[BAT] Do first dates always go this bad? :: Damian x Devi

[Marsh the Sex Panda]

It was Friday and Damian had a date. This wasn't exactly a new experience for him, he'd been on plenty of dates before, just...not in a couple weeks. The eighteen year old had had a bit of a dry spell, not that it worried him. Everyone had a bit of bad luck at one point or another. But now his luck was looking up, and while he had a very strong feeling he wouldn't be getting laid tonight (Devi didn't seem like that type of girl) he was working on getting to that point.

The red head stood in front of his mirror, tugging on his shirt until it hung properly. It was silver and had the picture of a head one it, with the skull cut off and spoons in the brains. Devi had made some more...gory jokes the last time he had seen her so he figured she'd appreciate it. Or at least not get weirded out. His jeans were plain but comfortable, a hole just beginning to form in the knee. After reaching up and tousling his hair to try and give it that 'I just rolled out of bed, don't I look so sexy' look he decided he was ready to go. He checked his cell phone for the time, 5:45. Perfect, he was supposed to be at Devi's at 6:00 and she didn't live all that far away.

He left his room and went down the stairs calling out a goodbye to his sister and step-mother before exiting the house. Jumping into his Jeep he started it up and then headed off. Briefly he wondered about whether he should have brought flowers or something, Devi seemed like the type of girl who would like flowers, or at least what flowers would imply. That he actually cared about her and all that. With the decision made he made a detour stopping at Destiny City Daisies to pick up a bouquet. He didn't want to get roses (they were too cliche, and expensive) and so decided to go with sunflowers. He paid a dozen flowers and had the lady wrap a bright yellow ribbon around the whole thing before getting into his car.

He checked the time again, 5:55. Damn, now he was cutting it close. He took off, going through every yellow light until he could turn down her street. Parking in front of her house he looked at his cell, 6:02. s**t. Grabbing the flowers he got out of the car, heading up to her door. He could just call and ask her to come out, but he thought he might score some points by coming to door.

Reaching her porch he took a breath and then raised his fist to knock on the door. Now all he could do was wait.  

[Silent Spy]

Devi looked at herself in the mirror, butterflies in her stomach aflutter. It was her very first date ever, and she wanted to make sure everything went right. Unfortunately, things rarely turn out as they're planned. She repeated the advice Jenny had given her, and tried to remember what she had read online. The two sources seemed conflicting, but she did her best.

She didn't have any dresses of her own to wear - only the dress she wore at her Bat Mitzvah, which is now far too small for her to wear. She was thinking about wearing her normal clothes: a pair of jeans and some monochrome solid-T shirt, with maybe a sweatshirt, but every source for dating advice she found seemed to say to dress up.

Devi ultimately borrowed her mother's dress. It was a little big on her and the straps kept falling off her shoulders, so she had to pull them back up every few minutes or she'd end up flashing her date. The dress was already far more revealing that Devi was used to, and she felt the dress was a little to slutty for her mom to be wearing, as it looked much shorter on her mother than it did on her.

When Devi heard the knock on the door, she jumped up and screamed. All the anticipation of waiting had built up, and the knock on the door scared the s**t out of her. Taking a few deep breaths and a few last glances in the mirror, she hurried downstairs to the front door, running through the halls. Yes, running. Devi didn't own a pair of high-heeled shoes, and she didn't fit her mother's shoe size, so she was left wearing her regular red tennis shoes. The outfit as a whole was quite horrible, to be frank, but Devi hardly noticed.

She stood behind the door, her hand trembling as it reached for the knob. She inhaled deeply, opened the door, and slowly exhaled. She waited a few seconds (she was exhaling far slower than she meant to be) and then spoke. "Hi. I was just exhaling."

The first thing Devi noticed was - no, not the bright yellow sunflowers - but the graphic on Damian's shirt. Jenny had said to giggle a lot, so Devi giggled like a cracked out hyena, ending in one final snort. Her strap had fallen a bit, so she fixed it. "I like your shirt, it looks like Raisin Brain cereal."

And then Devi noticed the bright hard-to-miss yellow bouquet of sunflowers Damian had gotten for her. "Oh, sunflowers, thank you!" She took the bouquet, and unsure what to do with them, put them on the counter by the front door. "My mom says I need to be back by eleven, but until then, you can do whatever you want with me."

That came out wrong, and Devi knew it. "I mean we can do whatever we want. I mean...we should have time to eat and see the movie."  

[Marsh the Sex Panda]

Damian was just about to lift his fist and knock on the door again when Devi answered it. The teen was left in the awkward position of mid-knock so he quickly dropped his arm, glancing down at her. His eyes went from her face then wandered down to the rest of her. The first sigh he was greeted with was a lot more chest than she was showing the last time he saw her. He was tempted to try and stare down her dress, but that would come off as creepy. Instead his eyes went down to her shoes and he blinked. He had been expecting some kind of heels (usually when he took a girl out and she wore a dress, she wore heels too), but she was wearing red sneakers. He blinked and then looked back up to her face, he wasn't going to ask.

"Hey," He smiled at her then chuckled. "Well that's good, we wanna keep you breathing." He thought about making a necrophilia joke, but thought that might be crossing the line of what you're allowed to say on a date.

He was about to offer her the flowers, but was stopped by her cracked out laughter. He couldn't help but arch a brow. What was so funny? And the grand finale was a snort. Oh god. He was at a loss for words. She didn't seem like a snorter the day they met. "Oh, thanks. I wouldn't suggest eating brains though, unless you're secretly a zombie." He winked at her, the smile back on his face.

"You're welcome, I hope you like 'em." He handed over the sunflowers and then brushed his hands off on his jeans. He opened his mouth to ask if they should get going, but then he was caught off guard by her saying he could do whatever he wanted with her. His mind of course took that all sorts of places (mainly the gutter) and he had a small rush of excitement. "Anything I want?" He grinned, he couldn't help but ask.

"I promise to have you back by eleven. We should probably get going if we want to be able to eat before the movie." He held his hand out to her to escort her to the car.  

[Silent Spy]

For a moment, Devi thought how could it would be if she were secretly a zombie. She could go around tormenting the bitchy girls at school, eating their miniscule brains. Then again, she probably wouldn't be a very good date and would have terrible manners at dinner. She would probably just sit around the table saying...

"Braiiiins," Devi said creepily, staring off, completing her thought aloud. She immediately froze upon realizing she said this out loud. s**t, s**t, s**t. Her mind was racing with expletives - it was time to backpedal. She giggled again, and while just as forced, made sure she didn't snort again. "Sorry for that outburst. Uh, yeah, lets get going then." She bowed her face down to her sneakers and stepped outside the house, only then realizing how mismatched she was as she closed the door behind her.

"Where are we going to eat?"  

[Marsh the Sex Panda]

At the brains outburst Damian blinked, but then laughed. Devi was certainly...interesting to say the least. He grinned at her and shrugged a bit. "Hey, I'm down if you're a zombie, I've never dated one of those." He ran his fingers through his hair, stepping aside as she stepped out. He watched as she looked down at the ground and wondered just how shy she was.

"I was thinking of Koala Express? It's right by the theatre so we shouldn't have to rush to the movies afterward. Although I'm not sure if they serve brains." He winked at her before he slipped his arm around her waist. He led her to his Jeep, opening the door for her when they got there.  

[Silent Spy]

"I hope not," Devi remarked towards joke. Having found giggling so often to be tiresome already, she simply forced a smile instead. Her forced smiles are nowhere near as attractive as her genuine smiles, but she had been practicing in the mirror. "Koala Express is good, my family eats there on Christmas." Coming from a Jewish family, Devi didn't celebrate the holiday, so instead followed the Jewish tradition of having chinese food on Christmas day - the only places still open.

Devi's cheeks grew hot as Damian put his arm around her waist. She was surprisingly comfortable with it, and was able to control herself. She had read online to expect for these types of movements, and only to stop him if he tries to touch her somewhere she does not feel comfortable being touched. On another website, she read its best to let him touch her anywhere to make the date more exciting. She felt the first bit of advice was more sound, so went with that.

She got into his car and tapped her fingers on her knee. She was getting a little nervous for the dinner, she'd need to keep up an extended conversation, likely filled with small talk. She wrote down a few questions to ask and had memorized them before she left, but she wasn't sure how long it would be before those questions ran out.

First question: "Do you have any brothers or sisters?" she asked as the strap of her dress fell off again.  

[Marsh the Sex Panda]

On Christmas? Damian was confused for a moment, but then put it together. Who didn't celebrate Christmas? The Jews. How did he know this? He had gotten curious about religion when he was fifteen and looked into various ones learning about them. He had decided to just believe in everything, covering all his bases would be the best bet right? "Oh, you're Jewish? Or did your family really like A Christmas Story?" He smiled at her, joking around.

After he helped her into the car he shut the door, careful not to catch her dress, or fingers, in the door. He ran around to the other side of the door and climbed in, buckling up. Looking over at Devi he took a moment to check her out again, even though the outfit was not-so-flattering she was still cute underneath it all. He was distracted from checking out by her question. "Oh, uh" He paused, taking a moment to start the car and pull away from the curb. He hoped she wasn't going to ask him personal questions all night, that would be uncomfortable. "Yeah, I have a sister. She goes to Crystal. What about you?"  

[Silent Spy]

"No brothers or sisters, I'm an only child," Devi said, staring out at the road. She should have expected him to ask the same question back to her, and at least have then picked a question that she could follow up. "Why does your sister go to Crystal when you go to Meadowview? Is she loved more than you?"

Tactful, Devi. Tactful.  

[Marsh the Sex Panda]

Damian nodded as Devi talked, to show he was listening. He didn't want to turn and look at her while driving, he'd tried that before and nearly hit a pole. He did glance at her when they stopped at stop signs and red lights.

Her second question made him blink and pause. Well, that was unexpected. He cleared his throat, running his fingers through his hair as he had a habit of doing. "I wouldn't say that. She's smarter than I am, especially in math and science so my step-mom made her apply for a scholarship." He shrugged a bit it wasn't really that big of a deal he just felt weird talking about it. Then again, he always felt weird talking about himself. In an attempt to stem the flow of personal questions he smiled and asked a question. "So, are you excited for the movie?"  

[Silent Spy]

"I'm very excited," Devi passively remarked. She was a bit more nervous now than she was before, worried she may have asked too personal of a question. Talking about the movie might be a better route to go for now. "I heard it was supposed to be good, but I like movies about superheroes. Can you imagine what it must be like to be both an ordinary student and a kick a** hero? That'd be pretty awesome!"

If Devi had any super power she wanted, she'd have invisibility. Then she could fade away in awkward situations. Or pull nasty pranks on the bitchy girls. She couldn't help but grin at that thought.  

[Marsh the Sex Panda]

Damian arched a brow a bit at her tone. She didn't sound very excited, but he didn't question her, if she said she was excited she was excited. He turned a corner getting closer to Koala Express. Her next statement made him laugh, oh yeah he knew how that was. He still hadn't decided if it was awesome though. "I dunno, the whole tights thing doesn't sound comfortable, they chafe, and ride up." He wrinkled his nose, those were his two main complaints about his own uniform, aside from the skirt.

Glancing over at her and catching her grin he couldn't help but grin himself. "What're you thinking about? You look like the cat who ate the canary." He chuckled, shifting in his seat to get comfortable.  

[Silent Spy]

"Oh, nothing," she said, wiping off the grin. Damian didn't need to know about her invisibility fantasy, that was something for her diary, not for her date. And the 'If you could be a superhero, what power would you want?' question was not on any list of date questions to ask. She did, however, think of something he had said and couldn't help but ask the question. "How do you know about tights chafing and riding up?"

Devi received an A+ in Embarrassing Your Date 101.  

[Marsh the Sex Panda]

Damian blinked but didn't press the matter. It wasn't that big of a deal if she didn't want to share. There was a lot of things he didn't want to share. He was turning into the parking lot when he heard her question and he felt the blush rise up to his cheeks. ********. Clearing his throat he parked the car. "Well, you know, it just sounds uncomfortable." He avoided any further questions by getting out of the car. He walked around to the passenger's side and opened Devi's door for her, offering her a hand down. "Do you wanna sit outside? It's nice out, might as well take advantage."  

[Silent Spy]

'Take advantage.' Devi had been warned by various websites about men trying to 'take advantage' during a date. No, no, she was far too much in her head about what those websites had said. She needed to forget them and just be herself. She reevaluated his words and determined them to be without a threat.

"Sure, I guess," she said, stepping out of the car. She then added as an awkwardly-put warning, "As long as you don't try to take anymore advantages tonight." Just as she said this, both straps of her dress fell off her shoulders and the dress sank down a bit low. She quickly pulled the dress back up and positioned the straps back on her shoulders.  

[Marsh the Sex Panda]

After she stepped out Damian closed the door behind her, careful not to shut her dress in the door. He'd done that once to a girl, she didn't call him again. Moving to Devi's side his arm slipped back around her waist. At her words he couldn't help but laugh, glancing down at her just in time to see her dress slump down. His eyes widened a bit and he forced himself to look away. "I'll be on my best behaviour, scouts honor and all that." Regaining his composure he smiled at her, managing to keep his eyes on her face and not down her dress.

Leading her to the out door tables he picked one that was relatively private. He pulled out a chair for her to sit. "Do you want anything specific, babe?" He was trying to play the gentleman by getting their food for them, the babe probably ruined the effect.