Unparalleled

She's Careless

Even in spite
of Natalia's prodding,
Seth doesn't actually
ask me out on her
proposed date until
the next Monday.
And even when he does,
it goes more along the lines of,
"We should get this over with
since Natalia won't
shut up about it."
She had been texting
both of us all weekend,
insisting that we go
on the date
as quickly as possible, and
it was actually
really annoying.
Seth said that he even
turned his phone off
for most of Sunday
because it had irritated him
so much.

So, we set the date
for Tuesday, and he
tells me he'll pick me up
around six.
Since there isn't much
in the way of restaurants
in the area, we
decide to go back
to the pizza place that
had hosted the failed
double date
only a week or so ago.
It wasn't a bad place,
Seth had said -
only the event itself had
left much to be desired.
I can't help but
agree with him on that.

Exams are coming up soon,
and I still haven't done much
in the way of studying.
That's probably a bad thing,
considering I never
do very well on them
without loads of preparation.
I promise myself that
after this date, I will
bunk down and get to studying
for at least a few hours
every afternoon after school.
After this date,
I swear that I'll
be a good student.
I have plenty of time
to get some good studying in
if I start soon.

The night before the date,
I know I have to
breach the subject of
tomorrow night's plans
with my parents.
It's not until dinnertime that
I have both their attention.
As Mom scoops peas
onto Eddie's plate for him,
I finally speak up.
"Is it alright
if I go out tomorrow night?"

Four pairs of curious eyes
look up at me from their dinners.
Everyone but Eddie seems
a little perplexed by my
sudden question -
and I don't blame them, since
I never really went out
until this year,
as I had no friends
to hang out with, especially
not outside of school.
This is completely
out of the blue.
I can't help but
cringe.

"With whom?"
my mom, ever the outspoken one,
finally asks me.
"Is Eunice coming along?"
My sister shakes her head
in a vigorous denial as
I answer her with
a quiet, "No..."
"Well,"
she frowns,
"who, then?"

"She's going on
a date!"
Euni blurts out,
much to my chagrin
and embarrassment.
Other than the fact that
my sister is the biggest
gossip I know, I
can't imagine how in the world
she had found that out,
since I hadn't told her
about this one.
She has a look on her face
that suggests that she's very pleased
to have been the one
to announce that detail.
I, for my part,
probably just look like
a tomato by now.

"A date?"
my mother echoes in disbelief
as she looks from Eunice
to me
and then back to Euni again.
"Is this true?"

"Y-yeah..."
I mumble, wondering
exactly how red
my face has become.
"It's not really
a big deal -
we're just frie-"

"You have a boyfriend?"
Dad explodes, having just
wrapped his head around
the whole idea of me
going out on a date.
Sometimes he can be
really dense, while other times
he spouts philosophical nonsense
and actually makes a little sense.
Now isn't
one of the latter half.

"No!
No, no, Dad,
I don't, really."
Despite my attempts to
convince him, he
still has a rather skeptical
expression on his face,
one that isn't much like him.
I wonder if that's how he looked
when Euni brought her
first boyfriend home
in seventh grade.

"You're too young
to date, anyway,"
Mom butts in,
not to be outdone by
Dad's airheadedness.
"So no,
you don't."

"I was younger than her
when I started daring,"
Euni reminisces.
"Thias would have been, too,
if he'd stopped being
such a coward and had
just asked Sara out already."
An audible thump comes
from under the table as
Thias scowls in her direction.
He must have stomped
on her foot.
Unphased, Euni continues.
"Point is, Matty
is old enough to decide
for herself whether or not
she wants to start dating.
Obviously, she does, so
why not let her?"

"This is different,"
Mom sighs.
"You were different, Eunice -
if we hadn't let you,
you would have climbed out
of your bedroom window to
run off at all hours of the night.
Probably would have broken
a leg or arm, too.
It was in
everyone's best interest to
let you do the stupid things
you wanted to do.
But I know Matty isn't
quite that careless."

"I kind of already
told him I'd go,"
I speak up in
a quiet voice.
"He's going to be here
to pick me up
tomorrow night at six."

"See?"
Euni says triumphantly,
throwing out her arms and
nearly knocking her water glass over.
"She's careless, too."

Mom just shakes her head.
I can almost hear the thought
that she must be thinking.
'Not quite as careless
as you, my dear.'
"Fine,"
she says instead,
"then you can go and
make sure she's not
being careless on her date."

Both Eunice and I
stare at her for
a moment before the implication
of what she'd just said
sets in.
"What?"
we ask in sync,
both equally bewildered.
That's a first.
Usually Eunice is
the brainless one.

"You heard me,"
Mom sighs.
"The only way you're going, Matty,
is if Eunice goes with you.
And no arguments,"
she adds as Euni
opens her mouth to protest.
"This is all the room
I'm willing to give."

"Are you serious?"
my sister grumbles.
"I have to chaperone
those two losers?
I have plans for tomorrow,
you know, and
they don't include babysitting
a pair of lovebirds-"

"I thought you said that
he wasn't your boyfriend?"
Dad wonders aloud,
confused as ever.
"What was his name again?"

"Euni will go,"
I insist,
kicking her ankle under the table
to keep her from disagreeing.
Seems like a common thing
that's being done to her tonight.
"It'll be fine, really -
it's not like anything bad
will happen."

Mom tuts under her breath
at me, unconvinced,
but says nothing.
Thankfully, neither does Euni -
I already know that she
isn't thrilled for tomorrow.
I'm not really, either,
but it is what it is.
"Be ready by six,"
I whisper in her ear
as she moodily digs
into her mashed potatoes.
I don't receive
an answer from her.
Maybe that's
a good thing.

×

I love this chapter, okay. Maybe I just love any chapter that has Matty's weirdo family in it. Probably. But it's chapters like these that keep me from giving up on this story, even when I try to write others that get a little more tedious and annoying. So thank god for the Leopolds, I guess.

If you guys liked this chapter, I'd love if you would vote and leave me some feedback! It'd be very much appreciated!

Also - the Misalignment one-shot contest ends in three days! It would mean a lot to me if you guys would enter, since there are only three entries so far. It's kind of pointless, in my opinion, to hold a contest where everyone wins. Not that everyone winning isn't a bad thing, but it doesn't really do much for the competition of it. I don't know.

Anyway, information about the contest can be found in the second to last chapter of Misalignment for anyone who is interested.