Lunch with Kara

It was supposed to just be lunch.

Kara had shown up at the pizza shop again, this time in a soft blue blouse and white skirt that swished at her knees, bright as the sky breaking through Gotham’s otherwise smoggy mood. The pizza guy—still stunned she wanted him of all people—had agreed to grab food on his day off.

But one shared panini and two iced lattes later, Kara had perked up with an idea that made her eyes practically sparkle.

“I need new clothes,” she said, setting her drink down. “Want to come with?”

She asked it like she was asking if he wanted to see a movie or take a stroll through the park. No hesitation. No “you don’t have to.” Just… warm confidence.

The pizza guy, halfway through a bite of his sandwich, blinked.

“Oh. Uh. Sure. Yeah, I’m down. I mean—I’ve never really done that before. Gone clothes shopping with someone, I mean.”

Kara grinned. “You’ve never had the shopping with a girl experience?”

“I mean, I work at a pizza shop,” he deadpanned. “My idea of high fashion is changing out of sauce-stained jeans.”

She giggled, took his hand, and practically skipped out the door with him.

They ended up at a trendy little boutique not far from Gotham Square, one of those places with stylized mannequins in the windows and sales associates who looked like they belonged on magazine covers.

Kara breezed in like she’d been here a hundred times. The pizza guy, meanwhile, shoved his hands in his hoodie pockets and tried not to feel too out of place among the racks of dresses, crop tops, and pastel blazers.

But Kara made it easy.

She walked the aisles with purpose, picking up hangers with casual grace, holding them to herself and glancing at him over the top of her glasses.

“What about this one?”

It was a silky green wrap dress with just enough sparkle to catch the light.

“Looks like something you’d wear to a gala or to... arrest hearts,” he replied honestly.

She blinked and then burst into laughter. He was sometimes so unfunny that it was funny.

One by one, she gathered options, and to his surprise, she wanted his opinion on all of them. Not in a passive way, either—she asked questions. Listened. Even handed him dresses at one point and made him hold her purse while she went to try things on.

He didn't complain once.

In fact, he leaned into it.

He gave thumbs up, head tilts, and commentary that walked the line between sincere and unintentionally hilarious.

“That dress makes you look like the kind of CEO who fires people with grace.” Next one. “That one? Yeah, but it’s too ‘high school prom’.”

Kara did a double-take at that one. “Prom?”

“Yeah, highschool prom. You know, the dance.”

“...?”

Sometimes, Kara could be quite weird. Ignorant rather, of certain customs and phrases.

Hmm....