"Pizza sounds pretty good," James agreed as the club began to break apart now that the rounds were over. James refastened his jacket and pocketed his hands again, following her onto the bus. It had always come instinctively and most people assumed that James had natural manners, but if all of his behaviors were strung together, it would almost seem like an unconscious effort to protect her even when there was no reason to. As they placed their orders at the restaurant, he reached for his wallet only to find that she was already paying... She was good. He sighed and released his wallet with reluctance, fearing that somebody might think he had made her pay. The issue was quickly forgotten and he decided not to create an argument over it as they sat down to eat. "Yeah, I had a blast. I'm sure we'll arrange another when the weather gets nice again," He pointed out, lifting up his gradually cooling slice of pizza and taking a bite. The cheese strung out as he pulled away, trying to detach the melted topping from it.

Did she just say that she turned Alex down? She seemed a bit anxious before, which meant she almost didn't tell him... But she almost sounded disappointed. James looked down at his plate for moment, wondering if he was ruining her first dance because he had backed out on his asking her out. [I]Look, about that 'as friends' thing... I didn't mean to say it like that... I actually want to go as your date,[/I] He rehearsed in his head. Then he rehearsed it again. After doing so a third time, he was about to say it... so close, and then she asked about Matt. "Huh? O-Oh, yeah. He's taking his girlfriend, Aïsha, they've been going out for about a a year and a half now. You've no idea how much my dad's parents love her simply because she's from across the channel. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy to be a relationship so long. My mom's rather surprised by it, but he really likes her. The other night, he told that he was thinking of proposing after they graduate," He mentioned, taking another bite of his pizza. [I]Just say it you stupid prick,[/I] he scolded himself in frustration. However, anything that came from his mouth was composed of small talk with Sasha. As they finished eating and got ready to go, he knew he needed to keep the evening going a little bit longer.

"Hey, the other night, like I said, I was talking to Matt. He told me about this place just outside of town... It's not far from our houses, he said it's a really nice place," James shared, omitting the detail that it was where Matt said that he and she had their first kiss a couple. After she agreed, they took the bus to their neighborhood and he led the way. They passed the park where the luncheon was held before the start of the school year, past the school, and soon to a point where the houses were a little less developed. The neighborhood hadn't quite expanded this far yet, so a lot of houses were either in progress or composed of empty lots. James pulled out his backpack, as it was starting to get a little bit darker out, and pulled out a torch. Matt had showed him the place already, so he knew exactly where he was going, giving him the ability to confidently reassure Sasha if she were to doubt him. They pushed past a treeline and James suddenly felt like an [I]adventurer[/I]. It was pretty exciting, leading the way like this into what would be the unknown to Sasha. They slipped between trunks and over roots before finally finding it. It was almost like a clearing, but there was actually a rather large rock in the middle of it. However, it almost seemed unnaturally flat on the top apart from a few inconsistencies in the smoothness of it.

The two helped one another to the top of it and James stretched one leg out and pulled the other in to his chest, propping himself up with his hands behind him, glancing up for a moment. "School year's going fast..." He mused, looking over to her, "Seems like more than a couple of months ago we were doing this in my backyard." The boy paused for a moment, clearly in thought as he looked down and furrowed his brow, "Uh... Sasha, there's something I wanted to say the other day..." He looked up, taking a deep breath and gradually letting it out, "I'm just... afraid of what it'll end up doing to us... 'As friends,' yeah? I don't want to lose that..." His nerves gave him an almost unbearable discomfort as he forced himself to scoot slightly closer to her. "I probably sound kinda stupid... and like I don't make a whole lot of sense... I really don't know how to do this or what to really erm... say," He mentioned, rubbing the back of his neck. "The other day, when I asked you to deny Alex... I didn't mean so that you could go and keep me company. I backed out of what I really wanted at the last second. So..." He stopped and shifted uncomfortably, taking a second to collect himself. "Sasha, uhm... Do you think you'd be willing to go to the dance with me as [I]not[/i] just friends? Like a date? And then, well, whatever comes after?" He asked, absolutely rattled by his nerves, but finally able to take a breath and do nothing but wait for an answer.