you have your phone on you?” Lila asked.
“Ah, no, it’s in my purse. Oh, no. Where’d I put my purse?” I jumped up and scrambled to the kitchen table, finding it empty, then flew into my room where my pink bag sat on my bed. I quickly dug out my phone, right when it started to vibrate and light up with an incoming phone call from a number I didn’t recognize.
I ran back into the living room shrieking at the top of my lungs. “I think this is him! I think this is him!”
My friends started shrieking right back.
“Answer it!”
“Hurry!”
“He didn’t even wait five minutes!”
“This is so exciting!”
“Hello?” I answered, waving my arm to shush the hyenas, who were now all laughing at our outburst.
“Hi, could I speak to Alex?” Henry’s deep voice came through the line, sending chills along my spine.
“This is,” I spoke confidently, careful to make sure my voice didn’t stutter. Never let a man know they intimidate you–– a rule I learned from Emma.
“Hi, Alex. This is Henry Landon. From the Halloween party.”
“Hi, Henry! How are you doing?” I spoke with a bit too much enthusiasm before I could catch myself. Never let a man know how excited you are that he called, because he should be calling. More Emma wisdom.
“Oh, doing okay. Still trying to put our house back together after last weekend,” he chuckled, and I imagined his blue eyes sparkling as he laughed.
I shook my head, trying to get a grip on myself. I didn’t think I’d ever been bitten by the love bug quite this bad. And so soon. “Oh no! That has to be awful.”
“I guess that’s the price we pay for hosting. We don’t have to worry about drinking and driving, but our house is a mess for at least a week after.”
“I bet it reeks too. I can’t imagine how much beer and booze got spilled everywhere.”
“You got that right. I stashed a bottle of cologne in my car because I’m afraid if I ever get pulled over, the officer will think I’m drunk because the brewery smell has seeped into my clothes.”
We both laughed and the girls all smiled at me, even though they had no idea what we were discussing.
“Anyway, I wanted to ask if you had any plans for this weekend. I know it’s really short notice but I was planning on going back home, but those plans fell through and now I’m here all weekend. I was just going to see if maybe you wanted to, like, grab dinner or something on Friday or Saturday night. If you want to, that is,” he rushed to say, suddenly sounding awkward.
“I do! Yes, I do actually,” I blurted out before I could say something coy like “let me check my schedule first.” I wanted to go on a date with Henry and I obviously couldn’t hide it.
“Hey, awesome! Which night works better for you? I know just the restaurant to go to, but I need to call and make reservations. Hopefully we can still get in. I know they’re pretty busy on weekends.”
“Well, I work both Friday and Saturday this week, but I’m off at seven tomorrow and six on Saturday. So that will give me enough time on either day to get home and get, er, ready.” I wasn’t sure what the rule was on telling a guy all the work you needed to put into getting ready for the perfect first date. “Maybe let’s make it Saturday.” That extra hour could come in handy.
“Saturday it is. I’ll pick you up around 7:30. Would that be okay?”
“That would perfect.” Oh, God, by the time I got home from Blissful it would be approaching seven already. I hoped all the girls could help me out, because I was going to need it.
Henry and I finalized our plans and I gave him my room number at Wacker, and then he was off. And I was in a daze that I had a date with Henry Landon in two very short days.
“We’re going out on Saturday!” I screamed as soon as I hung up the phone, prompting immediate cheers and hugs from the girls.
“Wait a second. Saturday? What’s with the super short notice?” Carmen asked.
“He said he was supposed to go back to his hometown this weekend but his plans fell through.”
“Oh. I guess that’s okay then. Yay, a date for Alex!” And the screaming began again until we were all out of breath laughing.
“You guys have to help