Chapter Three: First

And it was our first date. It just didn't feel like it...because I didn't want it to be.

"Pat-ty," sang Hannah as she stuck her head through the door to the kitchen.

"What?" asked Patty. She took off her apron and handed it to Mary Ann, who was just starting her shift.

Hannah grinned. "You have a gentleman caller," she said cheerfully. "He seems very anxious to see you too."

Patty groaned and pulled her hair out of its pony tail. "He's here already?" she said irritably.

Mary Ann slipped the apron over her head and pushed past Patty to stand next to Hannah. Eagerly, she stuck her head out the door. "Which one?" she asked Hannah.

"The good looking one sitting in the booth near the door."

"Ooh," said Mary Ann. She turned back to Patty. "He's a catch."

Patty shrugged, picked up her purse, and tried to walk past her colleagues. Both, however, grabbed her by the arms and kept her from leaving.

"Is that what you're wearing?" asked Hannah.

"Please tell me you brought a dress to change into."

"Look, girls," said Patty. "It's not really a date. It's just this casual thing I got coerced into."

Mary Ann and Hannah exchanged a look. "She's not going to change," said Hannah. Mary Ann nodded sadly in agreement. Patty, however, simply sighed, shrugged off their grip, and pushed her way out of the kitchen.

"Hi," she said to Victor, approaching the booth he was sitting at. As soon as he realized she was there, he stood, grinning like a fool.

"Hi," he said. "Are you ready to go?"

Patty nodded. "I'm ready."

They stood, awkwardly staring at each other for a moment longer, and then finally Patty stepped toward the door, opening it and stepping out onto the sidewalk.

"So," said Victor, joining her. "You want to go grab something to eat?"

"Um, sure," said Patty. "Where?"

"Oh, I know this great place. You'll love it."

Patty raised an eyebrow, but turned and began to walk away.

"Whoa, whoa!" said Victor, rushing back to her side. "Where are you going? What did I do?"

Patty frowned, taken aback. "You didn't do anything. I thought we were going to get something to eat."

"Well, yeah," he agreed. "But I have my car. We can drive." He gestured down the street in the opposite direction toward a green car. Patty's mouth fell into an "O" shape.

"Well then," she said. "I guess we'll drive."

Victor smiled at her and put a hand at the small of her back, leading her toward the car. "My parents gave it to me a year ago," he explained.

"Lucky."

He shrugged, reaching out to open the passenger's door for Patty. "My uncle Michael owns a used car lot. It was a good deal."

"Oh," she said, climbing into the car. Victor rushed around to the other side, opening the door, and slipping inside. "So, what are you parents like?" she asked as he turned the key in the ignition.

"Oh, you know," he said. "They're like anyone's parents. Very typical."

"Great description."

"Well what about you?" he asked. "Can you do any better?"

Patty laughed. "My mom's a former hippie-"

"Former?"

"She got over being a flower child after my dad died," said Patty. "He's the one who got her into all that."

Victor glanced at her sheepishly. "I'm sorry," he said. They sat silently for a moment.

"Anyway," Patty finally said, registering Victor's words without comment, "now she's a very serious woman. "Very protective. Confident. Stubborn."

"Sounds like you," Victor said wryly.

"Yeah, somewhat," agreed Patty. "Stubbornness is a characteristic passed down through my mother's side of the family. It's unavoidable. And undoubtedly, my children will have it too."

"Point taken. Any siblings?"

Patty began to twist the ring on her pointer finger idly. "Nope. My parents wanted more after me, especially my mom, but it wasn't meant to be. I do have one slightly annoying younger cousin, though."

"Kind of a shame," said Victor. He snuck another peak at her. "I mean, I don't know what I'd do without my siblings."

"How many?" asked Patty.

"Two. Both older. One sister and one brother."

"And I suppose they're very typical too."

Victor laughed loudly, a sound Patty found oddly comforting. "Well, Robert's pretty straight- laced, but Nancy's in a band with her husband," he explained. "She's been traveling all over the west coast for about three years now."

"Wow," said Patty, twisting in her seat to more directly face him. "Seriously?"

He nodded.

"That's so neat!" she said. "What's the band called?"

"Bold Sunshine," said Victor. "They're fairly decent. Maybe we can go see them sometime."

"That'd be great," said Patty, somewhere in the back of her mind realizing she was agreeing to go on another date with a man she wanted to detest. "I've only seen a couple bands perform before, and most of them were in these dark, smokey clubs Susan likes to drag me too."

"And you don't like dark, smokey clubs?" asked Victor, his tone teasing.

"They're alright. You know, when you're in the mood to be there."

"Yeah. I guess." He lifted a finger to scratch his nose. "How old are you anyway?"

"Turned nineteen in April. How about you?"

"Twenty, in June."

She smiled. "Old man."

He flashed a smile back at her and pulled the car to a stop against the curb. Patty unstrapped her seatbelt and stepped out of the car, looking around. "Where are we?" she asked.

"We're at the park with the most amazing hot dogs in the world," said Victor, coming around to her side of the car. "You do like hot dogs, don't you?"

"Of course," said Patty. She laughed softly. This was the last thing in the world she had been expecting.

Minutes later they both had hot dogs and sodas in their hands and were sitting on a bench looking out at a lake, Patty toying around with the idea that maybe Victor wasn't as bad as she thought. Not that she'd date him seriously. Ever. But he might be a nice guy to have around as a friend.

"Do you believe in magic?" she asked suddenly, immediately afterwards taking a large bite of her hot dog.

Victor gave her a strange look, and Patty wondered if she had made a large error in judgement. The last thing she needed was for Victor to find out her big family secret.

"Not really," he said. "But, I've never really thought about it. Why, do you?"

Patty bit back a laugh and nearly choked. "Yeah," she said, after downing quite a bit of her drink. "I do."

"I guess I just need the proof, you know? For someone to show me it really exists."

"Just because you can't see it, it doesn't mean it's not there," said Patty.

Victor shrugged. "People say that all the time. And it's just because they can't prove it."

Inside Patty cringed, and she opened her mouth to retort, only to reprimand herself that she needed to stop this conversation before it went much further.

"Maybe someday I will," she said. And somehow they both understood the discussion was over.