Archive of Our Own

The sound of an obnoxious alarm rang out from the phone belonging to Molly McGee. As she shut it off, she checked the date on her phone's calendar and saw that it read January 28th, causing her to jump out of bed excitedly.

What was so special about this day exactly? One thing made this day more important than any other ordinary Saturday: it was the day that Molly McGee and Ollie Chen would go on their first-ever date as an official couple.

Molly had been planning this first date for almost a week, spending one too many near-sleepless nights crafting the optimal plan for it. Her perfect plan (or scheme as it might better be described) began with her choice of clothing. Fortunately, her best friend Scratch was there to help.

“Scratch! I need your help, what should I wear for my first date with Ollie?” Molly asked.

He looked slightly puzzled by her question. “You’re asking that as if you have a varied wardrobe. I swear to Cob, McGee, I’ve known you for nearly two years and I rarely catch you wearing anything besides the denim vest and pink/purple skirt,” Scratch replied.

“So what you’re saying is I shouldn’t worry about how I look? Phew, that’s a relief,” Molly said as she stepped behind the folding screen in her room to change out of her pajamas.

“Yeah, I suppose that’s part of it. So where are you two going anyway?” Scratch asked.

“Oh, I picked the PERFECT place for us to go. Do you remember when that Story Sprite appeared at Libby’s Mom’s bookstore?” Molly began to explain.

“Of course! I mean, come on, that thing was no match for my Chairman powers,” Scratch said as he attempted to flex his puny ectoplasmic muscles. “Oh, and Libby helped too, I guess,” he then said.

“Well, when I was out distracting Ollie we stopped by Sweets & Treats and tried to split a sundae, but I somehow ended up flooding the whole place with rainbow sprinkles and then he had to go-” Molly was interrupted as soon as Scratch realized what he missed.

“Hold the phone, you’re telling me there were endless rainbow sprinkles and you didn’t let me clean them up? The betrayal!” Scratch said as he dramatically sank to the floor. He wasn’t actually that upset, but he definitely would’ve preferred getting to eat those sprinkles.

Molly peeped out from the top of the folding screen. “You sure you weren’t a theater kid in life, Scratch?” she said, half-jokingly.

Scratch shrugged. “Eh, it’s like I said back at the party two weeks ago, you’re rubbing off on me,” he said as he winked, which Molly appreciated.

“Aww! Anyway, putting that aside, after analyzing every online review for Sweets & Treats and evaluating its significance to both Brighton and my relationship with Ollie, I concluded it was the best place for us to go on our first date!” Molly said as she jumped out from behind the folding screen, looking as Molly McGee-ish as ever.

“I must say, after hearing that explanation, I can almost understand your desire to make this date perfect. Ollie means a lot to you, huh?” Scratch pondered.

“Absolutely,” she said. “Since we usually never lived in one place long enough to even make regular friends, love was never something that even crossed my mind.” 

Molly paused for just a second, as she recalled the friends she was forced to leave behind. She looked sad, but just for a moment, as her sad face morphed into a game face.

She continued. “But now that I have a boyfriend, I gotta make sure this date goes absolutely perfect. That’s a Molly McGee Guarantee.”

Scratch was moved. “Can’t say I know much about this whole ‘love’ thing, but it’s like I said back in November, you two are a good fit for each other and I bet it’s gonna go just fine,” he reassured Molly.

“Thanks, Scratch. Can I get a hug for good luck?” she asked.

“Of course,” he answered as his and Molly’s arms wrapped around each other. Scratch then realized he was getting too soft, and decided to throw in a snarky remark.

“Plus, if things don’t work out with Swoopy Hair, you’ve always got Libby as a backup,” Scratch said, jokingly.

“Eh, maybe in another universe, but now’s not the time to focus on hypotheticals; I’ve got a date with Ollie to get to!” Molly said as she triumphantly climbed down the ladder to her bedroom and walked down the stairs.

Waiting at the bottom of the stairs was the rest of Molly’s immediate family, including her father, mother, brother, and grandmother over a video call.

“So, how do I look?” Molly asked the group.

Pete couldn’t get any words out, he was just too happy that his daughter was going on her first-ever date. Sharon consoled him, feeling equally as proud of her little girl. Darryl gave a simple thumbs up. And then there was Grandma Nin.

“Sharon, am I supposed to notice something different? That’s the same thing she always wears,” she said.

Scratch popped out from the ceiling to respond. “Thank you, Grandma Nin! She’s my favorite for a reason, Moll,” he said.

“Well, she looks great regardless,” Sharon replied.

Pete wiped away his last tear of joy and kneeled to meet his daughter's eyes. “We’re all so proud of you Molly, you’re going to do great today.”

“Thanks, Dad. Well, I better not keep Ollie waiting! See you all later!” Molly said as she walked out the door.

Meanwhile, just across the street…

“Ok guys, how do I look?” Ollie Chen sheepishly asked his family.

“You look great, Ollie. Your mother and I are so proud of you,” Ruben said as Esther gave two thumbs up.

“It’s the same thing you always wear, but you look fine. You’ve got this!” June said.

Ollie became slightly nervous. “I just want to make sure this goes perfectly. Molly’s one of the only people who really gets me, you know?” he explained.

Esther decided to reassure her son. “If Molly gets you, she’ll know you’re just doing your best to make her happy, and your best is more than enough.”

Ollie’s confidence shot up after hearing that. “You’re right Mom, I’ve got this! I’m going to walk out of that door and make sure today is great. That’s an Ollie Oath!”

“Knock 'em dead, Ollie! And stay safe of course,” Esther said as Ollie walked out of the door.

Molly had exited her house about 2 minutes before Ollie did, causing him to become mildly anxious when he walked out and saw that she was already there. Nevertheless, he recalled his mother's advice from a few short moments ago and gave it his all regardless.

“Oh, Lady Lemming! Shall we be off to the ball?” Ollie said as he walked towards Molly, who giggled at how corny her boyfriend was being. 

“If by 'the ball' you mean Sweets and Treats, then you’d be correct, Lord Lemming!” Molly replied. She then realized Darryl might have had a point the other day, and her face began to show the tiniest amount of embarrassment, which Ollie picked up on immediately due to his perceptiveness.

“Everything okay, Molly?” he asked his girlfriend.

“Huh? Oh yeah, I’m fine,” she replied. “I just realized we might need some new couple nicknames. ‘Lord’ and ‘Lady’ are pretty medieval titles don’t you think?”

Ollie nodded. “That is true. I just haven’t thought of anything else to be honest. Putting that aside, a vanilla fudge sundae would be amazing right about now, so I say we get walking.”

“I wholeheartedly agree. Frozen dairy treats, here we come!” Molly said as she and Ollie departed from the front of Molly's house to get said frozen dairy treats.

Dairy. That was something Molly didn’t take into consideration. She knew Ollie didn’t eat meat due to wanting to reduce his carbon footprint, so is it possible he was a vegan and she didn’t know? Keeping Scratch safe was the main thing on her mind when they were last there, did he have to order a non-dairy item? Did Sweets and Treats have the best non-dairy dessert items? What if-

“Molly, are you sure you’re okay?” Ollie asked, causing Molly to zone back in.

“You’re not a vegan right?” Molly suddenly asked.

Ollie looked puzzled. “Don’t we get banana splits together at Sam’s Diner every other week? I’m a vegetarian Molly, I love dairy,” he reassured his girlfriend.

“Okay good, because it took me a very long time to pick this place for our first date and I just want to make sure everything is perfect for my boyfriend- wait, would you have preferred we go there?” she asked.

Ollie gently grabbed his girlfriend's hand. “I trust your judgment, Molly. You’ve been living in Brighton for almost three times as long as I have, you definitely know more about which restaurants are good than I do,” he said. “Besides, we go there all the time, it never hurts to switch things up.”

“That is true. I still can’t believe Sam wasn’t angry when we basically dined and dashed back in November,” Molly recalled.

“I’m more surprised nobody in town noticed Junior. Didn’t we tell Sam there was a ‘family emergency’ or something to that effect?” Ollie replied.

“Oh yeah, the ectoplasm monster. I guess that wasn’t exactly a lie given the situation, plus he gave some very good relationship advice,” Molly said as she recalled his wisdom regarding the existence of love.

“So true. Oh look, we’re here!” Ollie said as the pair approached Sweets and Treats.

Molly and Ollie placed their orders (which Ollie paid for with his Lunar New Year money, much to Molly’s insistence that she pay) and took their seat in the booth closest to the left window.

“Looks like they restocked the rainbow sprinkles! How on Earth did enough sprinkles to flood this whole store come out of this tiny little shaker?” Ollie wondered.

“I honestly have no clue. I mean, sprinkles are great and all, but if there’s anything I’ve learned from the other Ghost Friends it’s that some things are better in moderation,” Molly replied.

“What part of the word ‘moderation’ applies to Scratch’s appetite?” Ollie asked with a tiny smirk on his face.

“You’d be surprised. Scratch’s appetite can be tamed, it just takes some serious effort, or anything carob, since he’s allergic,” Molly explained.

The mention of Scratch having an allergy reminded Ollie of a question he had yet to ask. “That’s something I was curious about after Geoff mentioned he was allergic to dust, how do allergies persist after death?” he said.

“I wonder if Libby or June know the answer to that question. I actually have a mild peanut allergy and knowing that’s going to follow me beyond the grave is so annoying,” Molly replied.

“Oh yeah, I can imagine how that feels. My Dad has a latex allergy and my grandparents own a rubber glove factory in Florida, so he’s never going to escape that,” Ollie explained.

Molly was about to reply, but she was cut off by the waitress bringing them their ice cream. Ollie ordered his beloved vanilla fudge, while Molly ordered vanilla with fresh strawberries.

“Hooray! Let’s dig in, shall we?” Ollie said, to which Molly happily agreed.

After the pair finished their sundaes and walked out, they decided to take a quick stroll in the park, since it was such a lovely day.

“Not a lot of people out today, huh?” Ollie commented.

“I thought you’d never mention that, it’s so quiet. The only people here are those kids messing around on their skateboards,” Molly said as she pointed to the skaters.

“That one with the blue helmet just popped a sick ollie though. I could never ride a skateboard, but that’s awesome,” Ollie said as he and Molly sat on a park bench. 

Then it clicked. Molly had a new nickname for Ollie.

“I think you’re awesome, Ollie-pop!” she replied.

Ollie was stunned. He took a few seconds to process that nickname, causing Molly’s anxiety to briefly peak. Was that a bad nickname? Did Ollie think it was too basic? Did Ollie-

“Aww, I love that!” he said. Molly was overjoyed that she came up with a good nickname.

“Isn’t it precious? Popping an ollie on a skateboard, kind of sounds like the word lollipop, it’s the perfect nickname if I do say so myself,” she explained.

“Looks like I need to fast-track my nickname for you then, when you said we should get new nicknames I was thinking that would take a little longer,” Ollie said with a small giggle.

“Junior did say that the truest love lives in everyday moments, right? It’ll probably come naturally soon enough Ollie-pop,” Molly replied, to which Ollie smiled.

“Speaking of everyday moments, it’s so beautiful outside. It’s not too hot or cold, there’s hardly any clouds, and the best part is that I get to share all of this with my awesome girlfriend,” Ollie said as he turned to meet Molly’s eyes.

“I’m so glad I get to share this with you as well, Ollie. I was so nervous about making today perfect for you that I almost forgot to just enjoy myself,” Molly said as she put her hand into Ollie’s.

The two locked eyes and held each other in their hands. Knowing that nobody was around, but not caring either way, they both leaned in, closed their eyes, puckered their lips, and shared a kiss. As the two returned to their original positions after the kiss, Ollie had only one thing to say:

“Today has been perfect.”

Meanwhile, back at the Chen’s house…

January 28th, 2023

Dear Journal,

Judging from what I just saw on my video feed, it looks like Ollie's first date was a success after all.