As everyone inside the Girardi house was enjoying dinner, Grace and Luke arrived back at the house.
"Do you want to come in?" Luke asked Grace. "Everyone should be eating by now."
"You think Joan told your parents?" Grace asked.
"Probably," Luke responded. "You know she can't keep her mouth closed. Why? Is that a problem?"
"Well, no," Grace answered. "I just don't want everyone to be expecting all this cutesy stuff like Joan and Rove do. You got me?"
"Yeah." Luke smiled. "Knowing my family, they'll be happy that I even have a girlfriend."
Grace laughed, then turned serious. "If this gets around school, and people start thinking I'm some prissy little prom queen wannabe…"
Luke sighed. "I know, I'm dead." He brightened suddenly, and pointed out, "But since it's me you're dating, they'll probably just peg you as a nerd and nobody will care either way."
Grace smiled at him. "You can be pretty cool to hang out with sometimes, Girardi."
"Geez, I'm your boyfriend, and I don't even get a first name reference?" Luke joked.
"Then there's that," Grace said, annoyed.
"I was joking, Grace," Luke assured her. "You do know that, don't you?"
"I have a question for you: do you expect me to treat you differently now that we're together?"
Luke gave her a strange look. "Well, yeah, I guess so. You were telling me every 5 seconds how much you didn't like me before today, so I would like to see that change. What kind of question is that, anyway? I would hope things could be different between us. I'd like to be able to tell you things, and I want you to feel comfortable revealing yourself to me."
"I already told you about my dad. What more do you want to know? That I hate porcupines, I'm allergic to shellfish, and I have a secret love for the color pink?"
"Porcupines?" Luke asked incredulously.
"Look, I'm trying to make a point. I'm not going to change who I am for anybody, so don't expect me to."
"I don't want you to change, Grace," Luke insisted. "I thought I made that clear before. I fell for the Grace Polk that's not afraid to kick someone's ass." He picked up her hand and continued. "And although I want us to be closer, you can feel free to kick my ass anytime you like."
Grace smirked. "With that attitude, it's hard not to take you up on that offer. But, as much as I enjoy kicking ass, as you put it, I'd much rather take my aggression out on someone who deserves it. Someone like Friedman."
"Friedman's not that bad of a guy," Luke insisted. "If you take away his infatuation with sex…"
"There's nothing left," Grace finished. "I'd rather not ruin my night by talking about the scum of the earth."
"You're the one that brought him up," Luke pointed out. "He is one of the few friends I have here. And I don't think he has a lot of friends."
"Gee, I wonder why," Grace said sardonically.
Luke gave her a dirty look and asked again, "Do you want to come in? I think we're having spaghetti."
"Well, in that case, hell yeah," Grace responded. They both started laughing and finally made their way to the house, where, unbeknownest to them, they had a captive audience.