Chapter 7
SEVEN
KAIRI
My date with Brandon Dingalo is nothing like my practice date with Colton. In fact, on a scale of one to ten, they’re on completely opposite ends. The main reason being that Brandon never showed up.
We’d agreed to meet at Burger Shack for something casual, but it’s been thirty-five minutes and he’s still not here.
How embarrassing.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, pulling me out of my self-pity spiral.
Colton:
How’s the date going?
I stare at the text, trying to figure out how to answer without humiliating myself further. I exit our chat and open Brandon’s messages instead. He still hasn’t replied to the three texts I’ve sent while waiting—even though I can see they’ve all been read.
“Another shake while you wait?” the waiter asks, looking at me kindly.
I look up and force a small smile. “No, thank you. I’m going to head out now. Here—keep the change.”
I slide him a five-dollar bill and he gives me a sympathetic look but takes it anyway and walks off to the next table while I grab my things and leave my half-finished milkshake behind, noticing the weight of people’s stares as I go.
I wish I could pretend I’d just come in alone for food, but I’m too dressed up for that to work. My hair is still straight, something everyone knows I only do for occasions, and I’m wearing jeans.
I never wear jeans.
Everyone in town knows I never wear jeans.
But today, I did.
“Must be bad luck to wear jeans on a date,” I mutter as I walk down the long stretch of road toward the town square as the sun begins to set.
I never thought I’d get stood up on a date. Why even ask if you’re not going to show up?
Was it to humiliate me?
I was always nice to him in high school. We never really talked, but whenever we crossed paths I made sure to smile and wave.
Maybe he just got cold feet…I think to myself…Maybe.
My phone buzzes again when I reach the bottom of the hill and I yank it out of my pocket thinking it’s Brandon calling with some sort of explanation, but when I unlock my phone I see that it’s Colton again.
Colton:
Are you still at Burger Shack?
I groan as I stare down at the message, knowing I can’t ignore him any longer or else he might worry and come looking for me.
Kairi:
Still here, the date is going good!!
Colton:
Then why did Brandon just post a picture of him out with his friends to his story?
Mortification hits me instantly, and before I can even decide how to respond, my phone vibrates and the screen lights up with a call from Colton.
“Hi,” I say quietly.
“What happened?” he asks immediately, sounding tense.
My throat tightens but I swallow through it. “I think he stood me up.”
There’s a long pause before Colton speaks again. “Where are you?”
“Across from the main beach. Heading toward the town square.”
There’s rustling on his end. “Meet me at The Kooky Coconut. I’ll be there in five minutes,” he says, hanging up before I can reply.
I let out a heavy sigh and cross the street, heading toward The Kooky Coconut—the only beach bar in town—but the second I step inside, I do a double take because Brandon is at a pool table with three guys, all of them huddled around his phone just as mine buzzes again.
I know it’s from him before I even open the message, bracing for the worst.
Brandon:
You really thought I’d go on a date with you?
A cold feeling settles in my chest as a burst of laughter cuts through the noise of the bar, and I look up just in time to see his friends high-fiving him.
“I bet she’s still sitting there waiting for you,” one of them says, sneering.
“We should go check,” another adds.
I type back a response without thinking, fuelled by anger.
Kairi:
The joke is that you think I actually showed up.
I hit send before I can second guess it and watch as they all lean over Brandon’s shoulder, their faces dropping one by one. I smirk to myself as I take a seat at the bar, satisfied to have witnessed their reaction with my own eyes.
“Is this chick out of her mind?” Brandon mutters, glaring at his phone.
The bartender, Jazzi, slides a beer in front of me, following my gaze toward the pool table.
“She’s bluffing,” one of his friends says.
“Am I?” I say, loud enough to cut through the noise.
Brandon looks over and I lift my bottle in a slow toast before taking a sip. His expression goes from shocked to enraged within seconds.
“Who’s that?” one of Brandon’s friends asks, looking over my shoulder.
I glance behind me and find Colton standing at the doorway, recognition flashing across his face when his eyes land on Brandon. For a second, I think he’s going to go over there and start a fight, but instead he walks up to me, cups my face, and kisses me.
Like, really kisses me.
My mind completely blanks, and my hands find his wrist instinctively, holding on as the world around us disappears into static.
It’s just him.
Just us, floating together in nothingness.
Just this kiss.
And it ends before I’m ready for it to. I blink up at him, completely breathless.
“Sorry I’m late, babe,” he says easily, pressing a quick kiss to my forehead as he takes a seat on a stool beside me. “The car wouldn’t start.”
Babe?
The car wouldn’t start?
What car?
Before I can process what he’s saying, Brandon storms over with his friends trailing close behind him.
“Is she your girlfriend?” he demands. “She tried to go on a date with me.”
Colton looks him over and scoffs. “I highly doubt that, buddy.”
Brandon’s face twists with anger. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” I cut in before Colton can, “I’d never go on a date with you.”
Silence settles around us and I see the minute he realizes I’ve just thrown back the same words he used. His jaw tightens, eye twitching, like he’s barely holding himself back.
“Easy,” Colton says calmly, taking my beer bottle from me and gripping the neck as if he fully intends to crack it over Brandon’s head if push comes to shove . “If I were you, I’d head home, Dingalo. I’ve been in my fair share of bar fights, and I’m not against another one.”
“I most definitely am,” Jazzi says sharply, eyes narrowing. “So don’t.”
Brandon glares at me before storming out with his friends, and the moment he’s gone, I exhale and slowly turn to Colton.
“Are you okay?” he asks.
I nod, still stuck somewhere between the emotions from that kiss and confronting Brandon.
“I guess I kind of blew up your dating scene in town,” he says lightly, swivelling toward the bar.
“I guess so,” I say, turning too. “The whole town’s probably already planning our wedding.”
“Fine by me.” He laughs. “As long as they’re paying for it too.”
He grins at me and I grin back, but my lips feel swollen and tingly and I have to force myself not to reach up and touch them—or him. I don’t look at him for too long, afraid I’ll see it on his face too.
Whatever that kiss was, it doesn’t matter. We’re just friends and that was just a kiss. A big, loud, public middle finger to Brandon.
Nothing more.