"Did she? I honestly didn't entirely pick up on that. I mean, I believe it, but the movie didn't seem to do a good job on explaining what was going on in her head. To me, anyways. You clearly got more out of it." 

"Have you read the book? That might be part of it. Also I just pay a lot of attention to anything that resembles a romance plot."

"I have not yet read the book. Should I read the book?" It does not surprise him, in retrospect, that she's very much paying attention to anything romance plot like. (Possibly this is a sign that this isn't a good idea, the... singular focus that she has on this? It's probably fine. She does think things through, she's not going to trap herself in a relationship just because she's very into the idea of romance and wants the most perfect one possible, for some definition of perfect.) 

Oblivious to his speculation, she considers. "I'm not sure you'd like it as much as I did. But maybe? You could try it and see what you think."

"I might! Were there any other details that were clearer in the book than in the movie, or that the movie just skipped? Did they explain at all how the dystopia functioned, or why it's like this? It doesn't seem like it would work." There's a bit of (entirely reasonable) venom in his voice when he mentions the dystopia. 

"I think the dystopia mostly functions because of genre convention. The book does include plenty of detail on assorted subjects that didn't make it into the movie, though. Mostly feelings. It's hard to put feelings on a screen the same way you can in text."

"That's true. It's a lot harder to feel what people are thinking or feeling in movies, in books you can at least have their thoughts narrated at you but it doesn't come across very well in movies at all." 

They're more or less nearly out of the theatre now. 

"Unless there's extensive voiceover narration explaining everything going through their heads, but, unaccountably, most movies prioritize other things over explaining all the feelings in detail."

"Like CGI or explosions? Or both?"

"Exactly."

She's gazing adoringly at him again. She keeps doing that.

She does keep doing that. He doesn't entirely know how to respond to it. 

Luckily, now that they have exited the theatre, he doesn't have to, since there's another topic of conversation to happen. 

"So, which direction are we headed for dinner? I should grab my bike first, and you should put on your skates, probably, unless it's very close by." Which it might be! 

"It's close enough by that I don't mind walking. I can lead you there."

In fact, she can lead him there while gazing adoringly at him! Multitasking!

He is still not entirely sure how to respond to it (other than possibly wanting to hold her hand? Holding her hand still seems too forward) but luckily the trip is short enough that they can spend the rest of it talking about the movie without him having to make any serious decisions about what to say or do about it (hold her hand? Kiss her? Ask if he has something on his face? (No, that's something his dad would do.) Tell her he's uncomfortable with the amount of staring (is that even true)? Something else he hasn't thought of??).

And, eventually (thankfully a very short walk), they arrive at the fabled restaurant. 

The fabled restaurant: serves burgers and ice cream, fast-food-style with a counter where you point at your desired toppings!

Rosy, being familiar with the selection, confidently constructs a sundae out of legend, a towering heap of flavours festooned with rainbow sprinkles and cookie crumbs and tiny M&Ms and surmounted by a triumphant gummy shark. Her perfectly ordinary burger looks positively sheepish sitting next to it on the tray.

There are a bunch of options here! Does Rosy have any recommendations, especially on the ice cream front? (Possibly some slightly less... ambitious recommendations than what she's choosing.) 

She is happy to suggest a few toppings that go well together in her experience, and flavours that complement them.

Then he's happy to take her advice! 

Since he's ordering after her, and they're clearly together, he's able to pay for their food (since that's what he's supposed to do), and then once the burgers arrive to compliment their ice cream creations, both of them can go sit down in a booth and enjoy their choices. He's gone slightly more ambitious on the burger front (bacon is tasty! as is cheese, and caramelized onions...) but his ice cream is less... spectacular than hers is, still, following her advice, his ice cream concoction is still pretty incredible looking. 

She snarfs her burger and then settles in to enjoy The Ice Cream Experience, and also The Gazing At John Experience. He may have to come up with a topic of conversation or risk adoration overload.

(Well shit. Unfortunately, he is not the best at conversation topics. What do you even talk to a girl about?)

"This place is pretty good," he says, choosing the easiest (and least interesting) topic of conversation, taking his burger much more slowly than she. (It is pretty good, not like spectacular or anything (though he suspects the ice cream is going to be the true experience of the place), but enough to say that it's pretty good in an attempt to find conversation.) "How did you end up finding it? How long have you been going here?"

"I was wandering around looking for something to eat after a movie, and it looked charming, and it turned out to in fact be charming, so good job me." She delicately lifts a single ice-cream-anointed peanut off her sundae with the tip of her spoon. Nom.

"It is charming!" he says. (Well, so much for this topic of conversation. Maybe if he takes a big bite of his burger and chews she'll start talking about something else?) He takes a big bite of burger, in the (futile, but he's doing it anyways) hope that will induce her to talk to him about something.

"So," she says, still gazing adoringly, "read anything interesting lately?"

"Rereading Valdemar, actually, so, sort of? You mentioned you read her" at his 'recommendation' "so you know what Valdemar is like." Then he unexpectedly thinks of That One Bit at the start of White Gryphon, and blushes a little. 

"Oh, which book are you on? Or, alternately, which book did you just think about?"

"I'm, um, in the middle of Owlsight at the moment. You know, the one where we meet Shandi, and have the bit at the end with the Ghost Cat tribe? She takes a weirdly long time to get to the plot sometimes, I think. She being Mercedes Lackey, that is."

"I might have thought about the bit at the beginning of White Gryphon, maybe."