Monster

For the past few days Shiori has been taken aback at how much attention she was receiving from Dex, it was something she wasn’t used to. Of course, she has friends like Jake, Embry, and Quil that give her attention but it wasn’t that kind. The smiles that he gives her were so much softer and sweeter than what the boys give her.

As she talked to Ronnie who was leaning on her locker “-my aunt is so pushy sometimes I swear I want to ring her neck” she ranted on. Shiori stared at her friend as her thin red blood lips moved in different directions as she chatted on and on about how her aunt found her smoking and wants her to quit or she would ship her off to boot camp.

“I don’t count that as a threat since I have been to boot camp before and it hasn’t done sh-” Ronnie paused seeing the far off look her best friend had on her face. She furrowed her eyebrows waving her hand in front of Shiori “Yo Shi, you in there?”

The young teen girl shook her head as she sheepishly smiled at her friend “Sorry. I was thinking about something” the look that came upon Ronnie’s face was sly as she smirked at the short girl before her “More like someone” she inched closer to Shiori as she bumped her shoulder “You like Dex don’t you?”

Shiori’s head instantly went to the side as she exclaimed “I do not!” people stopped and stared at her for her sudden outburst making her want to crawl in a hole and hide in there forever. She mumbled an apology as the crowd of the hallways resumed whatever they were doing before her shout.

“Face it Shi, you like him. Don’t be ashamed” she looked at the cherry faced Asian as she gave her some comfort “He likes you too” wiggling her eyebrows. Shiori didn’t want to give her the satisfaction that she got her attention with that one sentence alone shrugging her shoulders.

“We’re just friends Ronnie”

“Somehow I doubt that. The way he looks at you when you talk to one another tells me that he obviously is into you and when he walks you to class saying that his class is on the same side of the campus which is a lie. His class is the opposite direction”

Shiori was putting the pieces together seeing what the blond was saying could be something but she didn’t want to read in between the lines. She never liked someone before this was all new to her and also having a boy like her back? This was unheard of; it sounded taboo in her ears.

Her black eyes gazed down as she muttered “He would never like someone like me, I’m the weird foreign girl that everyone hates”

Ronnie scoffed “Have you learned anything while you are with me? Guys dig foreign girls; these boys are just too immature for you except for Dex. He sees the real you and you should go for it he’s on the football team”

Shiori pursed her lips thinking this was all too much for her “Why is it so important that he is on the football team?”

“Because if you are going out with him people will stop picking on you wouldn’t that be great?” her blue eyes were begging for her friend to cave in and give the football player a shot. Before she could answer she heard her name being called from up ahead looking up she saw Dex with a smile on his face.

Once he was in front of her he embraced her tightly mumbling into her hair “Hey” her cheeks went ablaze as she shyly greeted him back with a little squeeze. When Dex pulled away from her his green eyes went to Ronnie who got the signal looking at her imaginary watch “Oh look at the time, I need to head off to wherever. See you later Shi”

Shiori’s heart stopped as she saw her blond friend waving at her giving her a look to go for whatever Dex has planned. Turning back around she forced a smile at the tall teen that was in front of her as he shoved his hands into his pocket “So Ori I was thinking…” a small blush colored his cheeks “that maybe you and I can go out to eat sometime”

The young girl thought about what Ronnie had told her she couldn’t believe her ears hearing what he had to say. Dex was standing there uncomfortable as Shiori was processing everything, he was starting to doubt himself about the whole situation what if Ronnie was wrong? She didn’t like him.

“Look if I made you uncomf-”

“I love to” she cut him off.

She took a deep breath as he paused wondering if he heard correctly “So that is a yes?” Shiori nodded with a small giggle “It’s a yes” clasping her hands together Dex smiled hugely as he beamed at her with excitement “Alright, how does Saturday sound?”

Licking her lips she answered “Sounds perfect”

“Great and you can wear whatever you want. We’re going to see a movie if that is alright with you”

Shiori wanted to sigh in relief that it wasn’t going to dinner because being alone with him face to face might make her even more nervous. She agreed and Dex was kind enough to walk her to her car; he hesitated a bit before he leaned down and kissed her cheek “See you tomorrow”

“See you”

To say that she was over the moon was an understatement she felt giddy at her first date and couldn’t wait for the couple of hours. Her father wasn’t home this weekend so it was just her and her mother; Yuki was hard to convince to let her baby girl go on a date but after a few conditions she reluctantly is letting her go.

With her overalls she rolled the blue paint over the white wall of the nursery since they had taken a few days off she decided if she was able to help her mother paint the walls it would soften her mother up. Yuki glanced at her daughter as she started to paint her wall seeing the smile that was painted on her daughter’s face was something she thought she never see.

“Sweetie, why don’t we take a break and let me help you get ready?”

Shiori looked over the almost done wall as she told her mother that she would feel better if she finished the last touches before getting ready for her date. Yuki smiled softly as she nodded helping Shiori paint the remainder white spots on the wall; she didn’t know why her mother was so understand maybe it was the hormones that was clouding her judgment.

For once her mother wasn’t a prude ruining her fun and possibly ruining her first date as her mother told her to take a shower Yuki pulled out some of the outfits she thought would be appropriate to wear on a first date. When Shiori hopped out of the shower she walked in and threw on the clothes that her mother chose for her.

She couldn’t help but smile seeing the cream dress that flattered her petite figure and wore a blazer over it. Thankfully she was able to wear flats with the outfit and started to put things in her purse that she might need “I’ll be right back” her mother said walking out of the room.

Shiori looked at her mother before looking at her stick straight hair starting to curl them to complete the look that she had. The only style she knew how to do was curl her hair after putting some mousse to help the style stay on its own. Looking in the mirror she saw how pretty she was and hoped that Dex will like it too.

Through the mirror she saw her mother walking back in with something in her hands “I think it’s about time to have some fun” setting the makeup down on her nightstand, biting her lip she grew nervous since she never really wore make up unless she was at Ronnie’s house and was the Barbie for the day.

“Hold still” Yuki directed her daughter as she tilted her head to start the process of putting on makeup on her face. It was all natural make up nothing too showy since her outfit wasn’t as bright, putting on eyeliner and mascara on her eyes with the light touch of lip gloss she spun her daughter around so she can look at herself.

“What do you think?”

Shiori’s hand went straight to her face wondering if she was the same girl, in awe she smiled before thanking her mother by standing up and hugging her. “Thank you for letting me go out tonight”

“You’re welcome. We should head downstairs and wait for your da-” then the doorbell rang “That must be him” as Yuki and Shiori walked down the stairs she waddled to the door opening it smiling warmly at the young teen boy that was looking quite fearful with a bouquet of flowers in hand.

“For you” Dex handed the tulips to Shiori who thanked him in return and Yuki couldn’t help but grin seeing how terrified he was. It was clear as daylight that he was nervous about meeting her husband all boys feared him for some reason and him looking around to see if he was there made her want to laugh out loud.

“Don’t worry so much. My husband wont’ be home tonight so enjoy yourselves” she smiled at the tall boy who smiled in return with relief as she inched closer she whispered “And if you even touch my baby girl improperly I will castrate you. Understand?”

Dex gulped seeing the murderous look Yuki was giving him as he nodded she went back to smiling at him “Good” when Shiori came back she linked arms with Dex who waved at her mother before letting his date in the car.

Before he turned on the car he turned to her “Before I forget to tell you I want to say that you look absolutely stunning tonight” Shiori blushed like mad as she avoided his gaze thanking him as she looked out the window where her mother was giving her a wave before mouthing 11 o’ clock.

She nodded as she waved back while Dex pulled away from the nice driveway and down the cold road that would lead them out of La Push and towards Port Angeles. During the car ride it was kind of awkward neither party knew what to say to one another so Shiori suggested that they should listen to music.

Dex thought it was a good idea as he turned up the radio which was on a rock station, he didn’t see if she would react to the station as he started to drum away on the steering wheel singing along. Shiori wasn’t used to this kind of music since all she was used to was classic.

She gave the music a chance listening to the lyrics instead of the beat to get rid of the slight irritation that was inching in the back of her mind. It would be rude of her to ask him to change the station when he did look at her she wasn’t good at masking her feelings “You don’t like rock?”

Shiori turned her head “I do! I mean…I don’t know. This is my first time hearing this kind of music before” she admitted to him.

“What? You never heard of Metallica? They are pretty well known…” he trailed off seeing that her expression didn’t change and still held confusion as to who was the band he just named. Dex smiled as he said “Sounds like I need to give you some rock 101”

Shiori smiled “Sounds great”

It was the way that they broke the tension around them as Dex started to go about the rock bands that he favored. Telling her which band sang each song that was blared on the radio and giving her some background on the bands; Shiori was more intrigued on the background stories than the actual music but she guess she could take baby steps to liking the music.

As they parked the car Dex was a true gentleman and opened the car door for her as they held hands walking towards the front of the cinema. “So what do you want to see?” he peered down at her with those green eyes that she started to adore so much.

Looking up at the sign she bit her lip thinking of which one she would see and there was only one movie that stuck out to her that she recognized “How about Terminator Salvation?”

“Really? No chick flick?” he was shocked that she chose something that he would most likely like but was grateful that he didn’t have to see something like The Notebook again. All his previous dates always wanted to see the latest romantic comedy yet here he was standing with the coolest girl on the planet.

“Yeah. Ronnie is a huge Terminator fan and made me watch the older ones whenever I’m over her house. It’s interesting” she mused seeing that he just nodded before walking to the front and bought two tickets for them.

“You don’t have to pay”

“I want to and besides you’re my date. I can’t have my date paying for her own ticket” Dex wrapped his arm around her shoulder as he led her into the theater making her blush. As the employee ripped their tickets and pointed to which side they should walk to they headed over to their destination.

Stepping into the pitch black theater the previews have already started as they walked up the steps Dex asked where she wanted to sit. “Maybe over there?” she pointed to the middle where only a few people were sitting, it wasn’t that packed at the theater so they headed up and sat down.

The green eyed boy tapped her shoulder as her eyes were glued to the screen, tearing her eyes off the screen she looked to her date wondering what he wanted. “Do you want anything to eat?”

“I’m not hungry”

Just then her stomach growled as the preview came to an end letting Dex hear the sound making him grin “Sure. Come on; don’t feel like you’re a burden. What do you want?” he turned to her waiting for her response.

Biting her lip she thought that maybe something soft would do “Maybe a soft pretzel?”

“You got it. I’ll be right back” getting up from his seat she saw him walking out of the aisle down the steps and out of the theater. Shiori never felt so bad in her life, she wanted to smack herself for not eating before coming she totally forgot about eating when she was so focused on finishing painting the baby room before Dex got there.

As she waited for her date to return she watched the previews that were playing as each one kept coming she felt something hitting the top of her head. Furrowing her brows, she saw something fall from her head tilting her head down to see what it was several pieces of popcorn fell down her head.

Shiori gasped at the amount of food that was in her head, running a hand through her hair to make sure there was none left she wanted to turn around to see who the culprit was. She decided to just ignore them but the constant throwing of the food was making her irritated, finally she decided to say something.

As she turned around her mouth dried as her black eyes met a pair of brown ones, the sinister smirk on his lips said it all. “What’s with the long face ling ling. Thought you would be happy to see me” Shiori looked down before staring back up at Paul.

“It be nice if you stopped throwing popcorn at my head, I’m trying to watch a movie”

Paul’s face look indifferent “And I should care because…” he trailed off before he rolled his eyes “Of course, because your with that dweeb from the football team. You know he doesn’t like you right? He only wants to get laid”

Shiori’s eyes widened “Stop lying. Dex isn’t like that”

“And how would you know? You only known him for a few days and I have known him for I don’t know ten years. You’re just another notch on his bedpost and he wouldn’t mind me doing this” he grabbed a handful of popcorn filled with butter as he threw it at her face.

She tried to block the blow and suddenly without a warning she felt something cold on her head making her shriek. Shiori stood up from her seat as her hair was now sticking to her face, she licked her lips tasting that it was soda.

“Aw, is little ling ling gonna cry?” Paul started to laugh along with a few friends that he tagged along with.

“Hey! What’s going on here?” Shiori turned to see Dex with a box filled with treats and furrowed his eyebrows at his date “Ori why are you soaking wet?” then he saw Paul and his group snickering behind her, his eyes started to get dark as he put the treats down.

“Hey Grey what the hell?”

It caught the older boy’s attention as his dark eyes saw the murderous glare his friend was giving him “What do you mean what the hell? Dex we all know you’re trying to tap that and I was trying to make her look more presentable to you”

The green eyed teen glared at him “Stop being a jackass Grey. Didn’t your mom ever tell you not to pick on girls?”

Paul just grinned as he leaned back on his seat “That thing that you brought to the movies isn’t what I would call a girl” Shiori flinched when Paul referred her to as ‘thing’ her gaze cast down not seeing that Dex jumped over the seats tackling Paul to the floor.

“Dex!”