Dani sprawled forward on the cafeteria table and looked up at the person sitting across from her. "Your hair looks so good short," she sighed.

Valerie ran a hand over her recently-cut hair. "Thanks," she said politely. I wanted to try something new, you know?"

"You look so cool," Dani said, gazing at her over a plate of lasagna.

Valerie met her eyes, and quickly found other things to look at as she took a sip from her drink. "How's 'twin' stuff lately?"

Dani dragged herself off the table and sat up straight. She gestured with her fork. "We can actually pass as twins now, since he stopped getting taller and I've had a chance to catch up. I kinda thought we'd wind up as beanpoles like Jazz, but it looks like there's more J-Dad in us than I thought. I swear he'll end up looking like Wolverine, just less chiseled and with better hair."

Valerie looked skeptical. "I don't know, Danny's hair is kind of… a mess. Usually."

Dani snorted. She shook out her unnaturally bright cyan hair. "I'd like to see Wolverine pull off this look."

Valerie smirked. "And how many people have mistaken you for an Ember fan?"

Dani scowled. "Too many. Can't a girl just dye her hair without it being tied to some celebrity?" She crossed her arms and sat back in her chair.

Valerie chuckled. "Has he taken you drinking yet?"

Dani put a hand to her chin and gasped exaggeratedly. "Me? An impressionable nineteen year old? Partake in the drinking of the alcohol? Why Valerie, that's illegal!"

Valerie giggled. "My dad's a security specialist, not a cop, silly. Come on. Spill it."

Dani shrugged with a smirk. "I would, but Danny beat me to it. He took one taste of wine—at home, we didn't go anywhere—and was so disgusted he spilled his whole glass trying to get to the sink to spit it out."

Valerie raised her eyebrows. "He did?"

Dani nodded happily. "Said it tasted like grape-flavored gasoline."

Valerie frowned. "Did he just not like it, or is that a—"

Dani waved her hand in dismissal. "Not a 'twin' thing. Apparently J-Dad's family was pretty religious and never touched the stuff. Mom likes it well enough, but J-Dad and his cousins just never had a taste for it."

"That seems extreme. And also not how genetics works." She extracted the green beans from her mashed potatoes and dumped them on Dani's tray.

Dani plucked one up immediately and stuck it in her mouth. "No, but—and you didn't hear this from me—" she said, licking mashed potato off her fingers, "but apparently a few of the extended family members were serious alcoholics, and two of them got abusive when they were drunk. They all died to something drinking-related. So personally I think that's the real reason why they're all either teetotalers or really careful with the stuff. It's possible there's a gene that makes it not taste great though."

Valerie's eyebrows drew together. "That's… unfortunate."

Dani shrugged. "Ancient history. I do wanna go out though. I can just get a Shirley Temple or whatever. Or Cherry Coca-Cola! All the grocery stores here just have Pepsi, and Cherry Pepsi just-" She made a face. "—Way too sweet."

"I could take you," Valerie said, her eyes beginning to light up. "I found this really cool place in the city, and they have a, uh, they have a lesbian night on every other Friday." She coughed and looked away. "Which I found out by recommending the place to a straight couple from self-defense class…?"

Dani leaned in, eyes wide. "You didn't."

Valerie threw her hands up. "I didn't know! I just thought, this is a regular bar that gets good reviews, so they'd probably have a good time, right? But when they went out after class, it—"

"Was lesbian night," Dani finished, grinning madly. "So what happened!?"

Valerie ducked her head in mortification. "Well, they got back to me next class… It must have happened there before, because everyone was pretty chill about it. They didn't notice at first?" she said, giggling. "The couple or the other patrons."

Dani burst out laughing.

Valerie continued valiantly. "I mean you can't always tell someone's gender by looking, so I guess it makes sense. They were there a while before it somehow came up in conversation. They were like, 'Oh my god we're so sorry we had no idea,' and everyone had a good laugh. They offered to leave, but everyone else said they could stay because it was just so hilarious to them that they walked in with no idea what was going on. Like, there were signs and stuff? And a lot of pride flags? But they were too busy making googly eyes at each other to notice." She shook her head.

Dani's shoulders shook and she clapped her hand to the table. She gasped for breath. "Oh my gosh. I can't believe you! Have you even been there?"

Valerie pressed her lips together. "Mm, no."

Dani started on a new fit of giggles.

"That's part of the reason I want to visit; I kinda want to apologize…"

"Please," Dani wheezed. "Please let me come with you. I have to see this."

Valerie grinned despite herself. "If you must," she said. "Friday?"

"Oh, I gotta," Dani said, pulling herself together. "Friday," she confirmed. "Like seven or something?"

"Seven works."

"Rad." Dani stood to return her tray, and hefted her backpack on her shoulder. "It's a date."