Awkward Desires - 2 Growing...

Two
Growing Emotions on an Emotional Farm
As Roxas would learn, kissing a girl over a few awkward phrases didn’t make you in love. It did, however, make you “In Like”. The difference between falling in LIKE* and falling in LOVE was to Roxas the same as the difference between dating and crushing.
*Teenage Dictionary
Falling In Like: Falling in love, but with fewer boundaries and less certainty.
The odd thing about falling in love, or in like, is that the feelings keep growing stronger as the relationship goes on. By the time the first date came along almost 2 whole days after his big move, Roxas could almost swear that he could FEEL his emotions growing.
        Though they must have been growing out of his fingertips, really, because when had his fingernails last been this long? Unless nervousness made fingernails grow, of course, because his nervous system was probably worse off than an ADHD squirrel on crack, steroids, and super caffeinated NOS energy drink. It must have been obvious enough for his mother to catch, for she called to him as she passed “Roxas, dear, come down from the ceiling.” Roxas dear would NOT come down from the ceiling, but he WOULD be dressed and properly attired, underwear and all, by the time he was to meet Namine for a movie date.
       Outside the movie theatre, Roxas waited. And when he saw her walking towards him, it caused him to think of an outstandingly SHORT super model. He smiled, and she smiled back, and said “Let’s go” in a tinkling voice that made Roxas wonder why girls voices didn’t break when they hit puberty. Could Namine possibly be any more attractive with a low, manly voice? Or, for that matter, the voice of Ron the trucker, and the body hair to go with it.
       Roxas bought Namine and himself tickets to the movie, neglected to notice the cashier stealing $4.50 of his change before sneaking off to buy a box of Junior Mints, and took his seat in the front row with his date to watch the EVER so interesting previews before the movie “Starfish” came on.
        “I’ve read this book series,” Namine whispered into his ear excitedly. He shivered. “It’s about an aquatic vampire family who take in a lost mermaid—I hope the mermaid, Vella, looks real—and the sexiest vampire falls in love with her. It’s very romantic.” Roxas didn’t care about the HOMO mermaid movie; he liked the way it felt when she whispered close to his ear like that.
       By the time the movie was at its climax he’d managed to build up enough courage to lean over and kiss her cheek with a very MANLY blush. She ignored him. Yes, he decided, the feelings are definitely growing. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature Canadian beef. Maybe, he thought, love was on its merry way to him.