Super Jaded (16/23) (Patreon)

Chapter 16: Date

I waited at the street corner, a building anxiety resulting in periodic jitters.

The sun was setting, only visible through a crack between the vast skyscrapers that surrounded me. It was dangerous to be out at night, especially a vulnerable woman such as myself.

This was a stupid idea. There’s no way she’ll actually show. She’s probably super busy solving actual crimes and saving people.

More and more intrusive thoughts broke into my headspace, but I ignored all of them. She would show up. She had to. Her presence had been living in my mind rent-free ever since she had saved me from the plane. Now, it was finally time to act upon these urges. A make-or-break scenario.

I looked around the darkening street, my frosty breath trailing behind my pivoting head. I really should have picked a better spot, one that at least did not reek of garbage, but I figured she’d prefer a secluded area that wasn’t bustling with distracted people. She had always mentioned how her super-hearing was both a blessing and a curse in interviews, so I wanted to accommodate for it as best I could.

“Hey! Sorry I’m late!” I suddenly heard a familiar voice coming from the sky. I glanced up to see a silhouetted person descending from midair. Even though I couldn’t immediately make out who it was, there was no mistaking that it was her.

“Y-you’re one minute early?” I responded with a light chuckle, checking my watch to confirm.

“Well, for some people, even showing up early isn’t good enough,” Nina responded sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. “So, uh, what seems to be the problem, uh, civilian?”

She tilted her head and squeezed her eyelids. She clearly recognized me, but was struggling to put her finger on it. I almost couldn’t blame her, it had been four years since we last saw each other. Even if she did have super-memory, I still wouldn’t expect her to remember me.

But then she did.

“Oh my god! You’re Fern! Fern… Chang! You’re that girl I saved on the plane!”

“You actually remember me!?” I responded in disbelief, only to immediately regret it. I could see that my question caused her face to go red hot, as if there was an ulterior motive for her to recall my face and name from her memory banks.

“Uh… oh course! My memory is so good I remember the names and faces of everyone I meet!”

My smile widened deviously. “You’re a bad liar, Nina Eternal.” I had worded my light chide with a certain breathy, erotic tone, which apparently had the desired effect. Her face was redder than a tomato. Even though I was probably more nervous about this whole altercation, I was certainly better at hiding it.

“W-well… y-uh…” she cleared her throat, dodging eye contact with me. “Uh, well, why did you call me here, uh, Fern?”

Oh fuck. I had already embarrassed her to the point of her avoiding the question, would she really want to answer my question positively after that? This entire encounter was based on an assumption I had made from a two-year-old clip of her getting flustered at a sexy news interviewer that had gone semi-viral. Did I really have a chance with the only known superhero on the planet? She probably had guys and gals lining up at her doorstep begging for a chance to have mind-breaking sex with her.

I had to try, though. It’s what Nina would have done in a situation like this.

“Nina, would you like to go out on a date with me?”

Her head shot up in surprise, eyes suddenly reunited with mine. To be honest, I was completely mortified. Her face was full of confusion and I wasn’t quite sure if the blush on it was from the aftermath of my previous statement. It took a herculean effort to keep a poker face going.

“Yes, Fern. I would love to go on a date with you.”

Nina looked as if she was about to cry tears of joy. Before I could respond, she dashed forwards and scooped me up into a tight hug. I had seen her compress steel beams like cardboard with these arms and yet I had never felt safer and more loved.

She set me down and we spent a few moments just staring into each other’s eyes. I wasn’t sure what to say. Thankfully, Nina seemed to find some words.

“Well, uh, did you have a particular spot in mind, Fern?”

I was snapped back into reality only to be left with nothing. I really didn’t think I’d get this far.

“Um, well, uh… no,” I said, being honest. “But I’m thinking we should find a place that’s secluded, just so no one bothers us.”

“That’s good thinking,” Nina responded, putting an inquisitive thumb and finger to her chin. Her eyes then lit up.

“Ooh! I know! We’ll go to that Waffle place!”

I was initially surprised by the suggestion and Nina quickly picked up on it.

“Is that… that’s not a bad place, is it?”

“What? Of course not!” I responded, reassuring her. Who knew she was so nervous when there was no one to save and the cameras weren’t rolling? “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I’ll let you lead the way!”

Nina’s face grew a devious smile of its own. She then scooped me up once more, this time in a fireman’s carry. A surprised yelp escaped my mouth, like if someone were to pick up a puppy dog without warning. But I was having fun!

“I’ll do you one better, Fern, I’ll fly the way!”

If planes were nothing to her, I was ready for a risk-free flight!

She took to the sky. Even though I was double-layered, the sky was proving to be very chilly. Yet, Nina was dressed like it was the middle of the summer.

“Aren’t you cold?” I shouted against the rushing wind of the sky.

“I don’t get cold. My skin is too tough. Temperature doesn’t really affect me. I could fly around naked in sub-zero temperature and be perfectly fine.

My naughty mind immediately attempted to picture what that would look like, a blush coming to my own face. Nina could tell.

“Hey now, just because I could doesn’t mean I will. Well, maybe if we get to know each other…”

She trailed off, looking at me with bedroom eyes. Was she really that comfortable with weird requests like that? What an enigma! With every passing moment I found myself more intrigued by the woman who literally held my life in her hands.

We landed in front of a shoddy-looking Waffle House, but I would have been satisfied with a run-down McDonalds. The main attraction of the night wasn’t the food or the restaurant atmosphere, it was Nina.

She seemed a little apprehensive once we arrived, but I assured her that it was the perfect place for a first date. We sat down and the conversation naturally transitioned to crappy first dates I had been on in the past. Even one where my now-ex-girlfriend used me as a front to buy drugs.

The booths were a little hard on my ass, but that really didn’t matter. If Nina was satisfied, so was I.

“So, have you had any bad first dates?” I asked Nina. “You must have some pretty insane stories!”

“Actually, I’ve never actually been on any dates before. This… is the first one I’ve ever said yes to.”

Shock was written all over my face. “Never been on a date before!? That’s crazy! You’re like the most beautiful girl in the world! How is that even possible!?”

Nina blushed at my comment, yet her eyes remained rather despondent.

“Well, when you’ve been bedridden for a good chunk of your childhood, and then given literal superpowers afterwards, but not before losing your parents and grandpa, you don’t really get a normal life. That means no dating.”

“Oh… I’m so sorry to hear that, Nina! I promise that from here on out, you’ll only go on the best. Dates. Ever!”

I struck the table with my finger with every pause to accentuate my point. I meant every word I said. This poor girl had been saving people all her life, but who was going to save her from a life of loneliness?

Now that I was able to see Nina in full without any anxiety or fear on my part, not from an interviewer's news camera or from a life-or-death situation… God, she was beautiful. Her curves perfectly accentuated her supple thighs, ones that even the baggiest of pants struggled to hide. She knew she was sexy, able to pull off something as simple as a sweatpants and tank-top combo.

I wasn’t sure what was natural and what was serum enhanced, if anything, but I knew it also didn’t matter. People often seemed to forget that Nina was a human just like all of us. She had wants and needs, frustrations and anxiety.

Even I sometimes forgot. I had my criticisms of how she handled situations and who she chose to ally with, but after this talk, I knew she was just a girl my age. One who was way over her head with problems.

But I also knew that I wanted to be there to help her. She had clearly been through a lot, and that presumption was just based on what the internet knew about her.

I reached my hands across the table to grab hers and she accepted the gesture with a hopeful smile. Heavy may have been the head that wears the crown, but even people with great power deserved love.

Our waffles came and went. Nina wolfed down her food. She mentioned between bites that she hadn’t had a decent meal all day due to hero work and I felt even worse for her.

I could only imagine how much food she had to eat to possess the energy required to do what she did all day.

“Well, I must say, this was a delightful dinner!”

“Woof! It sure was, I’m stuffed,” I replied, lightly smacking my stomach twice. “Please, let me cover the bill, Nina. It’s only fair after you provided transportation, as it were.”

Nina’s face got a little worried at that sentiment. “Uh, could we, uh…”

“What’s wrong, Nina?”

“Could we wait a bit to pay the bill?” She then closed her eyes, as if she wanted to dodge the visual consequences of what was coming out of her mouth next. “I just… I don’t want this night to end so soon.”

I got up out of my booth without another word, walked over to her side of the booth and scooted in so I could give her a big hug. I squeezed as tightly as I possibly could, knowing that her tough skin would dull the impact of the embrace.

“Nina, I promise, from this moment forward, I will never leave you in your time of need.”

“Wh-what are you saying, Fern?”

“I’m saying I want to be your girlfriend. I want to live with you. I want to be the one for you and never leave your side. How’s that sound?”

I opened my eyes and was greeted with a forceful kiss. It probably wasn’t supposed to be so rigid, but I could tell that Nina was a bit too passionate to actively monitor her strength at the moment. Thankfully, she eased into it fairly quickly.

We broke our lips, each breathing heavy with lust for one another. Thankfully for me, there was no one to view us becoming a couple at that very moment.

We both agreed to a vow of silence, understanding that the world probably wasn’t ready for news as shocking as this.

“You sure you really meant it when you said you’d never leave my side? W-what if I do something truly awful?”

I just shook my head with a knowing smile. “I don’t think you have an evil bone in your body, Nina.”