Date

"What time is it?" I ask Link when he secures my helmet.

"It's almost 8 PM. Want me to drop you off at home?"

I don't want our date to end like this. Not with me holding ill feelings against him for something Daruk said. It's not Link's fault. And not Daruk's either. I know he didn't mean any harm...

"Er... We could still grab a bite," I suggest.

"Um... Sure, I'll tell Daruk--"

"Not at Vah Rudania," I stress. He gives me a confused look and I sigh. "I heard what Daruk said about me."

"Oh." Link doesn't seem to understand.

"It was impolite," I explain poorly.

"It was a compliment. Why does that upset you?"

"I don't like it when my friends talk behind my back... enough people do that as it is... all my life they've been judging my merit. I may be hard working, yes, but I'm not as strong as people think and even I have my limits. I just don't like assumptions about me. I fear that people assume I'm a failure, but what is worse are those assuming that I'm a strong personality. I'm not... I'm just doing what I have to do, terrified of disappointing those individuals, like Daruk. Daruk has always supported my decisions, believing that I would succeed no matter what path I go. And that scared me. He thinks I don't see the range of the peaks, but I do. He is not in the position to give you advice on how to deal with me. I know he meant well and he's right I can be naive in the face of a challenge but telling you that I am strong like that is setting me up for disappointment."

I take a deep breath. That was a lot, hopefully it cleared things up.

"Try not to care what others say about you," is his only response.

"Great advice, Master Yoda. It's not that easy."

"Why not?"

"I don't want you to think that--"

"I don't."

"You don't even know what I was going to say," I lower my head.

"Look, even if the entire world said something about you, whether you're strong or weak, I wouldn't believe it just because somebody said something about someone. Does that make sense? I make my own opinion. By spending time with you. All you have to do is allow me to get to know you."

It is a strange and difficult thing to put my trust into a person I barely know, but to truly believe in his loyalty feels thrilling and right in a way I can't fully grasp.

"Okay," I say quietly.

I hate that I can't just accept Daruk's compliment. I had to make a big deal out of it...

"So, where can we get food where we won't get recognized?" I ask him.

"Depends. What kind of food?"

"Anything edible that will fill my tummy."

"Can do, follow me to my divine beast," he says, putting his helmet on.

Link drives us to the closest In-N-Out Burger and buys us fries, a milkshake, and burgers. This is not the type of food I usually eat, but then again, this is not what my typical Saturday nights look like.

Since we can't eat in public, he tells me to hold on to the bag while we drive to a more private spot near the hills. It's a small park with a beautiful view over the city, the beach, and the pier in the distance.

"I've never been to a park at night," I say, taking a seat next to him on a cute little bridge that arches over a fairy-tail-like pond. We're all alone...

I hand Link his burger. He clinks it with mine like wine classes and takes the first bite.

"Cheers?" I giggle.

"Cheers."

This took a turn for the better. I could have ran home and spent the night feeling offended, or... I take an inconspicuous look at Link. Or, I could spend my night sitting next to him, enjoying my time, eating fast food with a view.

This could actually work. Yesterday I was convinced that a relationship with Link was bound to fail, I even wrote him a full length card, explaining why we could never-- The card! I nearly choke on my burger.

"Er, Link?" I cough.

"Mh?"

"Er..." I pray he hasn't read the card I left on his desk. "Did you by any chance find a postcard in your room?"

He stifles a laugh. "Maybe."

"Did you... You didn't read it, did you?"

"It had my name on it," he shrugs.

"Yeah, but... You weren't supposed to read that. Ugh, I'm mortified."

"What even was that? A breakup card?" He says amused. "And why on a postcard? Some sick joke."

"No... It's... It's something Impa and I do when we get in an argument. It's sort of a friendship rule of ours. We imagine being on a vacation, alone, far away from each other. We buy a postcard and write down how life is no fun if we can't be together. Then we apologize for whatever stupid thing we did to upset the other. I said something very hurtful to you and wanted to apologize for it."

"I forgive you."

"You always do," I sigh, looking at the city lights.

"You sound disappointed."

"No, it's just... Sometimes I think it'd be easier if you fought back. If you told me I was wrong or defended your opinion. You forgive me every time I mess up but I still feel awful about hurting you."

"Wait... You want me to yell at you?"

Okay, when he puts it like that it sounds absurd.

"Never mind, I don't know what I'm saying," I mumble.

"Instead of fighting, can't we just be honest?"

"Yes, but you'd have to actually share your thoughts with me."

He may be forgiving and polite, but that doesn't mean that he is on board with all of my decisions. I need to know when he is uncomfortable or unhappy.

"You want me to be brutally honest?" he asks.

"Er... Yes," I gulp.

"Okay, well, I don't like cold burgers," he says with a smile and throws his burger back into the white paper bag.

"Me neither," I giggle and follow his lead. "Is there anything else you don't like? About.. Me?"

"Nope."

"Nothing?"

He shrugs. "I have a question. Can I kiss you even though we're not dating?"

"Er..." Heat strikes my body and my heart spits electricity through my veins. "You already have. At... the pier."

"Yeah but... are you cool with it?"

His question was unexpected enough to freeze my face. I can't answer verbally, so I just nod. With a satisfied expression, Link leans in to finish what he started at the loft. His mouth connects with mine before I can recover from his cheeky question. The sensation of his kiss upon my lips could fuel my heart for a lifetime. It's nothing short of heavenly. Time spent with him always feels like a dream and I don't want to ever wake up from it.

...

We've been sitting by the water for a little while now, talking about the most arbitrary things.

"Blue," I answer his question. "Yours?"

"That is so mainstream."

"What?"

"Everybody's favorite color is blue," he says.

"Well what's yours then if you're so unique."

"Green."

"Ask me something less ordinary," I demand playfully.

"Less ordinary?"

"Yes, I doubt that an assemblage of stale questions will tell you much about me."

"Wow, insulting my interests?"

"Favorite colors aren't an interest," I laugh.

"To some they are! What if I'm an artist?"

"You aren't," I say, fairly confident.

"How would you know?" he raises an eyebrow.

"Are you?"

"Maybe."

"Okay, Picasso, what kind of art do you make?"

"Pottery."

"Pottery?" I burst into laughter.

"Nah, I can't make art to save my life," he chuckles. "In elementary school I was in this pottery class and my vase was the worst looking one. Don't laugh, I had it painted and all but it just didn't look right. On the day we were supposed to get grading I dropped it. My teacher didn't believe that it was an accident. I guess she thought I broke it to get some extra time to finish it. I got so mad I trashed all the other vases."

"The ones your classmates made?" I say in shock.

"Yep. I had anger issues," he laughs and I join him. "So you want a creative question now?"

"Yes, hit me with your most idiosyncratic question."

"Okay, let me think..." he bites down on his lip and lies back on the bridge with his arms folded under his head.

"Are you tired?"

"A bit. Been up since 6.30."

"Sorry for waking you so early."

"I get up at 5 AM every morning to go for a run, so technically you let me sleep in today."

He truly is a very dedicated athlete.

"Here, I thought of a question; what is the one thing you love doing but won't tell anyone?"

"Really? My guilty pleasure? That's the one?"

"Scared to share?"

"I don't have a guilty pleasure."

"Everyone has one."

"What's yours?"

He doesn't answer. He just holds his gloating expression and waits patiently for me to crack.

"I don't know, I... I like classic English literature? Romance drama, the cliché stuff," I shrug. He pulls an unimpressed face. I didn't expect him to let that count. "I eat ice cream with a fork, how about that?"

"What? For real?"

I nod. He chuckles but shakes his head.

"It has to be something you don't want people to know."

"The fork thing is pretty embarrassing," I argue.

"It doesn't matter if it's embarrassing. It has to be something you haven't told anyone."

"Hm..." I am hesitant but I decide to share this one secret with him. "I sing," I say quietly.

"How shameful," he pretends to be shocked.

"Well... It's true. And it's something I haven't told anyone."

"What about Impa?"

I shake my head.

"Your parents?"

Another negative. That's when the look on his face changes from teasing to curious.

"Why?" He asks.

"I don't know... It's..."

It's something I did a lot when Mother was still around, but when she passed I stopped. I only sang when I knew that no one was around because it would make me feel closer to Mother... And that time with her alone was sacred. I felt that she was drifting away in the afterlife, unable to find me through the dark. But when I sing... I hope she can find me through my voice. But I can't tell Link that when he thinks that she is still alive.

"I also play some instruments," I add as a distraction.

"Would you ever sing in front of me?"

"I play the piano, the harp, the ukulele," I disregard him rolling his eyes at me, "and the ocarina."

"Fine," he stops my recital and smiles with his eyes. "Thanks for sharing."

"What's your guilty pleasure?" I ask him back.

"Arson." I chose not to believe him. "I also like to dress up in Bollywood clothes," he continues, his face as serious as a heart attack.

"Uh-huh, saris. Very creative, please continue."

"Sometimes I assault chicken."

"Stop!" I can't hold back my laugh any longer. How does he even come up with these things?

"Bet you believed every word."

"Now tell me! What is it? The one thing you love doing but don't tell anyone?"

"I eat rocks."

"Tell me!" I shove him lightly.

"Alright, alright. No need to use your newly acquired martial arts skills on me," he says, both hands in the air. He pauses for a moment and scratches the back of his head. "I like to make wishes at shooting stars," he says with a balance of shyness and confidence. He's blushing. This one is the truth.

"In the Shinto religion, Amatsu Mikaboshi is the kami of the stars. He wasn't a god as much as an evil spirit. As a kid, whenever I'd see a shooting star, I'd search for Mikaboshi, thinking he had crashed somewhere nearby. I wanted to make sure he wasn't going to do anything evil."

"That does sound like something you would do. Weren't you scared of the evil spirit though?" I ask.

"I wanted to protect my family from the darkness. My parents used to tell me about three golden goddesses. One carried power, one wisdom, and one--"

"Courage," I finish for him. I've heard of this legend.

"Yep. Farore is the goddess of courage. My dad believes her spirit resides within me, he says it's fate since my nickname as a child was Rinku; a link between worlds..."

"I like your name a lot," I blush.

"I think Farore or something to reference the goddess of courage would be a neat name for my kid someday."

"You want to have kids?" I speak quicker than my mind can catch up. Discussing children is really not an appropriate topic for the first date. To prevent this from getting awkward I drop the question and move on before he gets the wrong idea.

"Well I've never seen a shooting star," I go back to that topic, unable to come up with something else. "We talked about them in my astronomy class on Thursday and got to admire some really realistic projections, but I have never seen a real one. It's a shame. I love the stars but there is too much light pollution to spot them anywhere near the city."

"I can take you to the desert some time to look at the stars."

"Sounds romantic," my head must have turned crimson by now.

I want to lie down too and put my head on his chest but I lack the courage and remain sitting up instead. We've never spent this much time together and I don't want to ruin our good streak by doing something awkward. We've gone a whole day without any arguments, even if I got a bit frustrated with Daruk earlier, the day exceeded my expectations. Not only did I try something new and make a new friend, but I've gotten closer to Link as well. He has talked more than I anticipated. It can't be easy for him to participate this much in conversation but I'm grateful he's trying.

"We could go stargazing next weekend for our second date," he suggests.

"No we couldn't," I give a sarcastic chuckle. "My father would never allow me to stay out that late--" My heart kicks my chest. "I almost forgot about the curfew! What time is it?"

Link pulls up his phone. It still has the same lock screen.

"9:17," he reads the time. "You should probably try and be on time today. Speaking of which, what did you tell your parents this morning? Were they mad?"

The way he always says parents, plural, gives me comfort and discomfort at the same time. It makes me feel like Mother is still here but it is also a painful reminder that she isn't.

"No, it was fine," I say very unconvincing.

He doesn't question it or give me any indication that he doesn't believe me. Even though it is unlikely that Father would be "fine" with me staying out all night, Link trusts in my words, making me feel all the worse for lying. I can't tell him that Father didn't notice my absence when I don't even allow that thought to cross my own mind. I was happy to be distracted all day and I'm already dreading the lonely drive home. Maybe I will tell Link all about it another day.

"Could you drive me back to the dorms?" I bid and he gets up.