Part 25: how opposites meet - a Shadilver story
Silver went home with a big smile planted on their face. On their way Silver passed a secondhand shop and made a U-turn. They thought it might be a good idea to have a look for something nice to wear tomorrow as Silver didn't really have anything special and all their clothes were worn out.
Silver browsed trough the menswear, but curiously looked over at the girls clothes. `Well Shadow liked what I was wearing yesterday, should I....' Silver thought, `Isn't it weird? And besides Shadow didn't say it was a date or something, I shouldn't expect too much from it.' Silver sighed and kept looking at the shirts, `But maybe it can turn into a date.' Silver smiled uneasy. `I can always have a look at what they have.' Silver quickly moved over to the girls clothes, with a slight blush on their face.
After searching for a while Silver had picked a few items they wanted to try on and went into the fitting room. After a while of fitting Silver looked at theirself in the mirror with a smile on their face. `Who would ever have thought I could pull off girls clothes,' Silver thought and turned around to look at the back. They were wearing a short dress with a small flower print on it. It almost looked similar as the dress they fitted at the shop yesterday. `Well Shadow did like that one right? So he would probably like this one too?' Silver looked down at their feet, they were still wearing their regular sneakers. `No, I'm not going to buy new shoes.' Silver thought to theirself. `I shouldn't waste my money on just one dinner.' Silver looked at the price tag of the dress, which read $5. Silver thought for a moment and kept on looking at the mirror, `Do I really need this?'
Silver undressed and did go in their regular clothes. Silver did hang all the clothes back, also the dress because Silver thought it would be mad to just spend $5 on a dress they probably would only wear once. `I should save up to take care of the cats,' they thought and left the secondhand shop feeling a little disappointed. `But you can only spend your money once.'
____________________________
It was a hard day of working at Cosmic Flower but Silver didn't mind. They felt so excitedly to have dinner with Shadow this evening. Silver's enthusiasm was so infectious for the customers when they talked about how to take care of some plants and colour combinations for bouquets, that they even sold more than normal on a Saturday.
``You seem really happy today,'' Cosmo said.
Silver scratched the back of their head a bit awkward, ``Well, somebody asked me out to dinner this evening.''
``Ow really, you have a date! That's exciting,'' Cosmo responded.
``Well I wouldn't call it a date, I think, but who knows,'' Silver smiled while putting together a bouquet for an older lady, who paid for it. ``Have a nice day!'' Silver said while passing the flowers.
``And you have a nice dinner,'' She said with a frolicsome smiled.
``I will,'' Silver chuckled.
Silver couldn't wait till it was 6 o'clock. But they still had an hour to go.
``Hey Silver would you mind closing the shop today? I have to deliver these flowers and it would be easier for me to go home afterwards.''
``Oh yes of course, not a problem at all.''
``You can find your salary envelope in the counter and don't forget, have fun tonight, tell me everything tomorrow,'' Silver nodded and helped loading the flowers into the car. The last hour was still a pretty busy hour as customers kept coming in.
``How can I help you?'' Silver said to the next customer, while they were still getting something from underneath the counter.
``I'm looking for a cute hedgehog I can take out to dinner.''
Silver quickly looked up surprised but hit their head against the counter, ``Ouch!'' Silver yelped and rubbed their head and looked a bit startled at Shadow, who looked painful.
``Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, are you okay?'' Shadow asked worried and quickly moved over.
``It's nothing, I hit my head all the time,'' Silver said still rubbing it.
``You're so clumsy,'' Shadow laughed. Silver looked over at Shadow who looked quite handsome. He was wearing a white shirt, a tight black jacket and the jeans he bought two days ago, he even wore a black tie.
There were still some customers left to help out. Shadow walked around the shop and looked over at Silver and how they were helping the customers. Silver also looked over at Shadow now and again and smiled when their eyes met.
``Have a nice day!'' Silver said as the last costumer left. ``I only have to put all the flowers inside again, then I'm ready to go.'' Silver said towards Shadow who was still looking around at all the different plants and flowers.
Silver closed the door and turned the `We're open'-sign to `See you tomorrow'. Silver pulled of their apron and looked over at Shadow, ``I'm ready!''
``No you're not,'' Shadow said and Silver looked confused.
``What do you mean?''
Shadow pulled out a bag towards Silver, ``This is for you,'' Shadow said and Silver was astonished.
``What for?'' Silver asked confused and took the bag.
``For our date,'' Shadow responded.
Silver felt their cheeks heat up, `So it was supposed to be a date' Silver suppressed a shy smile and looked in the bag. ``Ow you really shouldn't have,'' Silver said and pulled out the dress they had tried on Thursday.
Silver quickly wrapped their arms around Shadow. Shadow was surprised but hugged them back, Silver looked up at him,''Thank you,'' They whispered.
Shadow looked down at them and stroked their quills. ``Now go and put it on.'' Shadow said.
Silver quickly went to the back of the shop and got undressed and put on the dress. Silver saw their reflection in some of the big vases. They took out a hair tie and pulled their two back quills back and tied them together in a low ponytail. Silver fixed the dress ``Okay and remember, tail down,'' They whispered to theirself.
Silver left there old clothes in the back as they would be back here tomorrow. Silver walked back to the front of the shop. Shadow turned around when they heard Silver approaching.
``Wow,'' Shadow gasped as Silver walked over trying to be confident. Silver blushed and Shadow came closer, ``Just one more thing,'' He whispered and took something out of the inner pocket of his jacket and pulled Silver closer to clip on the matching hair clip they had tried before.
``This is really too much,'' Silver said with sparkling eyes. Shadow lifted Silver's chin and moved closer, Silver felt really nervous and shyly pulled away, ``S-shall we go?'' Silver asked.
Shadow let go of Silver and nodded. Silver took the keys from the counter and they went outside and closed up the shop.
Shadow held out his arm for Silver to lock in too. Silver just couldn't stop smiling and looked into every window they passed to see their reflection. ``Where are we going?'' They asked.
``I thought we could go to an Indian restaurant, they always have a lot of vegetarian options. Do you like spicy food?'' Shadow asked.
Silver nodded, ``Well not too spicy of course.''
``Hmm, I figured someone as hot as you could handle it,'' Shadow said with a grin. Silver's cheeks brightened and they chuckled nervously.
They walked arm in arm over the streets towards the restaurant. Shadow held open the door for Silver.
``Good evening, do you have a reservation?'' A waiter asked when they entered.
``Yes, for two under the name Shadow.''
The waiter nodded, ``Follow me,'' He said and led them to a table next to the window.
``Thank you,'' They both said and Silver wanted to sit down, Shadow quickly pulled the chair back for Silver to take their place, which surprised Silver, who sat down. Shadow took off his jacket and hung it on the back of his chair and sat down opposite from Silver.
``Would you like something to drink?'' The waiter asked and looked over at Silver.
``A water, please,'' Silver said. The waiter nodded and looked over at Shadow.
``A Bordeaux,'' Shadow said, the waiter went away to get the drinks.
``What's that?'' Silver asked.
``Wine,'' Shadow said with a smile.
``Ow okay,'' Silver looked around the restaurant and noticed some soft music playing. ``It looks nice here, have you been here before?''
``Yes, I've been here several times before, I think you'll like the food.'' The waiter came back with their drinks and gave them both a menu.
Shadow opened the menu and Silver copied him. They both looked at the choices and Silver saw the prices. They looked at Shadow over their menu. Shadow noticed and looked back, ``Something wrong?''
``Shadow, this is really expensive,'' Silver whispered.
``You don't have to look at the prices just choose whatever you would like.''
``Could you maybe order for me?''
``Of course, what would you like?''
``I don't know, it doesn't have any pictures. I don't know what's good.''
Shadow laughed, ``A good restaurant never uses picture on their menus.''
``I didn't know that, I never ate at a restaurant,'' Silver said.
``You've never been to a restaurant before?'' Shadow asked surprised and Silver shook their head. ``Didn't your parents ever take you?'' Silver shook their head again. ``So I'm the first one to take you out like this, I like that,'' Shadow smiled.
``I like that too,'' Silver smiled back.
``I'll order something for you, ever had a curry?'' Silver shook their head again.
``I think you'll like it.''
``Surprise me,'' Silver said and took a sip from their water.
The waiter came back and wrote down their order and took back the menus. Shadow and Silver looked at each other and smiled.
``It's a good thing, you got me detention,'' Silver chuckled, ``If you didn't we wouldn't be here.''
``Who says I wouldn't have asked you out, if I hadn't got you in detention?'' Shadow said and sipped his wine.
``You would have?'' Silver asked shyly.
``Yes of course,'' Shadow took Silver's hand, ``I really like you Silver,'' He spoke softly. Silver's cheeks turned slightly pink, ``You look really cute when you blush like that.'' Shadow stroked their cheek.
Silver felt like they could melt, as Shadow just said the sweetest things, just like when Shadow started to sing outside the school building. ``I like you too, Shadow,'' Silver whispered with a soft smile, slowly rocking on the song which was playing on the background. ``I really liked the song you sang yesterday.''
``I felt like that song just contained all the words I wanted to say to you after Thursday,'' Shadow squeezed Silver's hand softly.
``You really know the right things to say, don't you'' Silver chuckled shyly.
``I bring you your dinner,'' The waiter was holding two plates which he placed in front of Silver and Shadow, another waitress followed with a bowl of rice and a salad.
``Wow that looks good,'' Silver said, ``What is it?'' they asked.
``I've ordered you a red curry, with sweet potatoes, peppers and mushrooms.''
``Sounds good,'' Silver hadn't thought about it until now but seeing the dinner they felt really hungry.
They had a lovely dinner together and talked quite a lot about school and their friends. Silver showed Shadow the pictures they had taken of the kittens.
``So you're a cat person?''
``More like an animal person,'' Silver laughed.
``Is that why you're a vegetarian?''
``Yeah I think so, I just really care for them,'' Silver said, ``I've even saved some animals.''
``Really?'' Shadow asked surprised.
``Yeah I've saved a baby swan once, it was suffering from botulism. I was just walking through the park and spotted a baby swan who was just acting really weird. Moving their head around and going underwater for far too long, as if it couldn't hold up their head anymore. So I went into the water and swam over to it to get it out of the water so it wouldn't drown. But the scary thing was, when I was in the water the bigger Swan started to approach, they can be really aggressive and strong. But I think they had already rejected the baby since they didn't attack me,'' Silver said.
``Wow, that was really brave of you.''
Silver chuckled, ``Well yeah, sometimes I can do stupid things when there?s an animal in need. But I couldn't just let it drown.''
``Well I don't think there are many people who would have entered the water like that.''
``To me, we are all the same and we should treat the other as an equal even when they are animals. If I was drowning I'd really wish someone would save me as well.''
Shadow laughed, ``I can believe that.''
Dinner was almost finished and Silver started to feel a bit sad as it would soon be time to go home again. Shadow paid for the dinner. Silver really wanted to pay their share but didn't offer it to Shadow since they probably didn't have enough money to pay for it anyway. They walked outside together and the air was very refreshing. Shadow wrapped his jacket around Silver who just felt like they needed to shiver. Shadow put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. Silver looked as he did so.
``You know those things are bad for you, right?'' Silver said.
Shadow blew out some smoke, ``Not for me,'' he said with a wink.
Silver smiled and rolled their eyes at Shadow, ``But to be honest, it does suit you.''
Shadow grinned and pulled Silver close while they walked the streets. Silver started to look a bit disappointed.
``Is something wrong?'' Shadow asked.
``It's just, I don't want this day to be over,'' They whispered.
Shadow held Silver closer, ``But there are so many more day to come, if you want?''
Silver smiled over at them, ``I would like that.'' Silver wrapped their arms around him and let their head rest on Shadow's chest inhaling his scent. Shadow moved his hand up and lifted Silver's chin up so they were facing each other up close. Silver felt their noses touch as Shadow leaned in, they felt his hot breath on their lips. The moment Silver felt Shadow's lips brush against theirs they got up on their toes to get closer.
