Page 52 of The Luck of Finding You
“Sure,” I say, taking the next exit. I fill up the tank with gas while Tally goes inside the combined McDonald’s and gas station.
I lock the car and head in to grab a Pepsi. Ten minutes later I meet Tally by the door. She’s holding a McDonald’s bag.
“I got us some fries.”
“Perfect.” I smile at her, suddenly remembering how a woman I once went on a single date with told me that my smile was sure to make any woman weak at the knees. I wonder if it has that effect on Tally.
Tally hands me a medium fry when we get into the car, which I set between us in the cup holder in the middle console.
“Music?” she asks, scrunching her face up as she watches me take a sip of my Pepsi.
“What?” I ask back, giving her a look that says, “Who cares what I’m drinking?”
“I’m more of a Coke person, but to each their own, I guess.” She looks down at her phone. “So, music?”
“Sure. Want to be the DJ? I’ve got a lot of songs.” I pass her my phone. I’ve turned off all my notifications so that even if she does happen to message Mo while she was holding my phone, she’ll be none the wiser. I want her to find out on my terms, and reading a message that she sent to Mo wouldn’t be exactly ideal.
“This could be fun,” Tally says, grinning at my phone. She’s still tense, but I can tell she’s starting to relax as she scrolls through my music.
Soon familiar chords fill the air. “Backstreet Boys, good choice.”
Tally laughs. “You think so?”
“Yeah. I may not be the average listener, but their songs are good.”
“All right,” Tally says, then she grabs her phone. “Let’s see. Oh, yes!”
“What’s happening over there?” I ask as I pull back onto the dark highway. She’s relaxed and is in a better mood than before.
“One hundred and sixty-nine questions for couples…or two people on a road trip.” I can hear the grin in her voice as her legs bounce up and down. “This could be fun, right?”
Does this mean I’m forgiven? That we’re actually going to move on from the awkward moments we had after we kissed last week? “That sounds like a good way to get to know each other better since we’re friends and all now.”
“Yup. Friends.” But there’s something in the way the word catches that makes me wonder if she doesn’t want to be just friends. It sparks a tiny thread of hope in my chest. Maybe I can turn things around this weekend before she even meets Mo. “Let’s start with a would-you-rather question,” she says, reading from her phone. “Would you rather be twenty minutes early or ten minutes late?”
“Wow, I for sure thought you were going to pick a harder one than that.” I smile, teasing her. Tally punches me in the arm. “Hey. Fine.” I take a fry before answering. “I’d rather be early than late.”
“I am almost always late.” Tally takes a sip of her drink. “I don’t mean to be, but if I’m late, it usually means I’m in the middle of a good book. Or it’s just in my genetics, because my older sister is always late to everything too. I’d like to be on time though. But twenty minutes early…that’s so early.”
“You could always get places early and read there, then you wouldn’t be late and you still get to read.”
“True. Or I could just keep being late,” Tally says. I have a feeling that she’ll always be running late. “Next question. We’ll make it harder, Mr. ‘That’s Too Easy.’ Worst first date story. Go.”
This time I laugh. Then I think for a moment. I’ve been on quite a few bad dates, which story should I tell? “Once I showed up on a blind date, but the woman thought that it was a bring-your-own-date, so she had another guy already with her.”
“That’s not too bad.” Tally is laughing now, a sound I am grateful for.
“I mean, it was super awkward when the three of us got a table together and the other dude wasn’t really into her,” I tell her. “He even offered to leave when he realized what had happened.”
“He didn’t!”
“He did, I felt super bad.” I smile a bit at the memory because the whole thing was a little ridiculous. “But I don’t think she actually noticed that he didn’t want to be there. She had serious heart-eyes for him the entire time. It was so awkward.”
“That’s awkward, but I don’t know if it’s worst-date material.” Tally pulls her legs up onto her seat. She is always so put together, it’s different to see her with a messy braid and in sweats. I like seeing this side of her. “Do you not remember my date fiasco just the other week? When my date ordered for me because he saw me eyeing the burgers?”
“Oof, yeah, you definitely win that one.” I laugh. Tally is totally a burgers-and-fries lady, and I love that about her. “Next question?”
“Who is the person you trust the most, and why?” Tally asks this question carefully, maybe because this question is moving into more meaningful territory.
