Adventures in Funeral Crashing (Complete Novel)

Chapter 15: Double Dating

I went home and massacred my closet looking for something to wear for my first date ever and with a college guy! My cat Scarlett was enjoying it, though. She was busy jumping into piles of clothes, as I tossed them aside. I'm glad she was having fun, but I was in a panic. Troy was definitely cute and if he didn't turn out to be a murder suspect maybe I could explain things and make romantic things work between us anyway, since Ethan still seemed to be oblivious to thinking about me in any sort of romantic terms.

I finally settled on a dress that I had never worn. My aunt had gotten it for me for Christmas the year before, when she took me on a shopping trip. Despite my protests that it was too low cut and I knew my boobs would fall out of it so I'd never wear it, she insisted that someday I might want to wear something sexy and that since I didn't have my mom to buy it for me, she was going to. Then she told me I should definitely hide it from my dad. I had done just that.

It was perfect for a date. It was a dark blue dress that clung to me perfectly and showed plenty of skin. Hey, I know what guys want. I may not normally wear those things, but believe me I know. Besides, even though I was wearing a clingy dress, that didn't mean I would actually give it to him, not on the first date anyway. The dress actually made the strawberry blonde in my hair look nice too. I hoped Troy approved of the cleavage I was sporting. Maybe as a plus, Ethan would notice too. My other outfits had been way more conservative than this. Maybe he needed a jump-start to really see me now that he at least thought I was kind of normal.

Because we didn't want Troy to know where I lived, we were all meeting at the date location – a hamburger joint that was known for its build your own hamburger menu called The Burger. They really did have the best burgers.

The Burger was always extremely busy, so it wasn't like there was any way that Troy was going to have a chance to get me completely alone and stick a heroin needle in my arm. Ethan wasn't taking any chances, though, and told me that he would be picking me up...for my double date with Troy. His date, Ariel, was meeting us there too. I knew she'd totally hate that. Ariel was a pick me up at my house and open the door for me kind of girl. It would probably be a good idea for the guy to have flowers too if he wanted anything to happen.

If this wasn't the weirdest double date ever already, maybe I would have said something to Ethan about that. Not that I wanted to do any favors for Ariel where Ethan was concerned or anything.

Ethan knocked on my door promptly at seven o'clock. Luckily, my dad had gone over to his friend's to watch a basketball game. I was saved from any kind of explaining about Ethan and the dress. My dad might actually have made me change.

I opened the door and was pleasantly surprised to see Ethan do a double take. I knew I looked sexy! Instead Ethan said, "Maybe you should change."

"Why? What's wrong with this dress?" I demanded. I had looked repeatedly in the mirror for the last twenty minutes and even I had to admit, I looked pretty damn good in this dress. I didn't look fat at all and who knew my boobs looked this good? Not me and now everyone, including Troy and Ethan would. The dress fit me perfectly. I had to admit, my aunt had good taste. We'd have to go shopping again this Christmas in case I ever got asked out on another date.

"I mean, you don't want to give him the impression that you actually like him, do you?" Ethan volunteered, not able to tear his eyes away from me.

"Isn't that the point of a date? To make your date think you like him?" I asked, and then as an afterthought added, "Maybe that's why you don't have a Homecoming date. You're clueless."

I knew it was a petty thing to say, but I was hoping for a reaction and I got one, but not quite the one I was expecting.

 Ethan raised his eyebrows, "Ariel already asked me, in front of you if I remember right. And, I could have my pick of any girl. I just haven't asked her yet."