TheBanyanTree: The Girl and the Dragon

[Monique Colver]

Oh, that loathsome word! She hated it every time it flowed from someone's
mouth, even if they were talking about the 5 year old next door. "I'm a
woman!" she would announce, whether or not anyone had asked. Her status was
painful to her, even as she admitted she'd never moved out of her father's
house, never held a job, never managed her own finances. She knew her time
was coming, for she was shaped like a woman and just needed to find the
right partner.

The dragon was a typical dragon, brash and cocky, and just a bit
overweight. It didn't matter, he said, because he could still throw down
with anyone and burn them to a crisp.

And as girls have done since the beginning of dragons, she was drawn to
him, a moth to his flame. Here was a bad boy she could tame, which would
not only be cool because everyone would envy her, but it would also show
those who called her a girl that she was a woman.

It's not known who sidled up to who first, and it doesn't really matter,
not in the end.

"Dragon," she said, "you're what I've been looking for."

Dragon responded with a small degree of interest as he considered how many
calories she might be. He was trying to cut back, though cutting back was
more of a theory than a practice. Not really even enough to count as a
small meal, but maybe in time.

"Maybe in time," he said, though he hadn't meant to say it out loud.

"I've got time," she said, hoping she wasn't misunderstanding his interest.
Her experience was slight, nuances sometimes escaping her.

She loved the roughness of his green leathery skin, thinking it masculine
beyond belief. His occasional puffs of smoke, rising up toward the ceiling
before disappearing, struck her as incredibly sexy, though she'd be hard
pressed to express this in words.

She couldn't wait to show him off to her friends. The only issue was that
she didn't have any friends, but she thought it might be time to get some,
if only for this reason. She had little use for other girls, finding them
annoyingly childlike.

Dragon thought her entirely too talkative for dinner, much less a light
snack, but he had nothing else scheduled and time to dispose of, it being a
commodity easily replenished. He invited her back to his place, a cave
littered with empty beer bottles and pizza boxes.

And she was enthralled. This was a man, a real man who didn't clean his
bathroom, ate badly, and obviously needed a female in his life to take care
of him. She wondered how he would look in a tux while he thought of side
dishes.

He loved the way her beige-ish skin glowed in the fire pit, the way her
long hair obscured her face so he didn't have to look at her odd little
green eyes which, if he were honest, freaked him out more than a little.
But dragons are rarely honest.

They sat by the fire pit while she talked of the future and he thought of
nothing in particular. He didn't listen to her, for he thought it might
ruin his appetite if he did. He did wonder about the willingness of girls
to offer themselves up to him as if they were sacrificial lambs, which was
something he hadn't seen since the Second Reformation. Lambs that is. Girls
offering themselves up was quite commonplace. He saw the boys they walked
past without acknowledgement as they headed for him, seemingly nice boys,
but perhaps they smelled bad.

As she talked she thought about his smell, and how soon she could get him
to take a look at his personal hygiene. The smell wasn't that bad, she told
herself, but long term she could imagine bouts of nausea.

While she made a mental list of the changes that would turn him into the
perfect boyfriend he thought not of dinner, which was sitting in front of
him and taking care of itself, but dessert. Maybe blonde this time, maybe
not as slight as dinner.

Anticipation in the beginning of a relationship can be the best part.

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