"She's in love with you."

If Cindi wanted to shock you, she couldn't have done a better job by slapping you across the face. She can clearly see that this is news to you and shows even more surprising compassion. This time she puts her hand over yours. "I'm sorry. I thought you knew. She never wanted to tell you. She thought you would hate her, that you would think she was a sick slut. I...maybe I liked it that way. I was always afraid to let her in, and afraid to lose her. You didn't seem like a threat...no offense, but now...now we are in the middle of some warped YA love triangle, and there is no going back and no way forward without someone getting hurt."

You squeeze her hand and sigh. "I honestly don't know where to go from here. If this is gonna work at all, it's going to be because we are all open and honest and patient. With each other, and with ourselves." Cindi winces and you can tell that treating herself kindly might be an even greater challenge than showing compassion for other people. "But look on the bright side. If I learned one thing yesterday, it's that it's never too late to start over. Why don't we take a day off from ourselves and spend the day being the people we want to be? Maybe you could text Emma and let her off the hook for her punishment? Maybe I can scrounge together enough cash to take you someplace you've never been before?"

Cindi carefully considers you with eyes that grow more chilling by the second. Something in your rambling must have connected to her because she catches herself, smiles and begins to defrost. She allows herself a genuine generous laugh that invites you along and soon both of you are cackling even though you don't know why. "HEEEE HEEEEE HEE I SSNRT HEE HEE wait a HEE HEE sorry, give me a HEE second. Wow. I can't remember the last time I laughed like that. Okay. You win. I'll let Emma out of her punishment. Honestly neither of us are enjoying our little game of Mistress and **** like we used to. I thought degrading you and playing you against each other would spice it up, but it ended up being just sad. I remember watching you on the monitors and I felt like a kid in a costume, wishing you would kiss me like that. HEE How's that for honesty?"

You both burst into another fit of laughter and by the time it is over, you feel a shared sense of optimism and giddiness you haven't felt since you were a small child. Cindi covers the check and you head out to your next destination. You don't want to give away the surprise, so you give her directions one turn at a time, taking a scenic route that gives you plenty of time to chat about nothing, which means everything to you.

Excited by the potential of your open and honest promise, Cindi grills you on your most embarrassing interests. You share, "My favorite musical is Little Shop of Horrors, I unironically love the music of Meat Loaf, I still read those old Choose Your Own Adventure books for fun, I am pretty sure I was the only person adding to the fan wiki for Chronicles of Riddick, I piss off fellow nerds when they find out I think British comedy is overrated, I cried at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. II and..."

Cindi excitedly cuts you off, "Oh come on, how can you not when Cat Stevens starts in? And you want to hear nerdy? My favorite musical is the Once More With Feeling episode of Buffy, and I used a proxy to post on the fan forums so know one at school would find out. I used to wish I was one of the Boxcar Children, but I had to hide the books because reading is for nerds. I love old Carter Family era music but I tell people my favorite band is some obscure indie thing I'm hoping picks up in popularity a month later so I can call them sell outs. I cried so much during Coco I was asked to leave the theater. I can speed run Dark Souls..."

Unable to resist, you belt out "NEEEEEEERD!" and you both crack up again so hard that you almost miss the last turn off. When you point out the sign between peals of laughter, Cindi starts cry laughing and has to pull to the side of the road. It wasn't the reaction you dreamed of for after years of imagining taking her here, but somehow that just makes it better.

When you can finally breath again, Cindi snaps back with her trademark caustic condescension, "Oh, I'm the nerd and you're taking your crush to Dinoverse for your first date?" She squeezes your thigh to let you know she's going for the fun kind of mean and that little touch almost makes you cream your panties again. You almost regret suggesting starting over and taking it slow, but the frustration is practically a feature instead of a bug at this point. It can turn a trip to a run down theme park into something oddly sexually charged and romantic. At least, you hope so...