Free Speed Dating by Natalie Standiford Page A

here?”
    “We’re missing Girl #15,” Lina said. She checked thesign-up list for the one name not checked in. “Gia Gersh.”
    “Check your cell,” Mads said. “Maybe she called to say she’s running late.”
    Lina checked her phone. “There’s a message.” She listened for a few seconds. “She’s not coming,” Lina said. “She’s home puking
     her guts out. Stomach flu.”
    “What are we going to do?” Mads asked. “Now we have an extra boy. They’ll have to take turns sitting for six minutes with
     no one to talk to and nothing to do.”
    “Unless you take Gia’s place,” Lina said.
    “Me? Why me? I have a boyfriend.”
    “You don’t have to date any of the guys,” Lina said. “Just talk to them. So they won’t feel ripped off.”
    “Why don’t you do it?” Mads asked.
    “Because Walker’s meeting me here later and it would be weird if he saw me,” Lina said.
    “I guess,” Mads said. Stephen wouldn’t come near the Speed Dating parties. He’d said he was afraid the hormone surge would
     give him vicarious acne. “I’ll have to tell the boys up front that I have a boyfriend and I won’t date them.”
    “Just be nice to them,” Lina said. “We don’t want bad word of mouth. Do it for the good of the blog.”
    “All right.” Mads took the last empty seat, at the end of the table next to Quintana. She’d be able to watchQuintana in action. And, of course, she’d get six minutes with Sean.
    “Hey, girl,” Quintana said. “What are you doing here?”
    “Filling in for a sick Speed Dater,” Mads said.
    “Well, don’t steal any cute ones away from me,” Quintana said.
    “I don’t think you have to worry about that,” Mads said.
    “Everybody ready?” Lina asked. “Go!”
    Mads focused on the boy in front of her. Alex Sipress. She knew him from school. In fact, she’d hung out with him once at
     a party at Sean’s house. She’d been tipsy that night. Okay, drunk. Okay, she’d puked. In Sean’s mother’s room.
    “We meet again, Octopussy,” Alex said. “I already know the short but sweet story of your life. Want to go out one night?”
    “I can’t,” Mads said. “I have a boyfriend.”
    “So what are you doing here?”
    “Filling in for a sick girl. I’m just entertaining you until you go to the next person.”
    “Oh.”
    Mads didn’t know what to say next. Entertaining fifteen boys for six minutes each was not going to be easy.
    They sat quietly. It was awkward. In the silence,Mads heard Quintana say, “I like excitement, but it’s like a drug. You’ve got to keep upping the dose, doing more and more
     risky things… .”
    The boy she was talking to listened, rapt, practically bouncing in his seat.
    “That guy wants to leap over the table and jump on top of her,” Alex said. “Right now.”
    “Yeah,” Mads said.
    “Do I get her next?” Alex asked.
    “No. You have to go around to the other end of the table and work your way down. You get Quintana last.”
    “Is that good or bad?”
    “Depends. Probably good. You’ll be the last guy she sees, so she’ll remember you best.”
    “Awesome.”
    “Time!” Lina called. “Everybody switch.”
    Alex got to his feet. “Thanks for killing six minutes with me.”
    Quintana’s boy moved into the seat across from Mads. Mads studied him. He was short, chubby, with pale brown hair. He wore
     a Giants T-shirt. His looks were unmemorable, except for the beads of sweat on his upper lip. Mads hoped for his sake he had
     a killer personality.
    “Hi, I’m Dave. So what’s exciting about you?”
    What’s exciting about
you? she wanted to ask. “You knowwhat?” she said. “Nothing is exciting about me. Why don’t we just sit here and listen to the people next to us talking? You
     don’t mind, do you?”
    “Her?” Dave nodded at Quintana. “I could listen to her talk all day. But preferably all night.”
    “You’re witty, Dave,” Mads said. “Too bad I already have a boyfriend.”
    Dave gave