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A Lunch Date Gone Wrong

A Lunch Date Gone Wrong

Include the following in your story:

~Eruption~Salad~Fire~Career~Assume~Roller-Skate~Draw~Promise~Full-Moon~Sweet~

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Welcome to my firs (kind of) angsty oneshot! They aren't married in this one.

***

Kevin was all smiles when he pulled up to the place where he and his beautiful girlfriend had agreed to meet. He loved her, and was very happy about being able to go out with her.

It was rare that they got to go on dates, due to Kevin's career, but they dealt with that. It only made the times they did get to do things like this that much sweeter.

The two of them got there at about the same time. They were coming here in different cars, because Leigh preferred it that way. 

They got a table. The restaurant wasn't very busy. The place was mostly a salad bar, and it was cold outside, so that wasn't really that surprising. 

"Something's going to happen," Leigh said. "It was a full moon last night. That's the superstition, right?"

Kevin nodded. "I think so, but I don't really care too much about superstitions," he replied.

"So," Leigh said, "What do you want to do after this? We could go to a place to roller skate or something. There's a skating rink not too far from here."

"I don't know how to," Kevin told her.

"I could always teach you," Leigh offered. "Unless it's, like, a dignity thing. You don't wanna look like a fool when there could potentially be fans there."

Kevin laughed. "Bold of you to assume I have dignity," he told her. She laughed at that as well.

Kevin began to peruse the menu. He raised an eyebrow at the fact that, while many items had pictures, someone had decided to draw one thing. He didn't like that.

"What do you think?" Leigh asked him.

"The only thing I know is that I want something sweet," Kevin said. "They have desert, right?"

"Yes, but you need to get some real food, first," Leigh told him.

Kevin smiled at her. He was always so glad that things like this were the biggest conflicts they really had. 

If only it could stay that way forever.

Just as he opened his mouth to respond, there were several screams from nearby. Kevin barely had enough time to look in that direction before an eruption of fire came from the kitchens. He grabbed for Leigh's hand, and started to pull her away. But she didn't move.

Kevin realized what was happening. She was frozen in fear. it was an instinctual reaction, which was once useful to humans when they needed camouflage, or to hide from a predator with bad eyesight. Not so helpful when there was a wall of flames roaring towards you.

"Please, just relax!" he begged her. "Come with me! I'm sure you want to come!"

He saw a slight struggle in her eyes, and knew that he was right. She was trying to move, but couldn't. Smoke was beginning to surround them as the fire grew. It was mostly in one place, but they were going to get cooked in the smoke.

Kevin grabbed Leigh in his arms and started to carry her towards the door. "I'll get you out of here, I promise, baby," he whispered to her.

But he looked at the door, and it was congested. There weren't a huge number of people there, but the place was far from empty. Everyone wanted out.

He carried Leigh to the door, and she was starting to move. He felt her move a bit to wrap her arms around his neck, as well as she could in her half-frozen state.

He managed to almost reach the door before collapsing from light-headedness. He managed to get back up, but didn't realize at the time what he had forgotten. 

_

The building had collapsed after a fire that started in the kitchen. Rose didn't even know what the building was; she didn't live in this part of town.

As she and the other rescue workers looked around the rubble, she noticed a small crowd starting to gather. Among the crowd was a group of five. Four of the young adults stood gathered closely around a man. He had probably been in the fire. He had a few small, unimportant burns on his body and face. He had tears filling his eyes. Rose wondered momentarily if there was someone he knew that had failed to escape from the blaze.

Just as she was thinking that, she noticed what looked like a bit of hair on a piece of rubble. She moved aside several pieces of debris, and uncovered a young woman. She was surprised to see the woman raise her head. "Thanks," she said, wincing. "That big block was pulling my hair." Rose grabbed gently onto the woman's arm, and began to draw her out from underneath the piece of wall.

"I'd say that's the least of your problems," Rose said, as the woman rose. She gently inspected her. "You should get some burn ointment," she said. "But I think you'll be fine. You ended up near the door. That must have been far enough from the flames that you were spared."

The woman smiled. "That's good," she said. "Then...can I leave?"

Rose shrugged. "Yeah," she responded. "But if you start feeling strange in the next few days or weeks, then you should go to the doctor immediately. But I think you're fine."

"Thanks," she said, smiling. She turned to leave, and made a beeline for the man Rose had seen.

Rose smiled as the two kissed gently. They were probably on a lunch date or something, Rose realized then. Wow, did that go wrong.

***

I didn't expect this to happen, but I didn't know how else to incorporate 'fire' and 'eruption.' I hope it was good!