Linda hated doing this. She really hated doing it, but she wanted to make a good impression. Not that she needed to- he had already seen her with chocolate smeared on her lip. And it wasn't like they were just getting to know each other. They've been friends for three weeks, and he'd already shared his lunch with her. That was something going for them, right?
Linda sighed as she waited for the desired person to pick her up. She rocked on her heels, gripping the strap of her shoulder bag. How on earth had she managed this? How had she managed to get a date with the cutest guy in school? The first time he smiled at her, she was sure she would faint... if she wasn't already on the floor.
Yikes, she cringed at the memory. How had she even managed to plow him into like that? It wasn't as if either of them were going that fast. And to call him a dummy! But he was super cool about it, and helped her up without any effort, and then given her his lunch. Her first day was definitely a memorable one.
His beat up old car pulled up to the curb, and she quickly hopped in and buckled up.
"Hi, thanks for picking me up."
"I could've picked you up at your house."
"That's okay."
"Really, I don't mind." Danny Reagan shook his head. "It's no biggie."
"And neither is picking me up on the curb."
He didn't press the issue, "alright. You get all your homework done?"
"Except English. I'll do that tomorrow- it's easy. It'll take no time at all. How about you?"
"I gotta do it all tomorrow."
"Why didn't you just do half of it today?"
"Because my brain doesn't work that way." He wasn't going to tell her he spent a little too much time deciding what to wear. For any other girl, he'd probably wear his ratty sneakers and old jeans. But this was Linda; Linda who usually wore skirts and dresses and what he deemed as "church clothes". He couldn't turn up looking sloppy for her.
"Okay..." she smiled a little weirdly.
"See, my brain works better if I'm on a time crunch."
"But your work's not as good."
"It's worked for years."
She decided not to argue further, and instead to enjoy the date.
*******
First dates weren't supposed to go this easy- she knew that for a fact. They were supposed to be awkward and cringy, and she was supposed to feel uncomfortable.
Now here she sat, wondering how someone as skinny as Danny could eat four slices of pizza. Without thinking (because she apparently couldn't think when she was with him), she blurted, "where do you put all of that?"
He shrugged, wiping his hands in the cheap napkin. "Erin says it goes straight to my butt."
Don't say it, don't say it, don't say it. "It is a nice butt."
Danny grinned as Linda's face turned redder than the tomato sauce on the pizza. She visibly cringed as she turned away from him. "Thanks. You've got a perky little ass that I think is cute, too."
Her eyes darted up to meet his, and she felt something deep in her stomach. Perky little ass, the way he said it. Oh man, you are screwed.
She didn't know how to respond to that, so she just looked down again and stuffed a big bite of pizza into her mouth. His compliments feel different than Mark's, and very different from Elliot's. She guessed she couldn't really compare Elliot to other boys, because he wasn't attracted to girls, but she really didn't know.
And Mark- Mark's compliments felt like there was always an ulterior motive involved. He was just telling her things she wanted to hear, so she would do what he wanted. She shuttered at the thought of him.
"You okay?"
"Huh?" Linda turned her head towards her date. He looked concerned.
"You okay? You were, like, on a different planet or something."
"Oh, um, I'm okay. I was just thinking."
"About what?"
"About... how nice this is. Eating pizza with you. It's nice, I like it." That wasn't totally a lie; it wasn't what she had been thinking, but it was her true feelings.
"I like it too." He smiled at her, a soft, genuine, almost child-like smile, and oh boy, was she in trouble.
She tried to ignore the warm feelings spreading through her entire body by taking a big sip of her soda. Whatever happened, she wasn't going to fall for him. She had sworn off guys for a while.
********
Linda pretended not to notice the age old stretch-and-yawn-and-land-my-arm-on-the-back-of-your-seat maneuver. She shifted closer, leaning a little bit towards Danny, pretending she was trying to see around the tall man in front of her. She also pretended to be fully enthralled by the movie, when, in reality, she was screaming inside.
She couldn't kiss him; she wouldn't let him kiss her. She wasn't going to do that whole accidentally reach for the popcorn same time as you and end up holding your hand thing. She wasn't a little kid anymore- she could simply ask him to hold her hand. But she wouldn't, because she wasn't supposed to catch feelings for Danny Reagan. And she definitely wasn't supposed to be feeling this at ease. First dates never felt easy.
They were on the street corner, waiting to cross, when he spoke up. "That was fun."
"It was! I liked it a lot."
Maybe we can do it again sometime. Like next Friday. Or better yet, like tomorrow?
"I think I want to kiss you," he told her, closing the space between them.
No, no! No kissing. Kissing is bad. Kissing isn't what you want. No no no!
"I think I'm gonna let you," she said, ignoring the one logical part of her brain.
He cupped her cheek with one hand, and pressed his lips against hers. It took her a second to kiss him back.
This kiss was different than any other kiss she had ever had. It was different than the practice kisses with Elliot, because those were just practices and they loved each other like best friends. It was different from Mark, because his were always too rough and too fast, and it always seemed like he was doing it to get it over with.
But with Danny... Danny's kisses felt like what she always wanted a kiss to feel like. It felt special, like it was something reserved for her and only her.
Thanks to Elliot, she knew how to make the kiss better. So she opened her mouth a little, and he glided his tongue over hers. She didn't hear all the whistles and cat-calls the strangers were giving them. All she heard was the beating of her heart.
First dates were never this easy.
