That went well

It wasn't quite the first date she expected.
They shared some harmless viral chat; the duck
brusquely declined to quack or flap her wings.
While he stayed buttoned up, clouds enacted
heartbreaking manoeuvres over the lake,
and malice seemed deprived of its cruel fangs.

"You know, as in the President?" he smiled
when at last she asked him what was that stuck
to his companion's head. One of those things
that went over hers, apparently, called
       a "joke".