It's a Love Thing (7 page)

She floated there silently for a few
moments looking at me. "I'm sorry. You're right. I should have told
you you're doing a good, no, great job. And I should have pointed
out your improvements."

"That's okay. So we're good now?" I
held up my fist and waited to see if she'd pound it. She
did.

"We're good. But about the Spongy
Crèmes."

"Tink, enough already. I know they're
bad for me, but like I said, in moderation."

"Okay. In moderation." She smiled,
then asked, "How often is moderation?"

"I'm taking a shower." I
gathered some clean clothes and left the room. I came back and
found her thumbing through the instruction manual for
Laser Wars
.

"This is very violent, you
know."

"Yeah, well, I'm a guy. We like
violent."

She giggled. I did like her giggle.
"Your clothes are too big for you. You've lost weight, though after
yesterday—"I raised a finger. She stopped.

"Guess we'll have to go to the mall
and buy some. I hate shopping," I mumbled.

"I have a better idea." She
flew to the top of my dresser and with a wave of her wand, clothes
appeared on my bed, stacks of clothes, stacks of
brightly colored
clothes.
"These are the latest styles," she beamed. "Take your
pick."

"Where did they come from?" I held out
a pair of orange and gold pants I wouldn't be caught dead in. I
looked through the pile of clothes, but there was nothing I would
wear.

"One of my sisters helped an up and
coming designer get his designs into a prestigious fashion show. He
gave her all of these clothes as a thank you.

"Tink, I appreciate it and
everything, really I do, but they are too small."
Thankfully
. I held up a
purple and pea green shirt with huge billowy sleeves. "These are
made for anorexic male models. I could never get it
buttoned."

"Oh, too bad." She flew over and,
picking up a pink smock with her wand, held it against me. What guy
would wear a smock, let alone a pink one? "And we've already
altered his mind so I can't ask for a bigger size."

"Altered his mind?"

She froze, her eyes darting around the
room, landing everywhere but on me. "Now, Pete. Don't get mad. I
was going to tell you before we did it."

"You're going to alter my
mind?"

"We, um, have to alter your mind so
you don't remember us. We can’t let the world know faeries really
exist. They'd expect us to make everything better for them. It
would destroy the human spirit." She waved her wand and the clothes
disappeared.

"So, I won’t remember you?" I asked
softly.

"No."

The thought depressed me. I sank onto
my bed, feeling a little sick.

"But I'll remember you." I looked into
her tiny little eyes as she spoke. "Forever."

"That's not fair, Tink."

"I know. We still have time, though."
She sat on the bed next to me. "We could go clothes shopping today.
Do you have any money?"

"Yes. My dad gave me a little the
other day. He also said my clothes were too big and told me to buy
some new ones."

"Then let's go." She flew to the door
and waited for me to join her, but I had no desire to do anything
fun. My memories of Tink would be altered. The little imp had
changed my life and I wouldn't remember her.

"Don't think about it. We still have
to get you that date. Let's focus on that, okay?" She waved her
wand and the door opened. "Come on. Let's go shopping."

Since I had a limited budget, we went
straight to the local Wal-Mart. Tink was dumbfounded. She'd never
seen a store so big.

"It has everything. You wouldn't need
another store."

I didn't respond, not wanting to look
like a crazy guy talking to myself. She left me in the jeans
section while she flew off to check out the shoes. As if she'd find
a pair her size.

It took me three tries to
find the right size jeans.
Maybe mom is
right about me playing too many video games.
I picked out four shirts and took them into the dressing room.
Before I undressed, I heard Tink’s voice call out from the other
side of the door. "Let me see what you try on."

And how was I to do that? There were
two attendants outside the door. I'd look like an idiot walking out
for no one. Grumbling, I pulled the jeans I really liked on first
and an orange t-shirt with an awesome tricked-out car on the front.
I picked it out carefully, remembering her aversion to cartoon
characters.

I walked out. "Where did the
attendants go?" I whispered, looking around the dressing
area.

"I made one of them think she had to
go to the bathroom," she giggled.

"What about the other one?"

"Seriously, Pete? Don't you know
females only go to the bathroom in groups?" She shook her head at
me.

"Jeans are good, but no cartoons.
You'll need to pick out another shirt."

"This isn't a cartoon, Tink. This is a
real picture of a real car."

"And it's real lame." She waved her
wand at my dressing room and ten different shirts in assorted
colors and styles appeared, and not one had cartoons on
them.

I tried them all on, but none of the
shirts were good enough. She waved her wand and ten more
appeared.
"Tink, if you're going to be that picky, this is going to take all
night."

"That's okay. When we came in I
noticed the sign on the door. It said they are open twenty-four
hours. Awesome, huh?" She smiled.

After an hour of trying on shirts, I'd
reached my limit. Tink, sensing that, decided to have a little fun.
The next shirt I came out in, a perfectly good, plaid, button-up
shirt, turned into a fluffy pink prom dress. I would have laughed,
but the attendants, who'd returned forty-five minutes ago already
looked at me strangely each time I came out of the dressing room.
My eyes darted to Tink. She sat on top of my many cast-off shirts,
laughing herself to tears.

"Tink!" I said through a
cough.

"They can't see the dress. But you
should have seen your eyes." I shook my head slightly, and with a
crooked smile, returned to the dressing room.

Half an hour later we finally left the
store and went back to my house. "Wow. I love that store. It's
amazing. I'm definitely coming here on my Dag som en människa. One
more thing for my bucket list."

I placed my new clothes on the bed.
"What's a Dag sum . . . whatever you said."

"Dag som en människa. It means Day as
a Human. We faeries get to experience life as a human for one day.
It's supposed to make us more compassionate to humans, you know,
walk a mile in another’s shoes type deal, and we can more
effectively work together."

She settled on the bed and began
removing the tags from my clothes with her handy little wand. I
briefly wondered if I could convince her to accidently leave it
behind because I could sure use it.

"When do you get to take this Dag som
. . . Day as a Human?'

"Whenever I want. Most take it
somewhere between their fifteenth and twenty-fifth year. I've been
thinking of doing mine soon, especially after seeing that awesome
Wal-Mart store."

I grinned, unsure if I'd ever heard
the words awesome and Wal-Mart together before.

"And speaking of human days, you need
to decide who you are going to ask out. I think you're ready. Have
you given Elise Delyser any more thought?"

"Tink, I don't know about this. What
if she says no?" I sank onto the floor, picking nervously at the
tan carpet fibers.

"She won't say no. You're amazing,
Pete. You're funny, sweet, and hard-working. You cleaned the garage
the other day without me saying anything to you about
it."

"It needed to be done. Besides, my
dad's been putting in a lot of overtimes since one of his employees
left to have a baby. I wanted to help him out."

"Pete, two months ago you would never
have done that."

"You opened my eyes to a lot of
things, Tink. If not for you, I never would have done that," I
said.

"But you're seeing things now without
me pointing them out." She flew down next to me and sat
cross-legged on the carpet. "Besides, you look great. You've worked
hard, Pete. She'd have to be crazy not to say yes."

"Thanks, Tink. For everything. I can
never repay you."

"Yes, you can. Ask Elise Delyser out
on a date," she insisted.

"Ugh!" I lay back on the carpet and
pinched my eyes shut.

"And for your assignment tonight, I
want you to come up with a creative way to ask her, or whoever, out
on a date."

"I haven't agreed to this,
Tink."

She walked up to my face. I turned to
look at her and that pretty smile. "You'll need to decide soon.
Good night." She waved her wand and disappeared.

I flopped over on my stomach. Me ask a
girl out? I'd rather swim with sharks than ask a girl out. But I
knew Tink wasn't about to let up. I had to decide.

I picked up my yearbook and scoured
the pages for the hundredth time. There were lots of nice girls I
could ask, but no one jumped out at me. I didn't want to go out
with any of them.

I thought about it for a long time,
deciding, then changing my mind, then deciding again. I grabbed a
piece of paper and a pen listing all the pros and cons of each
girl. Until I knew exactly who I wanted to ask. It was obvious.
What a geek I still am sometimes. Now, how to ask.

Chocolate? Maybe. I had yet to meet a
girl who didn't like chocolate. Flowers? That would work too,
except I didn't know what kind of flowers to get. Roses, I guess.
Or were flowers too cheesy?

I paced back and forth in my room
trying to brainstorm some ideas. "How am I going to do this?" My
reflection in the mirror on the bedroom door caught my
eye.

I'd made a lot of changes inside, but
I'd made some on the outside too. It felt weird to look into my
mirror and not see my old, sloppy self.

As I scrutinized my reflection, I got
an idea.

*****

My mom helped me put my idea together
last night. She was over-the-top excited that I wanted to ask a
girl out, giving me a million suggestions about where to go and
what to do. I let her ramble, it's not like I could tell her about
Tink's bucket list. I'd gotten up extra early, excited and unable
to sleep. The familiar twinkling of lights sent a jolt of
excitement through my veins. "Good morning, Tink."

"Good morning. You're up and ready to
go already?" She smiled her pretty little smile at me.

"Got a lot to do. I've made my mind up
about who I'm going to ask out."

I watched the smile die on her face.
"Oh. So who is it? Elise?"

"Let's go running first." I snagged my
water bottle and ran downstairs to fill it.

She stood on the small counter next to
the fridge and watched. "Do I get a hint?"

"Hmm. I can tell you she's very
pretty."

"Well, just because she's pretty on
the outside, doesn’t mean she's pretty on the inside, you know,"
she pointed out.

"She's pretty on the inside
too."

"Oh."

"Let's get going before it gets too
hot." I smiled broadly and went outside. To my surprise, the run
seemed easier today than ever before. I even took an extra lap
around our cul-de-sac just because.

We got back to my house and I made us
some iced herbal tea. "So who is it?" Tink asked, taking a sip from
her little glass.

"First, I need to shower."
I downed my glass and ran upstairs. Tink stayed in the kitchen, a
scowl firmly planted on her face. I laughed to myself.
She's so cute when she's mad.

After my shower, we went over to the
Final Rest nursing home and helped mom do crafts with the seniors.
Tink sat on the piano, arms folded, definitely not amused by my
little game. I saw her more than once whip out her wand and save a
senior from falling over. Too bad all nursing homes don't have
faeries to help.

On the way home, she didn't speak at
all. After ten minutes of silence I decided to test the waters a
little. "Yeah, she is really sweet, Tink. I'm excited, although I
haven't decided where I'll take her yet. I thought I'd see if she
had a preference. If not, maybe a movie."

"A movie! Pete, how do you expect to
get to know a person sitting in a theater? You can't talk. A movie
is not a good idea."

"Good point. What do you
suggest?"

"Bowling."

"Bowling?"

"Yes. It looks fun and you can talk,
and there's good food to eat. Yes. Bowling is perfect."

I grinned to myself. Clearly she'd
never eaten food from a bowling alley. "Okay. I'll suggest bowling
and see what she says."