Hearts Collide

“I’m going on a date with Steve,” Alex whispered to herself as she entered the elevator. She smiled at the thought of their first date together until an unsettling feeling sunk in.
“I only have twenty minutes to get ready,” she stated aloud frantically. She began to panic as she got closer to her destination and started pacing around the elevator floor. “Ugh, I have too much stuff to do. I have to shower, do my hair, and get dressed. I don’t even know what I’m going to wear,” she muttered as the elevator doors opened.
“Hi, Alex,” greeted Pepper. “How are you—”
“Pepper, I need your help!” Alex proclaimed as she grabbed Pepper by the hand and dragged her to her room.
“What’s going on? Alex, what did you do?” Pepper questioned as Alex opened her closet and began to throw clothes on the floor.
“I smell like sweat, my hair is a mess, I have a date in nineteen minutes, and I have no idea what to wear!” Alex cried out in frustration.
“Woah! Slow down,” Pepper exhorted as she tried to calm Alex down. “Go take a shower. I’ll pick out your outfit. Okay?”
“Thanks, Pepper,” Alex sighed in relief and made her way to her bathroom. “I’ll be out in a bit.”
“No problem,” Pepper responded as she went through Alex’s clothes. “So who do you have a date with?”
“Who do you think?” Alex answered as a small smile played on her mouth.
“So you guys are going out now?” Pepper cooed. “That’s adorable. I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks. Just don’t tell my dad and please pick out something nice,” she called out from the bathroom as she turned on the shower.
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“Shoot,” Steve cursed softly to himself as he finished getting dressed. “Where am I supposed to take Alex?” he asked himself. “Let’s see. She likes pizza. Maybe I can take her to an Italian restaurant—no, that won’t do. I know she likes BBQ’s, but it’s the lunch rush and it’s going to be loud,” ranted Steve. “Damn it, why is this so hard? Why can’t things be simple? Like a nice, quiet— wait a minute, that could work,” he grinned as an idea formulated in his head.
He immediately left his room and began to make preparations for his first date in a long time.
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“Why do I have so much hair?” Alex whined as she dried her hair with a towel. “I only have six minutes to get ready.”
“Come here,” Pepper ordered. “I’ll get the hair dryer. You go put on what I picked out for you.”
Alex examined the clothes Pepper had chosen and smiled.
“This is cute. You have a good eye, Pepper,” she stated as she put on the clothes.
“Thank you. Now sit down so I can dry your hair.”
Alex did as she was told and sat on the chair she had on her computer desk as she allowed Pepper to do her hair.
“So when did Steve ask you out?” Pepper asked. “I mean, you only told me that you liked him yesterday. So, unless you guys were dating before then, I don’t know why you took so long to tell me or Tony about it.”
“Well, to put it in his words, Steve asked me to ‘be his girl’ last night before we left Coney Island. And if you’re trying to say that I need to tell my dad about us, I’ll tell him when we’re playing the Deadliest Warrior on Friday.”
“Alex,” Pepper asserted.
“Fine,” Alex sighed, “I’ll tell him tonight during dinner.”
“Good. We’re done here,” Pepper said as she unplugged the blow dryer.
“Thanks, Pepper,” Alex chirped as she ran her fingers through her hair.
“Have fun on your date.”
“I will,” Alex replied as she made her way to the lobby where Steve was waiting for her.
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Steve stood in the lobby holding a bag of food as he anxiously waited for Alex who was running a little late.
“Where is she?” he whispered to himself as he looked at the time on the clock.
“She’s only five minutes late. That’s not too bad. It’s not like she ditched me. I mean, sure, I’ve never been good with women and a lot of them have ditched me, but Alex seems to like me. She wouldn’t ditch me, right?” Steve thought to himself. He soon became so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn’t notice the elevator door open.
“Steve!” Alex cried out as she stepped out of the elevator. Steve turned his head toward the elevator and was captivated by the sight in front of him. Alex walked over to him, her floral print skirt swished lightly with each step she took. Her scoop neck shirt fit nicely on her torso and complimented her slightly curvy body. And her long brown hair that she usually kept in a ponytail fell freely down her back.
“Sorry I’m late. Pepper was doing my hair. Did I keep you waiting long?”
“I-I. No. You—you look very—wow. I mean beautiful,” Steve jabbered. “I mean not that you don’t always look –“
“Thanks, Steve,” Alex gushed which saved Steve from further embarrassment. “So where are we going?”
“Umm, well, I was thinking we could have a picnic in Central Park,” Steve suggested. “I have sandwiches and stuff.”
“That sounds lovely,” Alex said as she took his free hand in hers and left Stark Towers for the park.
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After walking around the park, Alex and Steve found a nice shady place under a tree to set the blanket Steve had brought for their picnic. Once they finished setting up, Steve began to take out the food he had brought. Alex watched hungrily as he took out bread, salami, and other sandwich making materials as well as cookies and juice.
“Why did you bring so much stuff?” Alex asked as she bit her lip. “You’re going to make me fat.”
Steve laughed at her comment and replied,
“I wasn’t sure what to bring so I just got whatever I could think of. Is that okay?”
“That’s better than okay,” she grinned as shoved a cookie in her mouth and began to make her sandwich. Steve smiled at her enthusiasm and helped himself to a cookie
“So what made you think about having a picnic date?” Alex inquired.
“Well, I didn’t know where else to take you,” he admitted. “Everywhere seems pretty busy right now and, to be honest, I wanted some alone time with you.”
“Well, it was a good idea,” she complimented. “There’s no one here to bother us. I don’t have to worry about rude waiters. And I can eat all the sandwiches I want,” she stated as she took a bite of her food.
The two ate idly and talked about frivolous things. It was much like the first time she and Steve ate lunch together, only this time he wasn’t paying much attention to her words. He was amused at how she would make gestures with her hands when she was explaining something. He was captivated by how her eyes seemed to light up when she got excited about something. But, most of all, he just enjoyed the sound of her voice.
“Steve, look at that,” she called out as she pointed to a cloud. “Doesn’t it look like a dinosaur?”
Steve looked up at said cloud and replied,
“I don’t know. It kind of looks like a crocodile.”
“What?” Alex accused as she laid down on the blanket. “No, that’s obviously a dinosaur. As a matter a fact, I think it’s a T-Rex. Look at its little arms,” she teased.
“Okay, if you say so.” Steve scoffed as he followed Alex’s example and laid down next to her on the blanket. “Oh look, that one kind of looks like a whale,” he pointed.
“Or a manatee,” Alex piped which caused Steve to chuckle slightly.
“Yeah, or that.”
As time passed by and the two continued to point out interesting clouds, Alex and Steve moved closer and closer to each other until Alex had her head leaned against Steve’s chest and Steve had an arm lightly wrapped around her.
“That cloud looks like Yoshi,” she yawned.
“What?” Steve asked confused.
“You know that cute green dinosaur in the games I’m always playing,” she yawned.
“Alex, are you tired?”
“A little bit,” she responded sleepily.
“Do you want to go back home?” he asked as he sat up.
“No,” Alex whined. “I want to stay here with you. You’re comfortable.”
Steve blushed slightly at her comment before he cleared his throat and stated, “It’s getting late. I should take you home.”
“Okay,” she sighed as she got up from the blanket. The two collected their things before they made their way back to Stark Towers.
“Wait!” Alex cried out as they passed a bakery on their way home.
“What is it?”
“I need to buy something,” she responded as she hastily entered the store and ordered a dozen donuts.
“What do you need all those donuts for?” inquired Steve as she paid for them and left.
“I need them to butter up my dad.”
“Are you saying that you’re—”
“Yes,” she interrupted as she grabbed his hand and laced her fingers in his. “I’m going to tell my dad about us.”