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It hadn't occurred to him until the next day that his wallet was even lighter than intended.

He hadn't told a soul, family wise, about where he'd gone the afternoon prior. No one would understand and he'd get berated for wasting money on such scandalous causes. So when he opened up his wallet to look for the cash to pay the gas station attendant for the bag of chips he'd tossed on the counter, his eyebrows furrowed at the suspiciously blank looking space in his wallet that he hadn't recalled before.

What was supposed to be there?

He'd made it all the way back to his parents' house before it finally dawned on him.

Oh god.

Had he really been stupid enough to have given his driver's license away???

Panic set in as he now had to figure out a way to get back his license, especially without either his parents or his older sister finding out. Would Cass still have it, he wondered? Or would she have tossed it aside and laughed at him for being the ridiculous fool that he'd been?

Aw, s**t, s**t, s**t.

How was he going to explain his way out of this one?

He heard a female's voice call out, but he'd initially ignored it. After all - girls never spoke with him, not unless it was his sister or his mother.

When the sound of shoes thumping against the sidewalk caught his attention, he turned to move out of the woman's way, only for his jaw to slightly drop at the sight in front of him. There she was, in all of her glorious beauty, coming towards him in street clothes that would put every other girl on the sidewalk to shame.

Wait... Cass? Cass?

The girl from the Club had come to see him?

"You left so fast it almost hurt my feelings."

The bag of chips crumpled in his hand as he began to squeeze them tightly.

"O-Oh my god, I'm so sorry. Cass, hi---" He shook his head, doing his best to de-jumble his thoughts. It was hard to focus, what with her bra showing on top of the long legs he'd remembered nestled against his. "...hi. I'm sorry, there was something... something had come up and I had to go."

Not entirely untrue, technically.

Relief washed over him as he saw the solemn faced teenager's face in the form of the small plastic ID. He was quick to pluck it out of her hand, shuffling it into his own pocket without a second thought.

After all, the ID was nice to see but the girl in front of him was even nicer.

"You wanted to come see me?"

The surprise was clear in his voice as he straightened out his shoulders, feeling someone proud at the notion. Had he really left that much of an impression such a talented woman? Surely his inexperience was laughable at best, but here she was, standing in front of him like... like... like she liked him, or something.

One hand rose to ruffle the back of his own hair as he looked down at her. "Of course I missed you, Cass. I would have come back but uh...."

How exactly did he say you already have all of my money?

"... you know, things've been busy. What are you up to right now?"

She'd come by three times?

Not once, not twice, but three times?

Eyebrows rose in surprise, tanned skin growing flush as the flattery sat in. There wasn't enough time to counter her comment before Cass was in his personal bubble, stepping far too close for comfort as her hand pressed against the front of his shirt.

One leg moved backwards automatically, the young adult prepared to step away and re-secure the space in front of him. He hesitated, head tilting to the side as he stared down at her.

Why had she taken such interest in him? He clearly didn't have much - okay, any - experience with women and suddenly this gorgeous one wanted to see him enough to come by his house four times?

Her question was probably the most stunning of them all. Ask her out? As in, ask her out on a date? Is that what she wanted?

"Depends," he responded cautiously, one hand rising to touch her back, but freezing in midair. He had absolutely no idea what he was doing - better let her call the shots, on the off chance that whatever he decided to do could be considered offensive, "on what your answer would be if I was going to ask you out."

He dared a grin, confidence slowly rising, "It's not nice to dash a guy's dreams, you know."

He blinked as her finger pressed quickly against the tip of his nose, caught off guard by the sudden gesture. In truth, Alrik was far from used to physical touch that didn't come attached to his sister, mother or on occasion, school chum. If he wanted to touch, he did the initiating, not the other way around.

Heat flared up into his cheeks, betraying his delight as he gave her a stupid grin.

"Of course I think you're date worthy. I just..."

He shrugged, giving her a helpless look.

"C'mon, you're out of my league. It's obvious I'd take you anywhere you asked me to, but why the interest in someone like me?"

Hands fell into his pants and he swayed. Eyes had moved down to stare at the toes of his boots as he confessed, "I've... never actually dated anyone before, anyways. You sure you wanna be seen with someone like me?"

He didn't resist as she pulled one of his hands up, long fingers enjoying the feeling of smaller, softer ones sliding between them. As she tugged him forward, he followed willingly. Who was he to say no?

"Just follow my lead."

She was right - he was overthinking things. He was a handsome guy, he might not know all the ins and outs of the dating world or how to acquire a girlfriend... but that didn't mean that they didn't find him attractive, right?

He blinked in surprise at her statement, wondering for a brief moment if she had any gaming history. Without thinking, he blurted out, "Side quest? Cass, you're princess level plotline."

Long legs carried themselves until he was walking beside her, grip tightening around hers.

"Any hero'd be stupid to bypass you."

It didn't take much effort to keep up with her pace, long legs having to actually clip their step to keep alongside where she walked. Her self-assurance was not lacking, the confidence in his partner continuing to draw out his own - especially when it came to gamer talk. Her dropping comments that alluded to video games only fed into his own ego, which normally was more than healthy (when it came to games, not girls!!!).

"I'm a master at long quests, sweetheart." His shoulders straightened back and his chest puffed out ever so slightly. His hand took hold of hers (or was hers still holding his, technically?) and squeezed. Eyes remained focused on the sidewalk in front of him, the blonde still worried that if he looked her directly in the eyes that he'd start to lose his ability to focus again, "Got more stamina than a normal hero does, don't worry. I excel in strength and stam."

After all, he did play a mean tank in most games.