The girl looked at him curiously then slowly shook her head.

“Well, not quite, no,” she said softly.

“Good, then, there was something I thought we could do together that you might enjoy. Something that would let us get a lot closer with each other,” Daniel said with a wink. Specca’s eyes went wide as she stared at Daniel with surprise, a faint gasp escaping her mouth. From the other side of the curtain a thump was heard followed by two more.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Triska said with disbelief under a whisper. Daniel chuckled and pulled the curtain back to see Triska, Alyssa, and Squeak lying on the floor while looking up at him with stunned expressions.

“First off, we can hear you; I thought the rules were you couldn’t disturb us?” Daniel asked playfully. Triska stammered something while looking at him with disbelief before the boy shook his head with an amused smile.

“And also, were you all eavesdropping on us just now? I thought we were entitled to our privacy,” Daniel mentioned with an accusing smile. The other girls opened their mouths to speak then just froze, with Specca looking to them questionably.

“What were you girls doing?” Specca inquired.

“Well…” Triska said nervously.

“We… just…” Alyssa stuttered with a weak smile. Squeak smiled nervously and shrugged in response.

“You all wanted to do this, didn’t you? Well, then that means you have to give us our privacy tonight, right?” Daniel reminded. The three girls nodded slowly while Specca crossed her arms with a raised eyebrow at them. Daniel nodded and looked to Triska with a calm smile.

“Goodnight, Triska,” he said expectantly. The girl slowly sat up and looked at him with worried eyes. The boy glanced to Alyssa and raised an eyebrow in question.

“Goodnight, Alyssa,” he said knowingly, with Alyssa glancing to Specca then back to him with concern. Daniel smiled and looked to Squeak as the three girls sat up on their knees.

“Goodnight, Squeak,” he said kindly. The ant girl squeaked a few times then looked to Triska and Alyssa, both girls watching Daniel with worried eyes.

“Daniel… I…” Triska said softly. Daniel reached over and unhooked the lantern from the roof, then smiled calmly at Triska.

“Goodnight,” he said before pulling back into his part of the cabin, the curtain dropping to show an orange glow on the other side from the lantern. Triska, Alyssa, and Squeak sat there in silence as their side of the cabin became dark, the three girls then slowly returning to their sleeping spots while wondering what Daniel was going to do with Specca.

Daniel hooked the lantern up next to the window in the back of the cabin then looked to Specca with a curious smile, the nixie watching him with a timid expression now.

“Um… what did you have in mind for us?” she asked, her mind racing of many possible things the boy might do with, or to, her. Daniel chuckled then sat down on the sleeping blanket against the wall and motioned for Specca to come closer. The girl smiled bashfully and slowly came closer to him, getting down on her hands and knees to crawl over before sitting next to him, her tail sliding back along the wall behind Daniel as the boy watched her with an intrigued smile.

“Well, this is like a first date for us, in a way,” Daniel pointed out, with Specca nodding with a blush.

“So I thought, what would I want to do with Specca on our first date?” Daniel asked with a curious smile.

“I don’t know, what would you want to do with me?” Specca asked, growing even more excited for whatever the boy had planned. Daniel paused for a moment then reached to the side and pulled his backpack over to them, opening the flap and then presenting it to Specca.

“First, I want you to pick out your favorite book from what I have here,” he said casually. Specca looked at him with wonder then to the books in his bag.

“Um, ok,” she said as she reached into the bag. She glanced over the titles then lifted a book out with a curious smile, wondering where Daniel was going with this. Daniel set his bag back over on the side of the cabin and looked at the book the girl had chosen.

“Ah, The Temptress’ Key, that’s a rather good one,” he said in agreement.

“I’ve read it quite a few times back in Ashwood, I love the romance and action scenes so much. So, what now?” Specca asked curiously. Daniel smiled then gently slid one of his arms around behind her, the girl watching with surprise as he lifted her legs up with his other arm then brought her over to sit on his lap, the girl trembling a bit with a blush on her face as the boy held her upright against his shoulder while his other hand rested on her legs.

“Daniel?” she asked under her breath, her heart feeling like it was going to leap out of her chest from him holding her like this. Daniel smiled at the girl then glanced to the book she was holding.

“For our first date, Specca, I’d like to read your favorite story with you,” he said gently.

“What?” she asked with wonder.

“I like to read, and so do you. So I thought, the ideal first date for the cute girl I found hiding in the library would be a good book to read with her,” Daniel reasoned. Specca jumped with a small squeak and blushed further.

“C-Cute? Me?” she asked shakily.

“Yes, you. Is this ok for a first date for you?” Daniel asked curiously. Specca glanced down to her lap then looked at Daniel with surprise as she realized something.

“Daniel… I’m not… wearing… any…” she said softly, remembering that she was sitting on Daniel’s lap bare bottomed. The boy glanced down to her skirt then to her with a shrug.

“I know, I don’t mind, you are how you are Specca, there’s nothing wrong with that,” he assured gently.

“Daniel,” Specca said softly as her tail slowly slid around his waist and held onto him, the girl using her reptilian appendage to keep him close.