Like You Like Me ✔

14

I couldn't believe it. Celia wanted to go out with me. I was so caught up in the vibes from her letter that I forgot to tell Connor what it said, which he didn't appreciate.

"Bro!" he yelled from the chair, sitting on the edge of his seat. "You're killing me here—what did she say?"

"Well," I sighed. "I think...that I'm back in the game!" I jumped off the bed.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Connor shot out of the chair and hit me with a high five that left my hand feeling numb. "Don't scare me like that again, DJ."

"Alright, alright," I said, trying to keep my cool. "Get this, Celia wants a date."

"Bro, that's mint," Connor came in for a bro-hug but froze mid approach.

"What?" I wrinkled my brow.

"So like when you said date, you meant like date-date, right? As in you, DJ and Celia hitting up the movies, grabbin' pizza's—the usual couple thing, right?"

I held my hands up. "Yeah, what other kind of date could..." then it hit me. "Oh, snap. Celia wants a date with Romeo..." my voice trained off again.

"But Romeo is DJ," we said in unison.

"That's a problem," I uttered as my palms started feeling the heat.

"Massive problem," Connor nodded and slowly covered his mouth.

Both of us silently paced the room, waiting for a solution to fall out of the sky or something.

"Got it!" Connor said, clapping his hands together. "What if we set her up on a blind date with some guy who's not you?"

"Nah," I rubbed the back of my head. "I see where you're coming from, but he can't be me forever."

"True that," Connor exhaled. "If only there was a way she could see you, without seeing you," he chuckled. "Like that time when we tried to play H-O-R-S-E with blindfolds. Remember that?"

I smiled. "Yeah, that was pretty funny. I completely missed the..." I stopped mid-sentence and looked at Connor. Almost instantly, the lights flipped on in his eyes.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked.

"Bro, you know I caught that pass," I grinned.

Connor tilted his chin up. "Ready to give blind dates a whole new spin?"

"Yo, I was born ready."

A bro-hug ensued followed by a couple phone calls.

The first person Connor rang up was our centre, Big Ben Brooks. We needed a venue for the date and Ben owed Connor a favour. Three minutes later, and a cottage on Shubenacadie Grand Lake was secured for Saturday.

Next, I needed a voice, and for that, Connor gave Rachel a ring, figuring one of her theatre homies could do the job. Once C filled her in on the details, Rachel hooked us up with a name, number and an address. But she wanted to give this guy, Justin, a heads up before he met with us.

Meanwhile, I got started on my next letter. We had less than three days to pull this whole thing off; anticipation was coursing through my veins like liquid lightning. In the end, Justin agreed to the gig on the condition that we get him a varsity jacket, and Connor took my completed letter to be dropped off that night.

Shortly after he left, Connor called me, which was strange. He usually just texted after making the drop, so I wasn't expecting my phone to ring.

"What's up?" I said.

"Something weird just happened," I replied, sounding like he was breathing fast.

I moved the phone to my good ear. "Like what?"

He exhaled. "I don't know how to explain, but when I put the letter in the tree trunk, I heard something moving in the bushes by the woods."

"Okay," I shrugged. "It was probably a skunk or something."

"See that's what I thought too—but the same thing went down one other time when I was picking up a letter. And I had the same feeling like someone was watching me. It just gave me the creeps, and I wanted to talk it out."

"No worries, man," I replied. "Maybe you and Rachel should just change the drop-off spot."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," he sighed. "Well, have a good one, bro. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, take care, man. Bye."

"Bye."

The whole time Connor was talking, I couldn't help remembering the night at Liam's party when me and Nicole were out on the steps. But it was probably just a coincidence; I didn't want to freak him out, so I didn't say anything.

***

By Saturday, everything was set. Celia had agreed to the date provided that Rachel could be around, which wasn't an issue. Justin was all prepped with the lines we went over, and I was feeling confident...mostly...kinda—okay, I was low-key nervous. But this was my last chance—maybe my only shot to get her back; I could help my hands shaking a bit.

Connor sat shotgun while Justin drove us up to the lake that afternoon. My forehead was pressed against the window as I stared at the rolling hills, set ablaze in fall colours. The surface of the water was so still that it reflected the yellow, orange and red foliage like a mirror. We turned down a gravel road and parked just off the cottage.

I stepped out of the car and inhaled chilled air. My breath frosted as I exhaled then I grabbed the pizzas we bought on the way and made my way over to the front porch.

Inside, I found two chairs, and could have sworn I heard footsteps shuffling somewhere in the back when I was carrying them out. But I brushed it off as nerves/creaky floorboards and finished getting things set up. Connor found an old lantern hanging by the back door which became the centrepiece for the old wooden table.

When I heard the sound of tires rolling down the rocky road, my heart started hammering in my chest. Connor gave me a pat on the back. "You got this, bro," he said before taking his place by the camping table just off the porch. Justin tied his blindfold on and stood at the bottom of the second last step; I stood at the bottom.

Slowly, Rachel led Celia towards the house while I held my breath. Celia was blushing under her pink blindfold when she held out her hand.

"It's nice to finally meet you," Celia smiled.

I took her hand, and Justin said, "It's nice to see you too."

Celia giggled. "I see what you did there."

"I'll be here all afternoon," Justin chuckled. "Shall we?"

"Yes," she replied with rosy cheeks.

And I slowly led her to the table.