Flames of Love

Disclaimer: Don't own Shake it Up.

A/N: So, this is going to follow a secret relationship, and will follow the series. Loosely. Please, enjoy the story!


Chapter 3 (The First Date)

Six o'clock, Gunther was making his way towards his favorite hideaway spot. When he cut through the trees, he saw Cece standing before the lake, her back turned to him. She had a long red dress with a pleated bottom that flowed out past her knees. She had laced shoulder straps and a V-shaped collar. Her hair flowed over her shoulders. She turned around and faced him, her chocolate eyes reveled onto his outfit.

He was wearing a black suit with a blue button up shirt and black tie with diagonal silver stripes going along the length of the tie. He wore black slacks and black dress shoes. He was hoping it wasn't too much for the restaurant. He couldn't take his eyes off her, she was a true beauty. "You look so beautiful…" Her cheeks reddened and she smiled pleasantly at him, meeting his eyes.

"You're very handsome. You clean up nicely, Gunther." She moved towards him and brought her hands to his tie. "Your tie is a little crooked. Here…" He lifted his eyebrows and smiled as she straightened his tie a bit and pulled it a tad tighter. "Did your family see you in this?"

"Not really…" He had folded his clothes up and pushed them into his backpack. He left wearing the outfit Tinka chose for him, stopped off at some gas station and changed his outfit in the bathroom. "I had to change after leaving the house. You have a nice afternoon so far?"

"It was fun. Hung out at the mall with Rocky. Went home and spent some time with Mom and Flynn, got dressed and slipped out. Anyway, this is a good first impression…I have to say, I was mildly expecting you to show up with some flashy formalwear." His lip curled into a mild smirk and he took her hand in his.

"I guess I'm full of surprises tonight."

"No sock puppets, right?" He laughed in return and watched her lips curl upwards. "Lead the way."

"Definitely no sock puppets." He led her back out onto the trail and began walking along, gazing at the trees. She closed her hand with his, making the blood rush up to his cheeks. Her hand was soft, warm, like a sweet kiss upon him. He was glad she wasn't pulling away from him, but just a little surprised. "You know. When you said you felt something, a spark…" She turned her gaze up to him, her auburn curls bounced with her nod.

"I was being honest. I have to admit, as much as you and your sister kind of gave us the creeps, there were some times when I thought you were very cute. I even thought about what it would be like to dance in your arms…" Her cheeks turned to a blush and his heart rose up, she was the first girl to admit that she actually liked him despite the embarrassing outfits. "I mean I have seen you when you weren't around Tinka, and I know you can act yourself whether or not you're with her, so it's not constant…and the way you talk, the way you dance, there's just something about you that pulls me in a little."

"Really?"

"Yeah." He beamed for joy and watched her brush her hand through her hair, tucking it behind her ear. The wind blew the leaves around their feet as they walked, and cooled their faces. "You know. You were right, that little alcove really is nice. I can see it as a great place to meet up. Plus I love the hiking trails here."

"You do? Maybe we could walk it someday." She hummed and lifted her shoulders.

"I'd like that." The two made their way towards the street outside the park where Gunther had a taxicab waiting for them. He quickly reached over to the side door and opened it for Cece. She smiled appreciatively and slid into the car. He hurried to the other side and entered. Once in, the driver started off, already knowing where to go, as Gunther already told the driver before. "Such a gentleman."

"Well, my mother did always tell me to treat a woman with respect."

"Huh, that's good, she raised you right apparently. So tell me a little about where we're going, any hints?" She poked his side and gazed hopefully. "I've been trying to guess all day." He laughed and flashed a huge grin.

"It's still a surprise, but my parents went there for their anniversary. You'll enjoy it, I'm sure. And no, it isn't the Olive Pit." Cece laughed nervously. He remembered hearing about that whole meatball experience, surely someone would have to have had some problems with eating that huge thing.

"Rocky's always been a vegetarian, but that right there made her hate meat even more, unfortunately." She turned her gaze towards the glossy window and started humming to herself. "So Gunther, tell me a little more about yourself. I don't mean to make the date seem like an interview, but, I just want to get to know you."

"Isn't that what dates are for?"

"True, they are."

"Well in that case, my favorite color is blue, and Frank Sinatra is my favorite classic singer." Her eyebrows shot up and she quickly glanced at him.

"I love Sinatra."

"Some of the old singers like the Rat Pack, Johnny Cash, and so forth…they're all great. When you get to the more modern music, I really enjoy rock music more than anything. Led Zepplin, anything with Skillet or Nickelback, anything I can relate two is great. The songs that speak to me are the ones that are important."

"Skillet is awesome. I love pop, singers like Beyonce, but I really do enjoy rock music. Three Days Grace, Simple Plan, and so forth. There are a few country singers I like, even. As for my favorite color, I'm more partial to red than anything else."

"Goes well with your hair." Cece's eyebrows lifted once more. She moved her hands to her lap and smiled slightly.

"Thank you. Usually you don't compliment my hair."

"Truthfully?" He moved his eyes along her vibrant curls and lifted his eyebrows. "I think you have great hair. I love the curls, the way it frames your face, and no matter how you wear it, it's beautiful." He wasn't sure where the courage to say these things was coming from, but he just felt like speaking his mind. Now was the time to be honest with her, to woo her. He saw her blush deepen and slowly lifted his hand to her hair. He tucked her hair between his index and middle finger and slowly guided his hand down the strand. Her hair was soft as silk, and smelled of lavender. Though, the scent of magnolias drifted to his nostrils, lulling him into a peaceful state of mind. Her blush grew and he slowly pulled his hand back. "You smell very nice, like Magnolia and lavender."

"Well…I used a lavender scented shampoo. The perfume I have is a magnolia fragrance. Usually I either have that, or a peach blossom perfume. I went with magnolia because it's a lighter fragrance than the other one. You like it?"

"Very much."

"I'm glad." He glanced out the windshield and grinned as they came up onto the restaurant. Cece moved her eyes over and gasped. "Oh my god, seriously? Geja's? I've always wanted to come here!" Now there was a surprise, he never knew she'd given this place any thought before. He was proud of himself, and hopefully, he was going about this date the right way.

Once he paid the cab driver, he opened the door for Cece and walked with her to the restaurant. The hostess led them to a private booth, which was almost like their own room with a long curtain in the doorway. It was a small square room with a velvet booth that framed the back and side walls, and a oak table in the middle. In the center was a red fondue pot. In front of them were the menus and silverware.

"Gunther, you surprise me, this is pretty big for a first date."

"I figure the more I wanted to show you how I felt, the bigger the first date ought to be. It isn't too much, is it?"

"No of course not, I'm just…I'm stunned." That's what he was hoping for. He wanted to leave a lasting impression, he wanted a second date, and then a third, and maybe, hopefully, a relationship could form. "No one's ever done something like this for me. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly the best girl at the school. Nothing special."

"You…" He took a momentary pause and lifted up his menu. He opened it and looked inside, hoping he could cover any nervousness and keep from choking up. "You are to me. I wanted you to know that I'm not just saying the things I say, I mean them. I know I'm not exactly rich, and this is going to take a good chunk out of my allowance, but Cece, it's worth it…"

"I'm…sure you could have better things to spend your money and time on than me."

"Not really."

"I didn't know it was so important to you. I guess I can see how it would be hard to show it sometimes, but still…you should show it more often."

"Yeah, not so easy, but I will. I don't want to let anyone ruin this."

"So then don't. Just, assuming we date again, could you choose something less expensive?" She was reading the menu, her expression was near terrified, as the prices for the menu options were deathly expensive. "You don't need to spend a lot of money to treat a girl nicely and take her out. I'm not the kind of girl who wants a guy spending a fortune on me."

"I'll keep that in mind next time." He smiled tenaciously and nearly leapt for joy. She just implied that she might consider a second date. Now all he had to do was make sure everything else on this first date was perfect, he truly did want to take her out again. "Maybe that second date, you and I can go walk through that hiking trail. It runs all around the park, about a five mile trek."

"Now that sounds nice, and I have a really good outfit for that." She looked up from the menu with a perky grin. "Do you like to jog? I actually do jog around the park sometimes. Rocky isn't the jogging type, so she's never with me then, and it gets kind of lonely sometimes."

"Jogging? Yeah sure." She smirked skeptically as he slowly eyed the menu. He actually hadn't jogged in quite some time, but fortunately his lung capacity was strong as were his legs, due to his dancing. "I could probably get back into shape."

"I'll whip you into shape if I must." He smiled as her infectious laugh tantalized his eardrums. A waitress entered and greet them with a friendly smile and a suggestion of personal recommendations. The two decided, rather than buy off the expensive side of the menu, the Premier Fondue Dinners, that they would order off the cheaper menu and save costs. They went for two separate fondues, making it the more the merrier. Cece took the thirteen dollar Flaming Chocolate Fondue, which was described as being flamed with orange liqueur and served with strawberries, apples, bananas, pineapple, graham cracker crumbs, pound cake, and marshmallows for roasting. All these were to dip in a sweet, hot chocolate sauce that would be on constant flame.

Gunther ordered the Cheese Fondue for fourteen dollars. For dipping: red and golden apple wedges, sweet grapes, French pumpernickel and pretzel breads. Included with the meal was Geja's choice salad.

When the food and fondues came, they were delighted to try it. The conversation they had consisted mainly of the food and sauce, jokes and debates on which item tasted better with either the Cheese or the Chocolate fondue. At some point of time, they both had fondue on their faces, in which they literally cleaned the sauce away from the other person with their fingers and tasted it. They laughed through the evening, and when the food was all gone, they were a bit sad as they knew the date was going to have to come to a close.

Instead of getting another taxi, in which case Gunther just couldn't wait to start driving one day, they walked to Cece's home. "So how are you going to explain to your mom about your dress?" Cece lifted her shoulders and peered down at her dress.

"Well Mom's at work and Flynn's over at his new best friend, Henry's home. That leaves me ample time to clean up and get changed. How about you?" He clung to his backpack strap over his shoulder, it had been in the taxicab earlier, but now he didn't have anywhere to put it. "Do you plan on changing before getting home?"

"Yeah, and I don't think I'll have an issue with my family thinking anything." He paid with cash, so his parents were less likely to see the restaurant on his debit card. He could easily stop off at a gas station somewhere and get changed, so there was no worry there. He was a little worried about getting jumped in such an outfit, and at such a late hour at night, but he didn't think there was anything to truly worry about.

When they arrived to her house, they stood in front of the door, gazing into each other's eyes. She was glowing, her eyes were lit up and her cheekbones were higher than usual. A sure sign she enjoyed the date. "So I had fun tonight. If you were trying to impress me, you did." His heart leapt and his lips curved into a goofy grin. She chuckled and closed her eyes. "Thank you, Gunther. I really did have a great time."

"So, would you like a second date?" He'd be sure to woo her then as well. He wanted to keep it up. As he gazed upon her fiery hair breezing in the wind, and her curvy red lips, he found himself wanting to kiss her, but held back. It wasn't appropriate to kiss on the first date. She lifted her eyelids halfway and gazed at his lips.

"Yeah, I would love that. What do you have in mind?"

"Well maybe next Saturday, we could meet in the park and jog the trail." She hummed and gently tapped her chin.

"I like the sound of that. Maybe a picnic afterwards or beforehand?"

"That sounds like a great idea. So then, next Saturday? Five or six?"

"If we're going to do this in secret, I'll have to make sure I can figure a way to get that time block clear, but I see no problems with that at all." Saturdays were a great time to have these dates, because anyone could be doing anything on the weekend. They weren't busy with schoolwork, the show, or anything else for that matter. "So…what do we do during the week? Act like we despise each other?" Well he definitely didn't hate her, but going a whole week seemed like it would be hell.

"Only when in the presence of Rocky and Tinka. Maybe Ty and Deuce also…I think any other times we're together, we don't have to act like that. I mean, I actually like you."

"So do I, and I can't wait for the next date." Her words turned him to putty, he wanted to faint on the spot due to the happiness he felt. She wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him close. He moved his arms around her and inhaled her sweet scent. "I'll talk to you later." She stepped back and rested her hand softly on the doorknob. She gazed at him, giving him a tender smile. "Thanks again for a great night. Had a lot of fun."

"Me too." In a swift move, she reached over and kissed his cheek. He froze, his eyes widened in astonishment and shock, and his pulse shot through the roof. He felt as though he just shot into the sky like a rocket, and was now falling slowly, descending upon a bed of clouds. He slowly moved his hand to his cheek, where the kiss seemed to be sparking with electricity. He met Cece's jovial eyes and chuckled nervously, stuttering to say something intelligent. Nothing came out. She chuckled and slowly opened her door.

"Until next time, Gunther."

"Y-Yeah…" He remained frozen on his stoop, long after she was in the house. After a few minutes, he shook himself back into reality and started to stumble down the steps to the ground. After recovering his balance, he tugged on his jacket and exhaled. It was time to get home, and he was certain that he would not be forgetting about what just happened for the rest of the night. "C-Cece Jones just kissed me…" He walked aimlessly for a few steps, then stopped to let out an immaculate cheer.


This'll probably be the last date in Gunther's perspective. I'll be using Cece's more throughout the story, since it is better that way. Hopefully you've enjoyed this chapter, and it looks like he got himself a second date. Of course, Cece's a much more simple girl, so no need to spend a whole lot of money