SuperVillain

21

I'd never been to Benson's before, so I had no idea just how fancy it was. Fancier than I thought. I felt underdressed.

When we sat down, a man asked what we wanted to drink. Mason ordered water. Water, I thought. Very basic.

So I thought I should show Mason how sophisticated I could be, impress him. Benson's had a special drink only served in the restaurant. I'd never tried it, but everyone said it was delicious.

"I'll take a Benson's Special," I told our waiter. I flashed a grin at Mason.

"Since when are you fancy?" He asked.

"Since we decided to come here," I responded.

And then, there's silence.

Well, not silence, exactly, since you can still hear the chatter of other people, the clinking of silverware on plates, and the classical music.

But me and Mason didn't say anything.

We just kind of awkwardly stared at each other and smiled.

Finally, Mason opens his mouth to talk when our drinks get here.

"Oh, good thing! I'm parched!" I quipped.

Then I saw the Benson's Special.

It's kind of greenish, and there's olives in it.

Oh the inside, I'm gagging.

But I gave the waiter a wobbly smile. "T-Thanks."

He nodded, then we ordered our food.

Then I stared at my drink some more.

Mason laughed. "Don't like green drinks?" He's over there with his good old glass of water.

I smiled at him. "No, no, it's fine," to prove it, I took a long sip.

....And it was disgusting. I gagged. Then I choked and started coughing.

Mason called a waiter over. "Can we get some water, please?"

After what seemed like forever, the waiter brought the water over. All the fancy people stopped watching me choke and get back to their food. I gulped the water.

"Leila, if you want, we could just go somewhere else-"

"It's fine. Really." I smiled at Mason.

We're deep into conversation about bookshelves when our food arrives. At least that's good.

We finished up and paid ("I'll pay. Seriously. You don't have to.") and headed outside, holding hands.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Well, I only rented the limo for the one drive, so we'll have to walk to wherever we go."

"You mean we're not going home?"

Mason smiled. "Not yet." He tugged at my hand. "Come on."

"Ah! But where are we going-"

He puts a finger to my mouth. "You'll see. Still hungry?" 

My stomach growled. In my attempt to be fancy, I didn't really like the food I ordered.

He laughed. "I'll take that as a yes."

He turned around a corner, and we were in a dark alleyway. "I'm sorry tonight hasn't really gone well."

I sighed. "I was trying to be sophisticated to impress you."

"That's the thing," he said. "We're not exactly fancy people. And I don't like you because you're sophisticated. I like you because you're real. I mean, you definitely look beautiful tonight, but you don't have to wear a bunch of makeup or anything for me to like you."

"You think I'm real?"

"Yup. I mean, of course you're real, you exist, but I mean you're not fake. You don't do anything to yourself to makes other people happy, you just do what makes you happy. And that's what makes me happy."

I couldn't help it then. I hugged him and whispered, "You're real, too." 

"Well, real people do real things," Mason said. And he lead me down the other side of the alleyway to find a little stall selling ice cream. "It's the best in town." 

"You're the best," I told him before I gave him a small kiss on the cheek and we went over to pick our ice cream.

We walked home, each with an ice cream cone in one hand and our spare hands are holding each other.

"Thanks," I blurted.

"For what?" Mason questioned.

I blushed. "I meant the ice cream, but everything, really." Mason had a giant bite in his mouth, but he squeezed my hand, causing me to laugh.

"So, I'm going to see the lawyer on Wednesday," Mason said.

"Oh, right, to see where you'll live."

"I'm nervous, Leila. What if they put me in an orphanage? Nobody adopts teenagers, and if I did get adopted, then I could move far away. And I don't want to leave you."

I smiled at him. "I'm sure it will be fine. You can always call me, or come to City Hall. Speaking of that, you'll come over Wednesday and tell me what happens, right?"

"Of course, Lei. Don't I already meet you there every day?"

"Oh. Yeah."

He laughed.

"Tomorrow I'm going to tell my dad."

"About your nightmares."

"Yeah. I'm nervous for that, too. I'm not really sure what he's gonna say."

Mason smiled at me. "Even if he doesn't have an answer for you, you'll feel better asking than not asking and wondering if he does know."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

When we got to my apartment building, I kissed Mason goodnight ("Stay real!") and finally peeled my fancy shirt off me. It took a while to get all the makeup off, but I felt clean afterwards. I was in such a good mood, I decided to email my mom, something I'd given up on a while ago. I typed "Wish you were here!" and sent it. That was all I had to say for now.

Then a heard a clunk behind the wall. Dad must be in the lair, I thought. Which reminded me that I had a call to make.

"Hello, Mr. Madison. I just called to let you know I might be late tomorrow. I have something important to do in the morning."