with my shirt, plugged in the cord, and slammed the headphones over my ears, very irritated that I would be sitting there for two more hours. The opening credits of the movie Brigadoon flashed across the screen, and I mentally sent messages to Gene Kelly to dance faster.
An hour into the movie, Artie made a move. He was still staring straight ahead at the tiny movie screen when he picked up his heavy arm and settled it on the back of my wooden chair.
I peeked at him out of the corner of my eye. He had a slight smirk on his face. I imagined he was mentally checking off a task in his planner.
Seduce date by talking about other girls
Impress date with number of awards you have received
Do not spend money on date
Make date watch corny movie in media center
Sneak in comments about your frugality
Put arm around date at exactly the halfway mark of the movie
I leaned forward and sat uncomfortably on the edge of my seat for the entire second half of the movie. Making the excuse that I needed to use the restroom, I stood up. He did too and walked over to the lady at the desk. As I walked by, I overheard him asking her to stop the movie and rewind it just a bit so we would remember where we left off.
Great! That adds five more minutes to this fantastic experience! I hurried as fast as I could because I was worried that he might try to start the whole thing over again. I considered the idea of running madly out of the building, but he could see the bathroom door from where we were sitting, and it would be rude. I was determined to just suffer through the last part of the movie, and then run home.
Finally, finally, the movie was over, and I jumped up like someone had just pulled the fire alarm.
“Okay, Artie. Well, this was great. My car is parked just outside, so I’ll see you on Monday, okay? Thanks for the date.”
Unfortunately, he didn’t take a hint and insisted on walking me to my car. I opened the door and quickly wedged my body behind it.
He put his hand on the car door and leaned his corpulent body toward me. His bow tie was a few inches from my nose. He forced an awkward unnatural smile to his face.
“Well, I had a great time and want to go out with you again next week,” Artie said. “How about next Friday?”
Better nip this one in the bud.
“Can’t. I have another date planned already.”
He pressed forward undeterred. “Oh.” He didn’t even blink. “What about Saturday?”
I searched my brain frantically for an escape. “Uh . . . I didn’t bring my planner with me, so I don’t know my schedule that far ahead.”
He nodded as if that made perfect sense.
“Look, I have a terrible headache, Artie. I’ll see you in lab next week, okay?”
“Okay, sure. I’ll call you later.”
I quickly slipped into my car and shut the door. Grinning, because I knew I’d never given him my phone number, I drove through the quiet streets of Monmouth and up the mountain to my peaceful home.
DATE 2
For my next date, I was better prepared for the weather. I wore my red WOU sweatshirt and also brought a thicker coat and a red cashmere scarf and gloves that I had found tucked in a drawer. Normally, I would have shunned anything he had bought for me, but I didn’t have time to buy new ones, and even if I did I’d be using his money anyway.
I met Jason in the stadium parking lot and immediately began cataloging his good qualities. He was cute, a little on the skinny side and shorter than average, but he dressed decently and was smart. Leaning up against his old Corolla, he raised his eyebrows in shock when he saw me emerge from the Porsche.
“Wow, Kelsey! Nice wheels!”
“Thanks.”
“Are you ready?”
“Yep. Lead the way.”
We shuffled into the crowd of people heading over to the football field. Most were wearing red or Western Wolf shirts, but there were also the navy-blue-and-white colors of the opponent, Western Washington University, scattered here and there. Even a couple of Viking hats were bobbing up and down in the crowd. Jason led me to a truck surrounded by couples having a tailgate party. A small grill was full of smoking sausages and hamburgers.
“Hey, guys! I want to introduce you to Kelsey. We met in our anthro