The Match (It Happened in Charleston 1)

“Whoa!” says my dad from the doorway. Evie and I split apart. “Sorry, you two. I didn’t realize there was something going on in here.” But his smile says he very well knew.

I lean my back against the opposite counter of Evie’s and give my dad an unamused smile. “Impeccable timing, Dad.”

He shrugs and struts right on over to the fridge to fill his glass with ice. “I’ve got four daughters, son. I’ve had loads of practice to perfect my timing.” He looks at Evie and winks. WINKS!

One minute, I was a cocky son of a gun, and now I’m fifteen with a face on fire, and my dad is embarrassing me and my pretty girlfriend. How can I recover this?

Dad is taking his sweet time, adding one cube of ice to his glass at a time, filling it with water, taking a sip, and topping it off again. This goes on for two minutes, and I can see that Evie is trying so hard not to dissolve into laughter.

I give her a look that says, Enjoying this, are you? That forces her to cover her mouth with the back of her hand so a laugh doesn’t spew out.

All right, enough.

I’m not fifteen, and this is my own freaking kitchen. “Okay, water boy, I think you’re well hydrated. Why don’t you take this outside now and stop doing whatever it is you’re doing in here.”

My dad laughs as I’m pushing him from the kitchen. “I’m going, I’m going…but you should know that we can all see you out there.” He points toward the one sliver of an opening between the kitchen and the sliding door in the living room…and yep…it’s a straight shot. Everyone is gathered and watching on like their cable got canceled months ago and they’re starved for entertainment.

Once I forcibly remove my father from my house, I turn around and go back into the kitchen. I find Evie giving in to her laughter with both hands covering her face. I take one of her wrists and pull her out of the kitchen into the hallway—AWAY from the prying eyes of my creepy family.

“Are you going to sneak me away to make out in the hallway now?” she asks while laughing.

I stop and turn around when I know we are clear from the audience. “No. The moment’s over.”

“Boooooo,” she says with a big smile.

I’m laughing now too, and I can’t believe how bad I am at this dating thing. Turns out, it’s something you can get rusty at.

“What are you doing Friday night?” I ask.

Her smile goes a tad serious. “Friday?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Well…nothing that I know of.”

“Come over Friday night then.”

Her smile peeks again. “Come over?”

“Are you just going to keep repeating everything I say?”

“Only if you don’t start explaining what you mean in full sentences. I mean, I know we just kinda kissed again in the kitchen, but I don’t want to misconstrue anything.” Gosh, I like this woman. I also really want to try to redeem our bad-kiss streak, but I refrain because I can’t handle another interruption, and the potential for that happening is way too high.

“Sam has her slumber party that night, so I’m going to be off of dad duty. I was hoping you’d come over and let me cook you dinner…as a date.”

“A date?”

“You’re still repeating me.”

She smiles wider and leans her back against the wall. The shadowy hallway we are encapsulated in only adds to the flirty look she’s giving me. Evie is not rusty. “So…a date-date? Like…you like me-like me? Not just a friend thing?”

I chuckle and inch closer to her. “Yeah. Didn’t you get my note I passed you in science? I like you. Check yes or no if you like me, too.”

She scrunches her nose and dares to step closer to me. She reaches up and wraps her ar

ms around my neck. “I check yes.”

“So, does that mean you’ll come?”