"Uhhh...Sure. Why not? When can we go?"

Julian was surprised at this turn of events. He wasn't expecting Iris to be the first one to make a move on him. Even in his past timeline, Arielle was the one who asked him out. He was starting to think that he wasn't any good when it came to romance.

"Great! Are you free tomorrow?"

"Yeah. That's fine with me!"

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow then! I'll send you the details tonight."

"Sounds good. I'll be waiting."

Julian hung up the call and walked home. He would be lying if he said he wasn't a little nervous. He wasn't very experienced with this sort of thing. He never really took Arielle out on dates, so he wasn't sure about what he was supposed to do on one.

Once he got home, Iris had already sent him the time and location. They were going to meet at St. Helen's Dining Hall at 6 pm. St. Helen's was pretty fancy but not too expensive. It was where many couples went for a first date to make a good impression.

Julian was looking through his closet for a nice suit to wear. He only had one, but it was the one that he attended Tyler's funeral in so he wasn't going to wear it on a date.

'Maybe I could borrow one from Luke?'

He picked up his phone and called Luke.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Luke! You wouldn't happen to have a nice suit that I could borrow, would you?"

Luke paused before speaking.

"Yeah...why? Don't tell me...you've got a date with a girl?!"

Julian started to feel awkward.

"Haha...Yeah. Iris asked me if I would go on a date with her, and I said yes."

"Dude! That's awesome! Sure, you can borrow one of mine. I've got a blue one, a red one, and a black one. Which one do you want?"

Julian thought about it for a second before answering.

"I'll go with the blue one."

"Alright. Give me 10 minutes and I'll bring it by."

"Thanks, man. I appreciate your help."

They said their goodbyes and hung up the call. About 15 minutes later, Luke showed up at the door with the suit in hand.

"Here ya go. Good luck with your date! You gotta tell me how it goes when you get home."

"Haha! I will. Thanks again!"

"No problem. Let me know if there's something else I can do."

Luke said goodbye and went home while Julian tried on the suit. He was about the same size as Luke so it was a near-perfect fit.

'Looking good.'

He was looking at himself in the mirror with a grin on his face.

After getting a shower, he climbed into bed and went to sleep.

After waking up and doing some light training throughout the day, it was finally time for his date with Iris. He dressed up in the suit he borrowed from Luke and sprayed some nice smelling cologne. He took one last look in the mirror and walked out the door.

On his way there, he saw some flowers for sale at a street stall and bought a dozen roses.

'She should like these. They smell pretty nice.'

After about 10 minutes, he arrived at St. Helen's Dining Hall. He walked inside and saw Iris at one of the tables by the window.

"Hey! These are for you."

Julian handed her the roses he bought.

"Oh my gosh! They're so pretty! Thank you so much."

She took the roses and placed them on the table.

Iris was wearing a short white dress with frills at the end.

"You look great today! Not that you don't normally look great. It's just that...uhh…"

Iris laughed with a blush on her face.

"It's fine. I know what you mean. You look good, yourself. That suit matches your eyes."

"Thanks. I had to borrow it from Luke. My suit selection isn't very wide."

Julian scratched his head as he and Iris sat down.

"If I'm being honest, I wasn't expecting you to ask me out all of a sudden. I figured that I'd have to be the one to do the asking."

Iris was fidgeting in her seat and playing with a lock of her hair.

"Well, I didn't want someone else getting the jump on me, so I just took the plunge."

The waitress came by and took their orders. The two of them talked for a while until their food came. Julian got a steak dinner and Iris stuck with a salad.

"If you don't mind me asking, where are you staying at?"

"Well, seeing as how I'm here alone, I did what every other person would do in my situation and applied for Imperium housing for academy students. They placed me here in the 7th Sector. What about you?"

"I live here as well. It's close to the central rail station here."

"Oh my, what a sight to see. Two love birds on their first date. How charming."

Julian and Iris looked over and saw Arielle and her squad walking up to them.

"I don't recall inviting you and these dipshits here. What do you want?"

Arielle grinned and pulled up a chair to their table. Her squad surrounded them with wicked looks in their eyes. Julian could tell that they were here for trouble.

"How amusing. I don't need to be invited to show up here. Anyone can dine at this establishment."

Julian was getting angry.

"You still didn't answer my question. Skip the bullshit and get to the point."

Arielle no longer had a smile on her face.

"Well, if you're just going to be rude, then don't blame me for being impolite as well. I just came in and saw you two, so I decided to say hello. Is that such a bad thing? We're all friends, aren't we?"

Julian had to stop himself from hurting her in front of so many people.

'Just my luck. Can I not even have a nice date?'

************************************************************

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