Temporal Exploring 101 - Branch Cut

V.4 Dating Mallory Carmichael

From the moment I woke up in the morning, I had been feeling oddly nervous.

This, then, was going to be the big day. The day of my date with Mallory Carmichael.

To be sure, there had been plenty of occasions where Mallory and I had been kissing or making out or bickering or just plain fooling around during the last several months. But hey, today was going to be our first date. That had to mean something, right?

The problem was that I was not sure what it meant to me or even what I wanted it to mean to me. Or what it might mean to Mallory Carmichael.

It did not help that every time I caught glimpses of Mallory during classes she did not look nervous at all.

I decided it was because she had no idea what she was in for. Whatever Mallory might expect from a first date, I was reasonably certain that I would not be able to deliver it. When I had warned her that behind the shiny surface I was quite dull I had actually meant it.

Well, if I turned out to be her most disappointing date ever, Mallory would have only herself to blame. Rather than heed my warning, she had insisted that no, I was not dull at all but witty and intelligent and great fun and whatnot. So whatever was to come was going to be Mallory's fault, not mine.

That line of reasoning did not help as much as one might have hoped.

When the ring of the bell announced the end of fifth period and thus, the end of classes for that day, I felt like a complete nervous wreck.

Why, oh why had I even accepted when Mallory had asked me out, two days ago? I walked out of the classroom into the hall and then out into the yard, steeling myself for imminent disaster.

"Hart."

She was standing there, waiting for me. Those bright green eyes were studying me, amused but clearly delighted to see me as she offered me that dazzling smile she reserved for me and only for me.

And suddenly, without understanding how this could possibly have come about, I was not nervous any more. I was feeling profoundly and utterly happy.

"Carmichael."

"You are looking fetching as ever. Ready to hit the town, Hart?"

"As ready as I will ever be, Carmichael."

Mallory chuckled.

We walked to the bus stop together in an easy, companionable silence.

I could not believe how comfortable I was feeling with her.

"Is there anything you'd love to do here in the UK but never got around to, Hart?" she asked me, on the bus ride to Arlesten.

"I don't know, there's so much that I still have on my list of things to see and to do. Like, everything you mentioned the other day. I never had an opportunity to walk the river promenade or to visit the castle. I never went to a cinema to watch a movie" I caught myself, just in time. "I mean, here. I never visited a cinema here, in the UK," I hastily corrected myself, in response to Mallory's incredulous look.

"Uh huh." She eyed me curiously. "I am sure the experience of watching a movie here does not differ that much from the experience of watching one in the States."

"From what I have heard, movie theaters in the US tend to be much larger than those in the UK," I temporized. I had no idea whether that was true or not. I had walked past the small building that housed Arlesten's only cinema and wondered how big an audience it might hold. "On the other hand, we don't have many medieval castles, back home in Nebraska."

Mallory grinned. "That, I can believe."

"Let's start with the River Walk then and continue from there to Arlesten Castle," she suggested as we got off the bus.