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The Jean Grey School for Higher Learning was a school unlike any other... except on Fridays. As with any other school, the students (and some teachers) watched the clock, waiting impatiently for the signal that their week was done.
Quentin Quire was one of these students, and he had big plans for this particular Friday afternoon. Normally those plans might include experimenting with various incendiary devices or attempting to locate a reputable online merchant peddling radioactive substances, but today the only thing on his mind was a date with a cute girl.
Of course, he had planned every last detail of said date. The only thing that remained was, well, actually asking the girl out. He figured it shouldn't be too hard. Idie Okonkwo had recently agreed (voluntarily!) to be his girlfriend, after all, so she would probably be up for a date. That's what you do with girlfriends, right? Idie was his first real girlfriend, so he was at a bit of a loss for what to do with her. Of course there were plenty of things he wanted to do with her, but he presumed there had to be some sort of process one would have to go through. A date seemed like a good place to start, and then he would see where things went from there.
But what exactly is a date? He thought. A standard date seemed to consist of dinner and a movie, but Idie wasn't exactly a standard girl. No, this needed to be special. So Quentin thought, What does Idie like? He was somewhat shocked at his own realization that he didn't actually know that much about her. She had been his classmate for quite some time, but she was normally so reserved. He could always just read her mind but that seemed rather invasive and he was afraid she would find it creepy.
Idie likes... religion. No. Ew. That is NOT something to plan a date around. Besides, is she even religious anymore? It's hard to tell, she seems to have changed so much since we started school here... ANYWAY. Idie likes... Broo? Nope. Not even going there. Ugh.
Then, Quentin remembered a day long ago in the cafeteria. He hadn't really been paying attention to Idie specifically, but it was difficult to ignore her on this particular occasion. The dessert that day had been ice cream, and Idie poked at it suspiciously. She seemed rather perplexed by it. She tentatively brought a tiny spoonful to her mouth, and her reaction—the way her eyes widened and how her mouth curved into an unnecessarily cute smile—always managed to stick in Quentin's mind.
So that was it, Quentin decided. He agonized over the details for a week. Now, it was Friday at approximately 3:59 PM, and soon he would take his first girlfriend on their first real date. Totally not a big deal, he thought as he wiped his palms on his shorts and drew in a deep breath.
When they were dismissed, Quentin caught up to Idie in the hallway. “Hello, Quentin,” she greeted him.
“Idie! I've got, uh, something to show you. I need you to come with me.” I probably should have rehearsed this part a bit more.
“But we've got homework--”
“This is bigger than homework, woman! Come on!”
Idie couldn't help but wonder what could possibly be bigger than homework, but she started to follow him anyway. “Quentin, what is it?”
“It's—um, a surprise. Don't worry, you'll like it.”
“Oh, I will?” She smirked and raised an eyebrow, following Quentin out the front doors of the school.
“It's in town. I hope you don't mind walking,” Quentin remarked, shoving his hands into his pockets.
“Not at all. It's such a beautiful day,” Idie replied softly, almost to herself, as she admired the scenery.
Meanwhile, Quentin was working on putting into motion the next part of his plan: Holding Idie's hand. It shouldn't be too difficult to manage. They'd already kissed—twice, in fact. But the first time had been a surprise for him and the second was more of a spur-of-the-moment, we're-probably-about-to-die thing. Hand-holding, in a way, just seemed so much more... intimate. I guess I just sort of reach out, and... Quentin withdrew a hand from his pocket and made to grab for Idie's hand. It was then he realized this could be more difficult than he anticipated—Idie wasn't really paying attention, swinging her arms idly as she strolled along beside him. He needed to grab it at just the right time. He was in the process of calculating exactly when would be the best time to take her hand in his, when Idie seemed to notice his distraction.
“Um, Quentin? What are you doing?”
Quentin panicked. His perfectly smooth façade was beginning to crumble. He blurted out the first thing he could think of. “Oh! Uh, nothing, I just—uh, I better hang on to this for you,” he stammered, snatching at her hand and jamming his fingers between hers. “Yup, there you go.”
Idie let out one of her rare, perfect giggles. For reasons no one could really fathom, she found Quentin's antics somewhat endearing. She didn't completely understand herself. “Alright. Thank you,” she teased gently.
Quentin let out an internal sigh of relief. That probably could have gone a little more smoothly, but he was doing it! He was holding his girlfriend's hand. Everything was going more-or-less as planned, and they were minutes away from their destination.
“So,” Idie broke the nearly-uncomfortable silence. “When do I get to see this surprise?” She smiled at him and his stomach did a weird flippy-floppy thing.
Quentin laughed, trying not to sound as nervous as he was. “Soon. We're almost there.”
There were only a few streets to cross before they arrived at the ice cream shop. It was a small building that had been renovated to give one the impression they had stepped back in time several decades, with its black and white tile floor, low bar with pastel-colored stools, and vintage jukebox in the corner.
Quentin led Idie to the door and paused to gauge her reaction. He was not disappointed. When she realized this was in fact the location of her surprise, her eyes widened the same way they did that day in the cafeteria, though her smile was even brighter. Quentin's heart sped up so suddenly, he thought, Oh god, I'm having a stroke. He took a deep breath. No. No, I'm not. Ok. It's ok. Whew.
He opened the door and followed her inside to the counter. The pimply teenager behind the register greeted them, “Hey.” Idie surveyed the variety of ice cream flavors, her excitement barely contained.
“Order whatever you like,” Quentin offered. “I'm buying.”
“Are you sure? You might regret that soon,” Idie said playfully.
Idie ordered a scoop of chocolate in a sugar cone and Quentin decided on strawberry in a cup. They took their seats at the bar, rotating the stools so they could chat without having to turn their heads. However, there wasn't much chatting as Idie was preoccupied with her ice cream and Quentin was content to simply watch. He was aware of the fact that he tended to ramble when he was nervous, but he'd calmed down significantly by this point and thus far he'd been too busy over-thinking every detail to talk much, so everything was going rather well. He poked at his ice cream, trying to savor the moment. He was on a date with the cutest girl in school, who happened to be his girlfriend, and nothing horrible had happened (yet). He was hesitant to believe it, but this was really happening.
As he watched Idie happily lick at her ice cream, he couldn't help having some impure thoughts involving her tongue and her mouth, but thankfully before he could get too involved with those fantasies she ceased licking as she had gotten to the point of nibbling the cone. Quentin had finished about half of his ice cream before it became more of a soup, and he pushed the cup away as Idie popped the bottom tip of the cone in her mouth. When she finished, she sighed contentedly.
Quentin was still staring somewhat dazedly when Idie said, “That was really great, Quentin. Thank you.”
Quentin opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off when Idie leaned over and kissed him on the lips. It was a quick, chaste kiss but it made Quentin blush nonetheless. He was slightly and rather immaturely annoyed that he hadn't gotten to be the one to do the kissing, but he also had to admit to himself that a kiss was a kiss and this was a kiss from Idie, so he had no room to complain. “Idie, I... uh...” He couldn't remember what it was he planned to say. He mentally berated himself for being so flustered by a girl, albeit a pretty one, when he was supposed to be an unparallelled genius.
“Yes?”
“Do you, uh, maybe wanna go back to the school and... play some video games?” That wasn't part of the plan, but it was the first thing that came to mind, and Quentin was optimistic that there could be more kissing in his near future.
Idie laughed, a noise that made Quentin's insides contract in strange but not-unpleasant way. “Yes. Let's go.”