[restaurant; ren & hannah]
Hannah didn't own many pairs of pants, but she thought it would be appropriate to wear them, pants, when going on a practice date that was meant to precede an outing with a boy. So, she wore pants, and she didn't bring a coat. The weather was doing that thing it did in New York, but that it never did in Florida, where it teeter tottered between almost-nice and almost-freezing, but tonight was almost-nice, and she was warm enough without the extra layer. It also meant Ren didn't need to pretend to carry a cardigan-trenchcoat, and the thought made Hannah smile as she saw Ren in the distance.
He waved and walked, and she waved and walked, and the silliness of it made Hannah feel almost immediately better. She'd been feeling kind of down recently, and this already made her feel like there was less invisible weight upon her shoulders. She knew she wasn't supposed to require the presence of other people to feel okay, but as her gears shifted and turned and fused and made themselves up into a whole new something, she was learning that she liked having people around. She was lonely if she was alone now, and that was novelty unwanted. But Ren was there, and it was better, and she stopped in front of him outside the restaurant.
"It wasn't difficult at all," she assured him, and she gave him a hug that defied physical space or social customs. A hug, and a quick kiss on the mouth, and she moved back on black shoes and with a tuck of copper hair behind her ear as she turned to look at the restaurant. "So, this is it," and she looked at him again. "Why did you pick it?" she asked, looping an arm through his. "Why this particular place?" And she wasn't really sure if that was practice or just talking, but she thought maybe it could be both. "Oh! Before I forget!" Because she would forget if she didn't bring it up first and right away. "I have a friend who is maybe questioning his sexuality, and he's really sweet, but really nervous. I told him I had a friend who liked both boys and girls, and he asked if you would contact him. Like bros, he said. I think he just needs a boy to talk to, and I'm not a boy. You can even contact him anonymously, if you like, but he's really trustworthy and really nice. Will you?" It probably wasn't the thing to ask a boy to talk to another boy about liking boys, but it was just another one of those social niceties which Hannah preferred not to observe.