{{Dedicated to @-sethdusky for being the sweetest}}

To say that Rhea was in a frenzy, would be an understatement. Floyd had showed up unannounced, she was still wearing a towel on her head and she couldn't for the life of her remember where she'd discarded her purse last night, her room was such a mess.

She decided to tackle things one at a time, and the first thing to do would be blow-drying her hair. She wished she could be one of those people who let their hair dry on their own, but that always resulted in massive headaches with her, which wasn't something that she'd find welcome in her first date in decades. Well, maybe not decades, but it had certainly been a while and she wanted things to go as smoothly as she could.

So dry her hair, she did. After that, she decided that sweatpants would be making too little an effort, so she changed into a sundress, thanking the gods above for having shaved her legs the previous day for the party. She didn't bother with makeup. That ship had sailed when she'd answered the door in her sweatpants with her face looking all puffy because she slept well into the afternoon.

She spotted her purse lying by her bedroom door, and she got the distinct flashback of throwing it there the night before. Well, that was settled, too. She gave herself a onceover in the mirror and stepped out of her room.

All she needed to do now was ask for her mother's permission, and she was pretty sure she wouldn't have a hard time acquiring it once she'd thrown in the S-word in there. Her father wasn't back from the grocery store yet, so that was one less thing to deal with. Unless, he came back before she and Floyd could dash out of here. In that case, the "What are your intentions with my daughter?" interrogation was inevitable, and she was sure she couldn't handle that sort of mortification today.

When she entered the living room, she saw that her mother was sprawled on the couch, watching reruns of House. That was the one show they enjoyed watching together, and it made her want to snuggle in her side for a moment or two. However, the threat of her father arriving was imminent, so she needed to vacate the premises quickly.

"Mom?" she called for her mother's attention.

"Yes dear?" she said without tearing her eyes from the screen. She could see House picking on Kutner on screen. That poor guy.

"Can I go out?" she asked, which earned her her mother's full attention.

"Aren't you worn out from the party last night?" she asked.

"I actually kinda am," Rhea admitted. "But Floyd came to see if I wanted to hang out. Which I do."

"Floyd? As in..." her mother trailed off, the name surely sounding unfamiliar to her ears. In the little conversation they'd had about the whole soulmate thing, Rhea hadn't thrown in a name.

"As in my soulmate," she said with an air of nonchalance.

"Oh, Rhea," her mother breathed out, getting misty eyed in an instant. Rhea had never pegged her mother to be one for the dramatics, so this was very interesting to witness. However, she didn't have time to stand around for it.

"Mom," she said, effectively breaking her out of her reverie. "Can I go?"

"Sure, dear," her mother said.

"Okay, thanks."

Just as Rhea was about to turn around and leave, she heard her mother shuffle up the couch. In an instant, she was standing next to her and wrapping her in a bone-crushing hug. At first, she was too surprised to respond; her mother wasn't one to give attack-hugs. But then, she returned the hug with equal fervor.

After they broke apart, Rhea bid her mother goodbye and went to the front door in quick steps. Opening it, she saw Floyd leaning casually against the railing of the porch, clad in a simple white t-shirt and dark jeans. His hair was tousled from the slight breeze and to put it out there, he looked good enough to eat. Yes, there was no denying his good looks and charm.

"Ready to go?" he asked her, pushing himself away from the railing gracefully.

"Yeah," Rhea said, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ears.

Floyd rushed in quick steps to the passenger side of his car and opened the door for Rhea, making her giggle quietly. Had any guy ever opened a door for her? She genuinely couldn't remember.

"So," she said, turning to him, "How do you look so put together right now? Don't you have a hangover? A headache? Both?"

"Well," he said, giving her a teasing look as he started the engine, "I am not the one who drank themselves into oblivion last night."

Rhea groaned at his words. "You are never going to let me live that down, will you?" she asked.

"It's highly unlikely," he said. His eyes were on the road and there was a smile tugging at his lips.

It was the perfect opportunity for Rhea to study his profile, really. He had a defined jaw, well, for an eighteen year old at least. He had a five o'clock shadow adorning it, too. He mustn't have shaved for a couple of days. He had a Roman nose, which somehow suited him just fine. His hair fell against his temples in such a way that it made her want to play with them.

She must have been staring too long and too blatantly, because Floyd turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. She just jutted her chin out and stared back at him unapologetically until he shook his head with a chuckle and turned his attention back to the road.

"So," she said after a while, "Where are we going?"

"I thought I'd take you up on your offer for ice cream that I'd had to pass on the other day," he said. And surely, a moment later the ice cream shop came into view. "It's not every day a beautiful girl asks me to have ice cream with her."

"Oh, you're smooth, Floyd..." she hesitated briefly, "What's your last name again?"

"It's Coleman," he said, "Now you can look me up on Facebook to your heart's content."

"Well, at least I won't come knocking down your door to beg for a date," she shot back.

"Touché," he said, the corners of his lips curling upwards.

The ice cream shop was bustling with people who were trying to enjoy the last warm days of the year. There was also the fact that it was nearing two in the afternoon, the perfect time for a cone of ice cream. Though for Rhea, any time was the perfect time for ice cream.

Today, she went for a Raspberry Ripple which earned him a strange look from Floyd. He went for plain chocolate, which explained the look she got a moment ago. People who didn't have true appreciation for ice cream would never understand her choices.

Bill the Ice Cream Consultant Extraordinaire was handling the cash register today, which she knew was a dreadful job for the guy. With a sympathetic look on her face she pulled out her wallet, but as she was rummaging for a five dollar bill, a hand lightly clasped around her wrist.

She looked up from her wallet in surprise to see Floyd hand a ten dollar bill to Bill, motioning for him to keep the change. She usually didn't like to let people pay for her food; it went against her beliefs, but she decided to let this one slip and pay for the next meal they grabbed together.

"Do you want to sit here?" Floyd said, looking around the busy ice cream shop for a table to sit.

"Let's go for a walk instead," Rhea offered. Crowded places were a no-no for her, anyways.

They walked around the streets aimlessly, talking to each other. On more than one occasion, Rhea had to lick her fingers clean because she'd forgotten to eat her ice cream as she talked animatedly, and thus letting it melt.

She told him about Willa and about having been the third wheel for three years.

In turn, he told her about his life back in Boston and about his family. He talked about his sister Lissa with such obvious adoration that it made her smile.

And as intently as she listened to him, she couldn't help but think about other things, too. About how this date would end, for instance. The scripts of dating demanded that they kiss before they part ways today, which made her restless. It wasn't the kissing part that bugged her though. She wouldn't mind kissing Floyd, far from it. It was the way it was set in stone. You go out, you do stuff, you kiss. It was all so predictable.

So in the middle of a deserted street, she stopped Floyd by grabbing his arm, causing him to stop talking midsentence.

He turned to look at her questioningly, but she didn't give him the time to voice his questions. Instead she rose on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. She saw his eyes flutter closed on their own account.

The kiss was brief, fleeting. Breaking it, she took a step back and watched as he opened his eyes. He looked stunned, looking at her with a mixture of disbelief and wonder.

"What was that for?" he asked. She shrugged her shoulders.

"I just felt like it."

"You're something else, aren't you?" he said musingly.

"So I hear," Rhea said airily, linking her arm with his and walking on.

She hadn't been on a lot of dates, but she had a feeling this might just work.

***