Empathy

9- A Double Date

Chapter 9

I looked over myself in the mirror once again, making sure nothing drastic had happened. It hadn’t. My hair was still braided over my shoulder and my make-up was still un-smeared. My dress still hung without any cuts or wrinkles. I suppose nothing could have happened in the last two minutes, but I had to check anyways. I didn’t want my first date to go wrong in any way.

Five minutes after six I heard the doorbell ring. I grabbed my purse, feeling my nerves pile up as I approached the door. I took a deep breath and opened the door, putting a smile on my face. But it wasn’t Chase that stood outside the door- it was Aiden.

I blinked, wondering if I was imagining it. But when I opened my eyes again he was still there. I felt my eyebrows dent in confusion. “Aiden, what are you doing here?”

“Didn’t Chase tell you? We’re double dating; I’m going with his younger sister,” he informed me, sending ripples of jealousy through me. He was what!? How was I supposed to focus on Chase if Aiden was there with his arms wrapped around some other girl?

I stepped out of my home, locking the door behind me. Then I turned back to face him, “Alright.” I followed him to the car parked in my driveway. It struck me suddenly that it was Aiden’s car. He climbed into the driver’s seat and I realized there was a girl sitting shotgun. I looked away from her and focused on getting into the back, sliding in next to Chase.

“Hey,” he greeted, giving me a small smile.

I returned it. “Hi.”

“Sorry about them, it was short notice and my phone broke this morning so I couldn’t tell you. Aiden said he was friends with you and didn’t think you would mind.”

“Of course I don’t.” I was lying straight through my teeth. The girl, Chase’s sister, turned to face us with a polite smile.

She looked over at me. “Hi, I’m Keera. You’re Samara, right?” She sounded genuine which made it that much harder to hate her. Why couldn’t she be mean? Then I would have a good excuse to get Aiden to break up with her… I did not just think that.

“Yeah…” She turned to face forward at my clipped reply and the whole car lapsed into silence. If this was how the whole date was going to go then I would definitely regret accepting.

When we pulled up at the mini-golf place, we all got out of the car wordlessly and headed towards it. Aiden and Keera walked in front of us and I grimaced when I noticed they were holding hands. Just yesterday I had been the one holding his hand!

As we waited in line, Chase turned to me, shifting his weight uncomfortably. “So, how do you know Aiden?” Yes, because that’s exactly what I wanted to talk about right now.

“He got switched into one of my classes,” I answered vaguely.

He nodded and we glanced at them. They turned to look at us as if they’d felt our eyes on them. “What class?” Keera asked, probably just trying to keep up the conversation.

“English,” Aiden answered. Thankfully, we got to the front of the line before we had to have any more awkward conversations.  Aiden rented the stuff for him and Keera while Chase and I split the cost of ours. It wasn’t like I was lacking money. Aiden, however, found this hilarious, “You’re not even going to pay for that? I thought it was a date? Besides, it’s not like they’re expensive.”

Chase started to blush and I glared at Aiden. “Stop being a jerk.” The words slipped out of my mouth before I could stop them and I immediately turned my gaze to the ground.