Chapter 21
I sat in front of the mirror in my room that stands up on the desk, to make it easier to do hair and makeup. I couldn’t believe Katie did this to my face. It wasn’t bad. In fact, it was amazing. I looked really… different.
My hair was curly, like usual, but it was all pulled over one shoulder, and Katie made me let her put some sort of gunk in it to make it shiny. My eyes were lined and I had shimmery on white eye shadow to go with my navy blue and white horizontally striped dress. It looked like some sort of sailor dress, with a ruffly-bow-thingy at the point of the neckline. The skirt part came down just past my knee, and it had sleeves that came down to my elbows. I was wearing white flats and a dark red lipgloss.
I walked over to my jewelry box and looked through it, finally pulling out a certain gold heart locket with a half of a pearl embedded on the front, as if it was whole, but the other half had been pushed through the front of the charm. It was the same locket I had yelled at Carly for touching weeks before.
“What are you thinking about for jewelry?” She walked over and saw the necklace in my hand. “The locket? You haven’t worn that since…”
“Since Kenzie died? No, it was a few months longer. I just haven’t looked at it since then.”
On my twelfth birthday, McKenzie gave me a locket with a picture of the three of us together. I never took the picture out, and now I was really glad. My mom wasn’t big on memories, so she didn’t even own a camera until a year before, and Katie’s parents weren’t big on taking pictures of us kids, so it was one of the few pictures I had of Kenzie.
I clasped it on in the back for the first time in years. It felt normal, like it was just another necklace, not one that was from a dead person. Wow, how creepy did that sound?
I looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table. “It’s six thirty. Why’d you make me get ready so early? He won’t be here for half an hour.”
“He might be early. You never know. Hey, um, I have a question.” I looked at her, scared of what it might be. “It’s just, since everything happened, you’ve seemed to be more, over Cody and Kenzie. I just want to let you know that I’m happy for you if that’s right. You’ve been hung up over this way too long, and it’s just good to see you wearing that necklace again, and going on a date-“
“You are making me go on this date.” I gave her the guilt eye, and then continued. “But no, I think you’re right. I mean, I’m not getting back into dating, but hey, I can’t deny that guys have hearts anymore. Just because one guy screwed me over-” I stopped mid-sentence when I realized that was exactly what Kyle had said to me. “One guy was a dick three years ago, and I don’t think it makes anything better to sit around for the rest of my life, wishing he’d come back for me. I think someone very smart taught me that.”
“You’re just saying that.”
“The part about you being smart? Yeah, you’re right.” We laughed and she started brushing me up on date etiquette.
“So, remember, don’t order anything more expensive than his, since he’s paying, and keep your elbows off the table.”
“Yes, mom.” I joked whenever she told me to do something polite. “Oh, hey, should I bring a purse with money, you know, just in case, and my phone?”
“Not a big one. Maybe a clutch. How about that small white one with the bow?”
I went and looked through the box of my purses and accessories, and came out with a small white purse with a triangular flap at the opening and a bow in the middle. I looked at the clock again. “Ugh! Six forty five! How do I look?” Just then Gina walked in with wet hair clinging to the back of her ratty tshirt, coming down almost to the waist of her sweat pants.
“Well, you look fancy. I feel so underdressed.”
“Hey. What are you doing tonight,” Katie asked.
“Um, I was just going to call home and turn in early, maybe do some computer stuff.”
“Okay.”
I decided to get on my facebook since Caleb wouldn’t be there for over ten minutes. When I opened my computer, a message on unitedworldpoets.com came up in an email, from a Wolfman91. I didn’t recognize the screen name, but it sounded familiar.
I clicked on it and read:
Hey, Lainey, its Kyle. Look, I never got to apologize for last month. I was just trying to protect you, and I just wanted to tell you that I think I started falling for you in that week I knew you. I understand that you’ll never feel the same way, but I just wanted to say that when we kissed, even if you were drunk, I wasn’t. I knew what I was doing, and I really felt a spark (other than the physical one) and I haven’t stopped thinking about you. Jessica misses you and wants to see you again. I switched out of University of Maryland to give you space. If you can ever find it in your heart to forgive me, you know where to go.
I smiled. He was gone. I had just read a heartfelt letter and I was glad that the person who wrote it was out of my life forever? Crazy, I know, but I felt relieved. Except for that comment about a spark. People feel sparks all the time when they aren’t supposed to be together, right?
There was a knock on the door and I went to get it before Katie stopped me. “Let me get it.”
“Please, Kat. I can get my own door.” I walked over and opened the door to see Riley and a handsome guy in the hallway. He was just a bit taller than me with light brown hair that was almost blond and icy blue eyes. He wore a nice black dress shirt and black slacks.
“Elaine,” we weren’t quite at the ‘Lainey’ point yet, “this is Caleb. Caleb, Elaine.”
He held out his hand to shake mine and I accepted it. “Nice to meet you.”
Katie came up behind me and invited him in for a moment but he declined. “No, I would, but we should get going. We have reservations in half an hour and it’s rush hour. Crazy traffic.” He held out his arm for me and I took it gracefully, walking out and closing the door before speaking.
“So, Caleb, you know Riley?” I said his name slowly, trying it out on my tongue.
“Yeah. Forever. She’s like my little sister. And she would kill me if she found out how long it took me to tell you that you look beautiful. You do.”
“Thanks. You look nice, too.”
“Thank you.” We exited the dorm building and he led me to a black Toyota Corolla.
“Is this yours?” He then opened my door in reply. “Oh. Thank you.”
He walked around to the driver’s side and got in after I was seated in shotgun. “You seem a little nervous. Do you do this much?”
“Do what?”
“Blind dates.”
“Oh, no. Never, in fact.”
He laughed. “Well that makes two of us.”
We drove, talking about unimportant things like current political events and music. He turned on the local rock station on low volume and when Bring Me To Life by Evanescence came on we both started singing along.
“So are you a freshman?”
“Yeah. Kinda freaky, isn’t it?”
“I guess, but I think this year will be really great.”
He looked at me. “Yeah, I think so, too.”
The restaurant was one of those nice ones that had a dress code and wouldn’t let couples with children through the front door. It wasn’t fancier than what I was used to, when my dad dragged me to business meetings. However, it was still nicer than I was expecting. “This place seems really expensive.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got it.”
We were seated quickly and given menus. I looked over the menu and my mouth started to water. Ravioli di portebello, chicken Fettucini, Chicken parmesan; I love Italian food. I mean, who doesn’t?
I remembered what Katie told me about not ordering anything more expensive than him. “What are you having?”
“Their Chicken alfredo is really good.”
I looked over the menu and found that. It was twenty dollars. Okay, so anything less than that.
A waiter walked over to us, pulling a pen out of his pocket. “Hello. I’m Eric, I’ll be your server tonight. Can I start you off with something to drink?” He looked at me expectantly.
“Um, I’ll just have water, thank you.”
“And I’ll have the same.”
He nodded. “Alright. I’ll be right back with that and I can take your orders.” He walked off and Caleb smiled.
“So, you come here often,” I asked.
“Uh, no. Riley does, though. She says it’s good, though.”
“Oh.” I smiled. She planned this all out, not me or him, so that would make sense. “So are blind dates always quiet and awkward?”
“Um, yeah, I guess.” He laughed.
“Well then, this should be fun.”
“Yeah.” He laughed like I just told a joke.
“So, what are you majoring in?
“Education.”
“Really? Let me guess, you either want to be a teacher, or your dad is paying your tuition.”
“Well, technically both. I want to be a teacher and my dad is paying first year tuition.”
“Okay, you seem like a high school history teacher.”
He laughed. “English, actually.”
“Oh. That’s really cool actually. I’m going into creative writing, myself.”
His eyes widened a bit in shock. “Really? You look more like nursing or something like that.”
I burst out laughing. “Yeah, no. I can’t even stand needles.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Okay. So creative writing? What do you want to be? An author?”
“Well, I’m actually thinking poet if I can make any money off of that. But if I can’t, I’d go with reporter. Writing in those newspaper things that no one ever reads anymore.”
“That’s not true. People read… okay, so maybe that’s just old people, but it’s still a good idea.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Hello, sorry it took so long,” the waiter, Eric said as he placed our waters on the table. “What can I get you?”
“Um,” Caleb said. “I’ll have the chicken Alfredo.”
“And I’ll have,” I looked over the menu one last time. “Chicken Parmesan.” It was seventeen dollars, so Katie would be proud of me for following the rules.
“Alrright, would you like that with angel hair or linguini?”
I handed him my menu. “Surprise me.” I hoped that was right. I looked over at Caleb and saw him smiling.
“Brave. A risk taker. I like that.”
“Thanks.”
We talked a while about meaningless things, just getting to know each other. When our food got there, we started eating and it was delicious. They had given me angel hair past, which I was grateful for. It was easier to eat politely. I made sure to twirl the spaghetti on my fork using my spoon before eating it, keeping my elbows off of the table.
“Don’t get used to this. I’m not normally this polite.”
He smiled. “So does that mean we’ll know each other long enough for me to not get used to that?”
I started panicking. Was that wrong? “I guess we’ll have to wait and see.” I hope I’m doing all this right.
“Well, I certainly hope so. And don’t worry; I’m not this polite either.”
“Oh, really?”
“Really. At my last high school, I had a record for the loudest burp.”
“I’m going to have to beat that sometime, won’t I.”
“No time like the present.” He put his hand up and the waiter came over. “Um, can you bring us a little bit of sprite?”
Eric left and I was confused. “What’s the soda…” realization donned on me. “No! Not here!”
“Why not?”
“This place is way too fancy! I bet they’d kick us out.”
“Then eat your food quickly.”
When he was back with the soda, Caleb took it and handed it to me, gesturing for me to drink.
“Come on, we won’t get kicked out. Just do it. I dare you.”
Reluctantly, I took the glass and before I drank, said, “Well I can’t say no to a dare.”