Betty had managed to suppress the urge to ask Mister Ferris to go to the Sadie Hawkins Ball with her almost all lunch. She didn’t want to ruin such a nice moment where they were getting to know each other a little better with a question that might make everything a little awkward, specially if he said no. But now that lunch was close to its end, the question couldn’t wait any longer.
She took a sip of her water and looked at him with a smile. “Mister Ferris, there’s something I need to ask you,” she said.
Ferris wasn't completely unused to female company - certainly not with the number of female officers in the Corps - but he'd spent much of his time either in training or in action, not particularly in social activities (and for the best-not-remembered time during which he'd been neither with the Corps nor in action, no woman of good reputation would have looked twice at a disgraced former aviator nor could Ferris blame her). He'd been fond of a young lady in Russia, and she of him, but a few week's acquaintance was hardly enough to build an understanding upon.
One of the definite advantages provided by Atlantis was pleasant new acquaintances and time to expand them. Miss Bayer was friendly, intelligent, and pretty, and did not seem the sort to be unnerved by a dragon nor to scandalize Lady Catherine Seymour (no more than her youngest son had already done). She wasn't of the Corps, however, and Ferris didn't have quite the ease of talking with her as with a colleague. He'd almost surprised himself with the invitation to lunch, but he'd only (mostly) thought to ease what seemed to be an awkward situation when she mentioned having a question.
That she'd waited this long to ask it, at least indicated that Ferris wasn't the only one suffering from nerves. “Ask anything you like,” he said, and smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner.
His smile eased a little bit of her nervousness, not that she was nervous about the asking itself but his answer. She really hoped he would say yes. “I was wondering if you would like to go to the Sadie Hawkins Ball with me?” she finally asked, feeling a little relieved the question was out. She bit her lip as she waited for an answer.
He'd seen the notices and the posts on the network, ranging in tone from excitement to annoyance. Having been free from the expectation of asking anyone to attend, he’d both appreciated the position of most women in his own world in having to wait on a desirable (or undesirable) man to make the approach and missed the simpler way of managing affairs in the Corps. He found himself turning red. “I would be honored to attend with you, Miss Bayer,” he said.
It hadn’t been the first time Betty has asked a man on a date or to a dance. Betty had always been rather bold when it came to men, and in general too. She smiled and thought he turning red was incredibly adorable. “Please, if we’re going to go to this ball together you can call me Betty now, Mister Ferris,” she said, smiling at him.
He was aware that the customs here in Atlantis were different from England in his own time, just as those of the Chinese and Inca had been. Use of one's given name did not have the same meaning everywhere. Still, Ferris smiled. “If we're to be fair,” he said. “Then, I can at least ask you to leave off the ‘Mister.’” They were not, perhaps, at the stage where he would ask her to call him ‘Henry,’ but Ferris found himself rather anticipating the thought that they might be in the future.