Drummer Boy «Klance»

|Chapt.4|

Lance decides a couple days later that he is going to try and reclaim his sanity by going on a much needed date with Kate. He makes a reservation at one of the nicest restaurants in their small college town, and he even puts on a dashing-as-hell light blue button down shirt. Kate comes over and she looks so pretty as she always does, and Lance starts to feel like maybe these crazy thoughts he is having are only temporary. Maybe he just needs this again.

He takes her hand and it feels small and frail in his. It's endearing, but also makes his long fingers curl uncomfortably in on themselves. There is an unsettling feeling in his stomach, like he would rather be home, but he pushes it to the back of his mind. Kate looks up at him, smiling, and they make their way to dinner.

"We haven't don this in a really long time." She says, happily.

"Yeah, it'll be really nice." Lance sounds surprisingly earnest.

The restaurant is fancy in every single definition of the word; wine glasses, white tablecloths, dim lights, and crystal chandeliers. Lance briefly wonders how Keith would look in here, with his baggy shirts and mussed up hair and lip ring. He smiles a little at the thought of it.

Stop. Stop thinking about him. Christ on a stick.

Kate is looking at the menu quite judgmentally, a little unimpressed. Food is something she is always picky about. Lance is more like a human vacuum cleaner, so he doesn't really relate.

After they order their food, Kate starts telling Lance about her week. Most of it has to do with her sorority; how much money they raised, who is pissed at who, who is sleeping with who. Lance zones out for a bit and then immediately feels guilty, zoning back in and trying his hardest to listen.

"So that's when Margaret and Ashley came in, which was super awkward because of the whole Brandon thing." She finishes, as if that is a logical way to end the story. Lance must look confused because she laughs. "I guess it's just girl stuff."

There is a bit of an awkward silence after that. Lance really doesn't know what to talk about. What have they even been talking about for the last six months? Lance suddenly doesn't know.

So he searches his brain for a new conversation starter, and finds himself saying, "Do you believe in aliens?"

He feels himself blushing at the memory. Kate looks at him like he's absolutely insane. "What kind of question is that?"

"I don't know. I mean, do you ever think about it? Like, what could be out there?"

"Not really" she shrugs, "I mean even if there is anything out there, we'll probably never see it, so why wonder about it?"

She has a point, but Lance isn't happy about it. "I mean, maybe because it's fun? To like, wonder about it."

She laughs. It's not in a mean way, but something is unsettled in Lance's stomach "That's your idea of fun? You are a very strange boy, Lance."

He sighs quietly, looking down at his food. "Yeah...Yeah I sure am."

______________________________________________________________________

The date is fine, but thats all it is. Just fine. Lance drops Kate off at her place with a peck on the lips. She invites him in and they make out on the couch for what feels like forever, but is actually only ten minutes. There is a small hickey underneath Lance's jaw when he leaves her apartment, and he stares at it like it's an invasion of his privacy, and it's not welcome there.

Kissing Kate is fun. It used to be thrilling, but now it's just fun. It's been a while since they've had sex and Lance could tell that maybe Kate wanted to do it tonight, but for some reason he just wasn't feeling up to it, which is so rare for him. He figures he should just go back to his apartment and go the fuck to sleep.