The Dating Project

Chapter 8

I spent the entire next day planning. It was going fabulously. Finn had seemed to think the art on our walls was cool, so I was going to go with the idea of painting. I thought we could use my dad's art studio, and paint portraits of each other, or maybe even paint portraits of the two of us together. I was gonna have food prepared that was totally art-themed, like have my mum prepare cupcakes that were designed like paintbrushes or something. I considered allowing him to paint on our walls, but that was wayyy to permanent for my liking, so I scribbled it out the moment I'd written it down. 

"You're lucky I don't have any big orders right now," my mum said when I proposed the idea to her. "This is for next Saturday, yes?" 

"Yep," I nodded. "Just like artsy-themed cupcakes." 

"Did you want to help prepare them? That could be a bit more thoughtful, if they had your personal input." 

"I would really love to, but I have lot's of schoolwork, and it would just be too much. Plus, you're the better baker, Mum! They'll look miles better if you do them." 

"Translation," Mike appeared and took an apple out of the fruit bowl, "She would rather die than spend more energy than she has to on Finn Lewis." 

I was about to try and defend myself, but my mum just laughed. 

"Oh, don't worry, Mikey. I know exactly what she meant." 

Annoyed, I went back up to my room, where Aurora was laying on her bed looking amused. 

"So, painting with cakes?" she smiled. That's when I noticed my date planning notebook was next to her on her bed. 

"Hey," I grabbed it off her and went to sit on my own bed. "You make it sound so bad, what the hell?" 

"I mean, Lilah, let's be real here - it's not great." 

"It's unique," I defended my date idea, though I said it with so little confidence that even I wouldn't buy what I'd said. 

"Painting and cupcakes is not unique," Aurora rolled her eyes. "Yes, it's not as dull as like, dinner, or going to the cinema, or bowling, or something dumb like that, but it's not exactly got any wow factor." 

"Look, it just has to be better than Finn's. He's taking me out tonight on his date, and trust me, mine will be better than whatever he's got planned. Plus, mine isn't due until next week. I can take whatever he's doing tonight and one up it." 

Aurora sighed. "Fine. I mean, I suppose painting isn't the worst idea in the world, and if you're painting each other together then it could look decent for the portfolio." 

"Thank you," I smiled, pleased to have won the debate. 

---

Despite Aurora saying my idea was decent enough, I still spent the rest of the day planning my date. I only stopped when Finn rang me. 

"Hello?" I answered. 

"You ready? We're going bowling, I'm picking you up in thirty minutes." 

"What?! You told me 7pm!" I was astounded. I couldn't get ready in thirty minutes. I'd been having a pyjama day! I was still in my pyjamas, I had not brushed my hair, and I was definitely not wearing makeup yet. 

"Yeah, well, turns out I booked it for 6pm, so we're just gonna have to run with that. See you in thirty." 

He hung up before I could reply. 

"Well, your date will definitely be better than bowling," Aurora said from across the room. "But yeah, you should probably start getting dressed."