My Demons

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter 14

            The beach wasn’t too crowded when we arrived. Both Misaki and I took off our shoes and socks and rolled up the legs of our pants. We walked down the shoreline barefoot, listening to the sounds of the waves and the seagulls overhead. The water was cold when the waves crashed in over my feet. Misaki bent down occasionally to pick up a seashell and told me some of his most precious memories with Takahiro and his mother and father here at this very beach.

            Suddenly, he looked over at me and began to laugh. “Usagi-san, I just realized that you look funny wearing a suit at the beach. People are probably staring at us.” He looked around us at the over beachgoers.

            I smiled. “But are you having a good time?”

            “Huh? W-Well, yeah. Of course I am!”

            “Then that’s all that matters.”

            He blushed and stared back down at our feet. I wanted so badly to take his hand in mine as we walked along the shore. It was so cliché, but so romantic at the same time. But I didn’t want to embarrass him or make him angry, so I just walked beside him.

            “We should get going now,” I finally said.

            He nodded and we walked back to the car. We rinsed off our feet on the pavement using a bottle of water I had in the car and slipped our shoes back on. We were silent as I drove to the movie theater. Once we got there, Misaki looked at me and gasped.

            “Usagi-san! I won’t have enough to pay for dinner after buying a movie ticket. Let’s just go home after this.”

            I chuckled. He really hated to rely on others. He was so busy being considerate of everyone else that he sometimes forgot about himself. He was just too kind.

            “Misaki, this is a date, remember? I told you I would take you out on a real date. I will pay for movie and dinner.”

            “But…”

            “No buts.”

            He was silent for a moment and I thought he had given up arguing with me. “I’ll pay you back as soon as I get the money,” he softly said.

            I sighed as I pulled into the movie theater parking lot. “You don’t get it, do you? Just enjoy our time together tonight. That’s repayment enough for me.”

            I turned to see him blush. “Moron…”

            I lowly chuckled at his comment and got out of the car. He followed me into the theater. I was buying us drinks and popcorn at the concession stand when I saw him eyeing a bag of gummy bears, so I bought those too. He yelled at me for spending so much money on him, but I ignored him.

            There weren’t too many people seeing the same movie we were, but we sat in the back row anyways. Actually, Misaki dragged me up there, saying it was the best seat in the house. He seemed pretty excited about seeing the movie. As soon as we sat down, he handed me the bag of gummy bears.

            “Have some, Usagi-san!” he said happily. I never really liked sweets, but I didn’t want to disappoint him, so I grabbed a handful and popped them in my mouth. He chuckled at me. “Don’t eat them like that! You have to bite their heads off. Watch!” He bit down on a red gummy bear in slow motion, tearing off the head. “Like that!” He laughed.