Whatever Happened... to Robot Jones? Continued

Chapter 15: Triple Date

After an evening of mindless Saturday night television distraction, Robot finally got his mind to quit cycling through the recent happenings between school and JNZ, and sometime after midnight, he fell asleep. But he hadn't been out for twenty minutes before he was woken by his mother, alerting him to the phone ringing.

"The number indicates that it is one of your friends from school," Mom unit called to him from downstairs, her voice crackling on the intercom. "Honestly, do humans not have any concept of calling at a courteous hour?" he heard her distantly mutter thereafter.

Robot reluctantly pushed himself up and hit the 'accept call' button on the newly installed speakerphone in his room. "Jones residence," he said sleepily into the speaker. "Robot speaking."

"Robot? Oh, cool, you're up," came the familiar voice of the black haired boy who shared his love of video games.

"Cubey unit? Actually I was just-" he stopped himself, rubbing his steely temple. "Never mind. What's going on?"

"Well," he started, carefully, "What would you say to coming on a triple date with me, Mitch and a few girls tomorrow night?"

He didn't know if it was his exhaustion, or this was just another human term that he was ignorant about, but the question made him nauseous. "Cubey, I like you very much as a friend, but I cannot date you because I am not-"

"No, no, man!" Cubey said, chuckling. "It's not like that. You'll be coming with me and a girl, and you'll have your own girl. You know, it's like a regular date. Except that it's with six people instead of two, so things are less... awkward."

The automaton thought this over for a second. "Correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression that a date was a personal experience between two individuals-of which it would be difficult to maintain such atmosphere among other people. Besides, it sounds rather uncomfortable."

"But Robot, a triple date will be the most comfortable date you could possibly go on! Me and Mitch will be there, so the attention's never on you alone. It could be the best chance any of us get at scoring actual girlfriends."

"Actual girlfriends," Robot repeated emptily. Despite his anxiety, Cubey's offer was tempting. The knowledge that he'd never even experienced his first kiss yet, let alone a first girlfriend experience, mocked him. Especially now that he wasn't narrowing his sights on anyone in particular.

"Come on, Robot," Cubey went on, "Don't make me tell your date that you're not coming," the human said in a sing-song voice.

"You've already achieved getting a girl to agree to this?" Robot asked, raising an eyebrow. Someone actually agreed to go on a date with him? Despite his practically notorious reputation?

"Yep," Cubey said. "And she's really excited about it, too. So what do you say?"

Robot somehow doubted that. But the offer was real. He waited a beat before asking: "What is the location?"

Around seven thirty PM the next evening, Robot was standing outside the La Choux, one of the inner city's fanciest restaurants. It was also, Robot remembered nervously as he re-checked the contents of his money-drawer, one of the most expensive. He estimated that the cost for a dinner for himself and a date would blow through his savings, but he'd still be able to cover it (even if he didn't actually eat the food he ordered). But realizing where they would be dining made Robot nervous, anyway. He hoped Cubey knew what he was doing, or someone would end up tonight doing a lot of caviar-encrusted dishes. He checked his tuxedo-dressed reflection in the glass of shiny a window outside before going in.