Author's Note: Hey, here is Chapter 3! Finally! Sorry it took so long, school is sucking away my inspiration to write, but I eventually kicked myself into gear and decided to sit down and continue this story. Again, thank you to ALL my reviewers/fans/non-fans. Seriously. I appreciate the not-so-positive reviews just as much as the positive ones, as long as it is constructive.

Okay, enough babble from me. On with the story!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own the Zelda characters, the Triforce, etc.

Ice Cream, Underwear, and Close Calls

After having a shopping spree and changing into her new clothes, Ruto put her bags in her car and drove to the ice cream parlor where she was to meet up with Link. She parked the car and stepped out, looking for him. It didn't take long. She saw him leaning against the wall outside the building. He waved casually. "Hey." He said.

Ruto grinned, "Hey!!" She ran up to him and threw her arms around him in a big hug. Link looked at her with a shocked and confused expression on his face. As far as he knew, they had only met yesterday, and so they weren't exactly friends yet. Even so, he gave her a small hug back and smiled. "Glad you made it."

"I wouldn't have missed it for anything!" Ruto replied cheerfully. Link chuckled and turned to the parlor. "Come on." He said with a smile and opened the door for her. "Go ahead."

Ruto flicked her hair back and smiled at him. "Why thank you Link." She said as she went inside. Link shrugged and followed after her into the Goron Rox Homemade Ice Cream.

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Back in the dorm, Zelda was lounging on the couch watching her favorite crime-and-law show. However, her mind was not on the murder scene investigation, it was focused Ruto and the date she was sure to be on right about now. She and Link had agreed to meet at noon, and it was now almost 12:30. There was no way on Earth that Ruto would ever show up late for a date.

"I wonder how it's going?" Zelda thought as she sat there. She began to think about Link again. "I wonder what his favorite ice cream flavor is?" She had to giggle at that thought. It was completely unimportant as to what Link's favorite flavor was, while at the same time it was fascinating. Everything about him was fascinating. It was almost like wondering what kind of pets your favorite celebrity has. Not necessary to know, but you still want to get behind the scenes and know everything you possibly can about them. That was how Zelda was feeling about Link.

After getting lost in her thoughts, she now had no idea what had happened to the murder case on TV, but she didn't really care. She flicked the TV off and got a book to get her mind off of the date that Ruto and Link were on.

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Ruto and Link walked up to the large glass case that held all the different flavors of ice cream. "What would you like?" Link asked her. Ruto smiled and glanced down, "Um... I'll have a strawberry and vanilla sundae with a cherry." She said to the cashier.

"And I'll have a chocolate ice cream please." Link said. Ruto tapped his shoulder playfully, "You are so boring. Have something more exciting."

Link sighed, "With sprinkles." He added. Ruto giggled, "You're so funny."

When they got their ice creams, they went back outside to sit. Ruto chose a small, round table for two. She thought it was 'romantic.' She sat down and folded her hands on the table. "Isn't it funny how we only met because you delivered a pizza, and yet here we are sitting together?"

Link looked at her, wondering what she was getting at, "I guess it is kinda interesting." He said, although he didn't really care either way. He thought Ruto was acting a little too friendly at times, which was making him nervous. He took a bite of his ice cream to cover up his apprehension.

"Well, I think it's fascinating. That's how my parents met, you know. My mother was a waitress and my father used to go to the restaurant she worked at just so he could see her." Ruto lied. She completely made up the story, but was trying to get the hint across to Link.

Link nodded, "Oh that's nice." He said. He didn't really like the what she was implying. It seemed to him that she liked him much more than he liked her, but he didn't say so.

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Zelda continued to stare at the exact same page she had opened her book to almost an hour ago. She had been completely unable to concentrate the whole time. Her mind was occupied by the date.

"Is it going well? Does Link like her? Have they kissed yet?" These were all thoughts that shoved their way into her head. The last one was especially disturbing. If Ruto and Link had kissed already, it would be that much harder to end the relationship before it got serious.

"I've gotta get out of here, and get my mind off that stupid date!" Zelda said out loud to herself. She went into her room and got her shoes on, then grabbed her purse. She didn't know where she wanted to go, but she just felt like getting out for some fresh air to escape her thoughts.

She went outside to the car and got in, pulling out of the driveway and into the street. She began to drive toward her favorite shopping center, but in her hurry to leave, she forgot that that particular shopping center held the Goron Rox Homemade Ice Cream...

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Ruto and Link had finished their ice creams, and had been sitting there talking for a while. Link tried not to fidget too much in the seat, for he was still uncomfortable with the way Ruto was acting around him. He wanted to leave and get away from her, but she had been talking nonstop so he didn't have a chance to break away yet.

"Want to go for a little walk?" Ruto asked him. His heart sunk for a second, not really wanting to spend anymore time with her than he had to. "Sure." He answered, despite his thoughts. He was afraid he'd hurt her feelings if he said no.

"I'll just hang out with her for a little while, then it will all be over with and I won't have to see her anymore." Link thought silently as he got up and threw out his and Ruto's trash.

Ruto stood by Link and began to walk towards some of the shops next door to the ice cream place. She clapped and pointed at an outfit that was being shown in the window of a clothing store. "Ooh! Look at that! Isn't that just the cutest thing you've ever seen?!" She exclaimed, grabbing Link's arm and dragging him inside the store.

"Uh, yeah it's great." He said, just to agree with her. Like most young men, he wasn't at all interested in shopping, especially for clothes. Not only that, he was inside a woman's clothing store. That made it even more embarrassing. He was completely flushed red as they headed through the lingerie section. Bras and underwear surrounded him.

Ruto snatched a pink and black thong off the shelf and held it right in front of his face. "Check this out! Wouldn't it look great on me?" She asked expectantly.

Link blushed even harder, "Uh, er..." He stuttered nervously as he took a step back so it wasn't touching his nose anymore. He noticed that Ruto had a whole armload of other clothes. "I'm going to try this stuff on. Don't move." Ruto said as she scurried into the changing room. Link sighed, relieved to have a moment's peace. He began to walk around aimlessly while trying to figure out how he got into this situation in the first place. It was only a second later that he realized it was because he had been the one to ask Ruto to have ice cream with him. He was way beyond the point of realizing that was a bad choice. He considered taking a run for it while he had the chance and ditching Ruto, but decided not to because that would be hurtful to her. He sighed again and leaned against the wall to wait.

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Meanwhile, Zelda had parked her car and gotten out, not noticing that she had parked it right beside Ruto's car. On any other day, she would have noticed it, but not today. She walked right past it and into the same store that Link and Ruto were in.

She began to flip through some jeans and shirts that were on sale, hoping to find a good deal. More than that, she was glad that this seemed to be a good distraction away from what she thought Ruto and Link were doing. She had no idea that they were in the same store right now, and she had her head down so she didn't notice Link standing on the far side of the store.

Link, however, noticed her. Glancing up, he could see her head over the racks of clothes. He couldn't see her face, but he thought she looked really familiar. He was just about to go over to her and say hello, but at that moment, Ruto came out of the changing room with a big smile on her face.

"I'm going to buy these." She announced, holding up an arm with two skirts, a pair of jeans, three shirts, and a wide belt. She held up her other arm, "I won't buy this one because it makes my butt look too small."

Link looked at her and nodded, giving a fake smile.

Ruto looked slightly disappointed as she walked past him and to the register. Link guessed it was because she had expected him to say something along the lines of, "No way! Your butt will never look too small!" Of course, there was no way he would say that. If he did, he was sure she would over exaggerate it and think he was flirting, so he stayed quiet.

Ruto paid for her new clothes and handed the bags to Link. "Could you hold these for me?" She said as she organized her purse and began to walk outside. Link followed, glad to be away from that store. As he left, he glanced back to where he had seen the other girl. He got a glimpse of her face and remembered where he had seen her. She was the friend of Ruto from yesterday at the pizza restaurant, and also the one he had delivered to before.

With that mystery solved, he left the store. Ruto obviously hadn't seen her friend because she didn't say anything. "It was Zelda wasn't it?" Link asked himself. "She's really pretty."

Ruto grabbed his arm, snapping him from his thoughts. "Let's go to the park now! It's not a far walk from here."

Link looked at her in horror. The last thing he wanted to do was spend another hour or two with her, let alone five more seconds. He had to come up with a quick excuse. "I'd like to, but I have to go to work."

Ruto put her hands on her hips. "I thought you said you didn't have work today?" She said suspiciously.

Link froze. He forgot he had said that. "Er, yeah I did say that, but my boss called me this morning and said that I needed to be there today. Sorry." He looked at her, hoping she would buy it.

She smiled, "I understand, but would you help me carry my stuff to the car?"

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Zelda had seen neither Link nor Ruto inside the store. She didn't feel like trying anything on, so she decided to leave. She began walking to her car with a sigh. Although she didn't buy anything, she had accomplished one thing: being away from home had gotten her mind off of Link for a while.

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Ruto stopped in front of her car and opened the trunk for Link. He placed her bags inside and then closed the door. Ruto came around to the driver's side of the car. She turned to face Link with a smile. "I had SUCH a great day today. Thank you SO much for taking me out. We should do this again sometime."

"Yeah right." Link thought. "Yeah, we should." He said out loud, then cursed himself. He was afraid of hurting her feelings, so he didn't want to tell her that he didn't want to see her anymore.

"Wonderful! I'll call you sometime." Ruto said. Her arms had worked their way around Link's neck while he wasn't paying attention. It was then that it hit him: She was going to kiss him. There was nothing he could do about it, less than shoving her away and running for dear life. He didn't want to kiss her, for he didn't feel at all like that about her. She had her lips pursed and she was closing in on him, but it seemed to be taking forever. His heart pounded in his chest as he waited for her to just do it and get it over with.

"Vrrrroooom!" The loud engine of a car sounded loudly, making Ruto scream. "Aaaah!" She jerked her arms away from Link and covered her mouth. Link breathed a sigh of immense relief to himself. He had been saved by the person in the car.

It was Zelda who was in the other car, and she still hadn't seen them because they had been on the other side of the car. But she did hear a scream. Zelda knew that scream. She immediately stopped the car and got out.

"Are you okay Ruto?" She asked, then her heart froze when she saw Link. In the time she had been at the store, she had completely forgotten the date that Ruto and Link had been on. "Uh... I mean, er... sorry." She muttered.
Ruto shot her an icy look for interrupting what would have been a kiss, but she covered it up and smiled again. "No problem, Zellie. You just scared me with your car." She patted Link's arm. "Well, I'll talk to ya later, gator." She said giggling, then got into her car and backed out of the parking space. She gave him a wink before driving off, leaving him and Zelda alone.

Zelda blushed with embarrassment. She had just made a fool of herself again by interrupting them. For all she knew, Link wanted to kiss Ruto. "Now he will be mad at me! I didn't mean to do it."

"Sorry again." She said softly. Link chuckled, "Don't be. I'm glad you were here. It was a pretty close call."

"What do you mean?" Zelda asked, confused.
"Nothing, it's just that I wasn't ready for what she was about to do. It's not that I don't like her, but she was moving too fast. I only met her yesterday, so I wasn't exactly prepared to kiss her yet." Link replied, blushing slightly. He didn't want to make Zelda mad by telling her that her friend annoyed the heck out of him all day, so he pretended to like her.

"Oh, okay." Zelda said with a small smile. She was happy that Link hadn't fallen head over heels for Ruto, but she was also disappointed. He had just admitted that he liked her, at least a little bit. "So how was it?" She asked casually.

"It was... fun." Link said, choosing his words carefully. "I mean, I like to get to know people well, so that's why I wanted to go with her, but I was kind of hoping you would have joined us today."

"Huh?" Zelda said, getting confused again. "I wonder what he means by that..." She thought.

Link blushed. He hadn't meant for it to come out that way. "I mean, I wanted to get to know both of you. As friends, you know?"

"I thought you wanted to go with just Ruto." Zelda said, trying to hold back a smile.

Link shrugged, "Since you didn't come with us today, so you want to hang out tomorrow?"

Zelda couldn't help but grin, "Sure, what time?"

"How about 4:00? I have to work until 2:30 tomorrow." He said.

"Sounds good. Where do we meet? Here?" She asked.

"Good idea. We'll meet here tomorrow at 4:00." Link said with a smile. "One more thing: Do you think it could just be you? Ruto kinda wore me out today."

Zelda chuckled, "I know how you feel. And yeah, It'll just be me."

"Okay, great." Link looked at his watch. "I have to go. See you tomorrow." He waved and began walking to his car.

"See ya." Zelda said and went into her car again. Then it all sank in. She was actually going to be with Link tomorrow! She laughed out of pure happiness and began the drove home.

It occurred to her on the way home that she had accidentally stopped Ruto from kissing Link. She felt a little guilty, but she was actually happy to have done that.

She knew she'd hear from Ruto all about the date, but it wouldn't bother her anymore. She had her own date to go to, and the best part was that she didn't even have to go about her original plan to make Link realize that she was better for him that Ruto. Zelda couldn't wait to tell Malon all about what happened.

After a few minutes, Zelda pulled into the driveway. She didn't see Malon's car, so she guessed she was at a class for college. She did however, see Ruto. A very angry-looking Ruto.

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Can you spell O-M-G? Finally, this freakin' chapter is finished! It wasn't as hard to write as I thought it would be. It was actually really fun; once I sat down and put my mind to it, everything just flowed out. Again, I'm sorry it took so long to update. If any of you thought I abandoned the story, never fear!

I want to thank all my reviewers, and a special thank you to those of you who gave me suggestions. I don't think I copied any ideas directly, but I took most of your ideas, twisted them a bit, and mashed them all into one. I think it came out pretty well. Do you agree? Disagree? Tell me in your review. And as usual, suggestions are encouraged.

See you all next chapter!

-Musical Grass-