INTRODUCTION/PROLOGUE
It's interesting how you think you'll never like someone, but it ends up worse then that. Believe me, I should know.
I never thought I'd like Katie Brown. At least not in a romantic way. Sure, I loved her as a real close friend or even a sister, but as a girlfriend? HA! Or…so I thought.
It all started…
Story: The Bet
CH 1 – The Bet
I was sixteen years old and the whole band was crashing at Katie's house. It was a Friday night and Katie had a big house so we would rent some movie and watch it. On occasion, we'd even sleep over but of course, there was always adult supervision.
I was the first to arrive and when I rang the doorbell, Katie's older brother, Richard aka Rich, who was 28-years-old at the time, invited me in. Katie was upstairs showering so we sat down and started to talk. I always liked him – he and I got along pretty well. He gave me girl advice when I needed some partially because my dad…well he just can't give advice and he also played the drums so sometimes he'd teach me some neat tricks.
Anyway we're just sitting there talking about the football game the previous night, and he suddenly changes the subject. "Freddy do you have a girlfriend?"
And I'm there thinking…football…girls…hmm…how the hell did that happen? "Uh…not right now. Why?"
"I'm just a bit worried about Katie. That's all," he said in an "innocent" voice. You know those voices where they sort of talk all innocent, but you know that they just want you to ask the question so that they can tell you the whole story? Yeah, well, that's what his voice sounded like.
"Why?"
"Well, she's sixteen right now and she doesn't have a boyfriend. She's never been on a date in her whole life. I don't think she's even had a crush on a guy in her whole entire life and it kinda scares me," he said in a hushed voice. I guess he didn't want Katie to hear our conversation.
"Why?" Apparantly, 'why' was the only thing I could say.
"Well…what if she's a…a…lesbian?!" Rich asked in a loud whisper. "Not that there's anything wrong with that, I just don't want her being one is all."
I started to laugh, "Don't worry. She's not a les. She's just a late developer, that's all. I have an older sister, Maya, she didn't get into guys until she was like…twenty-two. It's perfectly normal. Some girls are just like that. I mean, it's not like Katie's girly. She's actually a tomboy."
"Yeah…that's true. But I still think she should start dating right now," Rich said as I drank some of my soda. "Freddy, why don't you ask her out?"
And that's the line that really changed my life. His question almost made me spit out the whole load of soda that was in my mouth because I wanted to laugh so hard. "Uh…no."
"Well why not? You're single…she's single…you're older then her by a few months…you're already friends! I don't get the big deal," he reasoned.
"Okay number one – I don't like her in that way! She's…that's just…EWW! And second of all, I'm pretty sure she's not interested in dating anyone anyway," I said. "Come on, this is Katie we're talking about. She's not going to start dating until waaay later."
"You saying she's going to reject you?" he asked in a challenging tone. Then he murmered, "Chicken."
Back then I had a real pride issue. If anyone said I was too scared of something or someone, I'd prove them wrong right then and there. Not only that, I was also really competitive and clearly, Rich was opening up a challenge. "I am not a chicken!" I exclaimed and stood up. "I can bet you that I can get Katie to say yes to me! Maybe not to other guys…but to me!"
"I'm willing to bet that she'll refuse."
"How much you willing to bet?"
"How about this," Rich leaned in towards me. "Until the end of the school year, you can ask her out as many times as you want, but if she rejects you, you pay me twenty bucks each time. But if she accepts the first time you ask, I pay you forty."
"But what if I ask her out more then once to get her to say yes and then she finally says yes?"
"I pay back all the twenties you paid me and add an extra forty. Deal?" Rich shook out his hand. I looked at it oddly. It wasn't like Rich to do this type of thing – especially with Katie. You see, Katie was like his 'baby' sister. He was overly protective of her. In some ways, you could almost say that Katie was actually his daughter. Her dad had passed away when she was young and her mom always had to work to support the family, so Rich was stuck taking care of her and actually raising her. You had to admit that even though the deal sounded good, there was something awfully suspicious.
"Wait a minute…your like Katie's older protective brother dude. Why would you place a bet on her? Why me?"
"Fact is Freddy, I trust you. It's not like I don't trust Zack, but he already has a girlfriend. Besides, he and Katie just don't have the 'spark' like you and her have," Rich said.
"Spark?"
"Forget I mentioned it," he said and shook out his hand again. "So do you accept or not?"
I thought about it for a few seconds. Why not? I liked challenges – especially with girls. You could say that it…furthered my knowledge and experience with 'girl' world which is a useful skill for man and I could use the extra money.
"Deal," I said and grabbed his hand in mine. At the time, it seemed perfect; no risks, no harm. But looking back, I realized how that bet changed my life forever.
A/N: Please REVIEW! :)