More Than a Fangirl, Part 3

More Than a Fangirl, Part 3

Setting: Outside the Coffee Shop
Date: January 9th, 2013
Time: 10:57 AM PST
(Point of View: Bubbles)

----------

I looked around. Where's G-Billy? He's supposed to be here...

I didn't know if this really counted as a date, but I was excited to be hanging out with him. Like, extremely excited. Like, bouncing-ten-feet-off-the-ground excited.

I was in the Town right now, and there weren't that many penguins here. It was the middle of the day on a Wednesday, after all. A few girls who were dressed similarly to me were all huddled in the corner, one of them giggling every few seconds. I didn't know what they were talking about, but it seemed like they were probably gossiping. Two guys with sunglasses and surfer outfits were walking across the Town, obviously headed for the Cove. A little yellow pookie was sitting near the Gift Shop, playing with a button on her red long-johns and looking around.

It was a mostly clear-skied day, even though it was supposed to snow later.

Suddenly I heard the snow crunching as someone came running from the Snow Forts. It was G-Billy. Today he was dressed casually. The bandana gave him away, but you could probably otherwise mistake him for a regular penguin. He had his jeans on but no belt, and a pair of white sneakers. Over a white t-shirt he wore a gray Penguin Band hoodie, which was pretty funny because that hoodie's mostly for fans and he's in the band.

He looked around and saw me, waving and coming over. I blushed and waved back. As he approached me, he slid on the ice on purpose and landed next to me, grinning.

"Hi, Bubbles," he said.
"Hi, G-Billy," I said. I was still blushing as he met my eyes.
"Shall we go in?"
I nodded. "Kay."

He pushed open the Coffee Shop door. "After you."
I giggled softly and went in. He came in, closing the door behind him. There were three penguins in the Coffee Shop-- the desk penguin, a waiter, and a yellow penguin sitting on a couch in the corner. He was holding a mug and had on a pair of blue, yellow, and gray headphones. The headphones were connected to whatever was in the pocket of the blue hoodie he had on. The penguin was wearing jeans, too, and was bobbing his head to whatever song he was listening to.

G-Billy looked around. "It's dead in here."
"I know, right?" I said.
"Let's get a table," he said, taking my flipper and leading me over to the front counter.

Oh, my God. He's holding my flipper. He's actually holding my flipper!!!!!!!!!

There was a brown guy standing there. He had brown hair and a dark-green t-shirt. He had a Coffee Shop apron on. When we approached, he smiled slightly and said, "Could I help you?"
"Two, please," G-Billy said.
"Follow me," said the waiter, who was standing near him behind the counter. She was purple with red hair that had pink streaks in it, and wore a light-blue shirt with pink spots under her apron. She led us to a table near the wall, and we sat down.

"Thank you," G-Billy said.
"You're welcome. I'll be back," she said, heading back over to the counter to get something.

G-Billy met my eyes across the table. He has such cute eyes.
"Hey, G-Billy?" I asked.
"Yeah?" he replied.
"Did you do this just to humor me?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, is this, like... something to get me to stop bugging you?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I've been pretty annoying over the past couple days."
"No, you haven't. I really like you, Bubbles."
"R-really?" I felt myself going as red as the bandana in his hair.
He nodded, smiling at me. "Yeah."

Somewhere in the process he had let go of my flipper, which was dissapointing. I put my flipper on the table, trying to let him know he could take it if he wanted. I rested my beak in the other, tilting my head and smiling back at him.

"I'm a fangirl, though," I said softly. "Well, actually, that's not true. I'm more than that. I love you."

I slapped my flipper that was on the table over my beak. Oh, my God, I did not just say that out loud.

Instead of laughing at me, he was blushing and his smile was getting bigger. "You do?"
"... I can't believe I said that out loud," I said.
"It's okay. Really. I really like you, too. But this is the first date and I don't wanna push anything."
"So this is a date," I said with a grin.
He shrugged. "I was thinkin' that. It's only a date if you want it to be. Do you?"
I nodded shyly.
"Me, too," he said as the waiter came back, holding a pad of paper and a pen.

"What can I get you?" the waiter asked.

Way to kill the moment, I thought as I glanced at the menu even though I already knew what I was getting. "Can I have a hot chocolate?"
G-Billy grinned, and so did I, recalling the sweatshirt incident.
"Sure, and for you?" she said, writing on her pad and looking at G-Billy.
He smiled. "Same for me."
She nodded. "Okay. Do you want whipped cream?"
I nodded. "Yes, please," we both said at the same time.
"Anything else?"
G-Billy shook his head. "I don't think so."
"Okay, I'll be back with those." She went back over to the counter and got to work.

"Please don't spill it on me this time," he said, smiling. "I like this sweatshirt."
I laughed. "I won't. I promise."
"Franky calls whipped cream 'sour cream'," he said.
"Why..?"
"Well, there was this one time when he was scooping ice cream for himself and he kept calling the whipped cream 'sour cream' by mistake, and it stuck."
I laughed. "Why sour cream?"
"He's a little out there if you can't tell. But I love the little dude. He's like my little brother."
I nodded. "You guys seem close."
"Yeah," he said, pausing.

"But back to that other thing..." he said after a second.
"Oh, yeah," I said. "I just... Why did you decide to take me out?"
He shrugged. "I don't know. Because you're really cool. You're nice, you're funny, you're pretty, you're different..."
With every compliment, I blushed more. "Gosh, G-Billy, that's really nice of you to say."
He slowly reached out and took my flipper across the table. By now both of us were a deep shade of red, but I smiled and he did too.

In a minute, the waiter came back with two mugs. She gave us each one, then said, "There you go. Enjoy."
"Thank you," we both said as she waddled away.

"I've never had a girlfriend," he said quietly.
"Really?" I asked.
He nodded. "I've liked girls, but not the way I like you... And I've only known you for a couple days, but we talked for a really long time on Saturday, and I feel like..." He sighed. "I feel different about you."
"Different?"
"Different from the other girls."

We met eyes. His beak curved into a smile and so did mine. Taking a sip of my hot chocolate, I didn't take my eyes off him.

"It's so funny, G-Billy, 'cuz you're always so loud onstage, and here you're all quiet and sweet..."
He grinned. "I'm never like this."
"Me neither."

-----------
About 35 minutes later
Time: 11:36 AM PST

---------

"Well, I should get going," he said, standing up. "Sorry, I got band practice soon."
"It's okay. Listen, this was really, really fun. We should do it again sometime," I said, standing up too.
"Yeah, we should. Tell you what..." He reached into his pockets.

After a second, he pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. I raised an eyebrow as he tore off a peice of it.

"You just keep random paper in your pocket?" I asked.
"Not always. This is a song." He showed me the rest of the paper, which was covered in notes and lyrics.
"Oh. Yeah, that explains a lot," I said with a grin.
He nodded, giving me the torn-off paper. "This is my number. Text me later and we can set something up."
I held the paper like it was a million dollars. "O-okay."
"I gotta run, Bubbles. Just text me and tell me who it is, I'll put you into my phone, okay?"
Nodding, I said, "Thanks for this. Like, all of this."
He smiled. "No problem. Bye."

He stepped forward, put a flipper around my back, and kissed me softly on the cheek, then winked at me and headed out the door.

"Oh, my God," I said softly, putting the number in my pocket and pumping my flipper. I didn't want to go crazy again like I had the other day, so I did a silent happy dance.

The yellow penguin, who was still here, hopped up. He had taken off his headphones sometime in the past half an hour or so, and they were around his neck.

"Oh, he is never gonna live this down," said the penguin softly, laughing to himself.
"What?" I said.
The guy looked up at me. "Him." He pointed to the door as if referencing G-Billy. "You really haven't figured out who I am yet? I gotta go. Bye." He waved at me and left.

That's when I realized who he was.

"Wait a second!" I started for the door. "Franky?!"
----------