She asks intelligent questions, but is clearly coming from the perspective of a potential spectator, if that.

He is happy to answer them. Their food arrives while he is telling her about what makes a good lacrosse stick.

Yay for nachos and learning! (But mostly for nachos.)

"Can I have a nacho?" he asks.

"Sure. Can I have a forkful of fajitas?"

"I don't know if really comes in forkfuls but you can have a tortilla's worth." He gives her a tortilla and takes a nacho.

"Fair enough!" Om nom fajita. Her decision to get nachos is validated, but the variety is good in itself.

He likes the stolen nacho. "Do you have any, uh, other hobbies?"

"I read a bunch, I played Dungeons and Dragons in Massachusetts but haven't gotten around to joining a group yet."

"I didn't know girls played Dungeons and Dragons."

"We do! I wasn't even the only girl in my group in Framingham. More girls should play it, it's fun. Like video games, but with friends and you don't need good reaction time."

"I never tried it. It's basically playing pretend except not for elementary schoolers, yeah?"

"Yeah, basically, but there are rules so it's not like with elementary schoolers where one of them yells 'I shot you' and the other one yells 'well I'm immune to bullets' and the first one yells 'well I have laser bullets' or whatever. You're all operating under the same assumptions and building a story that makes sense."

"I guess that could be cool."

"There's at least one group in the neighborhood where we met, they're doing a superhero-themed one."

"I thought you needed, like, dragons."

"Nah, there's lots of different rule systems designed for different settings, people just lump them all together under 'Dungeons and Dragons' because that's the oldest and most famous one."

"Oh, huh."

"Not that I've actually played any of the other ones, mind you, just regular DnD, but I hear lots of them are good and it's a matter of taste which ones someone will like best."

"Why'd you start with D&D then?"

"It was what the group I joined was playing, and also I like the fantasy setting. Lots of cool magic and weird creatures and stuff."

He laughs.

She giggles a bit too, and finishes off her nachos.

The waiter brings the check. Her date tries not to let her see he's looking at his wallet and counting bills.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot to say, can we get separate checks please?" Clearly she doesn't go to restaurants with other people nearly often enough, if she's forgetting basic stuff like explaining how you want the check before they print it.