The First Date (Part 1)

"You what!?"

Tired couldn't believe it. Is this really what she was seeing? Inside of her hands was a slip of paper with Bus's name and a phone number. Jace handed it to her when they got to her apartment. So many things today have felt like a fever dream, but this one was the strangest of all. Jace tried to explain himself.

"I got this from Bus! He told me that he wanted me to give this to you, that he wants to get to know you more."

Why her? Couldn't that man take a hint!? Bus gave his number to her out of all people, the one woman who insulted him multiple times! This is absurd! Was it some kind of joke?

…

Of course. That was the most likely explanation. She was so different from all his other cheerleaders, staying silent up in the bleachers. He probably sees her as entertainment, nothing more than a jester for his presumably king-like superiority complex. Well, she wasn't going to play along. No, if anything, he was the joke, thinking that she would actually go along with his sick prank. The slip of paper crumpled in her fist as she promptly tossed it aside.

"No way. Absolutely not. Who the hell does he think I am?"

Jace picked it back up.

"Tired, just give him a chance! I'm sure he isn't-"

"No!"

Man, she was stubborn.

This was going to be harder than Jace originally thought. Sure, he knew what Bus was feeling, and he knew what Tired was really feeling, but trying to get Tired to come out of her shell will be hard if she made said shell out of concrete. He needed a different strategy, something to get the ball rolling and to make Tired willing to call Bus.

What was the plan? Why, the classic reverse psychology method, of course!

He shrugged and turned away, trying to make his voice as sincere as possible.

"Fine. You don't need to call him if you're too nervous. I understand. You could mess up miserably and ultimately fumble your chances. I get it."

Tired dropped her jaw.

Ex-f*cking-cuse me?

"Okay, first off, I'm not 'nErVoUs'! I just don't wanna call him! Second of all, even if I were to call him- which I won't- I won't 'fumble'!"

"I'm not sure I believe you. You really think you won't?"

"I know I won't."

"Hmm…Press X to doubt."

"You're so childish."

"Hey! What can I say? At least I'm not the one chickening out."

Oh, no, he didn't.

Tired was not going to take that. She huffed and snatched the crumpled paper out of Jace's hand. She started to head to her room, but before she did, she yelled behind her:

"You'll see!"

She didn't look back enough see it, but Jace had a smug smirk on his face. If he could high-five himself, he would. Everything was going according to plan.

Tired sat on her bed, fiddling with the piece of paper in her hands. Her phone was sitting right beside her, almost pleading for her to take action, alluring her to it like a siren's call. Despite this, she stayed still in that same spot for almost ten minutes. She couldn't do it. Almost every bone in her body stiffened up at the thought, her stomach churning. She just stomped out of the room in the heat of the moment, but she didn't consider that doing this would force her into a commitment. So many things could go wrong if she made this phone call. She almost wished she had a script in front of her, just so that it'd be easier to say something…anything…

Why did this even matter to her, she wondered. Bus barely knew her. It wouldn't affect anything if she just never called him or showed up to his games again. She never really liked going to them anyways…or so she thought. In any case, as she said to herself before, Bus didn't matter. Therefore, this shouldn't matter. Yet, the thought of never going to the games again didn't sit right with her. This should be easy. Why wasn't it? The anticipation was throwing her stomach around like a rogue football in the competing hands of athletes. She glanced at the phone, then back to the paper in her hands, then back to the phone…Paper…Phone…Paper…Phone…Paper…

She gulped and picked up her phone. Immediately, it buzzed. Startled, she fumbled and almost dropped it. On her home screen was a text from Jace. It read:

"So…Have you chickened out yet?"

Ohhh, I'm gonna kill him.

Immediately, that spark of stubbornness enflamed her heart like a lit match, and just like that, her confidence was back in full swing. She opened her phone up and dialed the number on the paper. She was about to press the button, but she paused. This was her last chance to back down. Did she really want to do this? All of a sudden, her stiffness returned again. There are so many things she could do to avoid this situation, but it was almost like…

She didn't want to.

Maybe, this was just to prove something to herself, to show that she was more than just big words and an attitude. This was her time to be confident, take daring action outside of her comfort zone.

Yes. Yes, that must be it. No other reason.

She took a deep breath…and tapped the call button.

The phone rang for a few seconds before a familiar and- one might say- annoying voice sounded from the phone.

"Hello?"

Tired couldn't tell what type of feeling she had when she heard that. Was it nervousness? Annoyance? What is happening? More importantly…

Why wasn't she saying anything?

Tired cleared her throat and sat up straight, preparing herself for what she was going to say. There was no turning back now.

"Hey. It's the 'Bus hater' or whatever you called me. My friend got this number from you…"

It took Bus a few seconds to figure out who it was, but once he did, his tone immediately changed…

It was way more annoying than Tired ever thought it could get.

"Ah, I see!~ You decided to get off your high horse to call me, eh?~"

"Oh, hush. Why did you even want to call me?"

"Well, to be frank, I want to talk to you. You seem like an…interesting individual."

Ah, so she really was his jester.

"What do you mean by interesting?"

"Oh, I dunno. You seem very different from a lot of other girls I've seen before, that's for sure."

"What the- What's that supposed to mean!?"

"Hey, hey! Calm down! I didn't mean anything bad by that! You just seem very unique, and I want to learn more about what you're like."

"…"

She wasn't sure what to say to that. What was she supposed to say? There's no angry remark she could say back to him. She rummaged through her mind for some type of comeback, but she ultimately ended up with nothing. She accepted defeat and just sighed before answering.

"Okay…Fine."

"Nice. That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Don't push it, Sweetie."

She could hear his snicker over the phone. However, while she could hear, she couldn't see, and she didn't know that Bus was blushing slightly over the nickname.

The big, tough football player has a weakness.

"Hey, how about you and I head for a drink at that new sports bar that opened downtown? I think it was called…Red League Brews?"

"Of course, you'd want to go to a sports bar."

"Hey, what can I say? That's just my life!"
"That just sounds like you have no personality beyond that."

"Ouch! Look, you don't have to go, and even if you do, you don't have to talk to me after that! I'd be disappointed if you left, but it's your choice."

Tired paused and thought about it. She didn't have to acknowledge him…She could just go there, let him buy her a drink, and then walk back to her car like nothing happened.

The more she thought about it, the more this plan started to sound a lot better than she could possibly hope. However, she still made sure to sound disgruntled over the phone.

"Fine…What day?"

"Wednesday of next week?"

"Fine. 8PM?"

"Done."

"Cool."

They both paused. Tired was processing what had just happened, and Bus was writing the plan down for later. Tired eventually spoke.

"Well…See ya."

"I know I will~"

He hung up the phone. Tired, annoyed by those final words, threw her phone to the side and hugged her pillow.

What on Earth did she just agree to?

She just dug her own grave, and now, she was going to lie in it.