Dating Dilemma

by Michelle Leyland

  Me, Chloe and Gina grin at each other.

  “Yeah, okay,” answers Kate, smiling happily at him.

  Jamie smiles back at her too, looking very happy that they’re now in a relationship, “I thought it would be pretty cool to ask you today, y’ know with it being Valentine’s Day and everything,” he says, looking down at the floor and scuffing his trainers.

  “Yeah, I suppose so. I guess it was you who sent me the card this morning?”

  Jamie nods, “sorry, I just didn’t want to put my name in case the guys found out about it.”

  “I understand, but I wouldn’t have said anything about it if you had put your name on.”

  “So how long have you fancied me?” he asks her.

  “Well…for weeks I guess,” answers Kate, looking down shyly.

  “Really?” he asks, looking surprised. “I’ve liked you for a while too, but I was scared to tell you in case you just thought of me as a mate.”

  “I thought that too,” admits Kate. “I’m really glad I asked you out on that date.”

  “Me too, but I wish I’d asked you out on one sooner,” he says. “I’ve been trying to think of how to ask you for days and then you beat me to it.”

  Kate grins at him.

  “You’re not really that scared of the lads teasing us once they find out we’re together, are you?” she asks him.

  “No, ‘course not. It doesn’t matter about them finding out I like you ‘cause we’re together now.”

  “We’ll still be in for a big teasing though,” she reminds him.

  “It’ll be worth it,” he says, looking at her. “By the way, did you dress up at that party for me?”

  “Maybe,” answers Kate and Jamie grins at her.

  “You didn’t have to y’know, I like you the way you are,” he says and Kate looks as if she’s going all shy again.

  “You’re the most amazing girl I’ve ever met,” he tells her. “I love that you like playing football and you’re not bothered about hanging out with lads. Plus I’m really glad that you don’t fuss about your hair and make-up the way other girls do.”

  “Thanks,” says Kate, blushing. “So you don’t mind having a girlfriend who’s better at football than you?”

  Jamie grins at her joke. “No way, I’m better than you any day,” he teases her and she pushes him playfully.

  “So do you want me to call for you tonight?” he asks. “We could meet at the park and play a bit of football together?”

  “Yeah, that’ll be cool,” she answers.

  “I’d better get back to the lads before they wonder where I am,” he tells her. “I’ll see you tonight.”

  He gives her a kiss on the lips and then runs off to catch up with the lads.

  “I’ll see you later,” she calls back to him smiling.

  Gina, Chloe and I quickly press ourselves against the wall as he walks past, trying to avoid him seeing us. Luckily, he must be busy thinking about Kate and doesn’t notice us at all. However, when Kate walks by she spot us.

  “Have you been spying on me?” she asks, but she’s too happy to be cross with us.

  “A little,” admits Chloe. “I’m so happy for you!” she says and gives her a hug. “I told you he’d ask you out soon.”

  “I know, I can’t believe I’m his girlfriend now,” says Kate excitedly, and me and Gina both hug her too because we’re all so happy for her.

  “That’s so sweet that he asked you out on Valentine’s Day,” I say, wishing more than anything that it would happen to me. It’s so romantic.

  “It might still happen for you and Gina,” Chloe reminds us.

  That evening, Gina and Chloe arrange to come over to my place after dinner, so we can get ready for our dates together. Kate is just wearing her newest top and jeans for the date, so she’s staying at home instead to wait for Jamie.

  “Chloe’s not coming,” Gina informs me when she arrives.

  “Why not?” I ask, feeling pretty fed up since she’d promised to do my make-up.

  “See for yourself,” says Gina and hands me her mobile phone to read a text she has received from Chloe:

  Sorry can’t make it. U’ll never guess what! I’ve been asked on a date 2nite by that fit guy who works at McDonalds! How cool is that?! I’ll tell you all the goss 2morow.

  “Lucky thing,” I comment.

  “That’s just Chloe, isn’t it? We should have known there was no way she’d be staying in on Valentine’s Day. I can’t believe she actually managed to get a date with him,” says Gina. “So wanna just get ready together? We can do each other’s make-up and hair.”

  “Okay,” I agree and we go up to my bedroom to get ready.

  Chapter 17

  I feel mega excited for my date as Gina and I get the bus to town together, but even though it feels great to actually be going on a date, I suddenly feel sick with nerves.

  “Feeling nervous?” Gina asks, looking concerned.

  “Yeah,” I answer, feeling even more ill as I look at my mobile and realize I will finally meet Matthew in half an hour’s time.

  “I can’t wait to see what he looks like,” says Gina excitedly. “I hope he’s hot.”

  The bus journey seems to take forever and my heart doesn’t stop pounding hard the whole way. I feel so anxious as we get off the bus and nearly want to turn back; but I remind myself how much I want this and go the rest of the way to the cinema.

  Gina made me look gorgeous before we left my house. She chose my indigo vest top and best jeans with some sexy, black boots that I’ve borrowed from her for the night. I’m also wearing my favorite necklace and Gina’s silver hoop earrings. I’ve put on mascara and lip gloss. We didn’t have any indigo colored eye shadow, so we had to do light blue instead, and Gina straightened my hair again.

  “I hope it goes well for you,” she says.

  “Me too.” I still can’t believe I’m finally going on a date and I might be meeting my future boyfriend soon.

  We arrive at the cinema right on eight o’clock.

  “You stay here while I go ahead,” she tells me in her mission speech.

  We organized our plan before setting out. The plan is that Gina will go into the cinema before I arrive, so she can see what’s happening and keep an eye on me from inside the cinema, without looking suspicious.

  I feel a little safer at knowing that at least I have Gina as back-up if anything goes wrong, but I still feel anxious about the actual date. I watch her walk ahead towards the cinema and wait, counting the seconds until I get to three minutes, then start to walk towards the cinema.

  My heart beats wildly as I see a teenage boy with black hair waiting outside the cinema entrance. I know its Matthew right away and, for a moment, I feel relieved that he looks like a normal, good looking guy, and not some idiot or trouble maker.

  I walk towards him, feeling sick with nerves. He looks up, sees me approaching and smiles. His smile is so wonderful I feel butterflies inside.

  “Hi,” he greets. “You’re Vanessa, right?”

  I nod, feeling so shy I just want to go to the toilets and stay there hiding, which is stupid since I’m so lucky to be here on a date with him.

  “Feeling shy?” he asks me.

  I manage a ‘yes’, beginning to blush. I know if I say anything else I’ll just get tongue-tied as usual, like I always do around good looking boys.

  “Don’t worry about it,” he reassures me. “I don’t mind doing all the talking. If I talk too much just tell me to shut up.”

  I smile at his joke and he smiles back at me.

  “So, do you want to pick a movie and then go get tickets?” he asks.

  “Okay,” I reply and we both walk into the cinema together.

  We go over to look at the big cinema poster with all the movie details. We decide on one of the comedies, which starts in fifteen minutes, and join the queue to buy tickets at the counter.

  I see Gina watching us over from the Pick & Mix section and she smiles
at me and gives me the thumps up sign, to indicate that she thinks he looks good. I quickly give her a smile, while Matthew isn’t looking, to tell her that he seems safe and I’m okay with being alone with him for the next two hours.

  I quickly look away from her, not wanting Matthew to realize we’re being spied on. He starts telling me all about the football matches he goes to and about the team he supports. Luckily I don’t find it too boring because I can just relax and listen to him, instead of panicking about being asked questions and trying to think of what to say.

  We get to the front of the queue pretty quickly and he pays for our tickets. I look around and notice that Gina has now left to meet up with Chad for her date at the ten-pin bowling center next door.

  Matthew buys us a box of popcorn to share and we go into Screen Room 2 and sit in the middle row together.

  “I think it’s really cool you have a hobby like horse riding. Don’t you ever get afraid of falling off?” he asks me as we start on the popcorn.

  Alarm bells start going in my head because being asked questions by guys always makes me panic in case I say something stupid.

  “Well, I have a few times already, but nothing serious,” I answer.

  “Let’s hope I’m not visiting you in hospital for our next date,” he jokes and I giggle, feeling so happy that I’ve met him. I love a boy who can make me laugh.

  “Where do you go for your lessons?”

  “It’s at a farm half an hour’s drive away from my house,” I answer, feeling less shy now I know I can talk to him. “They own a few horses so they do lessons there.”

  “Cool,” he answers. “Are your parents not thinking of getting you a horse?”

  “No way,” I answer. “My parents said they’ll never buy me a horse, but I might get one when I get a job.”

  “Never mind, if you don’t want me as your boyfriend I could be your horse instead,” he says and does a very silly impression of a horse that makes me laugh.

  The film is beginning to start, so I try to stop laughing, which isn’t easy because Matthew starts telling horse jokes. The film is quite funny, so we’re soon laughing again.

  When the movie finishes, we go for a drink at the café upstairs and talk about the funniest parts of the film so we can laugh about it all over again. Unfortunately, I’m giggling so much I’m scared of drinking, so I only risk little sips of Pepsi at a time.

  “What year are you in at school? I haven’t seen you there,” he asks me, once we’ve calmed down and stopped laughing.

  “Year ten. What about you?”

  “Year eleven,” he says. “I can’t wait to start college after summer.”

  “Do you know what you’re studying at college yet?”

  “Not sure, I’m still thinking about it. I guess you’ll be studying to be a vet once you leave?”

  I feel really happy that he’s remembered. “Yeah, I bet it’s going to be really difficult,” I say.

  I realize the time and start to feel nervous.

  “I’d better be going,” I say apologetically, feeling sad that our date is coming to an end. “I promised my parents I’d be back for eleven.”

  “Okay,” he says, looking disappointed too. “Do you want to meet up again sometime?”

  “Yeah, I’d love to,” I answer, feeling very excited.

  “Is tomorrow okay or is that too soon?” he asks.

  “Tomorrow’s fine, but I’m not sure what time yet,” I say, remembering that I had agreed to meet up with Gina, Chloe and Kate tomorrow to discuss our dates.

  “Great. I can text you tomorrow and we’ll arrange something,” he says. “Can I have your mobile number?”

  “Okay,” I agree and we both swap mobiles and add our mobile numbers onto them.

  I take my mobile back excitedly. He’s the first guy I have ever given my mobile number to.

  “Are you okay getting home?” he asks me as we walk out of the cinema. “I could walk you back or to the bus station or whatever.”

  I feel touched, but there’s no way I can let him. I’ve already asked my parents to pick me up and I’m too embarrassed for them to find out I’ve been out with a boy.

  “No it’s okay, I promised to walk back with a friend,” I lie.

  “Okay, well I’ll see you tomorrow,” he says, smiling at me.

  “Yeah, see ya,” I say and he sets off in the opposite direction.

  When he’s gone, I quickly ring my parents and they agree to pick me up in the car. I told them I’ve been out with Gina, so hopefully they still don’t suspect anything, even if it is Valentine’s Day.

  Chapter 18

  On Saturday morning, I meet up with the girls at Butterflies cafe and they all pounce on me excitedly, eager to find out all the gossip about my date.

  “How did it go?” asks Gina.

  “Great. He’s really nice,” I answer.

  “Gina told us he’s quite fit,” says Kate, making me blush at remembering how good looking he was.

  “Yeah he is,” I reply.

  I’m still wondering if the date last night might have all been a dream, but luckily I have Gina as a witness to say it was real.

  “Did he ask you out on another date?” questions Chloe.

  “Yeah, I’m seeing him later today,” I answer, feeling excited.

  “He must be keen,” says Kate.

  I tell them all about the date, feeling so happy to be telling them all about a guy I’ve met for once; instead of me having to just listen to their stories.

  It’s always been Gina or Chloe who tells us all about their boyfriends or dates, and all I could do is talk about some silly crush I had where nothing ever happened. However, now things are different and I feel so lucky. I just hope that Matthew and I will become an item in the future, so I have more than just a date to talk about.

  “So how did you get a date so soon, Chloe?” Kate asks her once I’ve finished. “That’s surprising even for you.”

  Chloe grins, looking mega chuffed with herself and starts to tell us the whole story, “My mum went to pick my little sis up from ballet class and we needed to go somewhere for dinner, so I quickly suggested McDonalds,” she says. “I thought he might not be working, especially with it being Valentine’s Day, but he was! I went to order our meals and we flirted a little, and once he knew I was single he asked if I wanted to go on a date after his shift, so I said yes.”

  “And you left me and Gina on our own,” I say jokily and nudge her.

  “I’m sorry,” she says, “but I just really wanted a date, since all of you lot were going on one, and I couldn’t miss a chance to see him. I’m glad I did turn you down anyway or I wouldn’t have been going on a date. I mean, it’s not every day you get asked on a date by a hot guy.”

  Gina, Kate and I give each other looks as if to say ‘with Chloe it is’ and Chloe pulls her tongue out at us.

  “Anyway, I can hang out with you girls anytime so it’s no big deal,” she says.

  “It doesn’t matter, me and Ven managed without you,” says Gina. “So what happened after?”

  “Yeah, how did you get your mum to let you go?” I ask, knowing that my parents would definitely not be happy if I went off with some stranger who was older than me.

  “Obviously I couldn’t tell her the truth. I lied that I was meeting up with Kate at her house, saying we both didn’t have dates tonight so we were just going to watch a movie together,” she explains. “I said I’d walk over to Kate’s from there, so once she’d driven away I left with Dave,” she smiles. “He’s so amazing. I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to be dating him; and he’s seventeen! He’s at his first year at college so he’s working at McDonalds part time.”

  She tells us all about her night, looking excited. “Then he said he’ll take me out for a meal at this new restaurant tonight, so I’ll be seeing him again later,” she finishes.

  “I’m really happy for you,” says Kate. “Now we don’t have to put up with you moaning about being
single.”

  Chloe gives her a nudge, “it’s not my fault single life is boring.”

  “So how was your night, Kate?” I ask her.

  “It was great. It feels so ace being his girlfriend.”

  “So did you just play football with him at the park?” asks Chloe, obviously thinking that sort of date would have been boring.

  “We did for a while and then we went for a walk and ate ice cream,” answers Kate.

  “Aww, that’s cute,” comments Gina.

  “And then we went back to his place and watched a DVD and ordered pizza. It was so cool.”

  “Did you do more snogging?” I ask her, grinning.

  Kate blushes, “maybe, but we couldn’t do it much while we were at his house ‘cause his parents were around.”

  “I bet you got up to some snogging with Chad,” Chloe teases Gina,

  “No, we didn’t,” she giggles. “We just talked and played ten-pin bowling together.”

  “So do you want to start going out with him?” Kate asks her.

  “Well I do fancy him, but I’m still not sure I want a relationship yet. We talked about it when he walked me home and he said he’d wait for me, until I feel ready for him to be my boyfriend. I agreed to meet up with him later today but we’re still just friends for now.”

  “You won’t be for long,” says Chloe. “He’s going to win you over in the end, I can tell.”

  Chapter 19

  I get a text message from Matthew after lunch with the girls. He asks if I want to go to the ten-pin bowling center and we arrange to meet there at three o’clock.

  I have to go home to make myself look pretty for the date and then I catch the bus there.

  On the way, I feel all worked up again. I know I should be a little less nervous now I know he’s a nice guy and I saw him recently, but because I fancy him it seems to make things worse.

  I’m so worried that he might decide he doesn’t want a relationship with me after our date. We’re only dating yet and he can easily change his mind about me at any time. I know that if he didn’t want to make me an official girlfriend, I’d feel so hurt and gutted, because I want more than anything for him to be my boyfriend. At least it’s reassuring that we’ve got past the first date, so that must mean he likes me.