Work Text:
OCTOBER 2007
It's been an hour.
Well, Jeffery's been waiting here in the diner for an hour. He and his online friend agreed that they'd meet here today. He came rather early—thirty minutes earlier than their agreed meet-up time. And she's thirty minutes late. Perhaps she was just caught up in traffic? She was driving from another town. She told him she got her license just two months ago.
Still no sign of her. Not a single girl in sight that looked even remotely like [Name] from the pictures they’ve exchanged. He should be more patient, he thinks. Impatience was not a good look, especially for a girl that's really nice to him… It was surprising to him that someone would even give him the time of the day. Hanging out and stuff. It was a really good feeling.
The sky was getting a little gray outside… What a bummer. Rain wasn't really ideal for a date with a girl.
Oh, right …
This was a date, he suddenly remembers. [Name] even confirmed it directly when he asked if this was a date. The thought made him giddy, palms sweaty and such. His excitement was way worse when they planned this meet-up a week ago, he could barely even sleep! It was the exact same the night before. He kept thinking about everything and anything that could happen today: long chatter about their interests, walking together to the barcade, holding hands… playing arcade games! Kissing… Safe to say he didn’t get a wink of sleep. He feels really sleepy, but he's certainly not gonna let it show in front of one of the coolest girls he's ever talked to. She liked anime, comics, and video games just like him! They played MMORPGs almost everyday and she was really funny and pleasant to chat with. Like he would ever screw up a first in-real-life impression with someone like that.
Well… That is, if she shows up. Hopefully. It's been an hour now since the time she was supposed to show up. He's really hoping that this wasn't some sort of prank and that she wasn’t coming at all... The thought gives him chills. He even put on his good clothes for her! The rain picking up didn't give him any reassurance at all! He was really holding onto hope that she would get here soon. Maybe one more serving of fries. Oh, and nachos too.
…Two hours. Jeffery checked his phone for the time again, and it's been two hours since he's arrived here. He's long since finished his fries and she's still not here. Perhaps it was a prank. Talk about disappointing… He was debating whether or not he should just go home after the rain subsides (since he didn't think of bringing an umbrella) or if he should just spend the rest of his day waiting. She has his number anyway. She probably would’ve texted him an hour ago if anything happened. But then again, she was driving.
Jeffery’s train of thoughts is shut down when he hears the door chime. His eyes darted over to the source of the noise, finding a girl struggling to close her umbrella. She glances over after she gets it to behave, and their gazes meet.
Whoa… It’s her . It’s [Name]. From the pictures. It really is her! And she’s so pretty… Even prettier in person.
Oh! And she was walking towards him! His hands were shaking on the table, he could feel it. Gosh, he probably looks like a dork right now, smiling so excitedly. Can you blame him? He’s out on a date with a cute girl!
“Hello,” she greets shyly as she sat down across from him. “Sorry I’m late! Traffic really got to me. If I knew, I would’ve left much earlier…”
She sounds so sweet… And very kind too! Very considerate, and has he mentioned very pretty? No way he’s on a date with this girl… He might end up shutting down in this very diner in front of her.
“Hello…? Jeffery? You good?”
Crap, he hasn’t given her a response…
“S-Sorry, no—I mean yes, I’m fine. It’s okay! I just, ah, arrived a while ago anyway, so… No need to apologize!” Jeffery stammers, embarrassingly enough. He’s probably really red in the face, too. And he definitely hasn’t been waiting for two hours for her, which he believed was totally worth it though!
She gives him a meek smile, nodding. “Oh, good… I really hate making people wait so… yeah.”
A lull falls upon the conversation. It was getting awkward after the first minute of just staring at each other. Jeffery was about to open up a topic—most probably about some discourse in the anime forums he’s been lurking in—before a server delivers his plate of fries and nachos. Perfect. Once the server leaves, he speaks while munching on a nacho, “Have I ever told you that they serve good snacks here?”
“Yeah, actually. You told me that last night in chat.”
“Good! They’re actually the best around town. Sometimes I even order take out so that I can eat them while watching my anime… Speaking of which, have you heard that there’s a new season of—”
The pair kept talking and talking over some fries and nachos, with Jeffery obviously carrying the conversation and his date just nodding along and making comments along the way. Which he didn’t mind at all, given that this was how they always were even on Skype.
Eventually, the rain subsided, and it coincidentally did the moment they finished eating. Time for the next step in his plan for A Perfect Date™.
“So… There’s this barcade down the block. I was wondering if you wanna go with me? I remember you said you liked claw machines, and they have a lot there!”
Her interest was piqued at the sound of that. “That’d be cool, yes.”
“Awesome! A-and, um… We’re gonna walk there, right? Can… Can we, um…” Jeffery mumbles awkwardly, “Canweholdhands?”
“Ah,” [Name] was quite taken aback, rather pleasantly too. She lets out a gentle chuckle, nodding. “I’d like that.”
Whoa! His first time holding hands with a girl! Or with anyone in general to be honest. Were his palms sweaty? Oh no…
He starts wiping his hands on his pants after he happily paid for the snacks. This earned a curious glance from [Name] as they were walking out. “Sorry, just sweaty… Haha…”
And when their hands eventually clasped around each other… Jeffery could feel his soul flying out of his body. If he wasn’t a blushy mess the entire time before, he must be now! He can seriously feel the heat in his face. This was nice. This was really nice, he didn’t wanna let go. He was sorta shaking too. If [Name] felt it, she didn’t bring it to attention.
The entire time in the barcade was no less than fun too! [Name] paid for their coins after a lot of insistence from her. Currently, Jeffery was watching her trying to win a Keroppi keychain-charm after she got the Badtz-Maru version. So that they could match, she said.
“It caught!” [Name] exclaims as she eagerly watches the charm slowly get dragged to the shoot, and…
“You got it!” Jeffery grins like an absolute dork. She was so good at this, if you ignore that they had to spend most of their tokens switching turns to at least get the thinly veiled scam claws to tighten at least a bit. All while she told him all about how she was recently getting into Sanrio. He picks it up, handing it to her.
“No, keep it,” she pushes it back to him. “You give off Keroppi vibes, honestly.”
“Huh? Wait, how?”
“You’re like… if green was a person.”
“...Uh huh?”
“Mhm, and if you were an animal, you’d be a frog.”
“Okay…”
“Listen, it just makes sense. I don’t know how to explain it.”
“I like it, though. That’s one of the most interesting and unique descriptions a girl has given me…” Jeffery has a wobbly smile on his face as he pockets the little charm. It’s totally going on his bag. Or his phone. Either way, he’s gonna have it on him at all times. It was a gift from his friend after all. The first gift that he ever received, one that wasn't from his mom…
“Really? I think you’re neat and cool… A little weird, but I kinda am too in a sense…”
“Whoa… Thank you, that… that’s the nicest thing someone ever said to me.”
This earns Jeffery a subtly concerned look from [Name], but he doesn’t notice it at all. She just laughs it off, awkwardly.
“Well… I better get going. I gotta get back to the inn. My mom told me that I shouldn’t drive late at night since she knew how sleepy I get at times…” She attaches her keychain to her satchel. “I had a really good time today, Jeffery. I’d like to hang out again like this sometimes.”
She smiles so cutely… And she was smiling at him!
“...As a date,” she adds with a knowing smile.
A date! He was getting more dates! Oh boy, he was getting really lucky today…
“That would be preferable! Uh, and I should walk you to the inn! It’s getting dark, and, uh… If you’d like me to, of course!”
[Name] graces him with another one of her awkward grins that he absolutely relished in. She didn’t give him a verbal reply, instead she intertwines her fingers with his once more and leads the way.
“So… Life update,” she begins after a short period of silence. [Name] rarely starts the conversation, so Jeffery definitely had his ears in the conversation. “Remember when I told you that my relatives were getting… really toxic? I won’t delve into it here, but I think you know a little bit.” Jeffery nods. “Well, my parents have been thinking of moving here since it’s, like, a six hour drive from the town I currently live in.”
“Wait— wait, hold on. You’re moving here ?” he repeats, deep in disbelief. “Seriously moving here? Like, ‘living here for a long time’ moving?”
Nodding, she confirms his questions. “Yes, I’m moving here.”
“...So we’re gonna be seeing each other more often?”
“That’s right.”
Jeffery does a little silent cheer, which causes her to laugh.
“I’m moving probably next spring…” [Name] adds, to which Jeffery nods interestedly. He’s most likely more interested in the fact that her moving would mean they’d have more dates and hang outs. He can wait a few months, but at the same time he can’t.
“Oh, we’re here.”
Looking in front of them, they were indeed at the inn. That kinda made Jeffery disappointed. It totally did make him feel disappointed. [Name] lets go of his hand, walking towards the door.
“Thanks again for today… This was probably the most fun I had this year,” she timidly grins. “Same time tomorrow on RuneScape, okay?”
She was about to head in before she stopped in her tracks. Suddenly, [Name] turns around and walks up to him. She whispers, “I don’t know when the next time I’ll be able to do this will be, so I’ll do it now…”
Soft lips press against his cheek.
That was…
“Bye!” [Name] waves him off, hurriedly rushing into the inn, with her cheeks blushing heavily.
Jeffery doesn’t know how long he stood there for, frozen. A girl just kissed him… Not on the lips, but a girl kissed him .
This was gonna be stuck in his head for the rest of the year—scratch that, until the end of time. Even when he was back home, beaming like an absolute idiot, and back in his bed. He just couldn’t sleep again. He didn’t even feel tired despite the lack of sleep. Jeffery stares at his ceiling, reliving the events of today over and over in his head. A hand rises up to the very spot she kissed on his face.
A girlfriend…