"Hey."

"Hey."

They smiled at each other. He held out a small bouquet of flowers to her. She registered clear surprise and took them.

"Thanks. I'll go put them in a vase, be back in sec." She went and retrieved a vase with water from the kitchen and put the colorful bunch in them to sit on the counter until she got home. She fully intended on putting them in her room so that she could fully enjoy them. She went so fast that she was almost out of breath when she returned to him.

"You okay?"

She nodded. They looked at each other again. Everything felt so new and exciting. They couldn't stop smiling at each other.

"A- hem," Jake cleared his throat from the kitchen entranceway where he'd been watching the new couple for a few moments. They both turned towards him.

"Hey Mr. Morgendorffer."

"Dad, we were about to go out for lunch."

"So, you two are dating." Jake's statement caught them both off guards.

"Yes sir." Trent answered first in a somewhat relieved voice.

Jake and Trent looked at each other. Jake had always liked the easy-going young man. Jake then turned his attention to his eldest daughter.

"Dinner is at six."

"Okay dad." Daria let out a breath that she hadn't realized that she was holding.

"Have a nice time," Jake called out as they left.

Nice, not spectacular… Come on Jake, Trent's a good guy. Yeah, with you little girl that he clearly adores, and she adores him too. You saw the way that they were looking at each other… Okay, okay they're young, but smart… So were you and Helen- OH MY- They're not us… They're smarter, much more grounded…yeah, much more grounded.

"This is nice." Daria spoke of the small Italian restaurant that Trent had taken her to.

"Good. I didn't really want to go any where that we'd run into anyone."

Trent opened the menu missing Daria frown.

…oh…

"What do you feel like? The pizza here is good, but we always have that. I was thinking maybe the baked Ziti or- Daria, you okay?"

"Kind of lost my appetite."

She sounds upset.

"If you don't like this place, we can go somewhere else."

"I don't know is it far out enough where no one you know would see us together?" Her tone was clipped, and she mumbled the last. "I wouldn't want to embarrass you."

Embarrass me?

"Why would you think that you could embarrass me?" Trent though aloud.

"It's what you said." Her eyes did not meet his.

"No, I-" Trent looked at her bowed head and knew that she was hurt. "Daria," she looked up at him, "That's not what I meant at all. I only wanted to have you to myself for our first date. At the house, there's Jane, your place has your family and anywhere on Dega street we'll run into someone that knows one of us and want to talk. I'm selfish okay. I wanted our first date to be about us."

Well I feel stupid. I should have known Trent wasn't like that. Old insecurities die hard, I guess.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"It's not."

Trent smiled.

"Why don't we just have a good time?"

"Sounds like a plan." Daria smiled back at him. "What were you about to recommend before?"

"The Baked Ziti."

Bring your dates here, do you?

"Jesse's aunt runs the place and gives Mystic Spiral a free meal every now and then," he explained.

Ahhhhh…nice…

"Okay baked Ziti it is."

The meal was nice and light. Each enjoyed getting to know the other in this new and softer setting. It was a wonderful afternoon tinged with the excitement of something new and the comfort of having a relationship starting from friendship.