Oh My, I Messed Up the Story

Abby was so startled that she ended up rambling. "I…wow. Give me a second for my brain to start working again. I mean, I like you too but you did just drop a bomb on me so—"

"You do?" Blaise asked, uncharacteristically cutting her off out of eagerness.

"Uh, yeah. That's why I gave you my ribbon. I wanted you to have a reason to come back and panicked at the last second."

His smile grew so big that her heart stopped. It was a critical attack. He was too handsome when he smiled like that! Give her poor heart a chance to recover first. Abby was still trying to process that this was actually happening.

Dating here was a lot different than back home. On earth people dated because they liked each other and wanted to test if they were compatible. In this world courtship was a precursor to marriage, simply allowing time for setting up a wedding and building a house for the new couple to live.

Would Abby really be able to make that kind of a commitment to someone she wasn't sure she could love forever? He knew her life back home was different from here. If she told him she wanted to date first without any promises of a future would he be upset?

"Breathe, Miss Abby," Blaise reminded her with a slight laugh.

He had noticed she was freaking out, which was just like him. He was always concerned about her well-being. But if this was going to work she would have to explain how dating worked in her world and that he needed to stop being so formal with her.

"Please, please drop the 'Miss'," Abby begged. "I'm a casual person from a casual culture and I can't date somebody who addresses me like that. Dating is what I'm used to and it's different from the courtship you would think of…all I'm saying is please don't be so formal and be willing to take it slow with me. I can't marry anybody without being sure things will work out later on."

"I already figured as much. I have no intention to rush you…Abby," Blaise said a bit awkwardly. This would probably take some time for him to get used to. "But can you tell me a bit more what your 'dating' is like? For reference."

He was taking this a lot better than she had thought he would. Well, he was as cool as a cucumber. People like him did not rattle easily. But hearing about what constituted dating might because of how formal and chivalrous he was.

"You might not be comfortable with it," Abby hedged. "But dating involves things like hanging out together and holding hands, hugging, and kissing. We already hang out so you don't need to worry about that but as for the other things…"

"I understand. Like your sister and her husband, correct?"

"Yes! Exactly like them." Abby was surprised that he didn't seem to be bothered by this at all. Maybe because he had already seen the sort of thing she had come to expect out of a relationship.

Blaise said "I will be fine" in a confident tone and held his hand out to her. "But if I am not your betrothed, what am I?"

This was a discussion she never would have imagined herself having because everyone back home knew what dating was supposed to entail. She never thought she would have to tell her boyfriend that he was her boyfriend.

"My boyfriend. And I'm your girlfriend," she said awkwardly. "Is that okay?"

He nodded. "I shall follow your arrangements."

It sounded like he was conducting a business transaction! They had been dating for less than five minutes and Abby was already wondering if this was really going to work.

===

Katie found the whole exchange amusing when Abby told her about it over breakfast the following morning. She apologized with tears of mirth in her eyes when Abby got put out about it.

"I'm sorry, it really isn't that funny; I'm mostly comparing your experience to mine because it was pretty different."

Her anger fizzled hearing the explanation. It was true, their stories were vastly different. Katie had been proposed to, didn't hear from the guy for two weeks, then suddenly found herself engaged and living in the castle the next day.

They didn't live as husband and wife at first, acting more like friends than anything. Later, when Katie decided she liked him enough to stay, they acted like they were dating but didn't become a true married couple until after they left the palace.

And Abby had been a puddle of human awkwardness trying to explain things to a rather unemotional statue who acted like they were making some sort of deal.

She knew Blaise was capable of showing his emotions—he had earlier on in the conversation—but after that he seemed like a programmable boyfriend-bot. He did what she said without a single word of protest.

"We're quite a pair, aren't we?" Katie mused as she fed Aza spoonfuls of porridge, making a terrible mess on the baby's face. "Dating in this world is hard. I hope things work out for you as well as they have for me."

Normally Al would insert some sort of cheeky comment or kiss his wife here but he had headed out early with all of the visitors from Raisha. He still needed to help them divide their vegetables fairly.

"I hope so too," Abby replied quietly.

After breakfast she spent the rest of the morning helping Katie and a bunch of other women make huge pots full of jam on fire pits set up near the playground. It was easier to get it all done in bulk than do it alone.

Plus there was the added bonus of being able to keep an eye on their young children as they played safely out of the way. If everyone did their own jam at home they wouldn't be able to keep them entertained so easily.

As they worked, the construction for the amphitheater-turned-auditorium was easily visible nearby. Abby spotted Blaise a few times and felt her cheeks heat remembering the conversation from the night before.

And the way he had kissed the back of her hand goodnight like something straight out of a Jane Austen novel. Somehow, that had been more simultaneously embarrassing and enthralling than any kiss on the lips she had ever experienced.