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Post by Ninmast on Mar 15, 2010 16:46:01 GMT -5
"Huh?" the girl glanced back at him in confusion at his statement. "Make-Out Point? What are you talking about? It's just a hill."
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Mar 15, 2010 17:00:33 GMT -5
Jerry had to stop and laugh. "Oh come on! You know what I mean. Don't people make out at places like this in Japan? I know sometimes there those little love motels but that still can't beat the great out doors." Jerry shook his head with a smile before refocusing on his sketch. "Ah, it's alright. Maybe I'm just being too American right now. I'll learn. But I could still use a tutor."
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Post by Ninmast on Mar 16, 2010 10:03:55 GMT -5
But Enji didn't seem remotely amused. She turned back on him with her hands on her hips. "Is that why you think I brought you out here? Because I'm some horny little slut looking for a ride?" Her footfalls quickly took her glowering demeanor inches from his face. "Is that it?"
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Mar 16, 2010 20:01:08 GMT -5
Jerry held up his sketch pad as if the shield himself from the girl's unexpected wrath. His own expression was one of dreadful surprise at the sudden danger of having a good night go bad. "Whoa!" he said, plaintively. "No, it's not like that..." But how would he explain it?
The fumbling romeo was in a dangerous position. The same that his father had been in many times before. Not in court, but at home with his wife, Jerry's mother. Jerry remembered the arguments they had in the months leading up to their final divorce. He'd been too young to understand it, but it only seemed to get worse every time his father tried to apologize. With that in mind, no words of Jerry's could find a way around the lump in in throat, or the fear and uncertainty that gripped him.
For a long awkward moment, all he could do was stand there, sweating and posed in surrender with his half-finished sketch. It showed the rough outline of the city-scape in charcoal scratchings. Much greater emphasis and detail had been placed on a figure drawn in the foreground. It was Enji. Her portrait stood out from the muddled nigh-time vista with remarkable clarity, regarding the viewer with a warm and lifelike smile.
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Post by Ninmast on Mar 16, 2010 20:24:04 GMT -5
Enji stared him out for several long moments, apparently expecting him to finish his response, but when he never did, she huffed and turned away, her back to him once more. After a few more moments, however, he could see her shoulders visibly relax as she sighed.
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "It's just ... well ... you know how my sisters look ..." It felt like she wanted to say, my sisters and I, but was worried about sounding conceited. "And they don't exactly do much to hide it. Everyone I try to get to know thinks that just because I look like them, I must be easy. It just gets so frustrating."
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Mar 16, 2010 20:38:23 GMT -5
Jerry took the chance to sit down, relieved, and try to undo the damage he'd inadvertently caused. "I feel ya," he said. "I mean I understand," he quickly corrected. "But I didn't think people would be like that in Japan. People are so polite and formal here... But I guess some things are the same to matter where you go, huh? I didn't want to seem like just another random prick. I'm not. So, I'm sorry I gave you a bad impression. You must get hassled like that alot..."
Given her short fuse on the matter, Jerry had no doubt. It saddened him to think of Enji's plight. All the girls he'd ever known would have killed to have her kind of body, but then she was proof positive that looks really aren't all they're cracked up to be.
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Post by Ninmast on Mar 16, 2010 20:43:18 GMT -5
That made Enji give a little half-smirk. "Yeah, Japan's people are polite and formal, but they're still people, and they make assumptions. They group others. It's not their fault. It's just human nature."
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Mar 16, 2010 20:51:22 GMT -5
"Yeah, I know. I'm just sorry and pissed that good people have to suffer for it. You and me." Jerry set his sketch pad aside and opened one of the bentos Enji had bought at the market. The small serving box was packed like a suitcase full of rice and sushi; chop sticks included. "Come and eat," he offered. "There's a little story I want to tell you."
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Post by Ninmast on Mar 16, 2010 21:14:30 GMT -5
Enji arched an eyebrow as she glanced back at him, but moved over and perched herself next to him. "A story?" she asked. "About what?"
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Mar 28, 2010 16:51:42 GMT -5
"About another misunderstanding," Jerry told her wistfully. "See, in American slang there's this word, screw. Not that basically means the same thing as, well..." He told her the simple definition. "But in junior high I didn't know that. I just thought 'screw you' was just another way to tell some one off. And it kind of is, but see, one day I wads talking with my friends who knew better. I started listing the 'things I screw', but I really meant the things I said 'screw you' to."
Jerry shook his head. "It was a huge mix up. I was trying to be funny so I started saying 'I screw hamsters and signposts' and all that... Then I made the big mistake of saying 'I screw Mellisa Hall'... That snowballed really quick... She made my life a living hell for the rest of the year because of that. And I still didn't get it until like weeks later. Stupid, stupid thing to do..."
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Post by Ninmast on Mar 29, 2010 10:06:09 GMT -5
"Oh, wow," Enji agreed with a stunned nod. "That's ... that's pretty bad ... But then, you're hardly the first person to goof up in Junior High. It's like a whole new set of rules, and it takes time to learn them."
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Mar 29, 2010 12:22:11 GMT -5
"Doesn't it?" Jerry knew they were both speaking from experience. A girl with Enji's looks was bound to know a thing or two about school politics. You have to adapt to survive, and that's just what Jerry did. "That mess didn't blow over until both she and I were in high school and we didn't have to see each other any more. But I'd learned my lesson..."
Jerry sighed and flopped over on his back. It bothered him that there were no stars to see, all blotted out by the city lights glowing orange and dirty yellow on the horizon in every direction. And had he ever told any one about his old feud with Mellisa? No, he realized. It wasn't and experience he'd ever wanted to go though, but it might have been for the best.
"See, in high school I did a lot to 'learn the language', you know? I reinvented myself like I was some disgraced celebrity. Only without drug rehab. I went to parties. I learned how to make friends with people I hated. And people practically loved me for it. I'd played soccer since I was six but when I finally started playing for our school's team, I was a hero. I learned how to groom my reputation like a bonsai tree, and that's kind of what I've been trying to do here. But..."
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Post by Ninmast on Mar 29, 2010 13:58:46 GMT -5
"Different school, different rules," she provided for him with a nod of understanding as she took the chopsticks from her own box meal in her hands and expertly began to pluck up the rice. "Even if it weren't in another country. It's like you've been rafting the same river for years and you've finally mastered all of its little twists and turns, all of its eddies and bumps, and now, you're going to another river. Sure, the basics are still the same, but you have to learn all of those unique things all over again."
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Alex-065
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Post by Alex-065 on Apr 5, 2010 15:19:39 GMT -5
"Exactly," Jerry agreed with a weary sigh. He mused a wistful silence for a moment as he smushed a sushi roll against the roof of his mouth. Swallowing he added, "That's why I'm glad I get to meet girls like you who know where I'm coming from on this. And... Thanks for taking me out tonight." He smiled, shyly, without the benefit of his usual charisma. There was something very disarming about Enji. He felt soothed somehow--strangely at ease.
Or maybe it was just the sushi?
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Post by Ninmast on Apr 5, 2010 16:27:18 GMT -5
Enji gave her sunny smile and nodded. "I'm happy to. I hope it lives up to my promises."
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