I Think I Understand Why Robby Labels His Posts with the Current Date

2-26-11 Fiction-y thing, inspired by the brilliant this. Probably not the best thing ever, but this is what I started thinking when I read what Robby wrote. Here goes:

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He'd asked. Asked her. Of course, the first thing out of her stupid mouth was, "But why are you asking me out?"

Beauty and brains was the answer. She'd expected the brains part, everyone talked about that, but Beauty? No one had ever told her that she was beautiful, at least never so directly. Her beauty (or lack thereof) was something she sometimes doubted when she looked in the mirror each morning before classes. Scratch the sometimes, it was more like most times. There was always something that didn't fit the dumb magazines and television pictures that were produced by an too-image-conscious society. So while she didn't doubt his sincerity, there had to be another reason than that she was beautiful. She had to ask. "Yes, but why are you asking me to go out with you?"

He was right about the "wife-candidate" part, which would have made him sound like a theology major; besides, it was just awkwardly phrased. But everything he said was included in the basic definition of 'going out': the declaration of both their intent, of the possible endings to such an agreement. But she knew that, not being stupid. However, she still wanted to know why he found her to be the one he wanted to go out. "But . . . why are you asking me to go out with you?"

Yes, yes, she was starting to sound like a broken record. No movie heroine ever hesitated so much. Then again, movie heroines had scripts and weren't real anyway, so that was beside the point. He had a good general plan, and, at the present moment, she agreed with his stated plan. But why her? There were definitely more 'classically' and 'socially-acceptable' pretty girls than her on campus. So why her? She almost hated to ask again, but it was like her brain had stopped producing sentences other than "But why are you asking me to go out with you?"

 Asking her father would be creepy, especially considering that her father probably didn't know that he even existed. But that was due to lack of real conversation, and not lack of willingness to share that information. Then again, even her mother didn't know he existed. But that was also beside the point. But it was back to the beauty and the brains again. Good to know, but he'd already said that--and she wanted to know if there was another reason, something more tangible than that he thought she was smart and pretty. "But why are you asking me to go out with you?"

No, he wasn't a pansy. Not in the very least. She couldn't even imagine going to him and asking him, and, as the last few minutes had shown, even being asked had reduced her to asking the same question over and over again, idiot-like. Why couldn't she just say "Yes" like she wanted to? While trying to get that infinitely shorter answer out, all she heard come out of her mouth was "Buuuut why are you asking me to go out with you?".

ARGH WHY COULDN'T SHE JUST ANSWER PLAINLY? She agreed, it was getting ridiculous, her seeming aphasia in the face of what was definitely a big thing for her and for him. She didn't even laugh at his impression of not-suave-at-all suave man, though in another situation she would have burst into laughter. Her mind spun and raced and probably another action verb, which probably explained why her mouth seemed to be on auto-pilot. Maybe asking one last time would let her overanalytical brain to let her regain its proper functions. "Why are you asking me to go out with you?"

And his answer was so breathtakingly honest and vulnerable and amazing and made him so ever more attractive to her that all she could say in response was "Hm." Even though she meant 'Yes' and wanted to say 'Yes' and probably would say 'Yes.' It was the response of a floored person left with no further questions. Or, rather, left without a further question.

Now if she could get her brain and her mouth to work in coordination again, she could actually say what she wanted to say and what he wanted to hear.
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