The nerves didn’t really hit me until I sat in my car. I promised Emi and Kalani I’d text them when I got here, but that was less for my safety and more so they knew I’d actually come. As we walk through the restaurant, my heart pounds in my ears, and I scan tables to figure out who my date is.
“Here you are,” the hostess says, stopping at a booth and gesturing before walking away.
I don’t bother sitting down. “This is a joke, right?”
There’s a guy sitting in the booth: a hot guy, but theworstguy. It’s Pink Shorts, and he’s wearing a black button-up shirt with a nice silver watch on his wrist.
“I wish, Princess. But here we are,” he says with an amused tilt of his lips.
I cannot believe Kalani and Emi would set me up withPink Shorts, or Jay, whatever. I ranted about him to Kalani for an hour after the ice cream incident! And Emi says he thinks I’m hot? As if!
“My name isCarina.” I should turn around and walk away. This wouldneverwork, and we both know it. Jay must’ve known who I was when he agreed to this date, and my curiosity about why he came is what prompts me to slide into the seat across from him.
Pulling out my phone under the table, I quickly open my chat with Emi and send her our bail-out code.
Jay glances down, then looks back at me. “Why did you just text me, ‘I have a hairy possum’? Is that supposed to be code for . . .” His eyes drop suggestively to where the lower half of my body is hidden under the table before moving back up to my face.
Mortification hits me as I realize I sent the message to him instead of Emi, and it takes a moment for his meaning to sink in. “Ew,what?No!”
Jay looks like he’s trying not to laugh. “Okay. On that note, are your panties pink today?”
My face heats up as I sputter a response. “I—you know—it’s—why did I even sit down?” I start shimmying out of the booth when he reaches out an arm to stop me.
“Wait, stop. I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist.” His smile is wide, and my eyes narrow at him.
My curiosity outweighs my outrage, and I settle back into my seat.
“Not thatyou’llever see for yourself, but yes, they are pink,” I admit out loud for some strange reason. “I like matching them to my outfit.” It makes me feel like I have my shit together.
“That’s weird,” he says, that stupid smirk still present.
“You’reweird,” I huff, crossing my arms over my chest. Now I get why he agreed to this date— it’s because he enjoys making fun of me, and for some reason I keep making it easy for him.
His smirk widens. “Still quick with the comebacks.”
“Why are you here?” He doesn’t like me, and he’s aware that I don’t like him, so it’s not like he was looking forward to an actual date like I was.
“I’m on a date.”
It’s almost laughable that I thought my blind date would be anything like Emmett. Emmett’s eyes are kind and as blue as the ocean, and Jay’s are teasing and captivatingly dark. Emmett’s smile is sweet, and Jay’s smirk is annoying. Emmett loves helping people, and Jay makes it a hobby to bother or embarrass me. Jay would not take the time to nurse a baby bird back to health, not like Emmett did in tenth grade. Jay wouldn’t stay up all night with me, helping me practice for the French exam, not like Emmett did in ninth grade. Jay wouldn’t take me to the beach at sunrise with an easel and paints so we could capture the landscape together, not like Emmett did last year. Jay wouldn’t do any of the things Emmett has done for me over the years.
“With me?” I ask. “Why did you agree to this?”
He leans forward. “Why didyouagree to this? Why do you need to be set up? We already know you don’t know how to talk to boys, and you have very poor manners, but why a blind date?”
The judgment of his stare and his condescending tone cause my face to heat.
“I was forced,” I state.
“You were forced?” he repeats. “Are you sure it has nothing to do with the fact that you haven’t been on a date since eighth grade?”
I can’t believe Kalani told him that! “It was the summeraftergrade eight, thank you very much.”
“Either way, that doesn’t really surprise me,” he says, pausing before adding, “The ice cream came out of my shirt, by the way.”
I ignore the pang in my chest from his insult. “Aw, it did?” My frown is exaggerated. “I hoped it wouldn’t. I wanted to give you something to remember me by.”
Just like I’ll always remember him as the jerk who threatened to throw me off a cliff.