Than to Have Never Loved at All

A Good, Totally Normal, First Date

Neither of us ever asked the other out. It all went through Keegan, which seemed like a bad way to start my "normal dating experience" TM but it was better than nothing. If I wasn't gonna get the awkward girl-asks-guy out experience I at least got the awkward boy-gets-best-friend-to-ask-me-out experience.

Whatever, I'd seen enough movies that I could probably fudge that part of the script anyway. Maybe Keegan had some experience with that we could draw from because it turned out his ideas were less "plots" and more of an amorphous theme. Great.

Amazing

Very Helpful.

Clinton and I decided to go out on Thursday after school. In one breath I went from saying yes in Keegan's car to having a plan to see Pirates of the Caribbean at the old theater downtown with Clinton Carter. The opera house played old movies for cheap and served ice cream for 2 dollars a cone so even if the date when bad I at least got a scoop of vanilla ice-cream out of it.

Clinton borrowed Keegan's busted civic and I stumbled out of my door five minutes late still stuffing my foot into my sneakers. Nat had ghosted me on outfit choices, so I had to rely on Finn, Lei and Reid for opinions. They were less than helpful so I went with jeans and a t-shirt. It seemed like a safe bet.

I checked my phone one last time before getting into the car. My to-do list stared back at me from my notes app. I read through it like it was a spell that would get me through the evening unscathed. Get a boyfriend, fall in love, write an amazing One-Act.

Clinton looked nervous and way more dressed up than me. He had on a clean button down and slacks and I giggled and felt horrible, and he grinned and then I tried to break the ice.

"In my defense I was dressed by a six year old."

"Well in the six-year-olds defense, you look great."

I didn't know what else to say. My mouth felt weird and dry. Dates were kind of out of my wheelhouse. When nothing happened for a beat too long I said, "So did I make us late for the movie?"

Clinton shook his head and shoved the car into reverse.

Keegan's Bluetooth speaker was still resting in the cupholder. A strange accordion clown nightmare song was playing. I must have looked down at it with an odd expression because suddenly Clinton was panicking and fumbling for his phone.

"Sorry! That's sorry-"

"No!" I stopped him. I grabbed his phone from his hand and flopped back into my seat to see Gogol Bordello listed as the musician. I smiled. There was something hilarious and wonderful about the song.

"What is this?" I asked. There was no way this type of music had a categorized genre.

"Um-" Clinton still looked bright red and embarrassed. "I just like finding the weirdest music I can. Kind of a joke, kinda-

"Awesome" I finished his sentence for him. Clinton's nervous half smile relaxed into something calmer. I liked the changed.

"This one's pretty old," he said.

"But pretty weird." I pulled out my phone and opened my Youtube app, "have you ever heard Dancing Lasha Tumbai?" Honestly anything from the Eurovision would count as weird, but this one was my recent favorite find.

Clinton fully turned to look at me with a raised eyebrow. He obviously didn't share Keegan's obsessively careful driving habits.

"We're listening to it," I decided.

Ten minutes and three Eurovision songs later and we pulled up outside the Opera house, only to see the lights out and a sign posted in the window.

Clinton parked and stepped out of the car.