The movie they watched was... terrible. Some musical retelling of Alice In Wonderland gone horribly, horribly wrong. The singing was bad, the dancing was worse, and the acting was atrocious. The female lead was at least pretty, but that was really the best thing to be said about the mess.

Mitsu and Joseph made out through the entire thing. When it finally finished, Mitsu lead Joseph from the room, tossing a wink behind her at them. Zebedee and Amanda, who had been sitting uncomfortably next to them the entire time, exchanged relieved glances.

“At least that’s over with.” Amanda said. “Do you guys have any GOOD movies?”

“Of course.” He pointed at the movie rack on the left of the television. The bad movie they had been watching had come from the right hand side, where Mitsu’s movies were stored. His were on the left. “Please, pick anything. I only buy movies I truly loved.”

She perused the left hand movie rack briefly, the chose a title with an expression of glee on her face. “I haven’t seen the movie “Empire Records” in years.”

“By all means.” He watched as she stuck it in the DVD player, and started up the movie.

“I used to watch this like once a week when I was fourteen.” She confessed. “‘I had the VHS. Well, my mom and dad had the VHS, but I was the one who watched it all the time...”

His heart sunk. She was younger than he’d thought. Then he caught himself. Why did he care that she was so young? He didn’t want to date her, or anyone. He just wanted to be left alone. He’d only agreed to this date to get Mitsu to leave him alone for the next twenty years.

They watched the movie together in a much more companionable way. Amanda quoted her favorite lines along with the characters. Zebedee kept his silence, enjoying the movie, and finding himself enjoying her company. That was rare. He found himself wanting to ask for her number after all, if only so that they could remain friends.

When the movie ended Amanda yawned, and looked at the watch on her wrist. “Oh, gods, it’s that late? I better get home, or Mom and Dad are going to think I’ve been murdered.” She stood.

“May I offer to walk you home?” He asked.

She smiled. “Joseph was right, you are just like Constantine. Sure, why not? I’m about a mile from here.”

So he walked her home through the still busy city streets. They talked as they walked, about little things. Where they had grown up, favorite colors, his allergy to dogs, her utter dislike of the dish fruit and cream...

Finally, she walked to a large apartment building and gestured. “Well, this is me.”

He nodded. “It is good to have met you, Miss Amanda. May I ask... I would like your phone number. I believe I would like to see you again.”

She smiled. “Sure, I’d love to hang out again.” She pulled out her phone and then hesitated. “Er... or did you mean, like another date?”