The Spinster and the Bachelor

[Espi]

Darn, day of the dance and Henry still hadn't been asked to go.

Not that he was really wanting to go or anything! Or, well, yeah he wanted to go, but it wasn't like it was a huge deal or...yeah, no.

Henry sighed as he walked out of the school building and sat on a bench. His dad was going to pick him up today, so he needed to wait, which could take a little while. Henry supposed that it was a lucky break, since now he'd have one more shot to get asked. Still, he felt kind of mopey. He'd been so excited for the Sadie Hawkins! It sounded like a lot of fun, and Henry didn't usually go to these sorts of things. But now he was thinking he might not get the chance.

Henry wasn't a stud or anything, but he was an okay-looking guy, right? Like, he wasn't stunning, sure, but there had to be somebody who wanted to go with him. The idea of dancing with someone sounded really cool, but he didn't think he'd want to go if he was alone or something. That'd be pretty boring, huh.

Henry sighed, brushing his bangs back over his eye. At least he still had his killer fashion sense? Well, maybe. He was wearing his jacket, so bonus points there, plus his cool black jeans with the chains on it. His shoes were pink, which was an unusual choice, but he thought they looked nice. So yeah, he was doing okay style-wise. Wait, what was he reassuring himself for?

Oh right. Dance. Siiiiiigh.

Henry smiled at a nearby passing girl who, at second glance, was neither looking in his direction or particularly friendly-looking. Wait, was she in his grade? No, he was pretty sure she was a sophomore. Darn. Plenty of fish in the sea, but still...

Aw, that made him sad. The fishing trip for next month was going to be canceled, 'cause the campsite they went to would be closed the day they always went. And the other weekends wouldn't work because Dad had stuff planned.

Today was making Henry sad.

[Primrosette]

She couldn't believe that she hadn't even asked him to the dance yet. She had spotted him sitting on the bench and she could see that he looked really sad. However she didn't even know how to approach him. She had never asked someone out before. Her ex, Danny Brooks, had asked her out and they had been on a couple of dates in the past. But that had ended badly when Danny send a text out of the blue saying that he didn't want to date her anymore. She had cried for a few days but then she got over it when she found out that Danny had done the same to other girls. She has avoided Danny since then. But this wasn't about Danny. No, this was about Henry Spencer.

Scarlett hasn't told anyone, not even her best friend Lizzie, that she has a bit of a crush on Henry. Sure, Henry seemed like a bit of an oddball. But she liked that he was different from a lot of the other boys at Cochise. Maybe he will accept her invitation to the dance if she would stop stalling. But she was still fearful of getting rejected. Who wouldn't be?

Scarlett gazed over to where Henry was still sitting and her heart skipped a beat when she realized that he was staring in her direction. Wait, how long had he been looking at her? She must have been looking like a dork for standing there for so long beside one of the trees. Or a stalker. She hoped that he didn't think she was a stalker. She didn't want to give him a wrong first impression. What was she supposed to do now?

[Espi]

Oh hey, there was a girl, and this time she actually was looking at Henry.

Scarlett or something. One T or two? He wasn't sure; some inkling told him it was with two, but he couldn't recall if he'd seen it written down or only heard it. Oh, don't get the wrong idea, they were friends. They talked about stuff, like movies, though their tastes differed since Scarlet(t) liked older movies or science fiction while Henry preferred horror. But she was pretty nice, and they'd talked before. Hm...

Ooh, idea!

Henry stood up, pulling down his shirt to make sure it wasn't riding up his stomach, then briefly stopped to adjust his hair. After self-consciously checking his breath, he nodded, smiled and approached Scarlet(t).

"Heya!" He called out cheerfully, then paused. Was that too forward? Perhaps he should've been more suave, like a spy. Eh, spies weren't actually that glamorous. Suave was out, then, so he should just be himself! "Listen, I've got a question." Henry paused. Wait. Girls were supposed to ask the guys out. He might have to subtly convince her to ask him.

"Will you ask me to the dance?"

That works, too.

[Primrosette]

Scarlett was watching as Henry approached her with one of those cheery smiles on his face. She has to focus on what she wanted to ask him. She couldn't allow herself to get distracted. He said hey to her. Alright so far. She was perfectly calm. She couldn't chicken out of this now. She would have to go for it and just ask him. Without her voice getting wobbly hopefully.

Before she could even say hi to him, Henry said that he had a question for her. Oh? She wondered what the question was going to be. He was asking if she would ask him to the dance. That was kind of funny that he would ask her that.

She actually started to chuckle quietly, shaking her head a little. "....I'm a bit nervous to ask you, Henry." She admitted to him honestly as she brushed a strand of her hair out of her face with her hand. "But that doesn't mean that I don't want to ask you to the dance. I just never done this before."

[Espi]

So far, so good! Scarlett certainly seemed interested. "Oh, good!" He said brightly, grinning at her. "Oh, uh, not good about the nervous thing. That's unfortunate, I guess. But I'm glad you want to go with me!"

Henry smiled again. His face felt warm; he was probably blushing, an unusual reaction for him. "It's okay, I haven't either. First time for everything, though, right? Well, technically no, things that are impossible like faster-than-light travel don't have a first time, unless they're possible. Then they might." Hmm, physics. An interesting topic, on he should get into more. Atomic structure and quantum mechanics were remarkably exciting.

Not now, though. Now he was talking to Scarlett. "Sorry, got a little distracted. But..." He looked down, feeling unusually awkward. "I'd love to go with you, if you'd ask me."

[Primrosette]

Scarlett noticed that Henry was slightly blushing. She thought that was kind of cute. She was sure that she had never seen him like before. Her nervousness was fading away and then he was starting to talk about faster-than-light travel. A little bit of trivia and it was sounding very interesting to her. But they could possibly talk about that later. Right now she had to do what she wanted to do in the first place.

"I guess I can do what I actually wanted to ask in the first place." She laughed softly and she was looking very calm now. She stepped closer to Henry and she smiled sincerely. "Henry, would you like to go to the Sadie Hawkins Dance with me?"

[Espi]

"Ya!"

Henry was so excited he couldn't decide if he wanted to say 'yes' or 'yeah'. That was unfortunate, but ultimately inconsequential when the intrinsic meaning of the verbalization was made clear through context. Yes!

"I'd love to! We'll have a great time, I'm super-excited to go. Ooh, we should coordinate our colors, so how about I wear black and you wear, I dunno, red Pink? What do you like?"

"Actually, nevermind that, I'll just call you later. I think I've got your number in my phone, we can set up a ride and stuff later." Henry's motor mouth was running on all cylinders, pistons firing, gasoline-ATP burning to move the muscle-wheels and make his jaw move and this metaphor really got away huh. He was super-excited!

Pouncing on Scarlett and giving her a biiiiiig hug, Henry grinned and said. "Thank you soooo much. I'll see you there?"

((Henry Spencer continued in the dance))

[Primrosette]

Scarlett was happy that Henry accepted to go with her to the Sadie Hawkins dance. But she knew that he would because he told her that he wanted to go. Well, at least he let her ask him. It felt good that she had asked out someone else first. She was looking forward to having a good time with Henry. She was still smiling as Henry was talking to her in excitement. She wanted to be the one getting all hyper and energetic about all this. But she was going to stay calm for a little while.

"Yes, I can't wait to go with you. Oh, red pink to go with black? Hmm...." She was raised an eyebrow as she was thinking about it. "Actually, I prefer to wear something blue and-"

Oh. Henry was still continuing to talk. Scarlett couldn't help but giggle at how happy he looked. The dance was definitely going to be great with Henry there. She was then surprised by Henry suddenly wrapping his arms around her and he pulled her into a hug. She felt herself blush and she blinked a little. She didn't see that hug coming from him. But it felt nice to be held by him. She slowly returned a hug back. She loved to give hugs to other people especially if they wanted them.

She chuckled softly. "Of course, I'll be there, Henry. I promise!"

((Scarlett McAfee continued in He's So Fine And Different))