A/n: I'm still amazed at the all the great reviews I'm getting for the this story. I'm glad y'all like it so much, it is really a lot of fun to write. Just so y'all know, I might not be updating as quickly as I was, because, well, it's now baseball season. I just happen to be a rabid Anaheim Angels fan and a good deal of my time these days will spent cheering my boys on. But don't worry, I won't abandon you, it just might take a little longer.

"A Little Doubt Goes A Long Way"

March 23

Now it's official. I am a complete and total loser. Tonight could not possibly have gone any worse than it did. I'm talking total Titanic-aliens-blow-up-the-White-House-end-of-the-world disaster here. I swear, the whole date was like a freaking episode of I Love Lucy, that's how bad it was. I'm not even exaggerating. Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

As I waited for Phil to pick me up, I paced up and down the living room until Mom, who was trying to watch CNN, got annoyed and told me to sit down. I did, but it didn't help the butterflies in my stomach. I may have looked fabulous on the outside, but on the inside, I was a nervous wreck.

I jumped when I heard the doorbell, then took a deep breath, and opened the door. Phil was standing there, looking as gorgeous as ever. "Hey," he said, flashing me that killer smile, "Ready to go?"

"Yeah." I grabbed my jacket and yelled a good-bye to Mom before shutting the door behind us.

As Phil held open the passenger side door of his mom's station wagon for me he said, "You look great tonight, Keely."

I felt myself blush and said, "Thanks, Phil."

He went around to the other side, slid into the driver's seat and started up the car. Pulling out of the driveway, he said, "So, I thought we try that new restaurant downtown."

"Sounds great." I managed a nervous smile. The butterflies in my stomach were quickly multiplying but I did manage to relax a little. After all, I told myself, I'd made it this far without doing anything lame.

Then we got to the restaurant and all bets were off.

Before we even sat down, I managed to cause a bit of chaos. As the waitress was leading us to our table, I tripped. Over what, I don't know, my own feet probably, but trip I did. Phil, being as perfect as he is, jumped forward to catch me, but when he did, he bumped into a busboy walking by with a tray full dishes. Phil caught me but the busboy wasn't so lucky. He fell backwards, sending the dishes flying. I don't know what happened to the busboy because I was much to busy noticing how close Phil and I were as he set me up right. "Are you alright?" He asked, his hands still on my hips.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied, feeling my heart beat faster. "Just a total klutz that's all."

Phil smiled and started to reply but the annoyed waitress interrupted him, totally ruining our moment.

But don't think the madness stopped there. Oh no, that was just the beginning.

Once we were seated at our table, I dropped my napkin and when I bent down to pick it up, I smacked my head on the table. I guess my depth perception doesn't work so well when I'm nervous.

Then, somehow, I managed to catapult my spoon over my shoulder and hit the man sitting at the table behind me square in the back of the head. He turned around and promptly began shouting at me in rapid Japanese.

Then I really did it. The whole busboy fiasco was a walk in the park compared to what happened next.

When I reached for my glass of water, I knocked over the candle that was in the middle of the table. That wouldn't have been so bad but when I knocked it over it sort of lit the sleeve of Phil's jacket on fire. Thinking fast, I grabbed my water and attempted to put out the fire. Clearly, it wasn't my night to play the hero because instead of hitting his sleeve with the water, I hit Phil square in the face. He calmly extinguished the fire with own glass of water and, wiping off his face with a napkin, said, "How about we get out of here?"

I just nodded.

Ten minutes later, after a quiet car ride, we were standing on my front porch.

"Phil, I'm really sorry about everything. I am such a total loser."

"You're not a loser, Keel. You just had a bad night, that's all. Besides, it was me that tripped the busboy."

"Yeah, but you wouldn't have tripped him if I hadn't tripped first. I am such a a spaz when I'm nervous."

"You were nervous? Why? It's just me, Keely."

"That's just it, Phil. It's you. You mean everything to me. I just really wanted to this to work."

"I wanted it to work too." He smiled. "How about we forget tonight ever happened and try again tomorrow night? We can go out for pizza and see a movie. Totally no pressure."

I looked at him in shock. "You still want to go out with me? Even after I, you know, lit you on fire and all?"

"Of course," he said, taking a step closer to me, "because I know that somewhere under all that nervousness is my Keely. The one who's always sure of herself and doesn't care what anyone else thinks." He smiled at me again. "Goodnight, Keely. See you tomorrow."

Somehow I found my voice. "Yeah...'Night, Phil."

He turned and heaedd toward his car and I fumbled with doorknob. When I was inside, I finally let myself breath.

His Keely. He'd called me HIS Keely! As bad as everything had been, I couldn't help but smile at that. It almost made up for the five-star disaster I'd caused. Almost. I'm still not quite over the whole fire thing.

That's Phil, though. No matter what happens, he always knows how to make me smile. Just one of many reasons I love him so much. Somehow, I think tomorrow night is going to be just fine. Maybe. As long as I stay away from any candles, angry Japanese guys and busboys.

A/n: I liked reading the reviews for the last chapter because a few y'all nearly had heart attacks over the word "doubt" in this chapter title. Are you happy now? Good. I name the title after the Reel Big Fish song because I was partly inspired by it. For those of you who are cool enough to listen Reel Big Fish like me, you get it. For those of you who haven't heard the song, the chorus goes, "I gotta go, gotta go before I do something stupid. I gotta go, gotta go before I do something lame." If you've never heard Reel Big Fish, listen to them, they rock! Anyway, enough of my pointless ramblings, stay tuned for the next chapter, "Wonderful Tonight."