Elena felt a little nervous as Rudy continuously stared at her. They were alone in the mountains where no one was around. And a male and a female alone somewhere after a date could be interpreted in many ways.
'Is he going to kiss me?' she wondered.
"If you don't mind…" Rudy finally broke his silence and asked, "Can I ask how old you are?"
"Why don't you guess? If you guess it right, I will give you a reward."
"Twenty-three."
"That was fast. And no, I am not that old."
"Twenty?"
"No."
"Then?"
"I was seventeen years old until yesterday. Today is my birthday, and I turned eighteen today."
"How? You are a teacher, so…?"
"I am smart. I completed my high school when I was sixteen. And this town didn't have a teacher for grade school, so I took the job. And before you judge me, yes, I don't have the degree to be a teacher, but I am qualified to teach them. Grade school is easy, and anyone can teach grade schoolers," she shrugged.
"That's great. But… are you sure about going on a date with an old man like me?" he asked curiously. "I am twenty-three years old."
"And? Five-year age gap is not that big."
"Still… we know nothing about each other."
"We can slowly open up to each other. And I am not interested in your past. I am curious about it, but it's up to you if you want to tell me or not. And… oh.." Elena covered her mouth and glared softly at Rudy.
"You made me confess everything!"
Rudy chuckled with a distant smile on his face and said, "That's also one of my powers."
"Okay then, my superhero. Since I have already confessed most of the things, let me confess everything." After a brief pause, she said, "I don't love you, but I am interested in you."
"..."
"And I will do what Jessica asked me to do." Elena looked into Rudy's eyes and asked, "Tell me, Robert, are you seeing anyone right now?"
"Right now… at this moment… it's only you."
Elena's face flushed a little after hearing that. She averted her gaze to the side and began playing with her hair by swirling them with her finger.
"So… how do you feel about me? Our first meeting wasn't exactly a good one, but…" Elena couldn't bring herself to speak more.
"Don't say that. I still think you were right at that time. And I was glad that someone else was worrying about them."
Elena hesitantly looked at Rudy and said, "If you don't like me, then it's okay. I don't want to force you. It might be a little awkward between us, though, especially if I see you daily with Jessica."
"You said you are interested in me, but I think I am a boring person. Why did you choose me?"
"Love is… not my thing. I don't believe in such stuff, but I wanted to have someone whom I could love and spend my life with. I know you will say 'You are still young' or something like that. But I have already lived my life.
I don't plan on going anywhere. I want to spend the rest of my life here, and if I had someone like you by my side, I would be happy," Elena replied honestly.
"What will your parents say? Would they be okay with you dating a five-year-older guy?"
"I don't care what they think. They can't make decisions about my life."
"I… did not expect that reply from you…" Rudy muttered. "You didn't seem like the type of girl to say that. Is everything okay with your parents?"
"It's complicated. I am not from this town. I ran away from home when I was twelve and have been living here since then."
"Well, we all have our secrets."
"Hmm," she nodded.
Rudy looked up at the sky and thought, 'There is still a lot of time left before the sunset. If I suggest we go home, she would feel like I am trying to end this date because I am not interested. But we don't have anything to do here.
If we keep sitting here, things are going to escalate fast. I need time to think about my relationship here. This is not where I should reply irrationally just because I am interested in her.'
"Umm… shall we go now?" Elena asked.
"Let's stay here for a while. I bet the sunset would look amazing from here."
"What will we do until then?"
Rudy took out his phone from his pocket and conjured an earphone from the side.
"We can spend some time watching a movie."
"What is this thing?" Elena asked curiously.
"It's like a television, but a small one that can fit in a pocket."
"That sounds amazing! Where can I buy one?"
"They used to sell where I am from, but now they have stopped."
"That's sad… I wanted to buy one."
Angelica had downloaded a few things on Rudy's phone to watch when there was no network or when they were away from home, and Angelica had nothing else to do.
Rudy scrolled through the downloaded stuff on netflex, but most of the download was of anime. But there were a few movies she had downloaded, although they were horror movies.
'I can already guess why Angelica downloaded them.'
"Umm… this is a horror movie. Are you okay with them?"
"A ghost movie?"
"Yes."
"Is it super scary?" she asked.
"I haven't watched it either, so…" he shrugged.
"Let's watch it. You are here with me, so it's okay."
Rudy connected the earphone with the phone and gave one side to Elena.
"Are you ready?"
Elena nodded and said, "Stay with me."
Rudy played the movie, and they began watching it.
They were leaning against the tree and using it as a support, but now they were watching from one phone, their shoulders were rubbing against each other, and their faces were closer than before.
