“Looks like they bailed,” Sean said once he noticed what had happened as well.

“Yeah, I guess,” I said back. “You’re Sean, right?” He nodded and I hoped he didn’t think I was some psycho stalker. After all, he had no reason to think I knew his name. “I’m sorry they ran off like that Sean. They’re probably playing a prank on us, we should go look for them.”

We checked the bathrooms and the parking lot, but Sophia’s car was gone and there was no sign of our friends anywhere. I guessed that they were all having a good laugh at my expense right about now.



“Don’t worry about it Katarina,” Sean said when he noticed I was getting worried.” I drove Pete here, so my car is outside. I can give you a ride home.”

“Oh, okay, that would be nice,” I grinned up at him, trying not to look overly excited to be alone with him. “And, you can call me Kat, everyone else does.”

“Katarina is a beautiful name. Is it Greek?” he asked.

“Italian, actually. It means ‘pure.’” I couldn’t hold in my smile this time.

Sean flashed me the gorgeous smile that I’d been dreaming about all week. “Well, Katarina, I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty hungry. There’s a small Diner next door, would you like to grab a bite before we leave?”

Really? Seriously? Did Sean just ask me to have dinner with him? My stomach was doing flips, and not from hunger. I could only manage to nod in agreement.

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As I looked over the menu, I settled on getting some fries. I couldn’t hold down a big meal seeing as my stomach was all in knots from sitting so close to Sean. He was a pretty quiet guy, which only made him that much hotter to me; it added that sense of mysteriousness that Sophia always gushes about in the guys she goes out with. Huh… I guess I have learned some stuff from my sister, as different as we are. I was turning out to be boy crazy just like her! At least about this boy.



I watched Sean out of the corner of my eye – hey, I didn’t want to gawk and have him catch me! He was sooo cute! I mean, how did I get this lucky?

As the waitress delivered our food I figured I’d better start talking. A girl can’t be thought of as dull, can she?

So, we talked about school and what subjects we were taking. We must have gotten pretty caught up in gossiping about our teachers because before I knew it our plates were empty and the bill had come. That’s right, one bill. Argh, don’t you just hate when they don’t split the bill? I mean, it wasn’t like this was a date… well, I guess it COULD have looked that way. Oh no, I was getting nervous! Was this a date? I quickly reached in my purse and threw some money on the table for my portion before it became awkward. Sean just gave me a weird look and handed the bill with our cash to the waitress.



I realized that my time with Sean was running out, he’d be taking me home now that we were done with dinner. I don’t know what came over me next, either wanting to spend more time with him, or not wanting to go home just yet to face Sophia’s taunting – probably both – but I asked Sean if he wanted to play a game of pool in the game room. He said yes! Great… he could show off his skills while I showed off my suckiness. Maybe that wasn’t the best idea…



Sean kept staring at me as I played and I was nervous beyond belief at this point – was he checking me out? I tried to brush off my awkwardness, but I couldn’t and I sent the white ball flying up off the table! I was so embarrassed! Sean laughed at me playfully and showed me how to shoot correctly. I got the hang of it and actually won a game! I think he tried to lose on purpose, but oh well.

We played 2 games of pool and then gave up the table because we ran out of quarters. Just as well, I needed to get home anyway.

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Sean drove me home in silence. He seemed preoccupied and I was such a ball of nerves that I couldn’t think of anything decent to say. The only thing I could come up with was school and I didn’t want him to think that school was my life. I mean, it is, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t have time for a boyfriend! I totally didn’t want to come off a major nerd so I just kept quiet.



Actually, there were a couple of times that I saw Sean looking at me out of the corner of my eye. He seemed like he was about to say something, but when I would look over at him he would quickly focus on the road again. Can you believe it – I was actually wishing that Sophia was here to help the conversation! She always knows just what to say and how to get what she wants. Sometimes I really envy my sister. I sighed. This night couldn’t possibly be more awkward…



“Well, this is it,” I said as Sean pulled over in front of my house. To my surprise he got out of the car and walked me to the door.



“Oh, you really didn’t have to walk me to my door,” I began. It was then that I saw Sophia peering out her bedroom window at us. I was so going to kill her when I got inside!

“It’s okay,” Sean said as he nervously shifted his weight. “I was hoping that the extra walk would give me time to build up the courage to ask you out.”



I stood there for a moment trying not to gape.

“Of course I would love to go out with you!” I nearly shouted. “I mean… cool.” Ugh, I totally came off as eager. Forget Sophia, I was going to scream at myself when I got inside.

“Really? How about tomorrow night? I can pick you up at 7,” he said.

I agreed and we said goodbye.



When I went inside I stood at the door and watched Sean walk back to his car. I couldn’t believe my luck! The total hottie I had been crushing on all week just asked me out!



I swear I saw Sean pumping his fist in the air like he’d just won the big game as he reached for his car door. But I could have just imagined it.



When Sean pulled off I decided I didn’t want to face Sophia just now and I fled to the privacy of my room. Unfortunately, I found my big sis had already beaten me to it! She was lounging on my bed with a smirk on her face when I walked in. I was SO not in the mood!



“Get out of my room Sofie! I don’t want to talk to you right now!” I shouted. “How dare you ditch me? Do you have any idea how humiliated I was?”



“Well, you didn’t seem so humiliated when Sean asked you out just now,” she said hastily. “We did you a favor!”



She had me there; I wasn’t exactly suffering at the thought of going out with the guy they left me with. I suddenly couldn’t think about being angry at her because I just wanted to gush about the fact that I had a date tomorrow night! I told her all about what happened after everyone left us at the bowling alley.



“I’m so excited for you Kat!” Sophia and I hugged, forgiving each other for fighting only moments before. “Okay, so what are you going to wear?” she asked curiously.



That night as we stayed up talking about everything from what I should wear to what I should say, I was very thankful for having a sister like Sophia.

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Coming up next time - the date! Thanks for reading!