AN-So I got a request to do a chapter where Ashton dates that kid who she was seeing in chapter 131, Neil, who was extremely dorky and a huge fan of Galaxy Wars, which automatically made Freddie approve of him. Enjoy!
….
Cow
"Okay, so here's what we're gonna do," Sam said, sipping her coffee at the kitchen table as she scrolled through her laptop. "We go see the fourteenth annual Super Extreme Monster Truck Stunt Show, we get dinner at The Golden Cow Supreme Steak Shack, and then we finish the night off at El Guapo Taco, where I can get the five-pound desert taco."
"Sam," Freddie sighed, rolling her eyes. "Don't you think that's a little much?"
"Hey!" Sam snapped. "You picked what we did on our last date! Did I complain when you dragged me to the stupid locomotive museum?"
"Yes! Non-stop!" Freddie exclaimed.
"Then maybe you should start setting a better example," Sam said firmly.
"But wouldn't you rather do something more…romantic?" Freddie asked.
"Monster trucks are romantic," Sam said.
Freddie put his hands up in defeat, knowing from twenty years of marriage that arguing this with his wife was going to get him nowhere but a spot down on the couch that night. "Fine," he conceded. "That will be our date."
"Thank you," Sam said, satisfied. "Besides…I'm sure you'll find the part after the date very romantic."
"Oh will I?" Freddie smirked.
"Yeah," Sam smiled, leaning over and giving him a kiss on his lips.
"Ugh! Will you leave me alone already?" came the voice of Sam and Freddie's fifteen-year old daughter, Emma, as she stormed into the kitchen, breaking the couple apart.
"Why are you being so difficult?" Emma's twin sister, Ashton, retorted, following Emma to the fridge.
"Alright, what's going on now?" Sam asked, pulling apart from her husband.
"Emma's being completely unreasonable!" Ashton said, putting her hands on her hips, glaring at her sister as she grabbed a soda from the fridge.
"You're the one being unreasonable," Emma said, sipping her beverage.
"Emma, why do you think your sister is being unreasonable?" Freddie sighed.
"Because she wants to tag along on my date with Quincy tomorrow night!" Emma replied.
"I don't want to tag along!" Ashton said. "I said I wanted to have a double date with you guys!"
"Same thing!"
"Well Quincy said he's on board for it!"
"Quincy doesn't make the decisions!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Sam said, breaking up the argument. "Ashton, who do you have a date with?"
"Yeah, since when are you seeing anybody?" Freddie frowned.
"Well, um," Ashton began nervously. "I sort of…I kind of-"
"Her and that dorky Neil kid got back together," Emma finished for her.
"Really?" Freddie said excitedly. "Well that's great sweetie! I loved Neil; he really reminded me of me at that age…"
"A total nerd?" Emma asked, and Sam tried hard not to laugh.
"When did you guys get back together?" Freddie asked, ignoring Sam and Emma.
"We haven't exactly officially gotten back together," Ashton explained. "We just agreed to go out and have dinner together and see where we go from there. But I want it to go well, which is why I want to go on a double date with Em and Quincy. It would be a lot less awkward and we'd be more likely to, you know, get back together."
"I see," Freddie nodded. "Well in that case…Emma, let your sister go on a double date with you or your grounded."
"What?" Emma cried. "That's so not fair!"
"Hey, if this is what it takes to make sure Ashton doesn't date anymore stupid jocks or pretty boys, then so be it," Freddie said.
"Mom!" Emma said, turning towards Sam.
"Listen, I'm not going to hear the end of this until this happens, so just go with it, will you?" Sam told her daughter.
"Fine!" Emma groaned. "I'll go on a dang double date with Ashton."
"It will be fun," Ashton smiled at her sister. "Oh! We should go shopping for some cute dresses to wear!"
"How about no?" Emma said firmly, stomping out of the kitchen.
"Finally, Ashton's back with a boy I approve of," Freddie said happily as Ashton followed Emma out.
"Man, that Neil kid was an even bigger dork than Quincy is," Sam said.
"I know!" Freddie grinned. "Isn't this great?"
….
"Okay, so let's go over this one more time," Ashton said to Quincy and Emma as they waited outside Pini's. "You guys are going to help take away all of the awkwardness of a first date so that way me and Neil can just focus on getting back together, okay?"
"Will you stop freaking out already?" Emma said to her twin.
"Ashton, everything will be fine," Quincy assured her, putting his arm around Emma. "We'll make sure everything goes great tonight."
"Thanks Quincy," Ashton smiled. "At least one of you is being supportive."
"Hey, I'll be supportive," Emma said. "Just don't drag me on your dates. Do you realize what I'm missing being here right now? The first look interviews from the new Galaxy Wars movie that comes out next month! They're showing them on the Sci-Fi channel tonight at eight an I'm gonna be stuck here! You better hope dad remembers to record it for me."
"It won't be that bad," Quincy said.
"You better hope not," Emma mumbled. "Where is Neil anyway?"
"His mom's dropping him off here," Ashton replied. "Because he's coming from debate club practice."
"Oh my God," Emma said shaking her head. "Well can he at least speed it up? I'm starving!"
"Here," Quincy said, pulling a chocolate bar out of his jacket pocket and handing it to his girlfriend. "I brought this just in case there was a wait."
"You're the best," Emma smiled, taking the candy bar.
"See, this is why I wanted you two to come here tonight," Ashton said. "You two are a great couple! Think of this as you guys passing your dating wisdom down to less experience couples. Just-Oh! There's his mom's car!"
A van pulled up in front of the restaurant and a small boy with large classes hopped out.
"Bye mom!" Neil said, waving as the van sped away.
"Just please me nice," Ashton whispered as Neil approached. "Emma."
"We'll see," Emma shrugged.
"Hi you guys!" Neil said happily.
"Hey Neil," Ashton smiled, giving him a quick hug. "You know my sister, Emma, and her boyfriend, Quincy, right?"
"Of course," Neil nodded. "In fact I think it was Emma who took my cherry Freezie-Pop last week."
"You what?" Ashton hissed, turning to her sister.
"Well you took the last Freezie-Pop at home," Emma defended. "I was hungry!"
"She's really sorry," Ashton said quickly. "Aren't you, Em?"
"Apparently," Emma said.
"So, um, why don't we go inside and see if our table's ready?" Quincy suggested.
"Good idea," Neil nodded. "You know, I heard Pini's is quite famous for its lasagna."
"Yeah, it's really good," Ashton said. "You'll love it, Neil."
….
An hour later, the four teens were sitting in their booth, all digging into their lasagna.
"-And then I pushed Quincy into the skateboarder," Emma said, smiling at the memory.
"I broke my foot," Quincy chuckled.
"And I got grounded for a month," Emma finished.
"Um…wow," Neil said. "That's an, um, interesting story."
"Yeah," Ashton nodded. "Interesting."
"Well, I'm going to run to the restroom real quick," Neil said, standing up from the table.
"Okay," Ashton said sweetly. She waited until Neil was out of sight before turning to Emma and Quincy. "What the heck are you guys doing?"
"What?" Quincy frowned.
"We're being a delightful couple, just like you asked," Emma said.
"No, you two are being a-a-whackjob couple!" Ashton snapped. "All we've heard are stories about Quincy being pushed into things by Emma or Quincy selling Emma's things online to get back at her for something!"
"Look, I thought you wanted us here tonight to keep this date from being awkward," Quincy pointed out. "And there haven't been any awkward silences or lulls."
"Yes, but you're freaking Neil out!" Ashton said. "Besides, the poor guy hasn't even had much of a chance to talk about anything."
"Not our fault he's totally boring," Emma shrugged, grabbing a breadstick and some Parmesan cheese.
"He's not boring," Ashton said. "Just give him a chance, okay? I appreciate you guys coming here tonight, I really do, but how about you guys tone down your…craziness and focus on making Neil feel included, okay? I like him a lot, and he's a lot better than any of those other guys I've dated. I want to get back together with him, and for that to happen this date has got to go well."
"Alright," Quincy nodded. "We'll try to include Neil more."
"Thank you," Ashton said.
"I swear, you owe me big time for this," Emma said as Neil came back to the table.
Quincy cleared his throat as Neil sat down again.
"So, um, Neil," Quincy began. "You-You have any hobbies?"
"Certainly," Neil replied. "I'm very into debate. Oh, and I do enjoy making models of 1950's comedians out of paper mache."
"Really? I'm actually into pottery," Quincy said. "In fact I'm president of the pottery club at school."
"Yeah, tell people that," Emma mumbled, earning her a kick under the table from Ashton.
"Maybe you should go to a pottery club meeting with Quincy next week, Neil," Ashton suggested. "They meet every Wednesday after school."
"Well it does sound like fun," Neil said. "But unfortunately this Wednesday I have a commitment. See, the debate team is having a mock tournament to prepare us for our real tournament at the end of the month."
"Oh," Ashton said. "That sounds cool."
Emma rolled her eyes. "Yeah, cool…"
"What's your mock tournament about?" Quincy asked.
"Oh, it's a bit of a fun topic," Neil chuckled. "See, I'll be debating from the point of view of the Red Sky Nauts about the issue of phaser control and my opponent will be debating from the point of view of the Blue Sky Nauts."
"Sky Nauts?" Ashton repeated. "Aren't those things from Galaxy Wars?"
"Yes, it's not an actual debate topic," Neil nodded. "We're just using it as a way to warm up."
"Wait," Emma frowned, setting her fork down. "Why would you argue from the point of the Red Sky Nauts about phaser control? Everyone knows that the Blue Sky Nauts are totally right about that."
"I'm afraid I'll have to disagree," Neil said. "After all, it was the Blue Sky Nauts ban of any gamma ray firing devices that sent the Panthatar government into turmoil after the fall of Emperor Gongmaton."
"Please!" Emma said. "The whole reason the war between Princess Ablogata and Nug Nug's army was the over possession of Proton Firerers and Carbon Phasers by the Red Sky Nauts!"
"Um…okay," Quincy frowned. "So clearly you two both are really big fans of-"
"Oh come on," Neil said. "Siding with the Blue Sky Nauts on an issue like phaser control is like saying Lou Groundrunner was fit to run the Galactic Congress."
"He was better than Quan Mengo!"
"Quan Mengo was twice the leader Lou would ever be!"
"Okay, so, um-"Ashton began.
"Quan Mengo single-handedly destroyed half of the population on the planet Romolton!" Emma retorted.
"Which isn't nearly as bad as the mess Lou stirred up during his little Proton Cruiser chase through the Luptinian Galaxy!"
"You know," Quincy said to Ashton as Emma and Neil continued their debate. "You did sort of ask for this…"
"I know," Ashton sighed. "And believe me, I regret it."
…..
"You cheated!" Sam said angrily, throwing her Monopoly piece angrily onto the floor.
"How did I cheat?" Freddie asked, amused.
"I don't know, but you cheated," Sam snapped, crossing her arms. "Didn't he, Tyler?"
"Can I just go to bed?" the eleven-year old yawned.
"Sure," Sam sighed.
"You know, it would be nice to play a family game that didn't end in you throwing something," Freddie commented, cleaning up the game.
"We'll see," Sam said as the front door opened and the twins came in.
"Hey!" Freddie said brightly. "How'd the double date go?"
"Horrible," Ashton said. "I am never going on another double date with Emma again."
"Did it not go well?" Sam frowned.
"I had fun," Emma smiled.
"Wait, wait, wait," Freddie said. "So does this mean that Neil is done? Dang it!"
"No, Neil and I are going on another date this weekend, by ourselves," Ashton said, glaring at her sister. "We're going to get ice cream."
"Oh, well, okay," Freddie said. "But then what was wrong with the date?"
"Eh, she's exaggerating," Emma said.
"I am not!" Ashton exclaimed. "You totally hogged my date!"
"Huh?" Sam said, confused.
"I didn't hog your date," Emma said, rolling her eyes. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go stuff my face with marshmallows because I swear, Pini's made their portions smaller. Oh, and I'm joining the debate team, by the way."
"What?" Freddie said as Emma headed into the kitchen.
"And I have to go online and look up useless Galaxy Wars trivia," Ashton mumbled.
"Um…are you as lost as I am?" Sam asked Freddie as Ashton climbed up the stairs to her room.
"Uh-huh," Freddie nodded slowly.
"Well Benson," Sam sighed. "Looks like we've finally reached the point where teenage shenanigans no longer make sense to us."
"I think I reached that point five years ago when Jason tried to start his own parakeet messaging system," Freddie said, shaking his head.
"Yeah well, teenagers are weird," Sam said. "We weren't that bad, were we?"
"No way," Freddie said.
