Crush

Plan

Asher

Running my hand through my short hair, I stopped pacing my room long enough to look at my phone, glancing at the time, feeling the flutter of nerves twist my stomach.

Fuck.

What was I going to do?

I wanted to take Oliver out, wine him, dine him ... the works.

But I didn't know what to do. Where to take him. I was kind of new to this dating thing. And then there was the fact that I was having to hide this from Mom and Dad ...

Shit.

What the hell was I going to do?

I had asked Oliver to keep tonight free, with all intentions of taking him out on a date ... and that was all I had so far. My shitty little plan. It should be so simple.

But ...

Chloe.

Sofia.

I mean, I didn't care about Sofia. Not really. Didn't care if she found out I had plans tonight that didn't involve her. I was trying to ignore her anyway.

As if on cue, my phone buzzed and I looked down, gritting my teeth.

Sofia.

Fuck.

Declining the call, I heaved a sigh, pushing her out of my mind.

Why was I so nervous about tonight? I had spent so much time with Oliver. Saw him every day. Knew a lot about him.

Why was my stomach twisting up at the thought of taking him on a date? I should be excited.

Was it because I was hiding it from my parents? From the girls? Or was it because I had no idea what to do .. where to take him. The diner was out of the question as we'd been there so many times with the girls. It didn't seem special enough. I guess we could go see a movie, but I wanted to look at him, and it would be dark at the cinema..

Although there were always other things we could do at a dimly lit movie theatre ...

Fuck.

Shoving my phone in the pocket of my jeans, I marched out of my room, and jogged down stairs.

I wanted to take Oliver out. But I needed a bit of help on what I could do. Where to take him. Ideas.

And I knew someone I could ask.

Mom was sitting at the kitchen table, her head bent, a dark purple scarf tied around her tight curls, the exact colour of the purple shirt she was wearing. It took me a moment to notice that she was flicking through a magazine on the table, phone in hand, completely unaware of my presence.

Standing in the doorway, I felt my heart crash against my ribs and I took another deep breath.

Just go ask her.

Just go up to her and ask her to name a couple of good places I could take someone on a date. She didn't have to know who my date was. I could leave that part out.

Okay.

Stepping into the kitchen, I noticed the light bouncing off of the clean floor tiles, the spotless countertop. White. Sterile. Just like the rest of this house.

Pulling out a chair opposite Mom, I sat down. Beads of sweat broke out on my brow and the palms of my hands felt sticky.

Ugh.

Why was I so nervous?

Mom lifted her eyes to me, a soft smile on her face. From the corner of my eye, I could see her try to slide her phone discreetly to her lap, but tried not to worry too much about it. I had enough to worry about right now.