Thursday night had finally arrived and Josh agreed to pick me up from my apartment at 7:15. I was nervous and giddy at the same time and of course, Abigail noticed. She actually helped me pick what to wear, believe it or not, and she had pretty good taste even when it came to my gothic fashion sense.

"So, do you think you guys'll be going to that dance together?" she asked me as she helped me re-dye my hair that afternoon once I'd returned from school with Lana. It wouldn't take long since we were only redoing my multicoloured streaks.

"I hope so," I replied, "I really like him, Abi."

Abigail smiled. "I know you do. It's not that hard to tell."

"I'm really that obvious?"

"Oh, yeah. But if what you and Sodapop keep insisting is true, then so am I."

"It's really good seeing you open up to the idea of a relationship, you now," I told her.

"Right back at you. Hell, it's good seeing you this happy in general. And I know Lana agrees with me there."

Lana, of course, had gone off somewhere with Dallas and if I knew them they'd probably end up finding Josh and I later on. Josh and I had talked over lunch about what movie we wanted to see tonight, and we'd eventually agreed that there really wasn't anything we were interested in watching. So instead, we figured we'd drive around and see if there was anything else we were interested in doing.

That being the case, Abigail picked out a comfortable outfit for me to wear, consisting of a thick black turtleneck with my favourite leather jacket over it, black jeans and my scarf with the star-like sequins woven in. My winter boots were black as well, thankfully, which meant they fit with the rest of the look.

"Hey, you guys could always check out that cafe near the school," suggested Abigail as she disposed of the empty dye bottles and went to wash her hands in the bathroom, "The one Nicole and Kate work at?"

"Hm, not a bad idea." I followed her in so I could wash my own hands, having helped her mix the dyes before we started. The cafe she was referring to was relatively new and I had yet to check it out. Josh had been there once before, though, with Scott and Andrew. Personally, I liked the idea of finally getting to check the place out. "I'll text him and see what he says."

I did just that while I waited the 45 minutes it took before I could wash out the excess dye. When he responded, I was incredibly happy to see the following:

Josh McNeal: Yeah, sure. It's a pretty nice place, I think you'll like it. Ice skating first?

I cheered in my head as I typed my response.

Alex Carmen: Yeah, that'd be awesome. See you in a few hours. :)

I made sure to get my ice skates ready to go and by the time I got out of the shower, Abigail had finished making dinner for the both of us. I threw my still-wet hair into a braid, opting to dress in something the dye could bleed on without me caring about it. I would blow-dry and straighten it after.

"So, seeing as you told me how much you like Ryan," I said to Abigail as I fixed myself a plate, "am I ever going to get to meet him?"

"I imagine you will," replied Abigail, "I'm going out with him again soon, we just haven't decided when. If you're home when he picks me up then, yeah."

"Good," I said.

After dinner, Abigail finished helping me with my hair and makeup, and by the time I was fully ready to leave it was already 7:03.

"Do you want me to come down and wait with you?" offered Abigail.

"Up to you," I replied, "I'm fine either way."

"I'll come," she said, "I want to say hi to Josh."

So she and I waited together in the lobby until Josh arrived at 7:15 on the dot. I was a little surprised he managed to pull that off considering traffic was insane, what with people getting a start on their Christmas shopping and all. I assumed he'd left his skates in the car since he wasn't carrying them when he pushed open the door to the building. "Hey," he greeted us warmly, giving me a hug once he reached me.

"Hey," I responded, hugging back.

"Nice to see you, Josh," Abigail added.

"Yeah, you too," Josh nodded in her direction, giving a friendly smile before turning back to me, "Ready, Alex?"

"Yeah."

"Have fun, guys," said Abigail, "and behave."

"'Course," I replied, taking Josh's hand and walking with him toward the door, "See you later, Abi."

The drive to the skating rink didn't take long, and we listened to some really good music on the way. It was an indoor rink, which was nice for me because it meant we'd be warmer. It also didn't take very long for the two of us to get our skates on and make our way onto the ice.

"Y'know...it's been awhile since I've done this," I remembered aloud, "Abigail and I used to go skating all the time with our parents. I've missed it." A grin crossed my face. "Let's see if I'm still as good as I was back then, shall we?"

With that, I skated a couple of laps around the shockingly deserted rink with a good amount of speed, Josh joining me and looking rather impressed. "Not bad at all," he complimented.

"You're a decent skater yourself, from what I can see," I returned, continuing to skate beside him, "Had a lot of practice?"

"Actually, nope. I never really did this sort of thing growing up, to be honest," he confessed.

"That surprises me. Must come naturally to you, then," I smiled.

"Seems to," he agreed. We slowed down a bit and he took my hand in his as he returned my smile. I suddenly got an idea and used my free hand to retrieve my phone. "They don't have any music playing at the moment," I explained, "so why don't we play some of our own?"

"I like that plan. In fact, I have a song request," said Josh. "One Step Closer by Linkin Park."

"Good song!" I exclaimed, selecting it at once. The song echoed a bit off the walls of the skating rink as it played, Josh singing along enthusiastically as we skated. I joined in when the song got to the chorus.

We continued skating and singing along to different songs for quite awhile before finally deciding to head over to the cafe before it closed. Josh had been right when he said I would like it there; it was a nice little place with a warm, cozy atmosphere and what looked like a really good menu. The prices didn't look bad, either.

"Hey, guys!" I heard an enthusiastic voice greet us as we were sitting down, and turned to see Kate and Nicole rushing over, "How's your date going?"

"I think it's going pretty well," Josh replied.

"Me, too," I added, "though I do regret not stopping by this place sooner; it's really nice."

"Thanks, Alex," Kate was flattered. "So, do you guys know what you want?"

I pointed to one of the options on the menu, hot chocolate with whipped cream topped with cinnamon. "I see you guys are Once Upon a Time fans."

Nicole nodded. "Big time. Is that what you're getting?"

"Yeah," I replied, "I'll have a bit of white chocolate cheesecake, too."

"Sounds good. Josh?" Kate turned to him as Nicole wrote down my order.

Josh, who had been flipping through the menu, looked up. "I'll go with the same drink as Alex is getting, but with a chocolate chip muffin."

"Alrighty then."

Then they left in the direction of the kitchen, giving Josh and I a few minutes to ourselves. "Oh, hey, I wanted to tell you," Josh remembered, "I finally got around to watching the new Goosebumps movie that came out a couple months ago."

"Oh, yeah?" My eyes lit up. "What'd you think?"

"It was pretty cool," he replied, "You've seen it, right?"

"Of course I have," I laughed. "Remember who you're asking."

"Fair enough," he laughed, too. "Let me guess - Slappy's your favourite?"

"Yup," I said cheerfully. I'd grown up with Goosebumps, specifically anything that had to do with Slappy the Dummy since, as mentioned, he was my favourite character of the whole series. I loved Goosebumps almost as much as I loved The Outsiders. "I have to admit, it was interesting to see Jack Black play R.L. Stine."

"Yeah, I thought he did pretty well," Josh agreed, "Thanks, Kate," he added as she and Nicole returned with our order. As they did so, I noticed they had Sarah McLachlan's cover of 'Blackbird' playing over the speakers. From what Josh told me on the way over, I knew they usually used YouTube to select their music, which was nice for anyone who had a specific request. Lana would love this, I thought to myself, She loves Sarah McLachlan.

The rest of the evening continued to go just as well; the food and hot chocolate were wonderful and the conversation between Josh and I--occasionally permeated by Kate and Nicole--remained pleasant and light-hearted. When the time finally came for Josh to bring me home, he walked me up to my apartment building and held open the door for me, giving me a soft kiss goodnight before departing.