Summer hummed despite herself on her way home. She was a bit embarrassed but the crushing weight of hopelessness she had felt earlier. Her thoughts were full of all the things she hoped to discuss with Ashton. If she wasn’t going to be a hero anymore, she at least wanted to be able to talk about it.

She was still humming a tune as she walked in the door, and her father immediately noticed. “Did you get the reward you wanted?” he asked.

It took her a moment before she remembered what she had originally gone to SI for. “I did,” she told him proudly, “It might take a few days for the bonus to show up in my account, though.”

“Good, good,” he approved with a nod, “Have you thought of anything you want yet? I’d still like to celebrate.”

“Not yet. I need to think of something special,” Summer told him.

He smiled. “Let me know when you have something,” he told her, “Are you heading to bed now?”

“I am,” she confirmed.

“Good night,” he said, giving her a light pat on the head before heading off to his own room.

Summer went to her room, but she didn’t go to bed. Instead, she pulled out her computer and looked at the hero forums. There was always discussion about some major hero or battle, and she had to know what they were saying about hers. Did they think Shadow Phoenix would return?

She found that everyone was discussing her latest battle with Shadow Phoenix. Some openly mocked him, some cheered her on. Then she stumbled on a thread by MysteriousMaskz that proclaimed support for the so called villains. First of all, they slammed SI, claiming they sent heroes the villains had no chance against.

Her own battles were used constantly in their rants. For example, it was impossible to say how strong Shadow Pheonix really was with Golden Reign having such a tight grasp on his weakness. It was no wonder he just gave up. But then it delved even further, mentioning Shadow Phoenix again, along with many others.

What crimes had these villains actually committed? SI claimed they were dangerous, but the heroes always stopped them before anything happened. Many commenters argued that the whole point of heroes was to stop the disasters before they happened, but a few admitted that they had never thought of that before.

Summer closed her computer, stopping herself from reading any more. She had expected some controversy regarding a villain quitting, but she hadn’t expected to see SI being made into a villain itself with the villains they all knew just being unfortunate victims. It made her think back to all of her own interactions with Shadow Phoenix.

What had he done? Said some snide comments and made a few frustrated threats? No, there had to be more. He was hunting those relics. There was that exploding key. She couldn’t let herself be convinced by some random thread on the web. Maybe everyone was right. She might not be suited to being a hero after all. If Shadow Phoenix really did return after this, could she face him without hesitation?

None of these thoughts were helping, so she forced herself to sleep. Her dreams that night were full of confused nightmares with heroes, villains, and the CEO of SI laughing at their suffering. When she woke up, she resolved to never read the hero forum before bed again. She decided to go through her remaining fan mail to help distract from the leftover weirdness.

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Summer’s breath caught in her throat as she noticed a letter addressed to her personally, from the CEO of SI himself, Amos Wyndart. The envelope was sleek and bore the blue and gold logo of the company. The image of him from her dreams came back and she quickly shook it off. Instead, she carefully opened the letter.

“Summer Aster,

You may find it shocking to receive direct correspondence from me, but in light of your recent achievements, I would like to invite you to a special occasion. One of my most talented employees will be there to ensure you are able to enjoy yourself.

Regards,

Amos Wyndart”

Summer stared at the short letter for a moment before shifting her attention to the singular ticket that came with it. Being that it was a ticket, she had expected it to be for some kind of play or park, but it was a VIP reservation scheduled for that night at Scrumptious Sensations, a high tier restaurant famous for revolutionizing the sensation of eating food. Summer had been there once for her graduation and it had been unforgettable and amazing. There was no way she could turn this down.

She bolted out of her room, proudly holding the ticket in her hand. Her father was just heading out for work. “Summer? Is something wrong?”

“The opposite of wrong!” she exclaimed with a grin, “Look at this! An ticket to a special VIP Scrumptious Sensations for tonight!”

“Who did you get that from?” he asked with interest.

For some reason, she hesitated to mention it was from SI, and her face flushed from excitement gave her father other ideas. Before she could even answer he came to his own conclusion.

“If it goes well, introduce him to me.”

Her flush grew more ferocious, all but confirming his suspicions as he headed out. Summer, on the other hand, was dying from embarrassment. Should she just say it ended badly? But then he would ask for details. But she had no one to introduce him to! Her thoughts strayed to Ashton, but she had promised him that it was just a thank you, so she couldn’t ask him.

Summer fought off her embarrassment and tried to regain her excitement for the unexpected gift from SI. She got into her finer wardrobe and looked over her options before deciding on a more simple outfit. That employee would be there so it wouldn’t do to be too flashy. It still had some cute frills around the collar, but she needed to dress for the occasion as well.

She wasted most of the rest of the day waiting for the clock to move, leaving for the restaurant an hour early to try and get rid of some of that antsy feeling. She hadn’t been there long when she spotted a familiar face get out of a car parked nearby. It was Ashton. He looked frustrated, and fairly uncomfortable in a suit that didn’t seem to fit him quite right.

Was Ashton the talented employee the CEO had mentioned? He couldn’t be, right? Then did that mean he was here to meet someone else? That thought left a bitter taste in Summer’s mouth. She hoped that wasn’t the case. She watched him go inside. As the time approached for her own appointment, he came back out and waited by the door. She was going to have to pass by him.

Wanting to get it over with, sooner rather than later, Summer got out of her car and approached the door. Ashton looked straight at her as she approached.

“There you are,” he said, relieved, “Sorry, I couldn’t contact you because I lost your number.”

Summer frowned. “How did you lose my number. I wrote it on your… oh.” She looked at his hand to see the smudged remains of black ink. Did that mean Ashton really was here for her? She would have to ask him about the details inside.

“You brought your ticket, right?” Ashton asked her.

“I did,” she confirmed, and showed it to him, “Did you… Were you sent by, um, Mr. W?”

He gave her an odd look at her name for the CEO, but answered her question. “Yeah. He let me know this morning. I have some things we need to talk about once we get inside.”

Summer wanted to hear all about these things so she pushed him forward, presenting her ticket when asked by the staff. Soon they were alone in an oddly romantic VIP room.

“I’m sorry,” Ashton told her, “He found out you had asked me on a date and misunderstood.”

Summer didn’t have to ask to figure out what exactly had been misunderstood. “So he set us up on a date?” she clarified.

Ashton nodded. His earlier look of flustered frustration had returned. “I don’t really know how to ask this, but do you think it would be okay to meet a few times-”

“And start dating for real?” Summer jumped in, “I can do that! Actually, my dad saw the invitation earlier.”

“And he misunderstood?” Ashton guessed, thinking over the idea, “Alright. I guess we can give this a try. I don’t have any reason not to. Can we keep any further meetings more casual, though?”

Summer looked at their surroundings again and laughed a little. “Definitely.”

With their new mutual understanding, both of them were able to relax and enjoy the rest of the evening. Summer made sure to put her number directly into his phone this time so no CEOs had to get involved in planning their next date.

The next plan of action, figuring out how to introduce Ashton to her father.