Interim Goddess of Love #1 of 3 (COMPLETE)

Chapter 19

On Thursday afternoon, the day before the basketball game and the First Quarter Bash, I found out that I wasn't going to the Bash with Sol, because she had a date.

She didn't exactly get to tell me this though. Instead, she met me as I was closing the Guidance Office, and she had this look on her face—and I knew what had happened.

Sol was serious when she told me that she was going to start to date. And though I hadn't known her very long, I did know that Sol was super determined when she put her mind to it.

...Neil was her classmate in chess, her PE class last semester. She noticed right away that he knew what he was doing, unlike the rest of the students who just seemed to have taken the class so they wouldn't have to change into gym pants and get all sweaty. He beat her on their first game (Ruy Lopez). She beat him on their second (Sicilian Dragon). They never got to have a third game, and whenever they saw each other on campus they'd jokingly refer to a "third game" but never really got around to it.

Also, at the time she still thought she was in a long distance relationship, so if she had any thoughts about Neil she pushed them away quickly.

But after her declaration to herself, to me, and the universe, that she was going to date again, she decided that she would take Neil up on that not-really-a-date offer.

"You asked a guy out to the Bash tomorrow," I said, before she even said hi.

"I'm sorry!" she gasped, hands to her face. "I was going to tell you. How do you even know about it?"

Next time let them tell story first, Hannah. "I guessed," I said.

"You should still go, of course. I mean, Neil has a car, and I'm sure he won't mind taking you with us."

I was pouting. Actually pouting! Like a child.

As a mature adult (I was eighteen after all) I knew I had to be happy for my friend. This was a big leap for her, and from the looks of it, Neil was her type. But I had been looking forward to going to the Bash with her because I had turned down a couple of invites already, and if I went with Sol at least none of them would feel weird about seeing me there with some other guy.

So how much weirder was showing up there as Sol and Neil's third wheel?

"Are you mad at me?" Sol wailed. "I'm really sorry. I kind of forgot that you wanted us to go together..."

The fact that poised and put-together Sol was at all wailing just showed how much she really was sorry, but I let myself wallow in self-pity for a few moments more. A mere three hours ago this junior from my history class just walked up to me and asked if I had a date to the Bash.

I said no—naturally—not because of my plans with Sol, but because I didn't even know the guy. Plus as someone who hadn't really started dating anyone ever, my default answer was "no" anyway.

"Didn't Robbie ask you?" Sol went into bargaining territory, misinterpreting what probably seemed like a really long silence. "Because I'm sure we can find him and arrange some kind of..."

"Please, please don't." I hadn't even thought about how to deal with Robbie yet. "Look, don't apologize. I just... you know that I turned down three guys, right?"

"Three guys asked you?"

"Yeah, and I said no to all of them for you."

"Who else asked you?"

"Robbie. This guy who went to the Guidance Office once. And someone from history class."

"That's kind of amazing. When did you become campus hottie?"

"Don't change the subject."

Sol went back into groveling mode. "I'm sorry! I really am. I just thought... I mean, I knew about Robbie but I thought that you'd eventually go with your basketball boy, you know?"

"Quin and I aren't talking," I said. "Besides, he didn't ask me. And he's not my basketball boy."

"Yes but how can I keep track, right? You two have been so tight lately. I didn't think you and I would actually go to our first Bash dateless, you know?"

Just great. I didn't think of it that way. I mean, even if Quin and I weren't officially "dating" I always assumed that if we were there together we would hang out, but that wasn't going to happen while I was cold-warring him. I had to go to the party, no getting out of it, and apparently I had to do it dateless.

As a sign of my maturity, I bit my tongue and held back what I was actually thinking.

"You're going to drive me there, right?" I said instead.

"Yes. Yes. Of course!" Sol hugged me like I had given her permission to marry Neil. "Just don't be mad at me. Can't let the new campus goddess be mad at me."