CHLOE BAKER'S LOST DATE

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Test

"So," Kit says a couple of hours later in her apartment, "who wants to start?"

She looks at me and then at John. He shrugs, uncertain about participating in this at all, a kind of bro code thing, I imagine. I can already tell that he and Ben are going to get along. If Ben survives the next hour, that is.

"I think it will be more effective if you do it," I say to Kit. "I've got too much at stake here to make rational decisions and John's a softie."

"That's true," John says.

"Fine, though I'm not happy about this."

"Why not. I thought this was basically your dream assignment."

Kit smiles. "Okay, yes, fine, it is. But still. Where should I start?"

"Do I get a say?" Ben says from the other side of the table.

"No," Kit and I say together.

"All right, then." He sits back in his chair and takes a piece of pizza from the box on the table. We'd ordered it soon after we arrived, but I was still feeling full from the stress of this morning, and Kit and John hadn't made much of a dent either.

Only Ben had felt fine eating half the box. Did that mean he was cool as a cucumber? Certain about how this was going to go?

Then again, maybe he was nervous, too. He'd agreed, after all, to my plan—come to Kit and John's, and let Kit interrogate him and decide if I should forgive him—without too much protest. But on the way over here, he'd asked a lot of questions.

Who was Kit, exactly, and why was I giving her so much power over my life? Shouldn't I be the one to decide if we should be together? I'd pushed those questions off, and texted to Kit that we were coming. Unlike Ben, she knew me well enough to understand why I needed her input.

"Just start, Kit," John says. "You know you want to."

I smile at him. He really is perfect for her.

"Okay, fine." She looks at Ben. "You'll answer anything I ask?"

He takes a bite of the pepperoni pizza. "Within reason."

"Hmmm. Limits, okay, noted."

"What does that mean?"

"One point against you, dude, I think," John says.

"There are points?"

"Of course there are," Kit says, pulling the notebook we use to play UNO toward her. She flips to an empty page and writes his name across the top. Then she draws a line down the middle. And then she writes the name Jack on top of the other column.

"Wait, wait, wait," I say. "This isn't about him."

"You said I get to decide the rules."

"I'm not dating Jack no matter what happens."

"We'll see." Kit puts a minus one in Ben's column. "That's for the limits. I'm taking off five more points for the whole original date thing. Agreed?"

"I get a say?" Ben says.

"Careful," John says. "Sarcasm might get you another deduction."

"Totally." Kit puts another -5 in his column. His total now stands at -11.

"So, I'm competing against Jack?"

"No, you're competing for Chloe."

Ben looks at me and I try to keep a straight face. I'm not going to go by these results, obviously, but I am curious about his answers.