Would it kill the guy to share with me what is so funny? It’s like I don’t exist. What was the point of taking me out, anyway? Frustrated, I glanced at my watch.

After another fifteen minutes, I had begun to feel a bit desperate and was debating whether or not I would be missed if I walked out the door—the same door that every three or four minutes released another happy couple to explore the world beyond this boredom. I enviously followed the progress of a young couple in their twenties as they departed. I was reminded briefly of Blake, which would’ve led to morose thoughts of a missed date had I been given the chance, which, unbelievably, I wasn’t. Because as that couple left, someone else’s arm held the door open for them, an arm my eyes soon discovered belonged to Taylor Anderson. His other arm was wrapped around the waist of Kylie, his new cheerleader girlfriend.

Oh my gosh! What is he doing here? What are the odds he would show up here tonight, of all nights?

I followed Taylor’s progress across the room as he, with Kylie in tow, trailed the hostess to their seats. Many tables along the way were graced with his blinding smile and charm. I couldn’t have been more grossed out by such a display. Spare me.

As Taylor neared our table, I quickly averted my eyes and proceeded to refold the napkin. Oh, please don’t let him recognize me. Don’t let him recognize me. For an instant, I was jealous that I had nothing else to occupy my hands like Collin did.

“Chloe Hart. Hello.” Dang.

Reluctantly, I looked up into his amused eyes and faked a smile. “Oh, Taylor, hi. I didn’t see you.” In my nervousness, I accidentally brushed my napkin to the floor.

Taylor swiftly bent over and picked it up. As he placed the napkin in my hand, he held it and whispered in my ear, “Liar. You’ve been watching me since the moment I walked in.” He squeezed my hand, then stepped back.

I felt my face heat up as Taylor swept Kylie toward Collin. I was speechless.

“Collin Farnsworth. Good to see you,” Taylor said.

As he gaped at Taylor, Collin fumbled with his phone and dropped it. Then in a flash, he was up, pumping Taylor’s hand. “Taylor Anderson! What a surprise! So nice of you to come over.”

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Taylor glanced back at me and grinned.

I rolled my eyes. Could he be any more obnoxious?

“Here.” Taylor forcibly removed his hand from Collin’s grasp. “Let me introduce you to Kylie.” With his left hand he gently pushed her forward.

She looked a little less than thrilled to be introduced to Collin. But for Taylor’s sake, she fulfilled the requirement like a beauty queen, all teeth and shiny lip gloss. In his obvious attempt to impress, Collin showered her with a load of gratuitous compliments. I was a bit embarrassed by his conduct and would’ve gotten over it eventually had Taylor not turned at that moment and grinned at me slyly. He glanced at Collin, then back at me and raised his eyebrows. All at once it hit me. Taylor totally thinks I have a thing for Collin! Collin? As if!

Immediately I began to pray they would leave soon, or our food would come, or the building would start on fire. Anything to escape Taylor’s stupid “knowing” grin.

And then like manna from heaven, I was saved. Not the way I hoped, but who cares? Taylor’s gaze left me long enough to catch Kylie’s look. She seemed to practically beg to be out of our sight. All at once the gentleman in Taylor came alive. After a reassuring smile at Kylie, he turned back to me and Collin.

“Well, I’ll let you two enjoy your night.”

Yes! I was so happy, I could’ve hugged Kylie. Until—

“You’ve got yourself a great catch there, Farnsworth,” Taylor said. “You hold on to her, all right?”

Collin looked at me—really looked at me for the first time that night—and then smiled. I could almost see the imaginary wheels turning. Suddenly, visions of repeated date nights just like this one popped into my head. Briefly, I contemplated causing Taylor bodily harm. Taylor patted Collin on the back like he would one of his buddies. Clearly proud of himself, he beamed right at me. Why stop at bodily harm?

Believe it or not, after that the date was even more boring, primarily due to Collin’s excessive compliments of a certain “local celebrity” that I had to hear. To add insult to injury, after I had finally finished my meal, that little rat Taylor had the nerve to send over our bill, paid for by him, with a little note attached to the receipt that read: “We hope you enjoyed your romantic evening as much as we enjoyed ours. Love, Kylie and Taylor.”

How long would it take for them to find Taylor’s body? A long time, I bet. No one would really miss the guy anyway, right? 

After church I pulled out my homework again and hit the books. I already had an essay to complete for English class, plus two paragraph worksheets for World History. I turned on my radio to a soft-rock station and plopped onto my bed. About forty minutes into ancient Rome, I had almost finished my second worksheet when Mom called me down to dinner.

My parents asked 101 questions about my date with Collin the night before. Talk about awkward. I mean, how do you tell your mom the guy she set you up with was a total pathetic loser, one who wouldn’t even look twice at you until some popular jerk basically told him to? The worst part was that by the time Collin dropped me off he had almost convinced himself we were in love. Good grief.

Anyway, my family’s dinner conversation went something like this:


MOM: So, how did your date with Collin go last night? DAD: Yeah, how did that go?

ME: Uh, go? What do you mean?

MOM: Do you like him? Does he like you?

ME: What? No.

DAD: Why doesn’t he like you?

ME: No. I mean, he likes me and all, he just doesn’t like me.

MOM: Oh. So what did you talk about?

ME: Not much.

DAD: How much did the meal cost?

MOM: Honey, don’t ask her that!

ME: I don’t know.

DAD: A-ha! A good guy. He wouldn’t let you see the receipt when he paid for it.

ME: Yeah, a true good guy. You have no idea.

CLAIRE: So was the food good?

ME: The food?

CASSIDY: Yeah. What did you order?

ME: Order?

CLAIRE: I bet it was awesome.

ME: You know, I can’t remember . . .

MOM: There you go. If a girl can’t remember the next day what she ate at the Lion’s Den, then—

DAD: Then it isn’t worth going there.

MOM: No, then she’s in love.

ME: I am not in love! Eew. Look, can I go to my room now? I have a lot of homework.

MOM: Sure, honey. I’m glad you had a great time.


Parents. They so never get it, do they?

Had it not been for Blake’s phone call that evening, I’m not sure I would’ve poked my head back out of my room until the morning. As it was, Blake completely cheered me up and brought me out of my grumpy mood.

“So, did you miss me while you were on your date last night?” he asked.

“Uh, what do you think?” I grinned.

“Yes. Definitely yes.”

“Then you would be right.”

“I would, huh? So how did it go?” I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Awful.”

“Awful?” He sounded pleasantly surprised.

“Yes! Completely, totally, and utterly awful.”

Blake chuckled. “So you missed me bad?”

“I was so desperate for conversation I would’ve talked to my fork. Except then people would’ve heard me talk to it.”

“So you’re saying the guy never talked to you?”

“No. It was so immature. All he did was play with his fancy Google phone.”

“He’s got a Google Nexus 5? Wow! What does his look like?”

What is it with guys and gadgets? “Blake, focus.”

“Sorry.” He sounded so sheepish I forgave him instantly. “So, you were saying you had a horrible date. How can I make it up to you?”

Ask me out on a date again. “Uh, I don’t know.”

“How about I take you somewhere amazing, somewhere really fun?”

I’m hooked. Seriously, is there a sweeter guy in the world? “Okay. When? Where?” I giggled.