Change of Heart

Aerrow

I watched her quietly from the distance of the store, waiting for the clerk to return with my sunscreen.

What was it that made her different? I sighed. I had done nothing wrong but act nice and hospitable and yet she still resented me. I thought our conversation yesterday would've changed her mind, even in the few moments she knew about my position as a Sky Knight.

"Something bothering you, Mate?" the clerk asked, handing me the product.

I cocked my head to the side, watching her drape my jacket over her head. "Yeah… I just met this girl yesterday and I can't do anything to change her mind."

"…What do you mean?"

"She has a firm argument against Sky Knights and I can't prove that I'm any different."

"Ah. You're on of 'em Sky Knights then, eh?"

I nodded. "I've been nothing but nice and she still hates my guts. I'm only going to be in town for a few days…"

"So you're saying if you don't change her mind before you leave, it's gonna bother you the entire time you're gone?" he laughed. "Sounds a bit selfish to me. Why don't you try just being a friend? See where that gets you. Don't do it because you have to, do it to give the girl a friend. She doesn't look like she gets out much."

"Hmm…" That's one thing I never grasped from her. Of course, I hadn't seen the friendly side of her for more than ten minutes, which seemed a bit socially awkward to begin with. Maybe she didn't have any friends? Maybe she didn't get out much…

I shouldn't force her to change her mind, then. "Thanks, man." I tossed the sunscreen in the air, catching it before walking back to Kai.

Squatting down beside her, I jammed the sunscreen into the sand, letting it prop itself up. "I change my mind… I don't care if you hate me, or any other Sky Knight for that matter. I much rather try to be friends than force an opinion you're strongly against onto you. Even if we can't be friends, it can't hurt to give it a try."

Kai sat up, dragging the jacket off of her face and brushing the sand out of her ponytail.

"So… What do you say?"

Looking down for a moment before catching my gaze, she laughed, almost in disbelief. "I'll make you a deal. Buy me a hotdog and we'll talk."

Bribe or not, anything to get on her good side sounded good to me. I nodded and ran off. Back in only a minute, I had Kai's requested snack in-hand.

Upon reaching out for it, her expression changed. "No mustard?"

I whined quietly.

"No, forget it, it's fine," she smiled. "I'm too hungry to care."

"You should've said something before we left your house. I would've let you eat…"

She nodded. "I know," she spoke, her words muffled by the bun. "But I was in too much of a tizzy from breaking the glass and trying to hide from you that I forgot I was hungry."

I understood the predicament, though I felt bad that she was avoiding me. My heart kept telling me I must've done something absolutely unforgivable to put someone in a bent-up mood like this. Though I knew I'd done nothing wrong, being treated like dirt didn't help.

"Is… is there any way we can forget… the fact that I'm a Sky Knight and start over?"

She looked at me for a moment. "Yeah… I really should apologize for the way I was acting. It was down-right wrong, and seeing as you had a change of heart as well, I suppose we can meet in the middle."

I knew no matter how many times she'd drilled it into her skull that it was wrong of her, her first impression will always haunt her 'new' opinion of me.

I nodded. "Truce?" And she agreed. I sat in silence, watching the waves lick the shoreline as Kai finished off her snack. With that, I had time to think.

I wasn't sure if Kai was an easy person to please or how quickly she would become bored after an activity… I knew I had to find something for us to do, however. I couldn't be forward—I wasn't trying to come on to the girl, I hardly knew her. I could sit for hours and rest with my feet in the sand just knowing this was a small break before it was back to work. However, Kai wasn't me, and assuming she didn't get out much, sitting and doing nothing probably wasn't high on her list of things to do.

To keep the silence from becoming awkward, I spoke up. "You're not, uh… bored, are you?"

She shook her head. "No, not really. It's not often I get to go past the Atmosia shops. I've never really had the chance to travel. With my father gone to work all week and only home for one night… You know how hard it is to be a kid." She looked at me for reassurance. "I was too young to fly most of my years alone. And only just recently I got a Skimmer, one Dad brought home that was going to be scrapped. He said it was either going to sit in the shed for the rest of eternity, or someone would fix it up and eventually get it to fly.

"I don't have my license… I've never flown a Skimmer, though I have driven one or two around town to help neighbors out with errands. The council wouldn't see me, anyway… Not without my father or an authority figure to authorize my application."

I smiled.

"What?" she asked, seeing my expression change.

"Nothing… nothing. Go on."

"That's… really it. I'm easily amused because I really haven't seen much. Everything away from home is new to me…"

"So you're fine with just sitting here?" When she nodded, I added on, "You wouldn't rather go surfing?"

That's when her eyes lit up. "Like… out there?" she pointed to the tide.

"Mhmm. I could rent us a couple boards."

She looked away, suddenly saddened. "I don't have my bathing suit with me…"

"Neither do I. I'll just buy us something. We have excess cash that we didn't use for supplies. It's fine, really."

Her smile grew slowly. "I can pitch in. I brought twenty with me."

I smiled. "Actually… I have a better idea," I told her, referring back to a prior idea of mine. "You'll need that twenty. Get your shoes, I'm taking you home."

Quickly standing up, shoes in hand, her heart seemed to sink. "What? Why?"

"I have a better idea."