The Many Loves of Samantha Greene

13 | Tim: The Beginning

"I've never been on a blind date before."

Jess grinned at me as she continued to do my makeup.

"You've also never had a successful relationship before. So maybe this will be a first for two things."

I declined to reply, instead focusing on typing out a text without looking at my phone, as eyeliner was being applied to my eyes with the utmost precision. I knew if I moved at all, Jess would have my neck.

"Should I ask him the questions?"
"Good grief, no."

I had devised a series of questions to ask potential boyfriends that would weed out all the stupid or fame-seeking ones, and I had been determined to ask them to everyone who became a person of interest. But Jess had read the questions and informed me that if I asked them, I would look like an absolute psychopath.

"No one does stuff like that." Jess continued, "It's just an odd thing to do, especially on a first date."

"No one has my terrible luck with guys." I muttered.

Jess finished up my makeup and stepped back to admire her handywork. "You look gorgeous, per usual."

I looked at myself in the mirror across from me. My makeup had not a single flaw; Jess was a master and I had been trying to convince her for years to make a makeup channel on YouTube. My hair had been sprayed and styled until there was not a single chance of a strand falling out, and my outfit had been hand-picked by Jess, with help from Farah and Rachel on FaceTime.

I was ready for my first-ever blind date.

I was a bit nervous, but more on the excited side than anything; I had always dated people I knew, or had at least seen around before. This guy that Jess had set me up with, Tim Street, was her cousin's friend who Jess had never met, but from what she had told me about him, he seemed alright. I hadn't received any physical descriptions, but she had said that he was a basketball player who also played in his school's marching band, and he was a junior like us.

Hopefully he didn't keep up with pop culture and had no idea who my family was.

The doorbell rang and Jess let out a small squeal of excitement.

"He's here!"

She ran out the bedroom door ahead of me, opening the front door once I had successfully positioned myself on the stairs.

"You must be Tim."

I began my descent down the staircase, looking behind me as I went so as not to seem like I was too excited for this date, and like whatever I had been doing before was far more important than seeing my blind date's face.

I turned my head once I had reached the second step from the bottom, watching my feet as I landed on flat ground. I looked up to see an incredibly tall man with dark brown hair and blue-green eyes smiling at me and holding a bouquet of roses.

"Hello. Samantha, I assume?"

"Call me Sam." I replied, grinning and accepting the flowers. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine." Tim shook his head, "I have heard wonderful things about you."

I kept myself from asking exactly what things he had heard.

"Shall we be off?"

I nodded, taking his outstretched hand and stepping out of my home into the brisk March air. A light breeze passed by as Jessica waved from behind us.

"You two kids have fun now!"

She closed the door behind us, undoubtedly ready to go and raid my fridge while gossiping with my mother. We were hardly strangers in each other's homes.