It was a popular hangout

It turned out the Deli was a popular hangout, which wasn't a big surprise considering it was the only shop within ten miles. Still, he was surprised how many people he knew there.

The Goth girlfrom the bus{if Samantha>0}, Samantha,{endif} gave him a surprised smile as he stepped up to the front door.

"Hey," he said.

"Back at-cha."

"Anything good here?"

"Compared to what?"

"Compared to starving to ****, I guess."

"Yeah, stay away from the tuna. Just my opinion but I'm not big on it."

"Got it."

Which was when his arm got yanked. "Matt!"

He turned to see Wendy. Her face was a little red, like she'd been running... or was mad. Could she be jealous because he was talking to another girl?"

{if Samantha>0}"Wendy. Do you remember Samantha from the bus?"

"Oh, hi Samantha."

"I won't get in the way of your date. See you, Matt."

"See you, Samantha."

{else}See you around."{endif}

Wendy grabbed his arm and dragged him into the deli before he could engage in more conversation.

He checked her out. 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. "You look really pretty tonight."

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

He put that down to just being polite.

"I was just getting an update on what's good here," he explained. "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." Something in her tone suggested that having meat might not be the best idea if he wanted this date to go well.

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

"You sure you don't mind being vegetarian for a while?"

"Not a problem."

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?