Boyfriend by Christmas

Chapter 5

"In a hurry to get married?"

I shake my head. "No way. But I do think about it. Don't you?"

"All the time," he mumbles. "But I'm in no rush, either. I just hope I have someone someday."

"Me, too." We're silent for a minute and I pick up my flash cards. "Enough deep stuff. I need to study."

"Yes, you do. Let's start."

Garrett starts by holding up the flashcards for me and prompting me for answers. He's good about giving hints and helping me with ways to remember all of the information.

"I think I've said this before, but you're going to make a really great teacher."

He blushes. "That means a lot to me. Especially coming from you."

When five comes around, I tell Garrett I have to get going. "You have a date, right?"

"Yeah. With Frankie. We're going to a movie."

"Yikes. Is it at least something you like?"

"It's an action movie."

He laughs. "So no."

I slide my backpack over my shoulders. "I don't have high hopes for this one. But I didn't last night either and it went great."

Garrett coughs. I wonder if he's catching a cold or something. He was coughing a lot at lunch on Monday too. "Who was last night?"

"Jeremy," I tell him. "We had a steady flow of conversation. Unlike Trevor on Tuesday. He barely said two sentences to me the whole night."

"That's rough. At least you're narrowing them down though. What happens when you have a top three?"

"I tell them the truth," I say. "It wouldn't be fair to go on two or three dates with that many people without them knowing, you know?"

"Wow. You're going to tell them about operation BBC?"

I laugh at his use of the codename. "Not the whole thing. I'm just going to admit I'm seeing a few guys to see how things pan out."

"Do you think they'll be okay with it?"

I shrug. "I have no idea, but it doesn't feel right to not tell them. So I'm going to tell them."

"You're a great person, Cassidy."

"Thanks, Garrett. So are you. Even if you are mean sometimes."

He laughs. "Will you ever let that go?"

"Absolutely not," I say. I climb in my mom's car and wave out the window before pulling away from the school parking lot. I won't have much time to change before my date with Frankie, but we'll be in a dark movie theater anyway so it doesn't matter that much. I'm just glad Mom rode to work with her boyfriend today so I could take the car.

**

Like Trevor, Frankie is late picking me up. We end up missing the previews before the movie. Considering how little interest I have in this movie, the previews were going to be the best part. That also cuts out any opportunity we have for talking, and thus far, we haven't done much.

I completely cross Frankie off the list when he slides an arm around my shoulder and tries to make-out with me halfway through the movie. Not only are action films non conducive to making out, in my opinion, but this is our first date and we haven't spoken more than five words to each other.

When he drops me off, I get out of the car and practically run to my door.

Inside, my sister is once again on the couch reading a magazine with a white dress on the cover. I think back to my conversation with Garrett earlier today and realize he's right. What if she's already picked a dress and I didn't get to be there?