Brady had left a million texts by the time I got home and plugged my phone into the charger. I grabbed some cheese chunks and a water, picked up the phone, and started to call him when it vibrated in my hand. That always freaks me out. It was Dave calling. That freaked me out more.
"You talked to her that quick?" I asked. "What did she say?"
"Um, no," he said. "I thought I'd call you first. To, uh, get more pointers on the pirate stuff."
"Just call her, okay? When she answers, tell her you had a great time with her tonight, and you wondered if she'd like to, I don't know, get some pizza or something?"
"Pizza. Check."
Did I say pizza? Like that's unique.
"Then maybe after the pizza you could go for coffee. And hey, after that, why don't you walk her down to the park? You could do that star popping thing. That was perfect."
"You like stars?"
"Who doesn't?"
"I had a great time tonight."
"Me too." A vision of Dave with the lip thing going on popped into my head but I shooed it away.
"So." He drew in a breath. "I was wondering if maybe you'd like to get pizza or something?"
That was exactly the way he should say it, all sexy/growly-like. He must have kept talking while I was thinking how a voice like that was just the thing to get a girl in the mood because, next thing you know, I heard something about chai and stars.
"Madison's more of a cappuccino kind of girl," I corrected. "And don't tell her about the star popping. Let it be a surprise. Girls like surprises."
"Surprises?"
"Yes. And gifts."
"Like flowers?"
"Flowers are a nice touch but it might be a little much for a first date. You wouldn't want to scare a girl off by making her think you're madly in love with her or anything."
"It would scare you off?"
"Me? Maybe. No, probably not. But I'm not Madison."
Dave sighed. "Nope. You're not."
"Don't be so nervous about it. It's fate, I tell you. Everything will work out. I promise."
I figured I had time to talk to Brady before Dave called back with a report. He answered on the first ring. "Hey beautiful," he said.
"Right."
Brady hurried to run through all the usual excuses. They included:
1. It's not what you think.
2. Nothing happened.
And the old standby:
3. We're just friends. I swear.
Twenty minutes later, he was still going.
"All right, already," I told him. "I believe you." And really, I did.
11:59 PM If anyone can understand how a friend relationship could get misinterpreted as something ... more ... it's me.
I thought we might finally get off the phone then. Surely Dave had already set up the date with Madison. I wanted to hear how it went. But no. Brady had something else to say.
It seems that while Madison and I were exploding fruits with Craig and Dave, Brady and Jacob had spent their time doing something almost as productive. They considered: How to Nurture a Relationship. One thing they decided: Summer is right.
At last. Someone gets it.
What was I right about? Lots of things, really, but mainly it was this: Hanging out with friends is important.
I concur. In fact, I have a whole theory about group dates versus single dates and how they offer more opportunities for doing something fun and new. Because, you know, fun and new have just got to be good for a relationship.
That's what I was telling Brady, while I watched the clock. And while I wondered just how much longer we would have to talk before I could get off the phone, and leave it free for Dave to call me back. So he could tell me all about his conversation with Madison. How she'd said, 'Yes, definitely. It is my sincerest desire to go out for pizza and coffee (and surprise star popping!) with you.'
Which was why I was somewhat distracted, and unable to steer Brady in a better direction, before he got to where I really didn't want to go. Which was:
The whole gang should get together again. "Yes."
And do something fun again. "Mmmmhmmm."
And that fun thing should be fishing. "What?"
And it should be tomorrow night. Nooooooooo!
Now, I'm not the kind of girl who gets all squeamish about outdoor activities. I fish with my dad. I'm not afraid of bait. But tomorrow? Tomorrow was Secret Plan Day. Tomorrow was pizza/coffee/stars/possible first kiss/Dave and Madison fall in love and I never have to deal with Jacob again day.
But I couldn't tell Brady that. So instead I reminded him that Jacob and Madison were not speaking at the moment, and that, even if they were, I couldn't imagine my vegetarian best friend anywhere near a hook and a worm.
"Just try and ask her? Please?" Brady said.
How could I say no?
"Oh, and by the way," he added, "you can see if Dave wants to come along too."
Finally we hung up. I expected the phone to ring again immediately, but no. I tried Madison's number; maybe I'd missed the call. Busy signal. While I waited for Dave, I thought about pirates and worked on my blog – I mean – oh, you know. Note to Self: Your mom is not stupid. You must put more actual work into a real website. Soon.
The phone rang seventeen minutes later. It was Dave. Finally. The call to Madison had gone okay. "Just okay?" I asked because, you know, they'd talked for almost an hour.
"I'm not sure she really wants to go," he said.
"But she said 'yes'?"
"Yeah."
"And?"
"And what?"
Details. I wanted details.
"We're meeting at the Pizza Pit tomorrow, at seven."
"Seven?"
"Yeah."
"There may be a slight problem with that."
"You want me to cancel?"
Cancel? After all the work I'd put into this? "No way. It's just that Brady's got this crazy idea. He wants to go fishing. All of us. Tomorrow. At six."
"Did you say fishing?"
"Uh-huh."
Dave laughed. "Does a girl like you want to go fishing?"
"I'm pretty much up for anything."
"Anything?"
"Yup."
"So if a boy called and asked you to go bungee jumping?"
"Sure."
"Mountain climbing."
"Of course."
"How about a safari to the deepest depths of the African jungle?"
"Sounds good."
"Scuba diving in the Bermuda Triangle?"
"You betcha."
"How do you feel about golf?"
"Golf? I don't think so."
"Why not?"
"A girl's got to draw the line somewhere. Besides, I suck at golf."
"I could teach you."
"You play golf?"
Dave Brown is full of surprises. Just when you think you've got him figured out, he adds another layer of mystery. It turns out his grandmother taught him to play. He's pretty good at it and he wanted to give me a lesson. I told him I'd think about it.
"That's not good enough. You have to promise."
"Okay. I promise."
"Pinky swear?"
When I explained the difficulties of pinky swearing via cellphone he offered to come over and seal the deal in person. Right. It was way past midnight by then and Dave lived at least two miles away.
Instead we talked about:
A. Music (He likes almost all the same bands I do.)
B. Chocolate (He agrees; dark is good for the soul.)
C. A whole bunch of other stuff. (It's almost wired/weird how much we have in common.)
It must have been around 3 A.M. when my dad came out to raid the refrigerator, and caught me still talking on the phone. "Summer," he said, "why don't you let that boyfriend of yours get some sleep?"
"It's not my boyfriend, Dad," I told him. "It's just Dave." That's when I realized my father was down with the eyebrow raising thing too. Sheesh.
It's also when Dave got quiet.
"What's wrong?" I asked him.
"Just ... 'Just Dave' should probably get off the phone so you can get your beauty sleep."
"Because I so desperately need some?"
"Who you? Never."
"Swear?"
"Pinky swear."
I was snuggled in my bed before I realized, Crap! We hadn't come up with a plan to deal with the fishing issue. It was my last thought before I fell asleep and it probably explains this dream:
I'd just defeated Dave Brown in some sort of beach towel snap fight. As the victor, I got to choose his fate. We were in a plane over the Bermuda Triangle, in sparkly pink cummerbunds and scuba fins. We'd opened the hatch and were tossing out boxes of carburetors and worm-loaded fishing poles when I lost my balance.
"Don't let me go, Just Dave," I screamed.
"Who you? Never," he answered and grabbed my hand.
"Swear?" I pleaded.
"Pinky swear."
Our little fingers locked and he tugged me back toward the plane, but just then a phone rang and I toppled the rest of the way out. True to his word, Dave didn't let go. Instead, he tumbled out with me.
And we were falling, falling ...
<3
Author Note: I hope you've been having as much fun as I have with these extra chapters to celebrate the release of my new book, DATING ON THE DORK SIDE -- with Charity Tahmaseb. Remember, you can read a sample of it right here on Wattpad, and you can buy it right now on Amazon. You can also stash away the idea of it to buy later. If you're like me, you're hoping to get bookstore gift cards for the holidays ;)
See you tomorrow with the last bonus chapter. After that I'll go back to publishing chapters twice a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays.