Schooled by Love

by Lily Langford

  Damn, that sounds strange.

  But I like it.

  Her Surprise Lover

  “Lizzie! Over here!”

  It’s a quarter after twelve o’clock on Thursday which means it’s time for my weekly lunch with my older sister, Kelly. Even though we live together in her small house on the edge of the college campus where I’m a student and she’s a teacher, our busy schedules keep us from hanging out during the school week.

  When Kelly realized this at the beginning of the school year, she made a rule that we have a sister’s lunch once a week in the dining hall. I think that’s dumb, but considering the fact that she’s letting me live with her rent free until I graduate in the Spring, I do whatever it takes to keep her happy.

  The only thing about my sister that annoys me is how absolutely anal she is about everything. Her house has to be immaculate and she thinks that if you aren’t ten minutes early to everything, you’re late.

  It feels needless to say, but today I am very late to lunch.

  “Oh my God.” I say, as I approach the table where Kelly is sitting there with her friend Michelle, who is a professor in the English department that they both teach in. “I’m so sorry I’m late. I couldn’t find you guys.”

  “Nice try.” Kelly says. “But I’m not as mad at you as I could be because Michelle was here to keep me company.”

  I mouth the words thank you to Michelle and she returns my gesture with a subtle wink. I sit down in one of the empty chairs at the table and set my tray down in front of me.

  “I really am sorry.” I tell her. “I just got caught up talking to my friend after class and I lost track of time.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Kelly says, as if she doesn’t believe me.

  Which is probably true. She knows me too well.

  “So what’s up ladies?” I ask. “How are classes going this week? How is Mr. President?”

  “Lizzie.” Kelly warns. Her cheeks have grown pink. “Remember when we said we weren’t going to talk about that in public?”

  Oh no. I am doing everything wrong today.

  See a couple of weeks ago my sister started hooking up with her boss, who is the president of the English department. He’s also her boss. They’ve been very happily seeing each other ever since then but they’re trying to keep their relationship a secret because it might not look good for her to be sleeping with her boss.

  She’s right that it doesn’t look good, but I think that as long as she’s happy with him, everyone should just mind their own business.

  “Sorry.” I mutter. “I’m just going to shut my mouth now and eat my lunch quietly.”

  “Anyway.” Michelle says, stealthily changing the direction of the conversation. “We have some good news for you.”

  I look up from my salad. “Me?”

  “Yeah. You. Tell her Kelly.”

  Kelly smiles at me.

  “So Lizzie.” Kelly begins. “Don’t be mad at us because we really didn’t plan this or anything, but we got you a date.”

  I drop my fork on my tray.

  “You what?”

  I seriously question whether I heard her correctly, but then they exchange a look. I must have heard them right. The look on their faces let me know that they know they have a lot of explaining to do.

  “Before you say no.” Kelly says. “Let me explain. Please. I made a mistake and as far as I know, this is the only way I know to fix it.”

  “What you’re saying isn’t making any sense to me.” I tell them. “And besides that, you of all people should know how stressed I am while preparing for finals week. I don’t have time to date.”

  It’s true. I haven’t been on a date since July, and it was a random guy I met on a dating app who didn’t work out. So it’s not like I’m super excited to put myself out there again. I’ve mainly been focusing on school for the past few weeks.

  “I know.” Kelly says, making a sad face. “But here’s what happened.”

  As it turns out, over the weekend Kelly attended a dinner with her boss lover, Jeff. It was a small dinner party at the house of a professor from another university. He got caught up in a conversation about literature so Kelly went into the kitchen and began talking to hostess. At that point, her college student son passed through the kitchen and the hostess introduced him to Kelly.

  “After he left,” Kelly explains, “His Mom started talking about how her son has been having trouble dating and I made a mistake.”

  I still don’t understand.

  “What kind of mistake?” I ask.

  “I might have asked her what kind of guys her son liked. I didn’t mean anything by it. He was just dressed so nice and his hair was so style. And I happen to know a couple of gay students who are looking for connections and it just seemed like something I could help with.”

  “Kelly.” I groan. “Why would you say that?”

  “I don’t know.” Kelly sighs. “I guess I just wanted to help.”

  All of a sudden, I realize what she’s getting at.

  “So first you tried to match her son with one of your gay students. And now you find out he’s straight so your first idea is to set him up with me?”

  “Please.” Kelly says. “His Mom loved the idea. And he’s actually a student here so you wouldn’t have to go very far. Maybe grab some dinner at the pub down the street.”

  I look over at Michelle. “Do you believe this?”

  She holds up her hands. “I really don’t want to get involved in a sister fight. I’m just here for moral support.”

  I hate this blind date idea so much, but I decide to go along with it. It’s really important to Kelly and if I don’t go along with the plan, this geek’s Mom is certainly going to be angry with Kelly and probably Jeff.

  I know how important Jeff is to Kelly. I can’t let one little mistake destroy their budding relationship.

  “Fine.” I tell her. “Put his name and phone number in my phone and I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Thank you.” Kelly says. “You have no idea how much you’re helping me out.”

  She’s wrong.

  I do.

  “You owe me one.” I remind her, before rolling my eyes and digging into my lunch.

  +++

  I never know how to dress for a first date, but I think it’s even harder to get dressed for a blind date. What if he’s super short and I wear heels? What if he’s wearing a suit and I’m in jeans and flats?

  There are just so many ways for things to be awkward.

  I finally decide on a white sweater and my favorite pair of stretchy black jeggings. I slip into my black ballet flats and grab my handbag before I head downstairs. Kelly is in the kitchen making dinner so I go in and take a seat at the kitchen table.

  “Nervous?” Kelly asks, without even turning around from the stove.

  “No.”

  “Ok.”

  She pours her pot into a colander so that she can drain her spaghetti. Then she tosses it back into the pot and adds in the pasta sauce. When the lid is back on and the pot is simmering, she comes over to join me at the table.

  “Did he say where he’s taking you?’

  “No.” I shake my head. “But he’s picking me up here. I think you owe him an apology.”

  Kelly looks annoyed. “He doesn’t know that I wrongly assumed he was gay. Only his Mom knows that and I’m sure she didn’t tell him.”

  “Right.”

  The doorbell rings and I ask Kelly if she’ll answer it so that I can put on a coat of lip gloss real quick. I hear her open the door and ask him to come in.

  “Hi Cam. It’s good to see you again. Come on in, Lizzie will be right out.”

  I take a deep breath before heading out to the family room to greet Cam. I’m not expecting very much, but I have to keep my jaw from dropping when I head back out there.

  The first thing I notice is his height. He’s very tall and lean. He’s wearing a pair of dark jeans with a red flannel shirt and a black vest. I
t’s one of those zip up ones from Columbia that is really probably more for fashion than for warmth.

  When he sees me, his face breaks out in a big smile. I almost smile back before I catch myself. I don’t want to give him the wrong idea that I’m interested or whatever.

  This date is a favor.

  It’s not something I’m supposed to enjoy.

  “Hi Cam.” I say as I approach him and my sister. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  “It’s nice to meet you as well.” He says. “Should we get going?”

  “Sure. Let me just grab my jacket.”

  I go into the hall closet and pull out Kelly’s denim jacket that I love but she never lets me wear. She doesn’t say anything about it tonight. She just watches us head out the door.

  “Bye!” She calls out. “Have fun!”

  I wave back at her. Since she’s my sister and not my Mom, I don’t have a curfew while living with her. The rule is that if I’m planning on not coming home that night, I need to send her a text so that she doesn’t worry when she wakes up in the morning.

  And believe me. She’s a worrier.

  But I don’t think that will be a problem tonight. My plan is to stay on the date for as long as I need to in order to not be rude and then I’ll come up with an excuse so that I can get him to drop me off at home.

  When we get to the sidewalk where his car is parked he goes to open my door for me.

  “After you.” He says.

  I’m surprised and a little taken aback by his manners.

  “Thank you.”

  He slams the door and then runs around to his side of the car. When he’s in and his seatbelt is clicked he turns to me and smiles again.

  “I’m really glad you texted me.” He says. “Your sister spoke so highly of you to my Mom. I guess they just felt like we might get along well.”

  “Sure.” I say, trying to be noncommittal but also not rude. “This should be fun.”

  He explains to me that he thought we could go see a movie on campus and then grab some dinner afterward. I can’t think of what movies are out right now. Probably some superhero flick to be honest. When I ask Cam he isn’t sure either, But he reminds me that the theater on campus only shows movies that are already out on DVD.

  Cam finds a parking spot in a lot that’s relatively close to the student center so we only have to do a little bit of walking. Along the way, he asks me questions about myself and again, he surprises me.

  He honestly seems so interested in my answers. And he even asks follow up questions. What?

  “So your sister said you’re graduating this Spring?” He asks.

  I nod. “Yep. How about you?”

  He shakes his head. “No. Technically this is my senior year but I’m doing a five year program. That way when I’m out I’ll have my masters in physical therapy.”

  “Wow. That’s pretty cool.”

  “It is.” He says. “But it also keeps me pretty busy. I’ll be honest. I don’t go out a lot and when I do, my dates haven’t been all that successful.”

  Ordinarily, I would be freaked out if a date brought that up on the first date, but Cam is different. It’s not weird the way he says it. It just sounds honest.

  When we reach the student center, we head for the stairs that will take us up to the third floor. There’s a little auditorium there that has a large projection screen, which is why we refer to it as the theater. I think they do meetings in there sometimes as well but students don’t care about that stuff.

  “Let’s see.” Cam says, as we approach the white board where the night’s feature is always written. “What is tonight’s feature film?”

  I peer at the white board. I don’t recognize the title.

  “I don’t know this one.” Cam says. “Should we risk it?”

  I shrug. “Why not?”

  The campus movies are free for students so we swipe our student ID cards to get in the doors. Then we pick out two seats near the middle, although we sit in the two seats closest to the aisle.

  “So what do you like to do for fun?” Cam asks.

  I think about it.

  “I like to read. I go running a couple of times a week. I love those baking competition shows on TV. Kelly and I are really into anything on the Food Network.”

  “I can relate.” Cam says. “But I’m more into HGTV shows. I like to see how they flip the houses and what changes they decide to make.”

  “Those are kind of cool too.”

  The room begins to darken and the last few stragglers find their seats. As soon as the previews are done rolling and the movie begins, I realize that we are in deep trouble because it is not an enticing film.

  I feel a tap on my arm and look to my right. I’m scared that Cam wants to hold my hand or something but then I realize that he’s pointing to his cell phone. Does he want me to look at my phone?

  I do, and I realize that he’s texted me. He asks if I’m into this movie.

  I type back a single word.

  No.

  He starts typing and when he presses send, I immediately look down at my screen.

  He has asked if we should get out of here?

  I nod and follow him out of the dark theater. When we’re in the hallway again he shakes his head.

  “Sorry about that, Lizzie. I guess we really got what we paid for, didn’t we?”

  I smile. “I guess we did. But thanks for wanting to get out of there. I really don’t think I could handle two hours of that narrator’s voice.”

  “Me either. You want to grab some dinner while we’re here?”

  “Sure.”

  There are a couple of different dining halls on campus, and one of them is on the second floor of the student union. It’s a fast casual place where you can grab things like pizza and sandwiches and snacks that will tide you over until after your next class.

  “You’re different than I thought you were going to be.” I tell Cam, as we head downstairs.

  He looks surprised. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

  Now that I’ve opened my dumb mouth, I don’t know how to complete my thoughts without being completely terrible.

  “It’s not like it sounds.” I tell him. “It’s just that I don’t go into blind dates with the most hopeful attitude.”

  Now he smiles. His face is just so open and bright and I’m enjoying being around him. What is going on? At first I was hoping to get home as early as possible so I could watch some TV with my sister, but now I’m hoping that this evening continues.

  We go through the turnstile to get into Campus Foods and then walk around aimlessly trying to decide what to get. Cam asks me what I want and I tell him pizza, because it’s pretty much a given that I always want pizza.