Marleys heart pounded rapidly in her chest when she spotted her date waiting for her at the far end of the restaurant. He appeared to be tapping his fingers anxiously, glancing down at a lit up screen that sat in his hand. She took a deep breath and moved shakily towards the table, her ankles wobbling in her new black heels.

When she got to the table, she cleared her throat and feebly greeted him.

“Hey. Uh Davis right?”, she asked, and he put down his phone quickly to shoot her a toothy grin.

“Yeah, yeah I’m Davis. Marley, I’m guessing?”, he replied, getting up from his chair and shaking her hand gently.

He pulled out a chair for her to sit in and she smiled gratefully up at him as she took her seat. The butterflies in her stomach were beating their wings erratically, sending waves of panic through her that almost made her feel nauseous.

“Hey, are you alright?”, Davis asked, looking at her worriedly.

Marley cleared her throat and forced a smile.

“I’m fine. Just nervous. It’s…..this is my first date”, she said admittedly, deciding to go ahead and tell him the truth.

Davis’ eyebrows shot up in surprise but his eyes warmly appraised her all the same.

“Oh. Well, I hope to not disappoint you to much”, he said brightly, a smile on his face. Marley laughed nervously and shook her head.

“You’re doing great so far”

He tenderly handed her one of the menus that were placed at the end of the table and leaned in closer.

“Well”, he started bashfully, “not to be frank, but you mentioned in your messages that you hated sour patch kids. Why don’t you start off by telling me the terribly tragic backstory of how you came to hate the greatest candy of all time”.

Marley let out a a laugh, feeling the nervousness of before rapidly seep out of her pores. ‘Maybe this wouldn’t be too bad’, she thought excitedly.

“Wow bold start, but before I reveal anything, there’s something I must correct you on: Swedish fish are decidedly the best candy of all time, not sour patch kids”.