“I’m nervous,” Giannis said, standing in front of his bathroom mirror.
“Don’t be. Obviously Rachel wants to go on a date with you, since she said yes when you asked her out. That’s as clear-cut as it gets.” John Henson replied, looking his teammate’s outfit up and down. “It’s really weird seeing you in jeans.”
Giannis silently agreed. He hardly wore anything other than athletic clothes. The jeans felt too tight. To calm his nerves, he grabbed a glass full of smoothie off the counter and gulped down half of it. The smooth berry flavor soothed his mind somewhat. “I hope Rachel liking the movie I picked.” He looked for the tenth time and the movie tickets he had purchased, which were for some superhero movie. “I don’t know much, what movies girls like.”
“Don’t worry about it,” John reassured. “As long as you didn’t pick something really scary, she’ll probably love it. Especially if it makes her cry. Girls love crying while watching movies.”
“They do?” Giannis asked. He wondered if he should have chosen a different movie. “How do I know she’s not crying because she hates being on date with me?”
John rolled his eyes. “You’re overthinking this. Girls want to bang you. Rachel probably wants to bang you. It’s that simple.”
Giannis turned red at the thought of Rachel wanting to “bang” him. He took another sip of smoothie. Deciding that his outfit at least was presentable, he exited the bathroom and walked to the refrigerator in his kitchen with John trailing behind. Opening the refrigerator door, Giannis retrieved several water bottles filled with various flavors of smoothie.
“You know you can get concessions at the theater, right? You don’t need all that,” John said.
Shrugging, Giannis responded, “I prefer smoothies.”
John looked at the time on his phone. “You’d better go. Your movie starts soon, doesn’t it?”
Giannis was feeling very anxious again. “Yeah. You come with me?”
Shaking his head, John said, “We’ve been over this. This is one thing you gotta do alone. I’ll chill out here and play video games until you get back.”
“I’m nervous,” Giannis said.
—
Giannis walked into the movie theater feeling very naked. He had left his smoothies in the car after seeing a sign near the entrance saying that food and drink couldn’t be brought in. He wondered if the concession stand sold smoothies.
The thought of smoothies quickly left his mind and he spotted Rachel waiting awkwardly near the ticket counter. Seeing her in something other than her work uniform made Giannis’ heart beat just a little bit faster. As he walked up, Rachel grinned broadly and trotted over to meet him. “Good. I thought you ditched me,” she said jokingly.
“Nope, I’m here,” Giannis said. He remembered the line that John had told him to use. “You look nice.” Girls supposedly liked having their appearance complemented, or so John had claimed.
Rachel smiled even bigger. “Thanks! What movie are we seeing?”
Giannis handed her a ticket. “Something about superheroes. American movies I still don’t know well.” He felt slightly better when Rachel read the title without cringing or laughing. “We get snacks and then we go sit down?” he offered. “My treat.”
“I’m going to make you buy me so many Milk Duds,” Rachel joked as they walked over. “Look, they have smoothies on the menu! Your favorite.”
Giannis laughed, but was secretly relieved. With a smoothie in his hand, he could relax fully and enjoy his date with Rachel.
—
“That was a great movie!” Rachel said happily, despite her eyes remaining red from crying. “That part at the end was so sad though.”
Giannis nodded in agreement, although he hadn’t been paying very much attention to the movie. He had spent most of the time doing three things: wondering how he had managed to go on a date with a pretty girl like Rachel; trying to build up the courage to hold her hand (an unsuccessful effort); and sneaking peeks at his date when he knew she was engrossed in either the movie or her large pile of snacks.
Suddenly, Giannis was struck by a flash of inspiration. The movie theater was directly connected to the mall. “Do you want to go to Smoothie Express for some smoothies?”
Rachel laughed. “I get a free one every day, so I’m kind of tired of them at this point.”
Giannis couldn’t believe it. “Tired of smoothies? I drink five smoothie a day and it is not enough for me.”
Laughing some more, Rachel said, “Wow. Addicted much?”
“Maybe,” Giannis said. “They’re very tasty. How about we go to McDonalds and I buy us cheeseburgers?”
Rachel seemed to enjoy Giannis’ stumbling chivalry. “Not tired of those yet,” she agreed, grabbing Giannis’s hand and laughing again when he noticeably froze up. “Come on.”