Date, maybe. Love, never! [Scene 17]

"You can't just keep skipping out on work. You're gonna get fired,"

Yunaria hovered around me as I tried to exit the front door. Last night, I put a tarp on the roof with Yunaria's help. Los Angeles was supposed to be warm, but I guess no matter where it is, a hole in the roof is a hole in the roof. Today was our big date. 

Her blue flames sparked against the hardwood flooring as she followed me around the house. I tried to go to my closet, she was there. Backdoor? She was there. The kitchen, even to get a glass of water. It annoyed me to no ends. A prospect of date night fulfilled all her horrid romance novel fantasies. Nonetheless, it was a promise. I had to go buy a suit, but in this climate, I had become too recognizable. Everywhere I went it was 'Banana Man' Ryujin. Idiots. 

"You've mentioned that I can't leave work when I choose to a few times. I can't see why it makes a difference. Besides, today is the day of our date, right? I've never actually experienced what humans feel when these events occur. It feels..." Yunaria continued to float in my personal space, smiling. Her eyes were so wide, and they gleamed at me, yet still.

"Feels what exactly?" 

"I don't know...warm. It's the only way I can describe it. Are we off to the date right now?" She looked at me with her famous can't say no puppy eyes. 

"No. I have to do something first,"

"But you're coming back later then, right? For our date?"

"Of course, it's a promise,"

Yunaria frowned. "A promise? I'm not sure I've heard that term before. What does it mean?"

The simplicity of all her questions seemed so obvious but I guess to a person who'd never known connection, the concept would be obsolete, or non-existent. It was getting harder and harder to lie to her. And it increasingly became something I wanted to do less of. 

"It means a commitment. It's sort of like an agreement, I guess. When you promise, it means you'll do it," I muttered. 

Instantly, Yunaria dropped to the ground and turned around to head towards her room. "Wait, where are you going?"

She glanced back at me and smiled. "You said you promised to come back later for our date, so I'll see you later,"

***
If I must say, my disguises had increasingly gotten better. Hardly anyone noticed it was I, great director of the worst movie franchise of all time. It was imperative that no one saw me on my secret mission to capture a uniform for my date with a space alien robot. 

Today, I decided to wear a blonde wig coupled with a mustache and goatee of the same color. That, while wearing a tie-dye beach shirt, shorts and flip flops, I was practically from California myself. 

When I got to the suit shop, a short sales attendant kept following me around the store, blabbering on and on about the promotions and deals, how much I could save if I signed up for their exclusive program. I told the man that there was a customer who was trying to steal a checkered tie and before he could turn around, I ran to hide around the corner. 

"Oh, excuse me. I'm sorry," I hadn't looked where I was going and bumped into a woman wearing a business suit. 

She brushed herself off and politely smiled. "Oh, it's okay. Were you running away from Gary?" she pointed to the short man who had followed me around. He found a new victim and kept chasing another customer around the store with reward deals. "He can be a bit overzealous," she laughed. 

"Can I help you with anything?"

I stared at her blankly for a second. "Wait, you work here?"

"Yep. Is there anything specific, a special occasion, a wedding-"

Marriage with Yunaria? I wanted to keep that thought at bay for a long time. How would that even work? Is it even legal to get married to non-humans? Would the government allow that, I imagine it could set a bad precedent-

"Hello, sir?"

"Oh, shit. Sorry. You said marriage and it awoke a dark timeline, anyways. I thought only men worked in these kinds of shops. I guess the world is progressing, eh?" I chuckled but she didn't seem to find that comment funny. 

"That's sexist. I don't think those kinds of remarks are becoming of a man such as yourself,"

"Woah, what do you mean a 'man like me'? That's an unfair expectation," Who was she? Maybe it was a joke in bad taste, I admit. 

"You're Ryujin Haruka, right? And I don't think so. A man being able to respect women is bottom of barrel behavior,"

"Of course not. I'm Chase Ramseur. Ryujin Haruka? Is this supposed to be a person?" I looked around the corner, and behind her. "If this was a bit, you can stop now. I just came to look for a suit,"

"I don't know what's worse. The fact that Ryujin Haruka doesn't own a suit or that he's even more idiotic than anyone ever realized. You know, I'm looking forward to Space Cowboy Robot Love. I'm a huge fan. Please don't disappoint me, so many famous men are already so horrid."

"I'm not Ry-"

"Just stop," she cut me off, "It's quite a busy day and I don't have time to attend to one customer. What can I help you with?"

This was the first time I'd been caught in my disguise. What a woman, she was probably a detective cosplaying as a retail worker. The world had become a strange place overnight. 

"Okay," I relented, "Fine. You know, it took some time to come up with this costume. The fact that you recognized me is the worst-case scenario. But I need your help...I have a date-"

"OH, a date?! Is it with your girlfriend Jada?!?! You know, I didn't think the rumors were true, but then again, who knows these days-"

"SHHHH!" What a disaster. I looked around and luckily it was busy so no one really noticed. “That’s a fake rumor. We’re not dating, she just made me put on a stupid banana suit. It wasn’t supposed—nevermind.  What suits do you have?”

The woman walked around a rack, picked up a few suits, held them to my body, put them back and came across a sharp, thin cut jacket. “Try this one. It should fit you well,” 

I put the jacket on, it felt warm. And it fit me perfectly. “Wow, it’s nice.”

“Yeah, it’s a part our new spring collection. You know, Sun of a Gold Moon is my favorite movie of all time.”

“Really? I thought it was garbage,”

Right after Purple Lines, I pitched another script with the help of a few people. Sun of a Gold was a coming-of-age story about a young woman recovering from drugs. It’s a long-told story, the reviews weren’t very favorable. One said it felt like a group of mice sat in a room and wrote this over a bar of cheese. 

“Don’t say that. It changed so many lives, I know mine did. Not many stories about women were told in such a fashion,”

“A lot of women helped write it, hardly anything to take credit for. I just directed it,” I paused and looked at the suit. 

It only now hit me that this would be my first date with Yunaria. Dare I say, I was nervous. With her, I never knew what to expect. Maybe if it went well, she’d have a reason to stay on Earth. It was a dump, but there was a lot of cool things too. A good experience was worth a thousand words or some shit like that. 

“I’ll buy this one,” 

She looked at me and smiled. “Great. If you’re interested, we have a special deal for our Hispanic Awareness Month, a tuxedo in a Mexican Pon-“

“No thanks,” I held my hand up. I thought that bit was over. The demon imps never slept. I had to be vigilant. 

I appreciated the woman who helped me and thanked her on my way out. She wanted a picture of me and her in my costume. Her name was Sam, and she told me to stop making jokes like that, and the struggle of women was more serious, so on. I get it, I truly do. 

I can’t believe she liked my movies. All the way across the world, someone enjoyed what I did. It was unbelievable.

It had been a long time since I felt what she made me feel. 

And when I got home, Yunaria was on the couch waiting for me. For the first time in a while, maybe ever, I noticed how beautiful she truly was. 

Falling in love with a robot was becoming less and less ridiculous. It was almost a reality. 

***