Up until the moment Aliyah stopped and pulled him over to kiss him, Duncan had been sure she wasn’t really all that into the exhibit.  All she did was watch him.  But all thoughts along those lines dribbled out his ears along with the majority of his brains when he felt her lips press against his.  Up until that point it had actually been hard to slow his walk down to match her stride as they walked through the museum.  He was used to practically running through a museum.  But afterwards he found it easy to match pace.

Duncan was in uncharted territory.  He had no idea what he was doing.  Part of his was actually terrified Aliyah was just playing along, hating everything, and he’d never see her again.  He would rather have had to face the hardest physics exam he’d ever taken, made even harder, than this.  And yet … he couldn’t have stopped now if he wanted to.  He was a slave to hormones now.  He hoped Aliyah couldn’t tell just how shaky his legs were.

His thoughts drifted to his wallet - not because of money.  It was because Gary had given him some advice - and … preparation.  It had embarrassed the Hell out of Duncan.  At least the older guy had waited until they got home.  But Gary explained that years ago a girl might have thought a guy was a Player for carrying protection.  These days … it was more manning up and taking a little responsibility rather than putting it all on the girl.

Then he forced his thoughts back to a state of reason.  It had just been a kiss.  He was getting way, way ahead of himself.  It struck him at that point that she was probably a little older - and probably way more experienced.  He was so far out of his league ...

He was actually grateful when she brought up the Area 51 exhibit.  It was really the part of the museum he had figured she would enjoy if any.  And as much as he already knew about atomic history, aliens were more fun to think about.  Slowly as his brain began to function once more he began to understand why she had wanted him to pick something HE liked.  He realized now that he would feel very much the same way when she was in her element.  He recalled how he used to love seeing his mother hug a new teddy bear being added to her collection as if she was a young girl.  She’d get mock defensive and explain how every teddy bear deserved a hug.  But it was just fun watching her enjoy her passion for a hobby.

He was a little surprised at dinner.  But agreed on the buffet.  It meant no waiting for a meal to get prepared, plus lots of variety.  He did make it a point to warn her about the spices - especially curry.  Unfortunately some of the food was finger food.  And for that Duncan did something he hadn’t done before.  He removed his left glove.  For the first time the long scar became visible.  It had had 6 years to heal.  It looked as if someone had split his hand nearly in half between the 3rd and 4th fingers down to within an inch or so of his wrist.  

He smiled faintly.  “Sorry, just don’t want to get food on the glove.  Really the glove is to protect my hand from accidental bumps - or to keep from making people uncomfortable.  If it bothers you, just say so.  I won’t be offended.  But you wanted to know about me.  And that is the tip of the iceberg.  I caught a knife aimed at my heart.  I had had barely enough time to throw my little brothers onto my bed, wrap the bedspread around them and toss them through the back window.  I turned around and threw my hand up in time to catch the knife, get shot and all.”

He smiled and broke into a bad British accent.  “I got better?”  He laughed.  “You know, I had never seen that movie before the gang attack.  Then some friends at the University got together and played it for me.  When they got to that scene they were all just saying Look, there’s Duncan.  They also made lots of Walking Tall jokes.  But you know what?  As low as I sunk after that time, all their jokes helped.  They forced me to socialize.  Best thing they could have done for me.”

He looked down at the food.  “I forget what this is called, but if I don’t stop eating them I am going to make myself sick by overeating.  That reminds me.  I never asked you if you had any allergies or if there were any foods you don’t like.  For me .. I hate liver.  And I have never been keen on sweet coconut or candied fruits like pineapple.  And calamari is like chewing on rubber.