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This wasn’t Ari’s first first date. God knows it wasn’t. This was maybe her seventh first date at this point. Maybe eight? That one was… Kinda complicated…
What was even more complicated however was the series of events that had led Ari to this moment. She was currently sitting in the passenger seat of Kelly’s car. Her and Kelly were driving to waffle house, as it was the only place open this late after both of their shifts. Ari and Kelly… Were going on a date…
Ari felt her heart flutter at even recounting the words in her head. Yeah, again, Waffle House was far from the most luxurious place. But it was close, it was cheap (not that price was much of a barrier for Kelly), and it was open. Besides, neither Ari or Kelly really wanted to wait. Ari had asked out Kelly so suddenly (thanks for the boost Jecka!) that they had both agreed to meet up right after their shifts. Why not right? It was finally the weekend after all. Well, it would be in about two hours at least.
As Kelly’s car pulled into the driveway, the duo both stepped out.
“Sorry again it’s not exactly the most… fancy place.” Kelly laughed.
“No no it’s fine!” Ari said. “I’m just happy to be… Uh… Here with you.”
Ari blushed as her words came out. She half expected Kelly to scowl at her, to berate her, to rip her head off, chew it up, and spit it back out. But instead…
“Aww, that’s so sweet! I’m happy to be here with you too!” Kelly beamed, her face also turning a slight shade of red, albeit, nothing close to Ari’s at that point.
As the girls entered the waffle house, they were immediately greeted by a familiar face.
“Sup.” Emily said simply.
“E-Emily?” Ari sputtered out in surprise. “You work here?”
“Pay is good, and I get to punch anyone who annoys me. Win win.” Emily said with a shrug. Ari assumed that part about punching anyone who annoys me was a joke, but decided not to ask for confirmation. Best to stay off of that list just in case.
“Well are you gonna take a seat or…?” Emily asked.
At that, Ari realized she had just been standing there staring. “Right! Sorry!” Kelly chuckled slightly at Ari’s response, and the duo both made their way towards the nearest booth. The location was fairly empty, only two other occupied tables. As Ari slid into one end, Kelly took the other and grabbed one of the menus left behind on the table.
“Ooh! I’m definitely getting some of the waffles!” She mused happily.
“At 10PM?”
“Yeah! That’s what makes them extra tasty!”
“Huh. I suppose it might, I dunno. I’ve never been too fond of syrupy foods so I tend to avoid them in general.” Ari pondered absentmindedly browsing her own menu.
“Oh.” Kelly said, looking up at Ari. “Are you cool eating here then? I mean we can go somewhere else if you’d rather.”
“OH- uh, sorry no this is good! I didn’t mean anything like that.” Ari sputtered, realizing her last statement had come off as a very thinly veiled complaint.
Kelly just smiled in response. It seems she hadn't taken any offense. That was good. God, why was Ari already fucking up? Why couldn’t she just be normal?
“What’s the special occasion with you two?” Emily asked which caused Ari, who had not noticed her walking up beside their table, to jump out of her skin. “I don’t really see you two hanging around each other much, so grabbing a bite to eat this late is… Odd…” Emily’s eyes squinted slightly as if she was trying to decipher some sort of ancient riddle.
Ari’s face, once again, lit up like a fucking stop light, and this seemed to be more than enough for Emily to confirm what she had likely already suspected. She then affirmed her knowledge of the current scenario by allowing a wide shit-eating grin to form on her face.
“Oooooh. Alright, I see it.” She said looking back and forth between a sheepish Ari, and a still beaming Kelly. “You two are dating!”
“Whu-HUH?!” Ari blubbered out.
“Yup!” Kelly beamed, turning to smile at Ari.
Kelly was like a ray of sunshine at 10PM.
Ari was a tomato.
“B-but it’s only our first…” Ari trailed off.
“Oh, sorry, was I moving too fast?” Kelly asked, her smile shifting to worry. “Cause we can still just be-”
“NO! No I uh… I like the idea of being… girlfriends…” Ari said, each word getting quieter.
Kelly’s patented smile returned.
Emily, who had been watching this display, seemed content, a sly smile still plastered on her face as she whipped out her notebook. “Right, you two wanna order now or…?”
“Right!” Kelly said, as if only just remembering this was a restaurant. “Uhhh… I’ll just take the waffles and an ice water.”
Emily made a small mumble at the utterance of ice water but neither Kelly nor Ari heard what it was, likely by design. “And you?” She said, turning her attention to Ari.
“U-um… I’ll have the same as her!”
Kelly looked up at Ari, confused. “I thought you didn’t like syrupy foods?”
Shit.
“Uhh… I mean it’s fine if you like it!”
Kelly looked even more confused. “Well I mean I do, but that doesn’t mean you have to order the same thing?”
Oh wait yeah. It wasn’t normal to just order what your partner did out of fear of being ridiculed. How did she forget that?
Well…
She knew how…
“Then uh, actually can I get the…” Ari took a quick second to glance over the lunch and dinner menu. “The burger?”
“Right, gotcha.” Emily said, jotting down Ari’s second order before hastily scribbling out the first. “That’ll be out whenever it's done.” Emily said lazily before walking off. As she did she began hollering some string of words at the guy behind the counter who looked to be half asleep. Ari tuned them out though.
She then noticed Kelly looking at her, a slight look of worry on her face.
“What?” Ari asked, knowing damn well what was up.
“Are you… Okay?” Kelly asked, tentatively.
Ari shrugged, trying to decide internally whether it was even worth playing the I’m fine card when the both of them knew that wasn’t entirely true. Ultimately, she decided on letting out a loud groan instead.
“I’m not… Used to dating girls.” She admitted. “I did it once… And well…”
Kelly’s frown returned. While she had known Nicole and even just spoken to her earlier that day, she had never really had any directly terrible experiences with her. Of course, she knew she should count herself lucky for that fact. Pretty much everyone knew about the situation with Ari, and what Nicole had done to her.
“I’m used to guys, where you just kinda go along with whatever they blabber on about and pretend to be interested. But Nicole is my only experience with a girl. With her, you HAVE to make sure she’s… Happy. So I’d just do whatever I knew would make her happy. Eat what she liked and stuff like that.
Kelly looked at Ari, her frown still strong on her face. “You aren’t the accessory to whoever you’re dating Ari. Nicole can be… A bitch… But with me, all I want is for you to be yourself.”
Ari looked up at Kelly, their eyes finally meeting for the first time since sitting down together. “But…” she began. “What if you don’t like the real me?”
Kelly reached out her hand and took the tomatoe’s in hers. “I want to know you, Ari . If I wanted to date a carbon copy of myself, well… I’m not entirely sure how I’d do that, but the point is I don’t.”
Ari, completely taken aback by the genuine interest Kelly seemed to be showing, continued to flush a brighter red than should be humanly possible. Her face was heating up, and her cheeks betraying her emotions to the fake blonde ahead of her.
Kelly’s smile returned. Ari really liked to see her smile. It made her smile too.
“So, what are some of your hobbies?” Kelly asked, cocking her head ever so slightly causing her hair to flow with the question.
“Um… Well, I’ve always been fond of… Camping.” Ari looked up to study Kelly’s reaction. Her eyes however seemed to be locked onto Ari. That was new. She’d never had that kind of attention before. “I was in the girl scouts growing up, so I used to do it a lot with my parents.”
“I’ve never gone camping before, but it always sounded fun!” Kelly said, her purple eyes glowing with excitement. “A break from all the hustle and bustle of suburban life.” She said almost with a longing sigh.
“I didn’t take you for the outdoorsy type.” Ari said, admittedly a little shocked. She had always just known Kelly as the party girl.
“I mean, it’s not like I hate being around people obviously, but every now and again, a break is nice. OOH! We should go camping sometime!”
“R-really?” Ari asked, worried she was dreaming.
“Yeah! It’d be fun!”
“Well uh, yeah! I’d uh… love to do that!”
As the girls chatted excitedly Emily finally returned with two plates and drinks in hand.
“Right, burger for you, and waffles for you.” She said placing the plates. “That everything?” She asked far too bluntly and casually for what a waiter was probably meant to sound like.
“Yup! Thanks Em!” Kelly said, beaming to her.
Emily smirked looking back and forth between the duo. “Y’know, if you ever wanna add any spice to your thing , gimme a call!”
Before either girl could question what exactly Emily was implying with that, she sauntered off with a vague wink.
“Uh.” Kelly said, turning to look back at Ari.
Ari stared back blankly at Kelly.
A moment.
And then.
They both broke down into a giggling fit. This was a good night. This was a very good night. For the first time in a long time, Ari found herself not just hopeful, but actively excited for the future! Life had been shitty recently, but it looked like maybe, just maybe, the clouds were finally starting to part. The sun was shining through!
At that, Ari picked up her shitty 10PM burger, and took a bite.
BONUS MICROFIC
Wash Your Hands Like A Normal Bitch.
“Jesus, careful Nicole!” Jecka said, yanking her arm out of the splash zone of Nicole’s attempts to dry her hands. “Use a fucking paper towel!”
“The paper towel dispenser is all the way over there.” Nicole said, pointing to the towel dispenser that was indeed more than a foot from her current location in distance.
“That doesn’t mean you can just start shaking your hands like a dog to dry them. We’re in a public restroom.”
“Bitch just be happy I’m washing them at all.”
“That is-... Seriously?”
Nicole took a break from flapping her hand wildly through the air in order to dry it to flip Jecka off, who in turn, responded with a middle finger of her own.
“Nicole, do you often eat at restaurants like this without washing your hands?”
“I mean I don’t often eat at restaurants period soo…”
“Not the point of the question.”
“Whatever, my hands are clean, they’re dry, let’s just get some food.”
“Fine.” Jecka scoffed. “Most romantic date ever.”