~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What's her problem?" Mimi asked as she looked disapprovingly at Twyla, who had just given Drew some reports with a song on her lips.  Twyla heard the question as she was skipping off.  She turned around, grin still on her face, and walked up to Mimi.
"It's called excitement, learn to recognize it." she replied with a perfectly friendly smile on her face.
"Well sorry, but from here it looks like drug overdose."  Mimi said as she went back to her work.
"Lay off Bozo, she has a date." Drew rolled his eyes at Mimi's rudeness.
"Wow.  The girl's been singing for almost a week now, who could get her that excited?"
"Well..." Drew was trying to think of a wise-ass way to put what he wanted to say, but ended up just saying:
"It's Lewis."
"Lewis?!" Mimi exclaimed in disbelief, "She's this excited over a date with Lewis?!  Man, what is this world coming to?"
Drew was about to speak in his friend's defense when Twyla spoke up again.
"Say what you want Mimi," she said as she leaned on Mimi's desk and played with one of the troll dolls, "nothing you say can take this feeling away.  I'm excited and I feel like singing.  So..."  She put the troll doll back on the desk and walked off, singing faintly:
"Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grave.  Oh, the more I get of you the stranger it feels, yeah."

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"Now that your rose is in bloom..." Lewis sang to himself as he and Oswald walked to Winfred-Louder that day.  Oswald grinned, happy to see his friend so excited.
"So do you know where you're going to take Twyla yet?" he asked.
"Yeah," Lewis grinned dreamily, "you know that fancy place downtown a ways?"
"That place?  Man Lewis, can you afford that?"
"Hey, it's our first date.  So I may have to clean up some extra monkapotomus dung and maybe babysit one of the monkeys.  It'll be worth it."
Oswald shook his head. "Man, this is one of those times I'm glad I don't have your job.  The worst I have to deal with is wrinkly old men who answer the door naked."  Lewis simply shrugged at this.
"Well, here we are."

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"So, how do I look?" Twyla asked Greg that night.  Greg looked up from his place on the couch to behold Twyla in a form-fitting knee-length dress.  He noticed that the skirt was full so she could walk easily, which he didn't find surprising considering her practical nature.  Her hair was curled and half of it was pulled back, with the exception of two strategically placed pieces in front to draw attention to her made-up face.
"Lovely," Greg replied with a grin, "where are you guys going anyway?"
"Lewis didn't say.  He wants it to be a surprise apparently.  He told me at lunch, though, that the dress code was fancy."
"Oh."
"So I look good?  I want to look extra-special tonight."
"Yes you do.  And why with the extra special?  The man already thinks you're a goddess."
"Sort of my way of saying 'sorry for running out of the Warsaw after you sang to me.'"
"Oh he'll forgive you.  The way you look, he'll have no choice."
Twyla grinned at this. "Thanks.  So, you and Pat doing anything tonight?"
"Oh, this and that.  We'll probably be out most of the night." Greg suddenly looked mischievous, "Why, you want to bring him back here for some fun?"
"No." Twyla said as she made a face, "I'm taking this slow.  I'm not ready for that yet.  Especially considering..."
"Understood." Greg nodded.  As he stood up and faced Twyla, he noticed that she was a good 3 or 4 inches taller than usual.  Now, they saw each other eye-to-eye.
"Man, someone shot up." Greg said with a chuckle.
"Yeah, I love 4 inch heels."  Twyla said as she looked down at her red sandals, which had a wide yet tall heel to them.
"You'd better, considering your date is over six-and-a-half feet tall.  And you didn't get the nickname 'smurf' because you were blue."
Twyla rolled her eyes at her old college nick-name.  Just then, there was a knock at the door which made her jump a little.  She swiped her purse off the nearby table and answered the door.  Lewis stood in the doorway nervously.  He was wearing a dark beige suit and his hair had been combed neatly away from his face.  Twyla thought she caught a whiff of cologne, but she didn't trust her sense of smell for anything.  Nevertheless, he looked very striking.
"Hey..." he started as he looked up, then dead panned once he got a look at Twyla.  They both stared at each other for a minute until Greg, feeling strangely uncomfortable all the sudden, let out a low whistle.
"Whoa, Lewis.  Lookin' good." Greg said with a grin.  Lewis looked at him and smiled wryly.
"Hey, you've got a boyfriend young man,  so don't go making eyes at me."
   "I'll try to contain myself." Greg said sarcastically.  Just then, Pat came out of the bedroom, where he had been composing on his keyboard earlier.  He took one look at Lewis and widened his eyes.
"Man, Lewis.  You're sure you're not gay right, 'cause..."
"Back off bitch," Twyla said with a grin, "you already stole my last boyfriend."
"Girl, you want to start this again?" Pat said, pushing the "argument" further.  Twyla just rolled her eyes and turned to Lewis.
"Should we go?" She asked.
"Probably, unless you want a minute to tie and gag those two." Lewis replied, motioning to Greg and Pat.
"Don't get kinky with me," Greg said, "you two go."
With that, Lewis and Twyla said their good-byes and left for the restaurant.

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"Look, I know I made a reservation!" Lewis growled in frustration at the mater' d.
"I'm sorry, but according to this we don't have any reservations under the name 'Kiniski.'" the mater' d replied dully.
(author's note: I hope I spelled that right) 
"Can't you check again?!" Lewis was beginning to get desperate.  Twyla looked on, already thinking of other places they could go with the dress code they planned for.
"I've checked three times sir.  We don't have a reservation under that name."
"All right, I didn't want to do this, but....this night is very important to me.  It's important that I get some food here.  Now, if you don't get me a table I'll be forced to send the angry circus troop I have out back on your toupee."
"Look sir," the mater' d growled, upset at being threatened, "you do not have a reservation here, so you can't eat here.  You and your daughter," he motioned to Twyla, "are just going to have to go elsewhere."
"DAUGHTER?!  Oh that's it, I'm sending in the clowns!" Lewis yelled.  He was about to severely damage the mater' d when Twyla held him back.
"Lewis, it's ok.  We can find other, less presumptuous," she glared at the mater' d, "places to eat."  With that, she took Lewis' arm and led him out while Lewis turned back and made his classic "cat-hiss" at the mater' d.  The mater' d shook his head and looked back down at his book.
Hmm...he thought, the Chininski's are rather late....

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Lewis and Twyla sat in Lewis' car in the parking lot for a while, contemplating their options.
"All the other decent restaurants in this town require a reservation to get in." Lewis said sorrowfully.
"So we won't go to a decent restaurant.  We can go back to our places and change, then grab a bite elsewhere."  Twyla offered.
"No, no..." Lewis shook his head, "this is a special night.  What kind of a first date would that be for you to remember?"
"Is that what this is about?  Lewis, if you're trying to impress me, don't worry about it.  You've impressed me enough as it is.  Now, I just want to spend time with you, I don't care whether it's in a classy restaurant or in the middle of the Warsaw or wherever. As long as I'm with you."
Lewis looked at her and smiled warmly.
"Low standards, I like that in a woman."
"Lewis, you think a girl has to have low standards to want to date you?"
"No, just a girl like you."
"Well, than you're most definitely not seeing what I see when I look at you.  So what if you're a little...well, different.  I like variety."
Twyla paused to give Lewis a warm grin, then continued.
"Now, I think your ego has been inflated enough for one evening, so let's back to my place.  We'll have it all to ourselves, so we can just do...well whatever.
"But," Twyla said as she saw Lewis' face contort into a mischievous grin, "I won't sleep with you yet.  That's not going to happen in this relationship until I feel like I'm ready.  Understood?"
Lewis looked down in slight disappointment, then looked back up to meet Twyla's gaze.
"Well, it's better than some of the other offers I've gotten."
With that, the two drove back to Twyla's apartment.  Once there, they spent the evening just enjoying each other's company. 

And it was better than any restaurant they could've gone to.


Part Six