Fallon smoothed her black sweater dress down and pulled on her black thigh high boots. She took one last look in the mirror to check for any last minute makeup smudges and tossed her hair back one more time. She grabbed her wristlet, hooked her key to the latch and went over to Sarah's room.

"How do I look?" She sounded almost panicked. "I don't know how to dress up for something that's not a frat party, is this okay?"

Sarah's eyes widened, "woah you look hot!"

Fallon smiled, "you think so?" She spun slowly, "it's not too much? The dress isn't too tight?"

"No way, that's got you hugged in all the right places. He's gonna lose his mind."

"I just don't want to look like I'm trying too hard, it's not trashy right?"

"Not trashy at all, you look great, Fal."

"Thank you." Fallon's phone chimed from inside her wristlet. "I'm pretty sure that's him, I'm gonna head down."

"Okay, have fun, be careful, let me know if you need me to call you crying so you can claim it's an emergency and come home."

"Thank you Sarah," Fallon hugged her. "I'll text you when I'm on my way back."

"Yes, let me know if you need me to hide or if you want me to come out and meet him."

"Well, you know him already."

"You know, like officially meet him." Fallon nodded. "Have fun!"

Fallon waved and walked out the door.

On her way down the stairs, her stomach suddenly felt like it was in her throat and her heart seemed to be beating too fast. She took a deep breath as she made her way towards the lobby area willing herself to calm down.

Once Matt was finally in view, she felt her cheeks go warm, as she sped up down the rest of the hallway.

"Hi!" She extended her arm to hug him. "How are you?"

Matt stood silently smiling for a moment, a bouquet of flowers in his hand. He shook his head slightly, as if to break a trance.

"Wow, you look fantastic." His famous smile came over his face.

"Thank you," Fallon stepped back slightly, "you look great too!"

He cleaned up well, his hair was slicked back, he had on a pair of beige pants and a blue collared shirt.

"Thanks, these are for you," he handed her the bouquet. "In hindsight, I don't know what we're going to do with them during dinner, but I'm already committed." He laughed awkwardly.

"They're beautiful, thank you, I love sunflowers. They'll be okay out of water for a little while."

"Oh good, I don't really know how flowers work. I'm not very good at this whole dating thing."

"No, this is great, really, I'm excited to go out!"

"Well, let us go then," Matt pushed the door open, "after you," he gestured through the door.

"Why, thank you!"

The two of them were out in the chilly air of the night heading towards the parking lot.

"So, I drive a super beat up Honda, don't panic when you see her, she's got lots of miles, but also still a ton of life left."

Fallon giggled, "Thanks for the warning, I'll let my roommate know that if I go missing, I'm the one dead in the metal death trap."

"I promise we're gonna be okay."

"It can't be any worse than my Honda."

The pair walked up to an older model of the car that Fallon owned herself, Matt was right, it was pretty beat up. Rust had begun to overtake most of the wheel wells. Scratches through the ages had gotten deeper and more noticeable. Fallon's face must have shown her worry.

"I swear it runs and it'll go from point A to point B."

Fallon nodded and reached for the door handle, "I believe you."

She pulled open the door and started to step in while Matt climbed into the driver's seat. "Shit," he said, turning towards her, "I was supposed to open your door for you."

"It's fine, if you did I think I would've passed out. I don't think anyone has ever opened a door for me. I do a lot of taking care of other people."

"Get out of the car."

"What?" She asked, looking confused.

"Get out of the car," Matt walked around to the passenger side and waited for her to exit.

She got out, closed the door and stepped aside. Matt reached for the handle and motioned towards the seat, "your chariot."

Fallon grinned, "why thank you, I feel just like Cinderella. When will this turn back into a pumpkin?"

"The same time I turn back into a toad."

"Different fairytale, but I'll give you points for trying."

"An 'A' for effort right?" Matt closed the door for her and climbed back into the driver's side. "Okay, I hope you're hungry. Also, I hope you eat Hibachi."

"I am a sucker for an onion volcano."

"You're not one of those girls who isn't going to catch the food they toss at you right?"

"Do I look like one of those girls?"

"Whoever misses buys the first round of drinks."

"You'd make me pay for something on our first date?" Fallon pretended to be insulted.

"I mean, if you miss the piece of zucchini they toss at you, yeah."

"You're on." Fallon reached out for a handshake.

Matt took her hand, "deal. Hope you're ready to lose," he said grinning at her.

"Are you this charming on all your dates?"

"Oh crap, is this a date?" His eyes were wide with worry.

"You're the worst," she pulled her hand away from his.

"Yet you still agreed to go out with me." He looked over his shoulder and put the car in reverse.

"Whatever was I thinking?"

He shifted the car into drive and started down the driveway of the apartments, "that I was the most handsome human you've ever seen and you couldn't resist."

"That must have been it, thank you."

Both of them let out a small laugh. "In all seriousness, I am really happy you agreed to go out," he said.

"Me too, it's been a really long time since I've gone like, 'out out'."

"Oh you mean our house parties aren't considered 'out, out'?"

"I do enjoy the occasional outing that does not smell like cigarettes and day-old beer."

"Oh if I could bottle that smell and make a candle."

They pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and Fallon made a point to pause before trying to get out of the car to give Matt some time to open her door. He came around to the passenger side, pulled on the handle, and held out a hand.

"Thank you sir," she said. She took a moment to adjust her boots and smooth out her dress. Once the car was locked they set off across the parking lot to the entrance.

Once at the hostess station, Matt gave his name for their reservation and they were seated at a family style table. There were four others sitting with them, an older couple that looked to be in their mid forties, and a couple that seemed to be about their age. They smiled and nodded encouragingly while Matt and Fallon sat.

The waitress handed them each a menu and a set of chopsticks. Matt picked his up, still in the paper, "I'll be honest, I don't know how to use these."

"I'm sure we can get you a kid's pair," Fallon teased.

"I'm so glad you're looking out for me." He picked up his menu and flipped it to the drink page. "Do you know what you want to drink?"

"Um," Fallon skimmed the page, "I usually just get a mojito or something. What about you?"

"Just a plain old beer, I'm driving, remember?"

"Responsible." She skimmed the list again, "I'll get a Moscow Mule, I'll change it up a little bit."

"Fancy, very sophisticated."

Their drinks arrived promptly, and as they waited for their dinner to begin, Fallon's intentions were to get to know everything she could about Matt.

"Okay, so I'll break the ice here, tell me what you do for fun."

"You mean aside from running security at late night frat parties?"

"Anything except late night frat parties."

Matt paused to think for a moment. "I fish."

"You do? Really?"

"Why do you seem so surprised?" Matt was grinning now.

"I don't know, you don't strike me as a fisherman?"

"My family has a boat. You can make fun of me for that later, but they have a really nice boat. My dad always fished when we were out on it. He put a fishing pole in my hands when I was six and I've loved it ever since.

"So you're like a rich kid from suburbia?"

"I mean, we didn't grow up poor or anything. I have four other siblings, three brothers and a sister. Our house was nice and we have a boat, I didn't think much of it until I got older, really. Does that make you like me less?"

" No. no, I just grew up totally different." Fallon took a sip of her drink.

"Tell me about your story."

"I mean, it's not that intense. My parents got divorced when I was really young. My dad just left us, so my mom raised me on her own." There was a soft look in Matt's eyes now. "But it's just me and her, and we have a dog named Bubbles. But yeah, a little different than you I guess."

The chef arrived at their table to begin their dinner.

"I believe it's time for your onion volcano, madame."

"The best part of the whole dinner, honestly."

"You ready to catch some flying food?"

"Absolutely."

Fallon and Matt exited the restaurant door and headed back towards the car. The night had turned cold and rainy. There was a light mist in the air and the moon reflected off the tiny droplets. Fallon shivered slightly.

"Are you cold?" Matt asked, guiding her back to where they had parked.

"Just a little, I didn't expect rain. I'll be fine once we're in the car."

Matt clicked the button to unlock the door and promptly opened the passenger side, once again, for Fallon to slide into. "I have a hoodie in the trunk, I'll grab it for you." As quickly as Matt popped open the trunk, was how quickly he seemed to appear in the driver seat next to Fallon. "Here ya go." He handed her a black faded hoodie with a small logo she didn't recognize on the sleeve. "I promise, it's clean. I keep it in the car just in case." Matt half grinned as he shifted the car in to drive.

"Thank you," Fallon slid the sweatshirt over her head and pulled it over her dress. "And thank you for dinner, even though you lost the bet with catching the zucchini."

"I let you win!"

"Ya see, I don't think you did, I think you were overly confident and panicked when I caught mine on the first try and you didn't."

"Are you this competitive at everything you do?"

"Mostly only when cute boys challenge me to competitions," Fallon smiled as Matt pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex.

"You think I'm cute?" Matt asked, clearly amused by Fallon's back and forth.

"You could say that," she teased.

Matt shifted the car into park, unbuckled his seat belt and turned towards Fallon, "thank you again for going out with me."

"Thank you again for taking me out. It was fun, I had a really good time. Dinner was great, and it beats having to go to the dining hall or cook any night."

"We can do it again sometime?" He asked, sheepishly.

"Absolutely," Fallon nodded reassuringly.

They stared at each other briefly before Matt spoke, "I told you I don't really know how to date so I'm just gonna throw it out there, I really want to kiss you right now. I know first dates aren't the time to kiss though, but I want you to know, I want to."

Fallon smiled slightly and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I don't know if this counts as a first date, more like a second one if you ask me."

"You're right, not quite a first date, but I don't think the other night really counts."

"That would have been a pretty bad first date."

"You really think it was that bad?"

Fallon scrunched her nose and nodded, "not my favorite."

"I guess that's understandable." Matt was once again coming around to the passenger side door. He grabbed Fallon's hand and lightly pulled her back out into the chilly night air. "Oh! Don't forget these!" He made his way to the back seat and retrieved the flowers from earlier. "They look like they're still alive." He handed them over to Fallon.

"They are perfectly alive. Thank you, I had forgotten they were back there."

"Any time."

"Oh, your sweatshirt!" Fallon began placing the flowers on top of the car to free her hands.

"Hang on to it, you can give it back on our next date." Matt nudged her slightly.

"Deal; washed and returned." She grabbed the flowers from on top of the car, "I'll text you and we can figure it out?"

"You know where to find me."

A sly grin came across Fallon's face and she took a step closer to him so that they were face to face. Reminiscent of the night at the frat house, Fallon allowed her lips to inch towards Matt's ear.

"Oh and, I don't kiss on the first date. Or the second. Or the third, she whispered coyly. She could see the goosebumps slowly appearing on Matt's body.

His hands rested lightly on her back now, the sweatshirt she was wearing, balled up in each one of his clasped fists, hanging on like he never wanted to let her go, "I bet ya I can get to you by date number three," he grinned.

"You're on." Fallon spun herself around and managed her way from his grip. "Thank you for dinner, and the flowers, and everything." She started towards the entryway of her apartment complex, looking back once more as Matt pulled out of the parking lot.

Her body felt electric as she entered the elevator. She anxiously shifted from foot to foot, the short ride feeling like a longer torment than usual. When the doors finally opened, she practically danced into the hallway and to her room.

She sat down on the couch and kicked off her shoes. Still grinning, she looked at the flowers she had laid on the coffee table and made a mental note to put them in water. Pulling her phone from her purse, she texted her mom:

I'm home from my date! It was great! I'll call you tomorrow and tell you all about it!

Quickly, she got a response,

That's great sweetheart! I'm so happy you had a good time. Call me tomorrow.