Destination Still Unknown

I throw my backpack on the ground and allow myself to fall backwards on my bed, sighing heavily.
What did I get myself into?

I'm supposed to meet Gilda behind the school in less than two hours, then take her out on a date... somewhere?
Why? Just why? Why is any of this happening? She wasn't supposed to accept, was she?

If I live to see tomorrow, I'm gonna kill Rainbow Dash.

Unlike simply asking her out, pussying out doesn't seem to be an option this time. Gilda is expecting me to meet her, and while I could stand her up, that would probably lead to a far worse result than what I've been trying to put an end to by asking her out in the first place.
Or, maybe she will be the one standing me up, and the whole school will laugh at me tomorrow...

...holy shit, I don't want to do this. Why did I have to listen to Dash? Goddammit... even if I don't survive until tomorrow, I will come back from the dead to kill her.

I sigh for the umpteenth time today and step in the shower, stripping naked as I do so. I sit on the cold ceramic floor and close my eyes, letting the hot, soothing water wash over me.

What can I do? Maybe I could bring flowers?
She certainely doesn't look like the type of girl who's used to being offered flowers. In fact, she doesn't look like the type of girl who'd want to receive flowers at all. If she actually wants to go out on a date with me, then I suppose she won't say anything and reluctantly accept them. And if she doesn't, she'll be forced to avoid me since I'll have come off as romantic and clingy.
Alright, that's a plan. That can work.

Yeah, that's going to work.

I hastily wash myself and step out of the shower, taking a few hundred bucks from the money my parents left me with for the month. They're never here, but at least they leave me a lot of cash whenever they leave on their endless trips to the other side of the planet...

I'm gonna have to go to the florist... heh. I haven't been there since my (disastrous) date with Photo Finish. The girl who works there is a really nice girl, though. She's cute as a button and smells great.

But there's still the question of where I'm gonna take Gilda... probably to some random restaurant, not a cheap date but nothing too fancy, either. She's probably not into the really classy stuff, and beyond the fact that she doesn't deserve such a treatment, I don't have the looks nor the budget for it anyway.
Well, I do have the budget, but like hell I'm gonna be spending a grand on a date with that bitch.

I push the door open and wave at the girl hidden behind thick foliage.

"Anonymous?"

"Hey, Rose. What's up?"

"Oh you know, the usual... what can I do for you?"

"Well, I... uh. I have a date tonight, and I was wondering if-" I'm cut off by a pleasant scent as the young woman waves a beautiful purple and yellow flower inches away from my face.

"Do you like it?"

"Yeah, it's beautiful..."

"Your date will love it, I can guarantee that."

Yeah, right... if only she knew.

"Thanks, Rose. How much do I owe you?"

"Three fifty."

"Cool," I smile and take out a five dollar bill.

Roseluck smiles weakly, before waving a hand in front of my face. "Um, Anonymous? I meant three hundred and fifty dollars."

"...oh."

Son of a bitch.

"Here, take this," she adds, handing me a small can of... air freshener?

"Huh? Are you implying that I smell?"

"What?" she asks, embarrassed. "No, no! It's just a gift. A friend of mine gave it to me and it smells really good, but I can't use it here with all the flowers each producing their own powerful scent."

"Oh... well, thanks Rose."

"Go get 'em, Anonymous!"

That feel when people know so little about you, they actually think your date can end well.

"In the end, that fucking cunt is still stealing my money... goddammit. You're so dead, Rainbow Dash."

I can't believe I let her talk me into this shit. I've been waiting here for twenty minutes, with my ridiculously expensive flower in hand. I'm cold, I'm bored, I'm nervous, and I'm-

"Hey dweeb."

I turn around and see...

"Gilda?"

Holy shit.

"Who else? C'mon, let's go before someone sees us," she says hastily. "We gotta..." she trails off, her eyes lingering on the flower I'm holding in my hand. Snapping out of my trance-like state, I shake my head and raise the flower to eye level.

"For you," I say in a cringeworthy, beta tone.

"F-for... for me?" she asks in disbelief, eyeing the flower as if it were the Holy Grail or something. I guess she's not really used to male attention... why would it be so is a mystery, though. She's absolutely, stunningly gorgeous. She's wearing a skin tight white top underneath a bright brown coat, and a pair of similarly colored brown skinny jeans, complementing perfectly her shapely, muscled thighs. She's also wearing purple eye shadow and very faint pale yellow lipstick.
In a word, wow.

Just, wow.

"Are you done staring, dweeb?"

"Sorry, Gilda. I was just-"

"I know," she smirks. "I have that effect on guys."

Not really, she doesn't, but... well, she usually doesn't.
Right now she totally does.

"Come on, where are we going?"

"I thought we could go to some Italian restau-"

"Pfft! Don't you have anything more boring? Let's go watch a movie."

"Uh... sure, I guess. We can take my ride, I'm parked over there."

"That shitty car? Huh. Figures."

I frown, but stay silent as I walk towards my car, Gilda walking next to me. She opens the door herself and sits in the passenger seat, a bored look on her face. I sit behind the wheel and turn the engine on, trying to convince myself that I can still salvage something... even if it's just my sanity.
Goddammit, why did she have to be so beautiful all of a sudden?

"What type of movie do you wanna go watch, Gilda?"

"Look, there's some stupid chick flick."

I glare at the cringeworthy poster on the wall. A romantic comedy? Really?

"Uh, sure, if you want."

"It's gonna be great," she says, rubbing her hands. "Probably a ton of stupid dweebs making out, let's go annoy them and scare 'em shitless!"

Oh, so that's what she had in mind... I was worried for a second back there.

Shrugging, I follow her inside the dark room, but not before paying for both our tickets, two bottles of coke and two giant plastic bowls full of popcorn.

Of course, Gilda insisted to sit in the back so that we could 'spot the stupid dweebs'. Sitting next to her, I grab a handful of popcorn and shove it into my mouth, watching the ad currently playing on screen without much interest.

Apparently, 'Call of Duty: Black Modern Ghostly Advanced Ops III' will feature a brand new, revolutionary concept in the form of the 'laptop gun'. Because obviously, that's never been done before...
Oh well, all I can really do now is sit back and try to enjoy the ride.

I have mixed feelings about this 'date' so far.
Those ads have been going on for minutes now, and Gilda's expression has remained mostly unreadable. One moment, she looks like she's gonna take my hand in hers and smile, and the next moment she looks like she's gonna rip my intestines out and strangle me with them.

Hopefully she will-

"G-Gilda?" I stutter as I feel her hand grabbing mine.

"Hey look!" she says, pointing at two people sitting a few rows ahead. "They're kissing!"

"Uh, yeah? So?"

"Shut up and watch," she smirks and gets up, stealthily making her way to the oblivious teenagers.

A couple of screams later, I facepalm as a pale yellow girl with pink hair sprints out of the theater room, barely holding her tears, followed by a black dude with a silver mohawk.

She takes her seat back next to me, barely holding back tears of laughter.

I cross my arms and shake my head disapprovingly. "Well done, you cockbite. You made Fluttershy cry."

She stops laughing and stares at me. "So what? She was making out with that stupid dude! Why would you care?"

I shrug, going back to watching the ads. Will the movie ever start? It's not like I was planning on coming back to watch 'The Twilight Saga Reloaded 3D: Episode VII Part 3' anyway.

"Humph! Who the fuck actually wants to watch that?" Gilda scoffs, crossing her own arms over her toned chest. "Much less pay to watch it," she adds.

"No idea. But then, look at what we're about to watch," I say wryly.

"I just wanted to scare the crap outta those stupid... argh, forget it," she replies angrily, looking away from me.

Well, that's one hell of a date. I obviously wasn't expecting anything good, but this is pretty fucking bad.

I remain silent for a few minutes, eating my popcorn noisily (though less so than Gilda) and watching the screen, hoping that one day, someone will figure out that people go to the movies to watch movies, and not to buy the newest 'Eau de Vaisselle' perfume from... holy shit, is that our French teacher naked on screen, lying in a... large kitchen sink?

Goddamn.
I knew there was something fishy about that woman.

Drowning my worries (and my boner) in coke and popcorn, something suddenly clicks in my head. Everything about Gilda, her attitude, her reactions, her mood swings... is she that unpopular with boys?
Nah, that can't be. I refuse to believe this could be the first real date for a girl as attractive as she is.

"Say, Gilda..."

"Huh?"

"Why did you want to scare teenagers making out anyway?"

"Because it's fun, duh," she replies as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah but, movies last what, a hundred minutes on average? Did you really expect you could scare the same people for over an hour and a half straight?"

She glares at me stupidly, before shifting her gaze around uneasily. "I-I... I just thought you'd help me. I thought we could have fun."

"Have fun? As in, you and me, having fun together?" I inquire.

"What? No way. You just happen to be here, that's all."

"And you just happened to accept coming here with me. Hell, you were the one to insist. You were the one who wanted to come here, and to watch that movie instead of- well, I, uh..." I trail off, noticing the perfect silence. "Gilda?"

She adverts her eyes away from me, looking at the screen with a blank expression.

"Gilda, what's wrong with you?"

"I'm watching, dweeb."

"You're watching a bunch of names on a black background."

"Huh?"

I raise an eyebrow at her surprised face.

"I-I just wanna see if there's someone I know."

"Someone you know?"

"Yeah, maybe there are famous actors that-"

"Gilda, this is a PSA, and you're reading the names of the people who killed themselves driving under the influence during the past eighteen months."

"What? I... b-but... I know that! But... but I know a lot of guys who really know how to party! Maybe one of them... y-you know?"

I stealthily scratch my balls, hidden behind my popcorn. "That's one of the worst excuses I've ever heard."

"Shut up. You don't know anything about me."

"I never said I did."

This is going nowhere.

"Alright, I'm sorry. I won't annoy you anymore."

She grunts, going back to watching whatever is on screen. We've been sitting for nearly half an hour, and the movie still hasn't started. Hell, I already finished my popc- oh.
Finally.

It was about time.

This movie isn't bad, actually. Pretty entertaining after all... definitely not what I originally wanted to see, but it's not bad by any means. I wanted to go see 'Die Hard 8: A Good Day To Live Free And Die Harder With A Vengeance', but well. Can't have everything now, can I?

"Anon?"

Huh? Oh, right. My 'date' has been so silent for the past half hour, I had actually forgotten that she was here at all.
Man, I'd make such a great boyfriend.

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Why?"

"Uh... why what?"

She clears her throat, causing me too look at her. Not taking her eyes off mine, she asks calmly, "Why did you ask me out?"

"I... uh..." shit, I wasn't expecting that. Her expression is still hard to read, but this time it's neutral. She doesn't seem to be angry or anything, merely curious.

While 'because your former friend told me to do it so that maybe you'd leave me the fuck alone at last' comes to mind, that's something I'd rather keep for myself, at least for now.
Come on Anon, find something, find something... well, she did look gorgeous when she showed up behind the school. Could I give her the most honest of all the dishonest answers?

"Because I noticed you weren't really popular with guys," I say coyly.

She snorts as her face contorts into one of pure hatred.

"So you took pity on the poor lonely girl who scares all the guys away because she's more of a man than they are? That's it?"

"What? No, I-"

"That's all it is for you? You just wanted to humor me? LEAD ME ON?"

"What? Gilda, I don't know what you're-"

"YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" she shouts, earning glares and 'shhhh's from the few people in the theater room. "You thought you could just ask me out and then ignore me? Well, joke's on you, asshole! I never cared about you! I'm just here for the free drink and popcorn!"

"Calm down, damn it! What's wrong with you?"

"YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE!"

What.

Noticing my confused expression, she throws her hair out of her face and puts a hand on mine. "You were the only one who ever stood up to me."

"Uh... okay? Gilda, I still don't know what you're talking about."

"You... you're a fucking idiot, Anon."

"C'mon, your insults are usually better than that."

She suppresses a smile and sighs heavily. "You were the only one who ever stood up to me, whenever I annoy you or hit you, you stand your ground, stare me down and threaten me."

"Well, no shit. I'm not gonna let you-"

"I know! That's why I wanted to... it doesn't matter now. You've shown your true self, you're just like the others."

"Am I?"

"No... I don't... I don't know anymore."

"Come on Gilda, talk to me. What's wrong? You can tell me."

She looks away from me for a few seconds. "I... you see, all the guys in the soccer team treat me like one of them. But I'm not one of them! I mean, I am, but... they're guys. Sometimes I want to be treated like a girl, I want to have a guy who cares about me and sees me as a girl, instead of high-fiving me and calling me 'bro'..."

"...but your attitude drives even the manliest guys away from you," I 'complete', earning a death glare from my date.

"..."

"And you like me because I don't treat you like a guy, but I don't run away from you either?"

"...yes. That's just how I am, why should it mean that I can't be with a guy? Why are guys scared of a girl who doesn't cower before them?"

I shrug. "I don't know, but fuck them," I say, pointing a finger towards the first row of seats. "Look, there's a couple making out. You wanna go scare the shit out of 'em?"

"I... okay, let's do that," she says with a weak smile.

She gets up and crouches down the aisle, slowly making her way to the front row as I follow her, wondering how the hell she can 'walk' like that. Soccer, probably... every day is leg day for her. As for me, well... let's just say that walking on all fours works just as well. Thankfully, it's too dark for people to see, even though the room is near empty anyway.

"Ready Anon?"

"Sure, waiting on your mark."

"Three, two, one, GO!"

We both spring to our feet and scream, attempting to scare the (hopefully literal) shit out of the two teenagers. But instead, we're met with two shit-eating grins.

"Pinkie?" I ask in disbelief.

"DASH?" Gilda screams, equally surprised.

"What the hell are you two doing? Wait, were you kissing?"

"No, silly! We were pretending to, so that maybe you'd take a hint and do it yourselves!"

"I-... we... what?"

"Anon, what are those two doing here?"

"I don't know, Gilda!"

"C'mon G," Dash says, "we may have had our quarrels in the past, but you really think I'd leave you hanging?"

"What?"

"And you Nonny," Pinkie chimes in, "you really think I wouldn't try to make you happy? Everybody needs to be happy!"

"Whatever the expletive you say, Penki Pe."

She giggles and pushes Gilda backwards, causing her to fall on the seat behind the two girls.

"Rainbow Dash..." I start, rubbing my eyes with a hand. "What the hell is going on?"

"Well dude, I'm sorry but Gilda is still an old friend, and I wanted to-"

"She set you two up on a date, silly," Pinkie says matter-of-factly, bouncing in her seat.

"Why?" both Gilda and I ask in unison, before glaring at each other, faintly blushing.

Suddenly, a familiar tune starts playing as Pinkie Pie stands up and starts singing, albeit a few octaves too high.

"Pinkie, what are you doing?"

"Anon, what is she doing?"

"Pinkie, they're right, what are you doing?"

"There's sexual tension in the aiiiiiir~"

Gilda, Rainbow Dash and I just stare at the pink girl as she pulls an electric guitar out of nowhere and starts shredding like there's no tomorrow for almost five minutes straight. When the music finally dies down, we're the only four people left in the theater room.

Dash shakes her head before shrugging. "It's just Pinkie... being Pinkie. Don't question it."

"I wasn't going to," I interject, still confused. I look at Gilda, and she gives me a similar, 'what the fuck just happened? wait, don't answer that, I don't wanna know' kind of look.

"You two set us up on a date?" Gilda asks, suddenly angry again.

"Don't be so grumpy, G. I know you, I know why you've been acting like that with Anon," Rainbow Dash says, winking at me. "And you Anon," she points a finger at me, "I know you have the guts. You've been standing up to her for two months, and I'm sure she ended up growing on you," she adds with another wink.

As much as I hate to admit it, I must say that meeting Gilda on a daily basis, even though it wasn't always pleasant, was still the most exciting part of the day a good majority of the time.

"Look at her," Pinkie says, grabbing Gilda's face and squeezing her cheeks together, "I know she's a meanie, but look at her! Deep inside, I'm sure she's as sweet as Fluttershy."

"Pinkie I-"

"Come on, Nonny, look at her! Don't you wanna kiss her cute little face?"

Rainbow puts a hand on Pinkie's shoulder. "Don't push your luck, Pinkie."

Gilda suddenly throws a punch at Pinkie, whose head just retracts under her T-shirt, before popping back up. "Oh, that was fun! Let's do it again!" she shrieks.

Gilda's face drop and she slumps over in her seat. "I don't know what's happening anymore..." she says, sighing heavily.

We both stay here, lost in our thoughts as Dash and Pinkie start talking about whatever it is pink girls on crack and rainbow-haired athletes talk about. The movie ends about twenty minutes later, and we lethargically get up, remaining silent all the way back to my car, ignoring the two girls' attempts to get us to talk.

"Mind taking me home, dweeb?" Gilda asks in a sleepy tone.

"Sure, where you live?"

"69, Griffon Lane."

I snicker.

"Shut up," she says, this time in a playful tone.

"Here we are, Gilda."

I turn the engine off and look at her, expecting her to get out of the car or something.

"Thanks, Anon... you know, I don't usually go out... I mean, hang out... I mean-"

"Hey, don't worry about it. I don't usually do that either. As fucked up as it was, did you at least have a good time?"

She frowns, before giving me an earnest smile. "I did... thanks."

"Gilda?"

"Hm?"

I put a hand on her cheek and close the distance, pressing my lips against her soft ones. Sighing in happiness for a few seconds, I break the kiss to gauge her reaction, but she instantly wraps an arm around my neck and puts her head against my chest, beginning to cry silently.

"What's wrong?"

"I..." she hiccups, "you're the first guy who..." she doesn't finish, softly sobbing into my shirt.

And here I was, thinking that she was a mean bitch, while in fact she was just as lonely as I am.

I wrap my own arm around her, gently stroking her head, and give her a soft kiss on the forehead.

"It's gonna be alright, Gilda. I'm here now."

She doesn't answer, clutching me as tightly as she can. It makes it hard to breathe, she clearly doesn't know her own strength, but like hell I'm gonna deny her that. Or deny myself the pleasure of having her hug me.

She eventually calms down, raising her head and kissing my cheek. "You know I'm going to kill you if you ever mention what just happened, right?"

I nudge her cheek with my own, before planting another soft kiss on it. "Don't worry, Gilda. I won't tell a soul."

She smiles. "Thank you Anon, I... I should probably go."

"Hey, don't forget this," I say, reaching for the flower I had left in the glove compartment.

"Oh, right. It's... beautiful. I never thought anyone would buy me flowers one day..."

"Hey, it's just one flower."

She smiles again, and clutches my hand in hers one last time. "Good night..."

"Good night, Gilda."

"Good night, Anonymous," a familiar voice comes from behind me before something hits me in the back of the head. The last thing I see is Gilda's fear-struck expression before everything else turns to darkness.