The Perfect Prom Date (13 page)

“No,” I shook my head. “I’m not going to pretend to be interested in Simon. I’m still trying to figure out who and how.” I chewed on my lip. “Do you have any suggestions?”

“My suggestion is to skip this step. Definitely skip it.
 

“I can’t do that.”

“Sure you can.”

“No, this is going to work. I know it. I just have to think of someone. I don’t really have to be interested in this person, I just have to play it right so that Brennan thinks I am.” I turned up my i-pod speakers; one of my favorite songs was playing.
 
When the song was over, I turned it back down.
 

“I’ve got it!” I shouted, jumping off the bed. I filled Rachel in on my seemingly brilliant plan.

“It just might work. If you time it right. But for the record – I still think this step is a bad idea. I just hope tomorrow I won’t be saying, ‘I told you so.’”

“Trust me. You won’t.”

***

I was entering the cafeteria, when I said a quick hello to Noah, a good-looking guy on the swim team, whom I was friendly with. It was nothing major, Noah wouldn’t think it was strange, but hopefully it would be just enough to plant a seed in Brennan’s mind.
 

I stood in line for my lunch, and then joined Rachel at our usual table. Brennan and I didn’t sit together at lunch, because we decided that it was more important to sit with our friends, like we’d been doing all year. I waved at him, just like always, and sat down. He waved back, and then returned to joking around with his friends.
 

“So, did Brennan see me say hi to Noah?” I asked Rachel in a rush, wanting to have this conversation before the rest of our friends showed up. They didn’t know about my 10 step plan.

“He saw,” she shrugged.

“What does that mean?” I felt sick to my stomach because I wasn’t so sure that this was the best idea I’d ever had. The smell of the green hotdog that they were calling lunch, only added to my discomfort. I pushed my lunch away, knowing there was no way I could eat it.

“It means that he saw you.” Rachel took a bite out of her sandwich, while I waited for her to continue, “but I didn’t get a good read on his reaction.”

“Why not?”

“He looked the same as he always does. I couldn’t tell if he was upset or not.”

“Oh,” I paused to think. “Well, I only said ‘hi’, so technically he’s not supposed to freak out or anything. If he did – that could indicate a totally different problem.” I had my doubts, as to whether or not that this plan of mine was going to work.
 

“So now what?”

“I wait to see if Brennan brings it up. If he does, then that’s it.”

“And if he doesn’t? Because there is a very good chance he won’t,” Rachel reminded me.

“I know,” I frowned. “I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I won’t have to go there.”
 

Anna, Julia, and Katie, joined us. It was time to change the subject. “Where is Kyle? I thought he might be joining us for lunch today?” I looked toward the lunch line. There were still a lot of kids waiting to get their lunch.

“He’s not coming. He’s busy editing an article for the school newspaper. The deadline is today after school. He’ll be here tomorrow,” Rachel beamed. She was truly the happiest I’d ever seen her and we’d been friends for a long time. “He’s so sweet.
 
Even though he isn’t eating lunch with us today, he walked me to the cafeteria and said he was going to miss me.”

“Ah,” I said, putting my hand over my heart.

“That’s so cute,” agreed Mary.

Anna, Julia, and Katie began discussing an upcoming concert the three of them were going to. Rachel quietly whispered to me, “I’m still on step three, and I hope I won’t need steps four through eight, no offense. I don’t know if I have the heart to go through with them. I want to skip right ahead to step nine, where he asks me to the prom.”
 

“Did I hear you say, ‘prom’,” asked Katie.

I nodded.
 

“Did I tell you guys that Spencer asked me if I wanted to go with him?”

“What did you say?”

“I told him, I’d be happy to. What about you? Any luck yet?”

Rachel smiled. “I don’t want to jinx myself, but I thought Kyle was going to ask me on the way here. Earlier we passed a poster advertising the prom, and he said real quietly how he’d never been to one. I could see that he was struggling to ask me, but before he had the chance Peter came running up to him and told him he had to hurry because they were all waiting for him in the newspaper office.”

“Wow, Rachel. That’s awesome. It does sound like he was about to ask you,” agreed Katie.

“Damn that Peter, he’s always interrupting.” Rachel banged her fist on the table.
 
“I get that they’re best friends like we are,” she pointed back and forth between her and I, “but sometimes, I get the feeling that Peter doesn’t like me much, and he wishes that I would just disappear.”

“Well that’s too bad for him. He’ll just have to grow up, and learn to share, because it sounds like things are going great between the two of you, ” I declared, siding with my best friend.

We all giggled.

Suddenly, I scowled, looking over at Brennan’s table. “What is she doing?” I asked through clenched teeth. The girls turned around to see what I had been referring to. Tracey was sitting in the empty chair recently vacated by one of Brennan’s friends, and she was stroking his arm. My face burned. I wanted to go over there and see what was going on.

“Looks like she’s moving in on your man,” commented Julia.

“You’re not helping.” My frown deepened.
 

“Sorry.”

“She keeps flirting with him. First, she asked him to drive her to pick up her car, then she called him to ask for help on a homework question, and now this. I can’t take it.”

Anna added, “I would keep a good eye on her. Ever since she broke up with Ryan, she’s been on a mission to find a new date to the prom. She already had her dress and everything.”
Great! I have no choice, but to go forward with step seven.

 
The bell rang, and I left my friends to meet up with Brennan. Thankfully, Tracy went the other direction.
 

“Hey,” he said, smiling.

“Hi.” He was so handsome I almost forgot to be mad. Almost. “What did Tracy want?” I asked, jealously filling my voice. “She was all over you.”

“She invited me to a party she’s having at her house on Saturday night.”

“She what?” I yelled. The students in front of us turned around to stare.
 

He stopped and spun me around to face him. Gently he touched my face, “I told her I wasn’t interested. I reminded her that I already have a girlfriend. You.” He stroked my jaw, staring at me with his deep blue eyes. “I only want you.” He lightly brushed his lips against mine.
 

***

Having already decided to through with my plan, I put it into action on Wednesday, right before the last period of the day. Noah was at his locker and Brennan would pass by soon on his way to Economics. “Hey, Noah,” I said casually, as I approached.

“Oh, hi, Josie.” He smiled. It was a nice smile, not as nice as Brennan’s, but still I was sure it was capable of winning a girl’s heart.
 

“I was wondering if I could ask you a favor?” I shifted my books from one arm to the other.
 

“Sure, what’s up?” He shut his locker.

“Are you, by any chance, going to practice tonight?”
 

“Do I ever miss a practice?” I smiled. Like me, Noah was one of the most dedicated swimmers on the team. “Why do you need a ride?” He asked, guessing correctly. We carpooled together from time to time.
 

“Yeah. Do you mind? My mom needs her car tonight because she has a meeting, and my dad is out of town.”

“Sure. No problem. Pick you up at 6:40.”
 

“Thanks. I’ll be ready.”

“Okay, see you then.” Noah headed off to class.
 

I turned around, and Brennan was leaning against the wall not two feet away, waiting. He was frowning slightly.
 

“Hi, Brennan,” I said, acting like nothing was wrong.

“I gotta go, or I’ll be late.” He walked off, leaving me alone in the hallway. It was the response I was looking for, but it didn’t make me feel good.
I sure hope this doesn’t backfire on me.

After practice I ran up to my room and closed the door. I needed to talk to Brennan. We hadn’t spoken since he saw me talking to Noah. I hadn’t really done anything wrong, and I had complete faith in my 10 step program, but I still felt nervous. “Hi, Brennan,” I said into the phone.

“Hey, what’s up?” He sounded almost normal, but I could hear a little uncertainty in his voice.
 

“Nothing. I just got home from practice, so I wanted to give you a call.”
 
I stretched out on my bed.
 

He paused. “How was it?”

“Exhausting and exhilarating all at once.”
 

“I bet.” His answer seemed short and lacking. He didn’t sound as interested in talking to me as he usually did.
 

I wanted to ask him if everything was okay, but I held back waiting for him to broach the subject. I continued on as if I hadn’t noticed anything strange between us.
 
“We had to swim IMs. It’s hard, but at the same time I love it.”

He paused briefly, and then sighed. I could picture him running his hand through his hair. I’d noticed he did that when he had something on his mind. He took a deep breath. “I don’t want you to think I’m a stalker, or anything, or that I follow you around, but my mom sent me over to school to pick up Will from soccer practice, and I didn’t see your mom’s car. At first, I was worried that something was wrong with you because I know you never miss a practice. Then as I was pulling out, I caught a glimpse of you in my rearview mirror. You were walking with Noah.” He sounded confused.

My heart stopped.
Step seven really works. He thinks I’m interested in Noah. He’ll ask me to prom now, for sure. I just have to play this right.
Forcing my voice to sound normal, I responded, “My mom needed her car, so I asked him for a ride.”
 

“Are you trying to get back at me for Tracy? I told you I’m not interested in her that way.”
 

“It had nothing to do with Tracy.” I had actually forgotten about her. “Noah and I used to carpool all the time before we got our drivers’ licenses. He lives just down the street from me.”

“I would’ve been happy to drive you home from practice, if you had asked me.”
 
He didn’t sound upset or angry, just sad that I hadn’t thought to ask him. “As a matter of fact, there is something important I want to ask you,” he said, sounding like himself once again.

OMG – He is going to ask me to the PROM.
Suddenly, I was overcome with excitement.
 

“Ouch,” I said, as I crashed hard onto the floor almost dropping the phone.
 

“Are you okay? What just happened?”

“I’m fine,” I said, standing up and rubbing my backside. “I rolled off my bed, that’s all.” How embarrassing!

Brennan laughed, erasing all of the tension that had been between us.
 

 
I wanted to make things even better, “I would have asked you for a ride, but I didn’t want you to go out of your way when Noah drives right by my house. I’ll be sure to ask you though, the next time I need a ride. Hey,” I said, trying not to sound too eager, “what did you want to ask me?”

“I can’t ask you now, over the phone.”

“Why not?” I examined my nails to see which one was already chipping. I began biting it.

“Because it’s the kind of question that needs to be asked in person.”

“Oh,” I said, disappointed.
How in the world am I supposed to wait? I’m going to be awake all night, wondering.
“That’s a long time from now.”
 

“Don’t worry, we’ll talk tomorrow.”
 

“Okay,” I said, dragging out the word.
 

“See you in English.”
 

“See you then,” I said, reluctantly hanging up the phone.
 

Comments:

joythomas: It was tricky to play it just right, but I did it. I asked a friend of mine, Josh, if I could borrow his sweatshirt because I was cold. When Matt saw me wearing it I could tell by the look on his face that he was jealous.
 
Later he said, “Do you want to go to the prom with me, or are you already going with someone?” I now have a date to prom with my guy!

countrygirl: I tried to make my boyfriend jealous by talking about my lab partner Chris, but it didn’t work. I also tried to appear interested in one of my brother’s friends, but that didn’t work either. I didn’t want to get too crazy and lose him forever, so I’m going to move on, and hope I have better luck with step eight.
 

BLOG #8

Step Eight: Foreplay

I am assigning a new meaning to the word foreplay. Instead of the dictionary definition, which refers to the heavy petting and fondling that occurs before sex; I define it as EVERYTHING that happens before he asks you to be his date to the prom.

Like what? Like EVERYTHING. The conversations you have, the laughs you share, the places you go, the games you play, and your feelings for each other. This step is all encompassing. It’s a culmination of all the previous steps.
 

And how this step plays out will be different for every person reading this blog.
 
There are no easy to follow how-to-steps this time. It’s all up at you, to put it together. I have confidence in you that you will succeed in getting him to ask you to the prom.
 

As always I’ll show you how step eight went for me.
   

There was an extra long line this morning at Starbucks, so Rachel and I were almost late to school. Quietly, I slipped into my seat. Immediately Tracy turned around and shot me a dirty look. I glared back at her.
What is her deal?
I didn’t have time for her games today.