Neat

"Sam, good, you're here," Freddie said as he stepped into the Groovy Smoothie and saw Sam sitting at their usual table.

"It's Friday, we always come here Friday afternoons for a smoothie date," Sam told him as he sat down with her. "I just got bored of hanging around at school while you finished up your AV meeting so I figured I'd just wait for you here."
"Sorry, the meeting ran late," Freddie said. "We were debating whether we should use our budget to order more HDMI cables or-"

"Baby, it's bad enough you're in the club, not to mention the president of it," Sam cut him off. "You don't have to bring the geekiness to our dates."
"Right, my bad," Freddie chuckled. "But hey, speaking of dates, how about I take you out on one tomorrow night?"
"Yeah?" Sam smiled. "You wanna?"

"Sure, I love taking my girlfriend out," Freddie grinned.

"Okay, I'm down," Sam nodded. "What did you have in mind?"
"Well, I-I've kind of been putting something together for a little while now," Freddie said slowly. "I wanted to take you on the perfect date."
"Aw," Sam beamed. "So where are we going?"

"The science museum," Freddie said proudly.

Sam blinked, sure she must've misheard him. "The science museum?"

"Uh-huh!" Freddie nodded. "Sam, it's gonna be amazing. They have a restaurant right inside, so I made us reservations there. Plus they have all these cool, interactive exhibits!"

"Um…" Sam said lamely, torn between wanting nothing more than to shut this idea down and the excited look on her boyfriend's face. But the longer she stared at Freddie's eager expression, the harder the first option seemed. "Well…I-I guess if you have those reservations…looks like it's a date."

"Yes!" Freddie cheered, throwing his arms up. "Baby, you'll see, it's gonna be such a fun date tomorrow! Who knows, maybe we'll wind up having regular dates there too."
"Yeah…" Sam said forcing a smile onto her fac. "Maybe."

…..

"The science museum?" Carly frowned later that evening as her and Sam sat up in her room.

"I know!" Sam nodded. "He's been with me for almost a year, and he thinks a perfect date involves taking me to a giant institution designed for education!"

"Yeah, I'd think he'd want to take you to a chocolate factory or something," Carly said.

"It's gonna be so boring!" Sam moaned, falling back on the bed she was sitting on. "It's gonna be hours and hours of just staring at fossils and weird plants. We're even getting dinner at the restaurant in the museum. Can you believe that? Even dinner is gonna be a snooze fest!"

"Well maybe you can talk to Freddie and just tell him that if he really wants to take you on the perfect date, that he should try something else," Carly suggested.

"No, I can't do that," Sam sighed. "He-He looked all happy and excited when he told me about it. It was the same look that somehow convinces me to watch Galaxy Wars with him. God…I'm turning to a pushover!"

"Nah, you're not a pushover because you want to make your boyfriend happy every once in a while," Carly chuckled. "Look…maybe you'll wind up having a good time at the museum. It might be fun."
"Yeah, and Gibby might be normal," Sam said, rolling her eyes. "Whatever, I guess I'll just load up on the coffee tomorrow. It will be about the only way I'll make it out of this date without falling asleep."

….

"So you excited?" Freddie asked, positively glowing with anticipation as he held Sam's hand while the couple walked up to the large science museum.

"Oh yeah," Sam said, pulling a fake smile onto her face. "Yeah, this is gonna be…neat."

"We'll eat first," Freddie told her. "And then we'll get to the exhibits."

"Yay," Sam mumbled, clearing her throat. "So, um, what kind of restaurant is this?"

"It's actually a pretty decent place," Freddie replied. "Guess they realized the museum was a hot date spot. I looked on the website and it says they have eight different types of chicken!"

"Well, at least that's something," Sam muttered under her breath.

"What?"

"I said great, I'm starved!" Sam said quickly, squeezing his hand.

"I'm really glad we're doing this, Sam," Freddie smiled. "I've been here a million times by myself…it's one of my favorite places to come. But I've never brought anybody with me. The museum staff is probably going to fall over when they see I have a date."

"Most people do," Sam chuckled, kissing his cheek.

The two stepped through glass doors right next to the main museum entrance into the restaurant. Is was unlike any restaurant Sam had ever been in (and she had definitely been to her fair share of eating establishments). It looked like a giant laboratory, complete with test tubes everywhere small explosions coming from various sections of the room.

"Wow," Sam frowned, trying not to feel like she was back in chemistry class. "This is really-"

"Whoa, it's better than I imagined!" Freddie grinned. "I've never been to the restaurant part of the museum."
"Oh…yeah," Sam sighed. "It's pretty…cool."
"Hi, we have a reservation for two," Freddie said, stepping over to the waiter, who was dressed in a white lab coat, at the front. "It's under Benson."

"Ah yes, Mr. Benson," the waiter smiled. "We have your table ready for you."
Sam and Freddie followed him back to a small booth in the corner, right next to a wax figure of Albert Einstein.

"Okay, this is officially the best restaurant ever," Freddie said, looking around like a child in a candy store. "Look over there! I think I see a portrait of Marie Curie!"

"You haven't even had any of the food yet," Sam pointed out, somewhat amused at her boyfriend's enthusiasm.

"Good evening," the couple's server greeted them as he approached their table with a large platter of onion rings. "I brought these out to start you guys off."
"We didn't order onion rings," Sam said, though her mouth was beginning to water from the delicious fumes.

"Oh, they're complimentary," the server smiled. "You know, some restaurants give free bread, we give free unlimited onion rings."

"Wait…hold on," Sam said. "So you're telling me I can eat as many plates of these onion rings as I want and you'll just keep bringing me more? For free?"
"That is correct, ma'am," the waiter nodded.

"We'll probably need another plate in about…two minutes then," Freddie laughed as Sam began to dig in.

"Why don't all restaurants give you free onion rings?" Sam asked as the server headed back to the kitchen.

"Probably because you'd bankrupt them," Freddie said, still looking around. "Wow…this place is just magical."

"Hey," Sam said, licking the grease off her fingers. "Who's that guy? The one with the huge pitcher of milk next to him."
"Oh, him?" Freddie said, looking over at the figure Sam was pointing to. "That's Louis Pasteur."
"Who?"

"They guy we learned about last year in history class," Freddie said. "The guy gave his report on…"
"Yeah, I tend to zone out when Gibby speaks," Sam shrugged. "So who is he and why's he got milk?"

"He was this really big scientist back in the eighteen hundreds," Freddie explained. "He did a lot of work with vaccinations. But what he's most known for is the process he invented to help fight the containment of milk…pasteurization. See, it's because of him that we're able to enjoy clean, germ-free milk that won't kill us."

"Whoa…I guess that's actually kind of cool," Sam said. "I like milk. So…you-you know all the scientist they show in this place?"
"I think so," Freddie said. "See, over there is Isaac Newton. Next to him is Max Plank. And then over there is-"

Alright, just remember, you've got endless onion rings coming your way, Sam told herself as the server slid another plate in front of her. You can listen to his science talk if you've got endless onion rings! Besides, look how happy he is…God, he looks like a little nerd in his natural habitat. It's kind of cute…Dang it! I am becoming soft.

…..

"This place is packed for a Saturday night," Sam commented as her and Freddie made their way through the museum after dinner.

"I told you, it's a hot date spot," Freddie said, putting his arm around her. "So, did you like that space exhibit?"

"Yeah, believe it or not, it was really cool," Sam nodded. "I can't believe I actually got to touch a moon rock. From space!"

"I know, it's a rush," Freddie chuckled. "Where do you want to go next? The ocean life exhibit? The simple machine section? The human body exhibit-"

"Human body?" Sam said. "What, you mean we could see like, blood and guts and stuff?"
"Well I think they refer to everything by their scientific names, but…yeah," Freddie said. "Basically."
"That sounds kind of decent," Sam said.

"Alright, follow me," Freddie said, leading her through a crowd of people, down a flight of stairs, and into a large room.

There was a huge, detailed replica of the human heart right in the center, and Sam quickly rushed over to get a better look.

"Wow, look at this!" she said. "It's so weird looking…cool!"

"Look over here," Freddie said, standing next to a glass case right beside the model. "See, these are hearts from other species. See, here's what a dolphin's heart looks like, what a squirrel's heart looks like…that tiny one at the end is from a mouse."

"Aw man, Carly would be puking like crazy here," Sam grinned.

"And up there on that screen, you can watch a knee surgery being performed," Freddie told her, nodding over to the large screen across the room.

"Holy chiz, look at all that stuff!" Sam said. "That's all in your knee?"

"Apparently."

"Wow…this is better than the surgery channel," Sam commented. "They always block stuff out."

"I thought you'd like this exhibit," Freddie smirked. "I came here one time a few years back, and they had a lecture going on here. So apparently, even though society seems to think differently, the heart really doesn't play any role in you falling in love."

"It doesn't?" Sam frowned. "Then what's with all the heart's on Valentine's Day?"

"I dunno, they're easy to market off," Freddie shrugged.
"So what does make you fall in love with someone?" Sam asked.

"Well," Freddie explained. "That feeling you get when you look at someone you love is actually the result of a whole bunch of neurotransmitters and hormones and other things going on in your brain. See, when you see someone who you're attracted to you get this giant increase in dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that makes you feel all happy and euphoric. And at the same time, your levels of norepinephrine and adrenaline sky rocket as well, and those make your heart race and your stomach feel like butterflies."
"Huh…" Sam said thoughtfully. "Well maybe next Valentine's Day I should find you a card with a brain on it then." She looked up at the giant model of the heart, and then over her shoulder at the replica of the brain. "Well…guess now at least I know what goes on whenever I see you."

"And you say I'm the cheesy one," Freddie chuckled, leaning down to give her a quick kiss. "But love you too. Oh…darn, it's almost ten. The museum's getting ready to close. We should head out."

"Oh, alright," Sam nodded, taking his hand. "Hey, baby? Um, thanks for taking me here tonight. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I had a really fun time at the museum with you. Honestly, I-I was kind of dreading this. But seriously, it wound up being the perfect date."
"Really?" Freddie grinned.

"Really," Sam said. "We'll have to come back sometime."
"Well in a few weeks they're opening up an exhibit on African mountain lions," Freddie said. "Giant, meat-eating cat…sound like something up your ally?"

"Sound like it's a date," Sam nodded.