Survival Of The Fittest

Upon seeing the elderly couple point and make faces at them, Ridley was heavily tempted to say something along the lines of 'You just wish you could do the shit we can!' but his good side advised against it.

"Yeah, blue's an awesome color," he said with yet another smile.

"You know...You're quite the awesome guy." It took him a few seconds to process what she had just said. That was when he burst out laughing. He managed to cover his mouth before he got to loud, and held it back so that he could say, "Y'know, that's actually, heh, what I've been going for for all of high school. You're the first person to ever say that I'm awesome! Heha!"

"But I mean it! I really mean it!" Raine playfully pouted. She raised her hand and lightly tugged at his shirt. She didn't seem to be able to say anything else before she spouted out, "You're so awesome I could just kiss you right now!"

Realizing what she had just said, Raine quickly averted her gaze to the floor and began to mentally count how many tiles were there.

Ridley was filled with a bit of a mix of emotions once she said that. For one, he was happy and a little turned on that she wanted to kiss him. On the other hand, they were in public, and he hated being intimate with anyone in public. Not only that, but Raine seemed to be getting a little too excited about him. She didn't know the depth of his various thought processes, and she didn't know any of his hidden feelings or urges. To him, the situation was beginning to get dangerous for both of them.

He simply scratched his head, and said, "Well, anyway, let's go and look for a dress, huh?" and presented his hand to her.

Raine was thankful that Ridley bailed her out of the embarrassing situation she had put herself into, Of course, now the hand contact was a little more okay now as compared to what they could have been doing. Taking his hand, Raine looked around and spotted prom dresses that were on for sale. She wasn't too particular about what she would wear. Raine would be there with Ridley, someone who cared enough to hold her.

"How about those over there?" Raine led him over, looking at a dress that was close to the pastel shade she had in mind. It was a halter style dress with its hemline going down to just above her knees. There was a cinch belt around the waist decorated with a yellow jeweled flower. "This one looks nice." She looked at it and then to Ridley.

He was a little wary about holding her hand at that point, but he went along with her to the area where the dresses were on sale, anyway. There were so many different kinds that he didn't know where to start. Luckily for him, Raine did.

"Yeah, I think that looks good. Are you allowed to try it on and everything, or do you just buy it on the spot?" He never was able to figure out the whole process for buying new clothes and the like. All that he had to do was try on a single pair of jeans and then pick out several more of the same size if it fit right. As far as dresses and tuxedos went, he was at a loss.

Raine liked that Ridley liked the dress. Quickly she went to the change room and slipped on the dress. From behind the door, she asked the saleslady to bring a smaller size and tried that one on. Excited, Raine stepped out of the stall and looked over to Ridley. For fun, she spun around, the skirt lifting slightly as she did but not enough to reveal anything.

"Please tell me this is good." Raine said to him. "...I really don't care for shopping to tell you the truth." She confessed with a shy smile.

Even though his legs were tired from waiting for her to get the dress on, he put on a smile when she came out in the dress. "You look great!" Even though he couldn't see the salesperson, he could feel her staring at them, probably smiling and thinking to herself 'That's so cute!' or something. That's why he would much rather no one had been in the store save for them. He liked to do things either alone or with friends, and everyone else, bystanders, the peanut gallery, whatever, none of them were needed to him.

"Anyway, can't wait to see you with your hair and everything done, too." He walked up to her and picked up a lock of hair and dropped it back down over her cheek.

Raine could tell Ridley was getting a little tired. Maybe it was time to end their date or something like that? Raine blushed a little when he picked up a lock of her hair. She cast her gaze to the floor shyly and nodded her head a little. Then, she turned and went back into the change room.

With the dress in her arms, Raine led the way to a check out and paid for the dress. "I think I might be able to look for shoes with my stepmother another day." Raine explained, looking back over to Ridley. "Did you want to see if we can find any of your manga or games? Or did you want to call it a day?"

Ridley really had grown a little tired without his knowing. It was still only the afternoon, but he had gone to bed late the night before, so that might have been the reason. "Yeah, I think that we should start heading home. How 'bout you?"

He didn't wait for her to answer, and instead took her by the hand and began to lead her out of the store and towards the parking lot. He remained fairly silent through the whole trip, except for when they walked out into the blazing hot sun, to which he responded with several curse words under his breath.

Raine followed Ridley silently. She didn't know if there was something wrong with him, but she remained silent as well. Maybe he was thinking of the date? Had she said something wrong?

Once they were outside, Raine waited until they were back at his jeep before she spoke. "Are you all right Ridley? I'm sorry if I said some strange things." Raine apologized, now a little nervous.

They soon reached Ridley's car, and only then did he answer her. "Don't worry. You didn't do anything wrong, okay? It's just... I think that you're a little too excited about the concept of dating me." He knew that what he was saying was going to sting, but he felt that it had to be said. "At times, I think that you just get too into the idea. I may not be the guy to go to about relationships, but I don't think that you should hold me in such high esteem, you know? I have flaws, too! The things I've been saying, the things I've been doing, it's all routine as far as dating, chivalry, and politeness go. I'm not the perfect guy I've been acting like for the past couple hours."

He paused and took a deep breath before letting it out in a long sigh. "I'm really not that great... after prom, or at least sometime soon, I think that we should just sit down and talk for a bit. I think that I need to show you the side of me... that isn't so great..."

Raine had to let everything sink in. She had done something wrong. She was getting too excited over him. The words of her stepmother rung in her mind. Never let a boy lead you, you lead the boy was what she had said. Raine would rather think that it would be an equal relationship. So what if she was a little excited over Ridley? For her all her life, things were stolen from her. Her mother had died, her father forgot his first wife and married a more attractive young woman. She had few friends at the school and no one showed any kind of affection for her.

Until now...

So she let Ridley speak. She sat in the passenger seat of the jeep and remained quiet on the way home. Raine hoped they would have this talk before prom. She'd hate to have to think about this during the special night.