The Casanova's Class Clown

Chap. 51: Take Me Out

TAKE ME OUT...

Closing time was 6 pm, yet still the crowd who wanted to know the tally was thick. Once the last customer was served and voted, however, everyone was given complimentary drinks by order of Michelle. Everyone rejoiced, and it made waiting a little easier.

Aiden was serendipitously tasked as chairman of the committee to count the votes. He moaned and bitched and threw a fit suited to a five-year-old, but after receiving a call from one of the Heirs, he grabbed the voting box like an experienced bag snatcher and marched to the kitchen.

"No. Entry." And he slammed the door shut and locked it.

Emma plopped herself on the bench in the staff locker room and sighed so deep a moaning whale in the pacific was put to shame. Her apron was hung in her locker, her shirt sweaty and wrinkled. After leaning on the wall, she noticed her hair was barely holding onto her scrunchie, and let it lose. A pink mass of tangles cried hurrah as it finally breathed. She combed her hair away from her forehead with her fingers, noticed her black roots and wondering if she should dye her hair again soon.

She sighed, lighter this time, but still tired.

She squealed when something cold and wet touched her cheek, making her jump to the side of the bench.

She glared at the perpetrator.

Oliver smiled back. "Thank you for the hard work." He said, offering a bottle of water to her.

She took it out of his hands and chugged it into her system.

He took the seat next to her, towel over his shoulders, shirt as sweaty and wrinkled as hers, expression as tired yet contented as hers.

She gulped down her drink and stared at him. That angular shape of his jaw, those warm blue eyes of his, the natural tanned shade of his skin, the blond hair slicked back in sweat...

She sighed.

He turned to her. "What was that crestfallen sigh for?"

She didn't look at him. "You stink."

"You're just as bad though."

"I know. That's why I'm depressed that this bench will smell twice as bad now."

"That wasn't what the sigh was for though."

"It isn't."

"Then what was it for?"

She placed the bottle on her lap, following the fall of a drop of condensation. "Nothing."

"It was not."

She cocked a brow at him. "Wasn't what?"

"It was not nothing!"

She grimaced. "Ow. My head." She looked back at him when a towel suddenly landed quietly on her head.

It was his. "Tell me." He asked.

Aiden opened the door in a polite manner, taking the center of the café with everyone watching. The voting box was under his arm, and he had everyone at the edge of their seats without saying a single word. He placed the box by his feet, addressed everyone "Good evening." Then announced the number of valid and invalid votes.

Emma looked away, Aiden's voice reverberating loud enough to reach the staff room. "I just thought that..."

"Out of 623 votes," Aiden announced, sounding like a herald. "45 of which were deemed invalid, 267 goes to..."

Emma smiled at Oliver. "I'm probably gonna lose, aren't I?"

Oliver gaped back, if only because he had no idea what to say to that statement.

Aiden read through his notes. "267 votes goes to Emma Anderson! The remaining 311 goes to Oliver Samder! I repeat: Oliver Samder has won the bet!"

The crowd cheered; some groaned, others clapped, and there were those who stood from their seats to do all three.

Meanwhile, in the SSD's control room, two brothers sipped thoughtfully at their coffee as a beaming prep girl and artist guy exchange a high-five.

Emma leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and letting her hair cover her face just enough to still be able to show her smile. She lost, but that was okay. It was all for fun, anyway.

Oliver leaned back, contemplating his win, and what might be the best way to use it. He actually won... He could tell Emma to do whatever it was he wanted. Whoa.

"So?" He looked back at her when she spoke, the face of a good loser. "Any thoughts on what you want me to do?" She asked, confident he'd ask for something she was more than able to accomplish.

He smiled, and she suddenly wondered if she really could do what he would ask of her.

She thought she might be able to when he leaned in close enough for their noses to touch. Her thoughts went ballistic, and she instinctively closed her eyes.

A kiss?

A second passed, then another, and she was sure she felt his breath on her lips ever so slightly before his words woke her up.

"Take me out."

Her eyes sprung open like a flashlight in a blackout, and she reprimanded herself for feeling dejected when Oliver was back to being a distance away. "What?" She dumbly asked.

He crossed his legs when he smiled at her in that warm way he always did. "Tomorrow after school, take me out on a date. I'll leave it to you on whatever it is we'd do. You know me better than anyone else, after all."

She felt herself shrinking, yet the warmth remained in her cheeks and tummy. "I-in public-"

"YES IN PUBLIC!" Oliver cut her off, pouting. "Jeez... You'd think after everything, after this fiasco, you might have changed your view in our relationship."

She blinked, then had to look away when he turned to her. "Y-yeah, well, you know I've never actually gone a real date before so... uh... well..."

"Stop fussing over the little details."

She blushed when he patted her head, and through the towel still on her hair, she knew that familiar sensation of his big warm hands anytime. She glanced at him.

He was looking up the ceiling, an obvious shade taking over his ears as he spoke. "Just think of me when you're planning the date. I'll be fine with whatever so long as I knew you were thinking of me when you thought of the activity."

She looked down at her feet, a familiar warmth taking over her cheek. She nodded. "Got it."

He let go of her head when he stood. "So... See ya tomorrow?"

She looked up at him, and though he grew taller and his shoulders grew broader, his hair grew longer and his stance was straighter, she couldn't help but smile since, despite the physical changes, deep down, Oliver was still the Oliver she knew and loved.

She nodded, though he didn't see. "Tomorrow! See you then!"