Olivia's Hypothesis

dates and detectives

"What did she say?" I mumbled to Alex, shuffling closer to my phone.

"How many girls have you dated?" he repeated.

I screwed up my face, lost in thought while I mulled over how to weave the truth into an appealing response.

"Huh. Okay." I cupped my hand around the phone, directing my hushed voice into the speaker. "Say ... um. Say, you went on some dates in high school—"

"I went on a couple of dates in high school," Will repeated on the other end of the line.

"A couple?" his interrogator—Kiara's best friend—queried. "Why nothing serious?"

Alex rocked onto his heels, Will's bed shifting under his weight. He lowered his face to the phone as I'd done. "Say that you haven't met the right girl yet. That you don't just want to date for the sake of it, you know? You're waiting for someone special."

We heard Will adjust his AirPods before repeating, "I haven't met the right girl yet, I guess..."

Alex settled back onto the bed while Will paraphrased his answer, reaching for the popcorn, the plastic rustling loudly as he gathered the kernels. I glared at him. He mouthed a sorry, slowing his movements, then extended me a handful.

I took it. Obviously.

The idea to use our phones and AirPods like a walkie-talkie had been mine. Naturally. Will had been in an absolute state about going on a group date with Kiara and her friend when I'd arrived in his room with Aiden, adamant that he was going to be interrogated, then judged. Deep down, I knew he was right. My girlfriends and I had all done the same thing once upon a time—cornered each other's new flings and questioned their intentions with our girl.

If only one of my friends had questioned Eli as intensely as Kiara's friend was questioning Will.

"So, you think Kiara's special?" Mia prodded, her voice low and flecked with a hint of protectiveness. Even I had to admit that she was a tough nut to crack.

I liked her.

Will hesitated before answering, and it took us a second to realize that he was waiting for us to tell him what to say.

"I think you've got that one, buddy," Aiden uttered from Will's gaming chair, his lips curving into a fond smile. He was silhouetted against the closed drapes, the white fabric only making his eyes look all the more blue.

Cobalt? I wondered. Or more of an azure?

"Right," Will sputtered. We all winced. "I mean ... uh, yeah. Of course, I do—"

"Ease up, Mia!" Kiara's laugh wafted through the speaker. It was such a sweet sound, like warm syrup on top of chocolate pancakes. "Will, wou... you e...use us fo... a mo..."

Alex, Aiden, and I sprung forward in unison, hovering over the phone while the sound continued to cut in and out.

"What's happening?" Aiden shout-whispered, waving his hands in the air frantically as if that would bring the situation back under control.

I picked my phone up from the bed to play around with the volume controls. But before I could figure out what was causing the poor connection, it cut out completely.

Alex groaned. "Uh-oh."

A new panic was twisting my stomach into tiny knots, only intensifying when I realized that, with the line cut, Will was all but completely on his own with Kiara and Mia. Completely left to his own devices.

I groaned.

My entire assignment was relying on Will's socially-awkward ass making it through that date. With the way that things were going with Kiara's bold friend, I wasn't all that confident that Will could make it on his own. Which meant that my project, my shot at that internship, was in jeopardy.