CE: First Date

My hair is so messy. There I was, like a statue staring at the mirror, in which my worried-looking reflection was staring back at me. My hair was chocolate coloured and it was so spiky that it shot out in many different directions. Still, I liked it that way. I blinked once, and a glister of light shone from the corner of my green pupil, and stung me like a tear would sting. I looked down, and noticed the scars on my arm from the fight I had a while ago. My claws glistened in the light, making them stand out from the gray colour of my scaly skin. My name is Vince, and I was about to go out on my first date.

I looked around for a clock, panicking about the time at that exact moment. My date Lhuna told me to pick her up at about 7 at night. My pulse quickened as I frantically started throwing stuff about looking for the time teller. Oh wait. I don't have a clock. Realising my folly, I rushed through the opening next to my mirror, and stopped by the stone outside my window. I looked at the orange sky, which was given off by the sun disappearing over the horizon. As it shrank, I realised that due to my constant fussing over my spiky hair, I now didn't have much time left. 6:55. 'Damn.' That thought crossed my mind, with 5 minutes to meet my date and no gift to give her. Look to the left, nothing but a forest and trees. Right, I found a flower yard which had dandelions and a weird flower which seemed to follow the sun. Perfect.

I ran over to the sunflowers and tried cutting them with my tail. They didn't come out, and instead lost some petals and dropped to the moist dirt. Oh yeah, my tail's not sharp. Why is everything wrong happening to me on my first date? Oh well, these dandelions will have to do. I carefully pulled the other flowers out of the ground and, with a swift flap of my wings; I was on my way to Lhuna's adobe.

'I can't believe I'm going to be late for my first date! What will she say?' These thoughts spread through my mind like wildfire, and even I was having trouble concentrating on my flying. The flowers were slowly dying in my hand and the time was going by rapidly. I was in trouble. Her place is still 5 minutes away and it's already 7! What if she's already waiting outside for me! What if she changed her mind? What if...... she already left...? I slapped myself to stop thinking these thoughts and told myself; 'It's still your first date. Just get there.' I flapped my wings faster and before long, I could see the light from her house in the distance.

The grass felt soft outside Lhuna's home. I looked around her garden which was literally filled with flowers. Colourful rare flowers littered around the garden which seemed to stare me. I looked at her house, which had a door with the carving of a crescent moon on it. I looked around for another house to make sure I wasn't knocking on the wrong door. It seemed fine, so I decided to proceed. Nervously, I knocked on the wooden door, which made a hollow sound each time my paw pounded it. I waited outside that house for what seemed like forever. I started twiddling my claws in a nervous way until the door opened so suddenly that it almost scared me.

A huge white dragon was standing in front of me, his icy eyes stung mine with a cold stare. 'Boy, that guy is huge.' I was almost literally speechless, and before I could start shaking, he spoke to me;
"What is your business here?" He had a deep booming voice that vibrated through my brain at a resonating pace.
I snapped out of my trance and replied in a firm, although scared voice; "My name is Vince, and I'm here for Lhuna."
"Oh yeah. Just bring her back by midnight, y'hear?"
"uhhhh, yes, sir!"

He chuckled softly, and went back into the house.  I heard some talking inside but it was too faint for me to make out anything. I sighed, and looked down to the ground. 'Okay, the big scary man's gone now; at least I can relax now.... AUGH!' A young dragoness appeared in the doorway, and stepped closer to me. My pace quickened again, and my heart jumped and skipped as I stared at her. Her hair was delicately made that a single twisted wick swayed in front of her deep blue eyes. Behind the wick was a crescent moon shaped crest on her forehead. Her wings were almost transparent that I could see through them. She was wearing a shining pendant around her neck, which gave off a brilliant white sparkle. I gulped. She was beautiful.

"H-hi, Lhuna."
"Hello Vincent." I should probably mention that I hate being called Vincent, but since this was Lhuna, I decided to let it slide. Her voice was soft and sweet, like sugar dipped in honey.
"You look very pretty tonight"
"Thank you." She blushed slightly, but I saw the red outline due to her white scales. It made her look cute, but I decided not to bring it up.
"I bought these dandelions for you. I was thinking about you when I picked them." Fool! I picked them in a rush. I wasn't even thinking! I handed her the dandelions, which were already looking dead from the water deprivation. Thankfully, she didn't notice that.
She giggled, and then "Thanks, Vince. Now, what do you want to do?"

I hadn't thought about the date. I was panicking so much about my looks and the time that I had completely forgotten about the actual date. My pace began to quicken again and my eyes darted from left to right, looking for something to do. There was the lake where the water would shine in the moonlight or the cliff which overlooked the city's shimmering lights. My breathing became so raspy and rushed that even Lhuna could sense something was wrong.

"Vince, you alright?" Her cute smile had now disappeared and she was looking at me with a quizzical face, her head cocked to the side.
"N-No, I'm fine, really! Hey, you want to go to the cliff and grab some fruit?" It seemed like a good idea at the time. Her smile returned.
"Sure! How about I race you there?"

Before I could say anything, she was off the ground and flying towards the destination. Her tail swayed behind her as she flapped her wings to gain speed. I could see that she had the flying speed of the average dragoness, and it was then that I decided to let her win, knowing that I could win anyway. Besides, she had a cute butt..... wait, did I just think that? What is.... what is this sensation I was feeling in my heart? I tried shaking it off and followed my date to the cliff, but still the feeling stayed with me.

My feet touched down on the grassy rock in front of Lhuna, who was already gazing out at the distance. It was a cloudy night, and the lights were shining bright in the town. I walked closer to her, and, with my muzzle, lightly nudged her shoulder. She turned to me, her blue eyes staring into my soul, and started to speak.

"Finally, you arrived, slowpoke."
"Sl-slowpoke? Who's a slowpoke?" I looked around, trying to locate what she was talking about. Then it hit me. "Oh, me? Yeah, that. I, uh, I picked some fruit up for you on the way." With a swift swipe of my tail, I tried to cut down the fruit that was growing on the bush behind me. It didn't work, and instead, the fruit broke in half sending the juiciness everywhere. I hate my blunt tail. I watched as a huge grin spread across Lhuna's face, and she collapsed on the ground, laughing.
Actually, I was glad that she found it funny; otherwise it would've been awkward. I took this moment as my chance to find some fruit for us.

Once I had two berries, I returned to Lhuna, who had just finished laughing and was now recovering. She helped herself up to a sitting position, and I handed her the berries. She ate them slow, with a nibble each second. She looked up at me, wiping the juice from her mouth, and that soft voice entered my ears again.

"Thanks, Vince. Hey, you want to go to the lake now?" She gestured to the sparkling water below the cliff.

Quickly, I nodded, and we jumped off the cliff, flying down to the banks. On the way, I realised that I had barely talked to Lhuna tonight. Upon that thought entering my mind, I began to worry so much that I began to lose control of my flight. What if I make a bad first impression? What if she doesn't want another night out with me? What if...

I was thinking so intently that I didn't realise that I was nosediving into the lake. I finally snapped out of my thoughts when I heard an urgent voice ring into my ears. It was Lhuna. "VINCE, LOOK OUT!" I spread my wings wide, and the resistance stopped me before I even touched the surface. That was a close call.

"Are you okay, Vince? I noticed you were diving pretty fast." There it was again. That cocked head and the worried voice. Quickly, I reassured her that everything was alright. Landing on the muddy bank, I walked over to her side, and I noticed that her pendant was shining brightly. I decided to bring it up.

"Huh. Why is your pendant shining like that?"
"I don't know. It's always been like that for as long as I can remember."
"How... how long have you had it?"
"I don't know. It's been a long time."

That was it. The conversation was over just like that. Not bad for 30 seconds. I began to get nervous. It had only been one hour, and already it felt like the date was over. I looked around, and then when I looked forward, a thought popped into my mind. I then turned to the white dragoness next to me.

"Hey, Lhuna, you want to go swimming?"
"No thanks, I hate to get my hair wet. Especially this wick, I don't want to lose it." She started twirling her wick, making it shrink. When she let go, it bounced back to its original length.
"Aw, okay."
"You want to go swimming?"
"What? But you just—"
"Oh yeah, my hair. Sorry, I forgot."

She laughed again, this time her laugh was softer, and it sounded sweeter. I wanted to say something, but I couldn't risk ruining the date. Instead, it would be easier to think it. 'Her laugh is cuter than a baby dragon's tail.' Or maybe that wasn't such a good idea because as that thought crossed my mind, I blushed deeply and a smile started to spread across my face. And to make things worse, my date noticed.
"Aw, you're blushing! What are you thinking?" She spoke in a sing-songy voice just to tease me. I just stared at her blankly.

"N-nothing! It's just that..." I was about to tell her, when we both looked up to see the clouds clearing from the night sky.
"Hey, the moon's out today! And look at that!" The stars started to scatter across the blank canvas and soon enough millions of little dots began forming around the full moon.

"This night sky's beautiful, isn't it?" I heard Lhuna say this, and I turned to agree with her. What I saw next, was beyond astounding that I was left with my mouth gaping open. Sure, Lhuna was still looking at the starry sky, but her eyes were different. In a good way. Her eyes were nearly white, and I could see sparkles twinkling from them. Now, to agree would have been madness, so I thought of something better.

"I know that it is beautiful, but..." My throat became raspy and I began to feel hot as I thought of the words I wanted to say. She noticed this and, sparkles following her eyes, turned to me, motioning for me to continue with her hand rotating in front of her. This gave me the courage to finish my sentence.
"They wouldn't even compare to you right now."

A small smile appeared on her face, and I could see her red blush returning. She looked at the ground, and spoke to me in a really soft voice, softer than a single drop of rain. "Thanks, Vincent."

"You're welcome. And now would be a good time to tell you that I prefer to be called—mmmf!"

She interrupted me again, only this time it wasn't her soft words touching my ears, it was her lips touching mine.  She was kissing me. Now would have been a good time to panic, me being unsociable and all, but.... to be honest, I enjoyed the kiss. So I did what any other men would do; I kissed back. A moment later, she broke from the kiss and, her eyes staring at mine and her warm breath sweeping over my snout, she told me something. "You know, for an unsociable dragon, you're not half bad."
That made me smile, this time it spread across my face slowly, yet it was apparent.

"Thanks, Lhuna." She nodded and rested her head on my shoulder as we stared at the night sky again. Our tails were intertwined as a sign of our apparent love, and I placed my hand over her shoulder.

Maybe this social thing wasn't so bad after all.