Page 19 of The Romance Rivalry

I look down at my nonexistent chest and wonder why shethinks that’s the route I’d want to take for tonight’s outfit.

“I mean, don’t you think it’s weird?”

“I think it’s weird that you want to wear overalls to this date with an older man. Do you mean to play up your youth? Come on, Irene. I’ve seen your Pinterest boards. You can do better than this.” She’s got her left hand lifted, the “no” sign screaming at me. “And he asked you out because you’re pretty, you’re successful, you’re fascinating, and you’re a hot commodity. Own it.”

I unhook the straps of the jumpsuit and let it fall to ground. I grab a black dress out of my closet, the only one I brought to school with me, and pull it on over my head. Definitely trying too hard.

Jeannette’s right hand immediately lifts into the air.

And this is how I find myself wildly overdressed for a first date with a man who can legally order wine as I sip a Coke. Not to mention that I’m pretty sure my Stats TA thinks I was trying to seduce my way to a passing grade this semester by wearing this to our meeting earlier.

I’m not a prude about age, but it’s just one of many things about Garrett I don’t get... the most obvious being, why would he want to go out with an eighteen-year-old? But also, why would this looker choose me? No matter how glowingly Jeannette describes me, the fact remains—no one in high school ever looked twice at me.

I try to pull up the most recent age-gap romance book Iread and remember that it wasn’t a clear-cut winner for me. For someone as inexperienced as I am, do I want to start with an older guy? Maybe I do. Maybe it’s a sign that he can teach me how to be in a relationship.

Do not think the word “grooming,” Irene. Get that out of your head.

My Uber driver drops me off in front of the restaurant and there’s no sign of Garrett. Should I go inside and see if he’s there? Or would he just expect me to wait outside? Or maybe I should go inside and tell the hostess I’m here? Should I ask her to seat me? Will people think I’m here having dinner by myself?? Will they look at me sitting at the table, dressed up, and wonder if I’m being stood up? Am I being stood up?

My palms start to sweat. It’s a cool evening, the summer heat finally starting to break now that September is coming to a close. But my anxiety seems to manifest itself in inopportune perspiration.

“Hey.”

I whip my head around at the greeting, trying to keep my smile natural, not strained like the muscles in my face are desperately fighting to be.

My brows lift as I see Aiden standing there with... a girl. A date? Not that it matters. I don’t care. But wow, weird that he’d be here on a date at the exact same time and place I’m supposed to be onmydate.

“What are you doing here?” I hiss.

“I hear the arrabbiata is amazing,” he says. He stares at me, and I glare back at him. A standoff. Do I return the small talk, or do I call him out on the odd coincidence and ask him what he’s up to? He hasn’t introduced me to the girl with him, so I take matters and manners into my own hands.

She’s pretty. Really pretty. And I feel ridiculously out of place in this scene. At this restaurant. Likely in this entire school. Possibly in the whole town. If I add the whole world to the list, would that be overkill?

“Hi, I’m Irene. Aiden and I are in lit class together,” I say.

“Maddie,” she says back. She barely grabs my hand and lets me shake her limp one. She also doesn’t offer up any additional information. In fact, she couldn’t be less interested in me.

A part of me feels disappointed that Aiden would date someone like this. He’s a romance reader. He should know better. Why are men? Why don’t they have higher standards and date the fabulous, interesting, funny, smart ones?

“Where’s Garrett? Did he get so absorbed in a Kerouac novel that he’s running late?” Aiden’s voice, which I would only ever describe as unbothered, suddenly sounds very... bothered.

Okay, so maybe Garrett did come across as a bit pretentious at the book club meeting, the more I thought it overand replayed the whole night one hundred or so times in my head.

“Irene,” I hear my name called. I look around and see Garrett quickly walking up to me. “Hi, wow, you look great,” he says. His smile is perfectly straight, very white, and I hear thepingof a bell in my head as the sparkle of one of his teeth almost blinds me.

Garrett turns to Aiden and holds out his hand. “Oh hey, Aaron, right?”

“Yeah, good to see you again, Gary,” Aiden says back.

This entire exchange is making me incredibly uncomfortable, but I cannot look away.

Garrett turns to me and says, “Let’s head inside.” He opens the door and holds it for me. I look over at Aiden and Maddie and give an awkward smile as I walk by.

“Ask him what he thinks of the romance inA Game of Thrones,” Aiden says under his breath. And somehow, Iknow... I know exactly what he’s trying to say to me. Incest in books is my hard limit.Flowers in the Attictraumatized me as a kid, and I’m still not over it. I’ve made that clear on multiple occasions online, and it’s one of the very few things Aiden and I have actually agreed about publicly. If Garrett finds Cersei and Jaime’s relationship romantic, he and I are doomed before we’ve started.

I want to acknowledge that I get it, that I understand thepuzzle Aiden threw my way. But I hesitate for a second too long, and when I glance back, he’s put his arm around Maddie and is leading her through the door Garrett’s holding open.

“Coming?” Garrett asks. Perfectly nice, attentive, scorching-hot, older-man, out-of-my-league Garrett.

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