Grace felt more nervous than she probably should have. After all, what did she have to be nervous about, she was just going out with Simon. It didn't help that the dates Grace had been on had almost exclusively gone terribly either due to the dates having been set up by her parents or due to the guys clearly only being interested in one thing, though what that thing was varied. Still, Simon was Simon and he was going to like her either way so she really didn't need to spend all of this time picking an outfit. "It's the first time he's seen me outside of uniform, I want to impress." Grace told herself despite directly having told Simon that he didn't need to impress her. "I'm nothing if not consistently inconsistent." Grace thought, remembering a phrase one of her parents had said to her. Tiredly Grace settled on an outfit and began getting herself ready to go out. As she completed getting dressed she heard the doorbell ring and went to go open it. Simon stood on her stoop and smiled at her when she opened the door. "Hey Simon, you look really nice." Grace said as she closed the door behind her after stepping out.
"Thanks, you look really nice too. I mean you always look nice I don't mean that you just now starting looking nice I just mean that you look nicer than usual." Simon stammered out. Grace laughed.
"Thank you." she responded, having gotten the gist of what Simon had meant. The two walked casually side by side towards the park and Grace almost unconsciously snaked her hand into Simon's as they walked. She saw a blush cross his face that he tried his best to ignore and Grace struck up a conversation. "This feels like high school, I think that was the last time I held hands with someone." she said casually. Simon chuckled.
"I went on absolutely no dates in high school so I wouldn't even know the last time I held someone's hand." he mentioned. Grace looked at him pleasantly.
"Oh come on I don't believe that, you didn't go on any dates in high school, not even one?" she asked. Simon shook his head.
"I was more concerned with out doing the other nerds in my robotics club than asking someone out." he explained. "I do remember getting asked out a few times but I didn't realize that was what was happening until way later." he joked. "How about you?" he asked
"Well my dating life in high school can be divided into two categories, dates my parents forced me on while they talked to the parents of whatever guy I was having dinner with, and guys that asked me out who I was too nice to reject." Grace said. "Needless to say I wasn't exactly having a great time on those dates. Usually a solid three out of ten I'd say." Simon looked nervous
"And what would you rate this date so far?" he asked awkwardly. Grace pretended to look thoughtful.
"A good eight and a half so far." she said with a smile. Simon looked relieved.
"Well luckily for you I was and still am a total nerd who can't settle for anything less than perfection. I can't be satisfied with a B grade." he explained. Grace smirked.
"Well I'll have you know you'll have to put in some real effort, I don't grade on a curve." she teased. Simon smiled back at her.
"I wouldn't expect anything less." he responded as the two arrived at the park and looked around. "So, do you want to walk the trail?" he asked. Grace nodded.
"Sounds good to me." she responded as they followed the stone path that led throughout the park. "So, you like robots huh?" Grace asked at the mention of Simon having been in a robotics club.
"Oh, yeah. I like technology in general, I like making stuff. One day I'm going to make something that changes the world." he said excitedly. Grace smiled to herself, this was the same guy who'd said he wasn't sure what he was passionate about yet. Looking at Simon she could tell exactly what that thing was even if he couldn't.
"You sound really sure of yourself, do you really think you can do it?" she asked. Simon shrugged his shoulders.
"Honestly, I'm not sure. Sometimes I find it very hard to believe in myself about that goal. But I know that I want to, and that's a start at least." he offered. Grace gave him a soft smile.
"Then, I'll be happy to believe in you." Grace offered. Simon blushed again.
"Thank you." he said as they continued walking. "So how about you? Is teaching dance what you want to do?" he asked her.
"It's part of it, the second part to be exact. First I want to travel the world with a high class ballet company. I want to perform all over, to see audiences filled with all different types of faces everywhere i go. And then, I want to open up my own studio and teach dance." she explained. Simon looked at her with interest. "What?" she asked jokingly.
"I just think it's really funny how your dream is so well defined and planned out meanwhile mine is probably the most vague thing I could have said." Simon explained. "How'd you plan all of that out?" he asked.
"How did you decide you wanted to change the world." Grace asked as a deflection.
"I asked you first." Simon reminded. Grace relented and answered the question.
"When I was younger my parents wanted me to be well rounded so they signed me up for a ton of activities. I didn't like most of them and I almost always quit really quickly but I loved ballet. It was the first place I made friends and it was like my escape. So I knew that I wanted to do it And on top of that I wanted the children that came after me to have that same experience I had, of getting to make friends, and of having an escape. So that's how I decided what I wanted to do." she explained "So how about you, what grand experience led you to want to change the world?" she asked teasingly.
"I wanted to be rich." Simon said simply. Grace looked surprised. "Okay, okay that's not the real reason. Or that's not the whole reason. I wanted to be able to live comfortably but mostly I just thought you know if I can make the world better for some people than I did something worth remembering." he offered. Grace nodded at his justification. As the two continued walking the trail around the park Simon looked at Grace and spoke. "Hey let's go across the street." Simon said, trying to sound normal. Grace looked at him sideways.
"Why?" she asked.
"No reason." Simon said nervously. Grace playfully rolled her eyes and walked up ahead. As she did she noticed that across the street just so happened to be a karaoke bar. Grace looked at him.
"What a strange coincidence that this place just happened to be here, guess we got to go inside and investigate." Simon said through his own laughter which was quickly joined by Grace as they headed towards the building. The two sat down, ordered some fries and looked over the list of songs together.
"You know I'm not totally convinced that this isn't just a ploy to embarrass me by deciding to show off that you're an excellent singer when we get on stage." Grace joked. Simon shook his head.
"I solemnly swear not to become an amazing singer and embarrass you on stage, scouts honor." Simon said, doing the hand gesture to show that he was legitimate.
"You were a scout?" Grace asked. Simon nodded in response.
"Yeah, but my dad was the troop leader so most of my scout memories are just me eating chips in the backseat of my mom's minivan before meetings." he explained. Grace laughed.
"Honestly that sounds like it would still be awesome today." Grace said jokingly
"Idea for a second date, I go to Oregon, steal my mom's minivan, bring it back and we eat chips in it." Simon responded laughing. Grace smirked.
"Oh so you're already planning a second date? A little presumptuous are we?" Grace teased. Simon blushed and changed the subject.
"Let's pick a song." he said jokingly. The two scanned through the book of songs before Grace stopped at a particular page and frantically pointed at it.
"This is the one! This one right here!" Grace said excited pointing to a song and Simon looked over to see what she was gesturing towards. He raised an eyebrow when he realized what song she was gesturing towards.
"Total Eclipse of the Heart? Isn't it a little cliche for karaoke?" he asked casually. Grace rolled her eyes and gave her reasoning.
"Cliches become chiles for a reason and that reason is that they're awesome. Now get up on that stage and sing your heart out with me." she replied. "And yes, if there will be a second date is wholly contingent on how well you hit the high notes." she added with a wink. Simon looked at her determined.
"Is that a challenge?" he asked. Grace smirked back at him.
"Will you take it if it is?" she asked. It was over at that point, they were performing the song. Grace put them in line and they snacked on their fries as they waited for their number to be called. When it was finally announced that it was their turn Grace felt a pit form in her stomach. She loved to perform and had been doing it for years but when she performed she was dancing. And while she could critique herself forever she knew in her heart that she at least had some prowess in dancing. It was easy to perform when you understand on a gut-level that you know what you're doing. But Grace could not sing, or at least not very well. Doing it in front of people took a level of effort Grace never had to muster for dancing and doing it on a first date was even more terrifying. But she still wanted to do it, because despite how seemingly flawless she was in her schooling and career and life Grace Monroe was a human. And sometimes humans like to do things they know they aren't great at because it brings them joy. Cautiously Grace took the microphone in her hand as she and Simon stepped onto the stage and the opening notes of Bonnie Tyler's classic 80's power ballad began playing. The performance was exhilarating, and in that moment Grace wasn't really concerned with if she was doing good or bad, she was having fun and so was Simon from the look on his face. As they sat down having concluded their performance Grace just wanted to do it again.
"That was awesome! Let's do another song!" Simon said happily, evidently he felt the same. Grace smiled at him and ordered another basket of fries.
"Sounds good to me. Also you definitely weren't kidding about not suddenly becoming a great singer." Grace teased. Simon blushed at her embarrassed.
"I wasn't that bad." he responded. Grace playfully tossed a fry at him which hit his face and fell into his lap.
"You weren't bad at all, I just like teasing you." she responded.
"Yeah, well I'm picking the next song, so unless you want to sing something totally ridiculous I suggest you share more fries than you throw." Simon responded humorously. The two weren't really aware of how much time they'd spent eating snacks and singing until they realized the place was about to close as one of the workers began sweeping up. They made sure to give a big tip as an apology for forcing them to listen to hours of poorly belted power ballads and off the beat rapping before Simon walked Grace back to her house. As they walked together hand in hand the pair chatted. "So, how did I do on the date ranking scale?" Simon questioned trying not to sound too invested in the answer. Grace shook her head and pretended to be deep in thought.
"Hmm, well the date isn't over until we reach my door so you'll have to wait for your final results." Grace teased him.
"So I guess that means I still have time to earn bonus points." Simon offered. Grace chuckled at this.
"And what exactly do you think you can do to earn bonus points?" Grace asked him.
"Perhaps a serenade with my lovely voice?" he joked. Grace shook her head.
"I think I've heard enough of your singing for one lifetime." she responded as the two reached Grace's doorstep. "Also looks like you've run out of time to gain bonus points." she added. Simon gave a fake sad sigh.
"So, what was my final score for this date?" Simon asked. Grace didn't hesitate with the answer.
"A perfect ten out of ten." she said before giving Simon a gentle peck on the lips. It wasn't all that deep or passionate but it was quick and sweet and Grace enjoyed it despite it's quickness. Simon stood frozen for a moment still processing that he'd actually gotten a kiss. "Goodnight Simon." Grace said as she stepped inside the door.
"Goodnight Grace." Simon responded as he left, still awestruck. As Grace went inside intending on heading up to her bedroom she passed by the bouquet Simon had made for her and an unintentionally smile crossed her face. She grabbed the pitcher from the fridge and watered them. As she did so she examined the blooms of each flower and thought quietly to herself.
"I wonder if Simon knows he has a very pretty voice."