My Pretend Fiancé

"What? Why not?" Lenina asked her voice sounding so different than when she would normally make a statement like that. Her eyes didn't sparkle and the cheeriness she seemed to always have, no matter what, was no longer hidden within her words as she spoke. Leonard didn't really understand what was going on with her, why she was all of a sudden acting like an adult, even though she should be for her age. That was something else Leonard didn't understand; if this was something that he secretly wanted, that everyone wanted from her, why did he miss those small things?

"Uh, I think we should talk..." Leonard of course was hesitant. He wasn't exactly sure what he would say to her, or how she was going to react when he asked her why she was being so...grown up.

"About what?" She asked and her head stayed still. Leonard paused, waiting for her to tilt her head to the side and scrunch her eyebrows together in confusion but that didn't happen. Her mouth didn't drop slightly as it usually did, and Leonard started to ache for her cute face and scream out her confusion no matter how small it was.

"Champagne?" The waiter asked and Leonard shook his head hinting the waiter quietly. Lenina looked at him and smiled slightly, wondering why he was taking so long to answer when he finally found the words to answer back, even though it wasn't what he wanted to say.

"Uh, no, never mind." Lenina nodded her head and grabbed a piece of bread that was sitting in front of her and broke off some pieces to start eating. She was holding the bread over the small plate and even using her napkin to wipe away the small crumbs from her lips. Leonard was yet again taken aback by the fact that she didn't keep persisting on what he was going to say and instead just listened to him. He felt like he was in the Twilight Zone because of the way she was acting.

"You know, I would like to apologize again. I do hope that you taking my proposal to lunch mean that you're giving me a second chance?" Lenina smiled gently up at him and nodded her head softly.

"My mother always said people deserve a second chance, but no more." Leonard chuckled nervously happy that he had gotten his second chance to make it up to her, but then again something was eating away at him.

"You're mother's a wise woman." She just smiled in reply since their food had come later on through much awkward silence. They ate quietly, which was something else that was odd because usually their conversations would branch off into so many different subjects. She would flail her arms around the place talking about all the different things that she was passionate about but for some reason, this lunch was different.

After lunch, Leonard suggested that they should take a walk in Central Park and Lenina agreed. However, when the idea was brought out, Lenina didn't jump up in excitement at the mention of a park. Where he would expect her to chase pretty looking birds, or go hug her favorite trees. He was hoping to see some of that when they went but instead it was almost like a normal date. Walking across the bridges she didn't try to lean over to see the fishes better. No, instead she admired the trees and thanked him kindly when he got her flowers.

She sniffed them enjoying the beautiful aroma. They were her favorite color too, and Leonard had made sure of that just to see if she would have a reaction but she didn't. For some reason she just walked off deeper into the park. His mind tried to wrap around the new Lenina he was seeing and wondered if this was what he really wanted. As weird as it was being attracted to her childish ways, he felt slightly less attracted to her now. Yes she was sexy, alluring, and her deep voice drove him crazy and made things tingle but somewhere inside him, he knew he didn't want to feel that. He wanted to feel the warmth her smile gave him or smile at her angry face with her nose scrunched up as she yelled at a spider to go out onto the tree so he wouldn't be stepped on.

"What happened?" He whispered to himself accidentally catching the attention of Lenina.

"Excuse me?" She was so proper he wondered if she was even really Lenina.

"Hey, um-" Just then as he was about to say something a bright orange and black butterfly landed on Leonard's nose. His eyes crossed as he attempted to see it as he heared Lenina stifle a laugh. He looks at her as she just smiles biting her lip and gently shoos the butterfly away.

"As you were saying?" Leonard's mouth at that point literally dropped not believing her reaction. She didn't burst out into a fit of giggles or try and hold the butterfly in her hand and chase after what she couldn't.

"Lenny..."

"Leonard?" She wondered why he had just said her name and for him that was the final straw.

Something was terribly wrong. She didn't call him Jimmy and she didn't call him Leo. This was serious.