Front Porch (Fast Food)

"Are you sure?" I asked. Lisa nodded enthusiastically.

"I love that place. I get it all the time for lunch because Chris always insists on eating so healthy."

The name "Chris" smacked me in the face like a splash of cold water. It was the first time either of us had mentioned our significant others since we left the house. The entire time at the arcade seemed like it took place in an alternate dimension.

"OK," I said, shifting the car into "Drive". Lisa wanted to go to a semi-local fast food chain called Front Porch that specialized in chargrilled food. It was a step up from McDonald's or Burger King for sure, but only a slight step.

When we pulled up to the drive-through, I rolled down the car window.

"I got this," Lisa said as the female voice from the speaker asked what we wanted to order. "We'll take two quesadillas, one cheeseburger with extra pickles, two orders of onion rings, one order of curly fries Porch style, one order of jalapeno poppers, one large cherry coke and, what do you want to drink?"

"Uh.. Sprite."

"One large Sprite and can we get four barbecue sauces and four Porch Sauces? Please!"

"Damn," I said with a chuckle.

"Trust me," Lisa said with a wink.

We drove up to the window and I passed all the bags and drinks to Lisa.

"Where to?"

"Head out to the beach road and make a left." Lisa directed me to a small parking lot for a public beach entrance. The rain was slowing down as we pulled in, a soft patter across the windshield echoed through the car as we dug into our feast.

"Holy crap," I said, biting into the quesadilla.

"Right?" Lisa said, stuffing a handful of curly fries into her mouth. "I can't believe you've never been here before."

"We don't have these around our way," I said.

"I know, they are mostly local to the South East. I wish we all lived closer to each other."

"Yea, that'd be fun," I agreed. "But we'd get in a lot of trouble." We both laughed.

"Try the sauce on the burger."

We devoured the feast, stopping only to say things like "try this" or, "wow I wasn't expecting that to be so good" or, "I didn't realize how hungry I was until just now". By the time we hit the crumbs at the bottom of the fry bag and the last gurgly slurp of soda, the rain had completely stopped.

"Should we head back?" Lisa asked. "Or..." They way she let it linger made it obvious she wanted to keep our date going. I couldn't believe it and I certainly was not going to be the one to call it a night. It was almost 9:30, however, and there wasn't much to do in the small beach town besides hit up a bar or-

"Let's take a walk on the beach," Lisa suggested.

"It's going to be wet," I told her. "And possibly cold."

"If it's too much we can come back here."

By the time we reached the wooden walkway beach entrance, Lisa was rubbing her arms.

"Maybe it is a bit cold," she said. "We can go back."

"No worries," I said, pulling my hoody over my head and handing it to her.

"Are you sure? You'll be cold."

"I'll be fine," I said as goosebumps formed up my bare arms.

"What a gentleman," Lisa beamed as she pulled the sweatshirt on.

"What?" she asked, catching me staring at her. I laughed and shook my head.

"It's not fair that you look that good with that much clothes on."

"Oh, come on!" Lisa said, slapping my arm. We kicked off our shoes and socks then headed down to the beach. The sand was cold on our bare feet. The water was even colder.

"Hey!" Lisa shouted as I kicked up a splash of water onto her legs. She danced around, trying her best to splash me back. Pretty soon, a light drizzle began to fall.

"Pull your hood up!" I shouted to Lisa who had already taken off up the beach. I ran after her, grabbing our shoes and rapidly clicking the "unlock" button on my keys so she could get in the car. I pulled the car door open and threw myself inside.

"Smells like we're in a deep fryer," I said. Lisa laughed along. We both took a moment to catch our breath while the car warmed us up.

"Here, you can have this back now," Lisa said. She pulled my sweatshirt off and handed it back to me. There was something exciting about seeing her back in the blouse she'd been wearing all night. Bare arms. Bare shoulders. Just enough cleavage to keep me looking but keep things to the imagination.

"Thanks," I replied, accepting the shirt. "So, should we head back?"

Lisa looked at me. I suddenly felt that same gravity I felt before. Her stare hit me like a tractor beam, pulling my consciousness toward her.

"Or..."