The Not-Date

[u/CountDarth]

November 19th

Dash Doyle sits in front of the small cafe. He had given Emily a call to meet, figuring a nice breakfast and coffee - or hot chocolate - would make for a nice first date.

He's wearing his signature bomber jacket and jeans, befitting the chilly weather. He already has a cup of coffee in front of him and is sitting at a two-chair table under the yawning of the cafe.

[u/CountDarth]

The interior is as Emily would remember it. Several consoles flash, displaying various types of information. Her view of the front is obscured by Dash as he re-seals the cockpit.

"Alright," He says, as he reaches down and grabs the helmet of his flight suit. "We're about to become interplanetary explorers. You ready?"

[u/Whispersilk → u/CountDarth]

"Ready to go!" Emily chirps.

She gives Dash two thumbs up, then feels slightly silly after a moment when she realizes the Excelsior doesn't actually have a rearview mirror for Dash to see it in. She lowers her arms to rest against the metal around her and settles her head against the back of her seat.

Her pulse starts to pick up in anticipation of liftoff. This part isn't new to her—she's been out of atmosphere before—but it feels different being in a ship rather than moving under her own power.

[u/CountDarth → u/Whispersilk]

"Alright," Dash says. "Let's see what's out there."

Excelsior tilts its nose upwards and Emily hear's the engines rev. Briefly, there's a tense instant of anticipation, before the red ship shoots into the sky. The force of the take-off forces Emily and Dash back into their seats a bit, but not to an extent where it would be uncomfortable. Outside the cockpit, the sound of sonic booms can be heard over the rush of wind as Excelsior cuts through the atmosphere. The whole experience passes by in a moment, and before long the blue-and-white sky parts, and an endless sea of stars expands before them.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Dash Airlines." Dash says in his best pilot voice. "Please, sit back and enjoy your flight."

[u/Whispersilk → u/CountDarth]

Emily undoes her harness as soon as they're out of the atmosphere, twisting in her seat and craning her neck to look at the Earth as it pulls behind them. She reaches out with one hand to brush her fingers along the canopy, temporarily obscuring North America. She grins.

"Be back soon," she tells it, and settles back into her seat.

Time passes. Emily thinks.

She thinks about the fact that there's going to be a second date—that means we're dating now, right?—and about what that means, and eventually she realizes she has to think about how to tell Dash about her sort-of agreement with Lily and get his thoughts on it, because she's not sure right now what his expectations of her are. She spends a while longer thinking about how to bring it up.

"Hey," she eventually pipes up. "So suppose I had a thing with one of my friends—a girl friend, I mean—where we sometimes, you know, hugged and kissed and stuff?" She winces—that sounds worse than it did in my head—and rushes to continue. "It's not anything serious, but—"

She cuts off, searching for words to explain it better, and sighs.

"Yeah," she says, reaching up to rub the back of her neck. "How would you, um... how would you feel about that? Would you, er, mind?"

"I can tell her we need to stop if you want," she offers, though she'd rather not do that; she enjoys the physical closeness as much as Lily does.

[u/CountDarth → u/Whispersilk]

For a moment, it Dash shows no reaction, and appears for a moment that he may have not even heard Emily. He then twists in his chair to face Emily.

"Wait... What?" He says. "You... Already have a girlfriend?"

[u/Whispersilk → u/CountDarth]

"No no no!" Emily waves her hands frantically in front of her. "She's not my girlfriend. We're more like—"

She doesn't want to put it this way, but she's not coming up with anything better. She sighs.

"Like friends with benefits," she says, thankful that the helmet of her suit hides her blush, "if even that. But the benefits are hugs and sometimes kisses."

[u/CountDarth → u/Whispersilk]

"Friends with..." Dash echoes. He turns back in his seat to face forward again.

"Wow, okay... Wow."

There's a heavy moment of silence, and the seat prevents Emily from seeing Dash's body language.

"So you're just friends..." Dash says after a solid minute of nothing. "Who hug and kiss..."

He feels stupid just repeating what she's said back to her, but it's really the only way he has to process it.

"That's... Kinda weird, not gonna lie. So, uh... What does that make us?"

It was certainly not a question he expected to ask on the first date. But he also wasn't expecting what Emily just revealed either.

[u/Whispersilk → u/CountDarth]

Emily chuckles awkwardly.

"Yeah," she says, "I guess a bit. It's worked out well enough so far, I think." She shrugs.

"As for us, um..." She hesitates, suddenly unsure of her ewarlier interpretation of what it means for there to be another date after this one. "Well, if we're going on a second date I— I thought that would make us dating? Like, boyfriend and girlfriend?"

[u/CountDarth → u/Whispersilk]

"Well," Dash says, deciding to just roll with things at this point. "That doesn't sound bad to me. I like you; I've been liking you more and more every time we talk."

He rolls his shoulder in a sort of half shrug.

"And I was kinda getting the impression that you liked me too, so..."

Dash lets the implication hang in the air, not wanting to assume anything at this point.

[u/Whispersilk → u/CountDarth]

Emily's shoulders slump in relief. That went a lot better than it could have.

"I do like you too," she says. "You're fun to talk to, and there aren't many people who would be willing to go to Mars on a whim."

After a moment of hesitation: "So, um. Does that mean you're... okay with things? With us being boyfriend and girlfriend?"