Eternal Sunshine

Into You

"Other times too." She whispered.

He looked at her intently, as though he was calculating just how far he could go. She imagined he was used to pushing limits. But before he could do or say anything, the waiter brought them their food.

He scowled at the food before him as if it was to blame for the interruption. Ariana settled back into her chair and picked up her utensils. Elon may be pissed off at his meal, but despite the interruption it looked delicious and she didn't mind waiting. As she took her first bite of miso, he reluctantly allowed food to pause their flirting.

They ate in comfortable silence for a while before Elon stopped, and stared blankly at the wall. Ariana watched as his eyes darted from side to side as though watching some unseen movie. After a few minutes he seemed to snap out of it and went back to eating. Ariana stared at him in disbelief.

"What was that?" she asked.

"What?"

"You just kind of zoned out there for a bit."

"Oh. Yeah. I was calculating a fuel issue for Starship. Kind of like running a simulation in my head."

"You're kidding. Right?"

"Nope."

"So did you solve the issue?"

"Yeah I think so, but we still need to run the scheduled tests next week, so we can't make any changes before that happens."

"I think I'm a bit more surprised that we were flirting like two minutes ago then you zone out on me and come up with a SpaceX problem."

"A SpaceX solution, actually."

Ariana stared at him incredulously before bursting into giggles. He was really pretty weird, but she remembered inopportune times when ideas had struck her mind.

She stifled her giggles and smiled warmly at him. "I think I understand. The flow of creativity is neither linear nor confined to working hours."

Elon nodded appreciatively. "I know I sometimes say or do strange things. It's not a reflection on you, just the chaotic storm in my mind."

She shrugged, "Oh it's no problem for me. I don't mind a storm. In fact I can deal with chaos much easier than I can deal with boring."

"I have been called a lot of names, but I don't think anyone has ever called me boring."

"No, I can't imagine that label would ever apply to you. Does it bother you, all the things they say?"

Elon rubbed his chin as he considered her question. "Sometimes. Yes, sometimes I have a hard time trying to block out hurtful comments. I'm only human after all. There are times I've felt that no matter what I do or say, someone will hate me for it. But as I've gotten older, I find that I simply cannot care about that. I can't make everyone happy. But more importantly, I do not want to be silenced."

Ariana nodded thoughtfully. "I used to be a people pleaser. Or at least I tried to be. You know, trying to make my parents happy then trying to make everyone else happy. It's not very authentic when the sacrifice is yourself."

Elon nodded thoughtfully. "The first day we met, you asked me about my parents, but I didn't ask about you. What is your relationship like with your parents?"

"Mostly good, although my mother was so upset with me after my divorce. She's going to be really fucking pissed that I'm on a date with you. She was angry with you during Covid and I dare say her opinion has not improved since then."

"I do seem to be pretty polarizing. Although to her credit, I was incorrect about masking during Covid. I'm not always right."

She shot him a sly smile, "Oh, you're not?"