Let's take the date! I did actually pick a restaurant in Toronto to set it in, but as I've never been to Canada, please excuse anything I get wrong. Also, incorrect geography about where the ice-cream parlour is, but it's also real. Thanks for reviewing, OmniIBIBIUltraInstinctGodzilla and lordgemini.
Leshawna didn't actually live too far away from me. We were both in Toronto. It's just that I was in a middle-class area and she was in a more working-class one. It was walking distance from the district's community centre, though, so that explained why Leshawna had been volunteering there for so long – troubled kids were likely to be close by and able to walk there. My point is, we were in close neighbourhoods, but not hugely so. We planned out our date on the way home. It would have to be the very next day as we had to start on Season Two straight after.
"And I kinda don't want to have to wait another six weeks to go out for the first time," Leshawna said, her arm draped lightly across my shoulders. I had my arm around her waist in kind. "You said you liked Chinese, right?"
"As long as we can both pay," I said lightly, "Anything's good for me."
Leshawna took her arm away and put her hands on my shoulders, looking me in the eyes. "No way, baby girl. You can pay next time, but I'm paying this time. I had to wait long enough. And I'm going to win the money next season, so you don't need to feel guilty." She looked serious, but as soon as I nodded, her expression relaxed and she laughed. "Don't look so scared! I just wanted to make sure you agreed to let me pay this time. You know of Hong Shing?"
I shook my head.
"Good! I promise, you'll love it. Anything else you want to do? Like we could do a movie or something first."
I shook my head again. "I'd rather spend the whole night just talking. We could go back to my house afterwards. You know, unless you want an early night before the show."
Leshawna gave a sigh. "I forgot about that. We could do an early dinner, come back, hang out and I'll go home before nine."
Before that, of course, I had to see my parents and tell them a bit about the show. Mostly I told them about my friends. "You'd love DJ. He's tall and muscular, but he's like a teddy bear. You know, he's not all macho and he's unafraid of shedding a tear. We got on because we both like dancing and we get each other. And Bridgette's sweet, too. She's like a water queen – good at surfing, good at swimming. And she's nice and friendly with it all. If it wasn't for her, I would never have made friends with Gwen, and she's really nice, too – a bit distant at first, but she helped me a lot with talking to Leshawna and we really got on well after the merge. Harold's a little awkward, but he's a really good friend. He sees stuff most people don't see until it's too late. Katie's very sweet, very positive. When I got to the Playa, she'd said so many nice things about me to Sadie that she wanted to be friends with me, too."
That part was easy. My parents knew how shy I was. My dad smiled at me. "It's great that you've made so many friends," he said. "I was a little worried about you, but I should have known better."
"I still got picked on a bit," I admitted, "But Heather never said anything nice to anyone anyway, and she didn't do too much to me. Same with Duncan – he picked on just about everyone, but that was sort of just what he was like, not malicious."
And I had to tell them I had a girlfriend and that she was picking me up the very next night. My parents had known that I wasn't interested in boys and accepted that I was a lesbian, but I don't think they'd ever gotten their heads around the idea of me being in a relationship at all, let alone one with a girl. They sat stone-faced as I told them about her, apart from nods and weak attempts at smiles when I finished talking. I even threw in the bit I knew about Leshawna's community service work, because there was no way they could dislike me dating a girl who chose to help other kids in her spare time.
"I'll introduce you," I assured them. "I'm sure you'll like her. Leshawna's lovely, very strong and confident. She's also very funny and smart, and she's kind with it all. The kind of person who'd make friends with everyone unless they give her a reason not to."
As it was, the next day, when the doorbell rang, I let Leshawna in immediately. "Sorry," I said, "But my parents are still getting used to the idea of me dating and they want to meet you."
"That's okay." Leshawna grinned. It was nice, but a little jarring to see her out of her kumquats T-shirt and jeans. She was wearing darker fancier jeans with embroidered white flowers around the cuffs and on the seams and a silver spaghetti-strap top, and her hair was loose and straight, falling softly to her shoulders. She looked fantastic. I'd dressed up a bit too, in a lacy white blouse with short sleeves and a magenta pleated skirt that showed off my legs, with white wedge heels. I worried it might make me look a bit schoolgirl, but when I'd looked in the mirror, I still looked my age and the makeup made me look more like I was dressing retro.
So I took Leshawna into the den. "Hey Mom, Dad, this is Leshawna, my girlfriend."
My parents looked a bit startled as they saw Leshawna for the first time. Dad recovered first, and got up to shake hands with her and tell her how pleased he was to meet her. Mom followed suit. Leshawna was perfectly charming to them, saying things like "You have an amazing daughter" and "Don't worry, we're not going to be super late – I don't know about Peyton, but I know I'll be woken up early every morning until the season's over."
Still, the best part was when we were finally in Leshawna's car (a small second-hand affair, but still serviceable) and talking. "You can see what I wanted the money for," Leshawna said straight out. "First thing, I was going to cash in the hundred thousand for something prettier."
We talked and laughed just like we had as friends during the drive. However, in the restaurant, it felt real, that I was truly in a relationship. I was half all floaty and happy and half nervous, wanting to say the right things.
We ended up splitting dumplings as a starter, and then I ordered a special fried rice and Leshawna chose an egg noodle dish.
"I can't believe I didn't know this place existed!" I exclaimed. "The food really is good here. I'm definitely returning."
"I knew you'd love it," Leshawna laughed, taking another bite of her noodles. "Anyway, it's not perfect. It doesn't have desserts, but there is an ice-cream parlour a few minutes' drive away. Are you up for it?"
I hesitated. "Do they have frozen yoghurt?"
Leshawna laughed again. "You think I wouldn't choose one? Even when my girl doesn't say so, I can make a pretty good guess at what she likes. There's a ton of flavours, too."
We went to a place called Summer's, and we actually both ordered frozen yoghurt. Leshawna got tropical fruits and I chose cherry, although I was curious about the watermelon. I was too full to get more than one scoop.
After that, it was almost seven, so we headed back to my house and straight up to my room, for a long makeout session. We didn't go super far, just the same kind of stuff we'd done at the Playa, but it was still fun, and it was almost like we'd shared our dessert flavours.
Leshawna teased me about it. "You tasted like you," she said. "Sweet and sharp. Was it just me, or did your frozen yoghurt fit your personality?"
"So what do I usually taste like?" I teased back. "Your last ex or something?"
Leshawna giggled. "I guess you without the extra cherry flavour," she shrugged, smoothly recovering. "You know, baby girl, I'm really going to miss you when I'm back on the show."
"I'll be cheering you on," I promised. "You will win this time." I paused. "And if you can, tell Gwen, Bridgette, DJ and Harold that I wish all of them luck. Gwen might have been a runner-up once, but the others deserve a chance to be in the finale too."
Leshawna nodded. "Yeah, I'll tell them. I hope it'll be more fun this time. I mean, the challenges weren't fun, but hanging out was, kind of. I wish we could spend the whole six weeks just doing that. But, y'know, I want the million dollars too."
"And you're going to have to deal with Heather." I reminded her. "I know she's not so bad underneath, but I also know you guys have a worse history than she and I do."
Leshawna made a face. "Yeah, I'm going to hate it. I'll just try to get her voted off early."
I made a sad face. "You know they're all coming to the studio? So basically, you're going to stick me with her."
"Oh, you can take her," Leshawna said mischievously. "Anything to get her out."
Just before nine, we kissed goodbye at the door and had a long hug. "See you in six weeks with the million dollars!" I called. "Have fun!"
"Just make sure you guys at the studio live it up!" she called back, getting into the car.
When Leshawna had gone, I went to talk to my parents. "So, um…" I said shyly, "What do you think of her?"
My mom spoke up first. "I see what you meant," she said, "That she was the kind of person who makes friends with everyone and they don't have to give her a reason, except if it's one not to make friends. She seems like a very nice girl."
My dad spoke more hesitantly. "Yes, I liked her," he said. "And she clearly cares very much about you. It's just, how well do you really know her?"
"Eight weeks," I shrugged. "We got to know each other really well. We even shared a room for two weeks, and we hung out before then." No need to mention the first time we really hung out was in the fourth week, when Courtney and Duncan got us all snacks. "Either way, I know a lot. Most of the others liked her, too. You'll see when the show airs, she makes friends, even with people who aren't much like her. The only one she really didn't like was Heather, and…well, you'll see why."
"That reminds me," Mom said, "There was a feature in a magazine I saw today. I thought I'd get it in case you wanted to see what it said, so I read it too. It has the promo picture – I was wondering if you'd like to point out your friends to me." She pulled a rolled-up copy of Star Stalker out of her handbag and opened it to a double-page feature with the promo pic we took on our first day on the island. "You mentioned Katie and Sadie dressed alike. So they're the two girls in the front row in the middle?"
I nodded. "Yeah – that's Katie on the left." I pointed out all my friends, and finally I pointed out Heather. "That's the one I was talking about, who didn't get along with many people. I guess…just watch out for her when the show airs."
And in 24 hours, I'd be back in the world of the show. Out of the spotlight, but hanging with the others who were staying out. Oh well.
I'll try to keep the episode recaps short, but the Aftermaths will certainly be a fiasco. Studio life will be more fun. And by the way, yes, Summer really does have watermelon frozen yoghurt.
