xp_logs | Forge and Jennie, Monday afternoon.

Not a dream! Not a hoax! Not an imaginary story! Forge and Jennie talk, and the word "date" is not only involved, but plans are made. And stuff explodes.

Jennie was in the kitchen, up on the counters and headfirst in the cabinets, rummaging for the sleeve of cookies she had hidden there previously. That was the problem with living a school that had many young, sugar-crazed children, any sweets you had went missing. Those little buggers could sniff it out. Literally, even. Jennie had been hiding her stash in her room, but thanks to a disapproving roommate, she was forced to hiding things in the back in the kitchen. Now if she could just remember where she hid those things.

"Damn it.. It was here. I know it was here."

Chewing thoughtfully, Forge entered the kitchen with a half-empty pack of cookies in one hand, empty glass in the other. Setting the glass down as he reached for the refrigerator, he cocked his head intently as Jennie tore through the cabinets, the height giving him quite an interesting view.

"Mithing thomething?" he mumbled through a mouthful of Milanos.

Jennie swung around to see Forge, who had the missing packet in his hand and an innocent expression. She glowered. "It was you! You're the cookie thief!" Jennie jumped off the counter almost gracefully and made a grab for the bag.

"Thief? I--" Forge's retort was cut off as Jennie pounced on the cookies like a lioness on a slow gazelle. "--okay then. Didn't know those were your stash. Someone put them right by where I've been hiding my extra Powerbars. I figured it was Crystal's way of making up for decimating my earlier supply. She's good about making up for stuff, I hear she bought you a new stereo after drowning your first one."

"My precious." Jennie cooed and patted the bag. Then she lifted an eyebrow at Forge at the "stereo" comment. "Is that how she destroyed it? Hmph. Well, I destroyed a pair of her shoes, and I'm making up for it by not doing it again," she said with a mischievous smile. Setting the bag of cookies on the kitchen island and looking around distractedly, she muttered, "Now, I had something to drink..."

"You guys are as bad as Kyle and me when we started rooming together," Forge agreed, reaching past Jennie into the refrigerator to hand her the half-gallon of milk while he searched for a can of soda. "I made one too many dogboy comments, and I come back from class to find that he's moved ALL my stuff on top of the wardrobes where I can't reach it. We settled into a kind of truce after that."

He closed the fridge, rolling the can from hand to hand as he looked around awkwardly. Any minute now someone was going to come in, that's how this worked. He was going to say something stupid and everyone would have a good laugh and it'd all come crashing down. Better to just cut losses and head back down to the lab...

Steeling himself, Forge gripped the soda can like a lifeline and tried to sound casual. "So, uh, would you like to go out again sometime?"

"Mm?" Jennie looked up from where she had been pouring herself a glass of milk. "Out? Out, like out as in with the gang or out as in..." Jennie trailed off when she saw the expression on Forge's face. An odd mixture of hope and terror. "Oh." Oh my. She set the milk down and turned to face him, hands on her hips. "John Henry Forge, are you asking me on a date?" She grinned.

Up until the grin, Forge had a sudden moment of utter terror that was now fading into a mixture of relief and ... okay, still utter terror.

"Well, I mean, I was just thinking and you know, it seemed like we had fun that time with Marius and Cats and so I was giving it a lot of thought and then it was like 'hey, why not?' and then I was all 'well, sure' and so..." he took a deep breath to calm his babbling. "That is to say...yes? Yes, I am asking you on a date."

Jennie couldn't help laughing. But there was no spite at all in her face, just surprise, and delight. Truth be told, she'd thought about it too. Forge was such a nice guy, so different than the jerks she normally dated. But she didn't think he would ever bring himself to ask her out. And yet here he was, would wonders never cease? Why not, really? What do I have to lose? She shrugged. "Well then. Okay." Jennie nodded thoughtfully. "Where will we be going?"

"It's okay if you don't--" Forge began to apologize, then stopped short. "Wait, okay? So, yes? Right! Okay then, um... this is the part where I totally am a dork because I really didn't think this far. I think... dinner and a movie? Too cliché? Minigolf and Italian buffet?"

Forge's attempts at suggestions were suddenly interrupted when the soda can he'd been squeezing for dear life chose that moment to explode into a shower of carbonated stickiness and foam.

Jennie squealed as she was showered by soda. Shaking her sticky arms quickly, she reached out and put her hands on Forge's shoulders in an attempt to calm the boy before he popped. "Okay, relax, breathe. Breathe. Zen." She held his eyes with her own. "Yes, I'd be happy to go on a date with you. Dinner and movie would be fantastic." She smiled. "Okay?"

Forge blushed slightly, but managed a smile. "Yeah, that'd be... more than okay. Wow. I, uh..."

Whatever he was going to say next was interrupted by a buzzing from his hip. He plucked his pager up and flipped up the small screen. "Pulmonary... crap, Marius blew his lungs up or something. Change of clothes and I'll see you down in medlab?"

Jennie blinked. "What?" The hands that held Forge's shoulders released and involuntarily clenched into fists. "For fuck's sake, we leave him alone for five minutes!" She was going to kill him. Honestly.

"Ms. Munroe says he's okay, they're just holding him for observation," Forge explained, wringing soda out of the hem of his shirt. "I bet if one of us distracts Frau Voght, the other can get in and give him what for."

Holding his fist out, Forge shook it twice as Jennie did the same. "Damn," he complained, "you always pick rock. Looks like I'm Voght-bait."

"Just lucky, I guess." Jennie said wryly. "Come on, lets go change and get down there." The cookies stayed on the counter to be eaten by an unsuspecting student later.