The Freak

9:28pm

Ace shivered, pulling her jacket tighter around her, the warmest night of the year so far was still fairly chilly, though, she would have to admit, the arm around her waist certainly helped.

For a mostly unplanned date, it had gone fairly well so far. They'd just gotten out of the movie theater, and were now sitting on one of the benches in the park, neither quite wanting to go home yet.

"What'd you think of the movie?" Andrew asked.

They'd seen Footloose, and the fact that he'd already seen it hadn't seemed to matter.

"I liked it, the premise was strange... but it was good." She smiled.

He laughed, "It is sort of a strange story."

"In the library, when you got baked- you were doing that dance- it was just the dance Kevin Bacon did in the warehouse- right?"

It took him a moment to nod, admitting, "Yeah- yeah it was. My friends bet me I couldn't learn it."

"Well you didn't offer that up when we were talking about what we could do!" She laughed.

"I figured it was implied!"

They lapsed back into quiet as she absently fiddled with his fingers.

"Hey," He said, looking over at her suddenly, "What kind of music was on that tape- the one you had with your walkman?"

Ace smiled, reaching into her coat to pull on the player, "It's uh, a mix my brother gave me, before he left for college. Sinatra, Paul Anka, Elvis, The Ink Spots,  Ella Fitzgerald- that sort of stuff."

As she spoke she rewound the tape, unplugging the headphones, and as soon as the tape was back to the beginning, hitting play.

Soft music began to drift from the player, and she hummed along, slowly leaning into Andrew's side.

"What's this one called?" He asked quietly on the second song.

"It's I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire, it's by the Ink Spots."

"I like it." He smiled.

They sat, just listening to the music for a while, until the first side of the tape finished, and Andrew checked his watch, "We should probably start heading back now. My parents might freak out if I'm not back by ten thirty."

Ace nodded, tucking the walkman away and standing up, taking his hand.

The walk through the park was quiet, until she whispered, "This isn't- just a prank- you're not gonna just forget that I exist on Monday- right?"

"No," He shook his head, looking at her, "It feels like I could never forget about you now."

She bit her lip, "But- your friends...."

"Screw them if they can't accept you. They don't get to decide who I'm seeing." He said quickly.

"Are you sure? This all feels like it could just be a dream I'm gonna wake up from tomorrow," Ace's free hand began to tap against her side, anxiously, "What are people gonna say? You might be killing your whole social life..."

"Quincy, I don't give a damn about what the people at school say." Andrew leaned down, pressing another soft kiss to her lips, "Okay?"

Reluctantly, Ace nodded, "Okay."

All her fears and worries evaporated, come Monday, when he greeted her in the hall with a kiss, ignoring the whispers that quickly began to drift around the school.

Yeah, Andrew and Quincey had sacrificed a whole Saturday to Vernon's detention, but what they got in return more than made up for it. It wasn't what they had expected, but it was better than anything they could've wanted.