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To put this bluntly, Arnold Cunningham couldn’t spot flirting if it were spelled out right in front of him with giant, sparkly letters. This wasn’t to say he was stupid, just that cues and subtleties were certainly not his strong suit. The other Elders made sure to point out this fact after watching any and all of Arnold’s interactions with Nabulungi.
“Arnold, she literally comes to the mission hut to eat dinner with us every night and does nothing but talk to you,” Kevin said, rubbing his temples in exasperation after yet another one of his companion’s patented ‘I just wish she’d like me back!’ rants. “You can’t tell me that doesn’t set off some kind of alarm in your head.”
“She’s being friendly!”
Kevin looked at Arnold in disbelief. “You’re trying to tell me that someone staring at you for an hour and giggling at everything you say is just being friendly?”
“I mean, yeah.” Arnold shrugged. “You and McKinley do that all the time, and you guys aren’t a couple.”
Kevin rolled his eyes and walked away looking like he wanted nothing more than to bash his head into a wall. Surely because he’d lost the argument, Arnold thought, and smiled a smug grin at his own victory.
Thinking about it, yeah, Naba did come around a lot, and always helped out with projects and events that were frankly not exciting enough to warrant the enthusiasm she gave, but she was probably just really into learning about Arnoldism. Obviously.
~~~
Knock knock knock
It came from the window between Arnold and Kevin’s beds, in the late hours of the night. However, it wasn’t the noise itself that caused Arnold to wake, but his companion’s startled shout.
Kevin, who was clutching a hand to his chest when Arnold turned to look over, glared towards the window and said, “What the Hell?”
“Sorry, Elder Price! I just came to see Elder Cunningham,” Naba’s voice sounded through the glass and her smiling face appeared behind the dirty panes.
“Big surprise there…” Kevin muttered.
“Hi Nickelodeon! Did you want something?”
She began to smile sheepishly. “I had something to show you actually. Would you walk with me, Elder?”
It was safe to say everyone and their mother knew Arnold would normally jump at the opportunity. He was about to, too, but then his face fell. “Oh, I’d love to. But rule number 72, I can’t leave Kevin alone. Not to mention rule number 23 and—“
“Arnold, buddy, you do realize nobody here follows those rules anymore? You have no idea how many times I’ve gotten up at night to…” Kevin started, then trailed off. “Nevermind. Just go.”
Arnold hesitated, but eventually decided to throw on some clothes and make a dash for the door. On his way out, Kevin gave a thumbs up and mouthed, “Good luck.”
The walk was pleasant, as expected, though he couldn’t shake the anticipation and anxiety in his gut. What if this something was bad, or dangerous, or what if she somehow found out about Arnold’s not-so-little crush and she was trying to find somewhere to let him down easy, and then leave him to be heartbroken and alone in the middle of—
“I really like doing this with you,” she breathed, an air of dreaminess in her voice.
“Yeah, um, yeah.” He cleared his throat. “I do too. Doing this with you, I mean. Uh.”
She laughed. What a beautiful sound. Arnold wished he could tell her that, it’d probably make her day. “Elder Cunningham, I—“
“Arnold.”
“What?”
“Just, uh, call me Arnold. I mean, I’d say we’re probably on a first-name basis at this point, Narcolepsy.”
“Okay. Arnold,” she tried it out. He could swear his heart swelled a bit at the sound. “I have never known someone like you before.”
“You haven’t?”
The flowing of a shallow stream alerted Arnold that they had passed the village and were now off to a more secluded area. He didn’t know what was happening, but there was no longer any apprehension about it. He trusted her. With all his heart, which was currently threatening to beat out of his chest any minute now.
Naba shook her head. “No. I feel different about you, Arnold. A good different, like…” she gestured, searching for a word for a moment, before settling for sheepishly reaching for Arnold’s hand. “That.”
He looked down at the place their hands touched, open mouthed and eyes stretched wide. “Oh.”
For a few more bliss-filled minutes she led Arnold hand in hand, exchanging sweet, awkward smiles with him along the way. He could definitely get used to this.
All too soon, she stopped and dropped the others hand to instead present to him… a bus station that looked to have not been used in the last decade?
“What is it?”
Naba rolled her eyes playfully and grabbed Arnold’s hand once again to pull him closer. What he had assumed was graffiti was revealed to be hundreds of colorful chalk drawings, ranging in detail and skill.
“This is where my mama and baba met. On their wedding day, they came back and drew this.” She pointed to a faded but detailed drawing of a young couple, dressed in traditional Ugandan wedding attire. “Baba showed this place to me after my mama passed away. I have been coming here to draw anytime I need to think.”
When Arnold said nothing, Naba reached under the dilapidated stone bench and returned with a box of colorful sidewalk chalk. She pulled out a peach-colored one and handed it to Arnold.
Oh.
He looked at her as if to say, ‘are you sure?’ to which she smiled and nodded eagerly. Slowly, he reached forward with hesitation and drew a small stick figure in a blank spot on the wall. It wouldn’t rival Picasso, but it was something.
Then, Naba proceeded to grab a brown chalk and draw another stick figure next to Arnold’s, also taking some time to add a bit of curly black hair and smiley faces to both for good measure. “There.”
Arnold took a moment to search for the proper words to say, which were hidden somewhere amongst the sea of ‘Oh my god oh my god oh my god’ presently going through his head.
“Why did you show me this?”
She looked into Arnold’s eyes. “Because this place is special to me. Just like you.”
And finally, slowly, she leaned in to plant an innocent kiss on Arnold’s lips. He would’ve been very verbally freaking out right then if it weren’t for his mouth being occupied.
“ Oh,” he breathed.
~~~
Upon his eventual return to his and Kevin’s shared room, Arnold was quick to brag.
“Well Kevin, guess who just got a girlfriend! Pfft , and you said I couldn’t recognize flirting,” he said, walking past a bright red-faced Kevin and Elder McKinley, who appeared to be in the middle of very closely adjusting each other’s temple garments while laying on Kevin’s bed. “Hey Elder McKinley!”
“Hello, Elder Cunningham,” McKinley replied, fixing himself then rushing out of the room faster than Arnold had ever seen his district leader move.
Arnold watched with a raised eyebrow. “Huh. That was weird.”
“Arnold, just go to sleep.”