Hello! I have returned! RisingStarlight is back with chapter 4 of "Friend Date!"

Thank you again for the positive feedback for this story, and I hope you find this chapter enjoyable!

Chapter 4—Getting Ready

The house door slammed open.

Carol jolted up from the living room couch, startled. In came K.O., sopping wet.

"K.O.!" she shouted.

"Hi, Mommy…" he groaned.

Carol turned off the TV and rushed to hug him. "W-What happened to you? Why are you all wet?" she asked, frantic. Then she groaned with irritation. "It was Crinkly Wrinkly, wasn't it…He needs to quit it with fix

those hose attacks!"

Then Carol noticed K.O.'s extremely pouty, teary face.

"Aww, sweetie, what's wrong?" she asked. She carried her son over to the couch and sat down, plopping him next to her. "Let's talk about it."

"W-well, I have a problem, Mommy..." K.O. murmured.

Carol gasped. "What is it? Someone's bothering you at school? Or is it Boxman again?"

"No, no, no!" K.O. shouted, shrinking beneath his mother's fiery glare. "I-It's actually a different kind of problem. About...romance."

Carol's eyes widened. "Oh!" she said, after a brief pause. "Okay...Well, K.O., tell me what your problem is about...romance."

"Well, I've been thinking...is it possible for you to go Chez Romantique with just a friend?"

K.O. opened his eyes after hearing no response. His mother was giving him a look mixed with surprise and confusion.

"I-I don't just mean 'go with just a friend,'" he added, "I mean the friend likes you and thinks that you're the one for them, but you don't really like the friend back in that kind of way, but you really really don't want to hurt the friend's feelings and ruin the friendship you have, and—"

Carol broke into laughter at her son, who was now beginning to blush. "K.O., of course you can go with a friend to Chez Romantique!"

K.O.'s face lit up. "Really? Whew, what a huge relief—"

"But there's something guaranteed for sure!"

K.O. turned to his mother, who now gave him a big grin.

"You don't leave as friends!" she said, "Or at least not in the same way you were friends before."

"R-Really?"

Carol nodded. "Sometimes, you may think you're just friends with someone until you realize what you feel is more than that. I think a date at Chez Romantique can help you figure that out. It's really an amazing restaurant."

"Oh..." K.O. said quietly.

Carol let out another laugh. "You know your father and I went to Chez Romantique?" she said.

"What?! No way!" K.O. shouted.

"Yeah, we went when we were a little older than you are now. Now, your father didn't like me very much in the beginning, but after we went on a date at Chez Romantique, everything clicked. And then we both knew how we felt about each other."

K.O. mulled over his mother's words in silence. "But...what if you tried really hard to stay friends with someone—even if you go to Chez Romantique with them?"

"Hmmmm," Carol thought, placing a finger on her chin. "Well, I guess if you tried hard enough, you could leave with your relationship intact."

"Yes! Thanks, Mom!" K.O. cheered, springing off the couch. "Now I feel a little better about my date with Dendy tonight at Chez Romantique!"

"Oh, that's nice, K.O..," Carol chuckled, "I'm glad I could—DATE WITH DENDY?!" she bellowed. "AT CHEZ ROMANTIQUE?!"

"Mm-hmm!" K.O. nodded, heading upstairs.

"What? How did you even get reservations—Was it those tickets in the mail you got yesterday?! K.O., WAIT!"

Too, late, he was already in his bedroom.

Carol groaned with dismay as she slumped back onto the couch, tears wiggling down her cheeks.

His spirits sank as soon he stared at his closet.

"Aww, man, I have no idea what to wear…" K.O. groaned.

Then the doorbell rang downstairs. Soon after, slow footsteps pounded upstairs towards his room.

K.O. stiffened. He faced his bedroom door and raised his fists.

The door opened, and behind it was a smiling Radicles.

"Hey, little dude!"

"Rad!" K.O. greeted, dropping his stance. "What are you doing here?"

"I decided to come help you get ready for your date tonight—you know, to help make sure things work out with you and Dendy and all. You know what you're going to wear?"

"Not at all," K.O. replied.

Then Rad smirked and put his hands on his hips. "And that's why you're very fortunate to have the dating master in your presence! Enid thinks I know nothing about high fashion, but believe me, you will look so great on this date—"
He froze when he opened K.O.'s closet.

On the hanger rack were countless white tank tops and blue shorts, and above on a shelf were piles upon piles of purple leg warmers and red sweatbands.

"What the—K.O., this is all you have in your closet? A billion copies of the same outfit?"

K.O. shrugged. "I guess so!"

"And where are your shoes?!"

"What shoes?"

"So that's why you're barefoot all the time," Rad whispered.

Then he delved into K.O.'s closet, pushing through the walls of tank tops and pants in search of clothing. "Come on, there's gotta be something fancy in here…" Rad said. He lazily tossed behind him any comic books and toys in his way, that K.O. dodged frantically.

"Ah-ha! I found something! Try this on for size, little dude!"

K.O. unshielded himself and saw the white button-down shirt in Rad's hands. He took it eagerly and threw it on over his back. Immediately, the shirt squeezed him from behind. K.O. strained to get his hands on the buttons, until his elbows broke through the sleeves with a loud tearing noise.

"It's too small," K.O. uttered. "But I think can fix it!"

He grabbed the damaged left sleeve of his shirt and tugged it clean off, then did the same for the other side.

"Ahh, that's better!"

"Nice," Rad commented to K.O.'s now sleeveless dress shirt.

The alien returned to the closet. Suddenly, his eyes were hit with a bright light, shining from within the stacks of leg warmers. Rad reached for it and realized the light came from a piece of clothing. He pried it out and shook off its layers of dust.

"Hey, K.O., take a look at this."

In Rad's hands was a large gray vest. Three jet black buttons fell down its right side, and on its back was an insignia of a muscular fist embroidered in gold, so realistic it appeared to punch through the fabric itself.

K.O.'s eyes widened once he saw it. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I forgot about this! This is my dad's vest."

Rad froze. "What? Your...dad's?"

K.O. nodded with a smile. "It's funny because my mom was talking to me earlier about a date she went on with my dad, and I think he wore this very vest! I guess I should wear it tonight for the occasion. It's...the only thing I have of his."

Rad looked at K.O. uneasily as he handed him the treasured vest. K.O. hummed to himself as he put it on and buttoned it up. Rad then stooped down to put a red bow-tie around K.O.'s collar.

"Oh, K.O., you are looking super fresh!" Rad cheered.

K.O. turned to look at himself in the mirror. "Whoa!"

His muscles bulged through his sleeveless dress shirt, while his father's vest made him appear to be bold and dangerous. Rad's bowtie also matched with his sweatbands, creating a casual element to his classiness that made up for his lack of shoes.

"Oh, wait, K.O.," Rad said, "There's one more thing you need to complete your look."

Rad proceeded to lick his blue palm vigorously until slobber dripped from his hand, and shoved it through K.O.'s hair. The boy's tall, spiky hair resisted Rad's force, but Rad eventually slicked it back, giving K.O. a pompadour at the top of his head.

"Amazing!" K.O. laughed, eyeing his hairdo in the mirror. "Wow, thanks so much for helping me get ready for tonight, Rad!"

"Ah, don't mention it," Rad replied with a shrug. "Just know that Dendy will find you irresistible in that outfit—which will only ensure that you and her will be bound together forever."

A twinge rose in his chest. "About that, Rad..." K.O. laughed, "I think I'm just going to be normal with Dendy tonight! My mom says if you try really hard, you can go to Chez Romantique with someone as a friend and just stay friends."

Suddenly Rad became cold. He looked away from the boy with uninterested eyes and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"K.O., stop. Don't risk it," he said. "You're better off just being super lovey-dovey tonight."

"What?" K.O. shouted. "But I really don't think it would be fair to Dendy if I acted like something I'm not—"

"Just trust me, K.O.!" he yelled, looming over the boy. "Make Dendy feel special! Give her flowers! Hold her hand! Complement her! All that stuff!"

Rad turned away when he saw the fearful look in K.O.'s eyes. Then he took his phone out from his pocket.

He unlocked the screen and the picture pulled up of Enid and him when they were awkward preteens—Rad skinny as a stick and Enid in her large coat and ninja headband.

"I've learned the hard way that if you don't treat a girl right, you lose her."

"Okay, then. I'll do it," K.O. said quietly. "I'll act lovey-dovey with Dendy tonight."

Rad put his phone away and smiled. "Now that's what I want to hear! Alright, let's go! I'll drive you there."

"Woohoo…" K.O said with a weakly raised fist. He walked alongside Rad as they left his room.

"And remember when you're kissing her to lean to your right."

He stopped in his tracks. Slowly, K.O. turned around, revealing his completely pink face.

"WHAAAT?!" he shrieked.

"Of course you've gotta kiss Dendy on your date tonight!" Rad replied. "That'll show her how you really feel and will make the date go perfectly—guaranteed."

"B-B-B-B-But Rad, I-I-I c-can't—"

"Oh, come on! Let's go! You don't want to be late!"

Rad took the frozen K.O. into his arms and ran downstairs. The boy clutched desperately onto the railing behind him, but he was yanked down to the living room.

"We're off, Ms. K.O.'s mom!" Rad shouted to Carol on the couch.

"Have a nice time!" she responded. "At...Chez Romantique..."

K.O. was still trembling and stuttering when Rad tossed him into his van, now squeezing the bottom of his car seat. Rad put on his seatbelt for him before taking hold of the steering wheel.

"Yeah, K.O-dy!" he shouted with an upraised fist, as he drove down the block. "Or would it be Dend-K.O.? Nah, there's really no cool way to combine your names into a couple shipping..."

The buildup is over! The date will begin in the next chapter.

I was also asked something really interesting—if K.O.'s failed attempts to get rid of the Chez Romantique tickets were initiated by K.O.'s and Dendy's future children! That is a really cool idea that I had never thought of before. I saw K.O.'s situation as more of a series of ridiculous conveniences, but it could be the reason if you believe so! The chapter does not specify.

~RisingStarlight