"Not bad," Tempest gave Storm an impressed look as the two of them studied Storm's appearance in the mirror. She was wearing a simple black suit and tie, and her blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail.
"I guess," Storm sounded uncertain.
"Oh! Don't worry! You look great!" Tempest patted Storm on the back reassuringly. "Besides, you gotta go! Look at the time!"
"Crap!" Storm hissed. She hadn't realized how late it was. Without hesitation, she brushed past Tempest.
"Go get 'em, tiger!" Tempest shouted after her, laughing to herself.
Several minutes later, Storm found herself at Iris' door. She was at a total loss on what to do. Did she knock? Did she wait? Did she text? And, oh, crap! She didn't have any flowers! Were flowers mandatory for a date? Or would Iris not mind? Should she ask? Ah, but she couldn't! It was too late to buy any flowers now! And it would be obvious if she tried to just pick some. Ugh… Why did this have to be so stressful?!
But at last, the woman finally caved and knocked. Well, here went nothing…
"Woah!" Storm had hoped to have a witty compliment ready, but actually seeing Iris took the words, and breath, right out of her. Iris was only wearing a simple, knee-length dress with spaghetti straps, and it was the same exact color as her eyes, but even though it wasn't very extravagant, it was still absolutely gorgeous. She also wore her long, wavy brown hair in a bun, a purple clip in it to match her dress and her eyes.
"Like what you see?" Iris joked, quite amused by Storm's shamelessly stunned expression. Storm, meanwhile, winced inwardly, cursing herself that Iris was able to read her surprise so easily.
"You look amazing," Iris continued. "Your suit suits you," she joked.
"I'm sorry, I didn't have anything fancier," Storm was quick to fiddle with her tie, looking anxious.
"No, I mean it! I think you look wonderful," Iris promised with a gentle smile. If Storm's nervousness wasn't radiating off of her in waves already, the fact that Iris' pun had gone right over her head spoke for itself.
"Oh, umm, thanks," Storm ducked her head awkwardly and Iris had to bite back another laugh. Storm really was adorable when she was flustered, but she didn't want to tease the other woman too mercilessly.
"Oh! And, uhh, you look amazing, too, by the way!" Storm cleared her throat. "It, uhhh, matches your eyes."
Storm regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth. It matched her eyes? No duh! Thanks, Captain Obvious…
"Thank you," Iris gave a gracious nod. Clearly, she wasn't bothered at all by Storm's awkward compliment. Then she extended her arm to the other woman, a pleasant smile on her face. "Well then, shall we?" she asked.
"Ah, yes, we shall!" Storm took her arm. Well, at least she managed to get that right!
ooo
45 minutes later, the two were seated at a rather fancy restaurant. Iris had picked the place and Storm seemed blown away by all of the opulence displayed in one setting. There was a red carpet floor, sculpted walls, candles and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, tables covered in fine China, shining silverware, and silk cloth… It all looked like something right out of a fairytale!
"This place sure is… extravagant!" Storm remarked as she slid into her seat awkwardly.
"It's the best place in town for a fancy dinner date!" Iris agreed, much more enthusiastic. She'd eaten here several times in the past and she never failed to feel like a gorgeous, elegant, storybook princess every single time. The lighting was perfect, the food was exquisite, and the drinks were all so fancy and elegant. As were the bottles they came from and the glasses they were served in.
Once a waiter finally came by, he lit the small candle at the center of the table before taking their orders and leaving them with a small tray of appetizers. By this time, though, Storm was sweating bullets. Even though ordering had been simple enough, the layout of the plates and utensils was intimidating. There were several sets of everything, and once again, Storm was at a total loss. Why were there three forks?! Who the heck needed that many for one dinner?! And how on earth was she supposed to know which one she was supposed to use first?
But, trying to put her mind at ease, she turned her attention to the appetizers. The only thing she was familiar with were the bread rolls.
Oh well, I guess it'll have to do…
The woman reached out to grab one of the rolls but, in doing so, she knocked over one of the glasses of water sitting at the table as well.
"Oh, crap!" Storm jerked her arm back quickly. This only upset the tray of rolls and sent them flying as well. "Gah!" Then, in her haste to catch the tray, she bumped into the table, causing everything to rattle threateningly. Scared that something else might've fallen, she sat back up quickly and knocked into the table again, sending some of her own utensils to the floor. At the same time, the water had since soaked through the tablecloth and all the bread rolls that hadn't fallen on the floor yet.
"Enough!" their waiter returned in the neck of time. Storm instinctively froze, still holding a tray and a soggy roll. For three seconds, she stayed as still as a statute. Then, as fate would have it, the tipped over glass finally rolled off the table. Thank goodness the floors were carpet!
At the same time, Iris bit her lip and winced. She was torn between laughter and embarrassment.
"I'll pay and we can leave," she offered sheepishly.
"That will not be necessary," the waiter grunted. Then he gestured for some of the other servers to come over and they all helped clean up the mess. Storm watched them with humiliation burning in her eyes. In what was definitely a worst-case scenario, she'd made a fool of herself and Iris at a fancy establishment in front of the entire staff, and a full house. Since it was dinnertime, every other table was full, so quite literally, the entire room had its eyes on Storm.
But before long, the mess had been cleared away.
"I will bring you more rolls," the waiter said.
"Oh, that's alright, we don't-!" Before Iris could finish, the waiter had turned tail and departed. "Well. Never mind."
Another minute so of tense silence passed before Iris finally plucked up the courage to talk to Storm.
"Are you doing alright?" she asked.
"Yeah. Fine," Storm was staring hard at the tablecloth. It was evident she was too ashamed to even look at Iris.
"I'm not mad, you know?" Iris tried to reassure the other woman.
"But they are," Storm muttered, now scowling at the tablecloth.
"Pfft, who cares?" Iris snorted. That much genuinely caught Storm off guard and she finally looked at Iris, surprise in her eyes. "I mean it!" Iris insisted. "I know it's embarrassing to have the entire restaurant stare at you but… you know what? Screw em! Accidents happen, and if they're too narrow and shallow-minded to realize that, then, well, their opinions are hardly worth caring about, huh?"
Her words were unusually callous, but there was a ring of truth of them, and that much was what gave Storm pause.
"You sure we won't get in trouble for this, though?" she asked, concern slipping into her voice.
"Meh, probably not. I bet this sort of thing happens all the time," Iris shrugged. "Like I said, accidents happen, and fine dining ain't easy."
"Pfft! You can say that again!" Storm scoffed. Iris had succeeded in cheering her up. But now, there was still the matter of dinner…
"If you'd like, I can try to give you some pointers!" Iris offered helpfully.
"I don't need help eating!" Storm scoffed again, shaking her head. She was an adult for heaven's sake!"
"I'm not teaching you how to eat, silly," Iris smiled. "I'm just helping you get the hang of it. Like I said, fine dining ain't easy."
Storm still looked reluctant, her pride clearly wounded, but Iris was gentle and reassuring enough that Storm finally conceded. That, and she didn't want another mishap before dinner was over! So she wisely allowed Iris to show her how to use all the many, fancy utensils.
All things considered, it was actually easier than Storm had first thought. Yes, it was still unnecessarily complicated, but for the most part, all one needed to do was move from the outside in. That was easy enough to remember. So, the end of the dinner actually went off without a hitch! Before long, Storm was actually almost enjoying herself. Laughing and chatting with Iris as she ate, she forgot all about her little slipup earlier, and it seemed as though the rest of the dining hall had as well. People were no longer staring, and their waiter seemed in slightly brighter spirits.
Once the meal came to a close, Iris paid the bill and left a tip slightly larger than normal. Seeing it, the waiter decided that all was forgiven and he wished them both a good night before they left the restaurant.
"I'll pay you back," Storm offered as soon as they were back outside.
"Nah, don't worry about it," Iris waved her off. "I was going to buy dinner anyway."
"Well, I still feel like I owe it to you, since you saved my butt back there," Storm smiled sheepishly.
"No, I told you, fine dining is weird and difficult, so you've got nothing to apologize for. I didn't always get it right either," Iris laughed.
Storm still looked a uncertain, but when it became clear that Iris wasn't going to accept any monetary compensation, she was forced to concede.
"I'm not sure what I did to get someone as wonderful as you, but I sure am grateful for it," she told Iris.
"Aww, you big softie!" Iris teased, then she stood on tiptoe to give Storm a quick, little kiss. "Besides," she joked. "Consider it my way of paying you back for all the times when you had to clean up my messes. So now we're even-steven!"
"Really?" Now that Storm was more in her element, away from the fancy restaurant, some of her wit finally started returning to her. "Because I seem to remember you kissing me just half a second ago, so…"
"Ah, true! I see what you mean!" Iris slapped her forehead and laughed. "I guess you're right. You do owe a little something-something after all!"
And Storm was more than happy to pay up, although, as Iris would later tell her, Storm's kiss had been much better than her own.
"So now that we're back home, let's see if I can pay you back again," Iris joked.
"Well, just a fair warning, I'm probably going to lose track of the score," Storm laughed.
"Oh don't worry, so will I, so I guess we should just enjoy ourselves, hmm?"
"Ha! Sounds like a plan."