The Perfect Prom Date (7 page)

     
“Whoa, whoa, not so fast.” Rachel pushed my eager hand down.
 
“I have a question.”

     
“Sure, what’s up?” I shook the nail polish bottle, the little beads clicked together, mixing it.

     
“While I think your plan is genius, pure genius, it has a flaw - ”

     
“A flaw?” I repeated incredulously. “Just a few seconds ago you said it was brilliant.”

     
“It is.” She put her hand up so that I wouldn’t interrupt. “I just don’t understand why you blew him off. You should be skipping swim practice and going out with Brennan. It’s off-season, so you don’t even have to go.”

     
“Well,” I answered slowly, beginning to doubt whether or not I handled things the right way earlier this afternoon. “I didn’t want to seem overly eager or desperate. I was playing it cool. Plus, I know I don’t have to go to practice, but I want to. It’s important to me. It’s part of who I am.”

     
“I knew you’d say that,” Rachel smiled, “and that’s why I think we should still hold off on the mini pedi -”

     
“Huh?” I was having a hard time following Rachel’s logic. Since when was my BFF not interested in doing pedicures?
 

     
Rachel rolled her eyes, “Well, before you interrupted me, I was going to say that we should hold off on the pedicures and do our homework, to get it out of the way. Then after practice, you can call Brennan to see if he wants to get together. You could surprise him, because he’s not expecting to hear from you, and then you’d be on step five. I’m afraid that if you spend too much effort on step four you’ll lose him for good, and you won’t even need the remaining six brilliant steps.”

     
“Okay,” I sighed. Rachel was right. I pushed the nail polishes back under my bed and grabbed my backpack. My toes could wait.
 

Comments:

counrtygirl: I wasn’t thrilled about it, but you’ve been right on the mark so far, so I did it.
 
I pretended 2 b interested in Jack and right away my guy asked me out again.
 
This time we r going 2 a roping contest.

#1twilightfan:
 
Oh no, I think I took this step too far.
 
He won’t even talk to me now.

BLOG #5

Step Five: Surprise Him!

Surprise! A surprise is defined by dictionary.com as a sudden feeling of wonder or astonishment, as through unexpectedness. This can be accomplished in many ways; you are only limited by your own creativity and how well you know your guy. A “surprise attack” is a fun and light way to show him that you care.
 

I’ll give you some basic suggestions of what you can do, but please feel free to come up with your own ideas. You know YOUR GUY better than I do.
 

     
If your guy is really into basketball, you could surprise him with two tickets to a game. You could even take it a step further by buying a cute jersey and wear it when he picks you up. He’ll think you look really hot and that you’re a really good sport. It also proves to him that you care by taking an interest in something that he likes. You could apply this to any sport. If music is more his thing, then you could surprise him with tickets to his favorite band when it comes to town. Let’s say that he likes Keith Urban, and you get tickets – you could be wearing jean shorts and cowboy boots when he picks you up. I doubt he’ll soon forget that pleasant surprise.
 

     
Not all gestures have to be so grand or cost a lot of money. Small surprises are just as nice. For example, you could bake him a batch of his favorite cookies. He’ll be thinking of you with every bite. Another idea is to call him when he least expects it. It will be a nice surprise for him to hear your voice, and he’ll know that you were thinking about him.
 
You could even ask him to come over and watch a movie.
 

     
In the end, the whole idea is just to do something unexpected – even if it is out of your comfort zone. If you have a great idea for a surprise, please let me know.

     
I decided not to waste any more time. I followed Rachel’s advice and moved on to step five. As soon as the coach blew his whistle signaling the end of practice, I climbed out of the pool and rushed to the locker room. I didn’t bother to dry off before pulling out my phone.

     
“Hi, Brennan,” I said tentatively. “It’s me, Josie.”

     
“Oh, hi Josie,” he said, sounding pleasantly surprised.
 
“I didn’t think I’d talk to you until tomorrow.”

     
I was beginning to worry that maybe this wasn’t such a good idea; my stomach was doing somersaults. I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. “Practice just ended
 
and I thought maybe we could hang out, if it’s not too late.” I glanced at the clock on the locker room wall and frowned. It was already a few minutes after nine o’clock. “Did you finish the calc packet yet?”

     
“Not yet. You must be psychic,” he chuckled. “I’m working on it now.”

     
“I didn’t finish it yet either. Do you want to meet to work on it together? My legs shook while I waited for him to answer.

     
“Sure. That’d be great. Where are you now?”
 

     
“I’m still at school.” I thought my response might make him change his mind.
 
The school was far from a lot of neighborhoods, and I wasn’t sure which one he lived in.
 

     
“Okay. Where do you want to meet?”

     
I quickly racked my brain, wishing I had thought this all the way through before calling. Most places were probably already closed, and I didn’t think meeting at either of our houses was a good option. Ellie would be home, and Brennan had little brothers and sisters who were probably getting ready for bed. I suggested the first logical place that I could think of, “How about Starbucks, the one across from the library. It’s open until 10 p.m., which would give us about forty-five minutes to study before they’d kick us out.” Of course, that was assuming I could get ready that fast. Starbucks was a five-minute drive from here.

     
“Works for me.” I heard him ruffling papers on his end.
 

     
“Okay. I’ll see you in a few minutes,” I said, quickly hanging up.
 

     
I had to race to get changed. Normally I showered and put on my pajama pants and an old worn sweatshirt after practice, but tonight I put my jeans and sweater back on that I wore to school. I quickly combed my fingers through my wet hair, pulling it into a ponytail. There was not much else I could do with it. It was wet and RED. In a last second effort to look presentable, I put on eyeliner, mascara, and lip-gloss.
 

     
When I walked into Starbucks at 9:20 p.m., Brennan was already sitting at a table. He looked so handsome that it was difficult to breathe. His dark hair was damp like he had recently gotten out of the shower too, and he was wearing a long sleeved t-shirt and jeans.

     
“Hi,” I said, sitting down across from him. “Thanks for meeting me.”
 

     
“Absolutely,” he smiled. I felt his warm gaze fall over me. I self-consciously ran my hand over my hair. He cleared his throat, “I hope you don’t mind, but I got you these.” He slid a bottle of Vitamin Water and a plate with a giant chocolate chip cookie in front of me. “I know it’s not your usual caramel macchiato, but that’s because I thought it would keep you up all night.”
Can he be any sweeter?
 

     
“Thank you.” I blushed at his thoughtfulness; no one had ever been so kind to me.
 
“How much do I owe you?” I asked, pulling out my wallet.
 

     
“Nothing,” he gently pushed my hand away, his light touch sending shivers down my spine. “You might as well put that back in your bag because I’m not going to take your money. I just thought you might be hungry after practice. I know I always am.”
 

     
He looked so sweet and endearing that I didn’t want to offend him by insisting that I pay him for the food. And I was starving. “Okay, but next time, I’m buying,” I replied, attempting to sound stern.
 

     
“No problem,” he smirked.

     
I put my wallet away and then turned my attention to the cookie. “It tastes awesome. Thanks,” I said in between bites.

     
He chuckled good-naturedly.
 

     
The cookie was gone in seconds, “You must be the psychic one, because I just inhaled that.” I used a napkin to wipe the crumbs off of my face. “I always work up an appetite when I swim.”
 

    
“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” he smiled.
 

     
“I guess we should work on our homework now, since we only have about a half an hour.” I reached into my bag and pulled it out. I had finished most of it, but I still had the last page to do.
 

     
“Which problem are you on?” Brennan asked, looking down at his own packet.

     
“Let’s see,” I flipped to the last page, “I’m on number ten. What about you?”

     
“Number eleven. Do you want to do number ten, and then we can compare answers?”

     
“Sure.” I quickly finished number ten, but it was nerve racking to know that Brennan was watching me. I broke my pencil twice. Finally I was done, and we compared answers.
 

     
We didn’t talk much while we worked. I had noticed that Brennan was all business when it came to his schoolwork, something we had in common. It was a comfortable silence. The only noise was our pencils scratching across our papers. The place was dead, except for the workers who were cleaning up. We had just finished checking all of our answers when the man behind the counter said that it was closing time.
 

     
“Perfect timing,” I declared, returning my things to my bag. Now that we were done, I wished the place wasn’t closing so that we could hang out for a little while. “Thanks again for meeting me,” I said, stalling.
 

     
“Thanks for calling. It was a nice surprise.” He paused, “The truth is earlier today I thought maybe you were didn’t want to hang out again. I was happy when your number came up on my phone.” He smiled, and his eyes turned an even brighter shade of blue.

     
“I definitely wanted to hang out. I’m sorry I made you feel like I didn’t,” I said, my vice filling with regret.
I can’t believe how close I’d come to ruining this.
Thank goodness I took Rachel’s advice and called him.

     
“That’s okay. It all worked out.”
 

     
Suddenly the lights dimmed. I chuckled, “I guess that means it really is time for us to leave now.” I stood, grabbing my bag.

     
“Come on, I’ll walk you out to your car.”

     
“Okay,” I nodded.
 

     
Brennan held the door open for me. My car was right outside. Before I could even unlock it, Brennan gently spun me around to face him, “Calculus isn’t the only reason for us to hang out, you know. Although I did have homework to finish, I would have hung out with you anyway.”

     
I smiled a real smile, not like the fake ones I had practiced in front of the mirror. “Next time?” I said, holding my breath.
 

     
“Absolutely.” Brennan lifted a strand of my wet hair and twirled it around his finger before letting it go. It was such a simple, yet, an extremely intimate gesture.

     
Standing so close, I could smell his musky cologne. It was making it difficult to think clearly. I wanted to wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him. I wondered how his lips would feel pressed against mine. I’d only kissed a handful of boys before, and none of them had made me feel like this. “Shit,” I said, dropping my keys.

     
“Here, I got it.” He bent down to pick them up at the same time I did.
 

     
“I’m so sorry.” I apologized for bonking his head with mine.
 

     
“No, it was my fault. Are you okay?” His eyes willed with concern. He reached out and gently rubbed my forehead.

     
“I’m okay,” I answered. At least I thought I was, my whole body had begun to tremble. Brennan had that effect on me. “What about you?”
 

     
“I’m tough,” he smiled. He held my hand, and we stood back up. Breaking the tension, he laughed, “Once, I got hit by a line drive. Now that hurt.”

     
“I bet.”
 

     
I must have had a confused look on my face because he said, “You don’t know what a line drive do you?”

     
I blushed. “No,” I admitted.
 

     
He laughed. “In baseball, when the batter hits the ball, and it heads right toward the pitcher - it’s called a line drive. I’m the pitcher.”

     
“Ouch,” I said, finally understanding.
 

     
“Here,” he said, carefully placing the keys in my hand and closing my fingers around them. The light brush of his fingertips made my heartbeat quicken. We stared into each other’s eyes, and I thought for sure that he was going to kiss me. I closed my eyes. Suddenly, a car horn blasted into the quiet night, startling me. My eyes flew open, and I jumped.
Is that Tracy’s car?
It was
.
She gave me a dirty look as she drove by. I was the one who should be giving her a dirty look for interrupting my perfect moment.