First Date: Part 2 - End

A surprisingly large variety of animals were housed in glass containers along the shop walls. The sections ranged from small mammals, aquatic creatures, and reptiles.
The middle of the shop was taken up by strangely designed and racks that held housing, clothing, toys and food items to buy either with the purchase of a pet or for any the customer already owned.
Valenthia had to stop herself from migrating straight to the reptile section. Jonathan was already crouched at one of the cases housing a pair of large fluffy rabbits.
“Val, come look! They’re so fuzzy!”
She came to stand beside him, clapping her hands in delight when she spotted a nearby case of fancy blue rats. “Aww, they’re so cute!”
Jonathan had not noticed what she was talking about. “Yeah, they are. Looks like their names are Honey and Lilly.”
“Those are adorable names.”
Jonathan turned to see Valenthia looking over the rats. “What are you looking at?”
She looked up in surprise. “Wh-what? Oh, nothing! Uhm … ” She wrung her hands nervously and moved away, pretending to be interested in the nearby case of small, colorful finches. “Oh, look, that little bird has a hoop in its beak.”
Jonathan smiled softly and pointed out one of the pairs of rats that were curled up together. “Aw, look, they curled up to sleep together. Come see.”
She pinched her lips together but the corners still lifted in a small smile as she went to stand beside her date.
They traversed the rest of the small store, pointing out anything they found interesting or intriguing while Jonathan talked about some small facts he had learned about any of the lesser known pets. They occasionally had to politely decline offers from the staff for assistance.
When they finally arrived at the reptile section, Valenthia slowed down to look them over. It took all her willpower to not stop and gawk at the vibrant colors of the geckoes and snakes.
“So what else should we look at?”
“Hm … ”
“Are you hungry yet?”
“A little. But the food here is expensive.”
“Uhm. We could go somewhere else then.”
“Oh, no, no. I don’t want you to use gas up for my sake.”
He waved a hand dismissively. “Nah! It’s no biggie. It’s better to save some money on non-mall food anyways. It looked pretty busy in there. What might you be in the mood for?”
“Hm. I might need a little more time to think on that one.” She pulled her phone from her purse and unlocked it.
“Sure thing. We can look some places up. Let’s go explore here!” He pointed to a store filled with various show and movie related products. “They have a ton of Pokemon stuff.”
The comment made her remember the various games they had spoken of before. He owned a large number of Pokemon games and had been trying to talk her into playing one before they settled on a date.
Various sections held t-shirts, wallets, figurines and other merchandise related to each franchise.
Valenthia was looking over a wall of figurines when Jonathan took her by the arm and pulled her out of the store. “H-hey, where are you taking me?”
“I just saw something super cool, we have to go see!” he said excitedly, tugging her arm like a child.
The young woman tried to pry her arm free, suddenly feeling panicked. “Please let go!”
Jonathan released her arm and looked at her in confusion. “What’s the matter?”
She rubbed her arm where his hand had been, turning her face away. “Sorry.”
He ran his hand roughly through his short hair. “No, I’m sorry. I got excited. Here.” He offered his elbow to the young woman.
She stared at it for a moment, unsure of what it meant. Then it clicked. He was offering to let her hold on to him, rather than him to her. She carefully hooked her hand onto the inner portion of his elbow.
“Better?”
She gave a short nod and they set off.
The destination Jonathan had spotted was just a few stores down.
“What’cha think?” he asked his date as they stood outside a game store.
She peered inside. “Hm. Looks interesting.”
“You wanna go in?”
“We can if you’d like to.”
“Ah-ah.” He waved a finger at her. “If you want to.”
“Oh … um. Sure. I want to see what FPS’s they might have.”
His face broke out in a grin. “Sure!”
Once inside, they made their way towards the console games.
“We could find a multiplayer to do together some time. That’d be a fun second date, yeah?”
Valenthia looked at him, dumbfounded. “Wh ...well…” She looked away, unable to think of a response.
His face fell slightly and he turned his attention back to the game rack.
Valenthia bit her lip and subconsciously pulled her pendant against its chain to calm herself.
Jonathan spoke after a short interval. “Hey, why don’t we go find some food?”
She nodded slightly and allowed him to lead her from the store. She stayed lost in thought as they walked through the mall, ignoring anyone who happened to bump into her.
Icy wind bombarding her body finally snapped her out of her stupor as the pair walked out into the cold evening. She looked up at her date to find him watching her concernedly.
“You okay?” he asked when their eyes met.
“Y-yes, I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I just… get to thinking sometimes and lose track.”
“It’s fine, Val. Was just worried about you.”
She flushed slightly. “So...what do you wanna do?”
“Well, we could go somewhere to eat. Or … if you were tired or something, I could … take you home.” His voice dropped to a sullen pitch as he said the last part.
Her stomach answered for her with a deep gurgling noise.
Jonathan smirked. “I guess it’s food, then?”
“Um.”
He held his phone out to her. “I was looking up places while we were walking.”
Valenthia observed the screen to find a list of nearby food joints. “Mm … I dunna. I don’t really have any money on hand. I was … really just gonna eat at home.”
“Oh …” He put his hands in his pocket along with his phone. “Well, I was gonna pay for it anyways.”
“Wh-what?! No way!”
“Pfft. It’s a date. I can spare a little money for a pretty lady.”
Valenthia made a wry face at the compliment and turned around with arms folded, fully red in the face with embarrassment.
“You know, you’re pretty cute when you get huffy.”
The young woman hunched her shoulders, grumbling under her breath.
He chuckled. “C’mon, Valenthia. Let’s get out of the cold.”
She turned to look at him. “Wh-you mean in your car?”
He shrugged. “If you want. I know you walked here, so. It’s too cold and far too dangerous for you to be walking anywhere else.”
“Oh um … thank you.”
He pointed in the direction of his vehicle. “It’s this way.”
The pair hurried to the car that was parked a few rows over from the entrance. They sat in the car while it idled, trying to decide where they wanted to go.
Jonathan poked at the screen of his phone. “There’s Mexican, Chinese, um … pizza.”
“I’m kinda in the mood for pizza.”
“All right then. There’s some places nearby that serve pizza on the menu. Or we could get some from a pizza joint. Though most of those are like Dominos...”
“I personally like Pizza Hut better. They have a little buffet so it would be more food for cheaper.”
Jonathan shot his date a small grin. “That’s a great idea.”

After the meal, Jonathan drove Valenthia home and he walked her to the door.
“Thank you for dinner. It was a lot of fun today … I do apologize about earlier, though.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” He waved his hand dismissively and gave her a warm smile. “Long as you enjoyed it.”
She smiled softly and nodded, looking down at her hands shyly.
“Uh. Well…” He ran his hand through his hair. “I guess I’ll wish you good night.”
“Yeah … good night.” She watched him walk down the stairs before she turned to her door after pulling the key from her purse.
A sudden hurried noise of footsteps on concrete made her turn around. Before she knew what was happening, Jonathan had her wrapped up in his arms in a tight embrace. “U-uh?”
He pulled back after a few moments, keeping his arms about her. “Sorry, I just … didn’t wanna leave yet. I um … really just enjoy your company. And I tend to do stupid things.”
She raised an eyebrow in confusion. “‘Stupid things’?”
Her answer was a quick, brief kiss on her lips.
Jonathan released his hold of her, a deep blush flaring across his face and a dazed smile to his lips. “Uh, sorry. I said I do stupid things. Uhm … I’ll talk to you later.” He hurried down the stairs to his car.
Valenthia blinked several times before coming fully to her senses. “I-did he just…?” She turned to her door and fumbled the key into the lock, stumbling inside to shut the door behind her. She pressed her back to the door, trying to make her mind process the event.
Her fingers went from her necklace to her lips, the corners curled into a small smile. After a few moments she wandered off to her bedroom to change out of her clothes.