Francine let out a deep sigh as she rooted through her closet Sunday morning trying to figure out how to dress for the big third date that was the "official" third date. Beaman had told her to dress casually again because where he was taking her was not a place for dressy attire, but she only had so many casual clothes. She scanned the hanging garments in her closet and sighed again as she gazed at her wardrobe, the smart suits, the slim pencils skirts, the starched blouses, the cocktail dresses, the formal gowns... "What the hell am I going to wear?" she lamented as she shoved them all aside and moved to the back of her closet. "A-ha!" she crowed in triumph as she spotted just the thing. "Perfect! If this doesn't scream 'casual,' I don't know what does," she mused as she reached for it.
She had just finished getting dressed when she heard a knock on her door and rushed to it, but then thinking better of it and not wanting to appear overly anxious, decided to take a moment to go back to the bathroom to check her hair and makeup again. When she heard him knock a second time, she finally made her way back into her living room. She arched an eyebrow when she opened the door to Beaman to see that he was wearing a "Flynn's Arcade," t-shirt. "Nice shirt," she commented blandly, trying not to let her excitement show. She'd been worried that she was dressed too casually in her jeans and tee, but now she had reverted back to her initial thought that her outfit was perfect.
He greeted her with a soft kiss. "I like yours too," he complimented her sincerely as he eyed her Fuel for Life tee. "Were you at that concert last year?"
"No, I just thought it'd be fun to fight the crowds there just for the exorbitantly-priced souvenir t-shirt," she responded flippantly with a roll of her eyes.
Beaman shook his head. "Okay, sarcasm noted. I was only asking because I was there too. Great show. What I saw of it anyway since I didn't have great seats."
"Gee, that's too bad. I, on the other hand, did have great seats...fourth row. I have a connection at the box office."
"A connection?" He couldn't help the flare of jealousy that rose within him wondering just what kind of connection she was referring to.
"Yeah, one of my sources. She always lets me know ahead of time when new stuff is coming to town even before they start advertising."
"Cool." He breathed a sigh of relief. "You ready to go?"
"That depends," she replied warily. "You finally gonna' tell me where we're going?"
He shook his head. "It's a surprise."
"I don't know about this," she hedged.
"Well, I won our little bet, remember?" He grinned at her triumphantly. "You had a little fun with that surprise, didn't you?"
"Okay, okay," she conceded. She had agreed to the terms of his bet. "I still don't think it was quite a fair bet though since you had inside information," she protested as they walked out to his car.
"Haven't you ever heard that all's fair in love and war?"
"Which one is this, love or war?" she questioned with a teasing grin.
He hurriedly opened the car door for her, cleared his throat awkwardly and changed the subject, "So, the Fuel for Life tour...did you see the documentary on it...Heavy Metal Parking Lot?"
Francine laughed at his abrupt subject change and the slight flush she'd seen on his face as he got into his side of the car, but she decided to go with it. "No, I haven't seen it, but I've heard of it."
"Well, I have a bootleg copy on VHS if you wanna' watch it sometime..." he offered, but then added, "With me, I mean," to make it clear that he wanted another date with her.
"Sounds like fun," she answered sincerely and was pleased to see the small smile that formed on his face.
They rode in a comfortable silence until she realized, they were nearing his neighborhood. "Are we going to your place again?" she questioned in disappointment. "If that's the case, I could have just come over instead of you driving all the way from your place to mine." Her thoughts of the night before about the 'third date rule' came flooding back to her as she wondered what he was up to.
"Nope," he answered succinctly. "But somewhere nearby."
"You're really not gonna' tell me, are you?"
"Nope. You'll see for yourself in just a minute." He gave her a cheeky grin as he pulled into a parking lot.
Francine's eyes widened when she realized where they were as he was parking the car. She turned to gape at him and with a gesture toward the glaring neon sign, questioned, "This is your big date idea?"
"Just trust me." He put the car in park and reached for her hand and gave it a light squeeze. "It'll be fun. Now, come on." He quickly got out of the car and hurried around to her side to open her door for her.
Francine warily followed him into the building and squinted upon entering as her eyes adjusted from the bright sunlight outside to the dark interior. She cringed as she heard the shouts from youngsters who seemed to have taken over the place. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" She didn't exactly do well around children. She couldn't help staring at the tee he wore, his choice of wardrobe suddenly seeming ominous.
He took her hand and responded, "A little faith, please." He led her past all the rows of brightly flashing video games and the screaming kids to a separate room. He released her hand long enough to pull out a set of keys to open the door and ushered her inside, locking it behind them.
"What's this?" she questioned as she looked around the room to find more machines lining the walls.
"You're not the only one with connections," he fired back as he jangled the keys in his hand before stowing them back in his pocket. "The owner of this place is my old college roommate. This is the stuff that hasn't been released to the public yet." When he spotted the one he wanted on the far wall. "Come on, you'll love this one." He led her to a new-looking machine.
She glanced at the arcade machine uncertainly. "Road Blasters?"
He beamed in response. "It's a great game. It's not going to be released for another month, but I've had a chance to play it already because of my friend. It's the first racing game where you've got weapons in your car that you can use to blow other cars off the road. Here, why don't you give it a try?" He reached into his pocket for a quarter to fire the machine up.
"No, that's okay. I'll pass. Not really my thing."
"Hmm, really? When my buddy showed me this game last week when it first came in, I thought it'd be right up your alley. I mean, you are the one who teaches defensive driving at Station One." He gave her a challenging smirk as he leaned casually against the machine.
"That's with real cars," she pointed out.
"But this is so much better. And you won't risk breaking a nail." He grinned and couldn't resist goading her, "Or maybe you're just not as tough as you pretend to be."
"Is that a challenge," she countered, her blue eyes sparkling.
"Maybe, but maybe you're just not up to it. Maybe you're just not as good as you think you are."
"Out of the way. Ladies first," she replied as she stepped up to the game and snatched the quarter out of his hand.
Beaman smirked in triumph and crowed, "Good. Just don't expect to beat my high score." He tapped the screen bearing his initials. "I've already made it through all fifty races."
"We'll just see about that," she fired back.
Beaman watched with a bright smile on her fave as she tried to navigate the various laps. It was so nice just to see her let her hair down and relax, plus he could look at her without anyone thinking he was some crazy lovestruck stalker the way they did at the office. He crowed in triumph when she let out a low groan of disappointment. "HA!"
"Dammit!" she swore. "How can a racing game let you run out of fuel?"
He laughed. "That's what I like about it. It's more realistic."
She put her hands on her hips and stared him down. "Who are you kidding? You like it because you can blow stuff up."
"Well, that too. Especially since it's the closest I get to field experience," he admitted.
"Hmmm...we might have to do something about that," she mused, but then changed the subject. "You know, I did see something that sparked my interest when we first came in here." She hurried to the door and back out into the main part of the arcade. She pointed to a row of machines by the main entrance. "Now, that...that's MY game."
Beaman looked at the game, indicated the logo on his shirt and then gestured to the machine. "Sure. What would a trip to the arcade be without a game of Space Paranoids?"
"Exactly my thought. You up for it?" she asked as she stepped closer to him.
"Absolutely," he replied never breaking eye contact with her.
"Good," she replied and he let out a tiny gasp as she reached into his pocket and groped at the bulge there. "Is that a roll of quarters in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" she teased as she held up the prize from her fishing expedition.
"Both," he answered honestly.
She gave him a wink and responded, "Good to know. After all, it is our third date." She then bounded off toward the bank of machines leaving him staring after her in awe.