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Before I knew it,
Friday night came. The week had passed, the days spent with me gazing at Andrew
from afar, and Andrew returning my gaze when he thought that I wasn’t looking.
The nights were spent with him texting me about something mundane and then ended
up talking about whatever our hearts desired. I knew that there must have been
a legit reason why he was texting me so much. He liked me, it was obvious. I
didn’t however want to believe it because I didn’t want to get my hopes up and
end up getting disappointed.
As I sat in front
of my vanity, my outfits that I bought with Daphne were sprawled across my bed,
I still felt confused. There were so many things that I didn’t know about
tonight. Was the outfit that I picked out right? Should I hold his hand? Or
worse, what if he kissed me? Was I good at kissing?
The last time that
I was kissed was when I was 13 with my middle school boyfriend. His name was
Carter, and he was the bee’s knees at our middle school. He asked me to dance,
and of course I said yes. My first kiss was during the song ‘Love In This
Club”, by Usher. It was a beautiful moment. We ended up breaking up a few weeks
later, but still I wondered if it was my kissing skills that drove him away. To
this day, I will never know. However, I tried not to let that thought plague me
tonight as I got ready for my big date with Andrew. Andrew who wasn’t Carter,
nope not one bit.
I wasn’t sure what
I was trying to go for tonight. Should I go for a look that was more sassy? How
hard should I try? I mean I know for a fact that he likes me. I like him, and I
want to impress him. So, how hard should I try? Should I even be trying at all?
Of course, I should at least put some effort into my appearance.
Time for a call to
Daphne. She was good at this sort of stuff, she’d know what to say. The phone
nearly slipped out of my hand each time that I tried dialing her number.
“Hello”, she said.
“Help”, I said.
She sighed.
“You’re going to be fine.”
“I am so nervous
that I can’t eat. Or even sit up straight. I fail at dating.”
“You’re also new at dating.”
“And so far it
sucks”.
“Andrew is a great
guy. And you haven’t even went out with him. Everyone has these experiences
when they go out with someone that they really like for the first time. Plus,
Andrew seems to already like you. It’s going to be amazing.”
“But, I’m still
nervous.”
“And that’s okay.”
“It is?” I was
puzzled.
“Yes.”
“How so?”
“Because we’ve all
been there. It’s perfectly fine to be nervous when you’re new at something.
It’s all going to go away eventually. Trust me.”
“Were you nervous
about your first date?” I asked. I remembered it vaguely. It was a few years
ago, with some guy named Michael. I didn’t remember much, other than he was a
few years older than us. I believed that he was a senior when Daphne was a
freshman. The relationship was short-lived though because Michael had wanted to
move a lot faster than she did. Daphne dumped him for Sam, the artsy guitarist
that lasted for about two months. He was her first love.
“Keep in mind,
you’re the exact same age as Andrew.”
“That is true. I
do have that going for me.”
“It’s going to be
great. Start getting excited!”
I took a deep
breath. “I will.”
“Say it like you
mean it!”
“I will!”
“Okay, go get him
Tiger!” she exclaimed.
“I will!”
I hung up, and that
blast of confidence lasted until I tied the white laces of my Chuck Taylors.
About an hour
later, Andrew was making small talk with my father. My father had decided to
put on his Robert Deniro impression, which was really hard for a middle-aged
Irish man to do. I had half expected that, when my older sister Brielle began
to date Kevin, who was now her boyfriend of five years. (They had begun dating
when she was 16.) However, now that the spotlight was turned on me, it still
felt even more embarrassing. I can finally relate to her pain.
“So”, my dad said.
He was the one that got the door. That was the rule. “You wanna take my
daughter out?”
“Yes sir”, Andrew
said. He was careful on his words, almost to the point where he himself was
wondering whether or not to take my ridiculous father seriously or not.
“You better treat
her right or I swear to God-“
“Dad”, my older
sister Casey cut in. “I am so sorry for my father. He’s really a nice person
but he has control issues with any men in his daughters’ lives. I’m Casey,
Cathleen’s normal sibling. I swear my father is a nice person. Would you like
to come in? Cathleen is waiting for you.”
Andrew nodded, and
he looked a little more relieved.
“Hi”, I said. My
palms were sweaty.
“Hey”, he said,
smiling. “You look awfully nice tonight.”
My dad shot him a
dirty look. I prayed that Andrew didn’t even see it.
“Thanks, you do
too.”
“Thanks. Do you
want to go?” he said. I bet he couldn’t wait to bolt out of this awkward
situation. My dad was giving him dirty looks as if giving them was going out of
style. Casey was doing the same thing to Dad. Whoever said getting rid of dirty
looks was more dirty looks was clearly wrong.
“Sure.”
Andrew followed me
out of the door. He even opened the door for me, which was always a plus when a
guy did that in my dad’s book. I still can feel the weight of my Dad’s stare as
we walked out. I’m pretty sure that Andrew was thinking ‘Thank God for getting
me out of here.’
“Sorry about my
Dad”, I said as he lead me to the car. “He’s just overly protective of his
daughters.”
“I can see that.”
“Are you afraid of
that?”
“Should I be? I
have no plans to hurt you.” He held open the door of his Toyota Rave Four. It
was dark, but I can still kind of make out that it was silver. I wondered if
this was his mother or father’s that he borrowed for the night.
“You don’t?”
“Not that I know
of.”
“Well that’s good
to know.”
He smiled. He
started the car, and suddenly some of my nerves seemed to melt away. I hoped
that my father pretending to be a member of the Mafia would be the only awkward
moment of the night.
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