The Friend Date
Robbie saw Cat standing by her locker, her lips moving as she sang a song happily to herself. He sighed deeply. It had been a week since he had asked her out and she turned him down. He had accepted it though, took it like a man. Besides, it had always been a long shot that a girl as beautiful as Cat Valentine would ever have agreed to go out with him.
What bothered him was that the dynamic between them had now changed. Before he had asked her out, he and Cat had always been close. They laughed together, told stupid jokes, and even had their own private movie nights every once in a while. Now, everything had changed. Cat kept avoiding him, and when they spoke now, it was brief and hurried, as though she couldn't bear to have a normal conversation with him for a long time. It annoyed Robbie that he might have lost a good friend because of one stupid decision to ask her out. So, he had come up with a plan to hopefully show Cat that they could still be friends. He had told all of the other's about his plan, and they had all agreed (although, unsurprisingly, Jade had taken longer than the others to convince). The plan would commence at lunch time that day, and Robbie hoped that it would go off without a hitch.
Everyone except Tori was at the table at lunchtime by the time Robbie sat down with his plate of spaghetti. He grinned at everyone-everything was all set up for his plan.
"Hey guys"
"Hey, what's up, Rob?" Andre nodded, looking up from his spaghetti.
"Not much. Well, actually, you know the cinema in town in having a classic Disney week" In the corner of his eye, he saw Cat's head whip up to look at him. He grinned wider. "They're showing The Little Mermaid tomorrow. Do any of you guys wanna go and see it?" he said, casually. The plan was working. The Little Mermaid was Cat's favourite film. She wouldn't be able to resist it.
"Hmmm, do I wanna go a see a movie with talking crabs and true loves?" Jade asked, rolling her eyes sarcastically, "Are you kidding, me, Shapiro?"
"OK" Robbie nodded, "That's Jade out. Andre?"
"I'm gonna take a pass on that, man. Disney ain't my style" he shrugged, still digging in to his plate of spaghetti.
"Yeah, I'm not too much into Disney either" Beck agreed, standing up with his empty plate of spaghetti. Tori rushed up to them then, recognising the cue of Beck standing up. Robbie nodded to himself, pleased that his plan was working so well.
"Guys!" she said, frantically, "I need three of you to come help me put up the set for the rehearsal next period!"
"Well, I'll do it" Beck shrugged.
"Yeah, why not? Just finished my spaghetti, anyway" Andre laughed. Then Andre, Tori, Robbie and Beck all looked at Jade expectantly. Jade looked at the hopeful look in Robbie's eyes, and groaned.
"Fine, I'll go too" she said, not looking happy about it at all. The four of them got up from the lunch table, empted their food trays, and disappeared with Tori, leaving only Robbie and Cat sat on the bench. Robbie made a mental note to thank the others again later for executing his plan so perfectly.
"Hey, Cat" Robbie grinned, sliding to one seat closer to her on the bench. She didn't move away, but Robbie saw a cute blush appear on her cheeks. She put both hands in her lap, and stared down at them.
"Hi, Robbie" she said.
"So, what do you think? Do you wanna go see The Little Mermaid tomorrow?" he grinned, confidently.
"Robbie" she groaned quietly, "I do wanna go see it. But if just you and me go and see it then it's like-"
"No no no" Robbie cut her off quickly, "I'm not asking you out on another date, I promise. We'll go just as friends. It's just two people going to see a movie. I mean, friends do that, right?"
"I guess" she said, quietly, still not looking at him.
Robbie sighed, "Come on, Cat. I really miss hanging out with you. Let's go watch a movie together like we used to, and you'll see that we can still be friends, and it doesn't have to be awkward. It'll be like a...Friend-Date" Cat giggled and finally seemed convinced. A smile spread across her face.
"Well, OK then, it'll be like old times" she giggled. They spent the rest of their lunch debating which Disney movie was the best, The Little Mermaid or The Lion King.
Cat found herself smiling an awful lot the next day before the Friend-Date. She had missed hanging out with Robbie too, and she was excited about going to watch a movie with him again.
Cat looked at herself in the mirror before going to meet Robbie for their Friend Date. She thought she looked pretty normal. She didn't put on any make-up, thinking that since it wasn't a date, she wouldn't need it. She remembered what Robbie had said before, about them just going as friends. She had ignored the twang of disappointment she had felt when he said that, because it didn't make any sense to her. It wasn't like she had a crush on Robbie, he was just her friend. And she couldn't help it that she didn't feel that way about him. She hated that she had hurt him, but she couldn't lie and lead him on. That would have been meaner.
Taking comfort in that thought, Cat bounced happily out of the door.
Robbie was readying himself for his outing with Cat. He decided on a dress shirt, a jacket (because it was chilly outside), and jeans. He grinned broadly as he made his way to the cinema. They had decided that they would meet there, because it seemed less date-like than him picking her up at her house.
Cat was already there when he arrived, wearing a pink dress with a blue bow in her hair. Robbie knew she meant for it to be casual, be he still thought she look beautiful. He quickly shook off the unwelcome thought. He would have to learn not to think about Cat like that if he wanted them to continue being friends. Cat stood with her hands behind her back, looking up at the big sign listing the movies above the cinema, and swaying slowly. She gave a bright smile when she saw Robbie walking up to her.
"Robbie!" she said, launching herself at him, and pulling him into a hug. Robbie laughed, and hugged her back.
"Hey, Kitty Cat" he said, releasing her quickly. Too much close contact with Cat wasn't a good idea just now. "Ready to go?" he asked.
She nodded enthusiastically, "Uh huh"
They made their way in the cinema. Robbie walked up to the ticket buying counter, and told them his name. "I've got two tickets reserved for me and my friend here" he said, nudging Cat playfully. The woman gave them two tickets for the movie, smiling warmly at them the whole time.
"Robbie!" Cat said, upset.
"What?" he asked, confused about what caused her changed in mood.
"Why did you buy both tickets online? I could've bought my own" she pouted. Robbie laughed.
"It's alright, Kitty Cat. I didn't mind" he said.
"Well, what would you have done if I said I didn't want to go? You'd have bought two tickets for nothing" she said, laughing at him.
"Ah" said Robbie with a knowing smile, "But I know The Little Mermaid is your favourite Disney film, so I knew you'd say yes"
"You remembered what my favourite film was?" Cat asked. She had told Robbie once, months ago when she chose they film that they would watch during, that The Little Mermaid was her favourite, but she hadn't mentioned it since then. Why had he bothered remember such an insignificant detail about her?
"Sure" he said, like it was no big deal.
They entered the cinema screening room, and found the place nearly packed.
"Wow. It's really full" she noted, as they walked to the steps to their seats. Fortunately, their seats were right at the edge of the aisle. Cat sat down, but Robbie remained standing.
"I forgot something. I'll be right back. Just watch the adverts" he told her.
"OK" she said as Robbie ran out of the screening room.
Cat sat in her seat, giggling at the smurfs adverts that showed on the screen as when Robbie came back. He carried in his arms a bucket of popcorn, and two crushed iced drinks. He handed Cat the pink, strawberry one, and sat down, balancing the popcorn on the armrest between them. He began drinking his crushed ice.
Robbie took a single popcorn and threw it in the air, catching it in his mouth. Cat giggled, and tried to copy him. She frowned when the popcorn missed, and bounced off her nose. Robbie laughed.
"Don't laugh, meanie" she said, hitting him on the arm.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Kitty Cat" he grinned. She folded her arms tightly, and refused to look at him, turning her head in the opposite direction. "Cat" he said, apologetically. "Please?" Cat still didn't turn back to him. "Okay" he said, "Then you leave me no choice." He leaned over the armrest, and began tickling her.
"N-no!" she squealed, laughing. "R-Robbie! S-stop it!" She tried to hit his hands away, but then he captured her in his arms, and engulfed her in a hug.
"How about now? Still mad?" he grinned down at her.
"Nope" she said simply, "You're really hard to stay mad at." Robbie looked down at Cat in his arms, and all of his old feelings for her resurfaced. He suddenly felt the urge to kiss her, to feel her strawberry lips pressed against his.
He let her go quickly, kicking himself for not remembering his earlier decision not to get too close to her. It was like he couldn't help it.
Finally the movie began, and Cat decided to start humming quietly to the songs, the entire way through. Robbie couldn't help but smile at her in her innocence. When it got to the romantic scene of Ariel and Eric in the blue lagoon, Robbie was watching intently, and didn't notice Cat glancing nervously at him. She even forgot to start humming to Kiss the Girl, because she was occupied with other thoughts.
The movie finished and Cat and Robbie left the cinema.
"That was sooooo good" Cat exclaimed, as they walked along the street. Rain had fallen while they were in the cinema, and the wet pavement glowed with the reflection of the street lights.
"It was a good film" he nodded in agreement, "Um...which way is your house?" he asked, looking around.
"That way" she answered, pointing in the direction straight ahead of them, "But you don't have to walk me there" she said quickly.
"I just wanna make sure you get home OK" he said fairly. Cat's cheeks tinted pink at his words. She liked the way it made her feel to know that he wanted her to get home safely.
They began walking along the street. A gentle wind blew along the road, and Cat shivered from the cold, closing her eyes. Then she felt a light weight being applied to her shoulders, and opened her eyes again to find Robbie's coat around her. She looked up at him.
"You looked cold" he shrugged, his cheeks tinting pink.
"Won't you be cold now, though?" she asked, feeling bad for him.
"Nah, I'll be fine. I'm tough, you know!" he exclaimed to the street, flexing his bicep. Cat laughed at him again. She was touched by the gallant gesture, and it left her feeling confused about her feelings towards Robbie.
"So did you have fun, tonight?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I did" she beamed.
"Told ya. We had fun, and nothing was awkward or anything, right?"
"Right" she chirped, bouncing happily along.
They walked a little while longer and arrived at Cat's house. Robbie walked her to the front of her lawn.
"Thanks for tonight, Robbie" she beamed at him, wrapping her arms around his waist, "It was really fun hanging out with you again"
"No problem, Kitty Cat, it was fun hanging out with you too" he laughed, kissing the top of her head. She giggled, and released him.
"Goodnight, Robbie" she said, looking up at him with her big brown eyes.
"Good night, Cat" he said, smiling down at her. For a moment, one of insanity, Cat suddenly got the urge to kiss him goodnight. He looked so handsome in his dress shirt and jeans, with the wind gentling ruffling his curly hair. He was so close to her, all it would take would be for her to lean up, and press her lips to his. Absently, Cat wondered how it would feel like to tangle her fingers in his curly hair, to feel his arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer to him.
She shook off the thoughts, dismissing them as ridiculous. They were friends, she had made that clear to him. So what then were these thoughts? Cat chose to ignore them, knowing that they wouldn't lead anywhere good. She walked along her porch, glancing backwards to see Robbie still smiling at her, making sure she got inside safely. She smiled back to him, and walked inside her house, closing the door behind her.
She slowly pulled her drapes back, and glanced outside the window. She saw Robbie put his hands in his pockets, and then turn and turn and walk away from her house.
She slid down with her back against the door. What was that feeling just now? She had wanted to kiss Robbie? That had never happened before. They were just friends. Friends didn't go around wanting to kiss their other friends. Cat sighed deeply, seriously confused. This Friend Date had given her a lot to think about.