(I meant to update this in time for Halloween, but was unfortunately delayed... a couple of weeks. C'est la vie.)
Jon and Cinder took their sandwiches from the deli to eat them in the park. Jon sat down on a bench and the green-skinned girl sat beside him. He felt her shoulder nestled against his, the flesh of her hip pressed to the side of his lap.
"Aww crap, I got mustard on me," Cinder moaned and mopped at the dollop of sauce that had landed on her thigh.
"Nice tights, by the way," Jon noted her solid black stockings.
"If that wasn't sarcasm then thanks, I guess," she replied. "I er, I don't like my legs, so I cover them up."
"They look pretty fine to me."
Cinder just stared at Jon with one eyebrow raised and a slowly expanding smile.
"Well, they're a nice shape, thin but... What?"
Cinder's smile broadened.
"Jon, I do believe that's the first genuine compliment you've given me."
"So?"
She began to laugh, "So you like a bit of leg, huh?"
"Cut it out," Jon waved a dismissal, then joined her in laughter.
"Why don't you like your legs?
"It's silly really. When I was eleven, I hit puberty and I grew about a foot in a year. I had this problem where I'd found all this height but hadn't filled any of it out yet. We had to wear skirts as part of our school uniform and so I had these long, skinny green legs on show. The other girls made fun of me all the time."
Jon pictured this and barely managed to stifled a chuckle.
"Yes, you may laugh! It seems really minor looking back on it now, because they just bullied me with words and not even real nasty words at that! But it hurt me then, and I don't think I've ever been so miserable. The worst was when they started calling me-"
"Beanstalks?" Jon grinned.
"Kermit, but thanks for playing smartass."
"Kermit the Frog?"
"Yep! From age eleven to fifteen I was Kermit. I was on the swim team for a while too, which didn't help."
"It must've been hard," Jon nodded.
He tentatively raised his arm and brought it to rest behind Cinder's shoulders. She leaned against him and he reassuringly stroked her outer arm with his hugging hand.
"At the time, it was. But it taught me a lot about other people. Especially spiteful and superficial people," she rolled her eyes and smiled. "In the end, I became a better person because of it. And it got me out of the swim team and the sporty crowd. I discovered something much more interesting."
"What?"
"I got into music. I learned the clarinet. Then the saxophone, the violin and lately, the guitar," Cinder counted instruments on her fingers.
"Impressive. What kind of music do you like?" Jon asked.
"Oh, all kinds really," Cinder shrugged. "Anything with clever lyrics."
"Cool," Jon nodded. After a moment of silence, he added, "Cinder, do you want to go out with me?"
Without a word, Cinder half-turned inside Jon's embrace and kissed him gently on the cheek. She turned away again and rested her head on his shoulder. Jon held her close but said nothing.
After a while, Cinder finally said quietly, "Yeah, let's do that. That would be sweet."
