The Dating Department

10. Back to Three

This is dedicated to SerenaStar80 for becoming my 10th fan. :)

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I perched myself on the top of a park bench in between Danny and Amber as we waited for the guys to show up. Roy had sat down in front of me, and placed his head on my knees until Danny decided she didn't like that, and flicked his forehead.

Aiden was the first to arrive, we saw him pull up in his car. Paul was second. And last, but certainly not least, Levi arrived, riding on a midnight blue Harley Davidson motorcycle, a matching helmet covering his head, the tinted visor down.

Amber and Danny watched with wide eyes and Levi climbed off his bike and took the helmet off his head, shaking his blond hair back into its messy place. If their reaction was anything like mine, they were practically drooling right now.

Levi hung the helmet on the handlebars of the motorcycle, then strode over to our group.

“Sharkbait.” He winked at me, “Aiden.” He nodded at Aiden, who just grunted in response. “So what's up?”

“Well...” I began awkwardly, twisting my fingers through Roy's hair without noticing. “I need you to fill a recently vacated position...”

Levi looked at me, one dark eyebrow raised, “Like, some kind of job?”

“If you call dating Riley a job,” Roy supplied helpfully, pulling my fingers from his hair and putting them back on my lap.

“Best job ever.” Levi smiled, “I knew you would warm up to me.”

“Er, that's not it... you'll be competing with other people.”

“Competing? For what?”

Amber stepped in from there.

“You will be one of the three guys that will be dating Riley. You will each take her on three dates,”

“Only three?” Paul cut in, looking at Amber curiously.

“Yes, only three. We have to condense this into one summer, so we really don't have much time.”

“It's only June.”

“Yeah well... shut up. Anyways, after the four dates, Riley will decide which one of you she wants as her long-term, official boyfriend. We could have some kind of special cerimony for this... like a ball or dance or something, or—oo! We could do it like with “The Bachelorette” where she hands out the roses! That would be so amazing, and--”

“Amber. No.”

“So let me get this straight. I'll be dating Riley who will also be dating two other guys, to prove to her that I'm the better choice for a boyfriend?”

“That's the watered down version, but, yeah.”

Levi looked over at the three guys sitting near me and his eyebrows furrowed together, “It looks like you already have your three guys, what do you need me for?”

I blinked, startled slightly by his observation, “What do you mean we already have three guys?”

“Aiden, that guy, and the dude whose hair you were just playing with.” He explained matter of factly, putting his sun browned hands into his jean pockets, making him look like some kind of jean model.

I was so distracted by his seeming perfection, it took me a while to process what he had just said

“Woah, wait... you think I'm dating Roy?”

“He's leaning back on your knees and you were playing with his hair.”

“Well, yeah, but how do you know he's not my... brother?”

“He doesn't look like you.”

“Maybe I was adopted.”

Levi sighed and ran a hand over his face, “Fine, Riley, you're not dating Roy.”

“Yay, I win!” I grinned, and ran my fingers through Roy's hair again, just to irk both him and Danny.

Again, Roy pulled my fingers gently from his hair and placed them back in my lap.

“So is there anything else I need to know about this whole dating experiment thing?”

“Uh... you have a date with Riley... today....”

“Woah, he does?”

“He's taking Charles' place, remember? I had already made reservations.”

I groaned and slumped down onto the bench, pushing Roy off in the process. “Please tell me it's not a fancy restaurant again...”

“Hey! I think that I did pretty well on our first date considering the circumstances!” Paul protested from my right.

I ignored him and looked at Amber expectantly.

“Chill, Riles, it's nothing like that. Charles was a surfer, so I made reservations for him to give you surfing lessons. I reserved a board and everything.”

“You can do that?”

“I dunno, but I did. So what do you think, Levi, you up to it?” She asked, turning back to the guy in front of us.

“Sure, I had already promised Riley some surfing lessons anyways, a first date is a good a time as any to teach her.” He grinned down at me and extended his tanned hand, “M'lady.”

I slipped my hand into his and stood, making an attempt at being graceful.

Did I succeed?

In a way, I guess,

I gracefully fell flat on my butt.

“Seriously, what is it with you guys and not being able to catch me?” I demanded, my eyes clenched shut because of the pain in my rear.

“Uh, Riley, I did catch you.” A voice whispered softly in my ear, sending slight chills up my arms.

I opened my eyes slowly to see Roy underneath me. I had landed on his legs.

“My landing on your legs is not catching me, Roy, dear.” I giggled, “but thanks anyways.” I leaned over and kissed him lightly on his forehead, before taking Levi's hand once more and standing.

To my surprise, as soon as I was standing, I was jerked roughly into Levi's chest and his voice was in my ear, “I think you stunned poor Roy, Sharkbait.” He chided.

I strained to look over my shoulder to look at Roy. He looked perfectly normal. “I don't know what you're talking about, Levi.”

“Yeah, sure.” He chuckled, finally releasing me, but keeping my hand. He tugged gently at it, and I waved goodbye to my friends.

He led me over to his motorcycle and dug around in the saddle=bag-ish storage containers, finally pulling out a black helmet.

“Put this on.” He pushed it into my hands and pulled his own helmet onto his head.

I shoved the helmet onto my head, probably messing up the perfect hair Amber had given me, and clambered onto the bike behind Levi, wrapping my arms firmly around him.

“Please don't let us die.” I pleaded, holding tightly to his waist.

“I'll do my best to avoid death.” He chuckled, kick-starting it and revving the engine.

I shut my eyes tight and pressed my head as tightly as possible into his back.

And then,

We were flying.

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That was fun to write. ^ ^ Do we have any teams in the houseeeee?