I dressed up for the art museum in nice slacks and a gray button-down with subtle stripes. I opted for no tie, but I did tuck my shirt in and wore a belt. I looked like a young intern at some big company.

Nadine gave a low whistle. “You look great. What’s the occasion?”

“I’m going to Toronto.”

“With Lex?” she asked.

“Yes. It’s for art class.”

“Right.”

Nadine nodded. She had an odd smile on her face as if she didn’t quite believe me.

Then, my mom came into the room and essentially repeated Nadine’s reaction. She didn’t whistle exactly, but she gave me the once-over and proclaimed that I cleaned up well.

“Who’s the lucky girl, and when do I get to meet her?” my mom asked. She smiled crookedly at me to let me know she was mostly kidding.

I shook my head. “Very funny.”

“It’s a boy,” Nadine said.

“It’s for a school project,” I added before my mom could get the wrong idea. The last thing I needed was for my mom to think I was going out with Nadine’s future boyfriend.

I met Lex at the train station. He had dressed up too, in a blue sweater and dress pants. Neither of us was wearing particularly dressy shoes, though. That’s where our professional look fell apart. I didn’t plan on walking around all day in things that pinched my feet. Apparently, Lex didn’t either.

“I haven’t spent much time on trains,” Lex said as we found our seats. “Public transportation wasn’t that great in any of the cities where I lived, especially Detroit. There were mostly buses that ran perpetually late and smelled of urine and despair.”

“Lovely,” I said. “Hopefully, we won’t have the same sorts of problems here.” The train to Toronto was only a few minutes late leaving the station, and it was clean enough.

I watched out the window as the scenery sped by, and Lex engaged me in casual conversation.

“Do you go to Toronto often?” Lex asked. Then he laughed. “That sounds like a pickup line, but I’m honestly curious.”

“Not really. I know my way around though, if that’s what you’re worried about. The route to the museum is fairly straightforward.”

Lex smiled. “I’m not worried. I’m sure I’m in good hands for our second date. You know, this whole dating thing is a little strange, don’t you think? I mean, you’re investing an awful lot of time with me on the off chance that I want to ask your sister out.”

I shrugged. “It’s not like I have anything better to do. Do you?”

“Not really.” Lex said, smiling.

“Then who cares if it’s strange? It gets the job done. I get to see what you’re like on a date. I get to know you better. I get to see if you’re the kind of guy who deserves to ask my sister out.”

Lex chuckled and shook his head. “And what do I get out of this deal? Oh, that’s right. The gift of your time now and the pleasure of asking your sister out in the distant future. Not a bad deal, I guess.”

The hour-long train ride went by fairly quickly. One subway ride later and we were at the museum.

Lex gave a low whistle. “This place is huge.”

“Yeah. There is no way we’ll be covering everything. I’ve selected a few exhibits that I think you’d be interested in, but you’re welcome to add some ideas of your own.”

We picked up brochures at the information desk.

“Given where our moms work, and where my mom is from, we have to hit the Gallery of Greece,” Lex said. “And probably Rome as well.”

“Given. The First Peoples exhibit is also required.”

Lex circled the galleries we had identified. “Oh, can we go to Chinese architecture?”

“Absolutely,” I said.

I liked the excited expression on Lex’s face. I had been right to choose an art museum date. I couldn’t wait until we got to my surprise.

Lex took notes on his phone as we walked through ancient Greece and Rome. I liked the red-figure and black-figure pottery the best. The sharp contrast and the little details appealed to me.

Lex preferred the marble sculptures. He spent an inordinate amount of time studying the disembodied head of some unidentified person or god. He took pictures from several angles for his write-up.

In Rome, the top two for us were the coin collection and the funerary objects.

“I want to be buried with a mummy portrait,” Lex said. “Something tasteful to cover my face with. They can use it during the open-casket ceremony.”

I made a face. “I will not be having an open casket. I don’t plan to be buried at all. I’m going to have my body donated to a research university so the students can use me as a cadaver.”

“That’s… interesting.” Lex raised one of his eyebrows at me.

“What? I won’t be using my body anymore. Why shouldn’t it be put to good use? Wait, you’re not religious, are you?”

I hadn’t thought to ask earlier. If he was some kind of conservative Christian, that could be a deal-breaker.

“I don’t follow,” Lex said.

“My sister and I were raised secular humanists, so I don’t have any religious hangups about the afterlife.”

“I see. I was raised as a lapsed protestant.”

“A ‘lapsed’ protestant?” It was my turn to raise an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Thanks to my not-very-observant parents, I know all the stuff I’m supposed to believe in. I attend church on Christmas and Easter. And I don’t make a big deal over the fact that I don’t really buy into the whole organized religion thing. That makes it possible to get through Thanksgiving dinners with my grandparents.”

“Got it. So the heathenism of the Stafford clan won’t be an issue.”

Lex shook his head with a smile on his face.

The First Peoples exhibit was extensive. Lex walked slowly and read all the wall plaques that gave context for the various pieces from ancient to modern. I preferred the newer stuff, maybe because I’d had enough antiquity in Greece and Rome.

We spent a fair amount of time in Chinese architecture. Lex did a few quick sketches there. He thought they’d be good material for some of the upcoming lessons on the use of line or perspective or something.

When we left that gallery, Lex looked up from the museum map to see a notice for a temporary exhibit—my surprise.

“Holy sh—” Lex caught himself before he finished his exclamation. “Did you know about this?” He pointed at a banner advertising the exhibit of modern Japanese art, which included a fair number of current manga artists.

I grinned. “That may or may not have been why I decided this was the place we needed to go. I’m not sure they have your particular favorites, but—”

“But this is amazing!”

I followed him as he walked slowly through the woodblock prints that gave a modern take on the traditional art form. When we got to the manga artists, he spent forever peering through the glass at the pages that were displayed. They did have some of the work of his favorites: Katsushira Otomo and Kentaro Miura.

There were even a few pieces that had been blown up to many times their original size so we could see them from clear across the room. Lex sat down on a bench and soaked them in.

“How did you… this is perfect,” he said. “I’ve never seen a lot of these artists before. And now I have a whole list of people I need to follow. I’m going to go broke trying to add to my collection. Thanks for that.”

I held my hands out in surrender. “Sorry?”

Lex chuckled. “No. Don’t be sorry. This is fantastic. Perfect.”

We spent the rest of our time at the museum with the Japanese art. I didn’t feel at all bad about that. I liked watching Lex as he interacted with the manga stuff. His enthusiasm was contagious.

“Is this something you could see yourself doing?” I asked. “Art for manga, I mean.”

“I’m a consumer, not a producer. You haven’t seen my work. I’m not that good. If I were really lucky, maybe I could get a job doing some menial work for an actual artist and break in that way. But I might need to move to Japan to make that work, and I’m not sure I have that level of commitment.”

On the way home, the subway had standing room only. I stood beside Lex, holding onto the rail. When we lurched suddenly, I lost my grip and fell back against Lex’s solid chest. He caught me easily.

“Careful there,” he said.

His arm stayed around my waist a moment longer than necessary, and my heart beat faster. I righted myself and stepped away to the extent possible in the crowded subway car.

“I’m fine now, thanks.” I grabbed a hold of the rail again.

“I was just trying to be gentlemanly. I want to make a good impression on our second date,” he said.

“You made a fine impression. Mission accomplished. I think Nadine would have enjoyed the date.”

I wasn’t too sure about that, actually. She didn’t have a lot of patience for museums. But I had enjoyed myself.