Boyfriend by Christmas

Chapter 17

Thompson is twenty minutes late picking me up on Sunday night. "Hey," he says when I climb into his car. "Sorry I'm late."

"It's okay," I tell him. Usually being late would subtract points, but I don't have the energy to think about that tonight. Not when I know I might hurt him later. What if he's really attached to me and I break his heart? I didn't start this whole list thing to hurt people... "So where are we going?"

"Dinner and a movie?"

Not ideal, but at least a movie will prevent me from having to talk to him. I feel awkward enough as it is. "Sounds good," I say.

He drives us to the mall and asks me if I have any preferences on where to eat. I suggest the pizza place next to the movie theater and Thompson agrees.

"So how was your day?" I ask when we take our seats in a booth near the middle of the restaurant. I busy myself with my menu while I wait for Thompson to answer.

"Pretty uneventful. I had some last minute homework to finish up. How was yours?"

"I had to try on bridesmaid dresses for my sister's wedding," I complain. "It was terrible. Mags had told me a long time ago her bridesmaids would wear ugly dresses but I never realized just how ugly these dresses can get. One of her top choices has a hoop skirt."

"What's a hoop skirt?"

"It's a dress with a skirt that doesn't lay flat against your body because it's got something kinda like a hula hoop in the bottom holding it out." I use my hands to demonstrate.

Thompson cringes. "That does sound terrible. Will she really make you wear that?"

I shrug. "I wouldn't be surprised. Magenta doesn't want anyone upstaging her at her wedding. She wants to make sure there's no chance I'll look prettier than her. Though honestly I could wear a ball gown and she could wear sweats and she'd still outshine me."

He smirks. "I doubt that's true. You're gorgeous."

"Imagine me but with shinier hair, slightly shorter, bigger boobs, and lighter eyes. That's my sister."

Thompson looks like he's actually trying to picture my sister so I swat him with my menu. "Just kidding. You're beautiful. I can see why your sister would want to dress you in something ugly."

I blush. "That's sweet of you."

The waiter comes and takes our drink order. Saved by the server. I don't want Thompson to compliment me like that. It'll be easier to turn him down tonight if he seems uninterested during our date.

"So what homework were you doing?" I ask in an attempt to get the conversation off of me.

"I have a public speaking speech this week that I had to finish. We're expected to speak for twenty minutes. As if anyone wants to sit around listening to that. And we're partially graded on our ability to keep our classmates interested."

I bite my lip. "Do you have Mrs. Sanders?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"I took public speaking with her last year. My class was mostly guys so I did my final speech on a bunch of hot actresses. I got an A."

"Wow, that's really smart. I'd pay attention to that presentation."

"Guys are so easy," I say with a laugh. "I don't know what I would have done if the class was all girls."

"A presentation on hot actors?" he suggests. "Girls are pretty easy too. Throw Bradley Cooper and Zac Efron on screen and you've got their attention for hours."