At the Duck Pond

Arthur had no idea why Francine asked him to meet her at the duck pond, and he didn't know why she insisted h bring a bag of bread. He was fourteen and fighting hard to understand this whole high school thing, and now his best friend since grade school was acting weird. Her demands and wording made it clear that she was planning something, but what exactly?

Arthur entered the fenced in area around five-thirty. It was getting late and the setting sun blinded him until he turned towards the gazebo on the eastern side of the pond. He could see Francine's favorite red sweater as she paced the wooden floor. She looked nervous, but Arthur had no idea why she would be acting like that.

He stepped onto the gazebo, his shoes thudding the wood and echoing through the covered space. Francine stopped pacing, but her cheeks were flushed. Her eyes reminded Arthur of some of the hunting videos his grandpa had showed him, and not in a good way.

"Francine, what's wrong? You look terrified," Arthur grinned nervously. He was trying to diffuse the situation, but she seemed to look even worse. Arthur took her hand and led her to the closest bench, "Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong, I just...I have to do this before it's too late. High school is a crazy place, and I just feel like I'm losing you already. I don't care what happens, but I have to tell you everything," she said quickly with a frantic tone. "I like you, Arthur, and I have forever. Well since sixth grade when I starting caring about such things. I want us to try to be more than friends, Arthur. I want you to be my boyfriend, and I want this duck pond to be our first date, right now."

Arthur was floored but he had a goofy smile on his lips, "I just...I had no clue you felt the same way. I tried just burying everything and that's been working so far, but...let's walk around the pond before it gets dark. I brought the bread like you asked," he said, showing her the loaf in his other hand.

Relief spread across their faces. They were finally being honest with their feelings, and it just happened to be that they felt the same way about each other. They walked around the pond, which glared orange because of the sunset. The ducks quacked and swam around, following the new couple around the pond's walking path as they tore pieces together and left them behind.

When the bread was gone they interlaced their fingers, and Arthur walked Francine home. They didn't talk much, but they didn't have to. Good friends turned lovers didn't have to say much of anything at all.

~End

Theme 241: Orange (Theme from my Updated Infinite Arthur Theme List. See my deviantArt profile for the list). One-shot 14 of 100 for 2017.

This is for my new one-shot series Date Night. Each piece will be in this entry, so be sure to follow for future pieces. Also for more adventurous readers, I'm also going to do a Date Nights: Hot Nights series for M-rated pieces. I'm accepting requests/suggestions for both, so let me know who you want to see on a date, or if you have a particular date in mind. I'm also open to gay/lesbian pairings, and I'd love to do pieces with some of the adults too. Please note anything smexual will be between consenting adults, which in my area is 17 and up. No incest but I'm game for some mixed generations and wild stuff. Please contact me via PM for those requests.

Some notes about the pairings: I'm just doing sweet romance pieces and the pairings don't matter to me. ArCine just happened to be the first chapter, but subsequent pieces might have others in it. I don't care who ends up with whom, I'm just writing stories. With that in mind, you can give me whatever suggestions you want and I'll use them, within reason.