A/N: In episode #510 they come across a parallel universe where the only difference is the result of flipping a coin. Just thought I'd say that if you haven't seen that episode. xD Please read and review!
Flip of a Coin
"Leela, can we please go out for dinner?" Fry looked like he was about to beg, and Leela frowned, feeling rather sorry for him. She shifted uncomfortably, obviously trying to think of an excuse.
"Umm... hold on just a sec, Fry," Leela said before turning away to flip a coin. Leaving your destiny in the hands of a penny might not seem logical to most people, but Leela wasn't what you'd call ordinary. She couldn't think of any excuse other than she had to meet with a ghost, so if once she flipped the coin it came up heads she'd just go out with him, but if it came up tails she'd say she did have to meet with the ghost.
She tossed the coin into the air and when it landed on her palm it showed tails.
"Sorry, Fry... I have to meet with a ghost tonight."
Being the idiot that he was, Fry believed her, and turned and walked sadly back to his apartment.
In a universe parallel to the one that we're more accustomed to, a different Fry, this one with black hair, was asking a Leela with red hair the same question. Except when she flipped her coin, the result was heads. She turned back to face Fry and smiled a little, rather nervously.
"Okay, Fry... I guess we can go out tonight."
"Yes!" Fry said triumphantly, and Leela couldn't blame him... she'd rejected him so many times in the past, it was rather surprising she'd ever agreed to a date. But one couldn't hurt, could it? "Okay, Leela, I'll pick you up at seven! We'll go to Elzar's!"
"Fry... it's 7:10...."
"Oh, you're right... let's go."
Leela rolled her eye as he led her out of the Planet Express building and they made their way to the five star restaurant. It occurred to Leela once inside that it was difficult to get reservations, surely Fry didn't think they would be able to just walk in? Oh, no... why did Fry never think these things through?
"Table for two – reservation under Fry and Leela." Leela looked over at Fry, surprised. Had every time he asked her for dinner and she rejected him... he'd already made the reservations?
How sweet!
The two were led to a secluded table off in a corner, and Leela blushed a little.
"It's nice of you to take me out to dinner, Fry...."
"Of course! This is what I've been aiming for since I came to the future!" Fry hummed as he picked up the salt shaker and poured some of the salt into his mouth to eat.
Fry was a moron... but he was kinda cute, Leela couldn't help but think. Pulling her gaze away from him, she looked down at the menu with it's overly-expensive prices.
"Can you afford this...?" She asked uncertainly, Fry was just the delivery boy.
"Of course, I've been saving!" Fry smiled reassuringly, and Leela turned her focus once again to the menu. The waiter came by after a couple minutes of silence to take their order.
"I'll have a pickled alien slug... and Slurm to drink," Fry ordered. The waiter scribbled it down and then turned to Leela.
"Just a salad for me... and water to drink." Leela said with a smile as she handed the waiter her menu. He took her's and Fry's menus and then left, leaving Leela racking her brain for something to say. But he said something before she had to.
"You look really great tonight, Leela," Fry said sheepishly, looking down at his feet while he spoke.
"Thanks, Fry... you do, too."
Fry chanced a look back up at Leela, wondering if it was too good to be true. It all did seem like a dream, no one would have expected the two to ever end up dating. But suddenly an orchestra started up, playing a slow song, and Fry stood up and extended a hand to Leela.
"Would you join me for this dance?" He asked, and Leela thought for a moment before taking his hand and standing up as well.
"Sure, Fry...." With his clumsiness and carelessness, Leela had always expected Fry to be a terrible dancer. But as he pulled her close and held her while they moved in rhythm to the romantic music, she realized she was wrong about him. Maybe not only his dancing... perhaps all of the things about him she thought bad.
The food arrived at their table, and Leela heard it being set down, but she didn't want to stop dancing... right now all she wanted was to stay in that moment with Fry, the moment she was starting to think she was always wrong, and she had missed out on a lot of him.
There was a part of him that wasn't completely stupid... there was a side of him that she could fall in love with. But as the song ended and a new one started up, Fry pulled away and led her back to their table to eat.
Leela hardly noticed the food that she kept eating, her eye was fixed on Fry and wondering why she'd never given him a chance before. When they had finished dining, and the bill had been paid (who would've known a salad could cost $75?), Fry took Leela's hand as he walked her home.
They went inside her apartment building, not saying a word, but when they reached the door to her apartment, he blushed a little, and leaned in for a good night's kiss. Under normal circumstances, she would've sprinted away saying she had some kind of medical condition that made it impossible for her to kiss people, but on this night... this night that made her completely change her opinion about Fry... she leaned back in, enjoying every second.
She unlocked her door, and Fry made to turn away, but she took his hand and led him inside to her bedroom, still not saying a word. The night was filled with romance and passion, one that neither had ever experienced before.
Yet back in the universe with the purple haired Leela, she was sitting home alone, piecing together a puzzle. She recalled what the Leela from the parallel universe had said to her when they were talking about their first date that the flip of the coin had made her not go on... 'You really missed out on something, Leela. That date was magical.'
And as Leela fit the last piece into her puzzle and stared down at the picture it had formed of a couple standing together on a beach... she wondered if her parallel self had uncovered something she herself had not. Slowly, she reached for her phone, to dial Fry's number.
