Chapter 82 83 - A Date
Messed up the scheduling for the release of this chapter by accident. This is chapter 83, chapter 81 is the next chapter after this one, then 82. After reading those two chapters, return to this one to keep the order right. I apologize in advance for the confusion, won't happen again. - Kowatch24
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Once Milo arrived at Maria's door, he knocked not knowing what to expect from the lovestruck girl hoping she wouldn't make a huge deal out of their get together. Eventually the door opened and Milo was taken aback by how pretty Maria looked. Her black hair was draping over her shoulders and was loosely curled, her blue eyes were sparkling and popped against the makeup that gave her a more mature look. Her outfit was black dress that was definitely meant to catch people's eyes as it hugged her figure quite tightly which made Milo blush when seeing her. Around her neck was a small golden pendant that had a lightning bolt.
"Wow," Milo said without realizing. After hearing the words come out of his own mouth he couldn't disagree with them, but he blushed when realizing that he had actually said it.
Maria was a total beauty, and Milo knew this, but for whatever reason, she chose him as the one she liked. She smiled at him before saying, "you look handsome," eyeing him from head to toe. He felt self conscious being checked out so obviously. "Well what are we doing tonight?" Maria asked Milo after taking in his appearance.
"I was thinking we could have dinner and maybe a walk through the park," he responded.
"Sounds good to me," Maria said, "and I'd like to clear this up now so that things don't get weird, are we doing this as friends or is it a date?"
Milo paused when hearing this, he knew that she liked him, but he still wasn't sure if he liked her. Due to this, he began to run scenarios through his head as if the two were dating. He knew she would stick up for him, she obviously had already shot down plenty of other guys in the past, so he knew she wouldn't be unfaithful. He then went on to think about the things he liked about her, first was obviously her looks, she was gorgeous, he also admired how headstrong she was, she wasn't one to shy away from a challenge. She was strong as well, in more ways than one, she was strong in combat being the 3rd ranked member of the X ranked class, but she also went through a lot at home, dealing with her judgmental family.
Seeing Milo pause to think after her question, Maria began to feel a bit down, she liked Milo a lot but thought maybe her aggression in pursuing him may have scared him off. She opened her mouth to say that it was fine if it wasn't a date but before she could Milo had come up with his answer.
"It's a date, but before we go too fast, I want to know more about you, I barely know anything about you besides your ability, that you're a good fighter, and that even though you're so strong, your family doesn't get along with you." He said, "I want to know your likes and dislikes, your dreams, the deeper stuff."
Hearing this, Maria smiled as she hadn't scared him off yet like she thought she had. She was also expecting something like this to begin with. She barely knew anything about Milo as well, besides how strong he was and his family situation, but just like him, she wanted to know more about the deeper stuff.
"Okay, but no backing out now," she told Milo with a wink before taking him by the hand.
The two walked hand in hand towards the school's entrance, causing them to get stares from other students who were out and about.
"Holy cow, what a lucky guy."
"They look so good together."
"I wish he was my boyfriend."
These were some of the common things they'd heard the other students say while on their way to the entrance to campus. Milo hadn't thought about it before, but some of the other students may consider the pair to be a power couple of some kind. Hearing this made Milo giggle a bit as he still didn't consider himself all that strong, even though his strength was off the charts when compared to other students.
Seeing him laugh, Maria asked, "What's so funny?"
"The other students probably see us as a power couple or something," he said still laughing.
"Well one of the reasons I started to like you was because of how strong you are," she said, smiling at him.
After hearing the different things the students were saying about them. The two had finally made their way to the entrance of the school. Milo was still a bit flustered about how to act during his and Maria's date. Maria seemed to pick up on Milo's thoughts and said, "there's no need to worry, I don't bite. Just be yourself."
Hearing Maria's words of encouragement calmed him down a bit but he was still nervous to say the wrong thing. The couple made their way into the city, before finding a restaurant to eat at. Maria picked the restaurant and when entering, Milo looked at the grand appearance of the decorations only to be a bit nervous about how expensive it might be.
"Don't worry about paying, tonight's dinner is on me, it's only fair considering I picked the restaurant and used my family's name to get us a table," said Maria, as if reading his mind.
Hearing Maria say this, Milo felt bad for making her pay, but he had never eaten at a restaurant that was so fancy, and after paying for his new piece of equipment earlier that day, his funds were a bit scarce.
Eventually Milo and Maria were shown to a table. The table they were seated at was in the middle of the room, surrounding their table were many other tables where many well dressed people were sitting. The people at the other tables were most likely successful business men and women, as well as strong gatecrashers. Milo felt very out of place, but Maria assured him everything would be okay, before they took a seat.
After taking his sear and opening the menu, Milo's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He would usually spend close to 20 credits total when going out to eat, but the cheapest item on the menu was 100 credits. Seeing the prices listed on the menu, Milo asked Maria if she was sure that she could afford eating here, but she assured him that she had enough money, although they called her the failure of the family, Maria still received a hefty allowance to spend.
Milo still felt uncomfortable making Maria spend so much money on him, so he ordered the cheapest item he could find which ended up being a piece of meatloaf. Eventually once their orders had been taken, Milo and Maria got to talking about the things he mentioned wanting to learn about each other.
While talking Milo was able to learn that Maria wanted to eventually be strong enough to stand on her own and get away from her family name. He considered this to be quite admirable, Milo himself would want the same thing if his family was as powerful and influential as hers. Milo then went on to tell her his dream of being able to stop the dimensional doors from putting those he cared about in danger.
After talking more, Maria began to fall for Milo more and more, as he told her all his aspirations and dreams. Maria had never met someone as young as she was that had already been through so much. When he told her the stories of him being bullied in his first two years of high school, she couldn't believe it at first, due to how much it contrasted who he was now, but just like when Chris didn't believe him, Milo pulled up an old photo of himself from his days in New York. Seeing his scrawny old self once again reminded him of how far he had come. Maria thought the same, when seeing the old photograph of Milo, she was surprised at the difference between his old self and the hunk sitting across from her, but there were enough similarities that she could tell that it truly was Milo in the photo.
Later, after enjoying their meal and making some more small talk, Maria paid for their meals which totaled at a whopping 348 credits, before the two of them made their way to one of the many gardens the city had to offer. With it being quite early in the summer, all the plants were lush with greenery, and all the flowers were in full bloom. Walking through the gardens, Milo and Maria continued to talk, as their date continued on, Milo had gotten more comfortable interacting with Maria and did as she said, choosing to let loose and be himself, which calmed him down immensely.
The date was nearing its end, and Milo and Maria had made their way to a park bench that looked outwards toward the ocean. The Artificial Island was currently making its way towards land in order to allow students to depart a few days later and return to their hometowns for the summer but at the moment was still in the middle of the sea. The sun was setting, casting a burnt orange glow on the water and painting a myriad of colors across the sky.
While looking out over the golden, shimmering waters, Maria rested her head on Milo's shoulder. Milo became a little flustered but calmed himself so that he didn't show any sign of being nervous. He then did something that took him some building up to do, and placed his hand on Maria's. From there on, Milo and Maria sat in blissful silence, watching the sun disappear beneath the waves.
After the sun had set, Maria and Milo made their way back to the school and to their dorm building where Milo walked Maria back to her room.
"Thank you for today," she said, "I had a great time."
"I did as well," Milo said.
Looking at Maria, Milo felt that their day together was a good one. Learning more about her, Milo began to find himself growing more and more attracted to her.
When saying their goodnights, Milo got lost looking into her eyes, and before he knew it, she had pressed her lips to his, stealing a kiss before he could react. Just like her first time with him, when she kissed him on the cheek, she rushed into her room before Milo could say anything else, leaving him red in the face standing at her door.