I did this because I love you.

Weekends in town have always been a lively event for its inhabitants. With a rather popular downtown scene, many younger teenagers and adults like to spend their Friday nights partying with friends or just enjoying the atmosphere and music of the downtown area.  But not for Larry, a young man fresh out of high school and thrust into the working world of adulthood. When he's not working he's spending his days at home, surfing the internet, playing video games, or watching movies all in the comfort of his own, rather lonely, one bedroom apartment. Though don't get him wrong, its not that he's a bitter basement dweller thrown into the real world, he's simply...Shy.

Larry has never had problems speaking to other people, at least once he gets to know them. Its the introduction that worries him. “Did I come off too strong?” “Do I look like a dork?” “I don't stink, do I?”. All these questions flow through his mind like a river whenever he attempts to talk to a stranger, though these have became a lesser problem to his other one.

Around five years ago, the world governments had declassified top secret knowledge of other inhabitants of this blue planet. Humanoid in structure but differencing in animalistic or, sometimes, even boarder line magical traits compared to the average human. No one truly knows where they came from, some say they were made by some magical happenings hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. Others say that they're all evolutionary branches from one of our many different ancestors. But one thing was for certain, these 'monsters' were here to stay.

Over the past countless years, many disappearances of men could be traced back to these individuals coming into contact with monsters or a monster. With many species having a unexplainable mono-gender system that requires the aid of human males to reproduce, the dating scene has become chalk full of girls looking for love. Girls with snake tails, girls with wings, girls with horns, cat ears, dog ears, claws, paws, tails, and yes even snails, appeared all over the world, slowly at first until they were melded into modern society.

They were forward, passionate, for many this was a god send, giving people clear views on their intentions, but for a introvert like Larry? It was a nightmare. He constantly stammered and stuttered throughout the nights he found the bravery to head out doors. The flirting and cooing and invitations turned him beat red a froze him in place until he could find a excuse to run like hell.

But yes, even Larry sometimes feels the sting of loneliness. His apartment is constantly empty, and outside of his siblings and parents over the phone or Skype, Larry has no one to talk to, or no one to call his own.
In a last ditch effort to overcome his anxiety, our hero turns to the saddest form of relationship building, yes, online dating.  An attempt that seemed fruitless at first and his inbox remained empty or filled up with strange people asking for even stranger sex.

All seemed lost for Larry until one last message entered his inbox...
“Hi!” was what filled the subject box.
“Hello there!
My name is Mimi and I'm new to the area. I noticed you and I live in the same town and was wondering if maybe you would like to meet up for a date?”

The message was straight forward, but then again, this was a dating website. Larry clicked on her profile, looking over her bio and her pictures, which made poor Larry feel like a creeper, but he pushed the thought to the back of his mind.

Mimi's profile seemed rather well thought out. Loves to paint, loves animals, especially dogs and cats, enjoys romantic movies, her favourite food is blueberry muffins, and her favourite season is autumn. Her pictures were rather...artistic to put it lightly. They seemed like normal pictures, one with her standing on a bridge, her hands locked behind her back. The other was her waving at the camera with a large brimmed straw hat.  She was petite, much shorter and thinner than Larry with his average joe frame. Though each picture had the same pattern, she never revealed her eyes. Did she have some sort of disfiguring scar? Or perhaps she lost an eye and now has to wear an eye patch? Larry wasn't going to judge, not in his position.

Without a second thought, he returned to his inbox and pressed the reply button.

“Hello Mimi!
A date sounds great, how does meeting Friday night at around 5:00pm outside of the Funky Pickle sound to you?”

He hit reply and waited. Within minutes he had another message.

“Sure, that sounds great! I'll see you there!”.

Great! A date!...Shit! A date! How will he act, what will he wear? What will he say? How does he go around not looking like a total loser!?

Larry took a deep breath and slapped his hands against each side of his face. Calm! He must remain calm! Dressing yourself isn't hard at all...Just...Dress casual!

The week went by slowly, with Larry constantly worrying about the day that would come. All the time he worried to himself about looking like a freak he didn't even stop to think that maybe the complete stranger he had just set up a date with in less than ten minutes may or may not be a freak herself. Or maybe it wasn't even a girl at all, just some loser with stolen pictures!

He tossed the idea to the back of his mind and hoped for the best, a little upbeat positive attitude never killed anyone, right?... Right?

Time passed and the day finally came when Larry would have to force himself to be social and leave the safety of his apartment. With a leather jacket on his shoulders and forced courage in his heart, he headed through that door.


Friday evening, and once again the down town area was sparked to life. Arcades booming, stores busy, and gatherings such as bars and clubs were beginning to fill with friends and loved ones as they leave the week behind them. All under a soft tangerine glow of dusk.

Larry leaned against the outside of the funky pickle, a pizza shack known mostly for its late hours. He had his phone on, staring at the text that read “I'll be there in ten minutes.” from Mimi. He was remaining as cool as he possibly could, his legs have stopped shaking and he wasn't drenching himself in sweat, but it was the wait that was killing him.

“Um...” a soft voice suddenly flowed through his left ear, getting his attention. Standing before him was a short girl, at least a foot shorter than him. She was wearing a dark wool coat which hugged her figure fittingly, held closed by three large black buttons in the front and a violet scarf wrapped around her neck. She was obviously nervous, her hands, which were locked together at the fingers fidgeted and shook. But what struck Larry as odd that, like in her pictures, she was wearing a straw hat to conceal the upper part of her face.

“Are...Are you Larry?” she asked, keeping her head towards the ground.

“Heh.” Larry chuckled nervously. “Yeah, that's me...”.

“Its nice to meet you in person...Mimi.” Said Larry as he attempted to take a peek under her straw hat, which she thwarted by quickly turning her head in another direction.

“Is...Something the matter?” Asked Larry, taking a step back.

Mimi pursed her lips, still keeping her head towards the ground. “W-well...” she stuttered, finally reaching for her straw hat. It felt as though time itself was slowing down as this girl pulled the hat from her head, revealing her mid length black hair and finally the rest of her face.

She looked up at Larry with only one green eye. But not because she was missing one, but because she only ever had one large eye in the middle instead of two separate eyes. Mimi was a cyclops, and a very self conscious one at that.

Larry himself was taken aback by the sudden reveal, he was expecting some sort of face scar or burn mark, but not a monster girl. Mimi had a distinct look of sadness in her face, her eye was misty and almost coming to tears.
“I'm sorry...” she state as she began to turn around. “I didn't mean to waste your time like this.”

“No, wait!” Larry stammered, catching her by the wrist. Mimi froze in place, turning to look at him in surprise. He looked down at his grip around her wrist and quickly let go, rolling his fingers into a fist and coughing into it awkwardly.
“I thought we were supposed to go on a date?” He asked her, straightening himself out.

Mimi's eye widened even farther at Larry's question before looking down on the ground once more.
“You don't think I'm weird?” she asked him.
“Of course not, why would I?” Larry answered, trying his best to seem cool and in control.

Mimi was speechless at first, simply gawking at Larry like he just descended from the heavens above before snapping out of her stupor. She hid her smile behind her scarf, a noticeable blush appearing on her cheeks.

“W-well.” She stuttered. “What do you want to do first?”.

Larry pondered on it for a moment before snapping his fingers at his own revelations.
“How about the classic then? Dinner and a movie?




The two set off on a grand journey to find...Well...A dinner and a movie! Though as you would have guessed, two introverted people who usually don't have much to say in the first place aren't going to be starting any conversations any time soon.

Larry and Mimi walked side by side mostly in quiet, with the occasional quip of their surroundings or some strange occurrence such as street performers. Though occasionally Mimi would get a quick glare at her eye, most people didn't seem to pay mind, either out of respect or they just didn't care enough to notice with all the eight legged and snake-tailed girls already occupying the side walks.

Larry sighed, scanning his eyes from building to building to find somewhere to stuff their faces. He had  always found himself just going to a fast food joint or one of the few pizza places in town, but those really weren't “first date!” material. He looked over a Mimi, who was looking at the ground, the tint of blush having never left her face.

“So...Uh.” he started, finally breaking the ice. “How long have you been in town?”

“Oh, me?” Mimi asked as if there were other people in the duo. “Around a year now.”.

Mimi finally found it in herself to shake the shyness from her body, looking away from the ground and up at him. “What about you?”

“About a year or so.” Answered Larry, finally spotting a place in the corner of his eye.
It wasn't anything outrageously fancy, a restaurant known as the “Downtown corner.”, a rather generic name for a middle class restaurant. But it didn't scream trashy or cheap, so it will have to do.

The inside was a far cry from the brick laid outside of the building. A very homely feel with wooden walls and floors, finely lit by old fashion lamps hanging above the restaurant. To the left was the dining area itself with mahogany chairs and tables with plates and menu's already set out at each table. To the right was a separated lounge with only a few people inside, chatting it up with one another as they watched a hockey game between the Colorado Avalanche and the Edmonton Oilers.

At the very back of the restaurant was a trophy wall of sorts, with pictures of the owners and famous celebrities in between bear skins and  moose antlers.
Mimi seemed to have lost herself in the atmosphere, turning in circles and examining the restaurant from corner to corner in wonder.

Larry spotted the servers of the restaurant, a blond waitress and a black haired waiter seemed to be discussing something at the kitchen area. The waitress pointed at Mimi and then at her two eyes, the look on her face made it seem like she was offended by something, visible enough to make Larry frown, luckily Mimi was too lost in the scenery to notice.

The waiter on the other hand, shook his head and dismissed the waitress with a wave of his hand, grabbing his table cloth and throwing it over his wrist before greeting the two with a smile.

“Welcome to the Downtown corner.” He greeted with a slight bow. “Table for two?”

“Yes please.” responded Larry.
“Right this way.”.

The two were seated in the corner of the restaurant by Mimi's request, believing that it would bring less attention, not that Larry would mind.
He pulled out her seat for her before the two sat down, Mimi taking off her coat to reveal the light pink turtle neck underneath.

“Can I start you off with anything to drink?” asked the waiter who was standing patiently beside the table.
“May I have a tea, please?” Asked Mimi.
“Of course. And you, sir?”

Larry took a second, he didn't want to come off as some sort of alcoholic, even if it was only one beer.
“I'll have a coke, please.”
“Is Pepsi okay?”
“...Sure.”.

The waiter nodded and set off to get their drinks, giving them time to order.
“So, what are you getting?” Asked Larry as he browsed through the menu.
“Oh, I don't know.”
“Come on, its my treat.”
“Well...I don't really want you to spend a lot of money...”

Oh, she's a keeper.

Larry put the menu down and pondered on it, putting his finger and thumb against his chin as he did so.
“We could split a pizza?” he suggested with a shrug.
Mimi blinked, nodding with a small smile. “That sounds great, actually.”.

“Cool! What should we get?”

The two went away on the menu, taking turns picking out a topping until they got the pizza perfectly suited for both of them. The waiter returned with a glass of Pepsi and a cup with a tea bag and a small kettle.

“Are you two ready to order?” he asked as he placed the Pepsi and cup down, pouring hot water in the cup.

Larry looked over to Mimi, waving his hand as if to say “Go ahead.”.
She smiled and looked up at the waiter.
“Well have a medium pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers, banana peppers, ham, olives, and feta cheese, please.”.

The waiter made a face as if to say “Not bad.”, nodding as he wrote down the rest of the order.
“Will that be all, M'am?”
“Yes, thank you.”.

The waiter gave one last nod and turned towards the kitchen, leaving the two with their drinks. Mimi turned back to Larry, her smile breaking into a soft giggle. It was gentle, soothing to the ears, enough to bring a wide, warm smile to Larry's face.
Their stay at the restaurant was a pleasant one as the two got to know one another. Mimi enjoyed to paint scenery above anything else, often sketching trees on her spare time or painting the buildings outside of her apartment on canvas. When she asked Larry about his hobbies, he tried his best to leave out video games, but to no avail. Much to his surprise she wasn't a stranger to the hobby herself, being a fan of the Animal Crossing games because of how calm and relaxing they were and all the cute animals that lived in town.
Dinner went by at a snails pace, as the two took their time to talk to one another about hobbies, interests, aspirations, and dreams.
With dinner done and behind them, the two went back out into the streets and towards the movie theatre.

“What about a horror movie?” Larry suggested, looking over the posters and show times.
Mimi looked up at him before closing her eye and shaking her head.
“I can't handle scary movies!” she admitted, “I spend most of them with my eye closed...”

Larry crossed his arms, looking over the show-times. Nothing but low rated garbage or bland action movies outside of this one horror flick.
'Signal lost' its called, about a man trapped on a space colony on the moon of Titan with blood thirsty robots.
He looked over at Mimi, who looked at the other movies with the same boredom that he was.

“Okay, how 'bout this.” Larry started. “If you can sit through all of 'Signal Lost', I'll treat you to anything you want.

Mimi looked at the poster, the man on the cover was covered in cuts and caked with blood, holding a glow stick in one hand and unaware of the man-sized robot with red eyes prowling behind him.
“I don't know...” she whispered softly, bringing a finger up to her lower lip.

“Oh okay.” Larry taunted with a exaggerated shrug. “So you're a big chicken!”

“I'm not a chicken!” Mimi protested, putting her hands at her side and stomping her foot lightly, her cheeks puffed up in defiance of Larry's comment. It took a good amount of will power for him not to pinch her cheek.

“Alright then.” Said Larry as he turned to face her. “Lets go see it!”.

Challenge issued, tickets bought, snacks bought, and seats claimed, the two sat centre-centre with the classic bag of pop corn and two drinks. The previews were the usual block buster things, nothing Larry had to pay attention to. He looked over to Mimi, her lips trembling and her body shaking, her eye had two visible tears hanging on at each side, she was obviously scared, but maybe she would do better now that she wasn't alone.

The movie began with sounds of garbled radio chatter followed by the words 'SIGNAL LOST' appearing on screen in a green tinted font.  The screen remained black for a few moments after until a bright light suddenly appeared on screen with a silhouette of a man standing in the centre, a noise almost identical to that of a door opening in Star Trek screeched as the man appeared, causing Mimi to jump with a audible “Eek!”.

“This is Jeremiah Lincoln.” the man started speaking to a device on his wrist. “I'm not getting any signals from Titan base and all the power seems to be out. It seems that I got a lot of work ahead of me.”
This 'Jeremiah' carried with him a toolbox, implying that the character was some sort of repairman.
As the movie went on, the mood changed to a more darker tone until finally the first antagonist was found, a butler bot with a blood-stained butcher knife and a human heart in his other hand turned to Jeremiah and began to charge at him, swinging the knife and asking if “The sir requires anything?”.
Mimi let out a loud yelp at this scene, covering her eye behind her hands and shivering for a good while before she got the courage in her to look at the screen again.

Jeremiah finally escaped the murderous robot, making a note in his wrist recorder of how he thinks he figured out what happened to the colonists, the fact being more clear once he found a storage container filled to the rim with corpses.

The movie continued, and now Jeremiah was hiding in a locker from a robot with a blow torch and a buzz saw, who was repeating the word “Sir?” over and over as it knocked over furniture and crates to find him. At this point, Mimi had forced herself to keep her eyes opened, but was now hugging on to one of Larry's arms for comfort, holding it tighter and tighter the more tense the scene became.

She seemed to stop trembling over time, Jeremiah having disposed of a few of the robot terrors either with heavy tools or a trap, though for a space colony they have a strange lack of fire arms.
The movie finally ended with Jeremiah finding himself a new ship and blasting off from Titan Colony as it exploded behind him. He sighed and leaned back in his cockpit, unaware of the hatch that had just opened behind him with a familiar butler bot carrying a butcher knife before the credits began to roll with a sudden guitar string. The last scene made Mimi eep in terror once more, burying her face into the side of Larry's arm, who seemed to have enjoyed the movie all the way through.

They stood up in their seats, Larry allowing Mimi to catch her breath as the other viewers left the theatre.
“So, what did you think?” Larry asked with a stupid smile.
Mimi replied by pounding her fists into his chest. “You big bully!” She whined before crossing her arms and looking away from him with a “Hmph!”.

“Alright, alright, I'm sorry.” Larry apologized. “But you sat through the whole movie. So anything you want, and its yours!”.

“---Sundae...” Mimi muttered.
“What was that?”
“I want an ice cream sundae...”.

With the movie behind them and a cup of chocolate sundae now in hand, Mimi's mood seemed to have improved, humming happily as she scooped more of the frozen treat up with her spoon and put it in her mouth.

“Feeling better now?” Larry asked, sitting at the other side of the table.
“Mmhm.” she responded with a big smile.

“Well good, then the movie wasn't completely at a loss.” He stated. A good thing the sundae cheered her up, what with the nine dollar price tag. But a deal is a deal and she stuck out.

“You want some?”
“Hm?”

Mimi put her spoon back into the sundae, looking back at Larry with a big smile. The violet colours and shades of twilight reflected off her big eye beautifully, like stars glimmering in water.

“Its really good, you need to try it!” She exclaimed happily, digging out a large chunk from her cup and reaching over the table with it.

“Ahh~” Mimi mouthed. Larry, hesitant at first, reached over and took the spoon in his mouth.
“See! Good, right?”

It was good, although Larry wouldn't say nine dollars good. But seeing Mimi happy, it warmed his heart. For a girl he reached out to on impulse as she tried to walk away, he wasn't regretting his decision now, not for a second. Even though many would consider a Cyclops odd to look at. Larry saw her as nothing else but cute, gorgeous even.

The rest of the evening was spent simply walking around and talking until the late hours of the night. Finally, their trail led them past Mimi's apartment.

“I had a lot of fun tonight.” Said Mimi as she turned to look at Larry.
“Yeah, me too.” He responded, rubbing the back of his head.
“So...”
“So..?”
“Do you...Maybe want to meet again?”.

Even after an evening like that, Mimi seemed surprised at the question, her cheeks flushing red.
“Well...I-if you really want.” She said as she hid her wide smile behind her scarf.

“Well... How does tomorrow sound? Its the weekend after all.”
“I would like that, actually.”.

After a hug, the two went their separate ways. Both too shy or too stupid to make the first real move. This trend continued on every time they would meet, going to events such as visiting the lake, going back down town or just spending the day at one another's homes. Until, like a prophecy from a holy book, the seventh day came along.

“I had a lot of fun tonight.” Mimi repeated the words from their first date.
“Yeah...Me too.” Larry repeated the same, looking around as if trying to find the courage to not be a sissy.
But, by surprise, Mimi made the first move. She looked up at him before taking a step forward, standing on the tips of her toes, closing her eye and planting a soft, innocent kiss right beside his mouth.

“I-..” She stuttered. “I-I-I'll see you later then!” she practically yelled, her face beet red from embarrassment.
But as she turned around to return to her apartment, Larry caught her by the wrist and pulled her back in. She let out a little squeak as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. His eyes locked with her eye. And finally, Larry reached down, pressing his lips firmly against hers.
Mimi froze up, her eye widened and a few small squeaks left her lips before she finally relaxed, closing her eye and placing her hands on each of Larry's shoulders. They held the kiss for some time, their warm breath brushing softly against one another until finally they found it in themselves to let go, parting their lips and looking at one another once more.

“Sorry.” Larry apologized with a smile, getting a giggle from Mimi.
“No reason to be sorry, I was wondering when you'd take the dive.”.

Mimi wrapped her own arms around Larry, placing the side of her head against his chest as they rocked back and forth gently.
“Would you like to come inside?” she offered.
“Well, its getting pretty late.” Larry joked. “But I think I can make the time.”.

Almost reluctantly, they released their hold of one another, locking hands and making their way up the stairs, into Mimi's apartment under the starry skies of the town with the big downtown.