The door of the restaurant swung shut behind them. Without even thinking about it, Bobby put his arm around Andreana's shoulders. He looked down in suprise as she leaned against him, and slipped her arm around his waist. He looked at his watch and sighed. 1:45. He'd told the professor that he'd be back by four. That meant he had less then two hours left to spend with Ann.
"What's the matter, Bobby?"
"Just thinking. I'm going to have to head home soon. I wish I could stay longer."
"Hmmm, you have to be home by a certain time. That means that either (a) you don't live by yourself, and the person(s) you share the establishment with are not your run-of-the-mill bachelor buddies or (b) you're expecting a phone call and/or guests."
"A." Bobby grimiced as he thought of the household of which he was a part. Run-of-the-mill they were not.
"I know how that is. The apartment complex where I live is pretty close knit. If I failed to show my face for a while, they'd cause a huge uproar."
"Well, we have a little over an hour. What can we do with that?"
"That's easy. What we've been doing."
"And that is?"
"Talking, silly."
Bobby pretended to gasp in suprise. "Silly? Me? I assure you I'm the epitome of seriousness."
"And I'm the Queen of England."
"You mean you were lying when you said your name was Andreana?"
"Bobby, this is turning into an extremely stupid conversation."
Bobby snickered. "Belive me, it could be a lot worse."
"In that case, I definitely don't want to continue this conversation."
"So, what do you want to talk about?"
Ann thought about it for a few moments. "Back at the restaurant, Jeff mentioned your 'track record'. What exactly did he mean by that?"
Bobby paused, then decided to answer. "I just can't seem to get the whole romance/dating thing right. Since I was in high school, every single relationship I've had, or tried to have has blown up in my face."
"Well, I promise you, I'm not carrying dynamite, nitro-glycerin or any other explosives."
Bobby looked up at the sunny afternoon sky. God? Tell me what did I do to deserve this wonderful person. I'll do it a lot more often; I promise. He looked down at her and smiled.
"Ok, Ann, now I've got a question for you. Why's Jeff so protective of you?"
Andreana just made a non-commental sound.
"Ann, don't give me that. He was very serious about that whole 'slow and painful death' thing."
She sighed. "Jeff and I have been friends for a long time. He like my brother, we're that close. Anyway, in the last year or two, I've ended up in some really bad relationships. Since then, Jeff's gotten more protective then usual."
"Well, there's nothing wrong with having someone to watch out for you."
"I can take care of myself, thank you very much." Her voice had turned hard and angry.
He held up his hand in mock surrender. Geez, Bobby, now you've done it. "I never said you couldn't. It's just that it's sometimes nice to know that you have someone to watch your back, should you ever need it." Boy, did he ever know the value of that.
Ann sighed. "Better my back then my backside." Bobby grinned, knowing that he was forgiven, glad that she was no longer angry.
They kept talking, reliving old war stories, and comparing battle scars.
"....There was this one guy I was dating for a while. I guess you'd call him abusive. He was always insulting me, trying to make me feel guilty over one thing or another. It never worked. The only reason I stayed with him as long as I did was that I was trying to find a way to break up that wouldn't cause him to do something dangerous and/or extremly stupid. In the end, he picked a fight with one of my friends, I got sick of his additude, and broke his nose."
Bobby raised one eyebrow in suprise. She laughed a gave him a predatory, feral grin, reminiscent of Logan. "Looks can be deseving, Bobby my boy. You'd do well to remember that."
"You're just repeating something I already know."
Ann rested her head against his shoulder. "It's just about time for you to be heading home."
"Uh-huh."
"I guess that means we have to say good-bye now, right?"
"Uh-huh."
Ann look at him for a few seconds. "Bobby, some guy just stole your pants."
"Uh-huh."
"Bobby! You haven't heard a word I said!"
He blushed. "Sorry. I was just thinking that I don't want to go home."
"Yeah. I know what you mean."
Bobby fumbled aound in his pockets and came up with a pen and an old grocery list. He tore the list in half, and wrote the mansion's number on the back of one half. On the other, Ann solemnly wrote down her own number. They each pocketed the imformation.
They stood there for a few minutes, feeling ackward. Suddenly, Ann flung her arms around him, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and took off the down the street, calling out, "Bye, Bobby". After a few seconds, she was 'round the corner and gone.
Bobby sighed. Time to head home.