I got ready, showering, and throwing on a pair of lovely black slacks and a button-down shirt. I went the traditional route with the date, so I made a call home to get some ideas for a time - a big mistake there. Did you ever have six adults give you advice on a date? Better yet, did you ever have six adults from my family provide you with information? It's not pretty.
I finally decided dinner and a movie would work. I mean, it's Scarlett. She seems pretty easy going, mostly. I was a nervous wreck. I left the house, hoping that tonight went well, or at least, I didn't crash and burn. I have a feeling it will be the latter.
I was prompt picking her up at her dorm. She dressed in a simple skirt that went to her knees and a cute top. Her dark red curly hair draped on her shoulders. She was stunning. Junior let me borrow his car for tonight since I didn't have one at the moment. It didn't matter though everything was within walking distance of the house. I wanted to be a gentleman and proper with our first date.
We headed to the restaurant and talked on our way - nothing major, small talk. Once we arrived, we sat at our table. We kept to the small talk, and the waiter took our orders. I don't know if it was the fact that we were on an actual date, but my nerves got the best of me, and by the best of me, I meant, knocking over her glass of water, making her wet. Then as I tried to help her dry off, the waiter came with our food, and I bumped into him, causing her dish of food to go flying onto her head and falling into her lap.
Yeah, this was not good, but the strangest part was she wasn't even mad; in fact, she laughed and went to the lady's room with her purse. While she left to get cleaned up, the waiter had us move tables so that they could clean up the mess. She returned ten minutes later wearing a different outfit and explaining she always kept a change of clothes on her in case. That's good because I was hoping to get through the rest of the dinner without incident.
After we finished our meal, we headed to the cinema. As we figured out which movie to see, a guy walked over to us excitedly. "Scarlett? What are you doing here?"
They hugged as she said, "Oh, you know trying to decide on what movie to see." They embraced and started talking. It sounded like they were catching up. I stood there until I sat down on a bench and waited for them to finish. I checked my watch, and a half-hour passed as I watched the two of them chat it up. Great, my date is having a better time with another guy on our date than she is having with me. Yep, this date is a disaster.
After watching them another ten minutes, I decided maybe it would be best if I let them carry on with each other. This date was a mistake. I quietly walked out of the theater and got into the car. I know, I left my date behind because she's in good hands with Mr. I will steal your date, which he did. Plus, it's not like anything was developing between us since the dinner was a disaster, and she blew me off at the movies. Yep, my luck with women stayed intact, which meant I didn't have any.
I drove back to the house.
"Oh, boy, I didn't realize how long we were talking," she said.
"It happens when you run into your sibling that you haven't seen in months," the guy said.
"Oh, come on. You knew I was coming to school here. Mom even told you, Leo," she said with an exasperated tone.
"Okay, yeah, I did," he said, grinning.
"Anyway, I should introduce you to my date," she said as she turned around, realizing I left.
"What date?" Leo asked.
"He was here," she said, looking around.
"He left." He shrugged as she sighed.
"Yeah, fantastic." She rolled her eyes.
I pulled up to the house and went inside. Elijah and Davina were the only ones there, and Elijah looked up at me from the couch and asked, "How was the date?"
"What date?" I asked him.
"Weren't you on a date with Scarlett?" Davina asked me.
I rubbed the back of my head, running my hand through my hair. "Well, I was until she chatted it up with some other guy for forty minutes."
Both of them stood up as Elijah asked, "What?"
"Yeah," I answered.
"I'm sorry, man," he said to me with seriousness. Usually, some jokes cracked, but this time there were no jokes except the trick played on me with this so-called date.
"I'm going to my room. If the others ask, tell them it was fine. If Scarlett comes by, tell her I'm not home," I said, heading to my bedroom as they nodded.
"Oh, dear, this is not good," Davina said.
"Yeah, Matt's dealt with a lot of issues with girls and feeling insecure growing up. This date made it worse," he said.
"Should we tell the others?" Davina asked.
"We should, but I think I will follow Matt's lead on this," he said, looking at her as she nodded in agreement.
I lay on my bed in the dark. Thinking about the evening events, I wasn't jealous that Scarlett was talking to another guy. I was more disappointed than anything. Yeah, she could annoy me, but that quirk endured me to her. Yes, I know she has no problem talking to people, another quality I admired. I think it was the fact that I was so nervous about this going well that it didn't matter.
As I lay there, my phone vibrated. I picked it up to see Scarlett calling me. I didn't answer it, and she kept calling. Then she sent text after text. I didn't bother to respond or read them. What was the use? Forty minutes is a long time to ignore someone on a date, especially for another guy. She kept blowing up my phone, and eventually, I turned it off.
While I lay in bed, contemplating my lack of love life, the others came home.
"Is that my car in the driveway?" Junior asked.
"Yep," Elijah said.
"I take it the date ended early," Junior said.
"You could say that," Elijah said as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Eli, what happened?" Liz asked him.
"Well," Elijah said.
Before Elijah could say anything, they heard someone knocking at their door. Drew answered it to see Scarlett at the door.
"Scarlett?" Drew asked.
"Hey, Drew. I was wondering if I could talk to Matt," she said to him.
"Why?" Elijah asked.
"Elijah?" The others yelled.
"No," Elijah's voice boomed, startled everyone. "I'm sorry, Scarlett, but maybe you should think about that before you ignore your date to talk to some random dude."
"It's not what it looks like I swear," she pleaded with them.
"Yeah, right? Look, I don't know what your selling, but we're not buying," he said, turning around and heading upstairs.
They all looked at her as she tried to speak. "I swear, I'm not playing a game. I would never do that. Believe me," she pleaded with everyone.
The guys shook their heads and walked away. Liz looked at her. "Give them time. My brother feels hurt, and with family, we have each other's back. I don't know what happened, but I do know if it upsets Eli, then Matt is upset."
"Liz, I swear, I didn't mean to hurt Matt. I would introduce him to my brother."
The girls looked at her, and Hope asked, "What brother?"
She sighed. "The one at the movie theater that I ran into there. It was my older brother Leo and I hadn't seen him in months."
"Does he go here?" Hope asked Scarlett.
"Yes, I hadn't had time to see him since I've been here because of classes, work, and hanging out with Matt. It so happened that he saw a movie and saw me at the cinema with Matt. We got so focused on catching up. I lost track of time," she said, making hand gestures.
"Oh, dear. That isn't good," Davina said.
"Why?" Asked Scarlett.
"Because Matt was pretty upset when he got home. He figured it was some random dude you got with," she said.
"What? I'm not even like that! I had one boyfriend in my life, and after we broke up, I barely dated because most guys are crazy," she said to them.
The girls looked at each other, and Davina spoke to Liz. "I think we will need help with this."
"I can't call them! They will screw everything up. They always do," Liz said to her.
"Not them! The other ones. Come on, how dumb do you think I am?" Davina huffed.
"Ohhhh. Got you," Liz said after realizing what Davina was saying. Liz took out her cell phone and made a call. As soon as the person answered, she said, "We have a problem, and we need your help."
After speaking to the other person and explaining the turn of events, she hung up.
"Well," Hope asked.
"They'll be here early tomorrow," Liz said. She turned to Scarlett. "Let us deal with the boys, and once things are good, I'll call you."
"Thanks, Liz," she said, leaving.
"I hope this works," Davina said.
"If I know them, it will," Liz said, closing the door.