. . .

Chapter Three

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Optimus walked across the street, his better judgement screaming at him in the back of his head but he ignored himself. He found himself in front of a clothing shop. He didn't step inside, but he knew that Jen was in its confides. He took a step back and paused, shaking his head and wondered what he was doing. Looking around, he watched silently as people walked by, unsuspected of the fraud human among them. Their tranquility captivated him. The restaurant next door had set its tables outside and an elderly couple sat across each other, content without words. A child ran on the other side of the street, excited about a bird she saw and was trying to chase, her parents walking calmly behind. He knew he shouldn't be there. He should be back at the base, working to protect them, not walk among them. He was about to leave when he heard Jen's voice.

"Ryan, what are you doing here?" She walked out of the shop. He turned around to face her.

"The book store was closed." He said.

"Yeah, I don't open it until twelve on weekends." She shrugged. In her hands she held a pair of sun glasses with the tag still on them. "I mean, I won't be there today anyways, I take weekends off for myself, but if you really want to read something just tell Earl that I said it was okay for you to hang around."

"Oh, no that's alright. Maybe I'll come by another time." He knew he needed to stop going there anyways. He decided this would be the last time he talked to Jen. He was about to say goodbye to her, but she roped him in again before he could.

"Do you have any other plans for the day?" She asked.

"No." He answered honestly.

"Well, would you like to get a coffee? With me I mean?" She asked the question in a fluster, cheeks flushed and eyes fluttering away and then to him a few times. Optimus blinked. Jack had told the 'bots about this one time before, where he was elaborating on different ways to ask out his crush, Sierra. Was this human interested in him as Jack was interested in the girl at his school?

"Are you asking me out on a date?" He furrowed his brows.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry." She became embarrassed with his question. "Yes I was, but I mean, it's okay if you don't want to, I just thought, well, I mean-" She struggled with her words as she had interpreted his confusion to mean he had turned her down.

"Oh um," He had a brief thought to finish it now, end what she thought they had and what even himself felt, but he didn't. "Yes, I would like to do that, get coffee."

"Really?" She smiled at him and then gave a post nervous laugh. "Alright, well, do you want to do that now, or . . ."

"Now is fine." He nodded.

"Okay." She said happily surprised.

They walked to a coffee shop a couple blocks away. Worried his hologram would start to loose connection as he sent it further and further away, he drove slowly around the vicinity, keeping his distance but never far enough away so that he was too far. He kept up with the flow of traffic instead of driving slowly, and drove around the same block multiple times before moving on to the next. No one seemed to notice this oddity, after all, many semi-trucks drove through Jasper as it was the only town for many miles off of the freeway next to it. This was a place for travelers to stop and get gas, eat food, and stay the night.

Jens interest in him had been obvious, and perhaps he had unknowing left hints for her to see that he felt the same way. Maybe it was that he refused to go if she wasn't going to be there today. He wasn't displeased that she enjoyed his company, but he just found it odd. For all the humans he knew and was around daily, he still felt he understood them very poorly, especially compared to the other members of his team. He decided that Jen could be good for him in this way, she could unwittingly teach him about her kind.

She was awfully pretty as far as he could tell. Her hair was down today and it swayed and flowed around her shoulders. She had on a floral dress, and a large purse for a bag. The sunglasses she had just bought made a nice addition to her look as well. Optimus wondered if she noticed he was wearing the same outfit as he had before, not that he could change it easily without scanning new items to create a code for it. Hers changed each time he saw her.

When they arrived at the coffee shop Optimus realized that he had made a mistake. The hologram couldn't touch liquid. The electrical charges that made up the hologram couldn't stand the great conductor that was water and it would begin to fritz if he came in contact with it.

"What do you want? My treat." She offered as she stared at the menu board above their heads.

"I shouldn't actually." He said.

"Is something wrong?" She asked.

"No, no." He thought for a brief moment for an excuse. "Dietary restrictions." Was what he came up with.

"Oh, are you sure? Is there anything you can have?" He could tell she was uncomfortable with the situation.

"It's fine, really." He reassured her. Jen seemed worried for a moment, as if he was refusing her again, but then accepted his answer and ordered something for herself instead. They sat down at a window seat. He parked his real self just outside on the opposite side of street and a little further up so he was out of view from her.

"So, Ryan, what do you do for a living?" She asked.

"I drive a semi." He figured that if he mentioned it now it wouldn't seem odd to her to see him get in its cab.

"Oh, is that why I didn't see you all this last week?"

"Yes. It was an out of state job." He answered.

"Do you like it?"

"Yes, it's taken me many places."

"Military man, truck driver, history enthusiast. You certainly are well rounded." She laughed. "Can I ask what you did in the army?"

"I'm afraid not." He decided it was best not to go into that.

"That's alright." She nodded her head understandingly. "I'm not a fan of war anyways."

"Neither am I." He said.

Their date continued with more small talk as such. The guilt of it nagged in the back of his mind, but he continued to ignore it. This was good for him. He missed doing things like this on Cybertron. Jen was charming in her own way. Her nervous smile and small laugh was nice to look at and to listen to. There was no mortal danger here, only life. They talked about books for most of it. She kept suggesting different historical literature for him. He was impressed at how much she knew.

"I've read just about every book in that store." She commented at one point.

"Before I enlisted in the military I actually worked as an archivist." He offered her a true aspect of his life.

"Really?" She seemed impressed. "Explains the love of history. But why not go back to that?"

"I would like to, but I probably won't be able to go back to it." He looked out the window and at a passing car. Jen followed her eyes, but didn't see what he was looking at with his far away stare so she looked back to him and didn't ask more about it.

"What about you? Have you always been at the book store?" He flipped the questions on her.

"No. I opened it a few years ago. Before that I was just doing odd jobs where ever I could find work. Nothing interesting."

Soon they had been in the café for an hour and decided to leave. Jen wrote her number on a napkin and handed it to him.

"Here, in case you want to do this again." She smiled. "I had fun."

"As did I." He took the note from her.

As she walked away Optimus stared at the paper with the numbers written neatly on it and wondered what he was doing.

. . .

I figured I try to make this like a really normal relationship from Jen's perspective. Nothing odd, just another person she's dated. The only odd part is Optimus's thoughts on it. I read all these fanfics (that I love) where Optimus meets someone and they know each other for a long time before things start get moving, but if I figure, if he were human then why not just start it with a normal date? Seems reasonable to me. I don't know, give me your thoughts on it.