Double Trouble

The date

When I got to the park, he was already there. Wearing blue gym shorts and a white t-shirt he sat there waiting for me, who now was ten minutes late. Oops.

I couldn't believe I had agreed to running as our date. The sun was basically frying my skin, and I hadn't really moved since gym class before school ended. Off course, unless you'd count the steps I took on my way to the freezer to get ice cream, or the walk to the grocery shop around the corner, to buy more ice cream cause I'd eaten up what we had.

He stood up when he saw me and went right in for a hug. Wow, I'd never met the guy before, yet he went straight to the hugging.

"Hey," I said, awkwardly.

Once we pulled away from each other, he spent a second looking at me.

"What?" I asked, smiling.

"Oh, no nothing." He looked to the ground. "You are just, well ... Let's just say I do not meet pretty girls that often." He started blushing.

"Aww." Wow, he was really something. And, did he just call me pretty? I smiled from ear to ear, then tried to pull myself together. We started walking side by side, but neither of us said a word. I looked at him and he made this smile that reviled that he thought this was as awkward as what I thought.

I had no idea what to say to him. I mean, what kinds of things are you supposed to say on a date? I waited a couple more seconds, hoping he would say something and break the ice, but nothing came out of his mouth. "So, Blake, tell me about yourself?" Good job Kate.

He made a small breath of relief, before talking. "Well, as you know, I have a dog, Stitch, and ... I go to an all-boys school." He looked at me, smiled shortly, then looked down into his hands, which he couldn't stop rubbing into each other. Cool...

"Wow," I said, trying to sound interested, even though he hadn't really told me anything I didn't already knew. Actually, he told me the only things I already knew about him. Yes...

"How about you?" He asked.

"Well ..." I started. "I have no pets." I took a breath. "Ehm ... and, well ... I go to a girls-and-boys-school."

...

Shit, this was bad.

He nodded.

No, that was not how this was supposed to go. We were supposed to have this instant connection that would keep us talking from the second we met to the day we would die. Not like this. Maybe he wasn't the one. Maybe this whole weird date-thing was for nothing.

"Okay, this is weird," suddenly came out his mouth after another moment of complete utterly silence.

I turned to him, finally a little engaged. "Yes!"

Blake jumped a little, scared by my overly devoted reaction.

"Oh, sorry. But, yes I know. This whole date-thing, meeting together, trying to get to know each other, it just feels so forced."

His eyes went wide. "Exactly!"

I looked carefully up into his eyes. "Especially if you haven't been to any dates before..." There, it was out. I was a total loser. Never had a boyfriend, never been on a date. Never done anything for that matter.

"You've never been to a date before?" He seemed surprised. Why? I mean, look at me. No, scratch that, I'm perfect. He turned to me. "Neither have I!"

Wow guess he wasn't that player-tinder-boy I had been fearing that he'd turn out to be after all then. This guy was different. "Cool. Then we'll be new to this together. And by the way, I'm sorry, but I really don't feel like running right now." I wiped away some sweat from my forehead which I'd gotten only from the walking we had been doing.

He smiled. "Don't worry, I am definitely cool with that."

"So I didn't just break your heart then?"

He let out a little laugh. "Not sure whether to confess this or not, but honestly, I just suggested the running to put into your head how athletic I am so.."

I laughed. "That is truly sad."

"Hey, don't judge me. I thought we agreed to being new to this dating thing. I didn't knew what I was doing." He then looked serious, down into his hands. "I just wanted to impress this pretty girl on tinder, the dating app of the decade." He looked down into my eyes and revealed a tiny smirk.

I rolled my eyes and looked away, trying to hide the redness in my cheeks from him calling me pretty again. "OKAY THEN, I'll accept it."

It was so much more fun joking around than trying to search for the right questions to ask. Yet, I felt like I needed to know something about this cute but still a stranger guy.

"So, what questions do you think these serial daters ask each other then?" I looked up at him. He was probably a head taller than me, with his dark blond hair covering most of his face. I wanted to brush it back, to get a better look at him.

As if he just had read my thoughts, he went his hand through his hair before looking at me. "I am not sure." He seemed to be thinking for a second. "This is sad, I can honestly not even come up with an example or guess."

I actually had to think a second myself. "I think they ask stuff like, 'what do you do for a living?'"

He nodded. "And then what?"

I took out my phone. "Let's check." If you can't think of questions yourself, fins ones on the internet. "Woah," I said, "'10 brilliant questions to ask on a date' You heard that? Brilliant questions. Let's check them out."

"They better be brilliant." He leaned closer to me, well, my phone, I and thanked God we didn't do that run, because he smelled amazing. I swallowed and shaped up, directing my focus to the questions.

"Question one; 'Do you want- "

I was abrupted by Blakes phone calling. Clumsy he reached for it in his pocket. "Sorry," he said. When he saw who was calling, he rolled his eyes while letting out a sight. He then bit his lip, and said through his teeth; "I'm so sorry, I have to take it."

"Sure, of course," I said, pretending that I wasn't slightly disappointed.

"What?" Blake said, annoyed into the phone. He had turned his back to me, but that wasn't really much of a disappointment, since I got the chance to admire his height and broad shoulders without him watching. I know, what a creep. Get over it.

"No," he said clearly, still talking to the person who called. He struggled to find the words. "Why do you always do this?" He took a short break, turned around to see me watching him, and forced a smile before taking a step away. "... No ... Idiot .... Okay, I'll be there." He turned around to me, with a worried expression. "I'm so sorry, something just came up." He went his hand frustrated through his hair. "I wish I didn't, but I really have to go. Its important."

"Oh, so the always say," I joked, but he didn't smile.

"I promise, you see- ... well, it's my twin brother." He rolled his eyes, but more in frustration than in a mocking way. "He always does this dumb shit or get himself into some mess, that always end up cleaning up after him."

"Oh," I let out, kind embarrassed of not taking him seriously before. "Sure, off course," I stutter.

"I'm sorry. Please- ... I really want to meet you again. Hopefully well get a look at that dating-question-list." He smiled. "Sorry," he said, looking like he actually meant it, before half running away.

I swallowed. "Oh"