12 Dates of Christmas

Chapter 8: Jennie

"Do you want me to drive?" I ask after a few minutes.

Brad shakes his head. "No. I'm almost done. But you can be a doll and hand me my other can of hairspray."

"Your hair looks fine. We'll miss our reservation."

He sighs, pulling back from his mirror. "Fine. I'll fix it later."

The drive was silent. Neither one of us made a move to talk. I sent Elena a text letting her know that she'd probably need to have dinner ready - we won't make it in time.

"So tell me about yourself," he says as we pull into the parking lot.

I walk with him to the restaurant. "I'm a senior in college. I'm studying journalism and theater arts. I live with my best friend and before you ask, no, I don't have pets."

He nods. "Cool. I'm not going to bring the mood down and ask why you live with your best friend. Or judge you because you have no pets."

I roll my eyes as he opens the door for me. "How generous."

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"Are you ready to order?" the waiter asks me.

Brad had gone to the bathroom to fix his hair about twenty minutes ago.

I shake my head, giving him a small smile. "I'm waiting on my date."

He nods, his eyes understanding. "I'll come back in a few minutes."

Tired of waiting, I pull out my phone and reply to a text from Milo. He asked if I was okay with going to the movies on Friday. I agree, telling him I'm paying for the popcorn and drinks.

A few minutes later, after a while of trying to beat my high score on Bullseye, Brad finally comes back.

He shoots me an apologetic smile. "How does my hair look?"

I actually don't see anything different. But I'm afraid he'll leave again. "It looks so much better."

He nods, satisfied. "I thought so too." We look at the menu for a while longer. "What is wrong with the service here? Why hasn't anyone come to take our order?"

I resist the urge to reach over and smack him. "The waiter came at least five times asking if we were ready to order. I guess you wouldn't know that if you're all the way in the bathroom doing who-knows-what."

He frowns. "I was getting ready for our date."

The waiter comes back right as I was about to state some smart remarks on how his hair looks like a tornado went through it a couple times and put a bunch of gel in it. "Are you ready to order?"

Brad glares at me for a while before slowly nodding. "Yup. I want the chicken quesadilla with fries and a Pepsi."

The waiter jots it down on his notebook before turning to me with a kind smile. "And for you?"

"I'll have the Cajun chicken pasta with a Dr. Pepper."

"I'll have that right out for you guys."

We sit in silence for a while before he sighs. "I can already tell this isn't doing to work," he says. "Let's not waste our time and drop you off after we're done."

I glare at him. "We could leave now."

He shrugs and doesn't say anything before getting up and leaving out the door. I stare after him for a long while. We had chosen a seat beside the window and I could see how he pulled out of the parking lot - leaving me here in an expensive restaurant with no way to get back home.

I keep my emotions hidden as the waiter comes back to our table the food.

He looks at the empty seat Brad had recently been sitting in. "Is he in the bathroom again?"

I shake my head, looking down at my lap. "I shouldn't have said anything," I say, more to myself than to him. "Can I take this to go?" I ask in a small voice.

He nods. "Sure, no problem."

My vision was blurring with tears but I managed to keep them at bay as I dial Elena's phone number.

She answers on the third ring. "Hey, best friend in the whole world. What can I do to make your day ten times better?"

I run a hand through my face to keep the tears from falling. "Can you come pick me up?"

She stays quiet for a moment. "What happened?"

"Please," I say. "I don't want to talk about it just come pick me up."

"Okay," she says after a while. "We're on our way."

"We?"

"I'm with Destiny and the guys. We'll be there in a few minutes."

"Thanks," I say before hanging up.

I get up from my chair and wait for my food to be ready. The waiter comes back with a smile, my bag of food, and my check.

Is it bad that u didn't bring money with me?

I thought about it but then Elena told me that guys should always be the ones to pay for dinner. So I didn't bother bringing anything but my phone and some lip gloss.

I head up to the check out counter and try to kindly tell the lady that I don't have the money to pay for all of this.

She frowns at me. "You came to a restaurant where they saw overpriced food and you didn't bring money with you?"

I run a hand through my hair. "I came with someone. He got mad and left. He told me not to bring my money because he was paying."

Her gaze doesn't waver. "Do you know how many times that one's been used?" She turns to someone and whispers something in their ear before turning back to me. "You're not allowed to leave until you pay back for all of this food."

I'm so not in the mood to deal with her. "Look, Miss Lady. I didn't even touch the food. So, technically, I shouldn't he paying for anything. You were standing here when I walked in and you saw that I had someone with me. You've probably been here all day and saw him leave. So don't try to pull that whole 'Do you know how many times I've heard that?' crap because I'm not in the mood to deal with you."

She gives me a wary look. "No wonder he left."

I was about to punch her in the face when I heard my name being called. "Hey! Stop," Destiny says, coming up beside me and pulling me away. "What's the problem?"

I grab the food and storm out of the restaurant. "So much for letting loose," I mutter to myself.

Next Update: December 16