So, Ike and Firkle are together now! Yee! I do have plans for them in this story, but the main focus is still on Kenny and Henrietta. I sort of have an idea for this chapter, but I don't know if I'll be able to make it span the whole length. We'll get some Ike and Firkle being a new couple.

BTW, I have a Twitter if you want to look me up and send art my way. Or just bother me a lot. Look me up at White Thunder ThunderingWhite. Look for the picture of the horse.

Chapter 11 – Romantic Goth Dates

"You know, now that all of you goths are dating, we should go on a triple date some time!" I suggested to Henrietta as we lounged together in her room. She hummed at the thought.

"I don't know," she said, "We goths don't really do stuff like that."

"Well, maybe you should." I crawled over to her and got in her face. "Think about it. Maybe it would help Firkle get more used to the idea of dating. He could get more comfortable around Ike if he had you guys to help him out!"

"Mmm, I guess," Henrietta relented. She took a drag of her cigarette. "It would have to be somewhere nonconformist though. We wouldn't be caught dead at Olive Garden or something like that."

"Noted," I chuckled. I thought for a moment. "We could go back to that goth restaurant."

"That could work if the others are good with it," she replied. She stretched out, reaching for her phone on her nightstand, (which I could've just handed to her) then sat up.

"Hey guys," she muttered as she typed, "We're going to that Cirque du Gothic place for dinner tonight. No complaints or I'll stab you. Firkle, bring your BF. There."

"Heh, you didn't have to sound so demanding," I pointed out. She looked at me.

"Yes, I did," she countered, "If I don't then those boys try to resist, even if they agree. You have to let them know who's boss. Me."

Her phone pinged a moment later and she looked at it. Then she chuckled. "Yeah, fuck you too, Michael," she mumbled under her breath.

"What did he say?" I asked her.

"Oh nothing," she replied, putting her phone next to her, "Just a snarky remark about how he and Pete are going. Have yet to hear back from Firkle, though." But then her phone pinged again and she grinned. "Oh Firkle, you're adorable."

"Why? What did he say?"

"He said, and I quote, 'Ike and I are not "boyfriends." I prefer to think of our relationship as "the situation."' Oh, and he and Ike are coming as well." She laughed lightly as she put her phone back.

"Now then," I purred, snuggling up to her, "What do you want to do until then?"

I got my answer when she blew smoke in my face and I was forced to hold my breath. I coughed, waving the smoke away.

"I was hoping for something a little more sexy," I confessed.

"Well then you're dating the wrong girl, babe," she said, taking another drag. I couldn't help but laugh. Well, I can't say I didn't know that going in! I leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"You're weird," she noted.

"You're weird," I countered.

"Thank you. I'm proud of that." She looped an arm around my neck to pull me in and give me a deep kiss. It tasted of cigarettes and roses and I melted into it.

…

Luckily, that night I didn't have to borrow either of my friends' cars because Michael offered to drive us all to the restaurant. It was a little cramped because it didn't have the space of Stan's truck, but we all managed to fit somehow. It helped that Ike and Firkle were so tiny.

I had made sure to make a reservation beforehand just in case. Which was good because the place was pretty lively when we finally got there. I had reserved a table in the non-smoking section out of respect for Ike, who was probably not used to being around so many smokers.

"Wow! This place is cool!" said Canadian exclaimed when we got there and he got out of the car. Some of the nearby goths looked annoyed, but Ike didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah, Kenny took us here on his and Henrietta's first date," Firkle told him.

"You mean the one you guys crashed?" Henrietta scolded, folding her arms, and giving her friends a look. Firkle looked away and rubbed his arm.

"Irrelevant," Michael dismissed.

I saw Henrietta roll her eyes, but she didn't say anything as we entered the restaurant. A different goth was at the podium this time but she seemed just as bored with the world as the last time we came here.

"Hey," I greeted the done-with-this-shit goth, "We have a reservation."

Very slowly, she stood up and opened her book. "Name?"

"McCormick."

She gave me a look (I don't know if it was a bored look or a fuck off look) before nonchalantly flipping through the reservation book. She barely glanced down at the book before closing it.

"All right, follow me," she said.

We all followed her to the non-smoking section (I think I heard Michael call me a pussy) to a round table large enough to seat all of us. She handed out menus to all of us before walking away.

As we looked at our menus, and Michael grumbled about not being allowed to smoke, I couldn't help but smile to myself when I saw how close Ike was sitting to Firkle, who was blushing slightly. I was drawn back to my own date when she let out a loud huff.

"You can survive one dinner without a cigarette, Michael," she snapped at her friend, "Get over it. You don't hear Pete or Firkle complaining."

"Nah. I'm just having a silent breakdown," Pete said. Henrietta rolled her eyes.

"You guys are pathetic," she muttered.

"Not to interrupt," Ike piped up, "But what's venison?"

"Deer meat," Firkle answered for him, "And if you're horrified by that, consider this: if people didn't hunt deer for meat they'd be out of control. And at least this place uses their meat and doesn't do it for sport. Besides, it's better than veal."

Ike considered his words for a moment. "That's true," he admitted, "What's venison taste like?"

"Oh, I don't know. I've never tried it," Firkle said, "Ask Henrietta."

"Henrietta is a savage carnivore," Pete added.

"I wouldn't say that," she argued, "Although there is no meat I won't try at least once."

"Except human meat, right?" I asked.

"Well…"

Before she could answer our waiter came over to take our drink orders. I was rather glad that, unlike the dark clientele that visited this place, the staff didn't really care whether Ike and I were gothic or not. Probably wanted to make sure they didn't scare away any potential customers.

I decided to go with something more daring today and ordered some red colored drink that the menu called "vampire blood." It had cherry in it, so it had at least one flavor I liked. The rest of it though… I'm not sure WHAT it was! It was… an experience.

When our food arrived, very little conversation happened except from the chatterbox Ike. He wanted to try all of our dishes and commented on all of them. He was definitely the loudest person in the entire restaurant.

And I couldn't help but notice that Firkle had his head down and was blushing lightly the whole time.

"Wow! This food is incredible!" Ike raved excitedly, "I don't even know if half of it is kosher! But who cares? This place is great! Thanks for taking me here! This is a great place for a date, huh, Firkle? Do you like your food? I like my food! I like you! I—"

"Ike!" I interrupted, "Breathe!"

Ike took a deep breath and smiled at me. "Thanks, Kenny!" he said, "I was getting light-headed for a second there!"

I couldn't help but shake my head at him. Henrietta leaned over to whisper to me.

"He's a keeper," she said with a wink.

When we were finished with our meal, I tried to pay for Henrietta but she smacked me down (literally) and also paid for Ike and Firkle. When Pete and Michael gave her puppy dog eyes she told them to suck it up and pay for themselves. As soon as we were out of the restaurant all three of her friends desperately took out a cigarette and lit it, inhaling deeply.

"You guys are pathetic," Henrietta told them, very casually taking one out of her own.

"We're ok with that," Michael said.

"So, is there anything else we want to do while we're out here?" I asked. I wanted to make this date special for Ike and Firkle.

Pete shrugged. "I dunno," he muttered, "Is there anything else out here?"

"Beats me," Michael answered, "I never go out of my way to do anything."

I know, I bit back an angry retort. "Come on, guys!" I urged, "This date doesn't have to end so soon! What can we do that we can't do in South Park?"

"There's a bookstore a few blocks from here," Henrietta said, checking her phone, "We could go there."

"Ooh! Yeah! Let's go there!" Ike exclaimed, "I like bookstores! They're so much fun! Aren't they, Firkle?"

Beside him, Firkle silently nodded.

"All right, let's go there," Pete agreed.

Ike cheered and Henrietta started leading the way with her phone. I walked beside her, attempting to hold her hand, but she wouldn't let me.

It didn't take us long to reach the bookstore. I think the goths were happy that it wasn't a big brand name store. They preferred niche places. It was also bigger on the inside than on the outside, and that was because it went underground.

Before he could run off with Firkle, I gave Ike a little money to spend in case he found a book he wanted to buy. Then I stuck to Henrietta's side. As we browsed the shelves, something seemed to catch her eye and she walked over to a table. I quickly followed her.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Look at this," she muttered, gesturing to the books on the table. She picked one up and showed it to me, "Someone made romance novels out of the Disney villains. How ridiculous is that?"

"I don't know," I answered with a shrug, "Some people probably have secret fantasies about them. Sometimes they were the best part of the movie."

"Yes, but these are all the same," Henrietta growled, looking at the backs, "Hero turns out not to be so heroic so damsel turns to the villain for help and enters a toxic relationship with them. How is that interesting?"

"You've got a point there," I admitted, "Come on, let's get out of this section and find something more interesting."

We managed to find the horror section which greatly excited Henrietta. She started showing me which authors she loved and which ones she wanted to try reading. She was currently really into Stephen King which I would have to keep in mind.

"I've always wanted to read Misery," I told her, "Since that was such a personal story for King when readers rebelled against him for writing a book that wasn't horror."

"It seems like King writes quite a few personal stories, which isn't a bad thing," Henrietta said, "I think The Tommyknockers was the same."

"Don't watch the miniseries unless you like hilarity," I warned her with a grin.

We decided on a few books to buy and met the others up front. Ike was carrying two incredibly thick tomes, one full of ghost stories and the other filled with mystery shorts. I was surprised he was able to lift them. Beside him, Firkle held The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, a much smaller book in comparison.

"Do you want me to hold those for you, Ike?" I asked him, a slight smile on my lips.

"Nah! I got it!" his answer came out in a huff. He was obviously struggling to hold them, but he wanted to act tough in front of Firkle. I could empathize.

"Well all right, let's get checked out and head on home," I said.

I thought I heard Michael mutter something like "don't tell us what to do," but I chose to ignore him. He was driving, after all.

The car ride back wasn't anything special. Ike mostly chatted into Firkle's ear and I could tell Michael was resisting the urge to turn around tell him to put a sock in it. Henrietta, however, had an amused look on her face the entire ride back. And Firkle didn't look annoyed by Ike or anything.

We dropped Ike off first. He got out of the car, thanking all of us profusely for the evening. Firkle got out with him to walk him to the door. I watched with a smile on my face as they talked for a moment or two. Then Ike leaned in and kissed Firkle on the cheek. Blushing, Firkle then slapped Ike across the face.

Sorry this took so long to come out. Life got in the way. Also, I'm trying to finish Camp Sucks-A-Lot and You Ruined Everything since they're so close to being done. But I promise I haven't abandoned any of my works! Some of them are just on hiatus. I will be working on them soon! Anyway, please leave a comment and I'll try to update this and my other works sooner!