Hinata looked amazing. She had put her hair up in a braided bun and decked herself out in vampire-slayer boots that laced to her thighs coupled with fishnets and a black mini skirt. Her red T-shirt was emblazoned with the word “Mayonnaise” and she had thrown something mesh and big sleeved over it.

But yeah, I’ll admit, mostly it was the mini skirt.

I, on the other hand, chose a black button down and my one pair of nice jeans. The ones that didn’t make my legs look like circus tents. Naturally I wore the eyeliner but toned down the bracelets and just wore a leather strap on my right wrist. We made one hella weird couple for the passersby and tourists. I figured Hinata and I were two of maybe five punk/Goths in town. The poor people wouldn’t know what hit them.

“I have to go grocery shopping.” She brandished a piece of paper, looking irritated, “My mom didn’t seem to understand that this was a date.”

“How romantic,” I quipped dully, flashing her a grin. “Lemme see that.” I took the list and read over the contents. Soap, bread, eggs, milk, butter, cheese. Huh. “Um, I don’t carry a magic fridge, where are we supposed to put all this?”

“That’s the thing,” Hinata frowned, “She expects me to buy it, drop it at home, and then go on my previously planned and rather important date.” I perked a little at the word ‘important.’ I liked that feeling. Since Hinata and I sat at Lithia together all I could think about was how much I was looking forward to going out with her and it was really great to know I was important to her too. Even if it was only the first date.

“And are we?” I questioned, handing back the list. She hesitated, sighed, and then looked apologetic.

“Do you mind?”

“I don’t know,” I pretended to think about it, “I can’t think of a more romantic place than Safeway. How about you?” She smiled, looking relieved. After so many weeks of seeing her gloomy and morbid, it was nice to see her smile. So off we traipsed to Safeway. It wasn’t that far to walk so we chatted about random stuff until we got there. The special doors whooshed open and I fanned out my arms like a magician. Hinata actually chuckled. Wow.

We booked it off to dairy, I was in a decidedly good mood after realizing for the umpteenth time who I was with. Damn those hormones, I was really starting to feel like a dill-weed. Then again, even with her usual apathy, Hinata wasn’t exactly looking gloomy about the whole thing. She snagged eggs and bread and dumped them into the shopping cart, and as she did so I noted the briefest, most tiny smile cross her face but it was dropped and a few seconds later she noticed me watching.

“What?”

“Nothing,” I may have blushed, I didn’t care. She was blushing though, ha, ha. I liked her so much better with emotion. The emotion she was showing now was irritation and she cocked her hip out, put one hand on it, and glared at me over the cart.

“What?” She demanded. “Don’t just look at me and then pretend you weren’t.”

“I wasn’t pretending,” I insisted, “I just had no particular reason for looking at you. I mean other than the fact that you’re nice to look at, what was I supposed to do, look at the floor?”

“Are you flirting with me?” Her annoyance fell away and she smirked self-righteously. I shrugged.

“That depends. Were you flirting?”

She leaned against the hand rail of the shopping cart and tilted her head until a strand of hair came loose and dangled next to her ear. I stared at it. She looked at me with an incredibly nice smile.

“I am now.”

Well there went my upper hand. I felt the familiar feeling of my stomach hitting the floor with a heavy thud, my heart suddenly decided I was on crack, and I swear my limbs disappeared. I took a breath, hopefully not to obviously. Hinata sidled passed me and just before I had to turn to look at her, she said jokingly, “You are so hot for me right now.”

Damn! She was way more confident than I had figured on. What was I supposed to do now? My adequacy meter was dropping quickly and I was out of witty quips to reply with. I needed to come up with something dazzling and charming. Too bad that was not my strong suit. Well, OK it kind of was, but not when I was trying. When I was trying I became Scooby-Doo with his mouth full of peanut butter and all I could do was make weird noises and over-pronounce my R’s.

By the time it took me to process things, Hinata had moved on to grab cheese and I had to catch up, still having no clue what to say, or how to change the subject. Luckily, our little teenage moment seemed to have passed and Hinata did the work for me.

“So, what was the master plan for the evening?” She asked, examining a block of Tillamook pepper jack. This I actually had an answer for. A well thought out, and hopefully, quite impressive answer.

“The movie theater downtown is playing a double feature,” I was going to take her to the drive-in because I love drive-in movies but that would seem like I wanted some, which I didn’t care for, and I didn’t want to look tasteless. The theater downtown always played old movies and once in a while marathoned Star Wars all night. Good stuff. “My Cousin Vinny and Benny and Joon.”

“I have not seen either of those.” Hinata looked skeptical and moved on to find whatever was next on the list.

“Oh man!” I couldn’t believe it. Those movies were great, if she hadn’t seen them she was seriously deprived.

“Yes man,” She replied flatly, “What are they?” I was a little resentful at her disinterested and bored tone. Little bit cruel there, Iwasaki.

“OK, Aiden Quinn and Johnny Depp are in Benny and Joon” I explained, fully prepared to give a lengthy explanation about each movie. “It’s basically about a Buster Keaton wannabe falling in love with a headcase and Aiden Quinn is the protective older brother.”

“Sounds OK, oddly cute,” She approved, and added in a quirky smile, “And Johnny ‘Heartthrob’ Depp is in it so…”

“Yeah, yeah,” I waved her off, “My Cousin Vinny is better. Joe Pesci plays the world’s best and worst lawyer defending his cousin in a botched up murder case.”

“Gee you sure do like your cult classics, don’t you Mitch?”

“You know it,” I grinned. “So, what do you think?”

“I think…” She actually was thinking, not just being cute. “If you really think I’ll like them, then I probably will.”

“Yes!” I glanced at the cart, “Now let’s get this dumb shopping trip over with.”

“Dumb?” Hinata gasped indignantly, mocking anger. To my surprise she whipped a loaf of French bread off the shelf and knocked me on the arm with it. She was grinning. “These happen to be very important food items, mister. I’m providing for my family.”

“Oh in that case,” I snatched a baguette and held it out like a sword, “En garde, Saki-chan!”

But she fell apart at the nickname and shook with laughter. I don’t really know where it came from or if I was even using the honorific right, but whatever, it sounded neat: Saki-chan. And she seemed thoroughly amused. I started laughing too and put the loaf of bread back. Hinata still had hers, using it to clutch her stomach in laughter.

“Saki-chan?” She choked out.

“Yeah,” I answered, “That’s what I said.”

“Mitch, you are so weird.” She hit me with the bread again but I just laughed.

“Says the girl calling me ‘Mitch’.” I retorted, “My name is Asher.”

“Hey Asher.” A dark voice sneered behind me and I turned to see a middle aged, overweight man with a shiny bald head and an equally shiny Manager badge stuck to his vinyl vest. “This isn’t a playground, and you,” He snapped his cold glare at Hinata who was frozen doubled over, holding the French bread, “You break it, you bought it.”

Both of us looked at the bread, which was snapped cleanly down the middle. Little bit Asher-drunk. One too many hits with my arm. Hinata was clearly suppressing a laugh.

“Oh good,” I chirped pleasantly, totally ignoring Mr. Manager’s angry glare. “A snack for the movies.” At this Hinata fell apart again and Mr. Manager shot me a look so dirty it would make Pigpen from Peanuts shudder. I grinned sheepishly and he stormed off in a heterosexual male huff. I noticed with great amusement that a small, gray and translucent boy with a pointed green hat trailed after him, looking timid.

“Hey,” I turned to Hinata with a hushed voice, “Mr. Grump over there is German.”

“Huh?” She looked at the manager in confusion, “How do you know that?”

“Because his imaginary friend is wearing Liederhosen.” We both laughed once more before falling silent. I looked at this girl on front of me, suddenly hit with the realization that she knew my secret and not only was she OK with it but she was willing to laugh with me about it. And the intense memories of Cahna hit me and I’m sure they hit her too and for a minute we just looked at each other, probably understanding the depths of our friendship. Or something cheesy like that, since I seemed to have the kind of life John Cusack would make into a movie.

Of course, Hinata ruined the entire thing by suddenly raising an eyebrow and saying flatly, “You know, you’re not as hot as Johnny Depp.”

“You are so mean!” I shot back, mock angry. She shrugged. “Besides,” I added, “Who is? The dude’s a total babe.”

“I’m just letting you know that he will always come first,” She put on a snooty face. Then it seemed she caught what I had said and smirked in a way that I was really starting to like, “Wait, wait. Did you just call Johnny Depp a babe?”

“Mean!” I declared illiterately.

“Are you gay for Johnny Depp?” She teased and then laughed. I decided I liked it when she laughed and that it was something I needed to make happen as often as possible.

So in conclusion to my strange tale that you will never read. I’m glad it happened. Yes, I could be crazy. But hey, at least it ended happy. I lost my mind, my dignity, and three days of my life which I spent in a coma (if it was real that is). But I gained a bit more confidence, valuable life experience, and a girlfriend. Oh yeah, and possibly a trip to the loony bin. If anyone ever finds this that is.

The End.