A/N: Greetings and salutations, my loves! No, you're not losing track of your days this week. It is, in fact, Wednesday. I'm just posting this early because my weekend is going to be SLAMMED starting tomorrow, and I knew I would really only have time to think about posting this chapter. So I decided to go ahead and give it to you. It was a good choice, wasn't it?
Disclaimer: I don't like weddings!
When Ezra knocked on the door of Jen's apartment, he heard voices clamoring over one another. It brought a smirk to his face to imagine the girls scrambling to finish getting Jen ready for the date, and he stifled a chuckle.
He heard footsteps approaching the door and wondered if it would be Jen answering the door or one of the other girls. He wasn't sure which he was hoping for. But Ezra's breath was stolen away when the door opened to reveal Jen. Her hair was out of its usual ponytail and framed her face prettily, and she'd added a little more makeup than she usually wore. Just a bit of eyeliner and eyeshadow enhanced her already beautiful eyes, and a little gloss made her lips shine. In a word, she was gorgeous.
Jen's own eyes widened when she took in Ezra's appearance. "You took out your dreadlocks!" she exclaimed in surprise.
"He did what?!" two voices shrieked from further in the apartment, and the couple saw Piper and Tish running over each other to get out into the open. "Oh my gosh! You look so different!" yelled Piper.
"How did we not know you were this hot?" Tish demanded. "Why didn't Priestly ever mention that you were this hot? We've known you for a month and a half now, and he never said a word."
"Seriously, guys?" Jen asked, slightly annoyed at her friends' interruption, but way more amused by their reaction to Ezra's new look.
The other girls seemed to realize that they'd intruded on a moment and started backing out of the room. "Sorry, we'll get out of your hair now," said Tish. Then she realized what she said. "Wait, I mean we'll-"
"We'll just leave," Piper cut in. She shoved Tish toward the kitchen before disappearing herself, leaving the couple to themselves.
"You took out your dreadlocks," Jen repeated, though much more calmly this time. "And you shaved."
A blush rose on Ezra's cheeks when Tish and Piper freaked out over him, but it just intensified under Jen's appraising eyes. "Y-yeah," he stammered nervously. "I thought I'd do something special for tonight."
"I don't want you to feel like you have to change your appearance for me," Jen said worriedly. "I'm not concerned about looks."
"That's not it," Ezra assured her. "I promise, that's not what this is. The dreads are going back in tomorrow." They both chuckled at his frankness. "I just wanted to look nice for tonight. Give you a proper first date."
A blush crept onto Jen's face as well, and she gave him a shy smile. "Well, you've done very well so far," she said, indicating the flowers in her hand. "So, shall we go?"
"Yeah, let's go." After Jen called out a goodbye to the other girls, they walked out the door and down to the car.
The drive to the restaurant was very pleasant, with easy conversation flowing between Jen's directions. They were relieved to find that the restaurant wasn't very busy that night, so they were seated right away.
"Alright," Ezra mused aloud as they looked over the menu, "what would you like to eat tonight?"
"They have this really good pizza that they make completely from scratch," Jen told him enthusiastically. "It's delicious. I get it every time I come here." When she didn't hear a response, Jen looked up at her date to see an amused grin on his face. "Or we could get something a little nicer than pizza," she said dejectedly, feeling embarrassed.
"No, we can get pizza," Ezra told her quickly, trying to assuage her fears. "I happen to love pizza."
Jen laughed softly, relieved that she hadn't made herself look like an idiot on their first date. "Trucker and Bo gave me some really good advice earlier," Ezra continued. "They told me to just be myself, and to not try to be impressive. Because if I try to be impressive, I'm not really being myself, and myself is who you agreed to go out with, right?" Jen chuckled at his wording and nodded her agreement. "So I want you to do the same. Don't worry about trying to impress me. You already did that just by being you."
A soft warmth filled Jen's heart at Ezra's words. It wasn't often that people liked her for who she really was, and she found she rather liked it. "Okay, then," she agreed. "So we're not going to try to be impressive."
"Nope. We're just going to be ourselves and enjoy our date." The couple shared a smile, then the server came to take their order.
The two found dinner to be very enjoyable. Jen wasn't exaggerating about the pizza; it really was the best pizza Ezra had ever eaten. "Can I take another pizza home with me?" he asked, only half joking. "I'm sorry, Jen, but I may have to leave you for this pizza."
"It's okay," Jen went along with the humor. "I've already cheated on you with the pizza, so I won't hold it against you." Their laughter drew other people's eyes on more than one occasion, but neither could find it in themselves to care.
"How was everything?" their waitress asked after they'd finished off the pizza.
"It was fantastic," Ezra said enthusiastically.
"Great. Would you guys like to finish your meal with some dessert?" The young woman held out two smaller menus for them to take.
"Oh, no thank you," Jen started to decline politely, but she was interrupted by her date.
"Why not?" Ezra asked. "We should get some dessert. They've got some good sounding stuff on here."
"I don't need dessert," Jen said shyly. She didn't want to say it in front of the waitress, but the real reason for Jen's hesitation was the price. Ezra had already insisted on paying for their dinner like a gentleman, but Jen didn't want to take advantage of his generosity.
"Well, I say we should," Ezra argued. "Dessert is the most important meal of the day."
Jen snorted a laugh. "Why does that sound like something Priestly would say?"
"Because he got it from me." The couple continued to chuckle at the silliness of both of Ezra's statement. "Seriously, though, Jen. How about we get some dessert?"
Seeing the honest offer in Ezra's eyes finally convinced Jen to change her mind. "Okay, fine." She pretended to by annoyed, but her smile gave her away.
"Alright, what would you guys like?" asked the waitress.
Ezra let Jen order for the both of them, knowing that she was more familiar with what was on the menu. He also wanted her to feel comfortable saying what she wanted. And he told her as much as soon as the waitress was gone. "You know, it's okay to say what you want around me, Jen."
A blush appeared on Jen's cheeks. "I-I know," she stammered. "But you were already paying for dinner, and you bought me those beautiful flowers, and I didn't want to seem like the kind of girl who expects a guy to always go all out for a date."
"I know you're not that kind of girl," Ezra assured her. He reached across the table to take her hand. "I know how kind and giving you are. I would never think of you as selfish. But it is okay to have high expectations of a guy. Otherwise you'd be getting dates from losers and jerks. And," he emphasized, making sure she met his eyes, "it's okay to be just a little selfish. Don't give so much of yourself that you can't enjoy your own life. Don't be afraid to ask me for things, okay?"
"Okay," Jen agreed. She was thankful to have such a caring friend in her life, someone that she hoped would be more than a friend.
Dessert was just as pleasant as dinner had been, and the couple enjoyed it immensely. When they got back outside to the car, an idea came to Ezra. "You want to go walk on the beach a while?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'd love to," Jen accepted. It was a short drive to the beach, and the pair left their shoes in the car in favor of walking barefoot in the sand.
The deserted beach was peaceful, with the moonlight shining off the surface of the water beautifully. Walking side by side, Ezra felt Jen's shoulder brush his arm, and that touch had him reaching out to take her hand.
When Jen felt Ezra's hand touch hers, she felt a blush redden her cheeks. Deciding to be bold, she turned her hand and interlace her fingers with his. They walked together hand in hand, enjoying each other's company and conversing pleasantly.
But the night had to come to an end, and they drove back to Jen's apartment. When they got to her door, they paused, neither knowing quite what to say. "I had a really good time," Jen said, feeling a little awkward.
"I did, too," Ezra agreed. Silence fell over the pair again as they searched for something else to say. "I guess I'll see you at work tomorrow," Ezra said.
"Yeah," Jen stammered. "I'll see you tomorrow." Ezra's eyes seemed to bore into her for a moment, and he leaned toward her. Very gently, he pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. When he straightened, he gave her a warm smile.
"Goodnight, Jen," he said as he let go of her hand.
"Goodnight," Jen repeated. She turned to open her door, but something compelled her to look back at Ezra. When she did, she caught him turning around to give her a wave and one last smile. Jen closed and locked the door behind her, leaning back against it as an enormous smile graced her lips.
When he got to his car, Ezra leaned forward against the steering wheel, thoughts of the night replaying in his head. He couldn't help the huge smile that lit up his face as he sat back into his seat. "We're so doing that again," he decided as he drove away happily.
A/N: Now I'm jealous of Jen. Who else is with me? Thank you guys for joining me once again. I look forward to seeing all of you again next week. Oh, by the way, I've got several story ideas rolling around in my brain that I can't really do anything with for various reasons, so if anybody wants a new story idea, go look at my profile. I'll have a very basic summary of the idea, and if you like one, send me a PM and we can talk more about them. Don't forget to review. I love reviews!