Jaune and the Real Girl.

Chapter 17

"You mean like... a date?" Jaune asked the question tentatively. He felt like he was making a fool of himself. He worried for a moment that he was misinterpreting her words but the bright and hopeful grin that spread across her face put his worries to rest.

"How about it Jaune? You and me painting the town red, what do you say?" She asked enthusiastically.

Jaune felt like a deer caught in headlights. He was being asked out on a date! A girl was asking him to go on a date! His mind raced with apprehension and excitement intertwined with one another. A date! No girl had ever asked him out on a date before. He was always the one asking girls out, asking and getting shot down. But not right now, not tonight.

"Yeah lets do it," he answered her as his excitement beat down his apprehension. "Saturday we'll dance the night away!" He said with far more confidence than he actually felt.

"Yay!" Neon cheered, pulling him into a quick hug.  Her enthusiasm was a little overwhelming, was she really so excited to go out with him?

They walked together towards the door, Neon hung off his arm rolling on her skates beside him as they walked. It seemed a little much to Jaune considering they weren't exactly anything official but he could hardly complain about it. It felt nice.

They exited the diner and all eyes went to the two of them. Jaune felt a flush of embarrassment as everyone looked at the two of them. Neon squeezed his arm tighter and beamed.

"Ready to go?" Jaune asked the group as he wondered just what he should say pertaining to the faunus girl hanging off his arm. He looked at everyone glancing their way and noticed a missing face.

"Where's Penny?" He asked, glancing around again.

"Penny had to leave," Weiss explained, "she got a call about some kind of emergency and needed to leave."

"Aww," Neon whined, "that's too bad, I needed to thank her for helping me."

"Helping you?" Jaune asked her as they started down the sidewalk for the bullhead pickup. "You talk to her about this?"

Neon nodded, "Mm-hmm, I asked her if you happened to be dating anybody," she explained happily, "I was a little worried you might've already been taken and I didn't want to step on anybody's toes, especially if it was blondies."

Jaune went a little red at that. Dating Yang was only possible in his wildest dreams. "Nah, there's no one like that," he assured her, "I uh... I've never really had a girlfriend, or went on a date."

"What?!" Neon exclaimed, earning a couple of glances from his friends. He would have expected Nora to be a little more hyper and excited to see a girl on his arm but his teammate only showed a mild sense of amusement. "Seriously a stud like you? No girlfriend? No dates? Like ever?" She pressed him.

"Well I wasn't really a knock out with the ladies at Beacon," Jaune explained to her deciding that it would probably be tactless to mention the present company he had relentlessly pursued, strangely enough he had caught Weiss looking in their direction now and then. He wondered what that was about. "After Beacon I didn't really have a lot of time or opportunities for romance."

That felt like a massive understatement. After Pyrrha he hadn't exactly put much thought towards it period. On the road with Ruby and his teammates he hadn't exactly been meeting very many people, Ruby felt like a little sister to him and Nora and Ren were together together despite her insistence that they weren't. When he remembered how much he fretted about going to the dance and trying to earn Weiss's affection. Now it seemed so distant and small to him.

"Well aren't I a lucky gal nabbing you," she said flattering him. "But seriously? I have a hard time believing you didn't catch any girl's attention."