Free Miss Match by Erynn Mangum Page B

little kids anymore."
    His mouth twists in an aha expression. "I see. You're thinking about
what I said last week."
    I nod. "Yeah."
    When we were little, Brandon and I talked about how someday we'd each get married and have both of our families get together
every weekend.
    Suddenly the someday is missing. Brandon can get married right
now. He can have a family right now.
    My stomach feels hollow.
    His look softens. "Kinda scary, isn't it?"
    "Uh-huh."
    "I've been doing a lot of thinking."
    The tone of his voice doesn't bode well with my state of mind.
    "About this, you know, getting older, growing up." He leans farther
into the couch, expression pensive. "I've been reading the Bible this past
weekend and praying a lot. When I asked Hannah out and you corrected
me? That kind of started my thinking. I'm not sixteen anymore. I should
be figuring out what qualities I want in a wife, not just dating for the sake
of dating. You know?"
    I nod.
    "I've gotten . . ." He grasps the air for the word. "Dissatisfied with
my relationship with God. Know what I mean?"
    No, I do not. A relationship with God is something I have, am happy
about, and think about on Sundays, Wednesdays, and for the few minutes I'm doing my devotions in the evening.

    "No."
    "You'll know eventually."
    "Brandon."
    "Laurie."
    "Let's just go to the movie and pretend we're fourteen again.
Okay?"
    He smiles, but an odd expression crosses through his eyes. "Sure.
Nutsy. Let's go. There's a great new sci-fi flick out."
    "I was thinking more along the lines of romance and comedy."
    It's an old argument and one we recycle on our way. We buy tickets,
find a seat, poke fun at the previews, and soak in the dark, buttered
atmosphere.
    But my mind doesn't revert into its usual half-dead state during
the movie.
    I'm not sixteen anymore.

     

Chapter
Eight
    I pick up the phone. Take a deep breath. Dial. 5 ... 5 ... 5 ... 4 .. .
    I hang up.
    "I can't do this," I exclaim to Hannah.
    She sets her brand-new Bible on her purse and then sits at her desk
with her hands folded smug as ever under her chin. "You can, and you
have to."
    Rosebud Barbie would make sense.
    I heave my breath out. "You're sure you don't want to do this
for me?"
    "And you would learn what from that experience?"
    I smile hopefully. "Good friends are hard to come by?"
    Hannah quirks her eyebrow up. "Yes, they are. Come on, Laurie. It
can't be that hard. You dial, you listen to it ring, you tell Stephen quite
firmly and rationally that you can't go out, you hang up. What's so difficult about that?"
    "I don't know." I groan, banging my forehead on her desk. "Ow."
    "Laurie."
    "Do you have any chocolate?"
    Hannah rolls her eyes. "Is that your lifelong motto?" She reaches down and pulls open the bottom drawer of her desk. Digs way in the
back. Her hand reappears with a stack of Milky Ways.

    "Oh bless you, bless you, bless you."
    "Don't tell Brandon I have them. He'll probably freak about mice."
    Two of the candy bars disappear in two point eight seconds flat. A
new world record, I imagine.
    "Okay. Now. Call him," Hannah says, pushing the phone back
toward me.
    I dial again. My pulse rockets so fast I know I soon will pass out.
    Good grief. What is the matter with me?
    Three rings pass in an interminable amount of time. Fourth ring.
    "Hey."
    I open my mouth to blurt out my speech.
    "You've reached Stephen Weatherby. Leave a message. I'll call
you back."
    BEEEP!
    I hold the phone for several moments before slamming it down in
confusion and shock. Hannah rolls her eyes.
    "Wimp," she accuses me.
    I bite my tongue. I haven't been called that since the fourth grade
when I wouldn't play dodgeball for fear of breaking my glasses. Well, I
played. I broke my glasses. I sliced a nicely sized cut across my eyebrow
and ended up with ten stitches and a bandage the size of Alabama covering my face. Dad nearly had a heart attack.
    The days before contacts.
    Ruby walks in. "Hey, girls. Want to join me for