reliable. If you could just loosen up a little, everything would be great.â
âI have no intention of loosening up my common sense. If you donât want me to continue with the column, fine. Then just tell me so and Iâll be happy to stop writing this stupid thing and hearing all the half-baked gripings of a group who wouldnât know love if it bit them on the butt.â
âOkay.â For a minute I thought we were done. Really done. But then he put on his concerned editorâs face again. âIf youâve ever been in a real relationship.â
âWhat are you talking about?â I tried to bluff, but my voice shook a little. I hadnât expected the question.
âHave you?â
âHave I what?â Lame, I know. But I do have that hopeful streak, and it was praying I could put off answering until a meteor struck the earth and obliterated us all.
He stood his ground, though. âHave you ever been on a third date before Looking For a Mom?â
Eight
Once, long ago, my sixth-grade gym teacher, who had a gorilla-size chip on her shoulder, gave us girls two pieces of advice: The best defense is a good offense, and never let a guy tower over you in an argumentâit gives him the psychological advantage. She was fired shortly after that, for tipping our principal, Mr. Mandis, into a Dumpster, so the advice really stuck in my mind.
I stood up, put my backpack on the table, and faced Tyler down. Maybe not such a good idea, since my knees, I discovered, were shaking. Where was a good shot of adrenaline when I needed it?
He laughed. âItâs not a hard question, Katelyn.â Apparently, Tyler found my refusal to answer funny. âYes. No. No big deal if youâre the pickiest dater on the planet. It would explain a lot of this wacko Mother Hubbard advice youâve been giving, to tell the truth.â
Turns out, anger is a good source of adrenaline. âYou didnât know me in high school. You havenât known me very long. So what if I havenât rushed into a relationship? I have classes to study for and a career to plan. How dare you assume Iâve never been on a third date?â Another plus to anger is that the truth is easy to hide behind outrage. Like, I wasted four years in high school hanging out with a guy who wasnât ever going to like me like I liked him. There had been some guys who might have liked me. But I hadnât really given them a chance. Which didnât really mean my three-date rule was dumb. Just that I hadnât practiced it on enough guys. Yet.
He stepped back, as if he thought I might morph into vampire girl and bite his throat out. âTrue. I havenât known you very long. Maybe you were homecoming queen and planning to marry the homecoming king until he dumped you for your English teacher.â
Heâd come a little too close to the truth. But I could see it was by accident. He had no clue who David Morse wasâlet alone that he was indeed homecoming king. The smile on his face had slid sideways and he looked a little sick. I realized he was sorry heâd insulted me, and my own anger started to slip away.
Too soon, it turned out, because he continued, âBut I think I should be the one to pick the next two guys you go out on a third date with.â
âIâve already got one picked out.â The perfect one to make my case to the campus. Slacker Dude. No way was Tyler taking him away from me. No one would expect me to go on a fourth date with a guy who had an imaginary friend whoâd come to college with him to âmake sure I study hard and make my parents proud.â
âIs he someone Sophia would date?â
âWho cares?â
âThe readers care. So, is he someone Sophia would date?â
Never in a million years. âHow would I know?â I asked that with a straight face because I was certain Tyler had no idea that when Slacker Dude had come to the room