Page 51 of Losing the Rhythm

“If you want. I’ll be the last person to tell you what to do in this situation. All I can say is do what you’re comfortable doing.”

“What if he leaves before I can do it?”

“Want me to chase him down and shake some common sense into him if he dares to do that?”

I smiled at that. Seth was completely on my side, no matter what I chose to do.

The question was, what did I want to do? I still wasn’t sure, that numbness inside of me making my thoughts sluggish.

Did I call Dad? Pretend he wasn’t around? Tell him everything about Lindie and me?

Run away?

As I kept cleaning the seeds, I kept thinking in circles. Seth knew to leave me alone as he went back into the living room with the others.

Seth was still determined to bring me out on a date-date that I refused to call anything else but a friendate. Once everyone finally carved out their pumpkin faces and started cleaning, he shooed me upstairs to change.

“Wear something nice.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“Try to guess.” He winked at me. “We’re going to a place where knowledge is deep.”

I groaned. “Not you too?”

“Seems to be the theme this time around.”

Frowning, I asked, “This time around?”

“Do you really think we won’t take you out again?”

“This feels like it’s a little bit too much,” I admitted.

Seth placed his hands on my back and nudged me toward the stairs. “Go with it and have fun. We just want you to have fun.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled, thinking about the little bit of clothes I did have here. I probably at this point had more of my clothes here than I did in my own home.

I dug through my closet, trying to figure out what to wear.

A place where knowledge was deep? What did that mean? Like a school? A library? What kind of date would that be?

After going through all my clothes, I settled on a white and gray striped long sleeve shirt and black pants. It was date-like enough and casual enough too.

He said to dress nicely, and this would have to do. I didn’t have dresses here. I’d have to go back home to get one, and I really didn’t want to do that. Besides, while I wore them often enough, I wasn’t a big fan of them. Dresses were too exposing. Vulnerable.

The weather was a good excuse too. It had been a bit chilly the last couple of days.

“I’m ready,” I said, coming down the stairs.

They were still in the living room, but at least it no longer looked like a pumpkin mess.

“There she is!” Toby called out.

“How does a simple outfit end up looking so fancy?” Bryan asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re wearing jeans and a long-sleeve shirt. I’ve even seen you wear those casually. But for some reason, today it looks extra dressy.”

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