Elliot

Five

"If you ever had someone to take on a date with, what would it be like?"

"Like, what's my ideal date?"

"Yeah." I said.

Tobias hummed. "Well, I'd like to take them on my hometown," he said. "Then we will visit some places and maybe have a picnic on our rooftop. Or I'll take them to a restaurant. Cliché but it works, you know. And also visit my grandma and we could make croissants together."

"Wow, didn't know you're such a romanticsy."

"Is that even a word?"

"Yeah, it's in The Book of Elliot." I said. "You should check it out sometime."

He laughed. "Will do."

There was silence. "I wonder how that feels like." I said. "Being a character in a book. Being read by hundreds or thousands of people... or hell maybe even millions. Like your whole story is open to everyone, and then every judgement and criticism is there. They'll know your whole story. Your deepest secrets. Your whole life. And you can't do anything with it 'cause your written in a page. An ink, written in a paper, while your whole life is out there to the world. People discovering who you truly are."

"That would be weird and crazy."

I chuckled. "Yeah, weird and crazy."

There was silence again, but then broken after a moment. "What about you?" Tobias said. "What is your ideal date?"

"Promise you won't laugh?" I looked at him.

"No promises."

"Fuck you, then."

He laughed again.

"See! I wasn't even saying it yet."

"Okay, okay, okay." He raised his hands in surrender. "Not gonna laugh now."

I glared at him for a moment. Then I spoke, "I like to be in a field. A field of dandelions, in specific."

"Dandelions?"

"Yes 'cause they're really fuckin' awesome, you know."

"Yeah, they are. Okay then?"

"Then that's that. In a field of dandelions then we'd dance together. No music at all, just our hums or maybe the sound of nature. After dancing, we'll lay down and stare at the sky and probably talk about something really weird or random. Anything, actually. As long as I'm with that person that I truly wanna be with."

We were again silent for a moment. I looked at Tobias, only to see that he was already looking at me. I didn't notice my gaze dropping from his eyes to his lips and I felt my heart pounding. My mind wasn't also processing at the moment.

Luckily, before I did something stupid, I regained my thoughts and looked away.

"So, yeah," I said. "That's-that's my, um... ideal date."

He nodded and smiled. "I didn't know you were such a romanticsy either."

I laughed and he did too. Sometimes I wonder what's it like to know yourself truly.