Twoset Senpai

12. February: the Date II

A/N: Anyone up for some more cringe?

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"Shall we get going?"

"Sure Eddy."

Brettany stepped off the step and Eddy bit his lip.

Damn, I should've held out my hand for her...!

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"..OMG this one is huge! I was imagining something smaller from its picture."

"Wow Eddy, you're right.. I'm glad we found it... it's so pretty with all those colours."

Eddy and Brettany were now fussing over a tropical fish display and had just managed to find a particular fish in its tank as shown on the photographic display.

"I also like this one here.."

Eddy pointed at a fish and followed it around the other side of the tank. Brettany was able to see Eddy through the fish tank. She stopped looking at the fish and moved her gaze up to focus on Eddy's face. She smiled watching Eddy, he was like a child, full of curiosity as his gaze traced the movement of the fish in front of him. Then his fish suddenly changed direction and swam towards Brettany and Eddy's gaze shifted towards her. Their eyes met through the fish tank.

Previous phonecall between Eddy and Jordan

"Jordan !! How the hell am I supposed to hold her hand!?!?"

"Whatddyamean!?!? Just bloody hold her hand!!"

"OMG I can't just randomly grab her hand out of the blue!!! How do I execute a smooth transition from not holding hands to holding hands!?!?!"

"Oh, for goodness sakes, Eddy, it's a date, not a frickin' military operation...!!! Ok, fine, if you're gonna feel so barbaric grabbing her hand, just extend your hand out to her and let her grab that banana hand of yours."

"Who the f*ck are you calling banana hands!?"

"Oh trust me, your hands are gonna look like a bunch of bananas compared to this girl's. Oh, and don't crush it, okay?"

"...Crush what ?"

"HER HAND !!!"

"OMFG."

"Oh, and when you extend your hand out, palm up, alright ?"

"Palm up..."

"Eddy, you're not taking any frickin' notes are you !?!?"

"No!! I'm.. just making a mental note..."

Eddy's mind was spinning with excessive amounts of well-meaning but debilitating advice from his best friend. His mind only went momentarily blank when he was looking at the jellyfish and when he was tracing the movements of the tropical fish. Those were the only two moments when he was able to calm down a bit. The rest of the time on his date, he was a nervous wreck.

His gaze followed the fish's sudden movement as it abruptly changed direction and swam towards the other side of the fish tank where his date stood. That word alone threatened to short circuit his brain. Eddy was so self-conscious about the whole thing, like, why would someone like him, so painfully shy and detached, as people would call him, be on a date with a nice girl? Guys like him didn't go on dates, it was such a foreign concept to him. He was so embarrassed about the mere fact that he was on a date even though in reality no one at the aquarium probably gave a flying f*ck about what he was doing. The whole situation was so surreal, bizarre and....exhilarating.. but way too exhilarating, it overwhelmed him to paralysis and so the spiral of awkwardness continued.. This was when Eddy noticed that Brettany was gazing at him. He gazed back at her through the fish tank and when she caught his gaze, her face went bright red and she looked down. He suspected she may have been gazing at him for a while during the time he'd been looking at the fish. He found that rather endearing.

Eddy gave her a little wave.

Brettany looked back up and gave a shy smile as she waved back.

It was only then when Eddy thought perhaps Brettany may be as nervous as he was. She certainly was acting rather shy. Eddy actually preferred it that way. It would've overwhelmed him if she came onto him too strong, as in tried to get too touchy-feely from word go. Eddy would've not been able to cope with too much, or rather, ANY display of affection.

Well, ok, so maybe Brettany wasn't quite as nervous as he was, NO ONE could possibly be, he thought. But maybe close. This was when Eddy decided that he wouldn't stress over Jordan's advice and try to enjoy each moment that followed.

Eddy stepped towards Brettany who was on the other side of the fish tank.

"Brettany, would you like to have a bit of a break in the café?"

"Sure Eddy."

So they simply walked side by side towards the café. Eddy could almost hear Jordan's advice ringing in his ears;

Hold her hand...!!

Eddy decided to mute that little voice in his head.