Aerith felt ridiculous standing in front of Mario's, waiting for Zack to show up. What on earth could have possessed her to ask him out to dinner, and to Mario's of all places?! It wasn't that fancy, but it was a restaurant that should only be for special occasions, not a random first date! She reached into her purse and pulled out her watch. It was plain and functional, but she wanted to wear a bracelet in its place. He was five minutes late already, and wondering if he got lost, she decided to give him ten more, and then she'd just fly solo for the evening. Her great-aunt Therese was after her constantly to join a convent, which would mean she'd be flying solo for life. There had been quite a few nuns in her family, but the only thing she liked about visiting her were the gardens, and she doubted her escapades with men would be acceptable to the Church. And living in such a insular world didn't appeal to her either. Shrugging her thoughts away, she decided she'd waited long enough and headed inside. If he showed up, fine, if not, she'd still have a nice meal and wouldn't have to dip into her savings to pay for it.

"Can I help you, sir?" the maitre'd asked Zack, looking him over condescendingly.

"Uh, yeah, I'm supposed to meet someone here. Her name is…Aerith." Zack struggled to remember if he had even been told her last name, and then saw her sitting alone. "Oh, there she is. Thanks anyway." he told the man, and hurried to the table. "Hey, sorry I'm late. Car trouble. Oh, um, these are for you." Zack nervously held out the flowers he had gotten from the bodega. Barret's daughter Marlene loved flowers and grew too many, but Barret couldn't bring himself to ask her to stop, so he gave them away. "You look really…nice." he told her. He knew that was lame as soon as he said it, but he didn't know what else to say. She looked so classy that he felt way out of his league.

"Thank you." she took the flowers and admired them for a moment. "And you look like…a fancy mechanic." Aerith hoped that she didn't sound rude, it was obvious he had worn one of his better outfits, but now he was slightly disheveled and there were small grease stains on his shirt. She herself had taken ages to get ready, finally settling on wearing a light blue maxi dress and her fake pearl jewelry. Her hair she wore down, feeling weird to not have it braided like she did during work so it wouldn't get doused in perfume.

"Have you ordered yet?" Zack asked as he sat down, wanting to change the subject away from his car trouble. It really wasn't his car after all, but he was pretty sure telling her that he had stopped to help a cute blonde named Elena wasn't a smart move.

"No, I was waiting for you." she said, unable to keep the frosty edge out of her voice for the long wait.

"Oh, okay. I'm sure they have good food here." Zack sat down and opened his menu, flashing her an apologetic smile.

"They do." she said, doing likewise, glad to hide her face in the menu, sure she was blushing again. The only other person who affected her by smiling was Reno, but they were nothing alike. Zack's smiles were genuinely friendly, Reno's were genuinely horny. Suddenly she wondered if Reno and Zack knew each other, and she was being 'passed around'. She immediately felt guilty for thinking that, Zack wasn't like that. He actually looked at her face when they talked, and this was all her idea, he never wanted any repayment for helping her out.

"Do…um…they offer any like, uh, hamburgers here?" he asked her quietly, interrupting her thoughts.

"Hamburgers?" Aerith stared blankly at him. She had taken him to dinner at the most expensive restaurant she could afford, and he wanted…the irony of it made her start chuckling to herself. At least she had gotten herself a cheap date! "Try the mini-calzones." she suggested. "They're kind of a cross between hamburgers and pizza."

"Really? That's great!" Zack smiled at her again, and this time she smiled back at him. This might be a good date after all...