How You Get the Girl

I Really Like This Guy

I ate lunch with Ben and his friends the next day and the day after that too, which was Friday. His friends finally stopped looking startled when he put his arm around me or when I touched him. A couple of the girls were still a little chilly to me. I guess I should have expected that. I had sort of poached the cutest guy from their friend group. I could see why they might not want to be besties. Still, they were doing better than my friends. Beth, Maria, and Frida were fine but Sasha, Julia and Seth l were making little nasty comments. I hoped they would get a grip on it soon. I was getting tired of their garbage. In fact, I was getting tired of the strange looks Ben and I continued to get from lots of kids in school. I wanted to think I imagined the whispered comments I had heard but they were real. High school was a really judgy place. Why did so many people seem to care that Ben and I were seeing each other? Well, I was going to keep on seeing him. Too bad for them. I really liked him. I spent my free period in the art room with Beth to avoid everyone and their attitudes.

Ben had a fencing tournament on Saturday during the day, but he asked me to go on our first real date on Saturday night. We were going to have dinner and go to the movies. He was picking me up at 7 o'clock. I got Beth to come over on Saturday to help me get ready.

I pulled on a cream-colored turtleneck sweater that I really loved with skinny jeans. I thought it was really flattering. It hugged all my curves and it was comfortable too. Beth vetoed it.

"You cannot wear a turtleneck on a date. Do you want to give off a, 'Don't even think of touching me vibe?' What are you thinking?" She lectured. I was thinking it was March in Minnesota, it was cold and we had still had a foot of snow on the ground. Apparently, that was not what I was supposed to be thinking.

I went back to my closet and pulled out a soft green boat neck blouse. I would be a lot less warm but it was flattering. It passed Beth's inspection.

"That'll do," Beth told me.

"You should wear lip stain, not lip gloss or lipstick. It does not come off when you kiss. It will be much less embarrassing for Ben than ending up with lipstick someplace on him," she added.

"Are you kidding me?" I said, blushing.  

"You have much to learn grasshopper," she told me.

"Beth!" I exclaimed.

"Oh please, I have watched you for the last two days. You can't keep your hands off him. I know you are not going to really watch the movie. Make sure you sit in the back in the corner so you don't bother all nice people," she told me.

I put my head in my hands. She was just too much.

"You really like this guy, don't you?" Beth asked.

"Yes, I do," I told her.

"Good, you deserve someone nice. I, your fairy godmother, am now telling you to go have fun at the ball Cinderella," Beth said.

"You are so weird," I told her.

"I'm out of here. Have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do," she said.

"That leaves me a lot of room," I said.

"I know," she said, grinning as she stepped out my front door into the cold Minnesota winter air.

. . .

I waited in my room for Ben to show up. Our first floor was still a wreck. The only room we could use was our living room, and half of it was covered in plastic sheeting. I just wanted to have our kitchen back. There was nothing like having your parents tear the house apart your senior year of high school. You got to have all the pain and suffering of construction but you would not be around to enjoy the cool new kitchen and first floor.