Okay finally a happy chapter because my characters need a break from all that drama. Song of the chapter is Collide by Howie Day. Also this chapter dedication is to Ang915. Your comments are much appreciated!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                                                                             Jake

Date night came much faster than a perverted midget smacking a hoe while on the run. For the life of me, I was not nervous. I didn't know if I was supposed to dress up classy, street gear, or go somewhere in between. I went with causal because Danny through all my texts wouldn't tell me. 

Help! There's a terrorist in my room threatening to end my life and if you don't tell me what's going on tomorrow I may have little reason to live.

Tell him I said Hi.

Danny I think my suit was supposed to be dry cleaned only so I think I ruined it. Was I going to need this on our date?

You're not getting anything out of me.

Lillian and Heather are threatening to take me hostage because they want to know where you'll be taking me!

So dramatic.

You don't get it! They're girls! Fully capable of doing horrendous things!

That was pretty much how it went.

A button up shirt under a sweater vest made me look like a nerd so I tossed that to the side. I took up on my dads offer wear some fancy jeans, a pull over tanned sweater shirt that came with a zipper over plain white t-shirt. When I looked at myself in the mirror I looked maybe a year older. That was fine with me. All I had to do now was put on my shoes. A pair I bought for the occasion just the day before.

Both my parents were watching Pretty Woman at the scene Julia Roberts was in a red dress going to the opera. Well unless Danny planned to leave the planet with Capitan Kirk for the rest of his life, I still had to be back by midnight. That was my fathers orders and he rarely was the one that gave those around here. 

So as I waited I sat with them trying not to get any wrinkles. I declined the popcorn bowl. Come to think of it there weren't any opera houses near here. Besides that I don't think either of us even cared for opera. 

The sun was still up so there could be a wide range of things we could do at this time. I chose not to pace. I sat more with my parents while they ate, yes I am serious, mixed lettuce from a bag was what they chose to eat now. We got up to the part when Julia and Richard were playing chess.

The door bell rang. I looked to both my parents that didn't move. I thought that maybe they would want to answer the door to maybe give him a few words to bring their baby back on time. They still didn't move.

Sighing I got up to answer the door since my parents were not normal enough to do it themselves. 

There stood Danny and to my relief was dressed casual in a red polo shirt over a black shirt and blue jeans. Hey he was still prince charming enough for me! He even had a mixture of flowers in his hand he held out for me. My heart almost melted but I got my emotions back in check.

"No one's ever given me flowers like this before," I admitted. With that I reached out and gave him a hug.

He patted my back somewhat awkwardly when he said, "Your welcome."

Then my parents must have remembered what normal was because they were there.

My mom told him he looked good while my dad just shook his hand again.

Thank goodness my mom had my dad and Danny batted for my team. Because for a moment there...

"So," I said, "I do not know where I am going yet but I am sure its going to be fun." I added a little dance jump at the end to empathize that I still wanted to know what was going on. 

"Oh I think you will have a lot of fun," My dad said.

Hold on...

"You'll still be back by midnight at the latest," my mom gave me a wink.

"You know what's going on don't you?"

How could my parents do this to me? I thought we were a team!

They both turned their backs on me at the same time heading back to the living room.

"I will remember this!" I shook my fist at them.

I turned back to Danny while I still had the flowers in my hands not sure if we had a vase for it. My mom can be telepathic sometimes because she came in suddenly.

"I'll take these," she said taking them, "They should brighten up the living room." She gave us both a big smile before she left again.

Danny reached out his arm to his car parked out on the side of the street right out front of my house. With his other he reached out for me. I took his hand which immediately calmed my nerves I didn't know I had until they were relieved. 

He did everything by the book apparently. He opened the passenger door for me which I admit, found a bit strange. He even led me by the hand to the door. Well if he were straight there would be a lot of swooning women at the scene.

I saw down while he walked over to the other side. The car smelled of him and that was a good thing. Armani I think it was. A pair of hands clasped firmly over my eyes.

"Jesus what the f-" I said and then went silent.

"Surprise," a voice behind me said and I heard a girl laugh lightly. 

The driver door opened as Danny slid inside, "They insisted on coming."

"Thanks for the warning," but I wasn't mad.

The hands came off my face and I saw they were Jimmy's hands. Lillian was stunning in an all white gown while Jimmy was in a suit. Daniel was further in the back with Katie and they were dressed in what looked like dancing clothes.

I looked to Danny for explanation.

"We're still having our date and so are they. They just aren't going where we are," and he started up the car.

"He wont even tell us where he's taking you," Lillian said. She looked like she had Snow White as an ancestor.

"Because we would have told him," explained Jimmy.

"Yep and its nothing personal," Daniel said having to shout a bit over the music that was now playing on the radio, "He's hiding it even from his own best friend."

I smiled.

"Gosh you really went out of your way for this," I looked at Danny and winked.

I watched his face turn red as we pulled off.

We drove a good ten minutes out of town to a dance club to let Daniel and Katie out. Katie still had a pair of crutches. I was betting she may have put up a bit of a fight on dancing. As I gathered from watching them two, he was a very smooth talker and Katie didn't sway easily. 

After another twenty minutes further out of town it was Jimmy and Lillian at a restaurant. They waved at us, gave Danny some gas money, and then waved us off. It looked like more things have happened while I was so focused on Danny.

We kept on driving though letting the tree's fly by and the sky got darker. After half an hour of driving altogether we pulled up to a movie theater. It was a special Rocky Horror Picture show. Let me warn you to not let anyone there know that this is your first time to one of these shows. I ended up having to dance in fishnets and Danny had to play as Rocky. I also almost fell a few times being this my first time in heels. 

I normally would have never done this but it was perfect with Danny. 

By a quarter to eight we were at a restaurant waiting on our food. 

"Normally I would have never done something like that," I admitted to him, "I never thought it would have been that much fun."

Something inside my chest was pounding.

"It was my first musical I watched with my mom so it kind of grew on me," he told me.

Our food arrived then and I second guessed if I was going to be able to eat it all in one sitting.

"By the way she took my dad to one of those things back on one of their first dates. She also told me not to tell my dad that I know."

"I like your parents," I told him which was true.

"Oh and this is only part two of our date," he said taking a mouthful of fries.

"There's more? Can I get an hint?"

He told me his mouth (in that mouthful language) was full which was true.

I laughed at him and stole a fry.

After he swallowed and when I stayed silent because I was going to get a hint. Really it was only fun and games. He then said, "Your shoes should do fine."

"Dancing?" I leaned forward to read his face expression.

I honestly can't call myself a professional but dancing is still fun.

"I told you a hint," he replied not letting his face give anything away.

"Dang."

I sat back but smiled anyway.

"Tell me about Daniel and your friends," I said because I liked listening to him.

"Daniel and I go way back. He's been through some things and I had been through a few things," he started, "We always stuck through together. We tried getting someone to add to our group but of course that didn't work as planned."

I learned that Daniel is wiser than he would seem. Danny respected a lot about him also because Daniel was the first to accept Danny for who he was. Daniel pretty much took him in and protected him. People around him started to see Danny as a pretty cool guy. That was how he came to be well respected himself. 

"It was Lillian and Heather that first approached me," I told him after he finished.

I told him all about my first day. How I was still pretty nervous and didn't want anyone to see that. Then the guys having approached me not long after the girls did. It was Charles that I met first through Heather. He brought everyone else to introduce me. 

Of course I had to stop because of what happened a few weeks ago. Many people don't mention this or they forgot to, but the school shoot out alone was horrible. The real battle begins after. I didn't wake in the middle of night from nightmares from it or anything. My heart and stomach just twisted together when ever I thought of it. Sometimes I couldn't let the deaths of Andrea and Nick be real. I knew Nick more than Andrea but that didn't matter. They were both still equally my friends. Every small thing would end up making me think of them and it hurt. At least the pain was real which made them real too.

I didn't share any of that with Danny and I was grateful he didn't ask. I knew he lost a friend too. A friend he had longer than I had here. So if my pain was already pretty bad, his must have been worse. 

"So do we have to rush through this meal or are you too polite to say so?" I asked taking those sad thoughts out of my head.

"No," he answered though to which part I didn't know.

Our waitress came back obvious that Danny and I were a couple. At first she flirted with us both shamelessly. Danny was polite to her while I just ignored her. I know that wasn't particularly nice but I didn't care for anyone to flirt with my Danny.

We took our checks and I insisted on leaving a healthy tip to make up for my attitude. Then we were off driving back the way we came. 

He took me miniature golfing and it wasn't as bad some people make it out to be. 

I was bad ass at this.

Danny was a good sport but I could tell he wasn't letting me win this time.

The first time I hit the ball though I hit it too hard. Both the ball and the club flew in the same direction hitting the lion between the eyes. It's eyes darting from left to right playfully somehow made it all the more hilarious. Well Danny should know now that on our next date I would fare well on a safari. 

There were a few close calls when Danny almost beat me at a few courses. He was really good at the water courses. Each time he would aim the ball in the direction of the shallow water like he was skipping rocks. No wonder he was such a good science nerd. When I told him that he just wagged his eyebrows, smiled with a lot of teeth showing, hit the ball, and got a hole in one.

I made a motion to beat him with the golf club and he ducked. This was also really nice. When I was with Danny I didn't even notice that anyone else was there. 

After we took through the entire course we got back in Danny's car. I had finally noticed that we were around a lot of families. Thank goodness I didn't curse like a sailor. Once inside the car I felt the air inside it change instantly. Danny and I had looked at each at exactly the same time before he started the car up.

So close and yet so far away at the same time. We may have looked each other in the eyes for a long time. All I know is I didn't think much. There was only this need to reach out to him. His eye's were so interesting that I didn't mind him seeing so much of myself emotionally. I think he was looking back thinking close to the same thoughts as me.

A small child wailed that didn't want to be there so he was giving his family a hard time. Danny and I snapped out of it. I blushed and looked at the dashboard while he seemed to forget how to use his keys in the ignition. The tension was still there. I really couldn't explain what it was.

I looked at the clock to see it was past ten, my normal curfew. 

"Two more hours," I regrettably reminded him.

He nodded in understanding.

"Last part of the night," he told me and the engine came out to deafening roar.

"Holy shit is that normal?" I didn't mean to ask out loud like that.

Then the car completely died and there was smoke from the engine.

I turned my face away so he wouldn't see my smile.

Danny sat way back in his seat and let out a really long sigh through his cheeks. I waited while he got that out.

"Oh please don't worry about it. I'm not mad or anything," I told him then faced him to show that I meant it.

Danny turned his head slightly in my direction still with a poker face.

"In fact I hope you don't think I'm that deprived to say that this is still pretty interesting," I went on trying to smile at the end.

Truthfully I meant what I said but had it been the other way around...

"So who do we call?" I had to help the situation get better not worse.

He poked around in his pocket for his phone and flipped through the screen for numbers. He found what he was looking for and I looked away to watch families at their chance to miniature golf. Something told me to look away and give him space.

We still got lucky because the mechanic would be here in less than half an hour.

I reached down because when Danny took his phone out the restaurant bill fell out.

"Can I keep this?" I asked him.

He looked at me like I was crazy.

"I want to remember tonight," I explained.

"You're serious?" but he looked pleased.

"Of course, cant expect things to be peaches and cream all the time. I want to still be able to remember the good times we had. And also the good memories to add yet. I hope I'm not being presumptuous."

"I don't even like peaches and cream," he told me.

Then we were back to normal just like that. This time it was about food. He was more a health nut and I was not. If it came down to pasta food since my mom was such a traditional Italian cook, I would walk away from the table with seven extra pounds.

Danny liked sushi which I immediately made a face at. I told him that I wouldn't want to eat something that might accidentally still be alive, jump off my plate, attack my face, and then eat it. He told me that would be impossible and when I asked him for that proof he couldn't give me much. All he could give me was his personal experience as proof.

"Maybe because you have a pretty face," I told him

I watched him blush again.

I kissed his cheek again and just like that the tension from earlier started up again. Before I could pull away his lips found mine. My eyes closed to drink in the moment. At first there wasn't anything else just the feeling of another mans lips on mine. Suddenly they wrapped around my mouth in a warm and soft embrace. They rubbed my lips down together as he mashed his own above and below. 

All my thoughts were erased in that moment. It was so different than from the kiss I gave him weeks ago. This one was softer and kinder. I could feel his smell inside me and I realized my body was naturally leaning into him.

It started to turn into something else. His needs became my needs. We took turns at turning our head left to right to find what made us best comfortable.  

When the kiss broke our faces stayed inches apart. There was still a guard in his eyes. Secrets I wasn't meant to know. Why did that scare me?

I pulled back after a long time because after all, this was meant to be private and there were families around. The tow truck arrived just in time too. I still felt his eye's on me and his hand rested up on the headrest behind my head. His expression was difficult to read. Maybe someday I would be able to read him better.

You'd think this was an opening to a horror movie. A big bellied and bearded man giving us a lift back to Danny's house. I insisted on going there than back to mine because I wanted more time with him. It was after ten at night while we were alone with a stranger. Danny was pensive the entire ride. So it was close to eleven when we made it to his house. All the lights were off and the tow truck left us on the curb. 

"That wasn't so bad," I commented.

"What did you have planned for us to do next?" I asked him then when he didn't say anything. He kind of looked like he didn't know what else to do with himself.

"Maybe we'll do it on our next date," he said without looking at me, "That is if am not being too presumptuous."

He was looking at me now under his eye lashes. Oh wow he was being shy now all of a sudden.

"You can count on it," I said facing him full on, hands placed in front, straight back, and I could have made his dad proud.

Another moment of silence passed so I held out my hand to him. He looked at me confused but took it anyway. When I got us both in the proper position to dance he smiled. There wasn't any music and he didn't comment on that. This wasn't meant to be a recreation of our first dance because that was a different time and place. There was nothing wrong with moving forward into uncharted territory here.

We danced under the stars and you could see so many out here. If anyone was still up they would see two men waltzing on the street that silent. The only lights we had were a few street and porch lights on. They swirled while we swirled. I would loose all sense of direction with only Danny keeping my feet firmly in place as I did in return. I noticed how he held me tighter this time.

When we swirled again I let my eyes take in the light of the stars all at once. Sometimes I would let myself focus on just one star that would stay in place while the rest spiraled out of control. I felt him lift me by my ribs romantically to spin me more. I held out my arms as if to catch a star. I pretended to hold one so when he brought me back down I closed my hand into a fist. Then opened it to blow it in his face. 

His eye's reflected the stars best if you asked me at that very moment. They just glittered that way at this time of night. I had no notion of which street my house would be on because it wouldn't matter. The night air would mix in with the smell of Danny and I would close my eyes again knowing he wouldn't let me fall. I got my dancing skills from my dad anyway so it wouldn't be too likely.

All the pain from before melted away as if it never happened. My friends would all still be at the lunch table. My parents would be at home watching another movie instead of working and they would be happy. Danny's parents would be together doing