Archie had been out of sorts for some time. As the day he would fight Yarrow drew nearer, he got more nervous. And when he got more nervous, he trained harder. And when he trained harder, he thought about the fight more. And that made him more nervous. So when Blanche interrupted his training to ask him to go to dinner, he was more than happy to take his mind off of things.

But then he got nervous about the dinner—as nervous as he had been so many months ago when he first kissed her. He didn't see her trying to get back together with him. Not with the way she had acted toward him all semester. She still avoided him, although less aggressively with each passing week. At least the icy stares had stopped.

He arrived early. Too early. He reached the restaurant knowing that Blanche would still probably be another half an hour before she got out of work, leaving him to sit there and wait and speculate why she had asked him out in the first place.

But Blanche was already there.

"Oh! Hey!" Archie waved as he approached her table. "I thought we were meeting later."

"Hey!" Blanche jumped up, but her smile quickly turned to awkward confusion. Archie could tell that they had both just resisted the impulse to hug. He would have hugged her if she tried. But she didn't. Instead, she sat back down and focused on getting her smile back. "Yeah, we were. I got out early, so I thought I'd hang out here in case you came early."

"Well. I came early." Archie let out an unnatural laugh.

Blanche returned it with twice the awkwardness. "Haha, yeah."

Archie took his seat across from her. Once upon a time, they had argued over whether couples should sit across from each or next to each other. They had tried it both ways and liked it both ways. But now, Archie knew the spot for him was out of arm's reach. "So what's up? Or—or did you want to order first? Or…"

Blanche groaned and rubbed her forehead. Her self-deprecating tone matched her sheepish smile. "I'm sorry, I'm being awkward. It's just—we've done this so many times before, you know? Feels weird to do it as friends."

"It's okay. I'm feeling the same way."

"Yeah." Blanche sat up straight and looked mortified. "Oh, I'm not going to say we should get back together or anything like that. This—I just—"

"Oh, no—I didn't think—I figured—"

"You know—we haven't—"

"Yeah—the—"

The waitress broke their perpetual stuttering with a cheery hop. "Oh good! You're both here. Is this your first time at Grand Gardens?"

Blanche laughed and hid her face as Archie took up answering for both of them. "No, we've been here before."

"Oh, good! Welcome back! Can I get you started with anything?"

Archie looked at Blanche, both of them still struggling to not awkwardly laugh and smile. "I think a drink?"

Blanche nodded. "Yes, please."

"Can I get a paloma? And she'll have the clover club."

"Ooo, I love the clover club," the waitress added. "Anything to eat?"

"Uh…" Archie looked at Blanche. "What were those things we liked so much? The bread with the—"

"Crostinis with sweet onion and blue cheese," Blanche told the waitress.

"Very good! I'll get that right out."

The waitress left Archie and Blanche alone so they could blush and snicker. "Sorry," Archie said. "I should have let you order your drink. Old habit."

"No, it's fine." Blanche shied away and rubbed her cheek. "I always liked when you did that."

Archie drummed his fingers on the table. Where was that drink?

"So, um…" Blanche shrugged. "How have you been?"

"Uh, good. Yeah, good. Just, you know, training." Archie scratched under his chin. She had never liked talking about his fighting. She certainly wouldn't now.

"And how's that going?"

Archie blinked, his fingers resting on the table. "Uh, good."

"I saw you swinging around." Blanche giggled. "Like a monkey."

"Ha, yeah. Peach said—that's, uh, she's the…I don't know what her title is. She's like an administrator of the fighting circuit. She said I could have a real future. That I could be a star. Says I have the right theatricality for it, I just gotta keep working on it."

"Watching you monkey around could be fun."

The waitress came back with their drinks, which they drank greedily to chase the jitters away.

"Yeah? Yeah. Come watch anytime. She also said I'm a good variety fighter. That's, uh, someone that fights a bunch of different ways. Makes me more exciting to the crowd. You know, some fighters only really do one thing. Like Yarrow just throws acid. But I have my noodles, my blueberries, my mint's not bad, and Nori is showing me a few lemon tricks."

"Is that right?"

"Yeah." Archie leaned over the table and got lost in his own world. "I won't be able to out-acid Yarrow, but by understanding citric acid better, I stand a better chance at disintegrating it at the point of contact. Of course, no contact is the goal. I'm hoping the arena has lots of tall trees—they change it every time. If it's flat, I'm gonna struggle."

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Blanche giggled.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. I just missed this."

"Yeah, me too."

"I'm sorry for, you know. Ignoring you. I just needed some space."

"Totally." Archie took a long drink, the liquid burning its way down his throat. "Yeah, don't worry about it."

"But we should be friends. We see each other every day. And I miss being friends."

"Me too."

"And, you know, if you wanted to date someone else, that's fine. I won't—I won't get mad."

"Oh. Yeah. Totally. And uh, if you want to date someone else, that's fine, too."

Blanche giggled. "Of course I can date someone else. You dumped me."

"Oh, yeah, right."

The waitress returned with a little tray of toasted bread with cheese and olive oil and grilled onion. Archie and Blanche both rushed to take one and stuff their mouth so they wouldn't have to be the one to continue the conversation.

Blanche swallowed first and leaned in. "I always wondered, is it rude for us to mess with the essence of someone else's dish?"

Archie put his hand over his mouth to keep from spitting up his food as he laughed. "You mean the onion?"

"It should be sweeter, right?"

Archie nodded. Blanche looked around to make sure no one was watching and tapped each slice of onion a few times. She took another bite and nodded. "Better."

"Look at you, Miss Flavor."

Blanche wiggled her eyebrows. "I've been learning to cook. Which is a funny thing for a second-year Chef to say, but you know I never really liked the kitchen. But I'm getting more comfortable in it."

"Good." Archie took a bite of improved onion and nodded. "Much better."

Blanche giggled. "You know, she'll be lucky, whoever she is."

"Who's that?"

"Whoever you end up with. She'll have to thank me for teaching you how to kiss. You were awful at first."

"What? Oh, come on!" Archie pouted, and Blanche shrugged. "Well, cut me some slack, you were my first kiss."

Blanche spoke with her mouth full. "What? No I wasn't."

"What do you mean no?"

"You kissed Nori! First semester!"

Archie coughed and cleared his throat with a long drink. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh no." Blanche's eyes widened in horror. "Oh no. No, I didn't say anything. You didn't hear anything."

"What are you talking about?"

"Ohhhh," Blanche covered her face with her hands. "I thought she told you. No, you need to talk to her about it."

Archie pulled Blanche's arm down. "Blanche! You're telling me I kissed Nori. I would remember that. What are you talking about?"

"Okay, okay! But you can't tell her or do anything about this. Okay?"

"I don't know what this is."

"You kissed her! First semester. You both got really drunk, and you kissed her. And she was freaking out. She kept me up all night talking my ear off about it. Because she liked you. But she was afraid you only kissed her because you were drunk. And then, the next day, you didn't remember it."

"What?"

"It was, uh…Lifted Spirits! That was the place."

"I kissed her?"

"That's what she said."

Archie squeezed his eyes closed and tried to remember. They had been drunk. They had been dancing. And then nothing. "I don't remember that."

"Well, it happened. So that was your first kiss. But don't talk to her about it! She thinks you forgot."

"Wait, she liked me?"

"Yeah." Blanche scoffed. "Of course she did, idiot. That's one of the reasons I rushed things between us. I figured it was just a matter of time for you two."

Archie thought back to their first semester. All the name-calling and bullying and impatience and…

But she still acted that way. "Wait, does she still like me?"

Blanche glared through her dark eyebrows. "Hey, we can talk about all kinds of stuff, and you can date whoever, but I'm not going to help you land the date."

Archie chuckled, the heat of the alcohol doubling up in his cheeks. "I wonder…"

"Ugh. Of course she still likes you. She liked you all the way back then, Archie. Back when you were that version of you that we all liked but all kinda didn't like."

"Wait, what do you mean didn't like?"

"You just…" Blanche laughed. "You were the way that you were. And then you grew up. Now you're the way you are, and we all like you much more. My point is, if she was your fan back then, she's definitely a fan now."

"So she still likes me?"

"Oh, you're so oblivious." Blanche laughed and shook her head. "You two always talked about going to Kuutsu Nuna for the summer, right? Go with her this year. And…things will happen."

"Really?"

"Archie. Don't push it. We're back to being friends, but we still have to have some boundaries around certain things."

"Okay, okay." Archie bent his neck down to take a drink and had a hard time looking back up. He started thinking of all the ways he could ask Nori about her summer and who they should take to Kuutsu Nuna with them and how the sleeping arrangements would be and…

"You're funny, Archie."

He looked up. "What?"

"Just…once you're aware of something, you're all-in on it. Like, you're oblivious half the time, but then you're intense enough to make up for the time you lost. Just…be chill."

"Yeah. Yeah, okay. Thanks." They laughed at each other. "So what about you? Got your eye on someone?"

Even though Blanche said they weren't going to talk about such things, the little curl in her lips betrayed her words. "Okay, so…I've been thinking. And it's weird."

"Buuuuut?"

"He really annoyed me last year. Worse than you. I mean, he was nice, and I liked him more than I didn't, but…" Blanche groaned. "He's mellowed out a lot. And, frankly, I think he's gotten cuter. I don't know if it's him or me or whatever. But recently, I've been thinking that…Benedict and I might be…a good fit."

"Oh dear Ambrosia!" Archie slapped the table.

Blanche's eyes widened and she pointed through Archie's soul. "You don't say a word!"

"No, no, no, of course not!"

"Seriously, Archie. One word of this and I'll never talk to you again."

"I got it. I got it."

Blanche shook her head, and Archie laughed.

"Wait. What are we doing here?" Archie chugged the last of his drink and threw some coins on the table. "Benedict has a play tonight! He even said he gets two lines! A whole ten words, Blanche! Come on!"

"Oh, but—"

"Nope, we're going! You can be his muse."

"Oh, I shouldn't have said anything," Blanche groaned as Archie took her arm and dragged her away. On their way out, she walked beside him and gave him a hug. Her embrace was as calming and nurturing as it ever was, and for the first time in a while, Archie stopped worrying about the fight.

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