Locally, Gina Tasman had three strikes against her. She was Alan’s ex; even though he and I were on the outs, I couldn’t date one of Alan’s former girlfriends. The second problem I had with Gina was that she was Kara’s sister. And finally, I thought Gina and Wolf had something going. What that might be, I had no idea.
What really sealed the deal was, let’s just say it: I thought she was a bit of a bitch. It was one thing to be friends with her, but dating … Nah, not happening.
I decided to narrow the field and focus on someone whom I hadn’t dated before. The first girl that came to mind was Kylie Ruttier. She’d been one of the ‘frosh’ cheerleaders that Tracy had put me in charge of my sophomore year.
At the time, I’d thought they were all too young. In the last two years, they’d grown up, but in the back of my mind, I still thought they were too young. That’s when I added another filter: they had to be a senior. The underage aspect could potentially bite me in the butt.
“Hey, want to have lunch together?” I asked my target.
“Uhm … I’m not really part of your crowd. I’m not sure they would want me to come to your table.”
“Did you forget who I am?” I asked with a mischievous look.
“No, David. Everyone knows who you are, and I’m guessing that your friends would be nice if I had lunch with you. That doesn’t change the fact that I’m not really part of your crowd.”
“We could get a table by ourselves,” I suggested.
She gave me a skeptical look.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“Let’s cut to the chase. I was wondering if you would go out with me this weekend.”
“Like on a date?” she asked as her eyebrows disappeared into her hairline in surprise.
“Yeah, like a date,” I said, suddenly worried she might turn me down.
“I guess,” she offered skeptically.
I decided to take that as a win and pressed forward.
“Now, it’s been a while since I’ve been on a first date. Is there something you’d like to do?” I asked.
She barked out a laugh.
“I’m not falling for that. Everyone knows that if you ask a girl out, you plan the dates, or they get canceled.”
Wow, I’d forgotten all about that. The ‘frosh’ girls had tried to set me up, and the one they’d wanted me to go out with kept asking what we’d be doing. The way I remembered it, she wanted to make sure it would be something fun, or she didn’t want to go. It seemed to me that she was playing games, so I had withdrawn the offer. I could see how someone who didn’t know all the details would think that about me.
“Tell you what. This one time, it’s Lady’s Choice. I’ll take you anywhere you want to go,” I said.
“Really?
There were some people to whom, if I’d made that offer, I would be sweating bullets. Destiny Crown jumped to mind. She might make me take her to Paris for dinner. Of course, I had a loophole for that one. There was a Paris in Illinois I would use if need be.
“Sure. Why not? It’ll be fun for me to see what a girl wants to do on a first date. Besides, it also takes a lot of the pressure off of me,” I said with a little smile.
It looked like she hadn’t thought this through. Planning a
“If it’s too much …” I started.
“No!” she blurted, and then her lips curled up in pleasure. “I’ll have to think about it, but I’ll plan the date.”
“So, that means you’ll go out with me?” I asked.
“Yes, David. Was there ever any doubt?” she asked.
I waggled my eyebrows at her in response.
“Now, leave me alone. I’m going to talk to my girlfriends to get some ideas,” she said as she walked past me.
Well. I had an actual first date set. Baby steps, right?
◊◊◊
I nonchalantly slid into my seat at the lunch table.
“What do you call half of a colon?” Wolf asked the table and paused for effect. “A semicolon.”
“Please, make it stop,” Gina begged.
“What weight does an evangelist carry with God?” Wolf continued unperturbed. “A Billigram.”
“I’ve got one …” I started with the intention to tell one of my religious jokes that I told my boys.
Just then there came a big squeal from a table on the other side of the lunchroom as my date told her friends she was going out with me. The whole lunchroom turned to see why several girls were making a racket when the noisemakers all turned and looked at me. My tablemates, in turn, all looked at me.
“I have a date,” I explained.
“With Sun Ling?” Cassidy asked.
“Yeppers,” I admitted.
I was a little put out that my friends didn’t believe me. They couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea that I would date someone ‘normal’ like Sun. I’d gotten to know her when she and I had math together, and I’d noticed something was up with her.
Turned out, Sun was homeless. My mom had worked with our church to find her a family that would let her move in with them. While she wasn’t the type of girl I usually dated, I liked Sun as a person. It wasn’t like we were getting married.
◊◊◊
