JOHNNY’S POV:

A week and a half has passed since Christmas. I was planning a special night alone with Shannon, rented a room at The Hilton, dinner reservations at the nicest restaurant in town. She didn’t know what I had planned so she was in for a surprise.

“Hey guys, I won’t be home tonight.” I told the guys as they sat and played COD.

“Oh yeah? Where you going? Some gnome convention or something?” Brian asked.

“No, I have a date planned with Shannon.” I told them

“Are you taking her to the gnome conventions to meet the rest of your gnome tribe?” Brian asked and the rest of the guys laughed along.

“Fuck you guys. I’m taking her out to dinner and I have reservations for us at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort.” I told them just as Shannon was coming out of the kitchen.

“Who has reservations at The Hilton?” She asked.

“Umm… we do. I thought we could have some alone time and go to dinner tonight.” I told her as she came and sat next to me.

“Really?” She asked with a smile.

“Yeah. That is if you wanted to.” I said.

“Of course I do babe.” She said and wrapped her arms around me. “I can’t wait! I’m going to start getting ready.”

She got up and went to her room leaving us in the living room still. Matt paused the game and looked back at me.

“So short shit, how much is this date setting you back?” Matt asked.

“Enough ok. It’s doesn’t really matter because she’s worth every bit of it.” I told him.

“Johnny’s in love. How cute.” Jimmy said with a bit of a laugh.

“Shut up man. I’m already nervous as it is.” I told them.

“Why would you be nervous?” Brian asked.

“You’re going to have sex with her aren’t you?” Jimmy asked.

“Oh my god man, stop…. Just stop ok?” I said and stood up. “If Shannon comes out tell her I’ll be back in an hour. I have a few things I need to get done before tonight.”

“You need help with anything at all?” Matt asked me.

“I think I’ve got it all handled, thanks.” I told him and grabbed my keys.

I walked out to the car and got in, shutting the door behind me. I planned on heading to the hotel and setting everything up for later tonight. I bought some wine, a few candles and her favorite chocolates to give to her. I don’t know why I was so nervous about this date. We’ve been together for almost a week and a half; I was comfortable with her any other time. Maybe it was because this was the night things between us would go to the next level. I wasn’t sure but I hope my nerves don’t get the best of me on this one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I drove around making sure I got everything that I needed, things were set up in our hotel room and everything was set. I drove back home and it was close to 5:00, our dinner reservations were at 6:00 and I still needed to get showered and dressed. I got out of the car and headed in the house, avoiding the guys along the way who didn’t seem to have budged from in front of the tv since the last time I saw them. I hopped in the shower and managed to shave within twenty minutes. I was making good time and still had time left to find something decent to wear out tonight.

I threw on a pair of black pants and a white wife beater. I found my black button up shirt that had white pinstripes and decided to go with that. I still haven’t shaken off these nerves. Get it together Johnny; everything was going to go smooth. I finished getting ready then headed out to the living room.

“Has she come out yet?” I asked the guys.

“Nope, not yet.” Jimmy told me and looked up at me.

“Whoa, looking sharp man.” Matt said giving me his approval.

“Thanks.” I said and sat on the couch.

A few minutes later Shannon walked out. I looked up at her and couldn’t help but smile. She was stunning. She was wearing a red dress with black pinstripes, a black belt to accentuate her waist and black flats. How the hell did I get so damn lucky?

“Damn small fry. You look hot!” Matt said to her.

“How come you never just wear that around the house? You know we wouldn’t mind.” Brian said and gave her a wink.

“I think the dress is showing too much, I think you need to go change.” Jimmy said with a laugh.

“Shut up Jimmy.” She said laughing.

“No but really, you look good.” Jimmy told her.

“Thanks you guys.” She said.

“Doesn’t she look good Zacky?” Matt asked him and pushed him a bit.

“Yeah… she looks great.” Zacky said. “You look great hun.” He told her as he looked up at her.

“Thank you Zacky.” She said as she ruffled his hair a bit.

She looked over at me then and smiled. I got up and walked over to her, putting my hand on her side.

“Wow… you look absolutely amazing.” I told her.

“Thank you babe.” She said and gently kissed me.

We heard something crash, she jumped and backed away. It ended up being Zacky throwing this game controller, getting up and heading down the hall.

“What the hell is his problem?” Jimmy asked.

“Who knows, he’s been acting weird for a while now. He must have a stick up his ass or something.” Matt said and shrugged.

“You ready to go hun?” I asked her.

“Yeah, I’m ready. She said.

“Alright, we’re heading out guys. Don’t burn the house down, I want to come back tomorrow to see a house still standing.” I told them.

“Not going to guarantee anything short shit.” Brian told me.

“Have a good time guys, and be careful.” Matt told us.

“We will. Bye guys.” Shannon said to them.

“Bye.” Matt, Jimmy and Brian said in unison.

I grabbed my coat and keys and we headed to the car. My nerves were starting to kick into overdrive now. Damn Johnny stop being such a jittery little bitch.

SHANNON’S POV:

We drove for about 15 minutes and arrived at the restaurant, the fanciest one in town. Johnny parked the car and let out a sigh.

“What’s wrong baby?” I asked him.

“Nothing, I’m ok.” He told me with a smile.

He got out of the car and headed around to my side and opened the door for me, helping me out.

“This is a nice place.” I told him as I took ahold of his hand.

“I wanted tonight to be special.” He said as we walked towards the restaurant.

When we got inside the waiter seated us right away. We were handed our menus and told the special of the day, then left alone to make our decisions.

“I can’t believe how fancy this place is.” I said and looked around. “You didn’t have to do all of this babe.”

“I know… but I wanted to.” He told me with a smile. “And order whatever you want.”

I looked at him and smiled. He looked good tonight. His Mohawk was down to one side, clean shaved and dressed real nice. I couldn’t believe how much trouble he went through to do all of this.

“I’m not very romantic but I’m trying.” He said with kind of a nervous smile.

“This is very romantic.” I reassured him and reached my hand across the table and held his.

“Wait till you see the room I got, it’s huge.” He told me with a smile.

“I can’t wait to see it!” I told him smiling and squeezing his hand a bit.

The waiter came back over and took our orders. I got the chicken fettuccine Alfredo and Johnny ordered the surf and turf. I could tell Johnny was nervous and it was cute, it really was. I didn’t know why he was though.

“Baby, why are you so nervous?” I asked him.

“I don’t know. I just… I don’t know, it’s stupid really.” He told me.

“Tell me, I won’t laugh.” I said to him. He was quiet for a minute and looked down at his hands.

“I never imagined this. I always wanted to be with you but never thought you’d want to be with me too. But now that we’re together, I want our first date to go right you know. I’m just a nervous wreck.” He said with a little laugh.

“Awww babe. Don’t be nervous because of that. Everything is working out great, and we will finally have our alone time.” I told him.

“I know.” He said.

The rest of dinner went by great. Johnny seemed to calm down a bit, but he had some nerves left in him. He would calm down sooner or later though. We didn’t end up going to the hotel right away. I didn’t know where we were going really.

“You’re not tired at all are you?” He asked as he parked the car.

“No, not at all. I looked at him and smiled.

“Good.” He said as he got out of the car, taking his coat with him the opening the car door for me.

He held out his hand and I accepted it. I got out and we ended walking the pier at Huntington Beach. The sun was going down and the lights were glowing everywhere. There was a farmers’ market still going on, as well as musical performances and art shows. He said he wasn’t romantic, but this definitely top off all the romantic things I’ve ever seen or heard about. It was chilly out so he gave me his coat to wear.

“Are you having fun?” He asked me wrapping his arm around my waist as we walked.

“I am. I’m having so much fun. This is the best date I’ve ever been on.” I told him.

“I’m glad you’re having fun.” He told me and lightly kissed my cheek.

We ended up walking for about an hour and a half, stopping at the different booths set up at the farmers market and buying some stuff and stopping to listen to the different musicians there. The clouds were rolling in and it began to sprinkle. Johnny looked at me with kind of a worried look which made me laugh.

“If it starts pouring then we’re fucked!” He told me. “We are nowhere near our car.”

I laughed a bit more as we headed back to the car. We didn’t end up making it though because it started pouring. We ended up ducking under a booth that was set up for one of the merchants.

“Now what?” I asked him as we huddled together.

“Well, we can either wait it out here or make a run for it.” He told me with a smirk.

“I think we should make a run for it, it doesn’t look like it’s going to be stopping any time soon babe.” I told him.

“You’re right. Are you ready?” He asked me.

“Yeah… just let me take my shoes off so it will be easier to run.” I told him with a laugh.
I bent over and took off my shoes. I wasn’t ready for this! The rain was coming down hard and there were no signs of it stopping anytime soon.

“Alright, I’m ready.” I told Johnny.

“Let’s go.” He said.

We took off running for the car. We must of looked so foolish running through the rain like two crazy people, but we didn’t care. We were actually laughing, jumping in some of the puddles that formed. This was definitely a date to remember.