Hi guys! Thank you so much for reviewing and telling me what you think. The website is messed up right now and your reviews don't appear on the site, but I get email notifications with your review so I can still see what you write. I hope the problem will be fixed soon. But anyway, on with the story.

Allison

Chapter Four

I get home from work around four. Or is it technically school? Whatever. I hang up my jacket in the closet and take my shoes off. I walk to the kitchen and grab an orange and sit in my bed and pull my laptop onto my lap and begin doing some of my own homework.

Footsteps echo in the doorway. I look up for a second to see my roommate Fernando. He is a nice guy.

"This came for you," he says as he tosses me a letter.

"Thank you." I rip open the top of the letter. I should have looked at the return address. All I saw was Mr. Caleb Prior on the front in familiar swirly letters.

I should have seen this coming. A thousand thoughts run through my head as I stare back at the brown and blue color scheme of my sister's save the date. On it is a happy picture of her and her fiancé.

July ninth. I sigh. That's in a while from now, but I don't have a date and that bothers me. I don't need one, but I was asked to be in the wedding party by her future husband and I feel like I should. I don't have to. I've been to weddings where someone in the wedding party didn't have a date and no one cared. The person I know didn't have a date was the bride's brother, so now I don't feel half as stupid as I might have otherwise. Oh wait. He wasn't in the wedding party. Sigh. Fine, I don't need a date, but I want one.

"Fernando," I say. "Do you want to go to my sister's wedding as my plus one?" I look over just in time him almost fall off his bed. He chokes on the coffee he's drinking as well.

"Um..." He's blushing wildly, which I find hilarious. I wasn't seriously asking him. "I'm truly flattered, but I'm going to have to pass."

"I figured." I chuckle. "Well if you're not going to be my date, then who will?" And then I remember I still have my phone book. I could look through the names and find a girl that broke up with me amicably. Don't know how many of those I will find. I'm not really friends with my ex's, no matter how amicable the parting was. I always thought it would be awkward and so it never really happened.

I get up and dig through my things to find it. It's stuck between the wall and my pile of textbooks. I hold it for a moment as the memories flood through my mind. All the old feelings contained in the pages of this book. Okay. Page. I only dated four girls in college.

Becca. She was the one I thought was really sweet and thoughtful. One day I found out she was in a sorority. That didn't bother me so much. She is welcome to do what she wants. It is her college experience after all. The thing that made the relationship end was that she cared more about partying than school. I couldn't believe, and I still can't, that she broke up with me. I was going to give it another try, but then came the words "we need to talk."

No, I'm not calling her.

The next girl I dated was Abigail. She was the exact opposite of Becca. She lived school almost as much as I do. She was so dedicated to her classes. She studied for hours a night for fun. She aced every test ever given to her. That was the problem. She spent so much time focused on her school work, she didn't have time for me. Our "dates" consisted of us doing our homework and writing essays and finishing projects separately in the library. I think I took her to dinner once.

Not calling her either, despite her great personality.

Dericia was the first girl I started dating sophomore year. I met her in English. I was thoroughly surprised that she asked me out. Of course I agreed. She was very intelligent and funny and nice and pretty. We dated for two months. The majority of our dates were athletic things. Running, soccer, one on one basketball. If it was an exercise, that had been the theme of a date we were on. She even got me to try polo. That was a massive mistake. I am not sporty. At all. She made fun of my run when we went jogging in the morning. It was supposed to be jogging, but she was so much faster, she was jogging and I was running. She said the only reason I caught up to her was because she was laughing too hard at my run.

Definitely not calling her.

I sigh at the next name. Eden Fairchild. She was the nicest girl I had ever met. She cared about school and did well. Her sense of humor was quick and she had a comeback for everything. Her hazel eyes were mesmerizing. If I ever felt upset about anything, all I had to do was look at her and I would instantly feel better. She was the most amazing girl I have ever dated. She had transferred to school here from Oklahoma. Her accent was really cute too. She moved here because her boyfriend broke up with her and he wasn't going to transfer out of the state. And then just this year, she learned that he wanted to get back together, so she dumped me and moved back to Oklahoma.

I rip her name from the book and tear it to pieces and toss it into the trash bin. I haven't had good luck with women.

The only other girl I dated was Susan Black. Of course! Susan can be my date! Why didn't I think of that before? But she doesn't have a cell phone. I'll have to email her or something. But what if she's dating someone? I could ask, but I've been rejected enough times in my life. Or maybe she won't want to go with me.

"Will you be my tentative plus one until I can find another date?" I ask.

"What happens if you can't find another date?"

"Thanks for your stroke of confidence. I am so desperate, I will make you come with me." Fernando stares back with a raised eyebrow. "Wait. I could go with Rick. Never mind."

"If you want a guy to go with, there's a bar down the street."

"I want someone to go with that I feel comfortable around. Again, this is a tentative thing until I can find a girl to go with."

"You don't want to try dating again?"

"The number of girls I ask out that turn me down is higher than the stoners at the marijuana dispenser."

I jump back on my laptop and open up my email. Do I have Susan's email? There's no harm in asking. I find it at the exact moment my phone vibrates on the small table near me. I reach for my phone and see it's from an unfamiliar number. I open the text.

Hi Mr. Prior. It's Makenna. I was wondering if you could help me with some of my work?