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The First Date

"Whoever said that asking a girl out on a date is easy needs to be shot..." James groaned as he walked up to the front door. His heart felt like it was going to burst from his chest with every step he took towards the house. He tried to take several deep breaths to calm himself down, but such simple techniques did nothing to calm him down. As he went to knock on the door, his hand shook almost uncontrollably.

"Come on, James...you can do this!" he told himself. Taking one final and very deep breath, he knocked on the door three times. He quickly put his paws in his pants pockets and looked down at his shoes. His breathing was rapidly increasing, and his mind was racing with 'What if's...'. James' heart skipped a beat as he heard the door unlock from the other side. 'This is it!' he thought. The door opened to reveal Janelle, standing in the doorway.

"May I help you?" she asked. She studied James' appearance as he stood there and noticed that he didn't make eye contact with her. He wore a red polo shirt and khaki pants, and she could detect a hint of cologne on him. "Are you all right?"

James quickly looked up. "Absolutely! I'm fine," he blurted out. He quickly covered his muzzle in embarrassment. Janelle couldn't help but giggle at the fox's reaction. 'Damn it...I'm making a fool out of myself,' he cursed in his mind. James closed his eyes, took yet another deep breath, and tried again. "I'm really sorry about that. Let me start over."

"By all means," Janelle said with a smile.

James tried to laugh it off as he attempted to regain his composure. "Hi...my name is James. I know you probably don't know me, but we go to the same college. I-I've seen you around campus a couple of times, but I haven't had the nerve to talk to you. Even now, I'm wondering how I got myself here." James tried to laugh as his joke, making Janelle giggle again. He swallowed hard and prepared himself. "I don't know if you already have a boyfriend or not, but I was wondering...if you're not doing anything Friday night..." He paused again and mustered up all of his courage. "Would you go out for dinner with me?" he asked quickly.

Janelle stood there for a minute. She had never seen James before, let alone knew that he was even a student at the same college. For all she knew, he could have been a stalker. Quickly enough, though, James' composure, or lack thereof, dismissed the stalker theory from her mind. Still, there was something about him that made her smile. Maybe it was how genuine his nervousness was almost cute to her. At any rate, she chuckled and stepped outside and in front of him. James began to blush lightly. His heart was beating faster than ever. Without warning, Janelle took his paw and smiled.

"You seem nice enough, and since I don't have a boyfriend..." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek, "I think dinner sounds great, James."

James' face lit up brighter than a Christmas tree. He felt as if several tons of weight were lifted off of his shoulders. "You mean it?" Janelle nodded with a smile. "Great! I'll pick you up at 7pm on Friday. I'll see you then, Janelle!"

"You too, James." Janelle replied. "Oh, and if you see me on campus again, please don't be afraid to come on over and say 'Hi'. I promise I won't bite." She laughed and walked back inside. She turned around to wave once more before closing the door.

James just stood there for what seemed like forever. 'I did it...' he thought. 'I actually did it!' He jumped for joy and gave a loud 'Woo hoo!' before regaining his composure and walking back down the walkway towards his car. As he got to the door, he looked back one more time at Janelle's house. James smiled and thought about Friday night and how much he looked forward to seeing her again.

After closing and locking the door, Janelle went back to her room and flopped onto her bed. She picked up her book and reopened it to where she was before James had showed up her house. As she read, she thought about him for a minute. She couldn't help but giggle again at the memory of him and how nervous he was. "He's pretty cute," she said to herself. As her eyes went across the pages of her book, she stopped, as another thought crept into her mind.

"Who did he talk to so he could find out about me?"

---

Thursday came and went with little interest to James. He went about his classes as if it were any other day, but in-between classes, he kept an eye out for Janelle. The fox was determined to get over his nervousness and finally talk to her on campus. His diligence paid off over lunch, as he saw her in the cafeteria sitting with some friends. She was talking to some friends and laughing over some situations. He remembered what she has said to him the day before, but his nerves got the best of him yet again as he stared over in her direction. He wanted to move, but his body wouldn't let him out of shear fear. He closed his eyes tightly and shook his head, trying to shake the fear out of him. After a few seconds, he quickly stood up and began to walk over to her table. Out of coincidence, Janelle looked over just as he was beginning his journey to her. She smiled and waved him over. James stopped momentarily, but willed himself to keep going towards her. He stopped just next to her seat.

"Hello, James," Janelle said. "It's nice to see you again." She turned to her friends. "Girls, this is James. This is the one who is taking me out on a date tomorrow night."

'Date!?' James thought. He never thought about using that term for what was going to happen tomorrow night. His mind started to race again at the thought of this being a date rather than just going out to dinner. He was so preoccupied with his mind, that he didn't even hear Janelle's friends introducing themselves to him. He just nodded and barely broke a smile.

Janelle looked at him for a moment and giggled. It reminded her of when he stopped by her house the day before. He was just as nervous as before, but it still struck her as a cute little trait that came out from time to time.

"Sorry about that, girls. He's a little shy," she said with a smile.

"I'm sorry, Janelle," he said, looking down a bit. "How has your day been so far?"

"Oh, not too bad. Just the usual class work," she answered. Janelle waited for James to say something else, but all she got was silence. After several seconds of silence, she got the clue. "How about you? Anything interesting happen?"

James blinked and came back around. "Oh...um, no." He scratched the back of his head. "I've been in class all morning. Atmospheric dynamics and practice at the green screen."

"Green screen? You do television work?" She leaned back to get a better look at him.

"Yeah, I do. I forecast the weather once a week for the college news." James started to feel a bit better as a smile made its way across his face.

"That's cool!" Janelle said. "What day do you do?"

"Thursday, so I'll be on later this evening."

"I'll be sure to watch for you," Janelle said with a smile. She leaned back to the table and turned to her friends. "Well, we should get going." She put on her book bag and picked up her plate with one hand. As she walked to put her plate away, she tapped his nose with a free finger. "See you tomorrow night, James." She smiled sweetly and walked off with her group of friends.

James was left standing there in the cafeteria. It was another step for him in finally trying to get over his shyness, and he felt even better than he did yesterday. He watched Janelle and her friends walk out the door before he sat at the same table she was at and ate his lunch. In his mind, he and Janelle were still at the table and talking more about how their days were going.

"Heh...if only," James said under his breath. He looked up at the clock and got his things together for his last class before doing the weather report for the news. As he walked out the door, he couldn't help but smile just a little bit.

He could still feel her finger on his nose.