Toby Part Five: Date With Disaster

“Hey, To-bum!” Pete called.  “How’s your girlfriend?”

Toby groaned.  Why couldn’t Pete just let him hang out with Luna like a normal dog?  Even if Luna was his girlfriend-which admittedly she was-that was their business.  Besides, he had other matters on his mind besides Pete’s insults.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Pete went on, his voice dripping with sarcasm.  “I forgot she’d never go with a loser like you.”

Toby bristled, and he could sense Luna beside him doing the same.  Both dogs whipped their heads toward Pete, glaring daggers at the husky.  “It just so happens,” Luna snapped, “That for your information I am his girlfriend.”

“That’s right!” agreed Toby.  “We’ve been steady for a full week now-seven times your record, I believe.”

Pete couldn’t argue with that.  He had gone through at least a dozen “girlfriends” and he had never managed to hold onto one of them for more than a day.  They usually averaged at around two hours.  “Oh yeah?” he retorted.  “Well, how many dates have you been on?”

“Look who's talking,” scoffed Luna.  “Most of your ‘girlfriends’ dump you before the first date.”  She knew this because her sisters were the two biggest gossips in town, and one of them had actually been one of Pete’s girlfriends.

“Ha!” Pete laughed.  “They just can’t handle real quality.”

“Great,” Toby jabbed.  “We’ll be sure to warn them if we see any.”  He took in the flabbergasted look on Pete’s face and then turned to Luna.  “Come on, sweetie,” he said, putting just a little emphasis on the word, “sweetie.”  “Let’s go before he comes up with another one of his lame comebacks.”

“Right behind you, big boy,” Luna smiled sweetly, following him around the corner.

As soon as they had disappeared from Pete’s sight, Luna made a face.  “Ugh,” she groaned.  “I hate talking like that.”

Toby laughed.  “Well, I thought it was worth it just to close Pete’s mouth for once.”

Luna nodded.  “Yeah.  But don’t ever call me ‘sweetie’ again.  If my sisters had been watching…”

Toby got a cocky grin on his face.  “How about ‘Widdle Pumpkin?’”

Luna glared at him.  “Don't even think about it.”  She shook her head and glared back in the direction they had come from.  “I just can't believe the nerve of that creep.  Since when does it matter whether or not we officially date?”

‘Well, this is awkward,’ thought Toby.  “Actually, I've been thinking...maybe it would be kind of nice to go out.”

Luna regarded him with a slight degree of skepticism.  “Are you doing this just to shut him up?”

“No!” Toby blurted.  “I just want to go out with you sometime.  I mean,” he added, “If that doesn't bother you.”

Luna considered.  “Well,” she said slowly, “When were you thinking of doing it?”

Toby breathed a sigh of relief, but even as he did his mind was racing.  It was almost lunchtime, but doing it after lunch wouldn't work.  He needed time for some ideas.  “How’s tomorrow?”

She smiled.  “Yeah, I think I’m open then.”

Toby wagged his tail.  “Great!”  Then he paused.  “If you’re sure,” he repeated.  The two of them had made a promise that they wouldn’t pressure each other into anything.

“To be honest,” she told him, “I was wondering when you’d ask.”

Their owners called them at that moment, so they had to say goodbye.

“See you tomorrow,” said Toby.

Luna nodded.  “Catch you later!” she called in parting.

“It’s a date, cupcake!” Toby joked.  Luna playfully swiped a paw at the snow and sent some of it spattering in his face.

‘Great,’ thought Pete, watching them go their separate ways.  ‘Just great.’  His ears sank, but then he brightened as a plan began to take shape in his mind.  This was great.  Toby and Luna had been a thorn in his side for a long time, and now he had the perfect chance to split them up for good.

Toby didn’t know that Pete had plans of ruining his date with Luna, but he did know he was in over his head.  ‘Why’d you ask her out?’ he asked himself.  ‘You don’t know the first thing about dating!’

So he did what he always did when he needed advice about girls: he went to his dad’s house.  As usual, he found Rex inside, dozing on a rug.  Anyone who didn’t know the bloodhound would have thought him lazy, but the truth was that Rex was a seasoned tracker with a fighting spirit and a wealth of wisdom to match.  More importantly at the moment, he knew how to deal with girls.

Rex yawned and stretched as his son’s approach awakened him.  “Ah, Toby.  What brings you here?”

“Well,” Toby began, “I asked Luna out this morning, and now I need some advice.”

Rex smiled.  “Somehow I knew this would happen sooner or later.  So what do you need to know?”

“Everything.  What to do, what to say, that kind of thing.  Basically, how am I supposed to act on a first date?”

Rex nodded.  “I see.  Well, it’s very simple: be yourself.  Just do and say what comes to mind.”

Toby was surprised.  “What, no guidelines?  No do’s and don’ts?”

“Ah, so you want the easy answers, eh?”

Toby sagged.  “You make it sound like cheating at obedience school when you put it that way.”

“Well, I can give you a few warnings to start with.  One, be careful how you answer any questions she might ask you.  If she asks a question about her looks, answer it right away before she gets offended.”

Toby was confused.  “Why would she get offended?”

“How should I know?  The way I see it, men were never meant to understand the female mind, and females were never meant to understand ours.  Just watch out for questions about what you think of her appearance.”

“Why?”

Rex looked at Toby with a very serious expression.  “Son, I have years of experience with your mother.  Females sometimes ask questions there is no right answer to.  If you say you like something, they will insist that you don’t and demand to know what’s wrong with it.  If you say you don’t like it, they’ll just skip the accusation and go straight to the demand.”

“Dad, correct me if I’m wrong, but mom’s the only female you ever took the time to get to know since you were a puppy.  What makes you think Luna would act that way?”

“Toby, trust me.  I have talked to other dogs, and my experience with your mother is not unique.  Watch what you say.  And if Luna asks if you think she looks fat or anything like that…”

“Why would she ask if I think she looks fat?  She knows she’s not fat.”

“Has she said that she knows she’s not fat?”

“Well, no,” Toby admitted.

“Then take my advice: if she asks a question like that, run!”

Toby was beginning to worry.  What if his dad really knew what he was talking about?  ‘Well he should know,’ he decided.

Rex laughed, seeing Toby’s confusion.  “Don’t worry, Toby.  Just do like I said and be yourself.”

Toby looked at the ground.  “Well, yeah, but don’t you think she’d be expecting me to act a little different?  We’re not just hanging out like we usually do, you know.  This is a real live date.”

Rex nodded.  “Well, I’m afraid my advice there may be a little rusty.  It’s been a while since your mother and I have gone anywhere special.”

“When it comes to leaving the house, you don’t go anywhere, period,” Toby pointed out.

“Exactly.  But if you want to make this relationship last, and I’m guessing you do, then just remember to be nice to Luna.  Complement her on how she looks, the way she smells, things like that.  And don’t forget little things like her favorite things to do, her favorite places to go, her eye color, and so on.”

Toby nodded.  “So basically all you’ve told me is everything I already figured out on my own.”

Rex laughed.  “That’s what I’m here for.”

Toby rolled his eyes.  “Great.  Looks like I’m back where I started.  Didn’t you ever do anything with mom that might qualify as a date?”

Rex considered.  “Well, there was that walk on the beach by moonlight a couple months ago.”

Toby nodded.  “Yeah, that sounds good.”

“And we watched the sunset when we were getting to know each other, so that might be a good idea too,” suggested Rex.

“Or the sunrise,” Toby added.

“That’s good,” Rex agreed.

As they continued their brainstorming, Pete listened with rapt attention to their plans.  In his mind he was cooking up some plans of his own...

Around sunset, Toby swung by Luna's house to let her know he'd be picking her up before sunrise the next morning.

“Why so early?” asked Luna.

Toby smiled.  “It’s a surprise,” he answered mysteriously.

‘Yeah,’ thought Pete, ‘But not the one he thinks.’

Toby woke up bright and early the following morning, had a quick drink from his water bowl, and headed out the door.  The cool morning air filled his nostrils with a crisp, clean smell.  ‘I should do this more often,’ he thought.

He ran all the way to Luna’s house, breathless with excitement.  Screeching to a stop outside, he realized he had a problem.  He didn’t know which window was Luna’s!  He didn’t want to bark for her because that would wake everybody up.  He didn’t want to walk inside, because that would be intruding.  ‘Well,’ he decided, ‘Nothing to do but sneak around and see what I can find.’

He managed to get up onto the shed, and from there to the roof of the porch.  He peeked in one window, struggling to see in the dim light.  After a moment’s thought he made his way back down and borrowed a lantern from the front of someone’s house.  Armed with the lantern, he made his way up to the roof again.  Looking into the window he saw only two humans in bed, fast asleep.  From having seen Luna with her owner, Toby guessed that these were the parents of Luna’s girl, Connie.  The next window revealed a young boy, also in bed asleep.  ‘That must be Connie’s brother, Eugene,’ he decided.

The third window revealed Connie, asleep like everyone else.  Lying on the girl’s bed, curled up like a cat, was a female dog.  ‘But that can’t be Luna!’ thought Toby as he stared in disbelief.  This dog looked like Luna, but her fur was neatly brushed!  Luna despised having her fur brushed, and hid her brushes whenever she got the chance.  Toby knew this first paw, having helped her bury several of them.

‘Well,’ Toby decided at last, ‘Whoever she is, she might know where Luna is.’  He scratched the window and whispered, “Hey!  Whoever you are in there, wake up!”

The dog raised her head and blinked.  Seeing Toby, she started and jumped off the bed, hurrying over to the window.  “Toby?” she asked, opening the window with her nose.

Toby shook his head in disbelief.  This dog even sounded like Luna!  “I’m looking for Luna,” he said.  “Do you know where she is?”

The girl dog laughed softly and jumped out onto the roof.  “Silly,” she said, “It’s me.”

Toby’s eyes were as wide as dining room plates.  “What happened to you?” he asked.  “You look like you’ve been dressed up for a dog show!”  Just then he remembered his dad’s advice.  Normally talking about a dog show would be taken as a complement, but with a girl like Luna, who knew?

Luna shrugged.  “Well, I felt like a change, so I let them brush me.  In fact, I practically made them brush me.”  She turned around in a circle.  “How do I look?”

Toby was relieved that Luna hadn’t been bothered by the dog show comment.  ‘I guess even tough girls like to look nice,’ he decided.  “Well, at this hour of the morning I guess I sort of expected something along the line of curlers and a mud mask,” he joked.  He laughed at the shocked expression on Luna’s face.  “Just kidding.  You look great.”

“You always say that.  But do I look great great, or just normal great?” asked Luna.

Toby started to panic.  ‘Uh-oh.  Sounds like one of those unanswerable questions Dad warned me about.’  “Uh, great great,” he said nervously.

Luna looked like she was stuck somewhere between being pleased and being annoyed.  “Well don’t get used to it,” she remarked, “Because right now I feel like a sissy.”

“So shake it out,” said Toby.  “I don’t mind.”

“No thanks,” she said, although she did give herself a quick shake once his back was turned.  ‘First rule of dating,’ she remembered someone telling her.  ‘Always keep them guessing.’

“Come on,” said Toby, returning the lantern to its place.  “We can’t be late.”

“Late for what?” asked Luna.

Toby just grinned.  “You’ll see.”

Luna was confused when Toby led her out to the hills on the east of town and stopped there, not doing or saying anything.  The stars were still out, making Luna wish she were back in bed.  “What are we doing out here?” she yawned.

“Just wait,” said Toby.

Soon the sky began to grow brighter.  The stars blinked out one by one as the light increased, and then with a surprisingly sudden burst of light, the sun rose up in front of them.  Unfortunately, the light from the sun itself and the light it reflected off the snow bounced straight into the dogs’ eyes.  “Ow!” Luna protested.

“Okay,” Toby observed, covering his eyes with a paw to shut out the harsh radiance.  “I guess that wasn’t such a bright idea.”

“Oh, real funny, Toby,” complained Luna as they turned back toward town.

“Sorry,” Toby apologized.  ‘Man, this is not going well,’ he mentally scolded himself.  “No pun intended.  I guess watching the sunrise wasn’t so great.”

“No, it was beautiful,” Luna reassured him.  “It’s just a little…”  She paused to rub her eyes.  “Bright,” she finished.

“Well,” Toby decided, “Let’s try something else.”

Luna nodded, still blinking as her eyes readjusted.  “Sounds good.  Any plans?”

Toby thought over the ideas he’d been planning.  “Yeah, I got a few.  Come on.”

As he was leading her to the next destination, they happened to pass his house.  “Toby!” called a voice from the door.  “Breakfast!”

‘Oh drat,’ Toby winced.  ‘There goes…’ but his thoughts were interrupted by Luna pushing him in the direction of the house with her paw.

“You didn’t tell me you skipped breakfast,” she said reproachfully.  “You go ahead.”

“Care to join me?”

“No, Connie’s probably wondering where I am by now.  I’ll have breakfast at home and be back here in half an hour.”

Toby nodded, then received a jolt of inspiration.  “On second thought, meet me on the south side of town.  I’ll have a surprise for you.”

Luna rolled her eyes.  “That’s something to live for.”

Meanwhile, in another part of town, Pete woke up and realized he had slept in.  ‘Aw, nuts,’ he grumbled.  ‘The princess and the pea-brain must have been up for hours.’  Sparing only a moment to eat, he hurried out the door.  ‘Time to teach those two a lesson.’

Toby arrived at the rendezvous point to find Luna waiting for him.  “So what’s next?” Luna greeted him, eager as ever to get going.

Toby reached into his collar and pulled out a piece of cloth.  “First I want you to put this over your eyes,” he instructed her.

“What?  Toby, what are you…”

“Just cover your eyes and follow me.”

“How?  I won’t know where you’re going.”

Toby grinned and extracted a short piece of rope from his collar.  “Here.  Hold the rope, and I’ll guide you.”

Luna reluctantly covered her eyes with the cloth and took the rope in her teeth.  “Okay,” she mumbled through the rope.  “I’m ready when you are.”

Toby nodded.  “Then let’s go.” And with that, he took the rope and led Luna away.

‘Darn it,’ thought Pete as he followed at a distance.  ‘If I’d known he was planning to do that blindfold thing, I could’ve done all sorts of things to mess it up.’  He growled in frustration.  ‘Well, I might as well follow and see what they’re up to.’

Luna was going crazy wondering the same thing.  She followed blindly for what felt like an eternity.  ‘Where is he taking me?’ she wondered.  At some point she noticed it was growing colder and there was less light filtering through the cloth.  “Toby, where are we?”

“Don’t worry.  We’re almost there.  You’re doing fine.”

“You realize that with any other guy, what I’m doing right now would be incredibly stupid.”  She paused.  “Come to think of it, trusting you to keep me from bumping into things isn’t very smart either.”

“Thanks,” Toby grinned.  “Well, you can stop being stupid now, because here we are.”  He whisked the blindfold off her face and watched with pleasure as she stared around in wonder.  “You like it?”

“Like it?  Toby, it’s-it’s beautiful,” Luna breathed.  Toby had led her to an icy cavern.  A narrow beam of sunlight came in through a hole in the ceiling, striking a small heap of crystals on the floor.  The crystals scattered the light into dozens of colorful beams, which bounced and glittered off the icy walls, flowing all over the cavern.  “It’s like being inside the Northern Lights.”

“I know.  Isn’t it great?  Somebody told me about this place, and I knew right away that you’d like it.  Come on.  There are other chambers.”

Toby led Luna through several chambers of the cave, each with its own formations created by the dripping ice.  In one cave, they found a flat patch of wall and pressed their paws into it until the warmth melted indentations in the wall shaped like their paws.

“Well, I guess we’d better get go-”

At that moment the cave resonated with a terrible, wailing yowl.  Like the lights in the crystal chamber, it bounced off the walls, echoing all around them.  But the noise was as awful as the light was beautiful.  “What is that?” asked Luna, putting her head down and pulling her paws over her ears.

“I don’t know,” Toby replied.  “It’s not like anything I’ve ever heard!  I just hope it doesn’t cause a cave-in!”

Meanwhile, Pete was at the entrance of the cave, howling and bellowing his lungs out.  ‘I’ll bet they’re scared right out of their skins,’ he thought gleefully.  The thought that his howling might cause a dangerous accident had never occurred to him.  In fact, he was so focused on the racket he was making and how scared Toby and Luna probably were…that he never noticed a different sound from above him.

Deep in the recesses of the cave, Toby and Luna heard an odd rumbling sound, accompanied by an abrupt end to the howling.  “What was that?” asked Luna.

Toby shrugged, rising from the floor.  He hadn’t realized up until now that he and Luna were huddling down smack up against each other.  Luna realized it at the same moment he did, and both of them blushed, awkwardly inching away from each other.  “I-I don’t know,” Toby stammered, “But it sounds like it’s gone now.  Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Luna nodded, and the two of them hurried to the exit.  “You know,” she remarked when they got there, “I don’t remember the snow being that high outside before.”

She was right.  Outside the cave there was a pile of snow.  It didn’t block the exit by any means, but it was easily as tall as Toby.  “Whatever was making that noise must have caused a small avalanche,” Toby deduced.

“You think it’s still around?” asked Luna.  She seemed to be somewhere between worrying that whoever or whatever it was might come back and hoping it would so she could teach it a lesson.

Toby climbed to the top of the pile and sat, staring in all directions.  “Don’t see anything,” he reported.

Luna came up and joined him, looking in every direction before satisfying herself that the coast was clear.  “It’s strange,” she remarked.  “For some reason I feel like there’s someone close by.”

‘You don’t know the half of it,’ Pete thought with frustration from inside the pile.  He was paralyzed by the weight of the snow, but otherwise unhurt.  Although most of his body was deep in the pile, his head was just close enough to the surface that he could hear most of what they were saying…and he could feel that either Toby or Luna was sitting directly on top of his head.

All day it continued.  Toby and Luna went from place to place, with Pete silently stalking their every step.  Pete, who had eavesdropped as Toby made his plans the day before, had traps laid at every turn, but inevitably they would backfire.  By the end of the day he had fallen off of three roofs, gotten his head stuck in two buckets (one of which had previously been full of rotting garbage), and sat in a snow-covered pile of thorns planned for the canine couple to step in.  Toby and Luna, by some miracle, never knew he was there.

Toby could honestly say he had never enjoyed any day more in his life.  Sure, he made a few mistakes (mostly the results of Pete’s traps), but Luna never let them get under her skin.  In fact, she seemed to like it for some odd reason when he goofed up.

As for Luna, she was having the time of her life as well.  Toby was lots of fun, he took heed when she wanted to do something different from what he had in mind, and he was always so sorry when he made a mistake that Luna couldn’t have stayed mad at him for long even if she had wanted to.  When they watched the sunset from the top of a sand dune on the beach, she felt disappointed that their date was over so soon.  She was all too pleased when Toby suggested a moonlight stroll on the beach.  They walked along for quite a while before either of them spoke.

“I’m glad I agreed to this,” said Luna.

Toby smiled.  “I’m glad I asked you.”

‘Wait for it…’ thought Pete as he watched them move along the shoreline.

“You know, you look different in the moonlight,” Toby went on.

She tilted her head.  “How so?”

He gazed at her, noticing that she looked almost white under the full moon.  “Well, you look…slimmer, for one thing.”

‘Oh, she’ll look slimmer after this one,’ thought Pete.

Luna’s eyes narrowed and her voice grew sharp.  “Oh, so I look fat in the daytime?”

Toby froze and started to panic.  “What?  No, I meant…”

She burst out laughing.  “I’m kidding.”  There was a moment’s silence.  “So what else looks different?”

“Well, your fur looks…shiny.  I mean, it looks good in sunlight too, but right now it makes you look like you’re glowing.”

Luna shifted, half with embarrassment and half with pleasure.  “Go on,” she said.

Toby stared at her.  “And your eyes…gosh, your eyes…” he trailed off, completely at a loss for words.  He felt an overwhelming urge to kiss her, but held back.

‘Come on, come on,’ thought Pete.  The dogs were one step away from being exactly where he wanted them.

At that moment Luna’s stomach growled.  She looked down at it and let out a nervous laugh.  “Uh…”

“Uh-oh,” said Toby.  “We can’t have that.  Come on.  I’ve got supper all figured out.”

Both dogs took a step forward, and Pete sprang his trap.  He yanked on the end of a rope he had buried in the sand earlier, pulling a stretch of it tight around Toby’s feet.  Toby pitched to his left, sending Luna into the water with a tremendous splash.

Toby stared in amazement as Luna broke the surface.  With her fur plastered against her body, she looked like a drowned rat.  “Uh, here.”  Toby reached out his neck.  “Grab my collar.”

Luna took his collar in her teeth.  But instead of allowing him to help her get out, she braced her feet and pulled him headfirst into the water.  Toby came up sputtering for breath.  “What was that for?” he asked.

Luna answered with a wry grin.  “Well, two’s company, right?”

Toby grinned and lunged.  Soon the two of them were splashing and nipping at one another, making the surface white with foam.  Pete was hoping they would do something he could use as blackmail, but to his frustration, Toby practically treated Luna as a sister while they were in the water, and Luna behaved in kind.  When at last they emerged, Luna got out first and shook out her fur.  Toby followed suit…and succeeded in thoroughly saturating her all over again.  “Oops,” he chuckled nervously as he stared at her.

Luna just smiled, lifted a paw, and pushed him back in.

After they were done playing in the surf, Toby led Luna to the boiler room and told her to wait by the furnace while he went and got some things.  Ignoring the cold air on his wet fur, he went to his house and checked his food dish.  As usual, they had given him a portion of tonight’s dinner (Charlie insisted on giving him people food at least once a day since he was part of the family).  Tonight it was spaghetti and meatballs, still nice and hot.  ‘There’s a movie here somewhere,’ he thought to himself as he picked up the bowl and slipped out the door.

“Close your eyes, Luna,” he called to her as he approached the boiler room.  He set down the dish and peered in to see her with her eyes closed.  “Cover your nose, too,” he added.

Giggling, Luna placed a paw over her nose.  “You’d better not have something smelly,’ she warned in a nasal voice.

‘Hmm,’ Toby thought to himself.  ‘Maybe next time I’ll see if there’s any limburger in the ice box.’  He laughed and brought in the pasta.  He quickly pushed an overturned crate into place to serve as a table.  Setting down the dish of spaghetti on the table he announced, “Hope you like Italian.”

Luna opened her eyes and looked at the food.  “Toby, how did you get this?” she asked in confusion.

Toby grinned.  “If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” he joked.  He didn’t want to let on that he was giving up half his dinner, or she’d refuse to eat a bite.  “Go ahead,” he urged.  “Ladies first.”

“Age before beauty,” she replied.  “Your birthday is two days before mine.”

Toby pushed the plate toward her.  “I insist.”

“Same time?”

“Deal.”

Both dogs positioned their heads over the dish, ready to dig in.  Although neither of them admitted it, both of them found it a little strange to have their faces that close together.  A nice strange, but still strange.  “On the count of three,” said Toby.  “One, two…”

From his hiding place, Pete made his move.  Stomping a paw on a loose floorboard, he shook the makeshift table sitting on the other end.  It was no major earthquake, but it was enough to make the bowl jump at the two dogs, spreading pasta and sauce all over their faces.

There was a moment’s silence as they stared at one another.  Impulsively, Toby began to clean the food off of Luna’s face.  It took him a good ten seconds to realize how he was doing it.  With a start, he yanked his tongue back into his mouth and stared at Luna.  Luna’s face was beet red, and Toby could feel that his was the same color.  It wasn’t the tomato sauce.

“L-Luna, I…I…” Toby tried to come up with something to say, but no words were coming out.  But Luna just smiled and returned the favor.  Toby thanked his lucky stars that no one was watching as he and Luna proceeded to clean each other’s faces and finish their dinner, unaware of their stalker.

Pete grumbled to himself in frustration as he watched them enjoy themselves.  Nothing worked.  He had tried every trick he had up his fur and nothing had worked.  Those two just wouldn’t break up!  He slipped out the door in plain sight, too tired to care if they knew what he’d been doing.  But they didn’t see him at all.  They were too busy staring at each other.

“Come on,” said Toby at last, when the seawater had finally dried from their fur.  “It’s getting late, and there’s one place left I’d like to take you before we have to go home.”

“Where?” asked Luna.

Toby headed for the door.  “You’ll see,” he promised.  He led her through the streets of Nome to an old lot full of boxes and crates.  He stopped and sat as Luna came up and sat beside him.

“Why did you bring me here?” she asked, wondering why Toby would finish their date at such an unromantic spot.

Toby’s mouth dropped.  “You don’t remember?  This is the place we first met.  The place we first became friends.”

“Of course,” said Luna.  “How could I forget?  This was one of the best playgrounds in town.”

“So many memories,” Toby sighed, staring around.

“Forget the scenery and look over here,” Luna told him.

Toby turned and found himself nose-to-nose with Luna.  He pulled back.  “You planned that, didn’t you?” he asked.

She smiled.  “Define ‘planned.’”

Toby chuckled nervously.  Luna might not have realized, it, but she had just brought him within an inch of something he badly wanted.  ‘How do I say this without pressuring her?’ he wondered.  “Luna, what do you think about…well, kissing on a first date?”

Luna laughed.  “You mean besides what happened in the boiler room?”

Toby was getting really nervous now.  “Well, yeah, sort of.  I mean…” he trailed off, not sure what else to say and half-wishing he hadn't said anything.

Luna considered.  “Well, as long as that’s as far as we go…” she moved her muzzle towards his.  “Then it sounds alright to me.”

Author’s Note:

I am well aware that relationships are, and always have been, a pretty delicate matter.  For the record, I do not have any established, concrete views on the matter of kissing on a first date, as the question is quite widely varied and my own knowledge of it is quite slim.  However, the kiss at the end seemed to suit Toby and Luna, and I decided that since they had known each other all their lives it was more or less alright, since that was the limit to how far they went.  To be clear, I trust Toby and Luna more than I would trust most real people concerning chastity, primarily because of the ever-ready “delete” key.