thanked Fado for watching Marie and he headed home. Rose went to check on Marie.
"She's fast asleep." Rose said. "I'm tired myself…so I think I'll go to bed." I headed towards the ladder that leads to my bedroom as she went over to the couch to sleep. I stopped when she said, "I had a lot of fun tonight."
"Me too." I said to her. I yawned. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight." She pulled the blanket over her and I went downstairs to bed.