Dating the It Guy

by Krysten Lindsay Hager

  Brendon pulled up in front of my house at seven the next day. I had thrown together an elf costume from the Cutie Pies TV show. I had cut off the sleeves of an old baby doll dress of my mom’s, made a little cap out of a washcloth, and found blue face paint at the drugstore. It had seemed like a good idea in my mind, but seeing myself completely blue was freaky. I wanted to look cute, but a blue face wasn’t exactly hot. At least my hair ended up looking like the girl elf’s. I walked up to his car, but there was somebody already sitting in the front seat. Somebody with red hair wearing a mermaid costume.

  “Emme, this is Nicola,” he said.

  “Hey.” She didn’t even turn around to look at me. So the jerk had a date, and he just didn’t feel like writing a stupid article for the newspaper. Now I had to sit through an evening with loud kids, and I’d probably break out from the blue makeup clogging my pores. Nicola got out of the car, and I got a better look at her costume. She had a shimmery skirt with a fishtail on it and a purple seashell top. The seashell bra was attached to a thin nylon shirt, but she might as well have been completely bare. Next to her it was like I was four years old and completely flat-chested because I didn’t want to get blue face paint on my bra. She walked next to Brendon, and I trailed in behind them. There were mostly kids and parents inside, but also a few student council volunteers. Of the five girls who were helping out, there were two Marilyn Monroes and a Cleopatra, and there I was in my stupid blue elf costume. The worst part was most of the kids didn’t know who the elf was, and they just thought I was a big blue weirdo.

  Everybody had a job to do but me. I sat at one of the tables with a paper cup of orange punch. I forgot to bring any paper to write the story, so I got a pen and a bunch of napkins. Nicola didn’t have anything to do either, unless you counted following Brendon around like a lost puppy. He was organizing the pumpkin-carving table, and he didn’t need her hanging on him. I hoped one of the kids would slip and stab her with one of the safety carving knives. Brendon’s friend, Sam, supervised the beanbag game. All you had to do was toss a beanbag through a giant cutout hole to get a prize, and I was bored so I went over and helped Sam run after the beanbags and hand out prizes. I saw Nicola sitting by herself, eating peanut butter kisses. I thought about going over to talk to her, but then she gave me the once over so I let her sit by herself.

  “Emme, are you ready to go?” Brendon asked. I nodded, and the three of us walked to the car. She plopped herself in the front seat, but if she was his girlfriend, it was her place. Nicola had taken a trick-or-treat bag and offered Brendon a chocolate bar.

  “Emme, want some candy?” he asked.

  Nicola sighed and handed me a piece of taffy which had oozed out of its packaging. I thought about throwing it at the back of her head, but with my luck it’d boomerang and hit me in the eye. Brendon dropped her off first, but I did live closer to him. He walked her to the door, but they didn’t kiss or even touch, although maybe it was because she was covered with glitter makeup.

  “Are you going to move up to the front seat or am I your chauffeur?” he asked when he came back. I moved to the front. “Hey, did you eat anything at the party?” he asked. I shook my head. “Wanna stop and get something?”

  We stopped at a diner where grease seemed to hang in the air. He ordered a burger and fries, and I ordered a side salad and French fries, which was the closest thing to a meatless option I could find. Brendon put some ketchup on his plate and then put a circle of ketchup around my plate like I always did.

  “Oh, sorry. Force of habit,” he said.

  “It’s okay. You got the better fries.”

  “Mine are all burnt.”

  “I love burned fries. So you won’t mind if I steal a few?” I asked, sliding a fry off his plate.

  “The menu says they make a great malted here,” he said.

  “What’s the difference between a malted and a milkshake?”

  He shrugged. “One tastes more like melted ice cream, and…I dunno. Good question. Should we get some?” I nodded. Grandma would have liked how he admitted he didn’t know.

  “Did I eat off the makeup around my lips?” I asked. He shook his head. “I forgot about my lovely elf complexion when you mentioned stopping somewhere. Everyone is staring at me because I’m blue.”

  “Not why they’re staring,” he said. I wasn’t sure if he was flirting because he might be dating Nicola now, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up and have him make a fool out of me.

  “Well, I doubt they get many elves in here,” I said as the waitress brought our malteds over.

  He lifted up his straw and took a drink. I went to take a drink, got distracted, and the straw went up my nose. I left a little trace of blue on it, too. I don’t think he noticed, but maybe he was just being polite.

  “So, what do you think?” he asked. My heart jumped, but then I realized he was talking about the malt.

  “It’s good.”

  “I’ll turn you into a junk food junkie yet,” he said.

  “I eat junk food. I love those peanut butter cups from the health food store,” I said.

  “They’re organic,” he said. I shrugged. He leaned over to get a napkin. “Your hair smells good.”

  “Essential oils,” I said. He rolled his eyes. He always thought my essential oil face and hair treatments were a waste of time. He didn’t understand without them my hair would look like hay and my skin would freak out. Guys always expected you to look great, but they didn’t understand it took some work. I wanted to ask him about Nicola, but I wasn’t sure how to ask. Plus, I didn’t want to look desperate or jealous.

  “Did you get enough stuff for your story?”

  “Yeah, I interviewed Sam and a couple of the kids’ parents so I should be fine. I’ll have it ready in time.”

  “Great, you can just drop it off to Lauren.”

  “Lauren?”

  “Yeah, she’s the one who asked me to do it, but I thought you’d do a better job. We should do this again. I’ve missed—I cannot believe this,” he said, sitting up.

  “What?”

  “Brooke just walked in with her new boyfriend. Jayson’s gonna lose it,” he said. “Let’s get out of here. She cheated on Jayson with him, and now they’re going out. Just perfect.”

  Brendon seemed transfixed on Brooke and her new boyfriend, and it was like he forgot all about me. As we were leaving, I saw Brooke sitting there in a princess Halloween costume. With her hair up in the tiara, her dark roots were pretty noticeable.

  Well, at least a mermaid hadn’t ruined my night, even if a princess had.

  Chapter 20

  The next day, I went to the newspaper office to drop off my story. I hoped I wouldn’t run into Lauren, but she was there with her feet up on her desk, talking on the phone. She put up her finger to signal me to wait. There was no place to sit so I stared at the posters on the wall. Lauren was wearing a blue zip-up sweatshirt and sweatpants. Her shiny hair was pulled back in a ponytail (a bouncy one of course), which showed off her diamond earrings. She had some pearly lavender lipstick on, the kind that makes most people look like a corpse, but on her it showed off her flawless complexion and rosy cheeks. Plus, she didn’t need any other makeup with those gray eyes. I had spent forty-five minutes on my hair and makeup and wore a pair of designer jeans I got on sale and a cute fitted sweater I borrowed from Margaux, yet Lauren was hotter in her sweats and ponytail with hardly any makeup on.

  “Sorry, talking to the assistant editor at the Post,” she said.

  Stupid namedropper—wait the Post? Where I had gotten the internship—the same one taken away from me?

  “I’m interning there,” she said.

  “That’s nice.” Get me out of here. She got my position?

  “This is my second time there. I started in the summer, but they wanted me to stay on for the fall. So what can I do for you?” she asked as I tried to keep myself from howling over the unfairness of the universe.

  “Here’s the Hallow
een party story. I e-mailed it to the submission address, but Brendon said you also needed a hard copy.”

  “Oh, I thought Brendon was going to write this,” she said.

  “He asked me to…is it okay?”

  “I guess.” She dropped it in a box and began typing furiously on her laptop.

  “You’re welcome.” I hated her. I can’t believe she got my internship at the Post and moved in on my ex-boyfriend. I could just imagine her and Brendon’s life together—it would be like a glossy, preppy perfume ad. Their house would be in a magazine where they’d praise her for her good taste. Then their two perfect children Brendon Jr. and Lily (or whatever rich people name their daughters) would be dressed in perfect little outfits that matched the furniture. Meanwhile, I’d still be trying to work at the Post and wearing designer clothes from the final markdown sale rack at some bargain-basement store.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” Rory asked when I sat down next to her.

  “The universe hates me.”

  “Care to expand a bit?” she asked.

  “Never mind. Did you get your essay done?”

  “No, but I ran into Mr. Horowitz, and he says everybody’s been stressing out over it so we’re going to talk about it in class and it’ll be due next week,” she said.

  Great, I stayed up all night trying to finish the essay and get the party article done. My intuition never helps me. Well, at least I could daydream during class.

  “Feel like a movie this weekend?” Darren asked when he sat down.

  I didn’t have anything set for the weekend, but I didn’t want to plan a date when I was still thinking about another guy. Of course, Brendon probably had plans with Lauren or the mermaid. I mean it was Friday so if Brendon did ask me to do anything it would probably be because somebody else had canceled on him.

  “I don’t know, Darren. Things are kind of up in the air,” I said, pretending to search for something in my bag. I noticed my Riley Turner watch was right on top. I didn’t want to have to give Darren a definite answer, so I grabbed my bag and rushed out when class ended. Brendon was standing outside waiting for me.

  “How’d the article go?” he asked.

  Great, he didn’t come to see me, but to check up on me. “Fine, but I think Lauren wanted you to write it though,” I said.

  He shook his head. “Nah, I can’t write. Anyway, I wanted to thank you for doing it. How about I buy you dinner?”

  I could have pointed out we just had dinner last night, and I also could have said it was last minute and how dare he assume that I didn’t have plans. Sure, I didn’t, but I could have had a life. However, I was pathetic, so I said, “Okay.”

  Darren walked up behind me as Brendon left and squeezed my shoulder.

  “So are we on for tonight or what?” he asked.

  “Oh, I can’t. I…” I just made plans with my ex-boyfriend. “I thought you meant Saturday when you said this weekend,” I said, feeling awful.

  His face fell. “I have to work tomorrow. Well, maybe some other time then. See ya.”

  I felt like a jerk for making plans with Brendon when Darren asked me first.

  Rory, who had been eavesdropping, came over. “Are you guys back together?”

  “We’re…I don’t know. I mean, I went to the Halloween party with him, but it was to write a story for the paper, and the girl with the red hair went with us. She went as a mermaid.”

  “Oh, too perfect. Was the mermaid his date?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. We dropped her off and got something to eat.”

  “It’s a good sign if he dropped her off first. He obviously wanted to see you again if he asked you out today.”

  “But what if it is just to say thanks,” I said.

  “Emme, anybody could have written the article. Let’s face it—it was an excuse to see you. And asking you to go pick out pumpkins? C’mon.”

  “They were heavy and somebody had to help him carry the doughnuts and stuff,” I said as she made a face. “But he asked me out on a Friday. Doesn’t it sound like somebody canceled, and he had a time slot available?”

  “Then ask him what’s going on between you guys,” she said. “Let’s get together tomorrow, and you can tell me everything.”

  I repeated the story to Margaux, who thought Brendon was interested in me, but the fact he was an Agretti, he probably liked the idea of dating more than one girl.

  “He did move on pretty quick after Lauren,” she said. I was relieved she didn’t say how fast he had moved on after me. “I’d go, and if he acts like a jerk, then you’ll know you made the right decision in the first place.”

  I wasn’t sure what to wear. It was just dinner, but I had no idea where we were going to eat since there were a couple of nicer restaurants at the mall. I didn’t want to get all dressed up like I thought it was a date, and then end up at the food court. I thought wearing a skirt would seem too “date-y” so I settled on a pair of brown fake-suede pants with a black sweater. It didn’t look like I was expecting too much, but also didn’t look like I was going to a place with a “kiddie land” either.

  We ended up going to a nice restaurant where you wouldn’t look out of place in jeans or in a dress. We ordered, and he started telling me about an embarrassing moment his dad had back when Senator Agretti accidentally fell over a chair and ended up with his hand in a cake when he tried to brace himself.

  “It was the birthday cake for the oldest congressman—oh, hang on, it’s my phone,” he said, picking it up. “It’s my mom. Better take this one.”

  “Sure, no problem,” I said.

  “Hey, Mom. What’s up?” he asked, and then frowned. “Yeah, the pharmacy closes at eight, so if you call it in right now I can pick it up. Is Grandpa okay, though?”

  He hung up the phone. “Em, I hate to do this, but my Grandpa was trying to open his own meds and knocked them all over. He tried to lean over to pick them up and fell out of his wheelchair.”

  “Is he okay?”

  “Yeah, but I have to run and pick up a refill. I’m sorry about this—is it cool if we get takeout boxes?” he asked.

  “Of course.”

  Brendon drove to the pharmacy and ran in to get his Grandpa’s meds. “What’s sad is I’m here so often picking up prescriptions they don’t even blink an eye or ask questions anymore.”

  “Well, they probably know who you are,” I said.

  “Yeah, cause I’m here all the time.”

  “I meant, you know, the last name.”

  “Oh, right. I’ve gotta get this over to my grandparents’, but I’ll drop you off on the way,” he said. “I’m going to stick around to make sure Grandpa didn’t get hurt or anything. Sorry about tonight.”

  “It’s fine,” I said.

  When he took me home, he walked me to the door and said he’d give me a call soon. I thanked him for dinner, and he drove off. It wasn’t his fault our evening didn’t turn out as planned, but it would have been nice to hear he missed hanging out with me.

  Rory picked me up on Saturday and wanted to know how things went with Brendon. I told her we had barely taken a bite when he got a family emergency call.

  “I overheard Lauren asking Brendon to go to a basketball game with her, and he blew her off,” she said.

  “When was the game?” I asked.

  “I think it was today, but he said he had a ton of stuff to do this weekend.”

  “Maybe he thought she wanted him to write a story on it for the paper, and he was just trying to get out of it,” I said.

  “It was pretty obvious Lauren wasn’t asking him to do an assignment. She was all over him,” she said. “She made it clear she still likes him.”

  “Why wouldn’t he want to go with her? Even I’d want to date her if I was a guy,” I said.

  “Have you ever noticed how rude she is?” Rory asked. “I wanted to write for the paper last year, and she talked down to me. She was so condescending, and she did it in this annoyingly sweet voice so yo
u couldn’t even call her on it.”

  I was pretty sure Lauren wouldn’t let this thing with Brendon go. After all, I had seen her when she wanted something, and she had a lot more going for her than I did.

  Brendon called me on Sunday afternoon and asked if I wanted to see a movie. I had no makeup on, my hair was up in a bun, and I was wearing sweats.

  “Sam just dropped off free passes to see the sequel to The Mummy’s Revenge. He said we should get there early to make sure they have enough seats,” he said. “I’ll pick you up in ten minutes.”

  “Um, I’m not ready at all.”

  “I’m sure you look beautiful. You hardly wear any makeup anyway. C’mon, please?”

  Oh, Brendon, you naïve fool. I agreed and put on my favorite bright-pink sweater to give me a little color. I had just smeared on a little tinted moisturizer when I heard Brendon drive up. I whisked a mascara brush through my lashes and dabbed on some gloss. I had never gone out of the house wearing so little makeup before. He’d probably see me and turn around and drive to Nicola’s house.

  “Hey, you look great,” he said.

  Maybe he had lost a contact lens. When we got to the theater, he bought chocolate-covered peanuts, popcorn, and two bottles of water. He handed me the snacks while he put his wallet away. I poured the peanuts into his popcorn the way he usually did.

  “Oh, I bought the popcorn for both of us. I thought greasy chocolate-y peanuts made you gag,” he said.

  “I don’t mind,” I said.

  We had a few minutes until the movie started. He said Sam had already seen the movie, and it wasn’t supposed to be too scary.

  “Did you have a lot of homework this weekend?” I asked.

  “Not much. Why, did you have a lot?”

  “No, did you do anything interesting on Saturday?” I hoped I wasn’t being too obvious.