Pink Astronaut prompt. I posted another one-shot snippet earlier this evening, so if you don't want to miss that go back.
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Nervous
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Danny smoothed down the front of his shirt again. This was fine. Fine. He wasn't sweating. When was the last time he sweated, anyway? Perk of being half-ghost, he supposed, along with an immunity to acne.
Anyway.
Even if he wasn't, he wouldn't be sweating. What was there to sweat over? It wasn't like he didn't know Paulina. They'd been friends in elementary school, acquaintances in middle school, and then... yeah... something through most of high school.
Point was, he knew her. Had known her for a while.
And this was their first date.
(Because the one 'they'd' been on while Kitty was overshadowing Paulina definitely didn't count.)
Yeah.
He was doomed.
At least he'd brought her a gift? Their first gift as a couple. That counted for something, right?
(Not counting the cursed necklace he'd accidentally given her right before the first school dance. Nope. Didn't count at all)
Correction. He was hyper-doomed. Turbo-doomed, even.
Who even got a girl a geode, anyway? She was going to hate it. He had no evidence that she still liked rocks. The last time she'd mentioned them in his hearing had been in sixth grade. He should have gone with flowers. Flowers were easy, safe. Everyone liked getting flowers.
But she had agreed to go on this date, and he'd made sure the ghost issue was covered. So... yeah. Couldn't go too terribly.
Probably.
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Paulina had never been so nervous before a date, and she'd been on a lot. It was probably because she'd never been on a date with someone she knew so well. Danny knew what she looked like in pigtails. Ugh. So uncool.
But, then, she knew what he looked like in one of his Dad's hazmat suits, so they were probably even on that front.
On the other hand...
What was she doing with these flowers? Everyone knew the girl did not buy a gift for the guy on the first date! Especially not flowers. This was backwards!
Also, lilies were funeral flowers, and marigolds, well. Not to mention the spider-lilies.
She was really hoping that he wouldn't interpret the bouquet as a novel way of saying 'go die.'
But they'd spoken to her, and her mother had told her that sometimes, she just needed to follow her instincts, let the universe guide her. Or something like that, anyway.
And she had asked Danny out first, which was a bit of a reversal as far as her dating life went. Maybe that's why she was nervous.
Yeah...
That had to be it.
She caught sight of him standing outside the cafe, wearing an uncharacteristic button down shirt and a messenger bag. He looked as nervous as she was (she didn't look it, though. She was the master of her appearance). But when he spotted her, he lit up. She found herself smiling as well.
Perhaps she didn't need to be so nervous.