Chapter 48 Double Date
“Who are we going with?” Hallie asked. She finally managed to get her shoes off and went to collapse on the couch.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got it all planned,” Jessica said.
It turned out Jessica had been carefully plotting a double date with the “teddy bear” and “news anchor,” two eligible guys she kept running into at the gym. It turned out that the guy she thought looked like a news anchor actually was one.
She invited each of them separately to “hang out with some friends” so they wouldn’t feel too much pressure.
“I just can’t decide which one of them I like better,” Jessica said, “so maybe if we get to know them in a date setting, we can finally get them sorted.”
“Oh, so I can get your reject?” Hallie pouted.
“It’s not like that!” Jessica exclaimed. “You can actually get first dibs if you want.”
“I thought you had dibs on both of them,” Hallie reminded her.
“I can change my dibs for my best friend.” Jessica smiled serenely, rolling up a strand of hair with one finger.
“You’re up to something,” Hallie accused, though she could not exactly name what it was. Her mind was too scattered at the moment.
“You just rest, dear,” Jessica said, “Gotta look fresh for tomorrow.”
***
THEY MET THE TWO GENTLEMEN at a trendy bar the next evening.
“This is my best friend, Hallie,” Jessica introduced her.
“I’m Andy,” said the “teddy bear”, who was indeed very cute. His body had a large girth, but it was mainly just a stout, muscular build rather than fat.
“I’m Finn,” said the dark, handsome guy. Hallie thought his gaze lingered on her.
Jessica sat across from the “teddy bear” while Hallie sat across from the handsome guy whose cheek bones were like finely sculpted bluffs.
This seemed to work well because Hallie found Andy the teddy bear sweet but a little boring.
“So, I hear you’re always hanging out at the gym,” Hallie said. She didn’t really know much about him, but suddenly she thought maybe it sounded like a cheesy line.
“Yeah, I’m training for a triathlon,” Finn said, his dark eyes looking confidently into hers. “Maybe you’d like to join me for a workout sometime? It could inspire me.”
“Okay,” Hallie said. She liked his enthusiasm, and it was flattering to feel sought after by such a good-looking guy. “Thanks.”
She suddenly flushed, wondering if she was moving too quickly. What if Jessica really liked him?
“So how come you’re doing a triathlon?” she asked, hoping to distract him from the fact that her face was probably starting to look red.
“Well, you know how it is, life is boring without a challenge.”
This sounded like echoes of Luke, and she didn’t know whether to let it be a warning signal or just let it slide.
Hallie couldn’t help liking him, however.
She went to the ladies’ room and sent a text to Jessica’s phone, hoping to ask her discreetly that the man she had chosen was okay with her friend:
*I like Finn! I hope you like Andy.*
She waited a few minutes, and a new message popped up on her screen. It was a picture of a teddy bear with a heart next to it.
Hallie let out a triumphant laugh, making the woman who was washing her hands nearby give her a funny look.
When they returned to the apartment, having said good night to the guys, both women were giddy with excitement.
“This worked out even better than I planned,” Jessica said.
“Are you sure?” Hallie asked, not wanting to steal a guy away from her friend. “You don’t really like Finn as much?”
“Of course I’m sure. And I’m really happy for you! Maybe you could finally stop thinking about that Luke and date a less complicated guy.”
“I knew it!” Hallie cried, “I knew that was your plan all along.”
“It’s for your own good,” Jessica said, smiling proudly, “Finn is a great guy.”
“Actually, he reminds me of Luke a little bit.”
“Yeah, it seems you like the bad boy type. But Finn seems like a ‘safe’ sort of bad boy. He’ll be good for you.”
Hallie thought that perhaps she was right. Jessica was such a straight-edge person, and Hallie loved those qualities of dependability and honesty in her girlfriend, but those same qualities didn’t exactly fire her up when it came to a love interest. Maybe a ‘safe’ bad boy was the way to go.
Luke was too unsafe. Although he claimed to have settled down a little since his riding accident, she still didn’t trust him not to pull some kind of stunt.