Danika looked at Shinichi and wondered how he could act so casual and so confident when she was so nervous, until she saw his pulse leaping at his throat. He was so close to her, and watching her so intently, but somehow the fact that she could see that his heart was pounding too made her remember that he was actually younger than she was."Okay," she replied a little breathlessly. "What do you want to ask first?" She scooted back just enough that it didn"t feel like he was about to kiss her, and he both let her go and settled back into a less aggressive pose.
He laughed nervously and admitted, "All the inappropriate questions?"
She raised her eyebrows at him and he looked away from her, toward her wide windows with her house plants along the edge. "Can you have s.e.x?" he questioned with embarra.s.sment.
He glanced back at her nervously when she laughed and covered her face to hide her blush. "Is that important?" she asked and then realized that it was a stupid question.
Of course he was going to think that that was important, but before she could withdraw the question he replied bluntly, "No, I can have s.e.x any time. I don"t have to have that from you." Her shock must have shown because he waved his hands frantically and said, "OK, that sounded horrible. But um, it"s true. And even if I"m younger than you are, I bet I have a LOT more experience."
Danika was suddenly reminded of his equally awkward and honest words on the day they"d met. She almost asked, "Where did you get this painfully honest streak and how did you keep it for so long?"
But he didn"t even give her a chance to respond and continued in a rush, "But I want to know everything, all the limitations, how it happened, or if you were born this way, what the VR-medi pod does for you? I mean, you don"t have to tell me everything…" he finally trailed off into silence.
Her cheeks were burning, but she lifted her chin and declared, "I"ll tell you everything, but you aren"t allowed to have s.e.x with anyone else if you want to date me! I mean, you said that this is a date, but you never said that you want to umm," her words stumbled to a halt.
"I want to," he said quickly. "I want to date you, everything with only you. I mean, if you want to?" He held out a hand uncertainly.
Danika took a deep breath and reached for his hand. His fingers clung to hers. "I would like that, but," she added quickly, "I"m not going to do anything like that with you today, we just met!"
Shinichi laughed happily. "Yeah," he agreed. "But we met a long time ago," he corrected teasingly, "today is just the day we start dating."
Holding hands was different than sitting on his hands, but his teasing expression was so familiar, that Danika suddenly felt like he was right. They really had known each other for a long time now. "Yeah," she agreed happily.
They gazed at each other happily for a long moment and then she grinned at him and said, "And um, I can do… all that someday. I"m completely healthy apart from missing two vertebrae that were replaced with artificial ones when they did the spinal bypa.s.s. I"m just missing the section the controls everything from my thighs to my toes."
His eyes widened, but he only asked, "What happened?"
Danika grimaced, and he lifted his other hand to cup her cheek. "It"s okay," she said quickly. "It was the same accident that killed my mother. I um…"
Shinichi didn"t tell her, "you don"t have to tell me", or anything like that. He just sat there touching her cheek and clinging to her fingers.
She took a deep breath, and explained, "I was a spoiled brat who demanded to stay out and watch a movie with my friends, and she came to pick me up when it was over. There was an accident in front of us on our way home, but she was an awesome driver, and she actually managed to stop in time, and even avoided the debris that bounced toward us."
Shinichi scooted closer again so that he was holding her as much as he could without pulling her into his lap, but he didn"t ask anything or interrupt.
"I wonder how many people"s last words are "Oh s.h.i.t"?" Danika asked rhetorically. "That"s the last thing either of us said when the tires of the truck behind us squealed. It didn"t stop in time."
He looked at her anxiously like he didn"t know if he was supposed to respond now or not. Danika leaned into him and said, "That"s it. There"s no drawn out drama. When I woke up in the recovery room, everything was already over. I got my first chair the next day and they explained how the spinal bypa.s.s saved the function of everything but the damaged section. I was really lucky. But sometimes I get frustrated and forget that."
When he kissed her, it wasn"t an awkward attempt, it was a wordless communication. When she kissed him back it was an awkward imitation. His eyes crinkled with amus.e.m.e.nt in another familiar expression.
He b.u.mped his nose gently against hers and whispered, "We can take our time." In a more normal tone he asked, "If you"re completely healthy now, what does the pod do for you?"
Danika grinned at him and asked boldly, "My legs look pretty normal don"t they?"
Shinichi looked at her grin and reached out and ran a hand down her thigh. "Your legs look great," he agreed teasingly.
"I can"t feel it when you do that though," she pointed out. He blinked at her and withdrew his hand. "The VR-medi pod checks for damage, like cuts or bruises, that I don"t notice. And it uses direct micro stimulation to maintain a normal level of musculature. And it somehow monitors and can a.s.sist the circulation in those tissues that my brain can"t communicate with anymore."
"Oh," he replied a little blankly. "That sounds like it"s doing a lot for you. Why did you say that it"s a luxury?"
"Because I don"t have to have all that to survive. I could do visual checks for injuries and use much less expensive therapy devices designed to aid in maintaining musculature and circulation," she explained.
He asked about her chair next, and then asked, "Can I take you out to dinner now? Is there anything special you have to do to prepare?"
Danika blushed and he raised his eyebrows at her. "We can go now," she agreed. "Mostly getting transportation with the chair is the only awkward part."
He leaned in and kissed her again. "We can stay here and keep kissing if you"d rather?" he offered, but his stomach growled in opposition, and Danika laughed.
"Let"s go eat, unless you want to eat something here," she suggested shyly with a glance at the cake.
He squeezed her fingers gently. "I would love to eat here too, but I reserved a cool place that I want to take you to this time?"
"Should I dress up?" she questioned with a frown.
He hesitated and then replied uncertainly, "I don"t care how you"re dressed, but it"s the kind of place where you can dress up if you want to?"
She looked at him again. He was dressed neatly, but casually. His clothes wouldn"t look out of place in a fancy restaurant or in a cheap fast food place. She glanced down at the clothes she"d chosen so nervously that morning. He held his phone out to her. She took it questioningly and saw that it was displaying his reservation information.
"I"ll dress," she said firmly.
"Okay, is there anything I can do to help?" he asked quickly.
"You are not helping me get dressed for our first real date," she replied dryly.
He blushed, but he recovered quickly and asked teasingly, "Do I get to dress you for our next one?"
"Does that mean you"re only planning to take me out once a year?" she asked sweetly.
He laughed and she scooted over to her closet and pulled down her best dress, and collected all the other necessary garments such an outfit required. "Should I order a limo then?" Shinichi questioned as she scooted toward the bathroom door.
Danika halted and asked, "Seriously?"
"If I"m only taking you out once a year, we can afford to be extravagant?" he suggested teasingly.
Her eyes slid over to her chair, and she replied doubtfully, "I usually have to request a van if I"m not taking public transportation with chair access."
"Danika," he questioned a little hesitantly, "you sounded like there"s no physical reason I can"t, but is it ok with you if I lift you in and out of the car as long as your chair can be carried along with us? Would you rather I order a van or we take public transportation?"
She only hesitated for a moment. It would make her completely reliant on him until she was back in her chair again, but she replied, "It"s ok, it sounds fun if you think I"m not too heavy?"
"You are not too heavy," he said firmly.
She stuck her tongue out at him and scooted through the door. The closed door m.u.f.fled his voice as he really ordered them a limousine. Her heart rate increased again.
After she finished dressing she added a little make-up and examined herself critically in the mirror. She couldn"t help but wonder if her aunt Hati would have approved despite the black color of the dress. She thought she looked pretty good. She laughed at herself, and collected the clothes she"d removed and opened the door
Shinichi grinned at her for a long minute before he remembered to say, "You look great."
Danika grinned back and said, "Thanks."
And then he took her on the kind of date that every romantic comedy allowed its main characters once. Only it was a lot more real, and more amusing than that.