Samuel Holt yawned as he made his way to the break room's coffee dispenser. He loved coffee, and lately, with his young son Matt full of energy, Sam had found it a good idea to keep himself well-caffeinated throughout the day so he could keep up with the energetic toddler when he came home from work.

He turned around, coffee mug in hand, and bumped into someone standing nearby.

"Oh, sorry, caffeine hasn't kicked in yet…"

His friend Kenneth rolled a shoulder in a 'it's fine' gesture and began pouring his own cup of coffee.

"Uh…Sam…do you have any…ideas…about what kind of food Mae likes?"

Sam blinked and took a sip of his coffee before answering.

"I mean…I know Colleen's been friends with her for several years, but…uh…"

Then Sam saw how Kenneth seemed to be - almost nervous - stars -

Sam felt a giant, gleeful smile cross his face as he took another sip of glorious caffeine.

"You finally asked her out, didn't you?"

Kenneth seemed to twitch nervously. "Yes. I think. I mean, I asked her if she wanted to go eat somewhere and she said that sounded like fun so I think that's a yes-"

Sam laughed and waved a hand, indicating that Kenneth should walk with him as they headed into work together.

"Okay, okay," Sam said as they started walking. "So…uh…food…I hear there's a great place in town that serves cherries jubilee…"

Mae looked around, saw that everyone else in the department was busy with their work, and tried to peep over the top of the cubicle wall that separated her desk from her friend's.

"Psst!"

There was no reply.

Mae wrinkled her nose in a half-irritated gesture and kicked her rolling chair so it rolled slightly away from her desk. Frowning, she kicked again, and her chair rolled completely away from her desk, so that now she was right next to the small opening in the thin wall. She leaned to one side, her long dark hair falling over one shoulder, and peered into her best friend's cubicle.

"Earth to Colleen! Come in, Colleen!"

There was a fond sigh, and then Colleen Holt turned her head away from her computer to look back at Mae. She only came in a few times a week now, as she had switched her hours to part-time once she and Sam had had their son Matt about a year ago, but Colleen and Mae still spoke about almost everything, and had been good friends since they had first met as students.

"Yes, Mae, what is - oh no. Nononononono, Mae, we are not trying to prank Iverson again -"

Colleen's voice was low, but Mae could tell her friend was really, really not excited about this prospect, but Mae waved her hand airily and said, "Oh, that's not something I'm going to try again anytime soon - stars, that man has no sense of humor - but listen, I wanted to ask you something."

Colleen saved the document she was working on, stood up, and came to stand by the dividing wall of the cubicle. Mae sent her own chair spinning in a circle and ended back at her desk and grinned mischievously up at Colleen as she sat back in her chair again, crossing her arms across her chest in that relaxed way she always did. Colleen leaned over the top of the cubicle wall and steepled her fingers together and put on a serious expression. Mae noticed and raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Hey Colleen. Watcha doin'?"

"I'm making it look like we're having a meeting."

Mae smirked and nodded. "Oh, nice."

Colleen allowed herself a quick wink and a smile back at her friend. "All right, so, what did you want to ask me?"

Mae, if possible, was smirking even wider now. "Okay. So try not to freak out…but Kenneth asked me if I'd go out to dinner with him tonight - but I have no idea what I should wear."

Colleen grinned for a second, and she seemed genuinely pleased. "Oh, that's lovely, Mae. Hmm….as for what to wear…do you know where he's taking you?"

Mae shrugged her shoulders, her face creasing into a slight frown. "I mean, I think he wants it to be a surprise, but I mean, what do I wear? A dress? Or would that be too formal? I don't want to make it seem like I'm only expecting something way over the top-"

When Colleen chuckled, Mae humorously contorted her face into a 'stop laughing this is a life or death situation' look that only sent Colleen into further suppressed snorts of laughter. Then familiar footsteps sounded nearby, and Colleen immediately had to grab a nearby folder and bury her face in it, making 'mmhmm' and murmured things like 'fascinating' and 'ah, yes, I see' as Iverson passed nearby.

It would have been slightly more convincing if the folder had been right side up.

Mae had turned her chair back to her computer as she'd heard him come by, but as he vanished around the corner, she chanced another peek out of her cubicle door as he rounded a corner and vanished from sight.

"It's not like I think Iverson can't be nice," she said as Colleen brought the folder down again, "-it's just that I think I annoy him or something. I'm not sure why…"

Colleen sighed and tapped the folder on the wall to straighten some of the papers out. In her haste to snatch up the file, some of them had been disarranged.

"Well, thankfully that's not the case with most people. As for what you should wear, maybe go with something that's comfortable, but cute. Like that nice red sundress you got last month on our girls day out. I really liked that look on you."

Mae brightened visibly. "You're right! I think that could be nice enough for any place we go to, because it's fun and wouldn't seem over the top if we go somewhere - you know - simpler - hmm - let's see - and I could just wear my hair long - it never stays up anyway, no matter what I do -"

Colleen smiled to herself as she watched her friend continue to list things off on her fingers.

"Ooooooh, and I can wear those gold sandals - tehehehehe - Colleen, did you know Kenneth's last name 'Kogane' means 'gold'? You know what, it's too perfect, I'm just going to do it - he'll think it's hilarious -"

Colleen chuckled. "I think that's really neat, Mae. I'm sure you're going to have a wonderful time."

Later that evening

They both looked at the burning building. Kenneth let out a thoughtful grunt and glanced over at Mae. Her hair was singed, but she didn't seem terribly phased.

"As strange as this sounds," she said, flicking soot off her shoulder. "this is not the worst first date I've had."

She saw Kenneth look down at her with a 'Really?' kind of look, and she amended her statement.

"Well, all right, this is the first time the restaurant was set on fire by a dessert, but still, I've had way stranger things happen."

She grinned back up Kenneth and took hold of his arm. "And anyway, time with you is nice, fire or no fire."

Kenneth sighed again and looked back at the burning building. "To be honest," he said, "I'm not sure what the protocol is…for…this now…you know…since the building's on fire..."

Mae pointed over to a large poster a few blocks over. "Well, we could try the movies," she said. "I think they're doing a Star Wars marathon."

Kenneth nodded and they turned and started walking. "So…it's a military movie…set in space?" he asked, and Mae stifled a smile.

"…sort of…" she said. She beamed up at him again. "But I really think you're going to enjoy it."

He shrugged amiably.

"Sounds good. Um...just how much do you think I'm going to enjoy it?"

She slid one arm around his as they walked.

"Oh, it's got lots of cool stuff - and there's a smuggler - and crazy battle tactics - and it's about how your choices make who you are -"

As they reached the movie theater, she saw him nodding.

"Yeah. That does sound good."