CHAPTER NINE - FIRST DATE JITTERS

"FOR THE LAST TIME! THAT'S NOT WHAT WAS GOING ON!" both ami and Aaron were blocking Liz's path out of the locker room. they had spent the entire time they were getting changed arguing that they hadn't been getting it on.

"look guys, just admit it you guys were caught in the act." Liz was using the aloof tone of somebody who was planning on blackmailing somebody.

"i swear to god Liz," Aaron threatened, "i'm so close to breaking you jaw just so the two of us don't need to hear about what you thought you saw!"

"come on Luca, you understand that we're telling the truth, right?" ami pleaded with her cat

the cat meowed

"not you too!"

a knock on the door and Andre's voice broke the conversation, "you guys alright in there? what's keeping you?"

Liz strode out of the room, "other than these two getting it on, we're good to go."

"WE WERE NOT GETTING IT ON!" they denied a little too loudly as one of the writers for IGP Weekly was walking out the main door. or at least he was until he heard that. he ran up to Liz, demanding all the juicy details.

"oh god no!" Aaron knew what was coming. "thats gonna be in before the final editing tommorrow. thats coming out on monday."

"its worse for me," Ami's heart sunk, "my dad is going to find out about that."

"well, hey...um, do you wanna go out tonight?"

Ami blushed slightly, this was the first time she had been asked out. her head screamed the answer that she barely said aloud, "yes."

Andre allowed himself a smile, that was about as innocent as it got. so either they were awesome actors, or Liz really did get it wrong. as soon as he stepped out of the hallway, the reporter moved from Liz to the Coach.

Aaron and Ami took this as an opportunity to sneak around the reporter, pantomiming their thanks to their coach. they took off running as the reporter called after them as they exited the building. they agreed to meet back at the team building in an hour and a half.

Aaron jogged home, his euphoria from the entire day thus far causing him to feel no pain from his side. he unlocked the door and found a note, 'out shopping, jeff is at the bar, and Mike went to a friend's place. -Mom'. "score! now i don't have to talk to anybody about my plans tonight!" he jumped into the shower and washed up, then walked into his room and found his nice pair of olive slacks and his brown-ish oxford. everybody said he looks good in that get up, but he always had a nagging in the back of his mind that nobody could find him in the woods if he was wearing that outfit. he went into his Mom's room, even though Jeff used it to, he refused to acknoledge anything as his step-father's. he knew that Jeff kept a colonge on the closet, when he found it, he put a couple drops on, careful not to overdo it.

he was ready, and all of a sudden he was way nervous. he knew everything was in place, but he felt the need to check everything multiple times. house keys in left pocket? check. wallet in back right pocket? check. phone in back left? check. money in wallet? check. is it enough? probably. plans? ...crap... Aaron had no idea what they were gonna do!

he left the house and locked the door behind him. he was deep in thought as he walked down the street, "what can we do? obviously, i'm gonna treat her to dinner, but what else?" it didn't hit him until he passed the building with the scrolling news-reel. 'summer firworks festival tonight!' ... "yeah, that'll be perfect."

He'd arrived a little early, so he sat down in the bench and waited. Jess came out of the building after a few minutes, "Aaron, you did awesome today!"

"huh?" Aaron looked over his shoulder and saw the slightly older girl approach him, "oh, thanks Jess."

"what are you doing here? i thought you'd be out celebrating tonight."

"i've got a date tonight."

"oh. with Ami right? ...um is it true, what Liz is saying?"

"no," Aaron was suprised that he didn't freak out that Liz had alread started spreading the rumor. "my injury flared up and i fell over, Ami was just checking to make sure i was ok."

"ok..." it was appearent that Jess wasn't completly convinced, but the answer was satisfactory.

"so, why are you here?" Aaron found himself thankful to have someone to pass the time with instead of just waiting nervously.

"i had a little paperwork to do."

"ok, i take it you're heading out then?"

"yeah, i've actually got a date too."

"not suprising," Aaron thought, "Jess is really cute. of course she'd have guys interested."

"well, looks like its my time to go," Jess nodded down the street, "good luck." with that, she left.

Aaron turned to see Ami standing in front of the building in a light purple dress, appearently his comment about lavender wasn't a complete mistake. she had a nervous smile on her face, silently asking what he thought, the smile was accentuated slightly by the rouge she wore. Aaron stood up and walked up to her, "you look great, Ami."

she gave a nervous laugh, "thanks. so, what's the plan tonight?"

"i thought i'd let you pick where we have dinner. then after that, we can head down to the Fireworks Festival. that sound good to you?"

"sure, i like that. and i know a place nearby thats got good food."