"Hey," Ric said as he stood in the doorway of the Hunter house the next morning. Mattie and Nat were sitting on the couch.

"Hey, Ric," Nat said. "Come in."

"Thanks," Ric said, coming inside.

"I'm just going to go for that walk," Nat said, getting up and leaving Mattie and Ric alone.

"See ya," Ric said.

Mattie gave her a stare.

"Ah, sit down," she told Ric.

-

As Nat walked down the Hunter driveway, she saw Lucas sitting on his front porch.

"Luke. Hey," she said, walking to the fence.

"Hey," he said, surprised.

"What are you doing?" Nat asked.

"Oh, I was just...sitting," Luke said.

"Do you mind if I come and sit with you? Ric and Mattie are inside and I kind of want to leave them alone," Nat said.

"Oh," Lucas said knowingly. "Yeah. Sure."

"So, I'm guessing you've worked out there's something going on between them," Luke said as she sat down opposite him.

"Oh yeah. And I'd say right now their either sitting awkwardly, or making out on the couch," Nat said with a cheeky grin.

-

"So what are you doing here?" Mattie asked Ric.

"Oh – I just – I wanted to...to come and ask you something," Ric said with a nervous smile, tripping on his words.

"What is it?" Mattie asked, hopefully.

"I wanted to ask...I wanted to ask your advice," Ric said, chickening out. "Is this barbecue tonight a formal thing, like should I wear a shirt, or is it a more t-shirt and thongs kind of barbecue?"

"Oh, um, it's probably like an in-between kind of thing," Mattie said, trying to hide her disappointment. "Maybe like a shirt and thongs kind of occasion," she said with a laugh, even though she knew what she said was incredibly embarrassing.

-

"I'm going to say awkward silence," Luke said. "Ric's gonna chicken out, unless Mattie does something..."

"No. She won't. She's too scared. If something's gonna happen, he's going to have to make the first move."

"God, that's so unfair. Why do the guys always have to make the first move?"

"You don't always make the first move," Nat disagreed.

"I've always made the first move in the relationships I've been in."

"Well then, Lucas, what are you doing for lunch?" Nat asked with a cheeky grin.

-

"Okay. Cool. Thanks for that. That's all I needed to know. I'm just gonna..." Ric said, getting up and heading for the door.

"Alright then. I'll just..." Mattie got up and walked the few steps with him to the door. "I guess I'll just see you tonight then," she said.

"Yeah. Okay. Cool. I'll see ya then," Ric said, giving an awkward wave as he left.

Mattie went back inside, sat down on the couch and let out a huge sigh.

-

Lucas was taken aback.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

Nat shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"

"Um, okay. Yeah, okay, sure. Sounds good," he said, still a little shocked.

"Then it's a date," Nat said with a grin, as she stood up. "I'll see you at 1." And with her grin she walked back to the Hunter house.

Ric and Nat passed each other in the driveway – Nat with her grin, Ric with his frustration at himself.

Ric walked over and sat in the chair Nat had been sitting in, opposite Lucas.

"Well, I completely screwed that up," he said in a huff.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Luke said, unable to wipe the smile off his face.

"I asked her what I should wear to the stupid barbecue tonight. I was like, 'I want to ask you advice'. My God, what the hell was that?!" Ric whined in frustration.

"I think you're just making it too complicated," Luke said.

"What do you mean?"

"If you want to ask her out, just ask her out. It's not that hard."

Ric looked at him in amazement. "What is wrong with you?" he asked.

"Nothing," Luke said with a grin. "I just think if you want to ask her out, ask her out. You know she's going to say yes anyway."

"Nah, nah, it's not nothing. There's something going on with you," Ric said, ignoring Lucas' advice. "What happened? Was Nat just here?"

"She was but that's irrelevant. I just don't think you should be worrying so much about this."

"Something happened. What was it?" Ric asked, "Did you ask her out?"

Lucas shook his head. He'd given up avoiding it.

"Then what?"

"Nothing. We're just going out for lunch, that's all," Luke said coolly.

"What? Is it like, a date?" Ric asked, with a grin.

"Yeah, but it's just like...it's not a real date," he said trying to play it down.

-

"Oh my God!" Matilda squealed. "You asked Lucas out?!"

"Yes, but Mattie shush. He and Ric are right next door. Besides, it's not like a serious date, it's just...well it's hard to explain, but we're just going out for lunch."

Mattie squealed. "Oh my God that's so cute!"

"What? It's not cute. It's just...it's just a date."

"What are you going to wear?!" Mattie asked excitedly.

"I don't know. What I'm wearing now?"

"No, no, no. You can't do that," Mattie said, getting up and rushing into Nat's room. "Don't worry I'll find you something," she said, going through Nat's wardrobe.

"Oooh, I like this," she said, pulling out a black dress.

"Mattie! That's way too good for lunch. Besides that's what I'm wearing tonight," she said.

"Oooh, what about this top?" Mattie said, pulling out a white singlet top with a blue and black swirl design on the front. "And you can wear it with those blue shorts I saw," she said.

"Fine. That's fine," Nat said, unfussed.

-

Lucas stood in front of his wardrobe, looking at his collection of t-shirts. He was trying to decide which would be best for his lunch date with Nat.

He eventually decided on his orange polo with his khaki cargo shorts.

It was 12.56. He wasn't sure where they were meeting – whether she wanted him to come and get her, or if she was going to come over; if they were meeting outside their houses, or if they were meeting down at the Diner. He decided to wait inside a little longer and then make his way outside at around 1.04 – not 1, but not quite 5 past. He thought that would be okay. He didn't know how they did things in the city, but that would be acceptable in Summer Bay.

At 12.58 he had a quick look out the front window, to see if Nat was out there waiting, but she wasn't. He had another look at 1.00 and then again at 1.02 and 1.03, before heading out right as the clock clicked over to 1.04.

He decided to go up to the Hunter house and see if she was ready. He knocked on the door, and Mattie answered with a mischievous grin on her face.

"Hey, Mattie. Is, ah – is Nat here?" he asked.

Her grin widened. "Yeah. She's just in her room," Mattie said, pointing down to Nat's room.

"Okay. Thanks," Luke said. He walked over to Nat's room, which was opposite the front door and had formerly been a doctor's surgery, and knocked.

"Hang on," she called from the other side.

Luke stood waiting for a second before Nat opened the door in the clothes Mattie had picked earlier.

"Okay," she said. "Let's go."

-

A/N: Thank you to those who reviewed! Sorry I take a while to update. But I'm really enjoying writing this fic so I'm glad there are some people out there enjoying it!