Ashley Elston - 10 Blind Dates

When my box is empty, I say, “Okay, your turn.”

We change positions, and within seconds, I’m standing over Wes.

We keep spinning around and around and we’re both getting a little out of breath.

“We owe Judd one for this,” I say to Wes. Judd had managed to get Wes nominated, too.

His eyebrows shoot up and he pulls me in close. “When we’re done, slip my phone in the back pocket of Judd’s pants.”

I look quickly at Judd before turning back to Wes. “Why?”

“You said we owe him one. I’ve got just the thing.”

After a few more turns, the last of the Ping-Pong balls are out, but an older couple already beat us. While I untie the box from my waist, Wes holds out his phone. “Just drop it in.”

I shake my head. “No. No way.”

Wes rolls his eyes. “Come on!” He puts his hands on my shoulder, then spins me around until I’m facing Judd, who is busy taking to Mrs. Brown’s son Brandon. “Those pants are so big he’ll never feel it.”

It’s been a long time since I’ve been part of a prank. I take a deep breath and move toward Judd.

“Hey,” he says when I stop next to him. “Have you met Brandon?”

“Thanks for letting me crash your party,” I say. I move close to Judd and put one hand on his shoulder, like I want to tell him a secret. As I hoped, he leans in close to me.

“Do you know where the restroom is?” I ask. I slip Wes’s phone in his back pocket just as he twists around and points to a hallway on the other side of the room.

“Just down that hall, second door on the right.”

I nod, a ridiculously big smile on my face, and head in that direction, detouring once he’s focused his attention on Brandon again. By the time I get back to Wes, Charlie and Olivia are standing there with him.

“Okay, what next?” I say.

Wes grins. “Pull out your phone and call me.”

I can’t tell if Olivia and Charlie know what’s happening. Pulling up my contacts, I tap on Wes’s name.

“So what’s going to—” I’m interrupted by the loud sound of an air horn. Most everyone around Judd is startled, but Judd jumps like one of those cartoon cats that leaves its fur behind.

It’s unbelievable, really, how high he went.

The air horn keeps going off. Judd grabs his butt, trying to figure out what’s going on.

“You can probably hang up now,” Wes says, laughing.

“Oh, right!” I look at the screen and hit the red END button. I can’t stop giggling as I watch Judd.

“That never gets old,” Charlie says, and I’m guessing this isn’t the first time they’ve pulled this particular prank on him.

Judd gets the phone out of his pocket and looks at the screen. He walks toward us, waving Wes’s phone back and forth, and says, “Nice one, Sophie!”

Olivia leans over my shoulder and taps Wes’s name on my phone. The air horn goes off again, nearly sending Judd to the floor this time. We double over with laughter.

“What are you doing?”

We all turn around to find Laurel standing behind us, arms crossed.

“We’re just messing with Judd,” Wes says.

“Yeah, it’s too easy to resist,” Charlie adds.

Laurel rolls her eyes. “I don’t know why you have to act like a little kid.”

Olivia and I exchange sideways glances. I mean, is it a little childish, what we’re doing? Maybe. But it’s funny. And Judd isn’t afraid to give as good as he gets, so no harm done.

Wes doesn’t answer her.

“Are you about ready to go?” she asks him.

Mrs. Brown is already setting up the next game. The room is still full and the music is still playing and the table is still full of food. This party isn’t close to being over.

He shakes his head. “Not really.”

She gives him a look. “Mia texted me. She’s at a party downtown, and a ton of people we know from school just showed up. She wants us to come down there.”

Wes throws a glance at us before turning back to her. “I don’t really want to go hang out with a bunch of people I don’t know.”

“Well, I didn’t really want to come back and hang out at some high school party.”

Wes’s shoulders stiffen. I don’t have to look at him to know he’s pissed. Charlie, Olivia, and I should really walk away, but none of us is moving.

“Yeah, it sucks that you have to hang out with the same friends you hung out with five months ago,” Wes bites back.

Laurel cocks one eyebrow at him. “I guess I’m going alone, then.”

He nods. “I guess you are.”

They stare at each other for a few seconds. Then she spins around, not stopping until she’s out the front door.

My head is foggy when I wake up. Bits and pieces of a very realistic-feeling dream linger, and it takes me a few minutes to separate fact from fiction. In it, all of these guys had shown up at Nonna’s, ready to pick me up for a date. It was like a zombie apocalypse, except the guys weren’t dead.

I shudder and throw off the covers, hoping a shower will chase the nightmare away. Walking down the stairs, I hear the noise coming from the kitchen. But I don’t feel the usual fingers of dread that would normally start clawing their way through me. Instead, I find myself wondering if my cousin Frannie managed to convince Aunt Kelsey to let her watch the Nightmare Before Christmas — she couldn’t stop talking about it at breakfast yesterday. And do Olivia and Charlie know what’s going on with Wes and Laurel?

Yeah, I really want to know the answer to that one.

Judd is the first person I see when I enter the kitchen.

“What’s up, Sophie?” he yells from where he’s sitting with Charlie at one of the extra tables. Other members of my family mill around the kitchen and living room with coffee mugs and breakfast plates. Judd’s still wearing his sweater from last night, but it looks like someone ate all of the candy, leaving behind the wrappers that are still flying out of the reindeer’s butt.

I walk over and point to his chest. “Looks like you got robbed.”

He glances down, then throws his head back in a laugh, loud enough to get the attention of my very loud family. “Nah. Just got a little hungry in the middle of the night. There’s literally no food at Charlie’s house.”

Charlie thumps him on the shoulder. “Dude. We have food.”

Nonna has set up breakfast buffet style, so I grab a plate and wait in line for my trip down the counter. Whiffs of bacon, cinnamon, and coffee have my mouth watering.

Aunt Kelsey’s four daughters are sitting in chairs against the wall, and all of their faces are covered in icing.

“Hey, Fran,” I call out. “How was the movie?”

Fran’s eyes get big. She leans forward in her chair and says in a serious voice, “It was so scary.” Her r ’s sound like w ’s and it’s honestly the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.

Just as I’m about to fill my plate, I see Sara creep in the back door and start writing on the board. Everyone in the room gets silent, even the babies, as if they’ve been waiting all morning for this very minute.

They probably have.

Sara finishes and spins around to face us. “I’m so winning this,” she says.

“There’s no way you got her a date to Underground Christmas,” Uncle Michael says. “Hell, I’ve been trying to get tickets to that since I got to town!”