Six
Before Emi and Kalani found partners, the three of us would go bowling once a month. Now we always include Daphne and Emmett, or more accurately, they include me. I had actually messaged the girls’ group chat inviting them to check out Boscoe’s pop-up art exhibit with me tonight, but Kalani vetoed that in favor of bowling, then promptly invited Emmett and Daphne. I like having Daphne and Emmett around, but it would’ve been nice to check out the art exhibit with my friends as it’s only on for a limited time.
The bowling alley is outdated and smells like popcorn, but the lanes are in good condition and the nachos are the best in town, even better than Murphey’s. We’ve got some privacy at our lane, but the alley’s strangely crowded for a Monday night.
“How bad was it, really?” Daphne asks me as Emmett throws a ball down the lane. He knocks down all the pins, which isn’t surprising because he’s good at everything.
“Terrible, and I’m still mad at Kalani forpayinghim,” I emphasize, sending her a glare as Emmett rejoins us at the table.
It was a disaster, and Jay couldn’t be further from my type. Emmett would never ask about the color of my panties. He’d never tell me I’m stuck up or think I’m better than others. He doesn’t thrive when I’m embarrassed or uncomfortable.
“And Itold you,” Kalani starts, her spiel already prepared,“that Emi and I both thought he was madly in love with you and just needed an excuse to go on a date with you, because he knows you don’t like him. He never would’ve asked you out if we didn’t give him a little push.”
“ButI,” Emi interrupts, “didn’t know you were going topay him. Seriously, Kalani, use some common sense next time.” She turns to me. “I’m sorry it sucked. But I honestly thought all that sexual tension would work out in your favor.”
“It wasn’t sexual tension,” I mutter.
Again with that term.Sexual tension. I’m beginning to really hate it. When I called Kalani on the drive home, ranting about how she paid someone to date me—someone I hate, and who hates me, to be exact—she rationalized it by saying she could see the “connection” we had, and how everyone could see the “sexual tension” between us. I laughed at her and told her this little blind date agreement was done, then went home to seethe. She might have the best intentions, but between the cliff and tonight, I’ve faced enough humiliation to last a lifetime.
I haven’t heard from Jay, not that I was holding my breath, but I also haven’t been able to delete his phone number. I don’t know why. Maybe I want to save it in case I want someone to yell at? He says I don’t know how to live a little? Ha! Maybe I’m keeping his number to prank call him or sign him up for a bunch of annoying marketing phone calls. That’ll show him! I canlive a littleand he knows nothing.
“Technically,I didn’t offer him any money, I offered hissisterconcert tickets,” Kalani clarifies before adding in a mumble I almost don’t catch, “Plus, he wasn’t supposed to tell you about the tickets.”
I shoot her a look, and she holds her hands up in innocence. “Okay, okay, I’m really sorry,” Kalani says. “Honestly, I was trying to help. I thought it would be like a movie where the two people who hate each other are forced to spend time together and they realize how much they have in common and give into their attraction and sparks fly and they fall in love and it’s happily ever after. There’s totally a connection there, it’s only you and Jay that are too stubborn to see it.”
No. The truth is, Jay and I are clearly two people who will never get along. “Stop looking at me like that. You all need glasses because there isnota connection between me and that jerk.”
“There totallywas, but if you say there wasn’t then that’s fine. The concert tickets were an incentive, a push you both needed. I went about it the wrong way, and that’s totally on me. I was only trying to play your fairy godmother. Or fairy matchmaker? Or cupid?” Kalani shakes her head, stopping herself from getting off track. “The point is, I was too excited about the idea of you two and overstepped. Forgive me?”
Kalani delicately plucks a nacho from the pile—a perfect one loaded with the perfect balance of cheese, olives, and jalapeños—and holds it out to me as a peace offering. I can’treallystay mad at her. She was only trying to help me in the way she thought I needed. Just like that time in seventh grade when the city of Toronto was holding a junior art competition, and even though I was too scared to enter, she secretly submitted one of my paintings anyway. I came in sixth place out of three hundred submissions and won $500 and an incredible week at an art camp where I learned different painting techniques from local accomplished artists. She overstepped, but she did it out of the goodness of her heart because itwasthe push I needed. That’s just how she is, and I can’t really be mad at her for wanting to see me happy.
I take the nacho and pop it in my mouth. It reallyisthe perfect ratio of ingredients. “You’re forgiven. But never try to bribe a guy into dating me again. And don’t try to set me up with Jay again because I promise there isnoconnection.”
Her smile is bright, and she perks up immediately. I didn’t realize how down she had been thinking I was mad at her until I see her whole face change and the confident set in her shoulders return.
“Deal!” She offers me another perfect nacho from the pile, and I take it. “Your date this Friday is going to be much better. No offer of payment, I promise. He’s really sweet and genuinely excited to take you out.”
The nacho in my hand freezes midway to my mouth. “What?”
“How did you know Jay had a sister anyway, Kal?” Emi asks through a full mouth.
“Her soccer team practices on the field beside Maleah. I saw him there Saturday afternoon,” Kalani explains, but I’m still stuck on what she said a few moments ago.
“Wait, let’s go back to the whole ‘you have a date Friday’ thing. I didn’t agree to any date.”
“Yes, you did! Remember? At school before your first date, you said you’d go out with a couple guys until you found one you connected with. Prom’s coming up,remember?Obviously it didn’t work out with Jay, that was a miscalculation on my part, but Arthur is great, and you guys will have fun together. He’s the complete opposite of Jay personality-wise, which is what it seems like you’d prefer.”
“Wait, who’s Arthur?” Emi asks. “It should be my turn to pick. Emmett told me about his friend Wyatt, and he’d be perfect for you, Carina.”
Kalani sends Emi a seething stare. “No, I already have Arthur set up.”
“That’s not fair! You picked Jay, and it was terrible. It’s my turn.”
“May I remind you that youagreedto the Jay pick. You can’t put it all on me.”
Emi and Kalani bicker back and forth about whose turn it is to pick the date I don’t want to go on, while Daphne, Emmett, and I sit there and watch, our heads moving back and forth like we’re watching a tennis match.
I don’t want my friends to argue, especially about this. I don’t remember agreeing to multiple dates, but I remember the way Kalani looked when she suggested I haven’t dated anyone because of Emmett, the betrayal crystal clear. Jay’s words about needing to get over Emmett ASAP come back to me. If my feelings about Emmett are obvious to a guy I’ve only had a handful of unpleasant encounters with, then it’s only a matter of time before my closest friends figure it out.