Alexa B-Side: #15 - The Big Date

“Hello, Katie? Hi, it’s Dan Quinn. How are you?” a nervous young man said into the phone.

“Hey, what’s up?” a confused Katie Fahey replies. Why is Alexa’s brother calling her she wonders?

“You know it was good talking to you the other day. I forgot how, um, nice you were.” Danny continues, trying to be as nonchalant as possible but completely failing in his own mind.

“It was good talking to you too Dan. Did you need something or did you call to talk about Alexa?” The confusion setting in deeper.

“Well no point in beating around the bush. You see I have these two tickets for ‘Wicked’ at the Orpheum on Friday night and I was wondering if you, um. If you would like to, um, go with me?” The question came our awkwardly and Danny braced himself for the rejection that was soon to follow. However, the response was far from what he was suspecting.

Katie’s eyes go wide at the question. “Sure, I have always wanted to see that. What time?” Katie says, trying to hold back the excitement she was feeling.

“How about I pick you up at 5:30? You still live by Alex, right?” Danny asks.

“That’s Alexa you dope and I live with her now. In her old apartment on 14th. The time is perfect. I can’t wait. Bye Danny. See you Friday.” Katie says and ends the call.

“Well that could have gone better Danny me boy” Danny says to himself.

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“OH, MY GOD!” Katie screams as she hangs up the phone. Turning to her roommate who is sitting at the kitchen table she blurts out “I have a date Friday night!” Jenny looks up at her and asks who. Katie gets a grin across her face. “You’ll never guess” she tells Jenny who simply stares at her. “Danny!”

Jenny takes a moment to go through all the Danny’s she knows. It takes her a minute until she stumbles on to one name, “Danny as in Alexa’s brother Danny? Danny Quinn?” Katie nods enthusiastically as Jenny screams in excitement and rushes over to her roommate. ‘Oh, My God!”

Following a hug, Katie looks Jenny in the eye. “You can’t tell Alexa. I want to hear her reaction.” Jenny hems and haws for a bit, but it’s all for show. Jenny has inherited a little of her grandmother’s teasing ability and knew that this would get her partner good. Jenny asks how this came about. “I don’t know. We talked for a while at the open house and he was very nice and funny. And I have always thought he was cute, but I never thought he would ask me out. This is so great!” The roommates share another hug, though Katie releases it quickly. She looks at Jenny in the eye. “You have three days to be quiet can you, do it?” Jenny nods her head and states “Watch me.”

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It’s Friday and Danny is standing in front of the mirror finishing tying his tie. He could barely do it as his hands are shaking. Why did he ask Katie? Sure, it was fun to talk to her at the funeral and all, but to ask her out? He had known her forever, but just always thought of her as that girl his brother hung around with. But seeing her that day at the funeral, completely changed his mind. She was hot! The skinny short girl had really grown up since she went off to college. And he was attracted. It was the first time since he and Lynn broke up that he had felt this way about someone. And that scared him. He was scared of getting hurt again after what Lynn had done. But he didn’t want to just waste the tickets and they gave him the perfect excuse.

His mother walked by as he was fighting the tie. “What are you all dressed up for?” She asked her son.

“I got a date tonight. Using those tickets I bought Lynn for Christmas.” Charlotte inquires as to who he has a date with and sheepishly he states “Katie”

“Katie? Katie Fahey?!” Charlotte asks. “You better be nice to her. And be nice to your sister!” Charlotte warns and begins to help Danny with his tie. “Are you nervous?” She asks.

“Yeah. I don’t know why, I mean I’ve known her since she was a kid, but I had fun talking to her. I just don’t want to come off like a big jerk. I am sure she has heard enough bad things about me recently.” Danny states hanging his head a little.

“Don’t worry about that. Be a gentleman. And be nice to your sister!” Charlotte once again warns before giving Danny a quick motherly peck on the cheek. “And have fun.”

“Sure mom. And why did you have to kiss me?” Danny says as he reached for his Suit jacket and heads out the door.

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Katie had hauled Jenny in to the room that is affectionately known by the residents of the apartment as ‘the Closet’. It was supposed to be Jenny’s room, but now it just housed all the clothes she and Alexa owned. Katie sighed as she looked at it. How could two college women own so many clothes! She shakes her head as she realizes her little ‘sister’ had been brainwashed by Blondie here. And as she sat there staring at the clothes, Katie’s ‘sister’ comes to the forefront. She looks over at her roommate. “Jen, do you think Alexa will be OK with this? I mean it is a little odd and Danny hasn’t always been the nicest to her.”

Jenny giggles a bit “Oh Alexa will be fine. She’s a big baby. I’ll sweet talk her later.” After Jenny’s reassurance, Katie outlines a plan for the day. She had already picked out a dress she wanted to wear and when Alexa got home, they were going to draw her in to the ‘closet’ and then magically find the perfect dress for the night. Katie would then kick Alexa out, saying she needed help getting ready, leaving Alexa to answer the door. The roommates shared a slightly evil laugh as they waited to spring their joke on the third resident of the apartment. The wait wasn’t long, as they heard Alexa come through the front door and call out for Jenny and Katie. Jenny calls her back to the closet, where of course Alexa has some dumb joke. Alexa then asks what was going on.

“Katie has a date tonight” Jenny squeals in excitement. Katie just stood there and grinned like that cat who at the canary. When Alexa pushed as to who it was with, Katie simply stated she was not telling. After about 20 minutes of Alexa’s ‘help’ Katie exclaims she has found the right dress. Jenny tells Alexa to go figure out something for dinner tonight and that she was going to help Katie get ready. While Jenny did do a few things to help, it was all Katie. She wanted to look her best tonight. Alexa did try and come back one other time, but was quickly admonished to get out of there after a brief discussion about Alexa’s mother coming to visit.

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Danny arrived earlier than he had planned, like 20 minutes early. He wanted to just show up, get Katie and leave. As well as his conversations the last week had been with Alex, Alexa, Danny still didn’t get it. His mother tried to explain what was happening a bit, but he didn’t completely understand. He did tell his mother that he would try and understand. After sitting in his car for 5 minutes, he admitted this was crazy. He knew he was going to have to deal with his sister at some point. What a crazy thing to say, his sister.

But that was not the only thing on his mind. This date had brought back the whole episode with Lynn, finding her in bed with that jack-ass Brian Stewart was probably the lowest day of his life. He was in love, or he had thought he was at the time. She seemed like she was too, but why would she sneak around on him like she did? At that point Danny went into a deep period. He didn’t hide, he just didn’t deal with people all that well. He still went to the bars and hung out with his friends. He still went hunting and fishing like he always had, but something had changed. It wasn’t just his friends, but it was his job and where he was living. He stated to think he needed a change. He began actively looking for a new job and let the lease on his apartment expire. He needed out. Unfortunately, with the death of his father he felt he needed to stay. So, he moved back in with mom. Then he met Katie. Something changed again. He couldn’t get her out of his mind, so he asked her out. And now here he was, standing at her door, knocking.

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The knock was heard on the other side of the door as well. Katie called out from the back “Get that will you Alexa. It’s probably my date for tonight. Be nice to him and entertain him for me, OK. And BE NICE!” Katie and Jenny shared giggles as the elaborate joke was about to be sprung. Alexa for her part made her way over to the door.

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“What do you want Danny?’” Danny’s sister said to him. Danny felt like he would start sweating through his suit at any minute he was so nervous. He tried once and failed and then opened his mouth again.

‘I’m here to pick up Katie. She ready?” Alexa stood there for second before screaming out “No! No way! Katie! Get out here! Now!”

Katie and Jenny couldn’t stop laughing. Composing herself for a minute, Katie called out. “I’ll be out when I’m ready! See if Danny want’s something to drink.”

Danny relaxed a bit as his sister, still an odd thought, went and looked for a beer. Sitting in a chair he tried to calm himself. Alexa soon returned with a beer and a glass of clear liquid for herself. Soon the siblings were talking. It started out strained, but soon it felt natural. Danny talked a little bit about the break up with Lynn, but not much. It was a subject that he didn’t want to talk about. Danny wanted to ask his sister what he thought about the whole date thing, but was too nervous. When Alexa started to tease her brother a bit about the date, a completely foreign comment came to Danny. One he did not expect, but one that seemed natural. When Danny made a comment about Alexa’s dress length his brain stopped. Did he really say that? When Alexa called him out on it, Danny winced a bit inside. Was he approving of this? He realized he was. Alexa got up and slapped him on the back of the head and told him to deal with the dress length. Danny chuckled to himself.

From behind him, Danny could hear Alexa gasp. He stood up and his eyes were instantly drawn to Katie. She looked beautiful. He was mesmerized by her. Before he knew it, their eyes were locked on each other and smiles formed across their faces. They both greeted each other with a very soft hello.

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Katie was instantly drawn to Danny. He looked very handsome in his Leland’s suit. She was sure it was from there, because the Quinn’s never left Faribault to buy anything. Katie’s heart began to race as she and Danny just stared at each other. Alexa tried to put up a protest, and as if on cue, both Katie and Danny told her to shut up. Jenny giggled from behind Katie, and Katie turned around to look at her longtime roommate and show the excitement in her eyes. Danny held out his arm like a true gentleman and Katie took it. He led her over to the door and helped her on with the coat. Soon the two were saying goodbye to Jenny and Alexa and headed out the door.

As the two headed down to corridor to the elevator, neither knew that the other was thinking the same thing. How good the other looked, how excited they were for the evenings events, how well it had gone with Alexa, but most importantly how much the fireworks the one felt was happening with the other. Both began thinking what a great feeling they had for the other. Maybe this will work out.