The Next Dragon Slayer

The Date

I shift uncomfortably in my sandals as I scan the streets once more. I'm way too early, I knew it. I was so nervous about this that I couldn't sleep last night.
Storm asked me on a date. Me. And him. On a date. The thought has been circling through my head repeatedly. Every time it sends my stomach twirling in knots. When did this happen to me? Since when am I the girl who gets all nervous about boys? I grunt, frustrated at myself for being like this. I mean, it's just Storm, who I've known forever, no big deal.
That's exactly what I told myself as I called Nova and Emma this morning, panicked. They literally had to get me ready for this. I didn't even protest the outfit they picked out: a white sundress and sandals. I even let them put my hair into some updo that I could never figure out on my own. This is it, everyone, Nashi Dragneel has officially gone crazy.
I look up at the clock beside the fountain. It's 3:25, so he should be here shortly. My mind roams back to the night of the party when he pulled me aside before I left. We agreed to meet at the fountain on Saturday at 3:30. I've already been here for a half an hour.
"Nashi?"
I turn to see Storm walking up towards me.
"Hi," I smile at him, trying to remain calm. I mentally kick myself for being so nervous about all this.
"You look really pretty," He compliments.
"Uh, thanks, you do too," I blurt, but then realize what I just said. "Wait, I mean, you look really, uh, you look good too," I try and fail to recover smoothly, before just laughing nervously.
"Thanks, Dragneel," He chuckles quietly. "Are you ready to go?"
"Mhm," I nod.
I fall into step with him as we walk down the cobblestone streets.
"So, what are we doing today?" I ask.
"Remember the other day when I said we would take time to actually look around our town?" He mentions the day he, Emma, and I were looking for somewhere to eat breakfast.
"Yeah, I remember,"
"Well, I thought we'd do that," He shrugs.
"Sounds like fun," I look up at him.
He grins at me, but then chuckles and looks away.
"What?" I look at him, confused.
"Nothing, I'm just happy you agreed to do this," His cheeks get slightly pink.
"Me too," I look down at my feet. "I'm actually on a date with Storm the Heartbreaker," I accidentally spout off.
He turns to me and laughs. "Is that what you call me?"
"Um, well, Nova came up with it, and Emma and I use it sometimes too," I utter anxiously.
"Can I ask why I've been dubbed 'Storm the Heartbreaker'?"
"Nova said it was because of all the girls you reject when they ask you out," I mutter quietly.
"Well, why would I go out with them when they're not you?" He says matter-of-factly.
"Oh, well, um, that makes sense," I whisper shyly.
"This is the quietest I've ever seen you," He nudges my elbow playfully.
"Oh, be quiet!" I laugh, sounding a little more like myself. "Let's go here, I've never been inside before," I point towards a weird looking hat shop.
"Me neither," He opens the door and we walk inside.
We spend the next half and hour trying on hats and picking out the funniest ones for each other to put on. Thankfully, the shop owner doesn't kick out two teenagers who didn't end up buying anything. We're both laughing by the time we leave the store. As nervous as I was earlier, it seems to have faded.
Next, we stop in a magic shop, the one Luke buys keys from. We look around at all the bizarre items and the extremely cool ones.
We go to lots of little shops in town over the course of the afternoon. It's nice to get to known this town better, and as weird as it feels for me to say this I'll do it anyway. It was nice to see it all with Storm.
I guess the saying "Time flies, when you're having fun" is true because soon it's almost dinner time.
"Do you want to stop and get dinner?" Storm asks as he looks at the clock.
I start to nod in agreement, but something across the street catches my eye. I grab his hand and pull him over. "I've got a better idea!"
A few minutes later, we're sitting next to each other in a booth at an ice cream shop.
"Okay, this is way better than actual food," Storm takes another spoonful of his mint chocolate chip ice cream.
"Definitely," I chuckle before taking another bite of my cookies and cream ice cream.
"You want some?" He offers, gesturing towards his ice cream.
"Sure. Do you want to try mine?" I ask.
He nods, and we swap for a second. He gives me a spoonful of his ice cream, and I do the same.
"So good," I mumble.
"Yep," He grins.
After leaving the ice cream shop, we start to head home, seeing as it's getting late. I never even realized how much the nervousness had faded, a smile stretched across my face. We did a lot of fun things today. We stopped in so many places, and we actually had a chance to relax after the events that just went down.
Storm stops walking, and that's when I realize we're already at my house.
"Thanks for walking me home," I smile. "This was a really great day,"
"I had a lot of fun too," He smiles back.
"Goodnight, Storm Fullbuster,"
"Goodnight, Nashi Dragneel,"
We meets my eyes for a second, and then suddenly does something I don't expect. He kisses me on the cheek before walking away. My face goes beet red, and it stays like that for the rest of the evening. But yeah, today was a good day. That night, I fall asleep with a smile on my face that stays there till morning.