Her smile was nothing short of adorable, her laughter on the order of wind chimes on a gusty day. He liked her when she was like this. That smile was outrageously contagious, the way her eyes scrunched up and her cheeks flushed. He noticed the way she held her ribs tenderly while she laughed. It was as though she were out of practice, like she hadn't genuinely laughed in an eternity.

"So you really knew Scrooge McDuck?" Bushroot asked.

"Knew him?" Tegwen boasted, catching her breath from her laughter. "There were times my dad was so busy with his cases that I actually spent more time at Mr. McDuck's place. He was like a . . . a second father to me."

"Wow. Was he really as stingy as people say?"

"Ha! Stingy! And then some!" Tegwen looked at the skyline toward Duckburg as they walked down the street away from Starducks. "But . . . He was always real nice to me. I think I miss him. It was because of him that I met everyone who's anyone in Duckburg. The mayor, for instance."

She stopped mid stride, her eyes dropping to her right hand. Bushroot was hanging on to it. She had no recollection of when he'd grabbed it, or for how long he'd been holding on to her. Tegwen slowly glanced back up at him to see him looking incredibly sheepish. She smiled, but continued walking, not taking her hand from his leafy palm.

Bushroot was stunned to speechlessness.

"What's wrong?" Tegwen asked.

"Well, it's . . . no one's been . . . I mean . . . Last time I tried something like this, my date ran off screaming in horror."

Tegwen stopped once more, turning to him with an impressively compassionate look on her face. "That's awful! No one deserves to be treated like a monster."

They regarded each other in silence in the middle of the sidewalk, Bushroot's green cheeks taking on a peculiar ruddiness.

Bushroot had been well more than kind to her, and she felt like they could be very, very good friends.

The thought crossed her mind to kiss him. He clearly wouldn't mind such a gesture.

Tegwen found herself leaning closer to him, her eyelids dropping delicately.

Then a voice started screaming at her from the back of her head: Do I really want my first kiss to be with Bushroot?! She held back. What was wrong with Bushroot? He was smart, he was nice. Sure, he was a bit weird-looking, but was that any reason to shy away from him?

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