He went out with Wendy

Wendy drove a Nissan Leaf, a concession to environmentalism he hadn't expected in this part of California. She picked him up about seven and drove him the four miles to the 'neighborhood' deli, one of the very few stores in the entire half the Hill where they lived.

A couple of fellow students were hanging around the deli and he nodded to them trying to remember names. {if Cassandra>0}"Hey Cassandra," he said to the Goth-girl who rode the bus with them.

"Hey Matt. What's up?"

{else}He nodded to the Goth-girl who rode the bus with him.

She gave him a startled smile.{endif}

Wendy grabbed his arm and dragged him into the deli before he could engage in more conversation. Was she being protective of her date? He figured he couldn't blame her... after all, she might figure he'd just asked her out because he wanted a ride to meet up with hotter girls. Not that Wendy had anything to worry about in that regard.

"You look really pretty tonight," he said.

"Oh. Uh, thanks. Uh, you, too."

Unlike him, who wore the same jeans and t-shirt he'd worn to school, Wendy had changed her clothes, putting on a flirty little sundress with heeled sandals that made her look even more leggy and sexy than normal.

"It's not exactly gourmet," he said, "but would you like something to eat to go with your soda? We could split a sandwich if you're not real hungry. The roast beef is supposed to be good although I hear the tuna is only so-so." The power of Yelp at his disposal.

"Uh, I'm vegetarian but you can have meat if you want."

"I'll be they have a vegetarian sandwich. What do you say? Two cokes and a vegetarian sandwich?"

"I guess."

Outside the store, they found a vacant picnic table and Matt laid out the sandwich and bottled sodas. Helpfully the owner had cut the sandwich in half which was just as well because Matt didn't think he could persuade Wendy to start eating at one end with him at the other ending in a kiss.

"Do you like Ms. Chadra?" Wendy asked. "Sometimes I have trouble understanding her because of her accent."

He had to give her credit for trying to keep the conversation going. Perhaps a successful date was as important to her as it was to him.

"Yeah, I think she's great. Especially compared to the guy who taught Trig at Aaron Burr." It didn't hurt that Ms. Chadra was hot Matt didn't think Wendy was interested in that conversation. He also wasn't interested in having a conversation limited to school. He'd texted his sister for date conversation ideas and she'd texted him back that girls like talking about themselves. So, he needed to get Wendy talking about herself. That shouldn't be too hard, right?